There's No Place Like Home

We're back home again after a very entertaining weekend in Boston. We celebrated a good friend's 30th birthday in style: ballooning over the verdant hills of Vermont at sunset on Friday, chasing people around with squirt guns in Harvard square as part of an elaborate and hilarious scavenger hunt Saturday morning, riding horses through the woods at a local ranch in the afternoon, and wrapping up with a huge party and pig roast that evening. What a whirlwind!

Sunday was more relaxed, spent lounging among the good company of friends, wandering through shops in Cambridge, and enjoying a tasty dinner at East Coast Grill & Raw Bar. We drove back on Monday, headed over to Northstar for Jamaican night, then returned home for a much-needed quiet evening on the couch.

It's always comforting to return home after a trip, and for me it's also exciting, because I get to see just how much the garden has grown in my absence. It did very well in the four days we were gone. Infused by an inch of rain over the weekend, basil has bounded upward, peas have burgeoned from their flowers, beans have wound up trellises, squash leaves have fanned out like umbrellas, and green tomatoes have fattened up almost as much as I did in the gastronomical revelry of the past four days.

With a beautiful balmy evening as a backdrop, we prepared a delicious summer meal anchored by Brad's (of Piggery fame) pulled pork. An easy walk through the garden produced a variety of vegetables to sauté and compliment the pork: salad turnips and turnip greens, radishes, garlic scapes, and snow peas, mixed with young garlic, onion, and basil. Braised shredded cabbage leaves with apples and pomegranate rounded out the meal. It's good to be home!