Quick Random Dinner

Fruit (Mango)
Cooked or cured meats (Salami)
Nuts (Cashews)
Something Pickled (Chanterelles)
Cheese (Dry piece of sharp cheddar)
Crackers, chips or bread (A few water crackers)

I got home later than I expected last night and I didn't really have time to cook dinner. I had an hour to have dinner before meeting up with friends to go see Girl Talk. More so I did't really have anything in my fridge to cook. (I havn't been to the grocery store, and with my garden inbetween seasons I havn't had much fresh produce.)

I almost popped a frozen burrito in the microwave, but that seemed so wrong. (I had one for breakfast in the morning.) I had an old mango sitting on the counter that needed to be eaten. So I started with that, grabbed some nuts, found a drying out piece of cheddar in the fridge, some sliced salami, opened bag of crackers, and my preserved mushrooms.

In no time I had created a easy meat, cheese, fruit, nut platter. I looked down at my plate and laughed. I was pretty proud of myself for not eating a frozen burrito, but if we should all try to eat a rainbow I'd just taken a big bite out of yellow.

I showed a friend this picture and she thought I ate too fancy. But really it was a random accumulation of things that most people have in their house. Everyone should have sandwich meat, cheese, fruit, nuts (my dad always demands something to munch on whenever he comes over so I keep nuts in the pantry), crackers, and pickles. With these basics one can create a meal, jazz up a meal, or entertain at the drop of a hat.

Love and Care

There was an ugly rose bush in the NC garden. Thorny and wild it looked out of place. The petals always dropped before it fully bloomed. If you got too close you were doomed. I wanted to destroy the ugly bush, but others wished to save it. So I pruned it, fed it, and watered it. Months later the rose bush decided to give back a gift. A perfect rose to be enjoyed, and I wanted to share it with all of you.

Oh, Beautiful Rose
Open your petals for us,
Bring joy to our nose.

-Earl K

Celery

I've had a very strange month so far. I've hardly eaten anything green. I had a little swiss chard and green food coloring on Thursday, but I doubt those hardly count.

I was working at the PB garden yesterday evening and I ended up chit chatting with the sweetest lady. You could tell she had some hippie in her and she has one of those bubbling personalities (very well aged like mid 30yr old champagne) that you just want to be next to.

She also happened to growing the best looking celery plants (a green variety and a red variety) I've ever seen. I always thought it was near impossible to grow those things without it producing a lot of leafy tops, but hers were really nice with some nice stalks. As she left for the day she gave me a handful of celery stalks.

I couldn't remember the last time I even had celery! (Maybe Thanksgiving?) I knew I could grow it, so I havn't been buying it. But since I havn't been growing it, I've been going without it. I hadn't had celery in so long I actually had to look up a recipe to figure out how to cook it.

First hit, "Celery Soup"... DUHHH. I started chopping up the celery stalks and wow it smelled amazing! It was almost sweet and savory and very aromatic. It tasted a bit pungent raw, but still had a wonderful flavor.

I sauteed some onions in butter with the celery, added a can of chicken broth and couple scoops of left over calcannon. In 30 minutes I had an amazing bowl of Celery and Potato soup with a slice of caraway soda bread.


I almost want to go buy celery in stores, but I think Sherry ruined it for me. I'm growing celery in the fall!

St. Patty's Dinner

I look forward to St. Patrick's Day every year. Not because I'm Irish or a drunk, but because I can't get enough corned beef and Irish soda bread during the year!

For several years when my close college friends were still around I'd always host a St. Patty's day dinner and it consisted of slow cooked corned beef with cabbage and new potatoes. Someone would bake the soda bread and there would be a lot of beer.

This year I decided to co host dinner with the Jew. We were thinking of doing just a small thing for the house, then we both wanted to invite a few people... before I knew it I was cooking a meal for 30 people. On Wednesday evening I drove around to three different grocery stores nabbing the largest piece of corned beef they had on sale. By the end of the night I had 15lbs of corned beef sitting in my fridge.

