Category Archives: Howard County

Whole Foods

Posted on August 30, 2014 by AnnieRie

Opened in Howard County ten days ago. Now, I suppose we are complete as a upscale grocery store containing county. We have the Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Wegmans trilogy.

Everyone knows that I support small local businesses, mostly family owned, but still, there is something about stepping into one of these specialty grocers that brings the “foodie” side to the forefront. We headed off Monday morning to have an early lunch and see if Whole Foods had a few items I can’t find at other stores.

First of all, you can’t beat the view from the “dining” area.

Second, where else in a food store do you find flowers on the tables?

I think they did an excellent job of transforming the former Rouse Building into something exciting, open and interesting. I also have to give them credit for using local purveyors and acknowledging it.

We tried a link of each of the two homemade lamb sausages, one Greek and one Moroccan. The verdict, liked the Merguez, and tossed the Lukanika. It had way too funky of a smell to it. Not a good fit.

I also got caught up in trying the handmade gnocchi. The spinach one.

Made it for dinner, with meatballs. Used some of my freshly made sage butter for the pasta.

All in all, it will be a place we use to find bulk items, like spices, rice, grains, nuts. They have a very large selection. The seafood also looks good. Right now, I head to Wegmans for seafood, but Whole Foods is closer.

And, Friday morning at 9:30, it was easy to pop in and grab a few hard rolls for an egg salad lunch, and some pita for my eggplant dip. I do like their bakery items.

First impressions. Favorable.

Refrigerator Pickles

Posted on August 25, 2014 by AnnieRie

I had many jars of pickles ready to take to Saturday’s program. I have discovered the fun of pickling vegetables so you don’t have to spend large amounts of money at the local stores to buy those items so loved on antipasto trays.

I’ve been all over the map in terms of the ratios I use to make refrigerator pickles. I’ve also used crocks in the past to make pickles. These I did put in the hot water bath in order to have them stay fresh longer, but I keep them in the refrigerator no matter how I make them. Thankfully we have a small beverage refrigerator under a counter in the laundry room. Lots of stuff gets stored there.

I like my pickles garlicky and sour. I use very little sugar, if at all. Sometimes I do buy pickling spices, but mostly I just throw in whatever is still in the spice rack. I use garlic (or once I used scapes). I use garlic powder. I use salt, pepper, mustard seeds, dill (fresh or dried, whatever is here). Sometimes allspice, whole.

I use a heavy vinegar mix. Two parts vinegar to one part water. Some people like one to one ratio. Figure on four to five ounces of mix for every pint jar. I boil it all together, and sterilize the jars in the dishwasher. A small pot sterilized my lids and seals. For refrigerator pickles, meant to be eaten in a few months, and never left out of the fridge, I don’t use the hot water bath for processing.

The jars above hold some of my shallots. Some sweet peppers. Dill pickles. I have also processed swiss chard stems. Zucchini. Beets in a mix that does include candied ginger and a cinnamon stick.

Be creative. Next I am doing another mix of yellow and red peppers.

Today though, we checked out the Whole Foods Market pickling “bar”.

My husband picked out some of them to try. Caper berries? Green beans. How about carrots? All sorts of ideas.

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Posted in Food, Howard County, Uncategorized and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, Howard County, Whole Foods. Bookmark the permalink.

My Out of Control Garden

Posted on August 11, 2014 by AnnieRie

To go along with the out of control kitchen. I should have known. Doubling the size of my garden, and doubling the amount of sunlight daily would result in a quadrupling of the amount of tomatoes we harvest.

The ten pounds of tomatoes harvested yesterday. To join that ten pounds from Friday. All told, more than 76 pounds of tomatoes so far this year.

The zucchinis are still producing. So are the cucumbers.

And I really should have entered that big one in the fair. At 1 3/4 pounds I think it would have gotten second place. The winner, I believe, was 1.9 pounds.

We have tomatoes for at least two meals a day. The oven roasting, oven drying, tomato sauce, salad making, gifts, etc. are hardly making a dent in it. I had more plants last year with less than half this harvest.

Note to self. Do NOT plant this many tomatoes next year.

I have been busy. Pickling. Canning. Cooking. I even slow cooked a dozen onions to make caramelized onions to freeze.

Since I am doing the event at the Howard County Conservancy next week, I am creating a page to use as my “handout”, for participants to use for referral after coming to the event.

