The 15 Cent Zucchini

Our Zucchini crop is starting to slow, the stems are getting long and cracked and not supporting the zucchini making end of the plant, they are just getting old. It was a good year for Zucchini at our house, we had about 20 if not more this year and each was about a pound and a half. We try to pluck them before they turn monster size, but it seems to happen overnight. We gave some away, some was made into cake, and others were grilled, sautéed, or shredded and dressed up like coleslaw. Bought the plants in pop-ups for $2.99, stuck them in the ground, did a bit of weeding and watering and that was it. No need to fertilize, we have good soil.  We compose kitchen scraps and grass and garden clippings over the summer, then in the fall we move all the compost to the vegetable beds.The tomatoes did not do as well this year, the regular tomatoes were attacked by Tomato Hornworms. (Photo from Texas A&M Agro Dept.) Nearly denuded the top of all 4 of the regular tomato plants. I plucked off all I could find and the plants eventually came back. They were also a bit shaded by the zucchini plants for awhile. Only have had about 10 tomatoes from these plants, though there are currently many green tomatoes on the plants, which I hope will ripen.The Plum tomatoes did OK, they were a bit shaded by the zucchini also, but missed being chomped on my Hornworms. Have had about 5 or 6 dry quart containers of them from the 3 plumb tomato plants.Last fall we planted garlic, from a fellow gardener. In the spring we pulled it up and had garlic, very easy. We dried it and are saving some to plant this fall. It looks like leg bones stored in a crypt.All the herbs are growing like weeds, it smells so good when I water them. Rosemary, Thyme, oregano, mints, tarragon, comfrey. The comfrey is from an original plant we took from the Farmhouse back before everyone moved out. The Farm house was where several friends of ours lived in over a period of years, there was a pool and a large yard and a lot of parties. Not to be confused with the main house on the old family farm which was referred to as the Big House.

Samuel Smith’s Fruit Ales

I have had the Samuel Smith Cherry fruit ale in the fridge for over 2 months and finally opened it Sunday. Oh it is horrid!! Tastes like a cross between someone adulterating my ale with Maraschino Cherry juice and someone ruining my Shirley Temple with some bad beer. I was very disappointed, even the Dalek looks dejected. I opened it yesterday and finished it today. The Dalek was guarding it for me, though I doubt anyone would have stole it. I have had Their Raspberry and their Strawberry Fruit ales, both were very good. The Raspberry I had in April 2010 and I though it very good, not too sweet with a definite raspberry flavour.

The Strawberry I thought was not too sweet, nor artificial tasting and good for a change. I had that back in February 2010. I wrote my thoughts on the ales on the back of the labels, I never would have remembered otherwise. Oh what a vocabulary I have for describing beer. Ug beer good. I liked the raspberry ale more than the strawberry. Sam Smith makes a pretty good fruit ale, though I have had better Belgium Fruit ales.

Perhaps the Cherry Fruit ale would be good for cooking or baking or catching flies?

Tragedy mars Parade

Travis’ 100th Annual 4th of July parade, expected to be stupendous was rather a letdown. The tragedy was of course the Gaps, there were more gaps than parade and there didn’t seem to be any new parade entries other than the Pogo Stickers and a stage coach. Even the Antique cars were down in number.  A bit delayed getting the photos up, since I have been busy lately.

The mayor of our small town, Mayor Mike next to the Grand Marshal Janice Blanchard (in the red, white and blue sash). My grandfather was grand marshal one year, he wore a top hat and tails, very dapper.

Debris launchThe Local Mounties Grand Marshal, Janice Blanchard PipersVolunteer FiremenBrushfire Unit Brass BandBand on a truck  ClownsClown carSteel band on a truck    This lady has been leading her Band since forever She runs a tight ship  This band is a bit more relaxedStagecoach and Hot DogThe End

Sparse Summer Blooms

Looks like we need to add more flowers to the property. The yard is a bit bereft of flowers right now.

Four O’clocks – had them since the early 1980s. Got them from a technician when I was working at Bell Labs. Each year we get different variations from the colors that bloomed the year before. My favorite was the yellow streaked with magenta. We let them self seed. This year we have yellow, the red above and a lilac shade.Lobelia – in a pot out front, there are Calla Lily bulbs in the pot as well. Hope they come up. Erodium (x variable ‘Flore-Pleno’)  in a small home made pot.Phlox – about 4 foot tall. We also had white, but that gradually stopped coming back. Cilantro going to seed – I’m gonna count itGreen and White variegated Hosta.A Child of an original Comfrey(from the Farm House Days.