I took down my slow cooker and realized there was no way I could cook all meat. So I ended up boiling the meat over night. I took the broth and boiled my cabbage in it the next day. An hour before dinner I threw the corned beef in the oven and let it roast. The meat was so tender and not overly salty. I was getting all sorts of compliments from my friends. (My favorite always being, "Damn, you put my mom's to shame and I thought her's was the best.")


I also baked a loaf of stout beer bread with a touch of molasses... I'm going to have to work on the recipe a bit more. I tried modify a Spanish bread recipe I had by substituting beer for water and adding molasses. The bread came out a slightly dry and looking burnt but it tasted like stout.


Rosie helped me make the Irish soda bread and wow it was amazing! First time I've ever had it where it was cooked all the way through, crusty on the outside and moist in the inside. The caraway seeds in it were a nice touch, and it complimented the corned beef and cabbage extremely well.


Instead of the standard red potatoes, I found a recipe online for colcannon. Essentially it was mashed potatoes with either kale or cabbage. I found it to be a lot easier (and cheaper) to make it for a large group of people than red potatoes. I ended up harvesting a bunch of yellow, orange, and white swiss chard from the garden and substituting it for cabbage or kale. The colors were everything St. Patty's day for me!



I also prepared a pasta salad for the vegetarians (if the other carbs weren't enough). I'm calling it my Pot of Gold. It was Penne pasta with crumbled Irish sharp cheddar and daisy greens (edible chrysanthemums) tossed with a touch of honey and olive oil. Not Irish, but it blended in nicely with the rest of the dishes.

But for me, the best part of dinner was the dessert. Rosie made the desserts. She made the moistest and the best Vanilla Bean Raisin Bread Pudding and an "orgasmic" (Grady's words echoed by all) Apple Dub. The Apple Dub was an apple cored then stuffed with brown sugar, butter, cranberries, and raisins all wrapped elegantly inside a puff pastry shell and baked.


Afterwards we were drinking till the night was over, and I was walking around spiking everyone's drink with green food coloring.

Friends

I've been baking all night and started cooking this morning. All I could think about was my good friends. Each dinner item I planned I associated with a good friend. I missed them so much. I ended up writing a Note to them on Facebook and the responses I got made me realize how fortunate I am. I thought I'd share them with you.

Original Note:

Friends,

It seems like yesterday when we were all hanging out. Eating and laughing. At the same time its been so long since I've seen you all.

Alex and I'm hosting a St.Patty's dinner at the Surf Club tonight and since yesterday I couldn't stop thinking about you all. Remembering the first St. Patty's we had at Kendall and my old place, crammed into the small apartment. All I hear is Zach's booming voice (and tequila) and Lindsey's cheerful laughter (and cute little toes).

Every meal I cook I think of you guys, wishing you were here. Taco Tuesdays have never been the same. The expectation of Becky's wonderful salads, Carly's amazing dessert, and I can't forget Jen's never ending supply of magical dips. The chaotic family style dinners at surf club with all my closest friends is what I miss the most.

I hope everyone is doing well and full of exciting stories. I know some of you are far away from home, others are back home, while there are still some of us here in San Diego. I'm still not sure where my next home will be but in my memory the best home I've had was with all of you.

I love you friends. Happy St. Patty's Day

Earl K

Carly:

Earl,

I think we must have crossed wavelengths in the universe today and yesterday. All I have been thinking about is my amazing San Diego family. I miss you all so, so much. I've been preparing this ridiculous Irish f...east since last night: corned beef and cabbage, colcannon (for the vegetarians!), Irish soda bread, and Irish car bomb cupcakes (*Earl). I realized when I got home yesterday that most of my friends here are traveling right now, so I couldn't figure out why I was determined to make this feast fit for a king.

When I saw your message today, I realized that I know exactly why I bought tons of ingredients, spent the money, and spent the whole day cooking. I'm cooking for your spirits :) My subconscious has been celebrating with you all and encouraging me to do so to. Wherever you all are today, you're here in my heart. I also think of you guys every time I cook. I've had a few dinner parties, but nothing has come close to that familyness I experienced with all of you!

I thought about starting up a Taco Tuesday with my friends here, but every time it's come down to it, I've decided not to because I almost feeling like I'm cheating on all of you hahaha. No matter how far spread apart we are across this world, you guys will always be my family and my joy. I hope you're feeling the warmth from my heart. I love, love, love, love, love and miss, miss, miss, miss, miss you all. ♥ ♥ ♥

There will be toasts to each of you this evening.

