Eye on the sky

Keep your eye on the sky as today unfolds...

Weather Cooks Hadley Asparagus (Tart)

Asparagus at Amherst Farmstand (aka Hadley asparagus?!), Amherst MA
Photo by S. Vardatira, 5/15/2016

Weather Cooks entry by Marian -

Spring has arrived in the Happy Valley…lilacs are blooming and farmstands offer Hadley asparagus everywhere you drive!  Personally, my favorite way to enjoy asparagus is steamed and tossed in some butter with salt and pepper, although roasted is delicious, grilled is tasty, and I’ll confess to enjoying a few servings of decadent deep fried asparagus.  But maybe you feel inspired to experiment with something more…extraordinary? 

The recipe below is SO simple, it’s really worth the 5 ingredients and 5 easy steps.  It is absolutely elegant enough for a dinner party but so easy that you can make it any evening.  It’s delicious hot, warm, room temperature and even cold.  Enjoy!

Hadley Asparagus Tart

Flour, for work surface

1 sheet frozen puff pastry  (yes, use store bought, it’s delicious)
5 1/2 ounces (2 cups) Gruyere cheese, shredded
1 1/2 pounds medium or thick asparagus
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a floured surface, roll the puff pastry into a 16-by-10-inch rectangle and place it on a baking sheet.

With a sharp knife, lightly score pastry dough 1 inch in from the edges to mark a rectangle. Using a fork, pierce dough inside the markings at 1/2-inch intervals. This will create the edges of your “asparagus pool.” 

Bake until golden, about 15 minutes.

Remove pastry shell from oven, and sprinkle with cheese (gruyere or fontina works best). Trim the bottoms of the asparagus spears to fit crosswise inside the tart shell; arrange in a single layer over the cheese, alternating ends and tips.

Brush with oil, and season with salt and pepper. Bake until spears are tender, 20 to 25 minutes.

For more seasonal recipes, see our Weather Cooks Page...

Cumulus and steam at Yellowstone

Friend of Head in the Clouds Amherst, to be known as "smf," sent us this amazing photo of Yellowstone from her recent journey out west. Those are cumulus clouds in the sky (background), with steam rising off (I am now guessing) Grand Prismatic Hot Spring. Thanks so much for sending this our way!

Cumulus and Steam, Yellowstone National Park,Wyoming
Photo by SMF, Spring 2016

Cloudspotting a Red Tailed Hawk

Red Tailed Hawk looking back, Hadley MA
Photo by S. Vardatira, 5/14/2016

Late afternoon cloudspotting drive, crossed paths with this red tailed hawk swooping across the sky and then alighting roadside. About 100 feet away, I exited my car and approached by foot. And got closer. And closer. And closer. Stopped at about 8 feet away because, well, talons and beak. Still, s/he seemed completely unperturbed by my presence and the camera.

Also enjoyed some amazing cloud vistas.

Sky ahead of front, looking west from Amherst MA
(Cumulus, altostratus, cirrus - maybe also cirrostratus or altocumulus?)
Photo by S. Vardatira, 5/14/2016

Lilacs now in the dooryard bloom

If only I could somehow post the scent of lilacs to this blog....

Lilacs Bloom - North Amherst MA
Photo by S. Vardatira, 5/11/2016

Clouds Calling

Truly, I was having a hard time looking anywhere but up today. The clouds were calling...

Clouds on the move (Light and Dark)

Providing a counterpoint to Amherst's annual UMass graduation frenzy (yes, this is that weekend!), we offer up 'Light & Dark’, a calm-inducing 50 second cloud video by Hong Hu, from Singapore. Here in Amherst, we've got a uniform gray sky without variation (stratus clouds, if you are keeping track). Just dreary.


Cloudspotting #001 / Light & Dark from Hong Hu on Vimeo.

Click here if the video does not display automatically:
https://vimeo.com/152128989