Our garden doth runneth over

You may remember our garden from 4 months ago (see last post).  Here is our garden now:

No, those aren't giant weeds- they're tomatoes!  Pretty great, right?!  Care of the garden has been a pretty nice collaboration between Andy and I this Summer: Andy waters and I do pretty much everything else.  This turns out to be a fairly even split, as if I had been left to water, I think we would be rockin' a lot more brownish greenery by now.  Some of the garden bore greater fruit than others.  The cucumbers did great for a while, and we frankly had cucumbers up the ying-yang.  Those cukes (along with a wayward dill sprig that was flowering on the front porch) did turn into some very nice pickleage earlier this Summer:

Eventually, the cucumber plant's leaves began to wither, and the vines, then the cucumbers themselves followed.  It was just as well, as we had a fridge compartment full of them at the time, but it would be nice to figure out what happened.  We got a few Roma beans and peppers at the beginning of the season, but I think that as the tomato plants grew to mammoth proportions and blocked the sun, we got large plants without any edibleness attached.  Somewhat disappointing, but we figure this should work out better when we've got a bigger space to garden, with less competition for the vital sunshine.

Back to what did work: baby carrots!  I stared at the green fronds for over a month trying to figure out when to pluck the darn things.  But when I did... how totally exciting!  Like little dirty orange presents lying in wait just under the ground!  We got a few duds (maybe from planting too close?) but here is a pick of the freshly plucked yield:

I considered doing something with the fronds.  A google search turned up carrot green teas and soups, even a whole website from the UK dedicated to carrot fronds(!).  Eventually, I ended up just throwing them out though.  Kind of a bummer, but maybe next year?  Or not...  I think I have to be in a particularly hard-core mood to make that work.  The carrots themselves (along with peppers, baby potatoes and onions scored from the farmer's market) made for a tasty roasted veggie melange.  Sorry for the fuzziness of the below photo- I'm still working on my indoor photography skillz:

And now on to the crowning joy of our garden: the tomatoes.  Ah, the tomatoes!  At the beginning of the Summer as the first Brandywine's began to ripen, nearly ripe tomatoes began to disappear from the garden, only to be found half eaten by the fence in the yard.  Clearly, we had a varmint.  I figured we could combat this by picking the tomatoes a little early, before the critter was interested.  Well, then our little friend became even more brazen, absconding with green tomatoes, then leaving half behind.  Oh, mad is not even the word to describe the feelings I had towards this intruder!  We sprinkled cayenne powder around the garden to burn his little nostrils, and this seemed to work for a week.  Then he came back with a vengeance, placing little bites into each of our 'maters!  This was where the madness needed to stop.  So, we wrapped the garden in mesh designed to keep birds out.  Well, that seemed to have do it, lazy little bastards.   And thank the lord, because I got this close to rethinking my position on shooting small defenseless animals.  Nevertheless, we've ended up with an amazing yield that just keeps on coming!  Here's a photo of a recent few day's bounty:

Most of these tomatoes wound up in a tomato sauce for 11 family members, but others landed in a tasty salsa that accompanied slow-cooker pork carnita tacos.  

I don't break out the slow cooker much, but I will say this recipe was incredibly easy and delicious: take pork shoulder (we used locally sourced, bone-in), rub liberally with latin spices (I used cumin and adobo mix), thinly slice an onion, spread on bottom of the cooker, add a couple cups of chicken broth and lime juice, add pork, set it on low for 8-10 hours and forget it!  I did add one last step, which was to spread the shredded meat on a cookie sheet and broil it at the end to get a little bit of crispiness!  Yum!  Here's the finished product:

So that's our garden!  The Summer's not over yet, but the post-Labor Day chill is already starting to set it.  Hopefully there were some of you to read this, as in the four months since my last post, I imagine I've lost some of even my most loyal viewership;).  However, as I start a new chapter in my life (one in which I reconsider what it is that I really want to be when I grow up) I am attempting to return to the stuff that makes this life enjoyable.  As it turns out, this stuff is also what I would characterize as "blog-worthy," so maybe you'll see more of me on here.  Or maybe I'll see you again in 3-4 months...  We'll see.

