Garden Update

I can safely say that this is going to be one of the more unsuccessful years for a vegetable garden. With daytime temperatures that have stubbornly refused to go above 70* and nighttime temps consistently at 50*, it really doesn't make for a good growing year.

However, it has been good for the peas, brussel sprouts, lettuce, some of my herbs, and Swiss chard. It remains to be seen how the dried beans, tomatoes, peppers and zucchini do. Winter squash and corn are a bust.



On the other hand, it has been a delightful year for the flowers. They are still lush and full. Sunflowers are struggling a bit - they too like hot weather, but there is still time...maybe...



And I have been very busy with a yard project (other than mowing). I have started a retaining wall on the north side of my garage. It was initiated as a "lawn reduction program" (I didn't want to keep mowing this bit). Back in May I went out and purchased 275 stone blocks (woot! they were even on sale the day I bought them!) and a couple weeks ago a co-worker came out and we got a good start in laying about 12 feet down. My Dad came out a different day and we plunked down another 12 feet. I have about 15 feet left to put down, but that part of the wall will only be a couple of blocks high.



Kia checking out the new blocks.

Then the rains came...3" worth, and I discovered I had some erosion issues. Erosion control consisted of building a set of smalls steps. Subsequent rain has proven the effectiveness of this endeavor.



Stay tuned for more garden updates as we move into Fall!

Recipe Review from 7/20/09

Yes, it's been a goodly long time since I have posted any kind of recipe review or even a small garden update. Oh heavens, I see it was end of June for my last recipe review!

I have made a few things since then which were actually quite tasty:

Frontera's Famous Strawberry Shortcakes by Rick Bayless (rickbayless.com)
Okay, I admit it does seem a bit odd to be posting a strawberry shortcake recipe, but it's the shortcakes in this that we are focusing on here. Can we say delicious? It sounds like the Mmm, mmmmm, mmm....

I will say right away that you need a food processor for these. I suppose you can with patience work the butter in by hand, but the food processor really does the task quickly and efficiently.

I also used white chocolate instead of semi-sweet because I had some on hand I wanted to use up. Seems odd, chocolate in your biscuits, but you'll be amazed!

Frontera's Famous Strawberry Shortcakes
INGREDIENTS
For the shortcakes:
1 ¾ cups (8 ounces) all-purpose flour
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar (divided use)
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
4 ounces (1 stick, 8 tablespoons) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 large egg
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon buttermilk (divided use)
1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract, preferably Mexican
¼ cup grated semi-sweet or Mexican chocolate

For finishing the dessert:
1 quart strawberries, hulled
¼ cup sugar + 2 tablespoons (divided use)
1 to 1 1/2 cups heavy (whipping) cream
Powdered sugar, for garnish
________________________________________
DIRECTIONS
1. Make the biscuits dough. Turn on the oven to 400º. Measure the flour, ¼ cup of the sugar, the baking powder and the salt into a food processor. Scatter the chilled butter evenly over dry ingredients. Pulse the processor 10 to 12 times (1-second pulses) until the butter is in tiny bits. Add the egg, buttermilk, vanilla and grated chocolate. Pulse the processor 7 to 8 times until the soft dough just comes together.

2. Bake the biscuits. Turn out the dough onto a well-floured board and press together to form a disk that is 3/4 – inch thick. The dough will be very moist. With a floured 3-inch biscuit cutter, cut out 4 biscuits. Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment. Gently bring the scraps back together and pat out the dough again. Cut two more disks and transfer to the baking sheet. Brush tops with the remaining 1 tablespoon of buttermilk, then sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar. Bake for about 18 minutes, until the biscuits are lightly browned. Cool.

3. Filling and serving. Thinly slice the strawberries and scoop into a medium bowl. Gently mix in ¼ cup of the sugar. With an electric mixer, beat the cream and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar (using the whisk attachment if available) until the cream holds soft peaks. Just before serving split each biscuit as you would a bagel. Top the bottom layer with a generous dollop of whipped cream, spoon on a portion of the strawberries (and any of their juices), then set the top in place (or off slightly off to the side, to show off the strawberries more). Sprinkle with powdered sugar and you’re ready to serve.


