Help Adam make an album in Mali!

Wascally Wabbit

The egg dudes at the Sunday market said they had rabbit, so I got one. Biked it home in a bag of ice cubes in the Peugeot's front wire basket, how very Frooonncchhhe of me.
Nick and Johanna came over to help eat it. Cutting it up wasn't very hard at all, its little shoulder blades were easy to find, belly and ribs were self-explanatory, there was hardly an ounce of fat on it to confuse things. Following Julia Child's instructions for cutting, and Jamie Oliver's instructions for grilling, it turned out quite well.

From Food

Marinate in olive oil, lemon juice, rosemary, thyme, garlic, honey as grill heats. Here you can see the rib pieces (bottom left), skewered belly with bacon, kidneys, and the two pieces of saddle or loin (cut perpendicular to the backbone) at the top right.

Start the back legs first:

From Food

Despite soaking, skewers catch on fire:

From Food

Baste with thyme sprigs on a skewer, because HOT:

From Food

Flame flame flame:

From Food

Garnish:

From Food

Beautiful tomato salad!

From Food

It was super delicious, props to Jamie, we ate the whole thing along with N&J's potato salad and some peach cobbler.

Walking around Philadelphia

Bartram's Garden:

From Ratners visit Philly

Morris Arboretum!

From Ratners visit Philly

From Ratners visit Philly

Japanese Threadleaf Maple:

From Ratners visit Philly

Outside the Fernery:

From Ratners visit Philly

In the Stumpery:

From Ratners visit Philly

"Out on a Limb" exhibit:

From Ratners visit Philly

From Ratners visit Philly

Stumpery

Excellent weekend of botanical adventures! Here is one answer from Wikipedia about one of the curious features of the Morris Arboretum that we enjoyed:

A stumpery is a garden feature similar to a rockery but made from parts of dead trees. This can take the form of whole stumps, logs, pieces of bark or even worked timber such as railway sleepers or floorboards. The pieces are arranged artistically and plants, typically ferns, mosses and lichens are encouraged to grow around or on them. They provide a feature for the garden and a habitat for several types of wildlife. The first stumpery was built in 1856 at Biddulph Grange and they remained popular in Victorian Britain.

A stumpery traditionally consists of tree stumps arranged upside-down or on their sides to show the root structure but logs, driftwood or large pieces of bark can also be used.[1] The stumps can be used individually or attached together to form a structure such as a wall or arch. Stumperies can vary in size from a handful of logs to large displays containing dozens of full tree stumps.[2] The use of storm-damaged or diseased trees is not uncommon and can save the landowner the cost of their removal.[3][1] Where tree stumps are unavailable a more modern, angular look can be achieved by using railway sleepers or old oak floorboards and some companies sell waste timber or driftwood specifically for the purpose of constructing stumperies.[2] Plants such as ferns, mosses and lichens are often encouraged to grow around and on the stumpery.[2] Stumperies provide a home for wildlife and have been known to host stag beetles, toads and small mammals.[4][5]

Stumperies have been described as "Victorian horticultural oddities" and were popular features of 19th century gardens.[4] The reasons for their popularity vary but it may be a result of the Romantic Movement which emphasised the beauty of nature.[6] Their popularity may also be attributed to the increasing popularity of ferns as garden plants at the time. Ferns were very fashionable and hundreds of new species were introduced to Britain from around the world. The stumpery made an ideal habitat for these shade-loving plants.[2] Additionally stumperies may have been used in place of rockeries in areas where suitable rocks were in short supply.[7] Their popularity is once again on the rise.[3]

The first stumpery to be built, at Biddulph Grange, Staffordshire, in 1856, was designed by the artist and gardener Edward William Cooke for the estate's owner James Bateman.[1] The stumpery at Biddulph Grange consists of stumps placed into a 10 feet (3.0 m) wall either side of a garden path and used as a scaffold for the growth of ferns.[1][6] A famous modern stumpery is that at Highgrove House, Gloucestershire, the home of Prince Charles, which is considered to be the largest stumpery in Britain.[8] The Prince built the stumpery from sweet chestnut roots, held in place by steel bars, when he first purchased the estate in 1980, and it now provides a home for organically grown ferns, hellebores and hostas.[7][5] The largest stumpery in the United States is at Vashon Island in Washington.[6] It rivals the Highgrove stumpery in size, measuring 9,000 square feet (840 m2) and including around 95 separate tree stumps.[6] Stumperies can sometimes be mistaken for garden rubbish; indeed, when Prince Philip first saw his son's stumpery, he remarked: "When are you going to set fire to this lot?".[5]

Eddie Izzard, in Legos

Secret Garden

Sherwood Gardens is an ex-private park taken over by a neighborhood society up the road from my house (quite a bit up the road, a good jogging route actually). It's planted full of flowerbeds and is in bloom spring through summer - a great place for picnics!

Easy white bean salad

I made this in about 10 seconds last night after a run, when I was starving. It's from the new Splendid Kitchen supper book. This made supper and lunch for me, but I would definitely double it if a hungry boy (or girl) is joining you for supper.

one piece or half a piece of whole-grain bread
2 oz parmesan/romano
pepper/salt

1 can white/cannelini beans
2 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped roughly
a small handful of rosemary leaves (about 10?), chopped up
1/8 c olive oil
handful of greens
salt

Food process your bread into breadcrumbs. Toast it at med-high heat in a skillet or saute pan till it's toasty. Set aside in a small bowl and when cool, add the grated parm and some pepper and salt. While it's cooling, put your olive oil in the skillet and set at low heat, let the olive oil calm down a bit before adding your garlic, otherwise it might burn (since your skillet was just med-high). Slowly cook the garlic for a few minutes till it softens, then add your rosemary for a minute, then your beans. Fold in gently so as not to smash them. Heat beans for three minutes, then add a handful of greens and wilt to your liking (if using lettuce, may not be necessary, but it was nice to throw it around in there to get the oil/garlic).

Serve up the beans/greens and top with the breadcrumb/parm, add more salt if you like and some pepper.

The book warns you to only use white beans for this, not tougher kidney/black beans, since the flavors won't be absorbed through their thick skins. Fine by me! This was great.