horseradish for free

This evening, after visiting my garden and the 4 foot high weeds, I have decided to inventory all the plants (minus weeds) that are growing in no particular order. This is mostly to help me next year in planting less, I hope.

Garden Inventory:

tomatoes (about 42 plants, about 10 varieties - too many yellow)
green chiles (about 20 plants - don't need more plants, just fertilizenext year)
poblano chiles
jalepenos
red bell peppers
green bell peppers
hungarian peppers (which happen to be very hot)
collard greens
broccoli
broccoli rabe (mistakenly mis-tagged - lucky me)
brussel sprouts
eggplant
swiss chard
arugula
red leaf lettuce
green leaf lettuce
butter lettuce
leeks (there were supposed to be scallions too, but they are all leeks - about 60 of them!)
shallots
onions
acorn squash (three plants are taking over 1/2 the garden - next year no squash, don't really like it enough to have bushel full)
cucumbers
sweet peas
pole beans - kentucky and italian flat
tomatillos (these are coming up from last year and once i realized it wasn't a weed I have let them grow - bonus as I saw no tomatillo plants for sale)
swiss chard
purple potato (missed one from last year and it grew again after over wintering)
horseradish (grew from neighbors garden roots after tilling now taking over garden where acorn squash isn't)
dill (from last year's seed)
radish (these were in my neighbors plot, but planted for both our use - but they didn't grow well)
zucchini (almost forgot that one, how could I)

basil

cilantro and bonus, now I have coriander as it bolted

I think that's it. I have a full perennial herb garden too, but that is a different post.

With today's broccoli harvest I made chicken divan ala my style - chicken dijon with chicken, broccoli, a chicken broth based creamy dijon wine sauce and parmesan cheese - yummo. Served over rice cooked in chicken broth and fresh herbs. I used a fine rice flour from the asian market (Indian isle) and it worked great for making a roux.
And of course fresh tomatoes (one brandywine and one yellow, I even peeled them this time) with olive oil, torn basil, chives, sea salt and loads of freshly ground black pepper. I eat this salad almost every day. Delish.

i'm out

procastination motion

Over the weekend I was at my Aunt's house sipping a margarita and visiting with family and upon leaving, guess what I saw on the kitchen shelf? That's right, a rooster pitcher. If you recall, the profile to the right of this blog has a little statement about rooster pitchers.

"For your birthday, your aunt gave you a maple syrup dispenser shaped like a rooster. Please write her a thank-you note:
Which end of the rooster does the maple syrup come out of? Chic-kens!!"

I saw that pitcher and started laughing. Well to answer my question the syrup is supposed to flow from the beak. I bet you were all dying to know.

I think it is a sign. Not sure what kind of sign, but I do smile everytime I think about it. Maybe I will knit a rooster hat for the winter.
My brother has started to raise pheasants, quail and chickens. I bet he would love a rooster hat.

On a different topic I seem to have this tomato canning avoidance system in me right now. I desperately need to can the tomatoes which are falling off the vines in my gardens, but feel like doing nothing about it. I think this is a result of being gone for 11 days. And the fact that I have to return a tank of gas in order to can and that is a pain.
I am in a procrastination mode. The eggplants are ready too. Think I will roast those and freeze them. I need to get out of this funk. You know the i'm broke and my house needs cleaning and the tomatoes are ripe all at the same time kind of funk.
I need to cook, something that I've never made before. Something spicy, something mood changing. Send ideas. Use garden veggies. Send lobster.

i'm out

chicken salad and root canals

Yesterday I had a root canal. We all know they are not fun, so I will skip the details.
Things you crave and want to eat right after a root canal but can't because your jaw can't open, you can't chew and you are still numb:

Chips and salsa
Nuts
Pizza
French bread ( I really need to find something to replace a crusty loaf of any bread)

What you can eat: gluten free (beginning to dislike those words already) mac and cheese.

