Re-creating G'ma...

As we have been gardening this season and canning most anything we can throw into a mason jar I have been dipping into my memories and finding recipes that my Grandma used to make. Some have involved a few lesser known/used fruits and veggies and some I am trying recipes to recreate tasty memories that I have.

This spring I was privy to a friends stand of rhubarb and harvested quite a bit...with it I made Rhubarb Jam, a Roasted Rhubarb Vanilla Compote, and a Rhubarb Pie...oh and a very sad looking, but tasty batch of rhubarb thumbprint cookies. I shared the rhubarb with some of my not so young neighbors and I think I may have received at least two marriage proposals. It seems none of them had eaten rhubarb since their youths either and were enamored by the reprisal of the tart stems.

Rhubarb Meringue Pie=Yum!

We have also learned the joy of liberating aka foraging for tasty food items. Two come to mind...we made beautiful Queen Anne's Lace Jelly and while I don't think G'ma ever made this, I bet she would have...Just a a side not when making QAL jelly make sure you know the difference between QAL and Hemlock unless of course you want to go that route. BUT I IN NO WAY ENDORSE THAT. AT ALL. EVER!

Queen Anne's Lace Jelly

And if you are curious what Queen Anne's Lace Jelly tastes like...to me it is like a floral honey combination. I really like it. It also seems to pair well with of all things tomatillo/habenero salsa with a dab of cream cheese on a cracker. It is so cool to say that we grew the tomatillos and the habeneros. Although I won't claim any of the peppers and I swear we have the hottest jalepenos you have ever eaten. Insanely hot jalepenos. Not sure why...maybe they wanted to be more like the cayennes?

We have also liberated quite a few elderberries...and since my parents have made a million jars of elderberry jelly we made elderberry syrup which we will use in the winter because it is supposed to be one of the best cold and flu preventatives you can get...also it is good with vodka.

I also made the most beautiful elderberry pie. I still have lots to learn about making pie crust look good. I can sure make it taste good but my rolling pin skills leave lots to be desired. The Richland County Fair would laugh me right out of the baked goods building. The crust may have been a wee bit ugly, but damn it tasted good and was just the right amount of buttery and flaky to the elderberries beautiful purple tartness. Score one for the pie! I also shared this with the neighborhood grumpy old men and got some pretty awesome reviews...G'ma would be proud.

Before I topped it with the extra crust...

My helpers hoping I might drop something tasty.

Still a little shady, but damn it tasted good.

And my final homage to G'ma in this post is a milk pie. I had another crust left and decided to use it today between roasting tomatillos and trying my hand at making marinara sauce...so what is a milk pie? I believe some people call it a chess pie also, but it is kind of like a custard in a crust. Milk, eggs, sugar yep that is pretty much it stir it up and pour it in and bake and poof you have pie. My five minutes of internet research showed this to be a Pennsylvania Dutch recipe? Who knows...all I know is it is damn tasty. G'ma would love it...and I am finding it fun to try and find recipes for the memories I have. I will have to share this with some of my family and see if they remember it too...

Right after I took the Milk Pie out of the oven.

Yep I ate some...it was good.

As the Garden Turns...

So the garden has expanded this year. Actually, it has doubled in size. Gardening is such a learning experience for me. For example I have learned that parsley and I am going to assume cilantro are biennial plants. I was surprised to see it making a return appearance when the ground thawed and will be sure to make sure I let some go to seed. Cilantro also spreads. I have volunteer cilantro plants all over where they weren't before. I also have a mess of chives. So far we have harvested, used and or dried cilantro, parsley and chives and it is only mid May. The strawberries are also propagating well and if the slugs or bunnies don't get them I fully expect to have at least three edible ones.

We have also planted about 15 million hot peppers. I don't even like hot peppers, but we have three of every scorch your mouth variety and eight others you never knew existed. Needless to say I will not be checking to see if they live up to their hotness claims.

We also planted last weekend seeds. Lots of seeds. I am not very good with seeds, but we shall see. What went into the ground...beets. Lots of beets. Beets of all colors. I love beets. Also collards, chard, spinach and some lettuces. I stuck a few onions in that had sprouted in the cupboards too just to see what would happen. Also the vertical garden got some peas planted...

In the front herb/flower gardens I put in: calendula (which I have been mispronouncing for weeks), two varieties of dill, basil, bells of ireland, cone flower and I feel as if I am forgetting one or two...I have a diagram somewhere.

