Sometime last summer (during the height of the pandemic), “the shrine” on my property was designed by Allen Kitselman and implemented by Claudio and his brother. On 9/12 it was properly initiated with a Ganesh Chaturi ceremony led by Karthik.
Here’s how that went down.
First, Karthik shared the significance of Ganesh Chaturti, read some ancient text, and made an offering.
Ready for the ceremony
Karthik leads the reading
Incense
Ganesh at the shrine (and everywhere else in the universe too)
In the verdant woods of Virginia
A gift for the mantle
Then it was off to the river for part two of the ceremony, a small prayer with an earthen Ganesha moorti which Jackie immersed in the Shenandoah river in a traditional way (plus kayaks).
We kayaked several miles together. Had lunch. Saw eagles. Reveled in nature. There was a cheeto sighting.
When we were getting ready to depart, the truck failed to start. But we persevered (with some help from Skaggs and a trusty hammer).
And then some fabulous food and conversation.
All in all, an excellent day. The shrine is consecrated and new friendships blossom.
Rare roast beef with Yorkshire pudding is one of my very favorite meals of all time. Heck, we’ll even have it for no apparent reason! Happy today day! Here are a few tricks to making a delicious beast.
Yorkshire pudding though incredibly simple ingredients-wise takes a couple of tricks. Trick 1: Start with warm ingredients and beat them to frothy. Cold eggs and milk will not work properly. Once the batter is beaten, refrigerate for at least an hour covered. (This allows the flour to do its gluten thing with the egg.) Remove from the fridge just about when you put the beef in so that there is time for the batter to slowly warm. Trick 2: cook it under the beast.
Season the beast simply with an entire head of garlic, peeled with cloves sometimes cut lengthwise then inserted into the beef with a paring knife and a finger. Liberally apply lots of pepper and some salt.
Roast beast step 1: season with head of garlic peeled and inserted plus salt and pepper pic.twitter.com/bBsYGNSr6P
Before adding the Yorkshire batter, turn the oven up to 400 and beat the batter to froth one more time. Remove some of the drippings below the beef to make gravy with (put into cast iron skillet). Add half a stick of butter under the roast to compensate. Then pour the batter around the beef.
I drove my awful Chevy Cruze rental car (who makes these things?!) down to visit farmer Craig’s organic vegetable farm operation in Rhode Island. The place is called Greenview Farm. Craig is a dear old college friend who started farming full time 20 years ago and never looked back. He has about 20 acres in cultivation now, rotating crops, building up the soil, and generally leaving the land in way better shape than it started in. His produce has a reputation for excellence and his business is thriving.
Impressive. Craig and Emily are utterly dedicated to what they’re doing. The addition of three monkeys to the equation is leading to the usual loving chaos.
Farmer Craig, aka Mr Okra aka Dr Feelgood
The first greenhouse is about to get a new floor
Amazing to see this on November 18!
Hearty broccoli. Mine never looks this good.
Yeah, I know, Kale.
Gorgeous rich topsoil
Cover crop of oats and peas will be plowed under in the Spring