Creamy Avocado and White Bean Wrap (Eating Well, July/Aug 09, pg 18)
(photo from EatingWell.com)

I've linked to the recipe otherwise this post will get rather long. These were pretty good. I made my own beans because I had dried beans to use up from last fall, but canned will certain work just fine and are much quicker in assembly. Definitely a combination of tangy and sweet, and I think this recipe is infinitely versatile.

And while red cabbage is cheaper by the pound, a whole head can be a lot. I think buying a bag of shredded cabbage would also be a bit of a time saver. Some chips and fresh veggies along side and these made a very refreshing lunch. One recommendation - assemble day of or before eating; wrap has potential to get soggy if made too far in advance.

Chopped Greek Salad w/Chicken (Eating Well, July/Aug 09, pg 22)
(photo from EatingWell.com)

Salad; quick, simple, tasty, filling. And this one was all the above. I did deviate from the recipe a bit depending on what I had on hand - for example, I used swiss chard and lettuce from my garden instead of buying a bunch of romaine. I dropped the cucumbers because I'm really not fond of 'em, and I probably used grape tomatoes instead of regular.

I did note, however, that the dressing turned out rather strong for my tastes. I did just buy a new brand of red wine vinegar and it may be that it is more potent than my last brand. Luckily, I mixed it in a separate jar rather than dumping over the whole salad as recommended.


Shrimp Tacos with Citrus Cabbage Slaw (from Dee at Tangled up in Pots and Pans)

I invited my folks out and served them this uber simple and tasty dish. I did have a few modifications: I used regular Stoneyfield Farm yogurt, a pre-chopped bagged cabbage mix with red cabbage and carrots, and I grilled the shrimp with Penzey's BBQ 3000. We had a simple green salad for the side.

Good? Oh, definitely! Thanks Dee!


Shrimp Tacos with Citrus Cabbage Slaw
*recipe adapted from Real Simple Magazine/August 2009

1/4 cup fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons Greek-style plain yogurt
Kosher Salt and black pepper
1/4 small cabbage, shredded
1 cup corn kernels
1 jalapeño, seeded and chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound pre-cooked shrimp
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon Pirate's Bite pepper (or more coarsely ground fresh black pepper)
8 small flour tortillas


Note: I did not have fresh orange juice. I used frozen juice mixed 1 can of juice to 2 cans of water (not 3 cans of water as you would do for drinking juice).

In a large bowl with a tight lid, whisk the orange and lime juice, yogurt, 1/2 teaspoon salt and coarsely ground pepper. Add the cabbage, corn, and jalapeño. Place lid on tightly and shake to coat the vegetables. Let sit, shaking occasionally, for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile -- place 1 tablespoon olive oil in frying pan and heat until hot. Place shrimp in pan. Sprinkle with garlic powder and Pirate's Bite Pepper. Saute until heated through.

Serve shrimp with cabbage slaw mixture in flour tortillas.

Blindsight by Peter Watts

This was a Hugo Nominee in 2007 that I didn’t have a chance to read because it was still in hardback and I just didn’t want to pay $24.00 for a hardback....or it might not have been in print in the States...I forget which. At any rate, I didn’t have a chance to read it before the voting.

The other nominees in the novel category that year were:
Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge [Tor, 2006]
Glasshouse by Charles Stross [Ace, 2006]
His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik [Voyager, 2006; Del Rey, 2006]
Eifelheim by Michael Flynn [Tor, 2006]
Blindsight by Peter Watts [Tor, 2006]

I liked the Goodreads.com summary: "Two months since the stars fell....Two months since sixty-five thousand alien objects clenched around the Earth like a luminous fist, screaming to the heavens as the atmosphere burned them to ash. Two months since that moment of brief, bright surveillance by agents unknown. Two months of silence, while a world holds its breath

Now some half-derelict space probe, sparking fitfully past Neptune's orbit, hears a whisper from the edge of the solar system: a faint signal sweeping the cosmos like a lighthouse beam. Whatever's out there isn't talking to us. It's talking to some distant star, perhaps. Or perhaps to something closer, something en route.