Becky:

Tuesdays make me the saddest. there is a 'mexican' place here, but it just makes me depressed every time i go. I love you all, and all the dinners/breakfasts/lunches/bbq's. it's honestly the biggest part of san diego that i miss.

Jen:

The times will never be forgotten. they are some of the best memories i have, and this message reminds me of why people like you guys were and are in my life =) ♥ ♥ ♥ and i hope everyone is doing well! i feel confident that we will all be reunited again, and it'll be like no time has passed. I MISS YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ari:

I love you all so much and echo Carly and Earl's sentiments. Some of my best times have been with you all and with the house. Let's enjoy tonight!

I really do love all my friends. They are the inspiration for who I am today.

Planting a Summer Garden

If you have space, I recommend planting with two types of summer garden in mind. Plant an early season garden where you can be harvesting within 3o days and plant a late season garden where you will be harvesting at the end of summer. That way you can be harvesting all throughout the season and also grow summer crops to save for the winter months. However, crops that can grow year around such as lettuce, radishes, beets, carrots, etc. should be planted in successions to get a constant harvest.

But here are the basics to planning a garden:

First, get a general idea of what you'd like to plant. Decide on what vegetables you can grow and what you'd like to eat. Pick a wide variety of vegetables. (I've listed all the spring and summer crops at the bottom of this email.)

Second, read about all different varieties you'd like to try and pick the ones that suites your fancy. But make sure you consider your growing conditions before choosing your variety. Especially when selecting heirlooms, check to see where they originated. A variety breed to succeed in the deep south with hot summers will not be so productive in coastal weather; however, varieties that originate from up north or mountain regions may do better in cooler summer temperatures.

Third, once you've select which plants you're interested in growing start planning out your garden. Consider how big your plant will be once it's fully grown, and how long it will be till the plant reaches the size. Using the recommended spacing information on the seed package will give you an idea of how big the plant will grow and how far the next plant should be planted. However, there's a loop hole to this rule.

For example a fully established tomato plant can be 3ft in diameter, but takes 2-3 month to reach that size. So you wouldn't want to plant a squash right next to it which grows at a similar pace. But you can maximize your plot by planting lettuce, radish, spinach, basil, or parsley within the potential growth zone since they will grow much faster than the tomato and will probably be done by the time your tomato and squash reach its full size.

Or consider the three sister's method. Plant the corn first. Allow it to get a head start. Plant pole beans under the corn once the corn is at least a foot to foot and a half tall. The bean will utilize the corn to grow up. Plant a vining melon at one corner of the plot once the bean's sprouted. As the melon grows it will shade out the ground keeping it most and controlling the weeds. However, if the melon is planted too early then it will shade out the beans and corn. If the beans are planted too early it will choke the young corn.

Fourth, its important to try to keep most of your plot planted. This will ensure that the soil will be shaded more which will decrease the amount of evaporation. Google "companion plants" and see what types of plants will grow well with each other and fill in the gaps of your garden.



Other words of wisdom:

1. Cucumbers, melons, and other vining vegetables. Look for varieties that don't vine, but grow in compact bush type if space is limited. Also get creative by training your vines to grow on a fence.

2. Green vegetables. Probably the best thing to plant for small gardeners. They will probably be your most productive producers. Swiss chard and kale are slow to bolt and can grow for over a year. During the summer time look for bolt resistant varieties of lettuce and spinach.

3. Tomatoes. Determinate varieties are easier to manage for first time gardeners and can be grown in pots. Indeterminate varieties can grow tall and unruly. They don't do so well in pots and need to be trained. But the way a tomato grows does not dictate the deliciousness of the tomato. Try to select tomatoes that will mature during different parts of the season. I always try to go for one cherry tomato (they are usually very early), one beefy slicing tomato that will be early in the season (Early Girl), and at least one late season tomato.

4. Peppers need at least 70-75F consistently to germinate. So they will need to be started indoors then moved outside. If you put seeds directly into the ground you may be waiting till June before they actually come up.

