Kitchen Log, Day 35.
One to the neat things about having friends and family all over the world and the country, is that in this time of oddness, we can get a true play-by-play of what’s going on in different places. We have friends in London, Paris, Canada and Spain and family in big cities and rural towns, so it’s nice to have a perspective with no media influence. If and when, we ever get a news source that isn’t funded by advertising dollars, I will be more inclined to tune in to said news.
In the meantime, we have been cooking our way through both the fun bounty of spring time veggies and fruits and simultaneously mowing through things frozen (I can use vegetable stock about 6000 times a day!) and taking advantage of time-consuming kitchen projects we have not had the time to do! Mozzarella, ricotta, yogurt all those fun things. I have some fun new asparagus recipes I will share at the end of the post.
The garden has been enjoying the deluge of rain and then blazing sun and the cool down! My garden is so full of plants with stories, it’s like a little museum every time I am in it!
I have a fig tree that came over from Croatia via Angelica’s dad, and a fig tree my friend Jelena gave me, I have a zucchini plant from my friend Allie and rose bushes from Heirloom Roses from Mom, loads of herbs from Shelton Herb Farm, baby herbs from Green Drop Farms, vintage fencing from my friend Ginny, a fantastic garden cart from Claudia, loamy black dirt from Daddy Pete’s and my friend Amie, old roses from Orton Plantation, tomato plants from seeds saved from my Epic Tomato project from Craig Lehoullier, a chubby greenhouse from my friends at Territorial when they gave me a leg up post hurricane, a vermicomposter from Sara Webster’s mom, hibiscus blossoms from my friend Donna, beautiful fossil rocks for garden borders from our friend’s Tom and Debbie and raised beds built by Shawn from lumber we scavenged different places! Yes, that IS a run-on sentence but you should hear the one’s in my head-way worse.
But we do have deer out here, and foxes, opossums, trash pandas (aka raccoons) and so it makes it a bit dicey at night sometimes with the chickens and the garden BUT Linda and I discovered the other day via HGTV blog that deer HATE Dove Soap! So we shall see if that helps!
One thing there is NOT a lot of on a micro-farm with a Great Pyrenees and 2 boys (ok 3 boys) is SILENCE. Yes we also have the GSD, Edison, but he is way less noisy, concentrates more on shedding. All German Shepherds should come with a Roomba.
“Feed your soul with silence, that’s where dreams are born.” Susan Branch (susanbranch.com)
Like, none, ever. So, in a sanity-preserving effort I have taken to showering. Now, believe it or not, when the bakery was running full time, a shower, a lengthy shower, was a treat! TMI, yes, yes. But we have a variety of animals and people to feed morning and night, and so if I went in by 5 a.m. and didn’t get home till after 7 p.m. you can see how the time for a REAL shower seemed rather impossible!
And so, NOW, I light a big, fat soy candle on my clean bathroom counter, put a little cups of baking soda with drops of cypress pine oil beneath the stream of water and escape from dinosaurs, Legos, beer and barking for 10 glorious minutes. Because nothing makes a better filter for your mirror than shower fog and candlelight! And I emerge, temporarily clean and calm-ish. (Which by the way, the new candles we got from Wilmington Candle Company are AMAZING).
If you planted your plants from last week, send us pictures of your #virusgarden ! It’s so interesting to see how plants perform in different parts of our 3 counties! We do have Irises this week from Castle Hayne Farms-their house grown irises make me wish for fields of irises!
And so, we begin another week of quarantine, 7 more days of Quarantine Theatre and 63+meals!!!
The new curbside menu for the week is up, and per request, there are cinnamon rolls and no-bakes! And for poor Victoria, I solemnly swear NOT to let the boys pack your bag this week! I know you thought you were being pranked!!!
Asparagus with Miso Dip!!!
Boil 1 bundle asparagus in super salty water for 2 minutes. Drain and place on a plate in fridge. In small bowl, crush half a clove of garlic with a 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, loosen with 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Set aside. In larger bowl, place 2 tablespoons of white miso (did you know we make world famous miso in NC? ) and whisk in 3 tablespoons hot water to dissolve miso. Add in garlic mixture and stir in 2 tablespoons tahini and a drizzle of really nice olive oil. Voila! A yummy asparagus dip or killer salad dressing!
(P.S. If you are wildly irritated that I assumed you had those ingredients on hand and want me to stick a batch in your order just email me 🙂 Shawn will murder me if I add anything else to the website this week. This blog took forever because the cat rolled up with a snake. Bad times for mom…