Getting ready to Welcome 2010.

My last three New Years Eve celebrations have been remarkable.
'06/'07 & '07/'08 found me at New York City's Radio City Music Hall watching my favorite Band preforming, mere blocks from Time Square watching my favorite Band preforming utterly fantastic shows that lasted well into the morning.
'08/'09 I was priveledged to see Jazz Pianist savand Hiromi performing for NPR's toast of the nation, followed by an utterly delicious dinner with my girlfriend which culminated in the chef owner(a local food star) and his pastry chef/wife greeting the remaining diners with warm handshakes and a champagne toast.
This year music & carousing all night are taking a back seat to a small delicious dinner amongst close friends. The lady and I will be hosting my best friend & his girlfriend as well as the lady's best friend & her boyfriend.

New Years Eve Menu

Cheese Plate- 3 artisanal cheeses

Myster appetizer (cooked by my best friend a very accomplished cook)

Mashed Sweet Potato

Ratatouille

Bison & Pork Garlic Meatloaf

Fruit

Something Sweet and Decadent

I am in charge of the Ratatiouille & Meatloaf. Meatloaf ingredients are free range, localy raised hormone free Bison & Pork as well as locally grown carrorts and garlic.

Ratatouille ingredients will be aquired from whole foods tomorrow.

If the dinner is a success and we manage to stop the guests from devouring I will post a picture or 3.

Cheers to all!

Wishing everyone a happy and joyous 2010!

Cranberry Beans & Cranberry Bread.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the wonderful gift of seed I received from Daphne's Dandelions last friday:

A packet of Ottawa Cranberry Pole Beans for the forthcoming garden!! They look delicious & can't wait for them to be in the ground! Once grown & harvested I will surely be passing on a few packets of dried beans of my own to spread into the gardening world.

As noted in my previous post I was quite disappointed due to the lack of black cranberries in my produce delivery. I had grand plans for cranberry walnut bread, chutney and a tart wonderful snack. Not to be deterred I was off to the neighborhood natural food store for a large container of dried local cranberries. They are a good substitution for what I was expecting.

In celebration of cranberries I made a delicious & incredibly simple cranberry walnut bread:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup butter

1 egg

3/4 cup orange juice

1 tablespoon grated orange peel

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1. In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Beat egg, orange juice and peel; stir into dry ingredients just until blended. Add the cranberries and walnuts.
2. Spoon batter into a greased and floured 8-in. x 4-in. x 2-in. loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 65-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

The recipe is easy and worked well enough, though I would reduce the heat 10-15 degrees and bake a tad longer next time. After years of cooking adventure I am slowly dipping my toe into the world of baking (primarily with bread making), and thus far I've enjoyed it.

This weeks Organic Produce!

I did not post a photo of this weeks produce box when it arrived this past tuesday for 3 reasons:

1) I've had a busy work week. 2) The local black heirloom cranberries we added on did not arrive as they were out of them and 3) the rest of the box was relatively small and left me wanting more.

Nonetheless here it is:

The usual note: I do not grow the produce pictured, it is courtesy of Boston Organics. Their mission is to deliver organic produce, focusing on convenience, variety and value. Whenever possible they support local & regional farms by providing as much produce as possible from the region. When they cannot provide local produce they receive produce from a variety of farms along the eastern seaboard, northern california, the pacific northwest, & tropical fruit from equal exchange organic farms in central america. My girlfriend and I have been receiving a $29 dollar 1/2 fruit 1/2 vegetable box every other week for the last 18 months. We don't pick what comes in the box (though they do have a 'no list') and have been really impressed with their customer service. The few times we had a problem with certain produce they responded promptly and provided us with additional items at our next delivery-free of charge!

I've lost the list of exact locations of the produce but based on past experiences my guess is:

From New England:

The Apples, Carrots, Butternut Squash, and Spring Greens (which are sold in the local whole foods and supermarkets as well).

Most likely from Florida or California:

Tangelos, Satsuma Mandarins, Hamlin Oranges, Green Pepper, Broccoli, & Chives

From Washing State:

Bosc Pears

From Ecuador:

Bananas

Of Unknown Origin:

The 2 heads of garlic which were an add-in we had requested.

The box is not terrible, fresh organic produce is always a good thing, though in comparison to our box from 2 weeks ago it seemed so small. I think the real disappointment was due to the lack of cranberries. As usual the response from the warehouse people at Boston Organics was great. They had run-out and made-sure our account was credited for the cost of 2 bags of cranberries.

The gift of gardening (knowledge).

