Found Iguana Joe’s on our first full night in Aruba. Close to the hotel and a few vegetarian options. After dinner YA chose a dish with Oreos in it for dessert; she thought it would be a pie with Oreos in the crust. Turned out to be deep-fried Oreos!
What dessert would be a pleasant surprise for you?
My mother didn’t cook much, but she was a good cook who really cared how her dishes turned out. She was particularly fussy about her chicken. When I was a very little girl, mom would buy chicken from the meat man in the back of Nelson’s department store. The chicken came whole and was wrapped in white butcher paper.
She usually cut up the chicken she bought and baked the pieces. I have vivid memories of her holding each piece over an open flame on the gas stove to remove any possible remaining pin feathers that were missed when the chicken was processed. There usually weren’t any such feathers, but it was something she had learned growing up on the farm, and she always did it.
Husband and I like to get big roasting chickens, but they have been hard to come by lately. In desperation the other week we took a chance and bought a “Southern Hen” in Walmart. It was indeed from the deep South in Alabama. It was the right size (about 9 pounds), and we decided to cook it whole in the slow cooker.
The roasters we usually buy are nicely processed and have clean skins with no pin feathers. I would have needed a blow torch to remove the feathers and quills from our Southern Hen. I tried a lighter to no avail, and ended up laboriously removing it all with a needle nosed pliers. My mother would have been appalled. I guess they have different standards in chicken processing in the South.
The meat was tasty, but I made sure every bit of skin was removed and discarded once the chicken was thoroughly cooked. Husband has indicated that it might be nice to keep a few chickens in our retirement. Our experience with our Southern Hen makes me think otherwise.
What do you remember about family food ways from your childhood?
Husband and I returned home from Minneapolis last Sunday to find that it was time to harvest our pole beans. We had covered the four bean towers with a tarp before we left, and hoped we could forestall the effects of a killing freeze until we returned. The very hot weather we had in July pushed the entire garden behind schedule, and the beans needed as much time as they could get to mature. We grew Good Mother Stallard and Petaluma Gold beans.
We first encountered shell beans when we lived in southern Indiana. Shell beans are like dried beans (think cannellini and pinto beans) before you dry them. They are fat and sweet and buttery. The pods are long and bulging. Our favorite is Vermont Speckled Cranberry Beans, but there seemed to be a shortage of seed last Spring, so we grew the two other varieties. Good Mother Stallard is the quintessential New England heirloom bean. Petaluma Gold was a good variety that we grew several years ago. People sometimes let them dry on the vine and store them in bags, but we like to harvest them before they dry and store them in the freezer. They are terrific in soups and stews. They are also so pretty before you cook them. The header photo is some of the Good Mother Stallard we harvested.
It got so cold here while we were gone that the bean vines died despite the huge tarp we covered them with. The pods did not freeze, however, so we spent Monday night shelling the beans and blanching and freezing them. My thumbs hurt from shelling them.
I realize that our obsession with pole beans is sort of odd, but they are such good beans. Husband gets gout from beans, but he insists we have them in the garden every year.
What are you obsessed with? Who have you known who had obsessions?
Husband and I are in downtown Minneapolis. I haven’t been here a whole lot in my life, It seemed like such a huge and foreboding place when I was a child. We had a great meal, and it seems like a place I would like to spend more time.
What do you think makes for a great downtown?
Today is the birthday of our dear leader Dale!
We’ve talked here over the years of the gift that Dale has given us by starting the blog and setting a tone that we all appreciate. Now let’s make a list of what gifts we would like to give Dale.
Here’s a poem for Dale’s birthday – although not quite up to the standards of Poet Laureate Tyler Schuyler Wyler.
You’re honest,
decent, lovable,
and truly are first rate.
You’re charming,
unforgettable,
and clearly pretty great…
You’re dignified,
sophisticated,
gracious, sweet,
and kind.
You’ve got a lot
of talent
and a wit that’s
hard to find.
You’re cleaver, cool,
considerate,
and clean up really nice.
You’re worldly wise,
and wonderful
and full of good advice.
You’re fun
and entertaining,
not to mention
very smart.
You’re altogether awesome
and you’ve got a lot of heart!
