Project Frenzy

Disclaimer.  This post is beyond obnoxious. It is not a reflection of what every day looks like.  It's not a statement that anyone else should do all or any of these things.  But doing these stupid things make me happy, and often I get asked how I find the time.  The long days of summer are a big help -- here's how today went.

1:15 a.m.,  I go to bed after attending a long Giants game in San Francisco last night.

6:45: I'm awake and bitter

7:20: We pick up the kids who had stayed the night at my parents' to allow J. and I to have the aforementioned Giants game date night.

8:05: Family Picks berries at U-pick Webb Ranch.   We went a mere 10 days ago, but we ate so much of our supply fresh, that we didn't have enough berries for other projects that I enjoy, like blackberry BBQ sauce and homemade ice cream. 

9:30-:11 - Nap #1  (So, J. and I have this inside joke.  My parents went on a vacation and were reporting back to us how many naps they got to have each day.  So, on days when we're especially tired, we joke about needing nap #1)

11:00: Make green salad for pot luck (our cucumbers, tomato, onions, herby salad dressing). 

11:25: Marinate feta in olive oil & herbs -- with feta block leftover from making the salad.  Toss sliced onions into leftover pickle brine as a component for dinner.

11:30: shower

12:00-2:00 potluck picnic with local democratic club.  

3:00 - 5:00- Nap #2.  Yup. Totally needed it.  

These purple peppers are amazingly gorgeous! And Stella is on nap #12

5:00: Save seeds from arugula.  This to-do item has been bugging me for 2 weeks.  We cut back all of our arugula that had gone to seed and dried it in the back yard.  Like with every new project, you start doing things the long hard way and then you figure out the short cuts.  I started by breaking each pod individually and sprinkling the seeds into a bowl -- a long but meditative process.  Later I shifted to grabbing large handfuls of the plants and rubbing them together over a large bucket.  Gathered tons of seeds this way, and it was ultimately much more satisfying.  

6:00: Craft project with kids.  Had them make drawing/label for seeds.  

7:00: Crap. People in this house probably want to eat something....  Pick sun-gold cherry tomatoes for Max and Ginger.   Make a ground beef on bread with homemade pickles as topping for Max.  Ginger eats the tomatoes with leftover tequila lime chicken (made by J. earlier in the week).  I pick tomatoes, purple peppers, fresno chile, and grab onion from earlier today.  Toss tomato, onion, green onion, olive onion, leftover pickle brine into magic bullet, to make a quick salsa.  Chop up onion, purple peppers and sauté.  Throw in a pound of ground beef.  Assemble soft tacos with meat/veggie mixture, pickled onions, salsa and jack cheese.  Everybody eats.

Celery seeds.  There's more seed buds on
the plants that will be ready in a week or two

8:15 - Save seeds from celery plant.  It smells like bloody mary on my hands! mmm.

8:30 - Scoop up tomato seeds from beautiful heirloom that I used for Salsa, start fermentation process.

8:30-9:10 bed time routine with Ginger.

9:10 - browse recipes for berries from earlier today.  

9:30 - start boysenberry ice cream.  Base made, will chill overnight before churning tomorrow.  Can't start blackberry BBQ sauce because I didn't have chicken stock defrosted.  Project for tomorrow morning.

So, like I said, is this normal? Hell no.   Are all these things critically necessary?  Nope.  Can virtually every deliverable represented on this list been obtainable by a 30 minute trip to a grocery store?  Yes.

I can't explain it, but I feel drawn to doing this stuff anyway.  It could be that it's because I have a stressful job and this is one way to decompress.  It could be that I'm gearing up for a life when I have less to do and that these projects will be how I leisurely pass the time when that day comes.   Or, it could be that there are little joys here that can't be created in any way other than primitively having these experiences.  Would I savor the smell of a celery seed if I bought it in a seed packet or as a spice jar?  Would I excitedly share seeds with friends if they were not ones that I had harvested myself? Would I cram as many vegetables into a meal if I didn't have them in my backyard, begging to be used?  All of these small steps bring a measure of satisfaction, and I am open to receive it. 

I'm normally lazy on my ice cream recipes, but this time I'm making the full custard.

Boysenberry ice cream

Mint-spiration

I'm generally not a huge fan of mint flavored things.  (Exception: mojitos)  The flavor is typically so strong and artificial, harsh and medicinal.  I mean, who hasn't had a swig mouthwash and wished they could eat it as a dessert? Um, pass.

