Have you ever had nime chow? Fresh Vietnamese spring rolls usually containing lettuce, thai basil, rice noodles, bean sprouts and shrimp – one of my family’s favorites when we eat out.
We’ve also made them at home, and they’re so easy, we should do it more often.
For this version, I was, frankly, inspired by the pea pods in our garden buckets.
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I’ve been looking forward to these gardens since early last year when Bill and I started talking about them.
The Three Sisters are part of Native American history, story, and gardens. They are Corn – the eldest who always stands tall and straight, Squash – who covers the ground and protects her other sisters, and Beans – whose intertwining vines weave the three together. The three are inseparable, three parts of a whole, and should always be planted together.
So that’s what we’re doing.
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Spinach that lived through the winter (such as it was) and started growing again a couple of weeks ago. I harvested those leaves last week, and we’re nearly up to another salad’s worth.
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Just tomatoes – not our cats. Or kid.
Bill repotted and divided up the tomato seedlings and brought a bunch of them in to work to hand out to some of his coworkers who garden. Look how big they are! And after today (showers and fifties), weather’s supposed to be in the 60s and 70s for the next week! And 40s and 50s at night. Yay!
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March came in wildly this year. Not so much like a lion, more like a polar bear. We’ve had such a mild winter it was a bit of a shock to get hit with some ground-covering snow Tuesday night and into Wednesday. Okay, I guess technically that was still February, but the snow stuck around all through yesterday and we got another dusting over night. It’s melting today, and tomorrow we get rain, but still…never ever become complacent when it’s winter in New England.
That said, we’ve got seedlings coming up inside, particularly the butternut/futsu hybrid squash plants that Bill planted just to see if they were viable. They certainly were – and continue to thrive. Bill keeps saying “well, if they live we’ll plant them outside.”
I think they’re living.
I took one of the plants out and set it on a windowsill so the snow out front would make the background for this tough little plant.
For the banner, I played around with contrast and brightness and saturation to bring out the green in the leaves and the purple in the snow.
And look – there, in the middle, where the stalk splits.
That looks like a blossom to me, with another one up to the left a bit.
A squash blossom. At the end of February.
You grow, little squash plant!
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We took a little road trip today to Wetherfield, CT to visit Comstock, Ferre & Co. to buy heirloom seeds for this year’s gardens.
We’ve wanted to go for a while now, and I’m so glad we went!
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We had salad for dinner last night.
All four of us.
Salad and some leftover rice Bill had made the other night.
That’s all.
And everybody loved the meal.
I feel like I need to say “even the kids,” except that I don’t have that problem, for the most part. My kids like their vegetables. Most of their vegetables, anyway. Enough so that if they dislike one or two, I don’t worry about it.
I know. I’m lucky.
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These are seedlings from one of the rogue squash hybrids that showed up in our yard last year. They were a blend of butternut and black futsu, and Bill wasn’t sure if the seeds would be viable.
They are! So we’ll be planting some this year, along with more butternut and perhaps a new winter squash variety.
I love this planning time of year.
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A tomatillo husk.
Bill’s been closing down parts of our gardens in preparation for the colder weather. He’s harvested the last tomatillos, the last peppers, the last eggplants…
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I just put up a new banner for this month.
Finally.
It went through several incarnations, but I knew I wanted to include images of yesterday’s harvest.
September is a big transition month, I think, garden-wise. Lots of harvesting, lots of clearing out and preparing for the winter and the following spring.
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The post title is solely for my sister, with whom I had this IM conversation this morning (we were each watching the news on Irene in our respective homes):
Her: did you hear that doom and gloom Today show music? geeeeez
Me: noooooo. didn't hear it, or i just wasn't paying attention
Her: good god.
that was enough to scare anybody
Me: they are all talking like they're at a funeral
Her: i know..
i hate the term "hunker down"
Me: hahahahahaha
i actually like it.
Her: figures
hunker?
Me: makes me think of not having to go anywhere and being snug with plenty of food and something good to read.
Her: what does it mean?