What gift would you give Dale?
Our town boasts two large grocery stores in addition to Walmart. All three places have terrible produce, especially when it comes to summer fruit. We waited all summer for Idaho, Colorado, and Washington peaches, but they never arrived, leaving us with the second rate California peaches which always seem to disappoint.
Husband’s paternal grandfather was a door to door vegetable salesman in eastern Ohio from 1925 until 1968. He drove his truck up and down the roads and highways around Bridgeport, Ohio, shouting “Vegetables!” and selling produce he grew himself or bought wholesale in Wheeling. Husband grew up with great expectations for really nice produce, which is probably one reason we garden so much.
All summer we keep a look out for the fruit trucks that come through town, usually on the weekends. The Peach Man (who also sells Flathead Cherries) always parks in the small parking lot by the State Farm Insurance office and the Music Store. He is a local guy who drives out to Montana and Washington, fills up his truck with peaches and cherries, and sells them here and in the little towns around us. His produce is terrific.
We only got to the Peach Man twice this summer, and were feeling deprived when I noticed that one of his competitors, The Fruit Club truck, was in town one last time last Saturday. Off we went, and we came back with 10 pounds each of plums, peaches, and pears. They all ripened Monday, so we are making jam and freezing pie fillings. Sometimes you just have to go overboard.
What do you find hard to resist?
I can never keep my kitchen counter cleared off. Friday night and Saturday morning are the worst, when I’ve heaped up ingredients for my weekend projects. Sloppy Joes, Sweet Potato Chowder, Applesauce and Salsa.
Do you have a weekend project?
today’s post comes to us from tim.
What’s a summary of something in your life with bare bones description?
VS’s story about making pesto reminded me of the pesto fests that Husband and I had this month as we harvested the too large basil crop in the garden. Husband took the leaves off the stems, which I find to be the most tedious of chores, and I whirred up the ingredients in the food processor. We ended up with 54 jars.
Husband has gout in one of his feet, and he needs to shift his weight from one foot to the next pretty regularly if he has to stand for any length of time. I figure that he stripped about 110 cups of basil leaves off the stems this year over three pesto making extravaganzas. That meant a lot of standing at the sink. He said it would be easier for him if he had some music to listen to and shift his weight to as he took care of the basil. He thought that Celtic music would be good for the purpose. One evening we tried something by Clannad, but that was too dreamy and new age. We finally settled on a disc by Danu, a group we heard once at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. He shifted and danced his way through the basil stems, and it wasn’t too tedious for him at all.
I listen to music as I do paper work for my job. I typically choose classical music for work. We have music on most of the time at our house, and choose music accordingly for what we need to get done.
What music helps you work?
Today’s post comes to us from Ben.
My sweet corn finally got ripe. It’s not good. But Dammit, I’m going to eat it!
I get sweet corn from the seed corn dealer. Two small bags slightly bigger than what you’d pick up from Fleet Farm in the spring.
I use the first bag as I test the planter as I start corn in the spring.
I divide the seed into 3 rows of the planter and then plant the sweet corn testing depth and the monitor and just making sure the planter is working properly.
This year, the first 50’ I had the depth wrong so the corn never emerged. And the last 75’ was next to the pasture and woods and the deer ate all that before it even got tassels. But I kinda expected that.
Then I plant all the rest of my regular corn. And then, before switching the planter to soybeans, I plant the second batch of sweet corn. Some years that might only be 3 – 7 days. This year it was about 2 weeks between batches.
I plant the second batch in a different field, close to the house and on the other side of the field from the trees and deer.
This year with the weather being so cool, it took a long time for that second field to get ripe. The bottom of the ear was tough and the top and middle were just OK. I don’t know if was the variety of the sweet corn or just the way it ripened. And there was a lot. 12 rows 100’ long. I knew it was too much but I take a lot to the my siblings and I freeze some and I invite others. This year, I bought corn earlier to freeze as I didn’t know if mine would ever get ripe
But darn it; I look forward to sweet corn all summer and I’ll be darned if I’m going to not eat it just because it doesn’t taste good!
Sigh.
But I think I’ve had enough corn this year…
What do you do even though it’s a dumb idea?
Trail Baboon 