Grillin' and Chillin'

Grill Temperatures
I bought an oven thermometer after baking an unsatisfactory meatloaf and incinerating some sliced eggplant. Well, part of that was leaving the area while experimenting with thinner-sliced eggplant. The grill's outside thermostat didn't seem to match the heat it's giving off and has no numbers on it anyway. I found:
2 burners on med high = 550 degrees (perfect for pizza)
2 burners on low = 450 degrees (yikes, who knew?)
1 burner on low and one off = 350 degrees on the off side

I've got pizza down but have started using a pizza plate so I don't fret so much over an occasional wet dough slipping thru the grid.


German chocolate cakemix cookies with diced carrots and oatmeal never firmed up but I think those would have been better as cupcakes. Asta loved them after her pulled pork dinner, tho.


Plain white bread comes out better than in the oven. Below is from dough I started in the bread machine one night. I remembered it at 6am and it had fallen seriously but I started the grill anyway. The result was 7am hot bread and butter outside at Le Bistro. I should do this every day!


Whole wheat is troublesome anyway but yesterday's wheat/oatmeal/sesame seed loaf was undercooked. Looks like I'll be making more to get the timing down. It may work better on a baking sheet than in a loaf pan.

UPDATE: It may have seemed undercooked while hot but the next day it was perfect. Expected it was doomed to be toasted for crostini but sliced thinly and schmeared with roasted eggplant was excellent.

Things I learned from Martha Stewart

Every girl needs an electric drill. My house purchase coincided with the closing of all Sears Hardware stores. For $99 I got a battery-operated kit with a drill, screwdriver, reciprocating saw, and two other things I probably should investigate. Martha's also the reason I bought a drillbit for ceramics. I didn't use it for 3 years but it's the only way to drill holes in ceramic pots for plants or lamps.

Fill your hibiscus vase with ice. They're notorious for lasting 1 day even on the shrub but if you fill your container with crushed ice and water they'll be perky for hours and hours after cutting. Hint: it WILL need a coaster under it and will need to be replenished with ice.

Water radishes every day. Makes them sweeter and the leaves are really hydrated and excellent sauteed.

Fold bedspreads down to the end of the bed. It's so inviting and doesn't really look like an unmade bed. If you have a white dog it doubles the time between washings. Always a Good Thing.

Misfires

Misfires - Turnips

How to consume an overload of turnips at one meal a day? One night I tried deep fried turnip chips. Who knew they'd curl up with centers like flowers? They never did crisp so I tried some thicker -- no good at all. Made hummus to plop in the middle and they were delicious but sloppy. Back to julienned in salad, stirfry, and summer rolls.

Misfires - Mimosa

Rusty's mimosa has bitten the dust. Or not. I refused to look at it for a week then when I pulled it out the roots (a lot of them) were all alive. I'm sure I overwatered it. I put 3 drops a day on it and there's green down on the stem now. Should have remembered what survivors these things are. Now I'm torn between putting the rest of the seeds in the fridge until Sept and planting more. Afraid if I wait until March the seeds will be dead.

Misfires - Soy Sprouts

From HEB.
Soak overnight, put in a container with holes in the bottom, change water twice daily, and in a week you have sprouts.

First, I filled the container and THEN soaked... and didn't remove all the extras.

Things went well until I skipped changing the water for a day. Yeeesh. Thought I had one of those hidden potatoes in the pantry somewhere. Compost dump. Google has hundreds of sites with instructions and many use a 1 liter cola bottle with the top curved part cut off and cover it with cheesecloth. I may try that but am so bummed it will be a while.

Sunday Update

Lots happening around the homestead this weekend. Sidewalk poured and sod laid over the now cemented solid sinkhole. I water this every evening at 6pm (you can see in this shot my hose doesn't reach to the farthest end. I've hooked a third hose so I can sprinkle their grass as well. It's not high quality grass; a quarter of the squares are more Johnson Grass than St Augustine but at least the city puts it in.

My grandfather Bob Duke did this when the city of Dalhart planted trees along their street back in the 20s. Amidst the neighbors' teasing he watered those trees every evening. Thirty years later my mother pointed out that's why the trunks of their trees were three times the size of all others on the street.

Irises have moved to a Garcia's house. Top 10:30am, bottom 3:30pm

Bed 4 is finally finished. After an HD run for brackets: okra, tomatillos, black beans and Italian green beans. Blank space in Bed 3: I got caught for the first time using 3 yr old black-eyed pea seeds. None came up and my online seed sources don't carry them! On the HD list. White flowers in Bed 2 are arugula sprinkling seeds for next year.

