The boy is heading back to college supposedly tomorrow however he is currently sitting in his car on the side of the highway in a car with a dead battery. Yikes! It is never easy. The family have been baking items to sustain him on his road trip. His grandfather baked him chocolate chip cookies, his grandmother baked him blueberry muffins and his mother is baking zucchini bread. The boy will not starve. If food is love then he is very much loved. He is also supposed to deliver some fresh picked from our own bushes blueberries to granddaughter Edie in Asheville. She was so upset that she couldn’t have any of the ones I picked the other day. She saw them in my hand and tried to reach through the Facetime video to get some. Frustrated because so far we aren’t able to teleport food items from New Hampshire to North Carolina therefore I decided to pick some for her and send them along with Jack. He promises not to eat them.

We truly have a bumper crop of blueberries this year. So far I have picked 10 quarts, made muffins almost every day and frozen at least 5 bags of them. And there are still more on the bushes. And now the squash is starting to come in. We have had it a number of different ways including fried in olive oil with our own home grown garlic (very strong). Hence the need to make Zucchini Bread. Our next adventure is to try zucchini fries made in the air fryer. Sounds good, we shall see.

Walking with Sky

We have had a great week walking with Sky, my neighbors puppy. The neighbor hurt his back a couple of weeks ago and can’t go on long walks with a rambunctious puppy pulling him. She loves our dogs and loves to go on long walks. We are just beginning to trust her off leash for a limited amount of time. She is smart and has picked up the commands to come and sit in front of me where she gets a treat of course. My daughter taught me the “front” command and both of our dogs are catching on too. We even took her to the Rail Trail for a 4.5 mile walk. She was exhausted when we got back but very happy. My own walking has really increased too. Last week I did 28.8 miles and I am already 4 miles into this week. Feeling really good and very happy with myself. The flooding was quite something over by the river so we were not able to walk through the fields until this weekend. Last week Bean was swimming on the path. This week she was able to walk on it.

Update on Jenny Lane

Quite a lot of progress made this week. On the inside it was mostly trim work which isn’t dramatic but it certainly makes things look more finished. Doors were installed in front of the microwave which makes it look much neater and baseboard and quarter round to finish off the kitchen and living room and hall. Two of the guys were working on the outside windows putting up the trim around them. We are doing quite a change to the framing and it looks really good. The plan is to paint the house white and the trim around the windows will be green. Still a few windows to go but we are getting there.

Cooking in the Kitchen

Libby and Jack decided to make us dinner Saturday night. They decided to do home made ravioli. We don’t have a ravioli maker but I think it is on someone’s Christmas or Birthday list now. They did a wonderful job and kept us all amused as they worked efficiently together to produce our dinner. It took longer than either of them thought it would but it was worth the wait. They were giant raviolis by the way. It really is fun to see them enjoy the kitchen and for us to be a part of it sitting in the living room now that it is all one big room more or less. I think this is what we had hoped for when we designed the space.

Brown Butter Lobster Ravioli with Tomato Cream Sauce
from Half-Baked Harvest

Tell me we weren’t spoiled! They even made the dough from scratch.

Ingredients

3 lobster tails
1/4 pound uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter
2 cloves garlic, minced or grated
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, more or less to your taste
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon lemon juice + lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and pepper
1 cup (8 ounces) whole milk ricotta cheese
1 pound fresh pasta dough or 40 wonton wrappers

Tomato Cream Sauce

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons salted butter
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced or grated
1 can (24 ounce) crushed san marzano tomatoes
kosher salt and black pepper
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
1/4 cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped
Instructions

1. To make the ravioli. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the lobster tails and shrimp and cook until the shells turn bright red and the shrimp pink, about 5-8 minutes. Remove from the water using tongs. Let cool and then remove the lobster meat from the shell. Finely chop both the lobster meat and shrimp.
2. In a large skillet, brown the butter over medium heat, stirring often until the butter is golden and toasted. Add the garlic and crushed red pepper and cook another minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the lobster, shrimp, parsley, lemon juice, lemon zest, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Add the ricotta cheese and mix to combine. Set the filling aside.
3. Roll your pasta dough into lasagna sheets. Place 1 tablespoon of filling one inch apart over half the pasta sheet. Brush around the filling with water to moisten and then fold the sheet over the fillings, pressing down to seal. Cut into squares. Be sure to keep the ravioli covered as you work to prevent them from drying out. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Alternately, you can make the ravioli in a ravioli press, or use this wonton wrapper method.
4. To make the cream sauce. Heat the butter and oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook for 5 minutes, until fragrant. Add the garlic and cook another minute. Stir in the tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Stir and cook over low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally until thickened slightly. Stir in the milk, parmesan, parsley, and basil, and cook another 10 minutes, until warmed through.
5. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Boil the ravioli in batches about 1-2 minutes or until they float. Drain.
6. Divide the ravioli among bowls and spoon the tomato sauce over top. EAT and ENJOY!