{"id":1683,"date":"2012-09-26T21:25:29","date_gmt":"2012-09-26T21:25:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/?p=1683"},"modified":"2012-09-26T21:25:29","modified_gmt":"2012-09-26T21:25:29","slug":"the-great-out-and-in-doors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/?p=1683","title":{"rendered":"The Great Out (and In) Doors"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Litchfield County, CT<\/p><\/div>\n

Years ago, someone described what we refer to as our annual \u201ccamping trip\u201d as a series of activities organized around meals. \u00a0How true. Although, depending on weather and locale, we generally work off at least some of the calories hiking, canoeing or biking.<\/p>\n

This year, eight of us convened in one couples\u2019 terrific house in northwestern Connecticut (a while ago we deleted the tents and sleeping bags in favor of beds and bathrooms. Age does have its privileges.)\u00a0 Saturday was overcast but warm enough for one group to visit nearby Hollister House Garden.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A small part of Hollister House Garden<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

HHG bills itself as an \u201cAmerican interpretation of classic English gardens\u2026formal in structure but rather wild in style of planting. \u201c For a garden to still be lovely in late October says a lot about its bones.\u00a0 We marveled at the Autumn Crocus, (Colchicum autumnale<\/em>, attention botanists), that looks a lot like the crocus that heralds spring, as well as\u00a0 the many varieties of dahlias and the lovely Japanese anemone, the last plant to bloom in my southern Vermont garden.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Autumn Crocus–wouldn’t you think “spring?”<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

However beautiful the flowers, the rolling hills and the area\u2019s houses, the meals were the stars. One breakfast included French toast with ham, accompanied by diced apples and golden raisins cooked together with honey. Saturday\u2019s lunch, provided by me, was cold avocado soup with Parmesan toasts (full disclosure: I bought them), an antipasto pasta salad and dessert of lemon pound cake with lemon curd and homemade raspberry sauce spiked\u00a0 with a splash of Black Currant cordial. We could have made it foodless until the next day were it not for Saturday\u2019s dinner of ossobuco, not your typical camping food, with grated Parmesan cheese and a garlic, lemon zest and parsley gremolata to top it with as well as polenta adorned with mushrooms and salad. Sunday\u2019s lunch included turkey meat loaf with a choice of sauces; great bread and sliced tomatoes to be fashioned into a sandwich or not, served with an innovative salad of edamame, (immature soybeans to the uninitiated), feta and dill. I’m deliberately omitting mention of appetizers and floods of wine.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Edamame out of the pod<\/p><\/div>\n

One member of our group was a St. Bernard who does not carry any kind of keg but if she did, it would have been as well to fill it with Alka-Seltzer. She seemed to enjoy mealtime as much as the other \u201ccampers\u201d as she had kitchen duty,\u00a0 aka licking spills off the floor. (She gave the cuisine four paws up.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

No more treats–save room for lunch<\/p><\/div>\n

Here is how to make the Antipasto Pasta Salad. Other than the pasta, you can adjust the ingredients to include more or less of any of them.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Antipasto Pasta Salad for 8<\/strong><\/p>\n

1 \u00bd- 2 lbs. short twisted pasta (the amount depends on how many you\u2019re feeding)<\/p>\n

8 oz fresh mozzarella, cut into cubes<\/p>\n

1 \u00bd jars roasted red peppers, julienned<\/p>\n

\u00bc lb. pitted olives (I used a mix of types but you could use plain pimento- stuffed)<\/p>\n

\u00be lb thin-sliced hard salami cut in julienne strips<\/p>\n

2 jars artichoke hearts packed in oil, drained and quartered<\/p>\n

Capers\u2014about \u00bc cup, drained<\/p>\n

1 cup packed fresh parsley washed and snipped<\/p>\n

Dressing:<\/strong><\/p>\n

3 T red wine vinegar<\/p>\n

1 T white balsamic vinegar<\/p>\n

1 T Dijon mustard<\/p>\n

1 pinch sugar<\/p>\n

\u00bd \u00a0\u00a0c. olive oil<\/p>\n

\u00bc tsp salt<\/p>\n

\u00bc tsp fresh ground pepper<\/p>\n

Mix together and taste. I like fairly acidic dressing but if you don\u2019t, add a little more olive oil.<\/p>\n

Cook pasta according to directions. Drain well, toss with a little olive oil and cool.<\/p>\n

Combine all the other salad ingredients and toss with dressing (this amount may be a little too generous. Add most of it, \u00a0toss and check). Add parsley.\u00a0 Toss again, check seasonings, adding more salt and pepper if needed and serve.<\/p>\n

Note: pasta can be cooked, cooled and chilled the day before. On the day you plan to serve it, let it (and any other ingredients that were refrigerated) \u00a0come to room temperature first.<\/p>\n

And here’s the amazing bit: fun dissipates calories!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Years ago, someone described what we refer to as our annual \u201ccamping trip\u201d as a series of activities organized around meals. \u00a0How true. Although, depending on weather and locale, we generally work off at least some of the calories hiking, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1683"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1721,"href":"https:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1683\/revisions\/1721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}