So who do you send to force introductions on an intelligence with motives unknown, maybe unknowable? Who do you send to meet the alien when the alien doesn't want to meet

You send a linguist with multiple personalities, her brain surgically partitioned into separate, sentient processing cores.

You send a biologist so radically interfaced with machinery that he sees x-rays and tastes ultrasound, so compromised by grafts and splices he no longer feels his own flesh.

You send a pacifist warrior in the faint hope she won't be needed, and the fainter one she'll do any good if she is.

You send a monster to command them all, an extinct hominid predator once called vampire, recalled from the grave with the voodoo of recombinant genetics and the blood of sociopaths.

And you send a synthesistan informational topologist with half his mind gone--as an interface between here and there, a conduit through which the Dead Center might hope to understand the Bleeding Edge.

You send them all to the edge of interstellar space, praying you can trust such freaks and retrofits with the fate of a world.

You fear they may be more alien than the thing they've been sent to find. But you'd give anything for that to be true, if you only knew what was waiting for them...."


The few issues I had with the book were the beginning seemed to gloss over the whole "stuff fell from the sky! It's aliens!". I was reminded a bit of Spin by Robert Charles Wilson and The Singularity by Charles Stross. The author also bounced between first and last names, which in and of itself usually isn't a problem, unless one of your characters is actually four distinct personalities. That took a bit to keep straight and he seemed to do better cuing the reader in later in the book. And I confess, some of the science stuff went waaayy over my head. I was more interested in the human aspect of the story rather than the "how the aliens lived without oxygen".

Still, I recommend Blindsight.

Unraveled Sleeve by Monica Ferris

Book 4 in the Crewel World mysteries featuring Betsy Devonshire.

Betsy is still reeling from her 'bout with arsenic poisoning back in December and her staff and friends are telling her she needs to get away on a vacation. Her wish for a cattle drive is out - it's only March - but her friend Jill suggests a 'stitch-in' up the North Shore at the beautiful Naniboujou Lodge. She reluctantly agrees and instead of a relaxing weekend, she is faced with the mysterious disappearance of the guest instructor, of which she is the only person at the lodge to have seen her alive.

Positive points - it's set on the North Shore and I've been to Naniboujou several times. Lovely place! Ferris describes it pretty well: meals are fantastic, the solarium is beautiful, and words really cannot describe the amazing dining hall.

Negative points - to be picky, I do know that the lodge is not open in the winter time. I found Betsy to be a bit of a whiner in this book. I "think" it was the authors intent to portray Betsy as being worn down, but there were inconsistencies - she starts out by having awful nightmares, but halfway through that seems to be a moot point and by the end of the book, non-existent. There is supposed to be a guided "stitch-in" happening, but yet the main instructor is laid up in a hospital in Duluth and the guest instructor is missing. Why wasn't anyone complaining that half of their fees for the weekend be reimbursed?

Still, like I've said previously, if you like fluffy, fun, brain-candy mysteries with a needlepoint/knitting/cross-stitch theme set in Minnsota, you might like these.

A Stitch in Time by Monica Ferris

This is book 3 in the Crewel World mysteries, featuring Betsy Devonshire.

Christmas is drawing near, and Betsy is doing her best to keep Crewel World in the black. So when an opportunity presents itself to donate materials to a hand made tapestry found at the local church, she figures this would go a long way towards some free advertising. What she didn't count on was getting stranded in a blizzard. Or the arsenic poisoning that followed. Putting two and two together, she figures someone is trying to kill her and it has something to do with that tapestry.

Okay. This is purely a fluffy, lighthearted, brain-candy mystery. Expectations need to stay there. As with the first book Crewel World, I had no problems figuring out the "who done it" almost immediately. The reason I keep reading these is because I need an occasional fluffy, lighthearted, brain-candy mystery and these fit the bill while waiting for the next Tea Shop book to come out by Laura Childs. Or the next Knitting Mystery by Maggie Sefton. If you like needlepoint, knitting and cross stitch mysteries with a Minnesota background, then you might like these.

