6 posts tagged “gardening”

First off -- I apologize.
I just got married on the 7th of June, and in the craziness and planning that was leading up to the Big Day... I lost track of this journal for six months.
... I feel so incredibly guilty, neglecting this space like that.

Still, I have reasons: I haven't been able to keep up with more than one online journal. I haven't been enjoying the whole cooking thing as much as I feel I should. There hasn't been a camera I can take good food pictures with -- and so on.

If I'm honest, I'll admit they're excuses.
I've been neglecting my cooking in the face of the easy out because of stress -- and worse yet, I've neglected something I love.  Guess I'm going to have to promise myself to be more proactive.

First off: My kitchen garden is still going strong. I've had to replace the basil and thyme, but the rest of the herbs are doing all right: The sage never came up, breaking my heart -- and since I'm in a gardening state of mind these days, I think I may have to run over to the local Farmer's Market tomorrow morning and pick up a sage seedling, as well as perhaps some arugula. (I've taken to reading Serious Eats in my unannounced hiatus.)

I have a pot of strawberry plants in the front yard, as well as two rosemary plants, and four tomato plants (not including the half dozen or so of tomato seedlings that I was able to coax out of the soil), plus four pepper plants -- one green bell, two purple bells that are just starting out, and a jalepeno that I'm telling myself I'll never use, but keep regardless.

The first heat wave of not-yet-summer seems to be upon us, so naturally, I've hit a furious period where I must bake. Comfort? What's that compared to roast chicken basted with coco-nib and pepper-infused olive oil or homemade cakes with tea flavorings? That's crazy talk right there.  -- Yeah, the husband thinks I'm nuts, though I've promised him I know where to find an inexpensive box fan that will fit perfectly into the kitchen window.

If it weren't for my birthday (which is coming up with alarming swiftness), I think I'd just call summer a total loss and rally for a season-long trip to Australia to avoid it -- but at the moment, I have to grant that this weather's giving me the perfect excuse to whip up a chilling pitcher of sangria.

I was up considerably earlier than I like on a day off (but later than if I'd had to go in to work), but I think it was worth it: My mother and I headed down to the newly opened Sprouts Farmers' Market down the way, and it was not disappointing in the least. Cherries for $.99 a pound, and while I don't care for cherries, the fiance likes them... And I may have treated myself to lovely things like grape tomatoes, strawberries and tomato focaccia.

While we were roaming around the store, many good things were found: Their bulk sweets aisles are evil, the guys at the meat counter are enthusiastic, the fruit smells fabulous, they have garlic for a quarter per head, and I ran into an old friend working there.
It was a bit of a shock, since last I knew, she was in Philly -- but she's living out in California again, so I gave her my number and all that.  ... I really hope she calls. She's one of those people I desperately miss having around.

Anyway. Back to that garlic thought for a moment: Mom paid me a compliment on the garlic relish from Mother's day. I know the fiance and I have loved using it on everything and anything we can get away with, but apparently, Mom's just discovered that particularly lovely side effect. She's been putting it in eggs and when she fries up potatoes, which we've also been doing: I've also taken to putting it in bread (as well as on it) and used it in the pizza we had the other night, while the mister's been putting it in pasta, sauce, with sausage, and generally in anything he cooks.
I can tell I'm going to have to make more soon, at the rate he's using it.

So, Sprouts is lovely. The monstrous Whole Foods still has a little more draw for me personally, though Sprouts did have two vinegar offerings I've yet to see anywhere else: Pomegranate champagne vinegar, and a balsamic port. I went gaga enough over those two that Mom threatened to get them for my birthday... And I'll note I didn't protest.
Also noteworthy but not purchased, before I forget; they also had several kinds of quinoa on the shelf, one tannish-white (which I'm used to) and a dark maroon-esque red. I'm now tempted to go back in the next couple weeks and grab the red quinoa, as I wonder how it differs from my idea of 'standard' quinoa.
I did not get to take much of a look at the other grains, since I ran into the aforementioned long-lost friend at this point, and then had to run off to catch up with Mom... So I guess I'll just have to go back and lurk in the pasta and grains aisle, see what other interesting things they have. Surely there's barley, but I wonder what other unusual things they may have.
... Also, more varieties of couscous is always good.

My tomatoes are coming along nicely: Still just the three with no sign of blossoms on my Cherokee purple, but I'm not concerned about that at the moment. The sneaky mushrooms seem to have stopped the invasion for the moment... And perhaps my decision to water at mid-day so they don't have much surface water to steal from the tomato plants has something to do with that. We'll see if the plan keeps working.