But a couple of years ago, J. and I had a great vacation meal where the only dessert option was a homemade mint chip ice cream with mint they were growing out back.  This was a whole 'nother ball game.   The mint gave just a hint of freshness in the background.  It's one of the first things I was looking forward to making when we got an ice cream maker last summer.

So, this year, we tried growing mint from seed.  It was doing great!  I usually kill mint pretty quickly -- probably from being in too small a pot.  So, when I looked at my lush red pot of mint, my mind naturally went to, "use it or lose it."  Same goes for the oreo cookie crust that I've had stashed that is nearing (ok, just passed) it's expiration date.

I used this surprisingly non-fussy Martha Stewart recipe.  I liked it because I didn't want to futz with making a custard, and I had a 3 year old insisting on "helping."  We got to muddle mint with sugar (easy to delegate that task).  Then let the milk & cream absorb the flavor of the mint for 2 hours.  I added Ghirardelli dark chocolate chunks about 3-5 minutes before the churning was done.  Then dumped it into the crust, and let it set for about 2 hours in the freezer.  

A good and delicious time was had by all. 

Smoke 'em if you got 'em

***

So, it's been more than a year since my last post.  What gives?  In short, I've discovered that I'm a pretty lazy blogger.  Sometimes it's easier to post a picture to your circle of friends without much explanation and get the enthusiastic response that friends can always be counted for.  But what I miss is the reflection that I used to come by when I would compose my posts.  There's a little bit more of a story -- beginning, middle and end.  I also liked (and, to be honest, sometimes dreaded) the hunt for a good post.  I've had a few of those 'oh, that would be a great post' moments, but overcoming inertia is hard.  Busting out the camera is hard. Setting time to actually write it before it feels stale in your head is hard.  Well, suck it up, lady!  Let's do this!

***

We discovered a great mom & pop trout farm.  It's called Troutmere (the page has no website, so the Yelp review link must do).   The pond is really well stocked and their only rule is that you must purchase every fish you catch (as opposed to throwing it back).  

We went there over the weekend with the kids (now 6 and 3) and no one had any problems catching fish.  The kids giggled like crazy and had a blast -- but I think I had even more fun!

Part of me struggled with the imminent bounty we were about to collect, because I knew that I could stand there catching loads of fish all day -- but we're not the biggest consumers of fish, so we really had to moderate ourselves.  We had 12 trout in the bucket -- probably the average length about 9-10 inches each.   As we were walking up to pay, I had a flash of inspiration.  Smoked fish!  (Somewhere my endless marathon watching of survivalist type shows like Alaska the Last Frontier, sunk in, and I had visions of smokehouses and endless trays of fishy goodness.)  I went in for just one more.

Fish in brine (not toxic sludge)

J. looked me like I was crazy.  We don't know how to smoke fish.  We don't have a smoker.  We don't have wood chips.   But, like most of my ideas, he typically is a good sport about it and lets me run with it.  

We saw a few guides online re: how to modify the weber kettle grill into a smoker.  I picked up some hickory wood chips at Safeway.    I already had all the ingredients at home for the brine.  (1/2 cup salt, 3/4 brown sugar, 1 tbsp granulated garlic, 1/2 tbsp powdered ginger, 1 cup soy sauce, 4 cups water).  We soaked the wood chips and brined 7 fish over night.  (We grilled the first 6 last night with friends.)

Today, J. smoked the fish on the grill.   I won't pretend to know all the intricacies of the timing and the temperature and what not, all I know is that what came out of the BBQ was heavenly.  The instant I tasted that rich, smokey, savory test-flake I knew that fishing would now be a life-long hobby.  

Even though it would have been easy to devour all of those fish in one go, I thought it would be fun to turn them into a smoke trout spread.  From our garden: dill and green onion.  (We never have much luck with dill, but this year looks like a promising start!  Hope they last for when pickle season comes).  So, to 3 flaked fish add the tablespoon of dill & 1/3 cup of green onion, 2 tablespoon of mayo, 1/4 cup of cream cheese, a tablespoon or 2 of capers with some of their brine.  