Nebula Awards 2009 ed. Ellen Datrow

For the last, oh, eight? years now when this comes out in May, my science fiction book group reads it. We don't even have to vote on the selection. As soon as it hits the table we KNOW what we are going to read for the month of June.

Nebula Awards 2009 was an excellent selection of shorts, excerpts and essays. What was interesting, I thought, was each member of book group had one story they intensely disliked, but no one person had picked the same story. It made for an interesting discussion.

I won’t review every story, but included in the 2009 edition(which represents 2007 winners) are:

(From 2007)
Best Novel: The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon
Best Novella: Fountain of Age by Nancy Kress
Best Novelette: The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate by Ted Chiang
Best Short Story: Always by Karen Joy Fowler

I don’t have my book in front of me and Amazon.com didn’t have “look inside” on this one so I can’t tell you what the other four stories were. You’ll have to take my word for it that they were good. Except the one I didn’t like...but I won’t tell you what that one was either because everyone else at book group liked it.

This was worth reading.

Recipe Review from 6/29/09

Well, I certainly am not on any pace to match past years for number of recipes; oh well. I figure as long as I'm still cooking I'm doing pretty good. I was able to fit in a couple more new recipes after I got back from Texas. I was in a mood for some nice, light, summerish dishes and then the temps dropped down to 46* at night and highs were in the 50's...just not salad weather

Bulger Salad with Edamame and Tomatoes (Ckng Lght, June 09, pg 70) 4.0

I linked to the recipe above; and posted my changes in the version below. This was a simple and tasty "salad" to make. This made a perfect lunch with some pita chips on the side. I did wait till morning when assembling lunch to add the tomatoes. This is similar to a tabouli salad and I know that becomes a bit runny when the tomatoes are added too soon. And then the tomatoes get...oogie (for lack of a better word) when they sit to long in a salad.



The vitamin C from lemon juice aids iron absorption. Round out the meal with grilled chicken, lemony hummus, and toasted 100 percent whole-wheat pita wedges. Substitute fresh shelled fava beans for edamame, if you like. Fava beans also supply protein, fiber, and B vitamins.

Yield
6 servings (serving size: 1 1/4 cups)

Ingredients
1 cup uncooked bulgur
1 cup boiling water
1 cup frozen shelled edamame (green soybeans)
1 pound yellow and red cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/8 cup fresh lemon juice
1/8 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation
1. Combine bulgur and 1 cup boiling water in a large bowl. Cover and let stand 1 hour or until bulgur is tender.

2. Cook edamame in boiling water 3 minutes or until crisp-tender. Drain. Add edamame, and remaining ingredients to bulgur; toss well. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour before serving.

My notes - add tomatoes before serving.


Mediterranean Salmon Antipasto Salad (Eating Well, J/A 09, pg 20) 3.5
I changed this one up quite a bit - the magazine had all the warnings about eating tuna "not more than x servings per week, don't eat if pregnant, etc" and I thought, "Well then, why not sub salmon and get all the omega-3's without all the mercury?" So I did. I also had some arugula/baby spinach mix on hand from the grilled brie sandwiches (that lettuce mix lasts a LONG time in the fridge!) and I thought that added a nice bite to what otherwise is a rather bland salad. You can also use any bean that grabs your fancy, I happened to have some cannelli beans on hand so I used those. Again, recipe is linked to above, my changes are noted below.


Packed with protein and fiber, this and bean salad is ready in a flash. Serve with warm, crusty bread or pack it in a pita for a sandwich. For an extra kick, add a pinch of crushed red pepper or cayenne.

Makes 4 servings
ACTIVE TIME: 25 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 25 minutes
EASE OF PREPARATION: Easy

1 15- to 19-ounce can beans, such as chickpeas, black-eyed peas or kidney beans, rinsed
2 5- to 6-ounce vacuum pkg salmon, flaked
1/2 large red bell pepper, finely diced
1/4 cup finely chopped green onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley, divided
4 teaspoons capers, rinsed
1/2 teaspoons finely chopped dried rosemary
1/4 cup lemon juice, (can use less even...)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 cups mixed salad greens

Combine beans, salmon, bell pepper, onion, parsley, capers, rosemary, lemon juice and olive oil in a medium bowl. Season with pepper. Place salad greens on plate or bowl and serve tuna mixture over the top.