I've begun to suspect I'm insane.
Reasoning: I've got plenty to do this evening, between making up some homemade pizza (and I've decided to use a long pan instead of the usual hole-bottomed pizza pan, as I haven't been happy with its results lately) and getting the house ready for an imminent termite inspection, so what do I do?

Pick up my size 2 double-point needles and start two socks at once.
Barking mad, probably.
But, the idea wouldn't leave me alone, so I had to cast on: I'm currently working in complimentary shades of TLC Essentials -- which I don't particularly like the feel of, but it's part of my early stash and needs using -- in a burnt orange and their Falling Leaves ombre.
Never knit a sock in my life (though crocheting is a different story -- and I've several pairs, thank you!), and then I get the wild hair to do two at once.
I'm also planning on trading off the colors at cuff, heel, and toe, as if I weren't already confusing myself as it is.
Should be some pretty sweet socks if I can do it right, though, and I won't be afraid to wreck them through wear.

Note to self: I want this in Wild Wild West. Just one skein, but I've got a sock pattern in mind that I'd love to try.
... Well, maybe Blue Bayou, too.

Anyhow. Tonight, pizza.
The fiance and I picked up another of Trader Joe's pre-made pizza doughs in the garlic and herbed crust variety, and I'm currently contemplating whether I want to use a tomato sauce as the base or just go with garlic and olive oil as a pseudo-white sauce... I mean, olive oil and garlic. Good stuff, especially when you consider I've got mozzarella and roughly shredded parmesan to put on top, and then cover with prosciutto, salami, and capocollo. I'm also debating whether or not to add sun-dried tomatoes to the list or not: Alas, though I can see the tomatoes getting bigger by the day, there are still none ready for eating on my tomato plants.

... Don't think that I'm not looking up how to make sun-dried tomatoes for when that crop finally comes.

It does sound like a good, if meat-heavy pizza... And since it's going to be a pan pizza, that means it's going to be a bit more square than usual. (Alas, I can't guarantee thicker... Though I have rolled the dough out and I'm leaving it to rise some more, so. If I'm lucky.)
I suppose I do have some bell pepper strips in the freezer, and can also go that route. The fiance's kinda meh on the topic of olives, though, and tempting as it is to go viciously harvest the sneaky mushrooms in my yard... Probably not advisably edible, and since I haven't any criminis in the fridge, that means no mushrooms for the pizza.
That's life: Ought to get to making that pizza, or at least gathering the ingredients.

I was contacted by my 'upstream' Secret Swap pal today -- That is to say, the person that's going to be sending me yarn. I'm thrilled -- She apologized for being late, but the way I look at it, she had 'til the 25th to pipe up so I wasn't stressing it.

Life. It's what gets in the way when you're making other plans.

Now, for something I am letting stress me out a wee bit... My tomato pots have mushrooms.
Sneaky little field mushrooms that I can't always pluck out before they open their little gills and start the whole damned process of germination and growth over again. Every morning, I'm out there, tossing out as many as I can find... And yet, there are always more.
Irritating, to say the least: I'm halfway starting to consider buying the necessary equipment to turn said tomatoes into a hanging garden... Maybe then, the mushrooms won't find a place to be.
I can hope, right?

I'm a little on the bummed side: I stopped at the new, considerably more local Whole Foods for my lunch break today, hoping to find the refrigerated sweet potato gnocchi I'd seen there their opening week: None there, and they had some interesting looking fresh sun-dried tomato gnocchi, but half the bag had been squished by an overzealous shopper and there weren't any more to be had.
Means there's a Trader Joe's run in my future for the evening, since I'm out of milk, eggs, quatro fromaggio and pizza fixings.  (After the barbecue chicken pizza I picked up from the Whole Foods pizza stand and had for lunch, I'm really in the mood for home-made pizza with unusual toppings.) Also, it would probably be nice to make another grab at their frozen meat section.

Now, to chase the cats off the fiance so we can go make that TJ's run...

I've launched full swing into the No Sheep swap: Contacted my downstream pal, and started plotting accordingly.
There have been Discussions of color preferences and the like, and I've come up with yarns to send her. The June skein is winging its way to me as I type: The other has not yet been ordered, but I know exactly where to find it.

I just hope she can read my chicken-scratch when her first skein + note arrives.

Life... Is.
I'm a little irritated at life in general for the moment. Work was unnecessarily bothersome today, and I'm cranky and tired and seem to have lost three hours this evening without noticing -- Darn those Sims 2 fansites, eating my life.  This also means that I don't have time to play Sims, since I tend to do it for several hours at a time.
Clearly, I sacrifice too much of my life to the computer and the wondrous thing that is the internet. Sigh.