'Tis the season to spend time with family, loved ones, and maybe even exchange a few gifts. As Hanukkah winds down my gift giving is nearly done, culminating with an afternoon/evening of lovely activities with my girlfriend tomorrow.
My gift receiving included a bundle of gardening knowledge in the form of some excellent reading material to keep my mind occupied with thoughts of growing veggies throughout the cold northeast winter.

For inspiration:

Barbara Kingslover, along with husband Steven L. Hopp & eldest daughter Camille Kingslover recount their experiences of eating homegrown (whenever possible) or locally sourced food for a full year. They grow their own vegetables, raise their own poultry and buy the majority of their other food directly from farmers markets and other local sources. Thus far Animal, Vegetable, Miracle has been an entertaining read month-to-month chronicles interspersed with her husband's short and extremely informative resource filled commentaries and daughter Camille's reflections and recipes offer a younger perspective alongside simple looking recipes for all seasons.

Entering the food gardening world, my intent is not to grow all of my food. I would like to grow some of my food and reap the physical & mental benefits of tending a garden. That being said I've found Animal, Vegetable, Miracle to be an informative and fun read. I've visited the AMV website and intend to try out some of the recipes found in the book.

For useful in the garden reference:

A how-to/encyclopedic guide to the ins and outs of vegetable & herb gardening The Kitchen Garden Grower's Guide is an extremely amazing guide for most levels of gardener. From seed to harvest to food preparation and storage I will be referring back to this book for many years to come. One thing I find especially helpful is that this book is geared towards those who want to plant a small garden, not a massive farm.

Another encyclopedic reference book, The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control covers all the basics of plant diseases and management. Each listing covers common disease or pest problems, and useful tips to manage them without the use of chemicals. The book is full of pictures identifying garden diseases and insects. You could bring this to the garden and match your plant to a photo in the book. It seems that in most common cases identifying a disease or insect should be a smooth process.

Even if I'm not fortunate enough to be granted a plot at one of my local community gardens this coming year, I probably will be the following year. Both of the above books will be helpful for years to come, whether I am gardening at a community plot or my own yard (when i don't live in a condo).

For the kitchen:

Storey Country Wisdom Bulletins such as Food Drying Techniques are 32-page how-to guides for practical and useful topics. The techniques presented in this bulletin are very basic and explained in an easy to follow manner. This certainly isn't the be all-end all in food preservation but it is a good start for some simple small scale techniques that can be done in any kitchen, even as small as mine.

Quite the haul of valuable and interesting gardening resources to keep my head filled with thoughts of planning my own garden. Cheers and well wishes for a happy and healthy winter related holiday & new year for all!

Garlic Chive seedlings!

On the 2nd of the month I posted about my little indoor garlic chive seed experiment. 2 of 3 cups have seen a few seedlings emerge. The first seedling in cup 2 emerged December 10th, while I first spotted a seedling in cup 3 on the 13th. 8 and 11 days (respectively) after planting. Cup 1 still hasn't produced any visible seedlings. I am not worried though, as I read that garlic chives typically take 12-15 days to emerge.
Given the success of this trial, I plan to plant most of the remaining seeds in late dec/early jan.

A 'Dark Days' style dinner

Inspired by the 'Dark Days Challenge' over at (not so)Urban Hennery I decided to give a shot at a locally made dinner last night. With some of my Boston Organics delivery coming from Massachusetts I decided to give a shot at two recipes i've never tried. I was incredibly pleased with the results!

Carrot & green bean spaghetti with potato and turnip 'latkes':

In honor of Hanukkah (which starts tonight at sundown) I gave a new twist to the classic latke.

Potato & Turnip Latke:

Makes 4 latkes:

2 medium sized potato's

1 large turnip

1/4 cup of oil (not local)

1/4 teaspoon ground pepper (not local)

1 teaspoon kosher salt (not local)

Grate the potato's & turnip. Squeeze and remove as much excess moisture as possible. Toss with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Press the mixture into 4 latkes. Place them in the skillet and flatten to about 1/2 inch with a spatula. Cook until both sides are well browned and slightly crispy, turning once (about 12 minutes). Transfer latkes to paper towel to remove excess oil.

To go with the latkes I went with a carrot 'spaghetti' which I saw randomly on the food network last week. I attempted to replicate as best as possible:

Serves 2

3 medium carrots

2 cloves of garlic (more or less depending on your preference)

3 tablespoons olive oil (not local)

pinch of salt (not local)

pinch of black pepper (not local)

1/4 cup pasta sauce (defrosted from homemade batch I made with farmers market ingredients in august)

Peel the carrots into long thin strips & sprinkle on salt. Mince garlic. Heat olive oil in a medium pan over medium heat. When the oil has warmed toss in the carrots & 'turn' them frequently with tongs or with a flipping motion if you are skilled with the pan. Once the carrots start to soften toss in garlic and black pepper. Cook over medium heat tossing frequently until the garlic is golden and the carrots have sufficiently softened.