My first tomatillo almost doubles every day and all tomato plants have flowers on them.

Sounded good until I came across my garden May 10, 2004 (below). This was the last year I could garden because the trees on the right blocked all sun. It was cool enough to sit around and drink out there but not so much fun.

Papayas Revisited

Not only do they taste great for a Caribbean breakfast, every papaya seed I've ever planted has grown.

I discovered this at a Garcia BBQ. Luisa asked if I liked papayas and took me out beside their deck. She whacked one off a tree and cut it up! They grow quickly but are weaker than banana trees. 6-month old Asta chewed down a tree taller than I was that had thrived planted on my courtyard since before she was born.

Last April I gave a handful of seeds to Bill McCormick. Here's his papaya field Jan 1, 2008.
It almost doesn't qualify as frugal to plant and water them since they're always on sale for 49 cents a lb. But I'm starting over. I should scatter those fertile seeds on my sidewalks and driveway and see where the birds drop them in my yard. Label that entertainment.

UPDATE Sept 08
With fences and shingles down all over SW Houston:
"while my papaya trees were stripped almost bare of their branches, the fruit hung on.....They were tiny before the storm hit, and I had blooms as well....Seems as if they all laughed at Ike."

Peach

Wednesday Garden Shots

Look at those turnips. Would that the beets were as spunky.

I've felt a bit guilty harvesting the soft outer Romaine leaves thinking I was creating smaller heads. I couldn't figure out how they were ever going to get as crisp as Romaine usually is.

Surprise! Romaine creates a "fruit" in the middle like a cabbage does. We never see the outer leaves at the grocery store so they're all mine.

This is three tomatillo plants holding in a pot until I find space. I have another in another pot. If even half of those buds are fertile I'll have my hands full this summer.

Repair of the sinkhole at the street is finished now which opens up my driveway rosebed. I originally planned okra there since I know my neighbors will never steal okra. Tomatillos are another story but I may may not miss any of them.

Speaking of the sinkhole repair... I've been taking photos all along but yesterday I took photos of the hole where the new pipe was going as the trench had 5' of water in it.

I don't think they liked that because a half hour later the big tractor was swinging this large metal plate to cover it up. All the city crews I've dealt with during this mess for the last 8 months have been industrious and always working. Not a slacker in the bunch.

Glad he missed my palm... and look how that raintree I just had pruned away has come back. Guess I'll be clipping a bunch of green compost tomorrow morning.

Peas and Beans

This year's first sweet pea and green bean

Look at that cellulose! (click on photos for larger sizes)

Time Magazine has a fascinating food photo gallery from the book HUNGRY PLANET What the World Eats. Photos of families around the world posed with all the food they eat in one week and how much they pay for it in their own currency and converted to US dollars. Surprising to see how many purchase boxes of prepared food!

Turnips and Greens

Free food tonight: turnips and greens and Spring salad with croutons. Balance had to be purchased: feta, Kalamata olives, balsamic, olive oil, and a big fat grilled hamburger steak from ground sirloin tip. This puts me in a bind as this is the last of the ground meat and tomorrow is Alison's Hamburger Friday. I'll have to go to the grocery store before duplicating whatever she presents.
Preview of Friday Garden Shots. I've finally moved all the extra dirt from Bed 1 - one shovel at a time. I'm not real efficient but have a roaring metabolism by now. It will be tidier tomorrow but I'm beat. Should be driving to Home Depot for another trellis and misc needs but not. Far back are green beans (soon to have a trellis) and sweet peas next to them. Irises will be moved because I have 5 more tomatoes to transplant. At sunrise Bed 1 will be filled with eggplants, pintos, bush green beans, (maybe) cucumber transplants and seeds for canteloupe, zucchinni, yellow squash, and a bunch of carrots.
Well, I just noticed another trellis as part of my courtyard incubator. Seeds don't need protection now and I really don't have to go to HD tonight. Can take it down while the turnips are cooking.

Friday Garden Shots

Bed 1 Apr 12
Too much dirt - being shoveled to beds along fences. Russet potatoes growing in the birdseed containers.
That's a wisteria sprout in the middle. I've cut its roots back every other month for 4 years so I've decided to let it be a small tree.
Dionisio left it intact when he churned the bed for me last week and that was the decider. If the god-of-the-garden let it be it is meant to be.


Bed 2 Apr 18

Bed 3 Apr 18

Courtyard incubator space Apr 12
okra, pintos, black beans, eggplant, green beans, canteloupe, bell peppers, poblanos
...and salad bowls for the tribe only.

