Thursday's Child: Diamond Falls Botanical Gardens, Saint Lucia

When we visit a beach destination, it's tempting to stay put.  But if we can tear ourselves away from the sand and the water, we almost always love what we find.  That's what happened when we visited the Diamond Falls Botanical Gardens in Saint Lucia.  Situated just a few miles from our resort, this oasis of colour and beauty seemed like a different world.

Diamond Falls is blessed with six acres of plantings, a stunning waterfall, and a series of mineral baths.  Since much of Saint Lucia is rain forest, it wasn't surprising that the flowers were so large and beautiful.  The paths were lined with heliconia, bougainvillea and hibiscus flowers in every colour imaginable.

One of many heliconias at Diamond Falls

In addition to flowers, the gardens were rife with trees, spices and vines.

Legend has it that Josephine Bonaparte visited the mineral baths here as a young girl growing up in the Caribbean.  It's impossible to know if that's true, but given her well-known love for roses, it's fitting that the estate has added these appealing gardens and opened them to the public.

Begonias at Diamond Falls

Recipes inspired by musicals: The Music Man

In all the months I’ve been writing about recipes inspired by musicals (check here if you’ve missed any), it’s hard to believe I haven’t written about The Music Man.  It features one of the most spirited songs ever written for a musical – “Seventy-Six Trombones” – not to mention one of the all-time classics, “Trouble (in River City)”.  Also, one of the most persistent ear worms.  Don’t listen to “Gary, Indiana” unless you’re prepared to hum it for the rest of your life.

As much as I adored the movie (featuring the wonderful Shirley Jones as Marian and little Ron Howard as Winthrop), I enjoyed the live version even more.  We took my mom to Stratford, Ontario to watch it about five years ago.  The energy was contagious, the singing was dynamic, and I left the theatre remembering once again why I love musicals so much. 

The plot is simple.  Harold Hill has come to River City, Iowa intending to sell musical instruments to the residents, and swindle them out of their money.  But his plan hits a snag when he falls in love with Marian, the beautiful but aloof librarian, who is the only one in town who sees through his ruse.  (And for whom is written the only love song I know that references carrion.)  The show ends with an ice cream social, where Hill is exposed as a fraud, but is ultimately forgiven when it turns out he’s taught the band to play after all.

Don’t you wish we lived in a time where every small town still had an ice cream social?   It sounds like a great way to meet and socialize with your neighbours.  Put together a barbershop quartet to entertain them, like they did in River City, and you’d have the most popular event of the summer.

I’ve made this ice cream dish a few times for my family, and served it most recently at Easter.  It was unanimous – everyone loved this amazing combination of lemon and ginger. And if you’re concerned about the calories, you could always replace the vanilla ice cream with vanilla frozen yogurt – and host the first-ever frozen yogurt social!

Lemon-Ginger Ice Cream Dessert

(adapted from Sugar Hero)

For the crust:

1 1/2 cups gingersnap crumbs (crushed from ginger cookies)

4 1/2 Tbsp melted butter

1 Tbsp granulated sugar

1 tsp ground ginger

For the filling:

1/2 quart softened vanilla ice cream

4 ounces (1/2 cup) frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed

1/2 cup heavy (whipping) cream

Additional whipped cream, lemon zest, lemon slices and ginger cookies to garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line an 8” x 8” pan with parchment paper.

To prepare the crust, melt the butter then mix together with the gingersnap crumbs, sugar and ginger.  Press into prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool completely.

To make the filling, make sure that the vanilla ice cream is soft but not melted.  You should be able to stir it, but it shouldn’t be soupy.  Whip the heavy cream to firm peaks, then stir together the soft ice cream, the thawed lemonade concentrate, and the whipped cream.

Pour the lemon-vanilla ice cream mixture onto the cooled base.  Refreeze the dessert for at least another 2 hours, until the filling is frozen solid.

Remove dessert from the freezer ten minutes before serving, to give it time to soften slightly.  Garnish with lemon slices, lemon zest, ginger cookies and whipped cream, as desired.

Thursday's Child: Peterhof gardens, St Petersburg, Russia

The Grand Cascade

The calendar says spring, but the weather here still says winter.  What better time to reminisce about some of the gorgeous gardens we've seen?  And after I've written about these wonderful gardens for the next four weeks, I hope spring will have arrived for real.

Monplaisir Palace

The first garden I'm writing about this month is the elaborate complex at Peterhof Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia.  As impressive as the palace was, the gardens are what we remember.  Peter the Great had travelled to Versailles and, being amazed with what he saw, decided to build his own version.

Fountain depicting Samson opening the jaws of a lion

The Grand Cascade is directly behind and below the palace, and fulfilled Peter's dreams of designing gardens to rival those of Versailles.  The Cascade includes 60 fountains and 250 statues. The Samson Fountain is perhaps the greatest, and commemorates the Russian defeat of Sweden in the Great Northern War in the early eighteenth century.

