It's later in the spring than I'm used to, but I'm finding my enthusiasm again! It's poking through the ground, a little late thanks to the cool and wet spring, but little green shoots of it are unfurling. Two leaves, then four, then those leaves that really look like leaves...
THINGS I AM EXCITED ABOUT:
MAKE IT POP! This is going to be pretty damn cool. I've been working with PDX Pop Now!, the organization that puts this on, and I'm pretty bowled over by how great it's going to be. Laura Veirs, Eric Earley of Blitzen Trapper, Laura Gibson, and Israel Nebeker of Blind Pilot is a pretty remarkable lineup for a show. The way this annual fundraiser show works is that the organization works to get some pretty significant local talent, then puts on this show in a tiny, intimate venue (the Ace Hotel's event space called The Cleaners), so you get to get all up-close and personal. I've been twice before, and it's always a memorable experience. And now I'm a part of the process, so I'm pretty much just buzzing about now, waiting for April 28.
Sherry Vanilla Bean Jelly. The Lovely Partner's mother, out of the blue, bought us a night at a downtown hotel and dinner out. We went to Clyde Common, and while we were waiting for our table, we got a cheese plate that came with this amazing sherry vanilla bean jelly. Turns out it was remarkably easy to replicate. I googled "sherry jelly" and added vanilla instead of the spices in the recipe. I also tossed in a cinnamon stick, which turned out to be utterly superfluous, and if I could take it back I would. But it's still amazing. I wish I had the money to try it with a good sherry, instead of the cheap Christian Brothers stuff, but damn. I'm thinking about all the other possibilities. Tawny Port? Madeira? And then there's the whole realm of wine jellies...I want to make one out of a nice floral, fruity, aromatic viognier or a muscat.
Renewal and growth. At work, I've been working with a too-high number of kids, since one of my coworkers (there aren't many of us) was on maternity leave and is back but only part time. After a while, it seems like all the kids that only need to be in a residential treatment setting for a little bit and then can move on, have moved on. Eventually, I have seven-eight-nine kids who seem like they'll never leave. But as spring buds and flowers burst forth, so have my clients. I sent a kid home on Friday, and another goes out tomorrow (the most hopeful of the bunch, I think she'll do great). I've got two or three more who look somewhere between sorta and really ready to move on, and now it's just about making the plans for where. And at the same time, I see the first shoots of lettuce and radishes emerging in the garden. Stagnation is turning into growth all over the place.
The Farmer's Market. I've missed it the last couple of saturdays, but the two saturdays before that, I made it down to the first two weeks of the Portland Farmer's Market. I've gotten root veggies and greens and vegetable starts for the garden, and pork and salmon, and dried cherries (damn, the Lovely Boyfriend is soaking those cherries in bourbon and Maraska, and they are pretty unbelievably tasty), and always an amazing lunch and some great coffee.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Feels Like Backwards
It's getting colder. Today, it didn't break 50 degrees. I have a cold (as does everyone I know). How did it become November again?
I'm so impatient right now. I want to get back out in the garden, but the garden's a pile of soupy muck. I need to dig up those overcrowded bulbs, and plant kale and carrots! I felt like I just couldn't wait any longer on the potatoes, but now I hope they don't just rot out there. Three kinds, six seed potatoes. I'm pretty excited.
I've also got this great plan to make a sherry vanilla-bean jelly, which I just had accompanying a cheese plate at Clyde Common. Oh, wow. I've got the sherry, and the vanilla bean, but now I need to feel confident that I can touch food without being all Typhoid-Mary. Maybe this weekend?
Maybe this weekend I'll finish my taxes, get flyering done for a fundraiser (okay, this one's not optional), put compost down in the garden, dig up some bulbs, tear up some grass, get some stuff planted, move more boxes of my stuff, make jelly, make some jewelry, finish that email I'm writing, color my hair, make an appointment for a haircut...sheesh, I suck.
No wonder I feel like I never get anything done. Perhaps I should lower my expectations. I'm not sure how, though. None of these things seem like they should come off the list.