This easily rivaled the best smoke trout dips I've had at restaurants.   We're already making plans to go fishing again.  And J.?  He's in the kitchen right now brining chicken drumsticks for smoking tomorrow.  I think he's hooked, too!

a little of our arugula and spread on a wholewheat bagel 

Mountains of Peas

In hindsight, we planted an insane amount of peas.   Snap peas. Snow peas. Shelling peas. Bush style peas.  I expected them to be ready at different times and to bring a variety of sorts.   In reality, they've all been ready at once.  The kids have been great sports and eating them almost every night.  Mostly we have been eating them fresh and they are sweet and juicy.  Last night, however, I made pea & roasted cauliflower soup.   I added a little mint & lemon juice and zest to keep it springy.

One of the cool things about working with a garden consultant is that it is forcing me to be disciplined about yanking out the plant in time for the next season's plantings.  Tomorrow we're supposed to start planting corn (yay!) and that means I needed to pull out one of the beds of peas -- otherwise I'd let it drag on for a few more weeks.  

Knowing that this was coming, I have been harvesting like crazy all week.  Today I assumed there wasn't much left on the plant but I still came out with a bushel of peas!  So, I decided to prepare a quart back of blanched and frozen peas.

In the freezer for an hour, so they freeze individually and not in a massive block.

Final product. Maybe for a nice pea soup in the summer when I'm sick of tomatoes. :)

Mulch Madness

This weekend I mulched the veggie beds and it was very satisfying.  It brings a uniformity to the look of all my disparate pockets of growth.   (We won't talk about the rest of the non-food outside spaces that look pretty neglected -- maybe I'll deal with them during warmer days next year.)

Notice that the front part didn't get mulch -- the cauliflower patch has fallen victim to our first ever gopher.  Bastard!

I was really proud when my garden helper called our Kale "dino" sized Kale.  So I picked a few leaves for juicing and a few others to make duck fat sauteed Kale.

And where did I get duck fat?  That's where the "madness" part of the post title comes from. I decided to make duck prosciutto. Why?  I'm not sure I have a rationale answer for that.  I've been wanting to do it for a long time, but now that we have 2 refrigerators, I was able to set aside enough space to be able to hang the meat during curing.  So... materials + facilities = challenge accepted.


 Here are 3 little duck breasts -- Ideally, you want to find thicker ones than these.  I submerged them in kosher salt for 24 hours, and this is what they looked like after I dug them out.

Then I dusted them with white pepper, wrapped them in cheesecloth and hung them in the fridge so that they don't touch anything.  See ya in 7-10 days.

Came across a bag of potatoes that I forgot about and it got all sprouted, so I strategically dumped them into the compost file which is now transformed into the potato bed!

Today Max harvested and ate the first broccoli of the crop.  It was so delicious.  Tender, nutty and a little bit sweet!  I'm all verklempt that Max is now a big boy who can use sharp objects in the garden.    

Garden Update - December 31, 2013

The sun was quickly setting on New Year's Eve and so I ran out to take some quick pictures of the garden.

Mint with volunteer onions

Cauliflower, sage, onions, garlic, peas

Lettuce, leeks, celery

Cabbage, peas

Worm Inn!

Volunteer swiss chard which looks so festive this time of year.

Peas.  Swiss chard isn't coming up so well up here --- so am working on an alternative...

Swiss chard transplants under grow light in the garage.

Peas and cilantro

Lettuce, parsley (looking yellow and sad), broccoli, lettuce, arugula, spinach.

Kale, carrots, and just planted a new batch of radishes.

Lettuce for NYE dinner

Eating on wedding china, not just because it's festive but because we ran out of clean dishes.

But of all the things I'm proud of growing this year, it's our family.  To a happy and healthy 2014!

The hunt for a tree

The year I was pregnant with Ginger we started a fun little tradition of going to the Santa Cruz Mountains and cutting down our own tree.  Sure, part of it seems silly as there is a christmas tree lot down the street from our house.  But I don't care.  It's fun to get up there, arbitrarily pick a tree that looks "perfect," support a local sustainable business, and catch up with my father-in-law, who always come to help.

This year we are in the middle of a freeze.  Not the fun kind with snow, but it is in the 30s.  This brings into focus the fact that my kids are not well acclimated to cold weather.  I packed mittens and Max cried: "But mama, now I can't point at anything!!!"  Who knew pointing was that important to kids?

So we brought a tree home, decorated it with love, and then heard it crash at 2 a.m. when it tipped over.   Yay!