5. Eggplants. Same for peppers, but are even harder to start from seed. Don't let this discourage you, a healthy plant can give you eggplants well into November if it gets 75+ days and warm nights.

6. Plant some edible flowers. Flowers are an important part of gardening. They attract beneficial insects while some can deter pests. I always try to plant dual purpose flowers in my garden. Dual purpose: ones that you can eat the green, seeds, flowers, or roots while at the same time can be used as cut flowers. Of course all vegetables will flower over time, but some such as lettuce, mustard greens, turnips, and brassicas (think small seeds) are very invasive when they start flowering so you rather not let them do so. If you have a shady spot in your garden, its a perfect place to tuck away some shade loving flowers. (There arn't too many shade loving vegetables.)

7. Dry Beans, winter squash, popcorn or flour corn varieties, several varieties of blackeye peas (or cowpeas), peppers, and pumpkins have long growth days and are great for growing all summer to harvest in the fall. Snap beans, green beans, summer squash, sweet corn, okra, and eggplants are usually better utilized as short growing day plants.

8. Pick your vegetables. Although it is pleasing to walk out and see our garden full of vegetables, more you pick it the more your plants will produce. However, don't be hasty about picking more vegetables than you're planning on eating. Most heirloom and homegrown vegetables do not always store well and will loose their flavor quickly if you don't eat them right away. Most squash will store from a month up to... 6 months.

9. Be sure to save some space for herbs. And try to plant companion herbs close to your main vegetables. I.e. Basil, parsley, and chives all have similar watering needs as your tomatoes, and they helps improve the flavor of your tomatoes. However, plan on planting your thyme, rosemary, sage, and oregano in a dryer part of your plot.


Happy Gardening,

Earl K.

PS If you have any questions regarding planting, choosing the right variety, etc. feel free to email me.

Examples of Spring/Summer Crops:

Beans
Beets
Collards
Cucumber
Eggplant
Herbs
Kale
Kohlrabi
Leek
Lettuce
Melons
Mustard Greens
Okra
Onions
Parsley
Peppers
Pumpkins
Radish
Spinach
Squash
Sweet Corn
Swiss Chard
Tomatoes

Where to find Seeds and Tomato Transplants

Are you tired of expensive Seeds of Change seeds? Not sure where to find seeds? Want to grow some beautiful heirlooms but don't know where to get them? Here's a link to a site with a great list of heirloom seed companies. http://www.halcyon.com/tmend/links.htm

My go-to company for seeds is Bountiful Gardens. They have a pretty good selection, they give a good amount of seeds for the price, a good description of seeds and are "local". But read the description of each of the seed companies and see which one you like the most. (Bakers creek, Fedco, and Sand Hills also have amazing selections.) Each company has different varieties, specialties, and even for the same variety some have shorter growth days! (Growth days are roughly defined by number of days that are 85F+ during the day and 75F+ during the night. Growing season is the number of days between last day of frost and first day of frost.)

If you'd like to purchase transplants then Whole Foods and Henry's grocery store offers a great variety of organic started herbs and vegetables through out the season. They also carry Botanical Interest seeds (which I've had a lot of luck with, even though a bit pricey.) Walter Andersen Nursery and Armstrong Garden Center are two that also have a great selection of transplants (organic and non), and is a lot closer than City Farmer's in San Diego. City Farmer's does have a great selection also, but they are a hit or MISS for me. If you can talk to Bill, then he's very knowledgeable. If you're a first time gardener, try Home Depot varieties. I like to call them "just add water" vegetables since they seem to always do well in which ever soil condition as long as you water them regularly.

For heirloom tomato transplants all the places listed above will have them. But I like to go and pick mine up from http://heirloomtomatoplants.com If you're planning on growing one tomato plant, then it'll be the same price to buy a transplant than a package of seeds and struggle to germinate them. She also has a great selection and you can pick it up directly from her in Southern Los Angeles County by appointment only.

Yellow Cake w/ Vanilla Blood Orange Marmalade Glaze

It was a pretty busy weekend filled with baking and hard work. I baked those delicious cookies for the PB Garden meeting on Saturday, and I baked an olive oil yellow cake with a vanilla bean blood orange marmalade glaze for my NC Garden comrade, Aly.

