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Domesticity + Craft

tomatillos and jalapenos meet the grill

I had heard the wonders of this “Bobby Flay” pronounced time and again, but not until I saw a Food Network show where he baked blondie brownies did he catch my eye (or should I say sweet tooth). “So moist, so delicious,” proclaimed his TV tasters that I had to bring the exact Flay recipe to my oven. And this time, the television did not lie. They were darn good. (click here for the recipe)

So when last night Chris and I decided to break out Flay’s Boy Gets Grill cookbook, it was sweet success all over again. We went with the “Fish Taco Party” scenario detailed on page 88 and cooked up some halibut with a citrus-cilantro marinade, along with an avocado-tomatillo sauce and a smooth tomato-serrano chile salsa on the side. As you can see here, the avocado sauce started with tomatillos and jalapenos on the Weber. simply delicious.

baby greens

Our plant babies are finally showing their faces to the world! Over the past few days, things have gotten interesting on our deck. It started with the lettuce (seen above), then moved over to the little chard-lings, which doubled their numbers overnight. Now, if only the herbs would emerge…

see that teeny lake view?

Remember those planters? Goodbye plain old wood; hello to my new obsession: stenciling.

It all began when I read about textile designer Lena Corwin in Domino magazine this past year. Inspired by her style, I promptly purchased her new book, Printing by Hand: A Modern Guide to Printing with Handmade Stamps, Stencils and Silk Screens. For my first project from its pages, I stenciled our new planters to mimic our view. Voila! Let the stenciling frenzy begin…

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Chard, mixed greens and herbs (thanks for the basil, dill and cilantro, Hanni!) are in the ground… well actually they’re in planters handcrafted by Chris just last night. With our seeds in a bed of luxurious soil—mixed with a potent fertilizer concocted by Eric at The Villager Nursery in Truckee—I think we are on our way to seeing green in a few weeks! Will keep you posted, especially if we have extra to share.