Summer Vegetable Stacks with Gremolata (Vegetarian Times, J/A 09, pg 44)
I've been enjoying the VT magazine, but my one BIG complaint is they don't have the recipes from the magazine on the website for me to link to. And their search engine is atrocious. Very annoying.

Irritation aside, this was...okay. I've had much better - I think it was a Ckng Lght recipe from last year that was pretty similar and outstanding. This was vegetable slices and tofu, grilled (or in my case broiled, it was 50* out and misting) with the gremolata spread over the top. I found the gremolata to be overpowering and it took forever to get the taste of garlic out of my mouth. Seriously. I could still taste it the next morning!


Freezing tofu the night (or up to one month) before you cook it gives it a firmer, cherwier texture that's less likely to fall apart on the grill. Feel free to experiment with different grilled summer veggies when building these stacks.

Texas Thursday

Thursday it was time to bid adieu to our gracious hosts at the San Gabriel B&B. I can't say enough what a lovely time we had, granted, it helped that we were the only ones there.

We didn't have to be back to Killeen, TX, until well into the evening, so we decided to make our way to Fredricksburg, TX, about 1 1/2 hours to the west. Until recently, this was predominantly a Germanic community and many of the original buildings still make up the town, except now they are kitchy stores, antique stores and crafters.





We started out at the Fredricksburg Brewery. The Husband was pleased to be seated a) by a window and b) where he could watch the brewmeisters in action. They make their beer right there behind the bar in big stainless steel tanks so the whole room is infused with the delightful aroma of fermenting yeast. Well, I think it's delightful... I had a glass of some local wine, a Cabernet blend that was very much like a Lambrusco and he had a brew.



After lunch we just wandered up and down the street. We're not into the kitchy stores, but I popped into a couple looking for a small souvenir to take back. I finally settled on a wrought iron star of Texas that I can hang outside. It seemed like EVERYONE in this part of Texas had a Texas star SOMEWHERE on their house, inner state, building, office, gate, you name it, it was there. I just wish that I had thought ahead and had been taking pictures of all the different varieties as that would have made a cool collage to frame and hang up.



We didn't stay long as we still had a two hour drive in front of us and there is only so much walking one wants to do in 105* heat. As nice as I thought it was, my poor feet were getting blisters from all my shoes!

Alas, there ends our trip to Texas. I really loved the Hill Country and I look forward to going back someday!

Texas Wednesday

Oi! I hit the ground running after vacation to Texas and it's been difficult finding computer time!

So, to recap so far, Sunday was a travel day, Monday we toured "the Hill Country", and Tuesday we went to Austin. Really, we probably could have spent our four days in Austin easy! So Wednesday was a rest day - we decided to just hang out in Georgetown.

San Gabriel B&B Gardens

We spent the morning at the B&B. We wandered around the gardens the hosts had out back, but since it was already nearly 85* outside, we opted to curl up in the common area upstairs. The Husband was able to catch up on his fantasy baseball teams and I was able to get some reading done.

At noon we went in quest of some lunch and picked In the Back Alley - this was a little lunchtime restaurant that served pannini's, small upscale pizza's and soups. It was tucked in the back of a little kitchy store with an art gallery in the upper level. The upper level was open to below and I was going to wander up and look but forgot. The husband had a tomato, artichoke, eggplant pizza and I had the pannini in the same. It was a fun place for lunch and seemed to be favored by the locals.

After lunch we decided to go check out InnerSpace Caverns just outside of Georgetown. Again, with temps hitting 105*, finding things cool to do was a tiny bit of a challenge. Initially I had dismissed this cavern because it looked touristy-cheesy, but after Longhorn Caverns (Monday's adventures) we decided what the heck.





They offered a couple different tour packages, and I picked "The Explorer Package" because it was limited to about 14 people (less kids principle) and was about 15-30 minutes longer than the regular tour. Alas, while the less kids principle worked and there were only three, those three made up for it in sheer rambunctiousness. Wow.

