Mitchell and I have spent the past week hanging out in Williamsburg with three of my best friends from college - Elizabeth, Abby and Dora, and their husbands when they wanted to join the fun! It was a heavenly R & R for me. Good food, catching up on the news, a wine tasting (of course), a bit of shopping, and a lovely concert.
Elizabeth's husband is an excellent drummer and they journey nearly every year to Williamsburg so he can attend a week of "adult band camp" that ends with a concert by the Williamsburg Consort. It leaves her pretty much alone in a hotel or wandering by herself for five days, so we decided to piggy back a week of vacation and play, too. Dora and Abby live in Williamsburg, so the rest of was easy.
But what caught my eye and I wanted to share with you was a darling kitchen garden - literally! - outside the kitchen of a lovely little Thai restaurant.
At the back door of the restaurant and surrounded by parking spaces is a lovingly attended herb garden. It is filled with basil "bushes" and unknown - but I will bet firey hot - peppers, lemon grass and even two persimmon trees - one full of green persimmons. A passing "regular" told me in all seriousness that they are the best persimmons in town ("Even better than mine", he said enviously. "I don't know what she does differently.") There are tomatoes tucked here and there and roses around the edges.
When we arrived a lady was cutting a handful of peppers and other seasonings, and when we left a second was doing the same. I couldn't help but think that the women and cooks who lived here in Colonial Times, would be very happy to know the Thai ladies are continuing the kitchen garden tradition.
Lunch was good, too!
I would love to have a sunny spot for a kitchen garden. I have a few herbs strewn hither and there through the yard, but I would love to have it more readily available. I haven't been to Williamsburg in a couple of decades, but I always enjoyed walking around.
ReplyDeleteI'd like a similar kitchen garden, but don't have a suitable spot "right" outside the door. It's another on that long list of "after I retire" things that need doing. We do grow tomatoes right smack dab in the middle of the back yard, so that space could easily be made into a kitchen garden. I hope to grow more of our "eats" then anyway.
ReplyDeleteI think that list is into the 2,000's now! Oh, williamsburg is wonderful in September. it might be my favorite month - tourists are gone, students are back, and the world feels right.
There's nothing like just popping outside to harvest dinner :-).
ReplyDeleteWould love to visit Williamsburg sometime, if I ever get "back east".
If you do get "back east", you must promise two days in Richmond, too. I know the perfect place with an extra room and bath...
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