Gardenapalooza

Well, springtime has hit in JP and today was a perfect day to garden!  Yesterday I went to Russo's- a food and garden market in Watertown that bills itself as the "food lovers food store"- to pick out some seedlings for our raised bed.  You may recall from one of my early posts that due to (ahem...) a couple of factors that were out of our control, we got a fairly low yield from our garden last year.  This year we are expecting much, much bigger and better things!  I was excited to find a huge selection of plants and it took me so long to pick out which ones I wanted that I think the seedlings had grown an inch by the time I cashed out:).  In the end, we wound up with a wonderful assortment of veggies: two kinds of peppers ("Red Beauty" and "Cubanelle"), five kinds of tomatoes ("Purple Cherokee," "Brandywine," "San Marzano," "Sungold" and "Early Girl"), roma beans, pickling cucumbers, arugula, parsley and basil.  Yes, I am aware that it is a little early to put peppers and tomatoes in, but I'm feeling lucky!  Not really, but they were an impulsive buy and the weather channel says no risk of frost for the next ten days, so hopefully they will be okay.  I also planted rows of yellow beets and carrots from the Seed Savers Exchange and am hoping upon hope that they will grow bigger than the miniature veggies that resulted from my seed sowing escapades last year.  Finally, I also planted some pretty little flowers in the window boxes off our porch and hopefully they too will make it through the Summer (fingers crossed)!  Below are some pics of the garden and window boxes as well as a couple signs of Spring from our yard.  Here's hoping for a bountiful season!

The little plants were nestled, all snug in their beds:)

Row of tomatoes.  In the back are the roma beans and cukes awaiting a trellis (an Andy task...) before they get tucked in.

I decided to get all hard core and actually measure out 18" between tomato plants.   Now they have no excuse not to grow tall and beautiful!  

Our strawberry pot with strawberry flowers that actually haven't been picked!  So exciting!!!

One of three window boxes on our front porch.

Dandelion wisher things...

Interesting plant in our front yard.  No idea what this is!

Funny white heart bush in our front yard.

Old floor (ignore the paper bag man...)

I found this file photo from 2008 of the old kitchen floor.  Try to avoid being distracted by the prominent paper bag man in the pic:)  Big improvement, right?!

A brand new (old) kitchen!