Anyway, kids aside, the tour guide did a decent job trying to talk to the kid and the adults in the group. I think it was a lost cause for the two sulky 16 year old girls who couldn't bring themselves to admit it was cool. What made this tour smaller than the regular tour was the opportunity to head down a different passage way, be given flashlights and told, go explore! Now THAT was neat! It's a totally different cave when your only light is a large flashlight and you can sometimes hear the rest of the people off chattering and sometimes it got awfully quiet... Much to every ones surprise, including the guides, we went nearly two hours on the tour! A pretty decent time, despite squirrely kids.

That took us right up to dinner and we decided to head a bit north to Waldburg, TX, where reputedly was an excellent German restaurant. All I can say is, Wow! This place, in the middle of seriously, nowhere, was AWESOME! Set in an old store like building (I forgot to keep the menu so I could read about the history of the place) the inside is pure bier hall. Holding easily 130 people, it has room for a band and a walk-in beer cooler in the middle of the dining area. Mugs and steins decorate the shelves along one wall, all sorts of German paraphernalia decorate the walls and the food was OUTSTANDING. Seriously, we should have shared a plate. I had the roulade with red cabbage and 1 small dumpling (one?? who does just one??) while the Husband had pork chops in a great mushroom white gravy with herbed spatzle. His came with three pork chops! Yaoza! For dessert, and yes I saved room for dessert, we shared a monstrous piece of fresh German forest cake. To say we were stuffed at the end would have been an understatement, but oh so worth it!



In a feeble attempt to walk off a bit of dinner, we walked out behind where they have a outside biergarten set up. Tents, picnic tables, a whole full service bar all ready to go for the weekend crowds and bands. We did see or hear that the biergarten holds about 600. They weren't kidding!



Thursday's adventures - Fredricksburg, TX!

Texas Tuesday

On Texas Tuesday we decided to head for Austin after our lovely leisurely breakfast. We had a big Explore Texas book which we consulted before heading out. We decided on the Zilker Botanical Gardens and the Texas State Capitol. Gardens in the morning, capitol in the afternoon when it gets hot! hot! hot!



I can hear blogland now going Botanical Gardens?! You’re in Austin! There’s music! Yup. Botanical gardens. We like checking out the botanical gardens wherever we go - each one is uniquely different. This one was...okay. Its main attraction seemed to be the Japanese garden. What we noticed was that on one end of the complex they were adding new display’s and attractions (such as the Dinosaur garden), but on the other end of the gardens, in the establish displays, they were showing neglect. Seemed to me they should have done less new gardens and focused on weeding and maintaining the older gardens. Still, worth a visit.




Lunch was at a great place called Shady Grove. This was right on the main road between the capitol and the gardens and well worth a visit. Despite the temps hitting 100*, the large outside shady patio was busy! We shared a veggie sandwich and a southwestern Caesar salad with a couple of brews. I’m bummed I didn’t get a pic as this was a neat place.

Off to the State Capitol - wow! Such an interesting history and building. We decided not to do a tour but just wandered around reading plaques and contemplating Texas history. Since I had just recently toured the Colorado State Capitol, I was surprised by the lack of security. No scanners, x-ray machines or DHS personnel. Just one State Trooper on the main floor.

View of main floor of rotunda

We still had some time afterwards to wander down Congress Street to the Congress St. “Bat Bridge”. During the height of summer, something like 5 species of bats and 1 million or more of the little guys roost under the bridge during the day. I still don’t know if this was intentional when the bridge was constructed or a positive side affect. Anyway, we walked underneath on their riverwalk and could hear the little guys chirruping. That was cool. Then it was a leisurely mosey back down Congress to our car. When it’s 105* there is only a leisurely mosey...

Guitar art on Congress St.

Dinner on Tuesday night was at Dave’s BBQ House back Georgetown. OMG - talk about Texas BBQ! I’m not a big meat eater, but this place had ME drooling! We shared dinner: BBQ brisket, BBQ pork tenderloin and BBQ turkey. YUM-MEE! A couple of sides and dessert was warm peach cobbler. We figured we’re in the south, we need to eat peaches!

Wednesday - more spelunking at Inner Space Caverns in Georgetown.