Green bin on the right side is my favorite composter, the EnviroCycle rotating bin. Footsteps from the kitchen, easy to rotate, and when it's ready, just roll it out to the garden. Has slits on the bottom that allow drainage into its stand. Add water and it's compost tea!

MY Hamburger Friday

Hamburger Friday is an homage to Alison Cook, the Chronicle's dining reviewer who has begun covering a different hamburger each Friday. Cook's Tour

Briskets are .97 lb this week so I'm trying sirloin to see if there's a difference in the taste worth tossing so much fat from the packer cut briskets. Sirloin tip roast is 2.77; ground sirloin is 2.99 so this better be better.

This one already looks better and no fat to toss.


This is my standard tartar sauce but I guess I could call it remoulade: mayo, sriracha, sweet pickle relish, capers.

Onions are for my Dad, Rusty. Lettuce is live Romaine, arugula, and endive. Tomatoes are surprisingly good grocery store stock. Belgian fries look scary... but Asta loved 'em.

Mmmmmm. Not going back to packer cut brisket but will see if I can get a better deal on sirloin tip at Costco.

Emeril's Olive Bread

...is my signature loaf. I watched him make it on Good Morning America years ago and was baking my own by lunchtime.

I use a bread machine for all dough so some minor adjustments were necessary for it to work (plus I add feta) but it's got to be as good as his. It's perfect for dipping in herbs and olive oil.

I make at least two loaves a month simply because a single person has to have a plan for using up Costco-size Kalamata olives and feta.
One time the bread was baked to perfection but most of the soft feta was whole, not melted into the bread as usual. Don't know if it was humidity, or the age of the wheat or bread flour, or yeast, or what but have never been able to duplicate it. It's still excellent.

How I Accidentally Became a Vegetarian

... last summer. Nothing deliberate or permanent but I realized my favorite meals included no meat. Also we all realized no one's checking our food sources and veggies seemed safer. Ha!

Tomato, bell pepper, and feta pizza, rice and peas, asparagus, sesame seeds, garlic toast


Eggplant, asparagus, red bell pepper, and pineapple








Zucchini, bell peppers, sweet potatoes, onion, tomatoes

Biggest influence was probably the small Pakistani market next to my doctor's office and Himalaya restaurant a few doors down from there where Kaiser rules and will tell you what you must order that day. Not that it's sitting there; he cooks it all to order but I've seen people try to argue with him and I just won't. Pakistani food is spicy and hot, usually contains beef and is North Indian and Middle Eastern influenced. Kaiser also bakes the #1 best naan in town and he'll sell you a few if you pop in and ask. The market down the way sells a Pakistani brand of pre-packaged entrees which are really just the spices and instructions. I use 1/3 the amount of spices and double the coconut milk because of the heat. Even then, Kaiser's naan helps. Above is Pakistani vegetable curry mix with a side of sauteed brussels sprouts splashed with vermouth. Notice the gold logo inside the bowl on the left. Part of my Warwick Hotel collection bought when they went out of business.

Another influence was Three Guys from Miami black beans. They don't photograph well but I crockpot a batch at least 3 times a month. Not sure if it's the 2 tsp sugar or the red Spanish wine that makes this so delicious.

Rusty Mimosa Apr 4

Our suburban homestead had the most beautiful mimosa tree in the front yard. Its flowers were an unusual bright coral color and for years people stopped to ask what we fed it that caused the vibrant color. The answer was nothing at all. I came across an internet site with a photo and Latin name of the exact strain of this Chinese tree. The name is lost in some corner of my harddrive so I may have to start all over. Rusty, my inimitable father, eventually cut it down when an oak sapling proved it was going to survive in that general area but every three years it came back.

I gathered a lot of seeds a few years ago. They need to spend 5 months in the refrigerator so they think it's Winter and then an edge is chipped with a sharp knife and they're planted. Most usually sprouted but I'd get busy and forget them and none got taller than a foot before withering and dying. Last Fall I found I had a dozen seeds left. I put 4 or 5 in a baggie in the fridge and planted them in March. One came up and here it is a month later. Let's hope I'm neither too busy to watch or overwater this guy.

Friday Night Fishfry

Best reason to plant turnips close.
Instead of snipping extras when they're 1" high, wait til they're 1" diameter.

So many raves about deep-fried panko-coated salmon that I defrosted a filet. Used only the skinny end in case it's a disaster. Gap in the center is because it wouldn't fit in the vacuum pack so I folded it. Lesson learned.

Fritos, steak fries, panko salmon, turnips and greens with turkey bacon. Pretty starch heavy but I'm pleased.