The Garden, So Far. May 22, 2012
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature, Dinner with TCR.Tags: dooryard, gardens, raised beds, vegetables
add a comment
Our garden is slowly planting itself, using my enthralled hands.
In the west yard:
In this photo, Brussels sprouts, onions, tarragon, broccoli, sage, strawberries, asparagus, rhubarb, lacinato kale, rainbow chard, celery, radishes, carrots, several squashes, dill, leeks, peas, beets, beans and garlic. That leaves two and a half beds for the rest of our summer guests…
In the dooryard, the new raised beds now hold garlic, basil and five kinds of tomatoes:
It’s not done, but it’s getting there.
Flowers to follow, and there will be lots of them.
Work Hard, Sit Loose. May 7, 2012
Posted by littlebangtheory in Dinner with TCR.Tags: des saucisses, raised beds, tube-steaks, viande a la ronde
4 comments
I spent the weekend building raised beds in the dooryard, a place to grow tomatoes away from the nightshade blight which haunts our garden. I got 2X12s from a local sawmill yesterday, real 2x12s, not the planed down sissy-boards they sell at Home Depot.
Jeezus, they were heavy! Took me 45 minutes to get the four twelve-footers on top of my ride! Crushed the roof rack and stove in the roof on the way home, despite my gentle driving. Guess that’s what you get when it’s growing one day and boards the next.
Anyway, I diced up the wood and assembled the boxes, toasting my drill along the way:
…and got one of them filled with a mixture of top-soil and composted cow manure before I bonked.
I had just enough of a reserve to light a wood fire and grill dinner in the yard as the light faded:
Viande a la Ronde, served with pain grille, kim-chee and spicy brown mustard, plus a suitably classy libation.
Now it’s off to bed with me.
G’night.
Florida Mountain Turnips! December 21, 2011
Posted by littlebangtheory in Dinner with TCR.Tags: Florida MA, Florida Mountain Turnips, Laurentians, Mike Gancarz, rutabagas, rutebegas, turnips
7 comments
Among the local wonders of this season are the World *ahem* Famous Florida Mountain Turnips.
Now, if you’re a “Turnip Person,” you’ll really appreciate this. If you’re not a Turnip Person, this might be a good time to go clean the refrigerator.
So. Florida Mountain Turnips are grown up the hill from here in Florida, MA. They’re more properly (and widely) known as Laurentian Purple Topped Rutabagas, on accounta they were brought here from the Laurentian mountains in North Central Quebec, they have purple tops, and, um, they’re rutabagas (Brassica napus, a cross-breeding between true turnips and cabbages. ) They’re a soft, pale yellow on the inside and as sweet as root crops of the cabbage family get, due to the early and frequent frosts up there. I could plant them here, within ten miles of their Florida home, and they just wouldn’t come out the same.
Damn.
Lucky for me, several Florida growers sell them. I stumbled upon this sign along Route 2:
…and followed it to the home of one Mike Gancarz, who sells said “fresh” turnips.
“How Fresh,” you might ask? Well, here’s Mike:
Here’s The Snatch:
…and voila! Fresh Florida Mountain Turnips!
“You can’t get them any fresher than this,” he proudly proclaimed.
“I could if I wanted to get down on my hands and knees and eat ‘em out of the dirt,” I replied.
We both laughed, then I paid the man $18 for 20 pounds.
Not bad for the Real Deal.
Come Christmas I’ll be bragging about how good they were.
OK, you picky flatlanders can shut the fridge and sit back down. I’ll find something for you-all presently.
At A Local Farm Stand. July 27, 2011
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature, Dinner with TCR, Uncategorized.Tags: farm stand, zinnias
3 comments
One of our many local farm stands grows LOTS of beautiful flowers:
…as well as lots of great fresh veggies. And they have an appropriate sense of humor for The Farming Life:
Got some great corn there to supplement our own crankin’ garden. 
Dinner With TCR! May 15, 2011
Posted by littlebangtheory in Dinner with TCR.Tags: asparagus, mascarpone, morels, prosciutto
2 comments
Yes, I know, it’s been a long time.
Not since I’ve made diner, mind you, but since I’ve bothered to photograph it.