We've been on hiatus here at domestic life for a couple of reasons, starting with a kitchen makeover, followed by a hospitalization (which incidentally was completely unrelated to the work in the kitchen).  This resulted in very little actual "domestic" life being accomplished over the past month or so, unless you include calling for food delivery domestic (and it supposed it is in a way...) but not exactly what I'm looking to promote here on this blog.  You could also say that the work in the kitchen was "domestic" and I suppose that would be true too, except that I didn't take photos of that process so it doesn't count...:)  Honestly, I considered taking photos many times during the process, but was so freaked out that the project would not turn out well that I couldn't bring myself to document.  But all's well that ends well as they say and very fortunately (and thanks to a lot of hard work by my hubby, father and brother) everything turned out quite well and now we are the happy recipients of a brand new kitchen floor!  Of course, the floor is not new at all- we pulled up four-ish layers of horribly ugly flooring only to find the original 1920's wood floors!  I had always suspected there were wood floors somewhere under our loose, cracked and otherwise homely tile kitchen floor.  One day something got into me and Andy and before we knew it, we had removed about 3 square inches of tile and then sub-flooring to reveal what we thought at the time was wood floor (more about that later...).  Before you know it, we were ripping a very loose tile floor up and having a ball- that is until about halfway through when I looked around and thought "oh (expletive)- there's no going back now!" That's about when I exited the kitchen and practiced breathing techniques while Andy continued to happily demo and destroy.  Under the tile layer came the plywood subfloor, which seemed to have been nailed down every couple inches or so by whatever genius installed the tile in the first place.  The plywood cracked and splintered at every pry of the crowbar, making this an ever-so-slightly more difficult job than we'd initially anticipated.  Shortly into the sub-floor prying came the moment where Andy and I paused to look at a now two-foot area where the tile and plywood has been removed to stand back and admire what was to be our lovely new wood floor.  Of course, when we took a good hard look, there was a moment on silence as we both came to the realization that this was not a hardwood floor at all, but terribly ugly linoleum instead.  At that point, I really had to exit the room and take a moment to gather myself.  That was indeed the low point of the project.  Well, perhaps that moment was tied with the when we first attempted to remove the linoleum, only to find that it was cemented down with tar (yes, TAR) that came up in one centimeter pieces at a time.  Did I mention the kitchen is 12' x 12' plus a pantry?  Well, let's just say that through hard work and dedication the linoleum was removed, we ate lots and lots of takeout, then the floor man came and re-refinished the floors and now we have a much improved new/old kitchen.  The floors aren't perfect- in fact there's a large rectangular outline next to an old coal stove vent we found when Andy moved the refrigerator, and I'm fairly sure it must be the old outline of said coal stove.  But I think that just adds character and tells a nice story so I'm kind-of fond of the imperfections.  This project has also given us an opportunity to re-organize and clean the kitchen (you don't hear much about "cleaning" on this "domestic" blog, but we're working on it...) which has made the kitchen far more useable.  So, please enjoy some pics of our new/old kitchen.  I've also included a pic of our first meal created in the new kitchen- a dish of pappardelle which incorporated sausage and spinach from Natick Community Farm and onions and hydroponic tomatoes from the Natick Wintertime Farmer's Market.  Enjoy! 

The ?coal stove outline

New pan organization

The floor takes her close-up

  

Pappardelle

A very skunky Valentine's weekend

Above is a picture of our beloved pup Zuzu.  Our innocent, sweet, harmless Zu.  Don't be fooled my friends...

Perhaps I shall start this post by describing our previously laid out plans for Valentine's day: Andy and I planned to head to the Pawtucket Farmer's Market on Saturday morning to obtain some delicious grass-fed steaks, golden fingerling potatoes and onions for roasting and whatever greens looked the freshest.  We would take these fine ingredients home and I would prepare a sumptuous candlelit meal for my dear hubby of 2+ years, who in turn, planned to cook up a delicious dessert of his choice to top things off.  Sounds fairly romantical, does it not?  I suppose it would have been, but fate had other ideas for our family that weekend.