Me: i don't know.
i think it means "don't go anywhere and be snug with plenty of food and something good to read."
along the lines of "batten down the hatches"
Her:
hunk·erVerb/ˈhəNGkər/
1. Squat or crouch down low: "he hunkered down beside her".
2. Take shelter in a defensive position: "hunker down and let it blow over".
Me:
well there you go.
Her:
but can you use the word "hunker" alone? or does it have to be with "down"
Me:
i don't know.
you should give it a try today and see if people look at you funny.
Her:
what if I hunker up?
Me:
hahahaha
brb, i have to cook bill some eggs
Her:
ok
Me:
i'm back. just before i went upstairs, some reporter said "everyone is hunkering down" and i burst out laughing and everyone just looked at me.
Her:
hahaha i heard that
not you, him
Me:
hahaha
~~~~~~~
Well, in terms of hunkering down, yesterday we picked up the yard and put potential flying missiles in the garage. We also picked a ton of tomatoes – red and green – because we don’t want them getting smashed by the heavy wind and rain tomorrow.
Then we did a bunch of cooking.
I prepped tomatoes and onions for a relish I’ll be canning later today.
So pretty! And we grew EVERYTHING in that bowl. Tomatoes (red, green, and white), and onions (white and red/purple).
I salted all of that, covered it with plastic and put it aside to sit overnight.
Bill worked on a HUGE batch of veggie burgers. We picked up some zucchini and yellow squash at the farmers’ market in the morning; enough for 7 batches, which will give us about 35-40 burgers to pack away.
After sauteeing everything, Bill added in some shredded cheese, eggs, and oatmeal. The whole mess is in a huge bowl in the fridge. Today he’ll shape it into patties and cook them all. Then we’ll freeze them, and we’ll have a whole bunch of future meals ready to go.
I love the fact that my kids LOVE veggie burgers – especially the ones Bill makes.
Another cool thing is that this summer their tolerance for heat has increased.
We love hot and spicy food, Bill and I. Julia likes to occasionally show how tough she is by eating something we’re eating, but only when she’s sort of competing with Alex. (Never mind sports, we compete with chili peppers here.)
But a few weeks ago Bill made a red Thai curry and both kids LOVED it. We’ve been making fresh salsa with the tomatoes, onions, and jalapenos from the garden, and both kids love that, too.
This is AWESOME.
Yesterday Bill picked some ripe tomatillos, and I made a fabulous salsa with them.
And – again – both kids LOVED it.
Oh, and we also got two huge, beautiful eggplants at the farmers’ market:
The one on the left weighed over two pounds.
I made a double batch of eggplant parmesan with them and a vat of tomato sauce I’d simmered for most of the day. The kids loved that, too.
~~~~~
I’ve come to the conclusion that our kids can pretty much do whatever they want in life – teach, play instruments, become professional athletes, rob banks, run for office – anything, and as long as they continue to be adventurous about eating, we’ll always be proud of them.
~~~~~
And that’s where we are at this moment.
The calm before the storm, in whatever form Irene takes by the time she arrives.
OH – one more thing. Yesterday I invented a term:
Hurricaniacs: The people who go crazy buying up all the water, bread and milk and batteries in preparation for a hurricane, leaving nothing behind for people who have actually and legitimately run out of something.
Gotta go now. I want to finish the laundry, just in case we lose power for more than a day.
Are you in Irene’s path? How have you fared (if you’ve already been hit), and how are you hunkering down, if you’re still, like me, waiting.
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For a change, I decided to use the 10x macro lens this morning. I also used an “auto enhance” feature in my photo editing software. I told myself I’d just hit the “auto enhance” button and whatever the software decided, that’s what I would post. So here we go.
I was going to tell you what everything is…but I changed my mind. Any guesses?
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We were hacking our way through the jungle this morning and made an exciting discovery…
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Bill and I just took our morning perambulation around the gardens, and I brought my camera. Maybe it’s because of this morning’s earlier brief post, but I felt like taking pictures of any flowers currently in bloom, both on vegetable plants and on plain ol’ flowering plants.
I also took a few shots of other things…dew drops…assorted bug life (and death)…bird poop. But mostly flowers.
No more words now…just the pictures….