Okay, mental shift: Things I've accomplished this past week include finding out what I needed to to get my taxes done, getting a hefty start on it, making slug traps, completing a long list of emails I needed to send out/return for the nonprofit, planning the flyering excursion, buying compost, moving some boxes, making sausage bean stew, and baking this amazing cherry pie with an almond crumb topping, so damn good, using sour pie cherries from the farmer's market that I pitted and froze last July. I so rock!
Okay, the pie was someone else's recipe, I found it online and promptly lost it again, but the stew is really easy and my own recipe, so I'm going to share it:
Sausage Stew
1 can beans (black eyed peas, white beans, or garbanzo work well), drained
1 can hominy, drained
1 can diced tomatoes (either with chilies or fire-roasted taste great), UNdrained
About half a pound of braising greens, washed well and chopped
1 tablespoon oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1/2 lb of smoked sausage, sliced thinly and halved or quartered (half-moon or pie shape)
Heat the oil in a large saucepan or soup pot over medium heat. Toss in the garlic, and when it starts to get aromatic (30 seconds or so), add the greens. You may need to add them in handfuls and wait for them to wilt, depending on the size of your pot. If you just washed them, they should have some water clinging to them; if not, toss in a couple of tablespoons of water. Add the cider vinegar, turn down to low, and put a lid on the pot. When the greens are well wilted and tender (10-15 minutes, maybe more depending on the kind of greens), add all the other ingredients. Simmer on medium-low until everything is heated through and all the flavors are combined.
I'm so impatient right now. I want to get back out in the garden, but the garden's a pile of soupy muck. I need to dig up those overcrowded bulbs, and plant kale and carrots! I felt like I just couldn't wait any longer on the potatoes, but now I hope they don't just rot out there. Three kinds, six seed potatoes. I'm pretty excited.
I've also got this great plan to make a sherry vanilla-bean jelly, which I just had accompanying a cheese plate at Clyde Common. Oh, wow. I've got the sherry, and the vanilla bean, but now I need to feel confident that I can touch food without being all Typhoid-Mary. Maybe this weekend?
Maybe this weekend I'll finish my taxes, get flyering done for a fundraiser (okay, this one's not optional), put compost down in the garden, dig up some bulbs, tear up some grass, get some stuff planted, move more boxes of my stuff, make jelly, make some jewelry, finish that email I'm writing, color my hair, make an appointment for a haircut...sheesh, I suck.
No wonder I feel like I never get anything done. Perhaps I should lower my expectations. I'm not sure how, though. None of these things seem like they should come off the list.
Okay, mental shift: Things I've accomplished this past week include finding out what I needed to to get my taxes done, getting a hefty start on it, making slug traps, completing a long list of emails I needed to send out/return for the nonprofit, planning the flyering excursion, buying compost, moving some boxes, making sausage bean stew, and baking this amazing cherry pie with an almond crumb topping, so damn good, using sour pie cherries from the farmer's market that I pitted and froze last July. I so rock!
Okay, the pie was someone else's recipe, I found it online and promptly lost it again, but the stew is really easy and my own recipe, so I'm going to share it:
Sausage Stew
1 can beans (black eyed peas, white beans, or garbanzo work well), drained
1 can hominy, drained
1 can diced tomatoes (either with chilies or fire-roasted taste great), UNdrained
About half a pound of braising greens, washed well and chopped
1 tablespoon oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1/2 lb of smoked sausage, sliced thinly and halved or quartered (half-moon or pie shape)
Heat the oil in a large saucepan or soup pot over medium heat. Toss in the garlic, and when it starts to get aromatic (30 seconds or so), add the greens. You may need to add them in handfuls and wait for them to wilt, depending on the size of your pot. If you just washed them, they should have some water clinging to them; if not, toss in a couple of tablespoons of water. Add the cider vinegar, turn down to low, and put a lid on the pot. When the greens are well wilted and tender (10-15 minutes, maybe more depending on the kind of greens), add all the other ingredients. Simmer on medium-low until everything is heated through and all the flavors are combined.
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