It all started the Friday night before Valentine's day. Andy and I joined friends for a lovely Thai/Vietnamese dinner in Belmont.  We headed home early in the evening to take out our sweet puppy Zu, stopping only to get tasty sundaes to go at J.P. Licks to eat at home.  As per our usual routine, we opened the door and Zu whined and ran around behind her baby gate as we entered.  Andy took her right out the back door to do her business.  No sooner had I put down my sundae and taken off my jacket than I heard Zu coming back in through the kitchen and Andy shouting "Oh shnikes! Oh shnikes!" (he actually used the other s-word...)  I'm not sure what hit me first- the sight of Zu foaming at the mouth, left eye closed shut, muzzle wet- or the stench.  The brutal stench that hit you like a brick wall.  In any case, Andy frantically explained that upon being released from the kitchen, Zu had lunged at an animal and had been "wrestling" with said beast in the backyard.  Before Andy could do anything, the critter stood on it's back legs and revealed it's black and white self. Zu had been skunked right in the kisser.  The explanation was hardly necessary- Zu looked and smelling HORRIBLE.  At the sight of Zu foaming at the mouth, we both freaked out.  Andy called Angell-Memorial Animal Hospital which I got into the tub (socks and all) with Zuzu and started to rinse the foam out of her mouth and the vile skunk toxin out of her eye.  Feeling bad for our now wet, injured and stinky puppy, I foolishly let her out of the tub while Andy relayed the news from the Vet: Zu would be okay, she did not need to come in to be seen unless she was scratched or bitten (she was not).  As for the smell, they recommended she immediately get scrubbed with a solution of baking soda, hydrogen peroxide and dish soap.  Of course, as Andy shared this information, Zu found her way to each carpet in the house, throwing her entire body on the ground and grinding the skunk oil onto every available surface.  Finally, sense grabbed a hold of us and I put Zu on her leash and relegated her to the dining room while Andy looked into supplies.  We had no hydrogen peroxide.  It was now close to 11pm.  What to do?  Well, here's what we did- Andy left to find the peroxide (a trip that ended up taking him to 3 pharmacies over the course of an hour) while I sat on the floor with Zu on my lap.  We might as well invited the skunk in to personally spray her oils over our entire home.  When Zu finally got a bath and all clothes that had been in direct contact with the skunk juice were in the wash, we decided to go upstairs to the spare room to sleep thinking we would be safe there.  We were not.  Apparently, stank- like heat- rises.  I was up all night as the odor found it's way to my olfactory nerves over and over and over again, unrelenting even in sleep.   The uneaten sundaes, now more soup than solid, sat where we had left them upon entering the house, a sad, sad waste of premium ice cream.

In the morning, we faced the damage and came to the quick conclusion that everything and anything in the house that could be washed would need to be.  Slipcovers, carpets, wood floors, jackets, bodies- everything took it's turn getting scrubbed down.  I put coffee beans and cinnamon in the oven, boiled vanilla extract and coffee grounds and left bowls of the ugly concoction around the house- anything to mask the smell.  We left windows open as the 30 degree air drifted through the house.  Andy and I did "checks" every once in a while, where one of us would stand outside in the freezing cold for a moment and then enter back into the condo to see if the wall of funk hit with as much force as it had previously.  Over and over again we were hit by the funk wall.

There was no trip to the Farmer's Market.

After Zu got the special $50 "skunk wash" at the local groomer and we'd spent 2 days cleaning an invisible substance with the stank of a thousand suns, we realized it was Valentine's day.  We had to pull it together.  So, at 5pm, I ran out to the grocery store and picked up ingredients for artichoke dip and bruschetta and a few more ingredients for an ambitious Andy who wanted to go through with making a molten chocolate cake.  

After a short while, I had whipped up the above plate of apps, arranged on the lovely ceramic platter given to us by my cousin Sasha for Christmas this year.

And Andy was hard at work separating egg yolks for his chocolate cake.  This was his first time ever separating eggs and he did an awesome job!

He improvised by using the Silly Cow hot chocolate mix that we had picked up in Vermont to coat the muffin tins before he poured in the molten batter.  I was impressed!

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the finished product.  While the molten volcanoes of chocolate didn't so much seem to want to stand on their own and immediately erupted upon hitting the plate (and on the floor in one case...) they were rich and delicious.  Served with Ben and Jerry's vanilla ice cream and a couple of glasses of champagne, the stench started to lift before our nares as we indulged in the unctuous oozing chocolate.  So, while we didn't end up with the celebration we had imagined, we did have a Valentine's that we will not soon forget.  Happy Valentine's Day to all!