I had originally planned on baking cookies for her birthday celebration at the garden, but by the time I got home it was already 10pm. So I thought I'd do something low key and just bake her a cake. I had a box of yellow cake in the pantry for Ken D's famous Dutch Oven Peach Cobbler, so I pulled that out and using my freshly harvested chicken eggs and a 1/3 cup of olive oil I baked the cake.

While the cake was baking I thought about how to dress it up. A few months ago Mystery K sent me a picture of an olive oil yellow cake with an orange syrup glaze and I decided to try making that. I've been pretty excited to see how my batch of marmalade turned out so I popped open a jar of my vanilla blood orange marmalade. (Mmm it was soo good!) Sweet, fragrant, slightly tarty with a nice light vanilla flavor.

I added a table spoon of brandy to a pint of the marmalade, microwaved it for 30 seconds and let it liquify a bit. When the cake came out of the oven I began drizzling the liquid on top. I let the entire cake coat in the sweet delicious magic then let the cake cool over night. In the morning I gave it another coating of marmalade and heaped all the pulp and rinds on top of the cake.

I couldn't get a really good picture, but the bright orange/red looked stunning out in the sun. Tasted fabulous too! I'm definitely going to try this again. For those at home who'd like to make this I think I've got an easier version for you (without the trouble of making your own marmalade.)

Get a store bought orange marmalade made with sugar, not corn syrup. Add a splash (1 tablespoon or to taste) of lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of a dark wildflower honey, 1 tablespoon of brandy, 1/2 vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon of vanilla and mix it all up. Microwave the concoction for 30 minutes to make it runny then baste your cake with it.

Rosemary Thumbprint Cookies w/ Meyer Lemon Marmalade.

A few days ago I was totally busted picking one too many meyer lemons at the PB community garden. Technically, I wasn't doing anything wrong. All members were allowed to pick from the trees. The bad part was the Treasurer caught me with a shirt full of them! Although I could tell he was displeased with my actions, he was very polite about it.

Feeling guilty I started chomping down on the lemons as he told me about the garden. They were sooo good, but at the same time not the first thing I should have eaten in the morning. I was walking past a trashcan full of rosemary that someone had pruned earlier that morning. I couldn't resist grabbing a handful. Before I knew it I was eating handfuls of rosemary with the meyers.

I decided to make amends by making something with the lemons to share at my first garden meeting this Saturday. I figured I'd make some lemon marmalade and a rosemary shortbread to share with everyone. The idea evolved into a rosemary thumbprint cookie with lemon marmalade. I didn't have time to make fresh marmalade, so I'm using my lavender meyer lemon marmalade instead (but I'll still tell them its lemons from the garden. lol.)

I tweaked Ina Garten's Jam Thumbprint Cookie recipe mixed with the rosemary shortbread recipe for these cookies. Its a really interesting cookie because its actually not too sweet, aromatic, and has a sweet tart bite to it. :) Hopefully I'll be making these again soon.

Recipe:

3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temp
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp honey
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I use whole wheat mixed with white, add 1tbsp of extra butter)
1/4 tsp kosher salt
2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary (Depends on how pungent your rosemary is I like to add a little more.)
Meyer Lemon Marmalade

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

2. Cream together the butter, sugar, and rosemary until they are just combined. Sift together the flour and salt in a seperate bowl. Mix the flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar. Mix until the dough starts to come together. Dump on a floured board and roll together into a 1-1 1/2in log. Wrap in plastic and chill for at leaset 30 minutes.

3. Slice the log dough into 1/2 inch slices and soften the edges. Place the dough on an ungreased cookie sheet and press a light indentaion into the top of each with your finger. (The back of a 1/2 tspn worked really well for me.) Drop 1/2 tspn of marmalade into each indentaion. Bake for approximately 20 minutes. Cool on a cookie rack and serve.

Before

After

March Update

Its been a busy month so far, and I've definitely failed at updating my blog. Here's a little update (with pictures coming soon).