And as it turns out, that wasn’t such a bad move, as this photograph testifies:
Despite being butt-ugly (a decidedly dispositive attribute for food,) this meal was as delectable as any I’ve eaten in recent memory – fresh-picked morels stuffed with prosciutto and mascarpone, accompanied by a mahogany rice and fiddlehead risotto and asparagus from our garden.
Since the star ingredients were foraged/free, the price of this meal was a plus, and through welders’ goggles it looked pretty good!
There’s GOLD In Them Thar Hills! May 13, 2011
Posted by littlebangtheory in Dinner with TCR.Tags: morels
6 comments
…In the form of free food of the most delectable kind – morels!
This evening on the way home from work I stopped at a roadside spot where I’d found morels some years back, and… voila!
There they were, camouflaged among last year’s leaves to the point of near invisibility, at least until I saw one, and then they were everywhere!
I picked a bunch, like a BUNCH, of varying sizes and took them home:
The biggest dozen will be stuffed for tomorrow night’s dinner; those needing trimming got sauteed in butter and eaten tonight, accompanied by a soundtrack of yumming and ummmmimg, courtesy of moi. The rest are drying in the oven on low heat, to be stored in the freezer for reconstitution as my hedonistic desires dictate.
This is the best haul I’ve had in several years.
Thank you, Mother Earth. Thank you, Father Sky!
Inside My Dinner. October 28, 2010
Posted by littlebangtheory in Dinner with TCR.Tags: yellow peppers
add a comment
The inside of a yellow pepper, on its way to my belly:
Went well with asparagus, red onions and tofu!
Ruby Tuesday/Dinner With TCR! September 27, 2010
Posted by littlebangtheory in Dinner with TCR, Ruby Tuesday!.Tags: Dinner with TCR, garden fresh, grilled chicken, heirloom, organic, Ruby Tuesday!, tomatoes
3 comments
September – Fall colors, crisp nights by the fire, my birthday (!), the Harvest Moon…
And, of course, The Harvest:
…in this case, heirloom tomatoes in our organic garden!
These are among my favorite pleasures as Summer melts into Autumn. Let them come out ugly, cracked, strangely lobed… just let them come out!!
These red and yellow beauties will be great canned and made into sauces, as Miz LuMena does so wonderfully:
…but right now a couple of them are going to join a few of our garden’s other offerings, cilantro, red onion and deep purple hot peppers, in a swim with invited guests Organic Corn and Back Olives; they won’t know they’re in the “deep end” until the olive oil and balsamic vinegar begin to rise around them, and by the time the Gorgonzola crumbles arrive to finish the job, it will be too late for them, and dinner time for me!
With a couple of free-range chicken thighs grilled over an oak fire, this will be a fine easy dinner for a September evening:
…Enjoy!
Thanks to Mary over at Work of the Poet for hosting this fun meme.
In The Dooryard. August 18, 2010
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature, Dinner with TCR.Tags: dooryard, fire, ice cream, leftovers, prayer flags
4 comments
Dinner in the dooryard tonight. Leftovers from a long list, lightening the fridge, with fresh touches from the garden. Curries, salsas, chicken and ribs, refried succotash with local corn, implausibly sweet and spicy. The light fading, the fire holding back the night as crickets and cicadas call forth the half-moon and stars.
It’s beautiful out here, warmed by the fire, cooled by a gentle breeze, a confused margin tracing a wavering curve up the side of my face.
Yawning, stretching, I say goodnight and reluctantly retire to my second floor bedroom; five o’clock comes early for this boy.
At the window I fidget with the fan, then notice my housemate Holly, still by the fire, perhaps contemplating a bit of her home-made peach and basil ice cream. I grab my camera and set up for a thirty second exposure; it looks like this:
Flames flicker, prayer flags flutter, and I’m off to dream the dreams of summer.
Good night.
Dinner With TCR – The SoTU Edition! January 28, 2010
Posted by littlebangtheory in Dinner with TCR, Politics and Society.Tags: asparagus, black Japonica rice, Shrimp and poached tomatoes, State of The Union
add a comment
For this auspicious occasion, the night of President George W. Obama’s first State of the Union address, a feast of spicy shrimp and poached tomatoes, served along side more of that Black Japonica vegetable stir-fried rice, with a generous helping of organic asparagus:
‘Twas guuud!
Unfortunately, dessert was a rewarmed platter of platitudes, difficult to swallow and leaving a bitter taste in my mouth.
And so it goes.
