kthread / Kristen Taylor

the unexpected garnish

My friend Kevin was in Miami this week for a Knight Foundation event, and his order during a working lunch with Mayur and Jess arrived with a surprising garnish, perhaps to anchor the plate’s portion in the patio gusts:

Saturday morning I was similarly surprised at the last Coral Gables market; a new favorite orchid with markings like a tally sheet on some petals, scatterplots on others,

I wondered at the line of classic cars,

animals,

and this duck I applauded for owning the exaggerated tuft—that might, as a friend suggested, look slightly like the height of my hair in this picture.

Children cartwheeled to the steel drums,

samples from area restaurants waited at tables,

and I visited my favorite farmer (two bunches of rainbow chard, one bunch of purple haze carrots—and cauliflower greens and a tomato at his insistence) before picking up this week’s CSA farm box from Bee Heaven Farms. Watch for the extraordinary daikon radish greens:

In the afternoon, I went over to Mayur’s lovely new apartment building to puzzle through simple furniture instructions along with Kevin and Jess. They explain our success:

that we toasted to on the roof with a blue, blue pool that matched the cream cheese icing of Jess’s wonderful cupcakes with chocolate chips and blue sugar sprinkles that looked like stained glass.

And I looked into the pools of water around the Magic Cottage this afternoon as the branches dipped in the rainstorms, leaving water plants shiny and happy, the way I felt all this weekend,

and little lily pads, garnished with drops, floated gently near each other and into the week…

More images and videos in the Flickr set.

Mica :
March 29th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Even the waterfowl are better in Miami. I get excited about any duck, but one with such a fabulous ‘do really made my day!
Kristen :
March 29th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Mica, as you are a VIP commenter, I will now make special efforts to find ducks for posts here. And you’ll have to go back to Molly’s Cupcakes for more of that goodness. My treat when I visit you up there, love that place—
John Jackson :
March 30th, 2009 at 12:46 am
The shiny happiness of your flora now reverberates behind the glass of my laptop screen. =)
alist :
March 30th, 2009 at 1:23 am
hiiii kevinnnnn! hiiiii @kthreadddd! :P
Jessica:
March 30th, 2009 at 4:44 am
Wow! The farm box this week was a particular champ :) In fact, it was almost as champ-y as that duck’s pompadour!
Kristen :
March 30th, 2009 at 4:56 am
John, so happy to hear that :)

Alice, helloooooooo!

Jessica, I need some help with the all the farm box goodness, may send some things along to your kitchen— (and you are so right on the duck’s hairstyle. Maybe we should name him Morrissey.)