The beginning of the month was spent researching and planning a perennial herb garden for the UCSD neighborhood community garden. The plan is to create a spot with 30+ different herbs that can be used for food, fresh flowers, tea, potpourri, etc. With the idea that everyone can harvest from it and free up precious real estate in the plots, and somewhere down the line the Garden can sell fresh cut herbs.

Tuesday night I tried making marmalade. I made a lavender meyer lemon marmalade which turned out pretty tasty, very fragrant with the perfect touch of tartness. (I've been eating a lot of lemon marmalade and peanut butter sandwiches since). The batch of blood orange marmalade I attempted to make never thickened and turned into a syrup. :/

Wednesday I signed up at the Pacific Beach community garden, and I'm super stoked about my plot. It's 6ft x 6ft, but it gets a LOT of sunlight and the soil is so rich there from the years of cultivation and fertilization. There's also a meyer lemon tree :) that we can pick from. I went by yesterday morning and helped myself to some. Ended up eating 5 lemons and handfuls of rosemary for breakfast... weird.

Friday was our lab happy hour so that ended up taking the majority of my Thursday night shopping and prepping for it. It turned out absolutely fabulously. I made pulled pork & beans in a manchamantel sauce baked in banana leaves, Guasacaca Pasta Salad (think cilantro pesto with cotija instead of Parmesan), Mustard Green Salad (With several different mustard greens, poppy greens, lettuce tossed with pieces of my zucchini mint pickles [juice and oil]), and fried Plantains w/ a Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce. Fab T made her famous tomato fried rice and I helped make a cilantro fried rice which I think is going in my cookbook cuz it was fantastic!

Saturday was spent at the Surf Club clearing trees, totally opening up the side yard. And giving the chickens an upgrade so that they could be let out daily without us worrying about them getting in the garden. Its really awesome... pictures coming soon. Then I cooked up a meal centered around fried banana flowers (which I did all wrong and came out bitter and unedible.) But the lime New York steaks and cilantro fried rice came out really well.

Ken D and Israel (aka the Jew) butchered 6 of the 8 bunnies, and I still have to take care of the other two. Both the mama's had a litter 3 days apart from each other, so in about 10 weeks we're expecting to harvest at least 20 rabbits! (Fyi we're taking orders starting now.)

Sunday was a fun day. Started my morning with a cup of coffee (8am), ran a few errands, stopped by the NC Garden, then stopped and grabbed a tall can of budweiser (10:30am) on my way to the Love Shack (aka the Walley Homestead). From there we all headed up to Temecula to Namaste Farms to get some more chickens. Stopped by Buffalo Wings for some AMAZING wings and beer (noon). Got our chickens. (I got me a black orpington.) Back to the Love Shack for cocktails (4:30pm) and a lesson in canning from Dior. Yeah it was a pretty amazing day. I learned a LOT about how to can and process your jars properly.

Since then it's been nonstop work for me. I'm going to try to break down this post into separate postings and go in-depth. So keep reading and keep commenting. Thanks.

Visit to Namaste Farms

When I was invited to go get some chickens in Temecula with Justin and Dior I did not expect pulling up to a beautiful barn house behind iron gates with a Porsche parked out front. Curious start.

We were greeted by a hot, blond lady. If it weren't for her casual attire and blue stained finger tips I'm not sure I would have guessed she was the one we were supposed to come see. (She looked more like the moms from Beverly Hills.)

She led us around the back of the house were she had yarn drying on the patio, dogs running around, sheep in pens, geese honking from somewhere and to a big horse barn. Inside the barn she kept her chickens, goats, turkeys and ewes with lambs.

It was amazing to see her chickens. They were HUGE! Some of her roosters were the size of a medium dog. I ended up getting a beautiful black orpington pullet from her, and I can't wait till she starts popping out eggs. I took a peek in a basket of eggs gathered in the barn and all those eggs were JUMBO sized!

I really wish I'd taken more pictures of the place. I was so stunned by everything around me I completely forgot I even had the camera in my pocket. I managed to snap some pics of the sheeps, goats, and chickens in the barn, but you can see more pictures on her website: http://www.namastefarms.com

Giant Frizzled Cochin

Newborn Lamb checking me out for food.

Here's some of her homespun yarn. Arn't the colors amazing?