I was late in getting the seeds planted for the herb garden this year. I’ve currently got parsley, garlic chives, thyme, cilantro, basil, and oregano seeds in Jiffy Pots thinking about germinating. (Jiffy Pots are compressed peat pucks that expand when wet into baby planters. I’ve used these before to get a head start on basil.) I still have thyme, chives, and rosemary from last year on the upper deck. All should be repotted very soon.
As for the planters at the front entry (see last year’s This Year’s Garden), we went to Molbak’s for advice. When we described the dimensions of the planters to a staff member there, she said, “You’re going to be stuck with annuals.” The planters are only about 6″ deep, which don’t allow much downward expansion for ferns or perennials. In addition, the low depth would put any perennials at increased risk of frost damage. No wonder the previous owners had plastic ferns in those planters. While we were at Molbak’s, I picked up two red shiso plants, a mint plant, and a 6-pack of calendula. The petals of calendula are a key ingredient in Georgian cooking. I’ve been looking for these plants for years.
Saturday we stopped in the Paris-Madrid Grocery to check for padron peppers. They may have some plants next month. In the meantime, I need to get some Thai basil and maybe one or two other plants. Plus we need to get some hanging baskets of flowers to make Julian happy. We might expand our garden to the lower deck, since the landscapers may be getting rid of an overgrown holly plant that’s in front of the deck.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/04/23/this-years-garden-2/
Two of the twenty-somethings in our Friday night group got married last September. Since they’re both aficionados of microbrews, we gave them a home brewing kit as a wedding present. They were thrilled. Last night was the debut of their first product, a light ale, at a potluck. This necessitated some thinking about what would be appropriate for this occasion. I had a hankering for beet salad, so I decided to make a beet salad with a grainy mustard vinaigrette. The twist was using malt vinegar as the acid in the dressing.
I picked up some yellow and red beets at the fruit stand, along with some carrots in case anyone averse to beets showed up. (One of our former rec.food.cooking newsgroup cronies referred to beets as dirt chunks. Never mind that she won several blue ribbons at the Minnesota State Fair for her pickled boiled dirt chunks.) I roasted them in a 400° oven, with the red and yellow beets wrapped separately in foil. The yellow beets were done in about an hour; the red ones took over 50% longer, even though they weren’t much bigger.
While I was roasting the beets, I assembled the ingredients for the dressing and cooked the carrots. I had to run to the store and get another bottle of malt vinegar, as we were low. The dressing consisted of 1/3 cup vinegar, 2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, a couple of tablespoons of grainy mustard, salt and pepper. Since the whole mustard seeds don’t add much emulsifying power, I had to use more grainy mustard than I would have used with plain mustard. One the beets were cool enough to slice, I did so and stirred in the dressing. I added some fresh thyme to the beet salad. The carrot salad got some chopped carrot leaves. (They are edible.)
Both salads were a big hit. And the ale? Excellent!
(A feeding between the lines alert: The malt in malt vinegar is mostly barley; therefore, this is not appropriate for persons with gluten intolerance or celiac disease.)
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/04/15/brewpub-beets/
The New York Times published an essay on the smells that remind one of childhood and home. This elicited a flurry of replies from readers. Here’s my story of childhood aroma.
I was born in Fulton, New York. One block from the hospital where I was born was a massive Nestle factory, known in town as “The Chocolate Works”. It first opened in 1900. The smell of chocolate was probably the first thing I smelled as a baby. The aroma of chocolate was a constant in Fulton when I was small. To most folks in Fulton, it was the smell of money.
My father, uncle, stepsister, and numerous other acquaintances worked at the Chocolate Works over the years. The pay was good and the work was steady. The company took good care of their employees. I remember the gift boxes Dad would bring home from work around Christmas. They contained lots of plain and Crunch® bars, semi-sweet morsels, Quik®, and other Nestlé products. We were less enamored of the Crosse and Blackwell products in the gift boxes. My siblings and I did NOT do mincemeat or marmalade. When I was 5, we moved to the town next door to Fulton, so the chocolate smell was usually absent; however, if the wind was blowing just right, we could catch the faint scent of chocolate in the air.
The Chocolate Works ceased operations on May 2, 2003, putting over 400 people out of work. As with many of these closings, Nestle cited corporate consolidation. It was a surreal sensation for years when I’d drive past the factory on my way to and from the Syracuse airport on vacations: No chocolate aroma. Most of the buildings were finally demolished in the last five years. An Aldi grocery store now sits on a small corner of the property. Although the Chocolate Works is no longer in existence, the smell of chocolate is a powerful trigger of early childhood for me.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/04/15/scent-of-a-crunch-bar/
Two weeks ago I mentioned the demise of one of our neighborhood eagles. Animal Control thought it was a female, and I hypothesized that it was Edwina from the nest down the block from our condo. Either a new couple has moved into the nest, or Edwina’s mate Eddie wasted no time finding another lady friend. We’ll have to wait a few weeks to see if they’ll hatch an eaglet or two.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/04/09/that-was-fast/
My maternal grandfather was, by his own admission, an ornery old cuss. He dropped out of school as a teenager, but he had the rural equivalent of street smarts. One of his observations that’s stuck with me for decades is that farmers are the first to get into an economic depression and the last to get out. If Grandpa were here, he’d add trade war to that statement.
Let’s look at the present situation. After the current administration proposed tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum, the Chinese retaliated with potential tariffs on US agricultural products such as soybeans. The commodity price of soybeans fell immediately. While this may look like a short term adjustment to people used to stock trades, it will affect farmers for years. Most of them have already bought their seeds and planted, if not prepared the fields for this year’s crop. If the price continues to fall, farmers may lose money big time on their investment come harvest. They can’t easily plow under the crop in July and switch to planting arugula. This can have a ripple effect on other industries. Farmers may not be able to invest in new tractors and other equipment, or complete deferred maintenance on buildings. Banks could see increased loan defaults. The rural economy is already shaky, and could get worse if the trade war is declared.