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My sister gave us several sunflower seedlings a while back, and I think both my kids had brought home little sunflowers in plastic pots toward the end of the school year.
Bill planted them all in various spots around the yard – mainly in places where they wouldn’t shade out the important stuff – the vegetables – and we’ve been watching the sunflowers get taller and taller and taller.
I noticed this one yesterday while we were dealing with the wood pile. Must have just bloomed because you can see that some of the petals still haven’t finished unfurling. I really like this rust-colored one a lot. I’m hoping there are more around that just haven’t bloomed yet.
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Okra!
We’ve never grown it before, so I had no idea what to look for in terms of the actual ripening fruit. But here’s what it looks like. Pretty interesting, no?
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For the last several springs now we’ve had the fun of discovering tomato seedlings popping up in the darndest places. Sprung from seeds dropped last year, either by tomatoes that rotted off the vine or from seeds that ended up in compost, we’ve been finding yellow pear, cherry and – best of all – brandywine tomatoes.
We also get cilantro/coriander and dill showing up in unexpected spots – another bonus.
THIS year, however, we’ve got the biggest rogue ever.
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Bill and I were outside a little while ago checking out the back forty (haha), and we came across these little things dangling from one of the potato plants.
We haven’t been growing potatoes for very long (last year was our first year), so we had no idea what these things might be.
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We took a walk around the garden this morning. Haven’t done that in over a week, and we wanted to see how things were doing.
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Regularly scheduled posting will resume shortly. (The rest of the bacon-related posts.)
For now…a few shots I took the other morning, during the whole overnight smoked pork butt and other food-making extravaganza.
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Most of yesterday is a blur.
I’d had great plans to continue posting about the whole overnight pulled pork adventure, but it got harder for me to form coherent thoughts after a while, and so I gave up.
Bill got up around five thirty and made coffee, and I went downstairs to sit on the couch – just to get off my feet for a little bit – he brought me a big mug of coffee, and I fell asleep without even taking a sip.
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When I asked Alex what he wanted besides ribs for his birthday dinner, he asked for curly french fries (I bought them frozen and then totally forgot to bake them that night. Ah well – we had them at lunch the next day.) and some cole slaw “so you and Daddy have something that you won’t have to share.” He’s not a fan of slaw – particularly any mayo-based versions. But that’s okay – it was his birthday. I wasn’t about to force anything on him. And I knew his main focus would be the ribs anyway.
So I decided to make a slaw using whatever we could to pull from the garden.
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Years ago I used to watch CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt. (He wasn’t at my house watching it – he was the host.) I loved the show for its varied stories – long pieces, compared to sound bites on news programs. The show was always interesting, informative, sometimes fun, sometimes sad. There were reviews, done by that guy whose name I can’t think of at the moment – I loved his way with words, though…and then, for the last few minutes of the program, there was silence.
Well, an absence of human voices, which is about the same thing, in my opinion.
The camera would pan across a vast prairie, for instance, and all you would hear would be the rush of the wind…distant birds…the ssshhhhhhhhhh of leaves. Such a lovely, peaceful way to close a program.
I don’t have audio, so there are no sounds of nature for you…but here are some pictures from my gardens…and I’ll shut up now, too.
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Baby Bella Mushrooms stuffed with Ricotta, Fresh Herbs, and More Mushrooms.
I love being able to throw together dishes like these. I have no real recipes for any of them; no measurements, quantities or times. I just had a garden, a recent trip to the Farmers market, some homemade cheeses, and a few other ingredients – mostly local. And a hungry family.
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Those (above) are blossoms on one of our potato plants. I’m very excited about our potatoes this year – several varieties and they’re growing well.
I’m posting the pictures I took this morning as Bill and I walked around the yard and looked at what’s growing. We do this on weekend mornings right now, and once school lets out, it will become part of our nearly-daily morning routine.
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I think these have become my favorite flower.
Irises used to be my favorites, and I still love them…but these peonies have climbed a little higher over the years.
These peonies in particular. We’ve got these, and we’ve got dark pink ones that have slightly smaller blossoms. Both had grown in Bill’s mom’s yard, and when she passed away, they were among the plants we brought to our gardens.