Being a redhead, I wear off the normal shots they give you for numbing and pain in about 20 minutes, 1/2 hour tops. So they wisely gave me a numbing shot that should last for 8 hours and figured it might last 6 and sure enough, six hours later, I could feel again. Nothing like starting to unnumb right when they are getting down to the bottom of your root.

Ah happy gas.....

I have a bushel of garden tomatoes that need to learn how to can themselves.
I have been dining on fresh tomatoes, basil, and fresh mozzerella with a little olive oil, salt and pepper as well as fresh chives almost every night. Yummo!

What does chicken salad have to do with this blog today? Nothing, I made it for lunch with cashews, celery and dried cherries.

i'm out.

on a Sagittarian being domestic

Hum, everything you read about Sagittarians is basically me, I am uber Sag really. Except for one little thing. Domesticness. Is that a word even? For lack of a greater disposable income I have traded travel for domesticity. I still travel mind you, all the time, just not where I want to travel all the time and not out of the county nearly enough.

Today's domestic list:
Blanched and froze Swiss chard, broccoli, pole beans and collard greens (it's the southerner in me) and am about to can hot dilly beans and then while they are processing I will roast the dozens of green chiles that I have harvested from the garden. I am going to roast some jalapenos too as I have too many to eat in a timely fashion.
Tomatoes will have to wait. I tried to connect my beer burner to the propane supply and the hose won't fit. I was sold a lame propane tank that must be returned so that I can process tomatoes outside. This is so much nicer than heating your kitchen up in August and giving yourself steam baths.

I suppose having a garden in general is too grounding for most Sagittarians. And I have two. Hum, no, no Cancer moon, trust me. Taurus moon.

i'm out.

there are no sad polka dancers ...and zucchini

I spent Friday and Saturday in East Lansing at the Great Lakes Folk Festival. This fest is great as it is 2 miles away and free! Friday night I arrived in time to hit the dance tent when the polka band was playing. It is such happy music. Nobody is moody or teary eyed when polka is playing, in contrast to the Cape Breton celtic band who played on the main stage later that eve. They had great music too, but that style can bring out all sorts of emotions, wistful, longing, deep, dark sea moods as well as happy little jigs.

But polka...is always polka, fun, happy, goofy and full of laughter. Cajun is the same way, a walking party with music.

I mowed the lawn yesterday. I love a freshly mowed lawn. It has been so hot here lately that my lawn stopped growing. I am sure the lack of consistent rain helped too. Somehow, the weeds always manage to grow as they are so well adapted to their climate. So, really, I just mowed the weeds. Just the same, everything is the same height now.
I received news this morning, exciting news, that my privacy fence will be going up on Tuesday. Oh happy day!!!! To once again have privacy in my backyard will be so nice!!! I recently removed two very large and tall cotton wood trees from my backyard and several little trees that were along the fenceline with the cotton woods had to be removed too, as well as the chain link fence that was in place. So now my backyard opens up into the neighbors, a neighbor who has been very sullen about the tree removal repercussions. He is a renter with a dog and now has to actually pay attention to his dog so that the dog stays in his yard. His fence was removed too to make the tree removal easier as his yard opens up into a parking lot. So, for a month I have been looking into the parking lot of the two neighboring duplexes and incurring all the nasty looks of my neighbor. His dog is however, very content now. The neighboring landlords put up a new privacy fence this week and wow did that help. I gave him a bunch of garden tomatoes as a peace offering two days ago. He planted his tomatoes in the shade. They are about 1 foot high, with no blooms.

Ok, this blog is getting decidely boring. Time to change topics.

My garden is now producing faster than I can eat anything, so I am taking tomorrow off to can hot dilly beans (pickles), blanch and freeze beans, swiss chard and collard greens (love them! great in winter soups) and can and dry some more tomatoes.
I wonder if I could blanch and freeze zucchini? Do I really want zucchini that badly in winter? I made a point of only planting one zucchini plant this year and it still gives me more than I can use. Last year I spent a lot of time slicing it and putting it in the food dehydrator so I could put it in soups all winter.
Did I? No, not once. I still have dried zuc chips. I am thinking the squirrels might like them.