One last holiday post, just in the nick of time for February

Every year since my birth in 1978 I have visited Niagara Falls, NY for Christmas.  That's right- I've never, ever spent Christmas anywhere else.  My extended family lives there, we stay with my wonderful grandparents and just have a wholesome, fun time full of family love ever time.  I've frequently contemplated what I would do if I started a job that wouldn't allow me to take time off around Christmas. After much thought, the verdict is that I simply cannot take a position where this would be an issue.  Now there's problem-solving for you:)

I love Christmas.  For years my anxiety dreams did not consist of showing up to school naked, or taking exams without having come to class the whole year, like many normal people I know.  No, my anxiety dreams were all the same: it was Christmas, and I'd forgotten to watch all of my favorite Christmas movies, and how in the name of god was I going to watch 10+ Christmas movies before Christmas was over???  Simply not enough hours in the day!  You may think this was a December, maybe November-only nightmare.  No, folks- year round.  Really.  Since I've been married, I think that the Christmas fever has been tempered a bit and I don't remember the last time I had the dream (and not for any lack of stress...) but the bottom line is that I love Christmas and just about all things Christmas-related.  So, when my Grandmere asked me to bake some cut-out Christmas cookies before we came to N.F. this year, I was happy to oblige.  I made them on a beautiful snowy morning, which really added to the Christmas cheer!  

This was the second year that I've made the cookies myself, following all of my childhood years when my mom would make them and I would be assigned the task of decoration.  When I was relegated to decoration only, I took sincere pride in my work, taking the time to decorate each cookie individually, using all the different types of sprinkles and adornments I could find to create a unique vision.  The snowmen got blue or green or brown eyes, colored top hats, perhaps a shirt and pants.  Trees got colored lights, a star on top, loops of garland.  This took a little while since my mom tended to bake several dozen cookies.  A little OCD if I don't say so myself (we're really getting a peak into my psyche today, aren't we?  Yikes!  No one to blame but myself though...)  The good or bad news (depending on whether you value beautiful cookies over good mental hygiene or vice versa) is that I've now stream-lined my decorating technique.  You can check out the end product below.  And now, I think I'm ready to move on beyond December.  Phew!:)

A Holiday Post in Mid-January...

So, you can color me just a little tardy with these blog posts.  Truth is, I've been too distracted by life to focus on what's really important: blogging about the food I cooked over the holidays.  So, for those of you who are willing to warp back to December 2009 with me, please continue to read below.

In mid-December, we decided to have a little gathering with some of our friends and family.  I started hosting Christmas dinner parties while at nursing school, and then took a little hiatus for a year.  I was really happy to bring back the tradition this year, and was so excited in fact that I made enough food to feed ten times the amount of people we actually had.  Or at least I thought so until our guests actually arrived and ate so much food that my Italian grandmere would have been very proud of them all!  The menu was made up of my family's classics, starring and featuring a soup called "Marbles and Grass".  Apparently Marbles and Grass has a long Italian name that that someone in my family changed to a more Americanized name upon coming to the U.S. (or at least this is the story I've heard...)  So, what is "Marbles and Grass?"  Well, if you're reading this blog, you probably know what it is, because you're likely a family member or friend who I've made this for, but I digress.  The "marbles" portion it essentially a pasta dough which has been rolled out and cut into little spheres, deep-fat fried, drained in a paper bag and then soaked in chicken stock where they co-mingle with leaves of escarole (aka "grass").  I've included a few photos of the process below for your enjoyment:

Creating a well filled with a dozen local eggs

The "marbles" rolled out  and cut into spheres, ready for frying

Chicken soup (with two chickens!) lying in wait for it's marbles

I wasn't too sure how the dish was going to go over with our group, which was mostly made up of Marbles and Grass virgins, but like a good Italian, I made a huge pot just in case.  Wasn't I surprised at the end of the party when I looked into the depths of the massive pot (so large in fact, it took up two burners on the stove) to find just a few sad marbles sitting on the bottom, soupless.  A success!

The lasagna- made with Narragansett Creamery's fresh ricotta and mozzarella and a homemade tomato sauce- was left-over in the end, but frankly, it was a pretty darn huge lasagna.  We also had some artichoke dip, local cheeses and assorted tidbits.  We finished off with my mom's sour cream chocolate chip coffee cake which was to die for, as always.   It was a great night full of great friends, the fam, tasty food (if I don't say so myself...) and a few libations.  I'm not sure if I'll be able to wait for next Christmas to do it again...