Posted on December 11, 2021December 11, 2021Generous neighbors Our neighbors have a crabapple tree that is loaded with fruit, and offered us as many as we can pick. Yesterday, with the Chef and Paula and me, that was about 50 pounds. Paula and the Chef cut off the blossom ends and boiled them. More updates as they occur! The Chef made tiny adorable ham croissants with lemon garlic aioli for dinner. Swiss chard (Fordham giant variety) from the garden is the green.
Posted on November 29, 2021November 29, 2021Saturday butter beans We did more fall garden clean up on Saturday. Look at the size of the roots on this Peruvian ground cherry!! Neat clouds. The Lima bean vines were dead but still had some green pods, so we asked The Chef to attempt butter beans. He also added a few slices of jalapeño. Some drier limas that still need drying but weren’t green enough for the butter beans. Yum! Thanksgiving leftovers with butter beans.
Posted on November 20, 2021November 20, 2021Last bits of vacation last week Common persimmon tree. A native with edible fruit! Yum! I will try to sprout some. Yum. Gracie likes to eat fallen ripe persimmons. Mom served blackberry cobbler with homemade no churn ice cream too. A different day: leftover juice and berries from the cobbler with shortbread and whipping cream. Judy gave me this Mexican sage which Paula helped me plant as soon as I got home last Saturday. Good vacation but time to hit the road! Reunited!!!! I am informed the cat was profoundly lonesome, clingy, and annoying in the absence of his big sister.
Posted on November 13, 2021November 13, 2021Pepper frost rescue Paula rescued all the remaining produce last night before our first frost. This poblano is so grateful! These ones seem less impressed.
Posted on November 9, 2021November 9, 2021Garden produce journeys south Mom incorporated Swiss Chard and tomatoes from our garden into an oil and lemon stir fry to accompany honey salmon and potato-leek soup.
Posted on October 27, 2021October 27, 2021Tuesday evening A milkweed beetle!! Very exciting! It’s sitting on a tepary bean though, silly friend. Salvia greggii are doing amazing right now. “landlocked gumbo” says the Chef. Okra, mini bell pepper, tam jalapeño pepper, and moss curled parsley all from garden.
Posted on October 5, 2021October 5, 2021Ground cherries and vanilla ice cream A collaboration between The Chef and Paula
Posted on September 26, 2021September 26, 2021Afternoon harvest and repotting Buckwheat is blooming. Peruvian ground cherries are having a few potential fruits! Paula and I repotted all the winter babies. More babies. The Missouri Yellow Watermelon weighs almost 12 lbs! It’s so ripe that when I started to slice, it cracked open more on its own. It was very tasty and sweet and crisp. In the evening, I sliced some peppers for freezing. Green ones are jalapeños from our garden and red ones are serranos from a friend. I made a small batch of salsa verde. Too little to can, so I froze it.
Posted on September 25, 2021September 25, 2021Okra use! Dominican sofrito sour bean soup with okra, by Paula.
Posted on September 25, 2021Fancy, that’ll teach me (Wednesday dinner) Course 1: garlic lemon aioli with rolled prosciutto, atop bacon fat flatbread, on a bed of radicchio, drizzled with goji tomatillo (garden) syrup, topped with Leonberger cheese, and garnished with a mini bell pepper slice (garden) and white currant tomatoes (garden). Course 2: venison bone broth made with carrots, celery, parsley (garden), with chopped onions (last of garden) and pearled barley, garnished with mini bell peppers (garden) and served with the bacon fat flatbread. Course 3: braised venison shoulder seasoned with rosemary (garden), shiitake mushroom, serrano peppers (a friend’s garden), and onion (garden). Plated with radicchio, garlic lemon aioli, sliced tomatoes (garden), and a sea of goji tomatillo (garden) syrup. In lieu of pictures of course 4 (fresh vanilla bean frozen custard a la Paula), here is the dog hoping for course 3. We ate the ice cream and didn’t take a picture. 😎