Somehow two cherry tomato plants ended up in my garden. I really dislike cherry tomatoes, they have no true flavor compared to a real tomato. I checked the tags I planted with them and sure enough, somebody switched them at the garden center as they are definitely not Roma's. Disappointing, but at least I have 6 other Roma plants and they all weren't cherry tomatoes. Here is a pic of last year's tomato harvest. I planted lots and lots of heirlooms. This year I cut back on the heirlooms as they are not really for canning and I can't eat them or give them away fast enough. But they are tasty and beautiful!



Did I mention that on Friday I made the best margarita I have ever tasted? I will post the recipe another day. The secret: key lime juice and great tequila.

i'm out

ode to beer

http://www.acme.com/heartmaker/



Cheers!

I'm out.

demise of beer consumption

First of all, blogger lost my post and this is what I have recovered. Next time it would be nice to know, that while doing maintance, that one should not post. I am in the process of making everything below readable. Patience, not one of my virtues (spelling either) but maybe one of yours....

I have decided that I must give up drinking home brewed beer and along with that, stop brewing the beer I drink. I have been down and out about it. Isn't it enough that I have to give up all normal breads, crackers, cookies? Apparently not says the upper intestine. I had been holding out hope that I as a celiac/gluten intolerant newbie, would be able to continue drinking beer, home brewed beer and micro brews based on this article:

http://www.mbaa.com/TechQuarterly/Abstracts/2005/TQ-42-0045.htm

I even gave a copy to my gastro doc to read and tell me what he thinks. Of course he said, (after reading the article) that based on the info in the article, he thought it might be okay to drink beer, if it is really filtered. Well, most homebrews and delicious micro brews are not that filtered and I have done a little experimenting and as I stated above, now believe that I will have to give them up. I still feel that I might be able to drink Pacifico (my Mexican fav) or maybe a Stroh’s (stroh’szac as I like to call it), but what I deem as regular beer, must go. Sure, you the reader are thinking, so what???? You can still drink rum, vodka, wine and hard cider. What you may not realize is that brewing and drinking homebrews is an enormous part of my social life.

This decision sucks. Really sucks.

However, I am going to try to brew some yummy gluten free beer and develop some great recipes. But the wind has temporarily left my sails. I am sure a breeze will come by again. I belong to not one, but two homebrew clubs and work part time at a brewery as a bartender. I could be happier if gluten free bread tasted ok or if I found a decent pizza dough replacement or if the whole world didn’t use soy sauce (second ingredient: wheat), but now the beer. If anyone has a great gluten free porter recipe please send it my way.

I haven’t really been too down and out about having to maintain a gluten free life as I feel much better when there is no gluten in my system, but the beer gods have knocked me down to the ground with this one. Training all my friends and family to think gluten free is a slow process. They have no incentive to do it unless I am around. I will have to have a traveling vodka/rum bottle to take with me to every backyard beer event. Or a six pack of hard cider. I will have to get cracking on making large quantities of that this fall.

I have known this blog was coming since last Saturday (day of experimental beer drinking) and have been holding back as once it is on paper or the internet, well, then it is a done deal.

Now, time to get on with my life and well, I do love mojitos….and a great bottle of wine. Guess I will live, well, even longer now minus the gluten.Since my basement is well stocked with beer, I think I will have a blowout backyard party (once the privacy fence is up, but that’s a different blog day) and have all my friends over to help me get rid of my beer stash. When they ask, what can I bring, the answer will be……RUM!!!

Grumpy ramblings shall end here and now...after all, it's Friday and ...what's that??? There's a mojito calling my name from the kitchen...

I'm out.

cooled couches

Why doesn't someone design a couch that has an internal chiller, like the SAAB car seats that heat up? Couch temps could be controlled, warm or cold. It seems to me that if I could sit on a chilled couch that I wouldn't need as much air conditioning and same in winter if my couch could heat up. Thus, cost and energy savings for all.

Someone will like the idea and market it soon.

