AhearnArts

with permission by my favorite Norfolk VA poet: (copyright) Kindra McDonald

You do not bite a fig so much as kiss one.

It melts tender on the tongue and makes you blush.

How you lean into it,

How you meet it from tree to hand to mouth,

Plucked ripe, soft pregnant swells of purple

Parachutes gently given unto lips.

How sweetness bursts in your mouth

Caresses your speech, makes it foreign to the ears,

Summersaults and winds its way to your throat

Where you swallow all its ancient ripeness,

Its bursting pureness,

Its deep full tongued maturity,

The syrup of ready.

The leaves shade their eyes from this romance,

Such intimacy makes them tremble.

This is not a fig tree but it seems to work for this wonderful poem. The leaves seem to tremble as we read. I found this tree in Western Virginia (Don’t know its name).

This is, by far, the best scallop recipe I have ever cooked. (You would think I would have photographed the dish but I was soooo hungry and forgot. Never mind it is delicious!

Serves 2

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 green onions, sliced thinly the long way
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 fresh sweet pepper, seeded, chopped finely
A quarter of a red pepper for color, chopped finely
A dash of red cayenne pepper

5 scallops (3/4 pound) if large cut in half
I use fresh New Bedford Scallops shipped in airtight packages overnight from New Bedford to my fishmonger. Not to my order but he just happened to have these recently arrived.

¼ cup firmly packed fresh coriander leaves
The coriander leaves presented an availability problem— I combined a handful of chopped parsley, a teaspoon of ground coriander and a few sprigs of fresh chopped basil.

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons of Thai fish sauce

Method:
•   Heat oil in a wok or 8-10 in frying pan; sauté onion, ginger, garlic and chili and cayenne pepper until onion softens.

•   Add scallops; sauté until cooked as desired. They should be translucent.

•   Stir in coriander mix, lime juice and fish sauce.

Today we have been preparing our blog to go live. Peeking out the window in Rutland, Vermont (at the home of my brother Mike Ahearn and his wife Sue) at Luciee the mini-trailer christened with her new decorative side panels announcing RemarkableJourneys.net. The panels were printed on vinyl, sealed and mounted by Mike Gauthier at Green Screen Graphics (http://greenscreengraphics.com/) right here in Rutland. I can’t speak too highly of Mike and his staff for their fine work not only printing beautifully but also taking great pains and care mounting the panels on Luciee’s sides. We can’t wait to be rolling down the road with such colorful and reasonably priced workmanship! Thanks you guys you are fantastic!

Our Gallery is getting underway. There are a multitude of images we will add but for the moment we will present just a few.

Golden Trout are incredible marinated in lemon juice

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