Half-Year Book List 2010

This is what I have been reading so far this year. Mainly mysteries taking place in England with characters like Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, Hamish MacBeth, Agatha Raisin and Inspector Lynley to name a few. The last one I read took place in Oxford (The Oxford Murders by Guillermo Martinez) and had a little twist at the end, though I’m sure my better half would have figured it out. It was made into a movie in 2008 and I did not know that till I looked up the book on the web to get the writers first name. The movie stared Elijah Wood and John Hurt, I’ll have to keep an eye out for it. I had started the Great Train Robbery, but had recently seen the movie with Sean Connery and Donald Sutherland and the movie was so much like the book (as far as I got) that I didn’t finish it. I don’t finish every book I start. If the book is going too slow or I don’t like it for some reason, I just mark it as DNF and move on. Way too many books unread in the world (and on my bedroom floor) to be struggling through a book I am not enjoying. And I read because I enjoy it. I already have a job. Born Round by the NYTimes food critic was interesting, I could not do that job. After a week on vacation I tire of ordering food. The latest Dan Brown novel was a bit of a disappointment, it seemed very much like the others. Though I remember staying up till the wee hours of the morning to finish it, so it could not have been terrible. I usually only get to read at night before I go to sleep, so by that time my eyes are tired and my mind has already started shutting down so lots of time I drop the book a few time and then give up.

Favorite from the list? 4:50 from Paddington. I like the time period and I like trains. Ask me again tomorrow and get a different answer, just like the Magic 8 Ball.

Since it is Officially Summer, I started Travels with my Aunt by Graham Greene. I have read it every summer since 2006 and I had also read it in 2004 over the summer. What the hell did I do in Summer 2005? It’s a fun book and I know how it ends, but I forget all the little things. I only had read the first chapter outside this afternoon and I was already chuckling to myself. Some of Grahams Greene’s other books are downers like Stamboul Train, but others are very enjoyable like Dr Fischer of Geneva (The Bomb Party) and Monsignor Quixote. Monsignor Quixote made me want to read Don Quixote, but the size of the book is daunting.

I have beer labels from the first half of the year which I had photographed, but wasn’t happy with the way they came out. Hopefully I’ll try again. Then I can throw them away. Otherwise my kids will have to do it when I’m gone. Oh what crap they will find down in “The Lab”.

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More Bacon

Made another batch of bacon. One sweet and one savory.

Post cure bacon, Savory (left), Sweet (right) Post Smoke Bacon, Savory (bottom), (Sweet top)

Sweet

• 2.12 lbs pork bellie
• 1/4 cup Dry cure (includes sodium nitrite, salt and sugar)
• 2/3s of 1/4 cup Maple sugar
• 2/3s of 1/4 cup of brown sugar (not compressed)

Savory

• 1.71 lbs pork bellie
• 35g Dry Cure (added a table spoon a few days later)
• 2 smashed garlic cloves (size of my pinkie tip)
• 2 crushed bay leaves
• black pepper

Put the bellies in separate Ziploc bags with the listed ingredients and let them cure in the refrigerator for 10 days. They didn’t seem to lose  as much water and get as firm as my first Bacon endeavor. I smoked them for 2 hours at 200-225F using alder wood chips to an internal temperature of 150F. I added less smoke this time around.

The smaller Savory Bacon was very salty, though I had tried a piece from the smaller, thinner side. It was not releasing any water so I thought I had not added enough cure so I had added more. I could also taste the pepper, but not the garlic or the bay. Maybe a different section will have more of those flavors.

The sweet bacon tasted really good, not too sweet. I think for my first sweet bacon I had added too much sugar.

The pork bellie was from Western beef so It might not have been as good as the first pork bellie from Fairway Market.

Skin side – Looks great, like a piece of mahogany wood hand rubbed with Tung oil. I trim off the skin and discard it , but I should be making my own Fried Pork Rinds. This time I left more fat on the bacon when trimming off the skin.

Half Year Post

Summer is here, feels like August. Went to the beach this morning with the dog. The breeze felt great, but the sun was too hot, should have worn a hat, though I’m not a hat guy.

Nelly Moser Clematis – received from a friend, didn’t bloom last year. This is the second bloom this year. I guess it earned its keep. Day lily – Tang Sunburst* (In Memory of Gramps) We have 2 big patches of these. Coreopsis – It wants to take over, but it is easy to pull up the portions you don’t want. We had a pink variety, but it didn’t come back one year. There is a strong variety in white, but I’ve been told it is very boring.Lavender – We also have a pink version, but it looks washed out and not very special.Pink Lavender – I may move it somewhere it might show up better or put it in a planter. Roses – Something Cool Pink*, from the same friend as the Clematis. Sedum – not my favorite family of plants, but serve their purpose of allowing me to skip watering the front garden.Campanula – in a trough    Hydrangea Something from the Mum family, thought it was Chrysanthemum parthenium, but this doesn’t have a yellow center. I think we did at one time have Chrysanthemum parthenium, but no longer. This here I think is a weed, but it grows in a neglected spot and adds some color.Leontopodium alpinum – Edelweiss, it is well established and keeps coming back each year. Maybe I’ll try to divide it this year.  * – more made up plant names