Daffodils, That come before the swallow dares, and take The winds of March with beauty.

William Shakespeare (The Winter’s Tale)

No, my daffodils are not blooming in Maine this week. But I couldn’t resist using this picture from an early group of blooms last year to herald the beginning of spring this year. It has been a difficult winter for us, with plenty of cold, dampness, and ice along with a month of mud to walk in and track through the house. As the winds begin to dry up all the water left by melting snow and ice, it has become possible to walk the driveway now without as much danger of falling, and with daylight savings time it is light enough to see our way. Don and I have been walking down our long driveway to the road to get the mail several nights before supper this week and it feels good to resume this habit. The greenhouse is blooming with Johnny Jump Ups and bulbs are pushing up through the soil in our yard, even as it is defrosting. It is mud season, the season of transition to spring, and I have hope that good things will happen.

This week in cooking

A sprouting broccoli plant surprises us–

This large plant sat in the greenhouse all winter looking exactly like a weed gone out of control. It sat there through below zero temperatures and did absolutely nothing. But come March, out came all these sprouts. To our surprise, the plant needed a period of very low temperatures to begin to sprout. The sprouts are tender and sweet and much like the side shoots of a regular broccoli plant. They were delicious raw in a salad as well as slightly cooked with some garlic in olive oil as I did last night. The salmon recipe you will see is very interesting and it is not my own. A fellow writer on Medium, Dr. David Mokotoff wrote the recipe in a story you can read here. The Salmon with LIme and 5 Spice Powder is delicious.

Get the recipe here

In Writing This Week