On the food front we have made ginger wine, more kefir water and kombucha, rhubarb compote, rhubarb jam and rhubarb with rosemary jam. We have our first attempt at home brewed wine going on in the basement and the thoughts of trying our hand at some other varieties soon too...oh and today I made a batch of pickled beets and eggs which are happily pickling as we speak. Yum!

I will try to get some pictures of the garden progress and updates so I can keep track of what I am doing too. My virtual log book.

Starting over is such sweet sorrow...and booze and cast iron skillets and gardens.

First of all Happy May Day to those that celebrate and those that don't, well you should. Who wouldn't want fresh flowers and beautiful thoughts of spring...I say BRING ON THE MAY POLE AND LET'S DANCE!
So this past week has been busy. REALLY busy.
I am currently working two jobs (by choice and because the student loan people think I should) and trying very hard to get back into the running and biking thing. I have actually been pretty good and have biked or run everyday but one this week and that ain't too bad considering I am working 60+ hours this week and my love of sleep.
If you don't know I am training for the Tour de Cure bike ride which raises money for diabetes research. This will be my first century ride and I am terrified and way undertrained, but I am going for it.

My page is: http://tinyurl.com/blp79xm if anyone is interested in supporting my cause and can I say holy font change batman...

Lola, my beautiful bike, and I went out for a nice hour ride Sunday and we enjoyed a few back roads and deep thoughts and the relaxing hum of high power wires...ahhhhh bbbuuzzzzzzzzzzz
Hoping for an even longer ride this weekend to get me where I need to be.

Now the booze...we have ventured into extremely low alcohol wine making and made a sweet, thick, spicy ginger wine. So far the reviews from those who have tasted it have been positive. I like it. The ginger gives it some bite which counter the ridiculous amount of sugar you use. I would love to say the yeast ate it all, but if you taste it you know I am lying...also the Thai hot peppers we grew and added give it a wee kick on the backside.  Next I want to try my hand at dandelion wine, but I need to find those funny stoppers that let the fermenting gas out, but no air in...

And now on to skillet matters.
On a suggestion from a brilliant man I know I used some left over juice from canned Hungarian hot peppers to that stuck on crap out of the cast iron skillet. Just poured enough in to cover the bottom...heated it for a minute or two and the wiped it out. (I did season the pan a few months ago, but It could probably stand another seasoning...) I was truly amazed at how easy it was and how effective as well. Seriously. Try it.

And a few words on gardens. We started prepping and we started a few seeds. If they survive the cats salad fetish they might even make it into the garden. Will try to keep this updated as I am curious about journaling about the garden...as a reference for the future.

Okay getting sleepy and four something comes way to fracking early.

Right now I blog like I run...slow. I should be called a Slogger for both examples.

It has been FOREVER since I sat down to blog. I have thought about it many times, but for this reason or that I just haven't. Maybe part of it is this can be so personal. That if you are not careful you might bare too much of your soul or share a nugget that is considered a secret or maybe I am just lazy and I hate the winters here. The lack of sun makes me go into a state of hibernation or at least estivation (if you don't know what this is...look it up it can be your biology lesson of the day). When the sun finally comes out I am about the color of Bella in Breaking Dawn but much less sparkly and my vitamin D is non-existent. So today the sun is shining and there is no snow on the ground - finally, although it is still chilly I will take it.

Today was a good day. I got to sleep in. I didn't have to work. I got to spend a few hours out garage sale-ing with Mark and then I got to take Lola out for a ride. But first my most awesome fantastic jaw dropping almost favorite new/old lamp garage sale find...

OMG it has been a seriously long time since I have gotten to bike outside and I really missed it. Indoor cycling is like running on the treadmill for me...they both suck. A LOT! On my brief ride today I got to listen to the birds sing, pull over for an emergency vehicle, ride WITH traffic, soak up some sun, see and smell what I believe was a dead cat and other than the dead cat part enjoy the outside. After I got back I made Lola pose for a picture...I think she was blushing.

Now hours later I have bottled our first ever homemade wine. The first attempt is a ginger wine which is made with several hot peppers in it and it is sweet and quite tasty with a wee bit of a kick at the end. I am happy with the outcome although I don't think the alcohol content is very high...I think we might have found a new x-mas present for people! Oh and it is pretty to boot!!!

Okay I don't want to run out of things to say...so until next time when we discuss other stuff and talk about how I am going to make it on a century ride. What was I thinking. I say that a lot.