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Remember the other day when I showed you the pretty pink blossoms on our Blue Podded Blauschokker pea plants?
Well I’ve had a couple more surprises since then.
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The what??
The Blue Podded Blauwschokkers!
I have to slow myself down and sound out that last word, so don’t feel bad if you do, too….
Continue reading "The Blue Podded Blauwschokkers are Blooming!" »
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That picture was taken on Thursday – the 19th. I didn’t pick it then because the underside was still white. But still – a red strawberry! May 19th!
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Last night we had, in addition to some scrod and rice, a great big salad.
Most of that salad came from the garden, which makes it even better.
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We’re able to get free compost from the town. Last week Bill nearly filled up the truck bed with gorgeous, dark compost. Most of it is out, but there’s still some that needs to be removed.
Julia likes to help.
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Over the weekend, Bill and the kids and I went to Gillette's Home & Garden Agway, in Exeter, RI to get some stuff for the gardens. (We used to just call it “Agway,” but I think in recent years it was bought by the Gillette people.)
Among other things, we got seed potatoes.
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Just ran outside and took a picture of the first crocuses. They first bloomed a few days ago, but it was raining, so no picture that day.
So it’s March. Nearly halfway through. I haven’t done a whole lot of interesting (to me) cooking or baking, or, more importantly, a lot of photographing of cooking and baking, so in that department…I got nuthin.
But I did start brining some brisket, transforming it into delicious corned beef.
It has to brine for 8 days, which will take us a bit past St. Patrick’s day, but for us it’s not so much about the date or being Irish (I’m not, and if Bill is, it’s only a smidgen) – it’s about Hey! We should make some corned beef!
A few years ago I blogged about the whole process. We had a big Corned Beef dinner, which included both home-brined and store-bought Corned Beef, the requisite vegetables, and a couple of Irish breads, and some condiments for the meat. I followed the whole thing up with some excellent (if I do say so myself) corned beef hash a few mornings later.
You can read about everything that went into the meal here, and how I make corned beef hash over here.
And Bruce Aidell’s Corned Beef recipe (which is the one I followed) can be found right here.
I know it’s a bit late to get started if you want to be eating the Corned Beef dinner on the 17th, but there’s no law that says that’s the only day you can eat the meal. If you’re feeling adventurous, give this recipe a try, and, if you’re really feeling adventurous (and hungry), get some pre-brined corned beef at the store, boil them both, and compare the flavors. Just for fun.
What else is going on…
That’s spinach.
Spinach that survived outside in the winter garden and gave us these lovely leaves for a salad the other night.
Pretty cool, huh?
And speaking of gardening, Bill and the kids planted all kinds of things outside today.
Broccoli rabe in these spots:
And in the very back garden…
Cilantro, mustard spinach, scallions, mizuna, shallots, pac choi, tatsoi, swiss chard, spinacio, wild arugula, carrots, radishes, arugula, lettuce, and marche.
Didn’t need to plant parsley – it survived the winter!
Didn’t need to plant kale – it also seems to have survived, so we’ll see.
And Bill moved the cippollini onions into one of the winter gardens for now. They’re still in their little peat pellet things, but they’ll be a touch warmer this way, and we’re planning to leave them outside from now on. Eventually (when we build another one or two raised beds) they’ll be separated and replanted in a more permanent spot. But for now, they’ll hang out here.
The broccoli is also going to stay outside now, too.
AND, in the tray where the onions used to be, Bill’s going to start impatiens (they’re flowers that like shade) for the shaded side of our yard. They do well there.
Indoors, the Spring Cleaning Bug bit me hard recently, along with the Green Bug. So, instead of actually cooking anything recently, I’ve been mixing up a bunch of eco- and economically – friendly cleaning products. The recipes I used are right here, at one of my current favorite websites, Chickens in the Road. You should check it out. Not just for the cleaning products, either. There’s so much more.
And then I started cleaning. Yesterday I cleaned the downstairs bathroom – from top to bottom, including the curtains and the shower curtain.
