My cousin Michele came by for a visit today.  We both decided to visit my favorite organic farm, Blooming Hill.  There is some thing so peaceful and grounding about that farm.  It is a pleasure to spend time there. 

As we chatted with Guy Jones (proprietor of Blooming Hill Farm), he mentioned that this week is the last week for ramps.    Ramps are one of my favorite springtime greens.  They are milder than leeks with a hint of garlic-flavor. Guy served them grilled to visitors at the farm.  I bought them last week and used them as a bed for roasted rainbow trout. 

Guy had some wonderful local cheeses, and raw local honey. While they were all good, there were two that stood out. One of the cheeses came from TonJones farm, called Cowhill and the other was a cows’s milk cheese made in an alpine style called Bogart from Sprout Creek farm.

Michele ordered breakfast, French toast, and we sat by the creek watching the stream.

I have had that curry dish – you know, the one I made at the CIA Southeast Asia class – stuck in my mind ever since the class.  So, I wanted to make it at home.  We stopped at the local fish/Asian market and I picked up most of the ingredients I needed… except for two, the birds eye chilies and the yellow curry paste.  We tried three stores before giving up and resigning ourselves to something else for dinner.  I bought three fillets of Dover sole and planned a different menu.

First, we made a salad of mesculn greens, avacado, herbed goatcheese and wildflowers.
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We enjoyed a caprese salad made with fresh mozzarella (he just made it) from the Italian Deli, fresh basil and tomatoes that I drizzled with olive oil.

Then, we had a bowl of potato leek soup that I made earlier and watched a movie.

After the movie, I made a coconut, ginger, jasmine rice; I braised the ramps in chicken stock, sea salt, extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar; and I encrusted the sole fillets in Hazelnuts and pan fried them, which I served with a tarragon/white wine/lime juice burre blanc with capers.

For dessert, we had an assortment of chocolate covered strawberries, rainbow cookies, chocolate lace cookies and butter cookies from the deli.