Wooded areas of the Lower Garden

The number of fountains both in the Grand Cascade and throughout the property is amazing.  To mention just a few, they depict not just Samson, but also Adam and Eve, the tritons, Bacchus and Satyr, and a nymph.  Others include the Orangerie Fountain, Dragon Cascade, Pyramid Fountain and the Marly Cascade.  Peter loved the water and the sea, and it's no surprise that the property was full of canals, cascades and fountains, and that his favourite residence on the site, Monplaisir, sat next to the Gulf of Finland.

Adam's fountain

The trick fountains are one of the most entertaining features of Peterhof.  Unsuspecting guests might relax on the bench below, only to be sprayed with a sudden burst of water from a hidden fountain.  There were at least two other trick fountains that we saw (The Umbrella and the Oak fountain) that shoot water out when it's least expected.

Braving one of the trick fountains

Like so much of St. Petersburg, Peterhof and the gardens were badly damaged after the Second World War.  It was only because of an enormous volunteer effort by the citizens of Russia that the estate was restored so beautifully.  And in a city that's home to stunning palaces, world-renowned art and a breathtaking church, the gardens hold their own as a gorgeous place to visit -- designed by a tsar and updated by his heirs, but now belonging to the people.

Easter weekend

It's Easter weekend and the house is full of family.  My oldest daughter is home from university and my mom drove in this morning.  Tomorrow, my sister and her family will be helping us celebrate.  We'll have an egg hunt, just as we have every year since the girls were born.  My youngest daughter was about eight months old the first year she participated.  She wasn't sure what those colourful objects were, but she sure loved putting them in her mouth to check them out!  And I'll never forget the year my oldest daughter dressed as the Easter Bunny to meet my mother when she arrived.  She lovingly crafted ears, feet and a tail out of construction paper and hopped to the front door when the doorbell rang.  She was pleased that her grandmother loved the costume, but a little surprised that she didn't mistake her for the actual Easter Bunny.

Many of us will be eating a big Easter meal this weekend, so let me present a lighter alternative in case you're feeling full.  I fell in love with this recipe the minute I saw it posted on Joanne's marvellously entertaining blog, Eats Well With Others.  Once the peppers are roasted it's ready in no time - a perfect meal to serve when your whole family is home.

Pizza Rustica Pasta

(adapted from Eats Well With Others) 

2 medium red bell peppers

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided

1 lb swiss chard, trimmed and thinly sliced

2 tsp minced garlic

12 ounces mushrooms, chopped

8 ounces part-skim ricotta cheese

2 ounces gruyere, shredded

1 ounce parmesan cheese, grated

1 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme

1/2 tsp kosher salt

freshly ground pepper

10 ounces whole wheat fettuccine or spaghetti

Cut the bell peppers in half lengthwise and discard the seeds and membranes.  Place pepper halves skin-side up on a foil-lined baking sheet and flatten with your hands.  Broil until charred and black on the outsides.  Place into a closed container for 5 minutes.  Peel skin off and discard.  Coarsely chop pepper flesh.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Add 1 Tbsp oil and swirl to coat the pan.  Add chard to the pan and cook for 1 minute or until wilted.  Place chard and bell peppers in a large bowl.  Add the remaining tablespoon oil, then add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.  Add mushrooms and cook for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until cooked through and soft.  Add to the vegetable mixture along with the ricotta, gruyere, parmesan, thyme, salt and pepper.  Stir to combine.

Cook pasta to desired consistency according to package directions, reserving 1 cup pasta water.  Drain pasta and toss with vegetable/cheese mixture, adding half of the reserved water.  Stir to combine and add more water as needed to create desired sauce consistency.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Brown Butter blondies with Skor Bar chunks

I was planning to make these wonderful blondies sometime this weekend anyhow.  But my youngest daughter and her best friend came over after school on Friday dying to do some baking, so they made them instead. 

I fell in love with this recipe the first time I tried it.  The brown butter, the chocolate and the toffee flavor combined to make them really special.  Liz’s original recipe, on the wonderful blog That Skinny Chick Can Bake, called for Heath bars.  Since we can’t get those in Canada, I substituted Skor bars.  Either way, they’re fantastic – one of the best new recipes I’ve tried recently.

Maybe you’ve noticed that I haven’t been posting as many recipes for sweets lately.  There are a few reasons for that, but one is that my husband is trying to stay away from desserts, and I’m attempting to make that easier by not baking too often.  But he’s out of town this weekend and we took full advantage by making these blondies.  Andrew, if you’re reading this from Florida, I promise these will be gone by the time you get back home.

Brown Butter Blondies with Skor Bar chunks

(adapted from That Skinny Chick Can Bake)

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup Skor (or Heath) bar chunks – two bars cut up

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line 8 x 8” pan with foil or parchment paper.

To brown the butter, melt it in saucepan over medium heat and continue cooking, swirling pan occasionally, till it just turns brown and smells nutty.

Combine brown butter and brown sugar.  Beat for a couple of minutes until well combined, then add egg and beat until batter is smooth.  Mix in vanilla.  Mix in flour, salt and baking soda and stir until just combined.  Fold in Skor bar chunks and chocolate chips.  Bake for 20 – 25 minutes.  Cool, then cut into bars to serve.