Friday, July 24, 2015

Jon cooks! Yummy dinner!

Yes, I know he is my son, yes I am a proud mom, but the guy is a genius in the kitchen! To my delight he cooked dinner tonight for the four of us.
Seared salmon filletes with hollandaise sauce
Oven roasted potatoes
Corn & red pepper vegetable medley with wilted spinach

The salmon was rubbed with a spice mixture that contained: cumin, corriander, brown sugar, dried mustard, chili powder, salt and pepper - his invention. (When he was a little boy he has loved getting into the spice cabinet and mixing up concoctions. Only the saffron was off limits.)

The cast iron skillet was heated and the salmon was dotted with pats of butter. After searing it on both sides, a little water was added to the pan to steam the salmon. The heat was turned down to low and the pan was covered. The salmon was served with a tarragon hollandaise sauce.

Triple-sweet corn was cut off of 4 ears of corn, bought today from the local farmer's market. Chopped onion, garlic, and red sweet bell pepper were sweated in a little olive oil. The corn was added. In a couple of minutes, when all of the vegetables were tender, chopped fresh spinach and fresh thyme were added to the pan just long enough to wilt the spinach.

New potatoes, skins left on, were cut into 1 inch cubes drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted in a 400 degree oven on a half sheet pan. 

All I can say is Oh My Goodness! 

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Venus and Jupiter close together!

Venus and Jupiter have been moving closer together in the night sky during all of June. Tonight the sky was clear and we could see them clearly! That is Venus on the lower right and Jupiter close and above to the left.
This diagram of Venus and Jupiter orbits show why the two planets appear to be very close from our line of sight on Earth. They are so close together in the sky that you can cover them with one finger. Thanks to NASA for this great diagram.

EarthSky.org is a great site for information about astronomy and more. The charts and explanations of what you can see even without a telescope are fantastic.
Happy Observing!