Project: Square or Linear?

If you wonder what I have been up to lately - here is the my newest project: nothing more than the re-arrangement of my vegetable garden. 

We had some grey and cool days last week and they seemed perfect for heavy garden work. This is a view of my veggie garden taken in early July 2013.

Now the fence was been taken down and the wooden poles came out. 

While my dear hubby was busy making two new frames, I pondered if my square-formed garden was the thing to continue with. 

I moved the new frames around and looked at it from different angles.

Finally the decision was to arrange the new frames in one line with the old ones. 

If seen from the house, the street and from upstairs, it looks way nicer that way than having the garden plot "slap dap" sitting in the middle of the lawn.

The following photos show what I have in my mind. 

Right: the lay of the square garden, left: the lay with the future linear garden. Viewed from upstairs and from the road. 

No blockage, just open lines and views. That's my thought anyway. 

J.P. wondered who would ever look out of the window upstairs? 

Well, I do for example! 

To me it always looked odd and now I had the chance to do something about it and the new arrangement will look way more balanced. 

There.

Next came several days with pushing the wheel barrel to and fro between a heap of soil and the new frames until both were filled up.

No, this is not an alien, it is I, in my garden attire. :))

A peek into my tomato patch. There are still many green tomatoes coming up the next couple of weeks. The potato harvest was good. Enough for two month or until we go south again. Spring was too cold and the corn got a late start.
Well, worst case they will make a nice decoration for Thanksgiving Day.

I like to mix flowers and vegetables. As the harvesting goes on and the spaces open up there are still pretty flowers to look at until the frost takes them down.

If I am not here - I am in the garden!
Thanks for visiting!

Bea's Surprise Stew

After a busy morning with emptying the coach of kitchen stuff we took a trip to the nearby beach for a stroll. 

Storm damage along the beach

Molly and I

We returned with a garbage bag full of beer cans and bottles. Some people were busy littering here all winter long. What a shame!


Still tired from the long journey I decided to make an easy dinner tonight. 
A surprise stew after looking around what I could find in the cupboards and fridge. Good to have my real kitchen back!
Ingredients:
garlic
onion
rice
celery
1/2 can of diced tomatoes
1/2 can of chickpeas
1 bratwurst sausage
broth cooked from the leftovers of the chicken we ate yesterday
salt, pepper, Worcester sauce
Fried onions, celery and garlic. Filled up with chicken broth, rice, diced tomatoes and chickpeas. Boiled this while I did the dishes and added slices of sausage 10 minutes before serving. 
Dessert: pear with chocolate sauce.
There is another variation of this stew - with bananas. See here.

Vormittags wurde zuerst das Küchenmaterial aus dem Bus ins Haus geräumt, anschließend unternahmen wir einen ausgedehnten Spaziergang am nahegelegenen Strand. 

Avocado-Dressed Tomatoes

My dear husband made it safely back to California, though without his suitcase. And the time of my "cold kitchen" comes to an end. It is back to work ;)
Today I made goulash, potatoes and avocado dressed tomatoes.


Avocado-Dressed Tomatoes 

Ingredients:
1 ripe avocado
1/3 c. mayonnaise (I used fat free sour cream)
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. minced onion
Dash of Worcestershire
Dash of Tabasco sauce
Salt to taste
3 lg. ripe tomatoes
Salad greens
Chopped chives (I used cilantro and parsley)

Mash together until smooth avocado, mayonnaise and seasonings. Arrange sliced tomatoes on bed of salad greens and pour the avocado dressing over them. Sprinkle with chopped chives and serve. This is a special "company" salad.

Mix avocado with mayonnaise

Mein Gönnergatte ist heil von der Reise wieder in Kalifornien angekommen. Auch wenn der Koffer noch in der Weltgeschichte herumgeistert.

Nun ist wieder Schluß mit der kalten Küche. Es heißt wieder: an die Arbeit.

Heute gab es Rindergoulasch, Salzkartoffeln und Tomaten mit Avocadosoße.

Gubben kom helskinnet tilbake til Kalifornien. Men kofferten ble igjen i Hamburg. Hvem hvet når den kommer hjem?
Blant annet betyr enden av reisen en slut på det "kaldet" kjøkkenet mitt. Tilbake til kjelen og matlagingen.
Idag laget jeg storfegryte, poteter og tomater med avocadosaus.