While cooking the carrots warm pasta sauce on low heat. Top 'spaghetti' with sauce.

These to recipes worked really well on their own & in combination with each other. The pasta sauce which was pulled from the freezer was made in august with tomatoes, onion, garlic, green pepper, basil & oregano all from the farmers market.

With the exception of olive oil, salt, and pepper my entire meal was organic and grown in-state. Not bad for my first attempt!

This Weeks Organic Produce!

please note: there was some confusion when I posted my delivery a few weeks ago. I do not grow the produce pictured, it is courtesy of Boston Organics. Their mission is to deliver organic produce, focusing on convenience, variety and value. Whenever possible they support local & regional farms by providing as much produce as possible from the region. When they cannot provide local produce they receive produce from a variety of farms along the eastern seaboard, northern california, the pacific northwest, & tropical fruit from equal exchange organic farms in central america. My girlfriend and I have been receiving a $29 dollar 1/2 fruit 1/2 vegetable box every other week for the last 18 months. We don't pick what comes in the box (though they do have a 'no list') and have been really impressed with their customer service. The few times we had a problem with certain produce they responded promptly and provided us with additional items at our next delivery-free of charge!

On to the details:

Regional produce included:

1 lbs Empire Apples (VT),

8oz Bagged Baby Spinach (VT)

1 lbs Carrots (MA)
1 lbs Purple Top Turnips (MA)

1.5 lbs Yukon Potatoes (MA)

1 Green Cabbage (MA)

Beyond our region:

2 Bosc Pears (CA)
2 Cara Cara Oranges (FL)
2 Orlando Tangelos (FL)
2 Satsuma Mandarins (CA)
1 bunch Broccoli (CA)
1 head Red Leaf Lettuce (CA)

1.5 lbs Fair Trade Bananas (Ecuador)

.25lb Yellow Ginger (location unknown)

The cabbage and yellow ginger were not on the original delivery list, but we had a problem with the sweet potatoes we received thanksgiving week. Their warehouse manager said he would provide a little something extra with our next delivery and he did!

I'm posting what we get in our deliveries for 2 reasons: (1) Though this is primarily a gardening blog, I also like to cook- supporting organic farms whether through a CSA or program such as this is a good idea and (2) its a good way for me to keep track of what we get and where it comes from.

One thing I really like is that much of the produce that does come from Massachusetts is coming from the same farms I support when I visit our local farmers markets in the spring/summer/fall. (Enterprise Farm & Atlas Farm are 2 of my favorites).

I did make a 'regional' dinner which I will share a photo/write-up of tomorrow.

Garlic Chive seed planting (indoors)

For the sake of getting something growing in the apartment I planted some of the Garlic Chive seeds (from my last post) last night.

My supplies: soil, yogurt cups, tape, toothpicks, spoon, x-acto knife, plastic food container, scissors, marker, seeds & plastic wrap (not pictured)

Step 1-Use x-acto knife to cut small holes in the bottom of the yogurt cups:

Step 2-Fill yogurt cups with soil, place seeds in soil, sprinkle a little soil over the top & moisten soil:

Step 3-Label the yogurt cups:

Step 4-Place yogurt cups into food container. Place toothpicks in yogurt cups:

Step 5-Place plastic wrap over the container/yogurt cups resting gently on the toothpicks (so as not to bake the seeds). Do not seal the plastic wrap, leave room for air to flow:

The final product (above) is now resting atop a kitchen cabinet until sprouts are visible, when it will be transfered to a sunny window. I like this little setup because the materials were found within my living space. Better the yogurt cups and food tray go to use then getting tossed in the trash/recycling bin.

Seeds!

I recieved my first seed packet in the mail. Not from a seed company but from Ottawa Gardener over at The Veggie Patch Re-imagined! 3 weeks ago she posted a free seed offer. A few days before I started this blog I sent an email requested Garlic Chive seeds. The seeds arrived saturday moring. Most of the seeds are going to be saved for spring but I'll be planting some this week to grow indoors as I've got the itch to grow something, and these seems like just the thing.

My indoor planting space/system consists of various windowsills and planters made from recycled yogurt cups, juice/milk cartons, and soda bottles.