Here is a pic of my garden, the one in my backyard. I have a community garden plot too, which is slightly weedier than the one pictured below.



Soon I will be unable to keep up with the tomatoes and canning will commence.

I am still searching for the best gluten free pizza dough (a mix or frozen or recipe), if anyone has suggestions, please send them my way. What I made last night....well let's just say, the toppings were tasty.

Hollandaise sauce: best possible use of eggs with the except of bearnaise sauce, which really is the same thing as hollandaise plus tarragon.

Feeling uninspired.....

Mariachis in Mexico

This was a photo taken on a train in Mexico. The Mariachi is the only one who hasn't been drinking tequila, but looks like he wants to. Random photoness.

Tuesdays are for Mojitos

Ok, so I never made my mojito last night. Truth be told, I hadn't really had but one cocktail since last Tuesday (I was under the weather enjoying the Noro virus while in Winnipeg and then inadvertently ate something with gluten in it, so the system was down for the count for 4.5 days) so decided, why not wait a night and go virtually a week without cocktailing?

The wait is over. Energy is back. Heat is scorching. Mojitos are refresco!

Thank goodness for central air!!!!! Those of you just stopping by this post should realize that most people in Lansing do not have air conditioning, why, I do not know as it is ALWAYS disgustingly hot and humid here in July and August. Up North, in goddess country, you don't really need AC, just a fan for those really hot days, which thanks to global warming, are going to increase, so just do yourselves a favor and go get central air installed in your houses. I love run on sentences, always have. Why am I in Lansing instead of goddess country? A job with retirement and beni's. Thought I would only be here two years. Going on 6.5 now. It does grow on you, Lansing, after about 4 years. I think you just give in. At least we have lots of Thai and Indian restaurants and the MSU Spartan sports.

Here is my friend Ragnar's mojito recipe. Check out her blog at www.domesticpiracy.blogspot.com She needs help weeding her garden. Every time I raid her mint patch (mojito heaven) I now pull twice as many weeds as sprigs of mint. I think that is fair, don't you?

Mojitos....simply the best thing to drink, ever.

Put 1/4 of a lime (sliced into several pieces) and 10-20 mint leaves (about three stalks worth) in the bottom of a tall glass (pint sized rather than hi-ball) and "muddle" them (that is to say "crush") until the limes have been juiced and the mint leaves are bruised. If you don't have a muddler you can use a wooden spoon. Then add approximately a jigger (3 ounces, or two shot glasses) each of simple syrup (equal parts water and sugar, heated until all the sugar is dissolved and then chilled) and rum and a shot (1.5 ounces) of lime juice, fill the rest of the glass with club soda and stir. Serve iced. You can of course adjust any of those amounts based on your personal taste, and you can drink them without the rum.

They are good without rum too, I guess they would be like limeaid with loads of mint. You really do need to use a lot of mint, seems like you are about to drink mint salad? That's the right amount. After some testing, I have decided that Mount Gay rum (from Barbados) is the best, then Appleton (Jamaican), but then I always think Mt Gay is best.

Knitting, I am starting an new project, a poncho/sweater. It is a really simple pattern that I can knit at all times without needing to review the pattern. I have several wonderful colors of yarn, 4 out of the 5 colors are the actual sheep color (different shades of brown) from New Zealand. The 5th color is a light heathery sagey green. My friend brought the yard back (found a little farm in the middle of nowhere, NZ) with a challenge. Knit a sweater by this time next year or give the yard back. Well, I am not a fast knitter and usually start each project 5 times before it really gets going, so needless to say, one year later, I was losing the challenge. Being my friend, she gave me a grace period and I pulled it off and knit a beautiful poncho/throw/sweater (as soon as I figure out photo posting I will post a pic of it) and there was so much yarn left, I am knitting one for her too. Just have to have it finished by Solstice.

I might work on it tonight, after I drink that mojito. Before I drink the second one.

Need to have a pillaging and plundering session soon (otherwise known as "knitting at the bar"...our gang has been slacking, but then, it is summer), that will really get the projects going.

ciao