By the end of two hours, that room sparkled blindingly. Yes. Two hours. I sprayed and wiped and cleaned and scrubbed. I washed the floor by hand, with a sponge.
It felt good.
Today I repeated the process with our upstairs bathroom.
And after cleaning the bathrooms so thoroughly, I just have this to say.
Men are gross.
There, I said it. For a gender so overwhelmingly obsessed with sports (that involve, mostly, aiming at something), and shooting things, it’s amazing how out of control they are when simply aiming a short distance.
I don’t pretend to understand.
I just wish I didn’t have to clean up after it.
And that’s all I’ve got for today.
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…now that MOST of the snow has finally melted.
(And I know, I need to change the polish on my toe nails. I will, I will.)
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Want to take a peek inside the winter gardens?
Here’s a new post for you….
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Photo inspired by a bit of my morning reading - here. These came from our asparagus bed, which grows wider every year. I picked them yesterday, and I plan to pick a few more today and tomorrow, as they become tall enough. Favorite way to cook asparagus? Actually, there are two: either tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper and grilled on our charcoal grill...or sauteed in a pan with a little butter, little lemon juice, salt and pepper. Yum.
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It's finally starting to feel like October, temperature-wise (80 degree weather does NOT, in my opinion, belong in October. Glad THAT's over.) and so yesterday Bill picked some more herbs and I packed them in oil and froze them, like I talked about in this post a while back. This time I added oregano, chives, tarragon and thai basil to the collection in the freezer, along with some more sage and basil, because we just have so much of them.
Bill also pulled the cilantro plants, which had ceased looking like cilantro and had transformed into seed-bearing coriander plants, like so:
While he and the kids pulled up the strawberry bed (we need to put them in a better spot next year - they just haven't been doing well where they were.) I picked all the little seeds off the coriander plants.
This was not as tedious as it may sound - it was kind of relaxing, actually. No thinking involved. Just picking the seeds....
I've left them in a bowl to finish drying out, and then we'll put them in a jar with the other herbs and spices and use them for spice mixtures and rubs throughout the winter.
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This past Saturday morning we got together with friends of ours to go to The Southern New England Giant Pumpkin Championship at Frerichs Farms in Warren, RI.
I've never been before but our friends went last year. It's very much a country fair, only on a smaller and single-themed scale. There were a few fun things for the kids to do, including a pony ride, and there was food. But most importantly, there was the 1,000 lb pumpkin drop.
That was at noon, so we made sure to arrive in time to watch this most exciting part of the event.
A crane was set up in a fenced off area and a big pumpkin was lifted way, way up high.
And then, the pumpkin was released,
And it fell down, down, down...
Until...
It smashed
And then the crowd cheered. Hooray! We've dropped a vegetable from a great height and it smashed! Yay!
Almost immediately, people rushed to examine the remains. Small children carried around chunks of pumpkin innards as souvenirs.
Later on, they held the weigh-off. First, they weighed the giant hubbard squashes. There weren't as many of those - it's a newer category, and there aren't as many brave hubbard squash obsessives growers out there. Yet. After the hubbards, they started in on the pumpkins.
After each vegetable was weighed, it was transported out of the competition ring and set off to the side, where children and their parents could pose for pictures with them.
Like this. (It was a very bright, hot, sunny day. Can't you tell?)
And where was Julia? See that orange, pumpkin-shaped cage way in the back, there? That's the pumpkin ride. When I heard there was a pumpkin ride, I thought kids would, you know, ride on the pumpkins. Um, no. It's a hayride in a big pumpkin frame, drawn by a tractor. Bill and Julia bravely took the ride.
They also, as I mentioned, had pony rides, which was probably the highlight of the day for my kids.
We stayed a couple of hours - but eventually the heat and overwhelming pumpkin-ness got to the kids and they both wanted to go home. So we did.
They ate some Halloween Dunkin Donuts Munchkins on the way home...
It was about a 45 minute ride.
And within twenty minutes...
And they were both out.
If you want to see all the pictures, they're posted here.
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© 2003-2012 Barefoot Kitchen Witch / Jayne Maker. All Rights Reserved. Please do not use any photos or text without written permission from the author.