Agriculture is the ultimate faith-based occupation. Farmers have faith that bad weather won’t ruin their crops and that they’ll get a fair price at harvest. Unfortunately, the actions of this administration are shattering the latter.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/04/07/first-in-last-out/
The Passover-Easter season is awash in miracles. The burning bush. The parting of the Red Sea. The resurrection of Jesus. I add a small one: I found a vegetable salad that contains neither alliums or nightshades.
I offered to make an asparagus salad for tonight’s Mixed-Marriage Seder. This is one of the highlights of the year, even if it involves gefilte fish. I went through several cookbooks and found Salade Bagatelle in The French Kitchen, by Michel Roux, Jr. The recipe contains asparagus, carrots, mushrooms, and watercress tossed with a simple mustard vinaigrette. I went light on the watercress, as some people might be put off by the very peppery flavor. It was a rousing success. I left home with two bowls of salad and returned with a small amount left over, which will be eaten with tonight’s Easter lamb chops.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/04/01/a-minor-passover-miracle/
We learned that one of our resident bald eagles had died. I believe it was the one I called Edwina, who nested with her partner, Eddie, in the nest down the street. Her body was found on the street Sunday morning. Our local animal control transported it to a wildlife rehab center for a necropsy to rule out foul play. The initial report found no broken bones or bullets. She probably died of old age. Eventually the body will be donated to a Native American tribe. Eagles have a special place in their spiritual beliefs, and the feathers may be used for ceremonial functions.
When we first came to look at the condo, our then-landlord pointed out the nest to us. Since then we’ve marveled at the sight of the birds hanging out in the trees, fishing on the river, and trying to pick off a gosling. We’ve even watched a couple of eaglets grow up and fledge. Julian’s managed to get several pictures of Eddie and Edwina over the years. Below is my favorite photo of the two of them kibitzing away. Two weeks ago we saw three eagles flying around the nest, presumably in search of a hookup.
We have another nesting pair in the neighborhood, Edgar and Edna. I have yet to locate their nest. It’s possible that another pair will move into Eddie and Edwina’s nest, or maybe Eddie will pick up another mate.
Rest in peace, Edwina. You will be missed.
Eddie and Edwina, having an animated conversation.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/03/26/a-death-in-the-neighborhood/
Ringo Starr is now a Knight of the British Empire, under his birth name of Richard Starkey. It’s high time. To many people, John was too political. Paul is too sappy. George was too woo woo. Ringo is Ringo, comfortable in his own skin. He enjoys life. He tours with his All Star Band during the summer, even though he doesn’t need to.
Congratulations, Sir Ringo! We love you, yeah yeah yeah.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/03/20/sir-ringo/
We had a symphony concert on Saturday night. In addition, I was running desperately low on my drug of choice. So we went downtown in late afternoon. It was after the St. Patrick’s Day parade, so traffic was relatively light.
First stop was the Perennial Tea Room at Pike Place Market. As we rounded the corner into Post Alley, we were confronted with a long line of green-clad revelers. The Irish pub next door to the tea shop, Kells, was the attraction. Somehow the thought of waiting on line for hours to hoist a Guinness in a standing room only bar just to say I did so on St. Patrick’s Day was not appealing, especially since I’m not fond of said brew. However, we made it into the tea room and I got my drugs. In deference to the holiday, 3/4 of my purchases were Irish teas.
Next we went down to the Paris-Madrid Grocery. We were in need of some harissa. In addition, I knew they had their cookbooks on sale for 45% off. I wound up purchasing a reprint of the cuisine of La Mère Brazier. Madame Brazier was one of the most famous chefs in Lyon. She trained numerous successors, including Paul Bocuse. Some of the recipes in the book are quite accessible method-wise, if not economy-wise. Julian found a recipe for volaille en demi-deuil (chicken in half mourning). First you need a Bresse chicken, one with blue feet. Then you put slices of black truffle under the skin prior to roasting. Since we saw some black truffles in Paris going for nearly 3000 Euros a kilogram back in December, you might not have enough funds for your mourning relatives to bury you after paying for the ingredients.
The concert featured “Carmina Burana”, complete with the Seattle Symphony Chorus and the Northwest Boys’ Choir. After reading the translation of the lyrics, I wondered if the kids actually knew what they were singing. Since we resubscribed for next season, the Symphony had a treat for us – little boxes of Fran’s salt caramels. Not a bad ending to the day.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/03/19/st-patricks-day-at-the-pike/
Over the years we’ve done a lot of entertaining. Each event can teach valuable lessons, some of which we actually apply to future dinners. Here are three lessons we learned after last week’s French dinner.
- Don’t overextend yourself, especially when you’re hosting a crowd. Several of our dishes required last-minute preparation, which cut down the time we had to enjoy the company of our guests.
- Sometimes there’s just not a vegetarian equivalent to a carnivorous dish. Julian made pot au feu. This stew was made with numerous bony cuts of beef, and was a serious umami fest. He found an alternate recipe for our vegetarian friends that contained tempeh. The broth and vegetables were good, but the tempeh didn’t add anything to the flavor of the stew.
- Don’t overcook when others are bringing things to eat. We had scads of leftover bread, beef, and broth after the soirée. I’ve run out of storage containers because I put so much leftover broth in the freezer. I’ll have to repurpose it for other soups. I see pho in the near future.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/03/17/lessons-learned-in-entertaining/
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