Assateague Island National Seashore

When a good friend who, since you've known her, has lived as close by as Southern California, and as far away as South Africa, moves to your very same coast, you get a little giddy. Although she had moved to North Carolina and I was in Connecticut, I was able to convince her to drive up for a visit. If you know your North American geography or have access to a map, you know that that's still a long ass way. So last weekend we split the difference, which turned out to be Assateague Island, a barrier island off Maryland's coast, known for its wild horses. I didn't care much about where we met, I just wanted to see Jen and camp.

So it was a pleasant surprise that Assateague Island was a very interesting place. I figured the wild horses would be like moose in northern forests: you get all excited when you see the yellow moose crossing highway signs, and then, bupkus. Not so! We saw our first band within a mile after entering the park, and frequently thereafter. On the bike trail:

There was a lot of wildlife in general. White-tailed deer, elk-like sikas, and itty bitty wabbits wandered through our campsite, and from our bikes we saw egrets, herons, and pipers. And whenever the wind died down, which was most of the time, legions of ravenous mosquitoes, wholly unimpressed by the DEET we applied with regularity. Jen's amazing photo of an egret taking off:


You can't have horses without lots of processed saltmeadow hay and beach grass:

Sorry to end with a picture of poop. This made me think of my colleagues, who are endlessly trying to find the flower (or in this case, the delicious mushrooms!) in life's manure. Does that make it any better?

Tibetan Flatbread

Sorry Jacques, I have to share this recipe, because it's so nice to have fresh bread in the summer without having to turn on your oven.

Tibetan Flatbread (from More Fast Food My Way by Jacques Pepin)
1.5 c all purpose flour
1 t baking powder
.25 t salt
1 c water, plus about 2 T more for steaming the bread
1 T olive oil

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Add the 1 c water and mix together with a sturdy rubber spatula to create a thick, gooey dough.

Spread the oil in a cold 12-inch nonstick skillet. Add the dough to the skillet. Dip the spatula into the oil in the skillet and use it to press on the dough to flatten it in the skillet (the oil will prevent the dough from sticking to the spatula). Add the 2 T water to create a bit of steam and get the bread cooking. Cover and place over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes. The water should be gone and the dough should be frying at this point. Reduce the heat and, using a fork (I used a spatula), turn the bread over. Cover and cook for another 5 minutes. Uncover and set aside to cool a little in the skillet. Cut into wedges and serve.

Okra Flower Glamour Shot

Isn't it pretty? Who knew that the humble okra had such a delicate little flower. And it only sticks around for a few hours, and then wilts and drops to the ground.

Monadnock is for Suckers

OK, maybe that title was just to get your attention. Or perhaps a wee bit of sour grapes. We spent a recent jolly weekend at Greenfield State Park in New Hampshire. Never heard of Greenfield State Park, you say? It's lovely, but perhaps more importantly, it's within 20 miles of Mt. Monadnock and had campsites less than a week prior, when we actually got our act together to make plans. We met Tracy B., formerly of our front stoop, now of Somerville, Mass. She proposed a hike up the Pumpelly trail to the summit of Monadnock, thus avoiding the ant-like procession of people up the trail from the park. In the end, we wisely avoided the summit altogether, because for the entire time Mt. Monadnock was in our view, it was covered with people. Plus, we were tired. Work smarter, not harder. Intrepid hikers:
Mountain Laurel along the trail, which seems more legit than the bigger white variety in our backyard:
We had one of those charmed camping weekends where the rain holds off until just after dark when we'd just finished our dinner Saturday night, and stopped before we woke up Sunday. Unfortunately, it being dark, I neglected to notice that my hiking boots were outside the tent. You know what that means: boot slugs! Aaaaagh! The very most treacherous kind of slug:
Sunday morning, an owl flew right through our site, and hung out on this perch for the longest time:
After we broke camp, we stopped by Monadnock Berry Farm on our way home, and loaded up on New Hampshire raspberries.