I have three tomatoes in my garden, just growing to visible size in their place on the vine.
That makes me happy, at least. Now, if I could only figure out how to prevent the blasted little field mushrooms from popping up in the pots like unwanted dandelions...

I have things cooking in my head again: I'm in a making mood, probably partly at fault from my recent (compulsive knitting / dye experiments / interest in spinning / gardening).

Every once in a while, I forget that I honestly love to cook.
Starting a vegetable garden has reminded me, though. I don't have anything save ten (count 'em, ten!!) tomato blossoms at the moment (one of which has clearly pollinated and is in process of changing from flower to fruit), but I'm already gleefully bouncing on my toes and waiting for the moments the first round, green fruits begin to show: My Cherokee Purple heirloom plant is new and still getting used to its pot, so its main purpose at the moment is to just get up and grow.

I honestly cannot wait for that heirloom to blossom and produce tomatoes. Cannot wait. I want to try them and come up with even more weird-color food, since if I'm honest, I enjoy cooking more when the colors don't match the expected. I am utterly in love with blue potatoes, and since I've found that my local Whole Foods does indeed carry them at cheaper per pound than the variety mix at Trader Joe's, I'm revving up to hit the produce bins for scalloped purple-blue potatoes. (And yes, it's going to look weird, royal blue potatoes peeking up from inside orange cheddary sauce, but I love doing that sort of thing. Weird colored food rules!) So. Rose-purple tomatoes to go with my purple-tinged blue potatoes? I cackle with glee.
And contemplate all sorts of summery tomato-based meals. I stopped at 101Cookbooks.com to check out the 1000 Layer Lasagne that went up Thursday morning, and while looking at her homemade ricotta recipe, I hovered the mouse over the image at top and found the next recipe was an heirloom tomato tart. And then I went hunting for anything involving specifically heirloom tomatoes, and found her cheesy heirloom paninis.

Wow. If I wasn't hungry before...
I anticipate a lot of homemade foccacia, caprese, and tomato-based recipes this summer. I think I may even delve into things like making tomato sauce and stewing tomatoes from scratch if the plants produce enough... After all, we know the hazards of gardens: You end up with more than you know what to do with, and your friends and family will only take so many. ;)
Seriously. Found the best foccacia I've had in ages at the Whole Foods of Doom, and it was not only crisp and garlic-parmesan-y, but had quarter inch tomato rounds pressed into its top and sprinkled with basil and oregano...
Which means I can do that, easy.
Also, the idea of making my bagels, slicing them in half, and making it into a cheese and tomato sandwich and then sticking it in the toaster oven for a little bit.... Sounds like heaven to me!

So, yes. I've been poking thoughtfully around the comments in the 101Cookbooks.com recipes and it's led to some interesting sites: The one holding my interest at the moment is a page on making cheese -- and while I'm honestly contemplating dragging my little college fridge out of storage to set up as a cheese making fridge for the blue cheese recipe, the one that really has me grinning like a fool is the recipe for fresh mozzarella from a gallon of milk.

Home grown tomatoes. Fresh mozzarella. My friends are right, I do need to start growing my own basil: I'll have myself a caprese garden at this rate. And there's just something satisfying about knowing where the things came from, as opposed to buying things from the store.
I'm still gleefully hunting up tomato recipes online: I really ought to hunt through my vegetarian and four-ingredient cookbooks for more ideas -- after all, the four-ingredient cookbook is where I picked up a favorite puff pastry tomato 'pizza' recipe, and that's pretty delish.
At that, I have a cookbook called Tomato. I think that just might be a good resource for tomato recipes. Who knew?

Also: It's Saturday, which means to bagel, or not to bagel, that is the question...
So I went to make some bagels. I made my last batch of bagels with King Arthur's white whole wheat flour, and it wasn't bad, but they were a little more dense in flavor than I'd have liked. No problem, but I decided to go half and half with the all purpose and wheat if you're going that route again, see if that resolved the issue.
I think I used too much water or something this time around -- the problem with attempting to do recipes from memory, honestly -- because the dough was sticky like mad. I ended up pulling it out of the bread machine and adding more flour by hand: It still doesn't feel right for bagels, though, and the proportions were probably close enough to pull off a foccacia instead... So I went crazy, kneaded in about half a tablespoon of dried 'italian herbs' (as the bottle proclaimed -- probably a mix of basil, oregano, parsley, possibly more). It's currently rising on a silpat, and I'll be sure to pat it out into my baking pan and start doing the olive oil / garlic topping.
Fresh bread. Nothing really like it, even if it wasn't the first thing I'd intended.