The page, which you can see above the posts, will include recipes and technique posts. The focus of my blog posts for the next ten days will be the advice I am providing relative to the “Putting Food Away” event.

After all, when your garden goes nuts, you need to find something to do with all this food.

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Posted in Food, Gardening, Howard County, Volunteering and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, gardening, heirloom tomatoes, howard county conservancy, tomatoes, volunteering. Bookmark the permalink.

Blue Ribbon Herbs

Posted on August 3, 2014 by AnnieRie

My second blue ribbon ever.

Again for my herbs.

I have lots more from the fair, but this year again my herbs were the star of my entries. Again, my heirlooms fell short, but I did get three more fourth place ribbons and a fifth place ribbon.

My favorite:

Fifth place for my ornamental vegetable display. This is the first time I did an ornamental display. I am learning from the other participants how to arrange what I submit. I was pleased to get the ribbon though.

As for the fourth places, they included:

My yellow plum tomatoes.

My yellow onions.

And for most unusual vegetable. My cardoons.

I’m happy. I did twelve entries and won five ribbons. Not a bad return on investment, so to speak.

I love participating in the county fair. It’s small enough to not be intimidating, but large enough to have some serious competition. The people are really nice and help us newer entrants.

If I could only get my heirloom tomatoes to ripen in time, I would be ecstatic.

We will be at the fair at least four days, maybe five. We love to watch the 4-H’ers show their animals.

We visited our friends in the barn, and checked out some of their daughter’s animals. Like her lambs.

All decked out to keep nice and clean before they are shown.

And, some of their goats.

Tomorrow we will go and visit, seeing how their pigs are doing. They weren’t there yet, yesterday. I am so impressed with the dedication of the 4-H’ers to their animals.

To us. the fair isn’t about the midway and the rides, it’s about the community.

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Posted in Commentary, Community, Farms, Food, Gardening, Hobbies, Howard County, West HoCo and tagged commentary, community, farms, Food, gardening, heirloom tomatoes, hobbies, Howard County, tomatoes, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

A Very Productive Day

Posted on July 29, 2014 by AnnieRie

At least in the gardening world that is the center of my days.

Bright and early today I was out for my last week as food bank coordinator. Getting all the wheelbarrows ready for collecting the harvest. Additionally we were clearing out beds to ready for fall planting. Add to that the collection of vegetables for the lucky winner of the Wine in the Garden auction. They got a basket full of fresh vegetables again.

We had a large group there today. Probably ten of us. Maybe even a dozen. We harvested all the beets, carrots, cabbage and leeks. Then pulled the plants from the beds and readied them for planting. Weeded quite a bit too.

Our donation today was 110 pounds. I think this entire month we had at least 100 pounds of vegetables each week to take to the Howard County Food Bank. Today’s volunteer driver met some of the people waiting for the food bank to open, who expressed their thanks for what we donate.

We heard that our vegetables are greatly appreciated, as they are fresh and pesticide free.

Hats off to our volunteers today. We put in two to three hours of work each today. The gardens are flourishing in this lovely weather.

After my time in the food bank plots, I headed off to bring home my last leeks and a boatload of tomatoes.

This is part of it. My “audition” tray for my county fair decisions. Which cherry tomatoes do I choose? Will I get enough medium tomatoes to enter? What are my best plum tomatoes?

And, hooray, I got my first ripe heirlooms today. Two each of two different varieties. With a half dozen more close to ripening on the vines. Friday I have to decide which ones to enter.

Now, off to process those other tomatoes. The ones not pretty enough to enter.

Yes, there are that many tomatoes sitting in my kitchen today. That’s not all, though.

A basket of goodies for my neighbor, who lets us borrow assorted items, like his ten foot ladder.

Just another Tuesday in west county.

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Posted in Food, Gardening, Hobbies, Howard County, Volunteering and tagged Food, gardening, heirloom tomatoes, Howard County, howard county conservancy, volunteering. Bookmark the permalink.

County Fair Prep

Posted on July 27, 2014 by AnnieRie

Come on heirlooms!! The last tomatoes to ripen every summer. Making me anxious about the fair. I need two ripe tomatoes of the same variety. The Howard County Fair starts Saturday, and I need to get my vegetables and herbs ready for entry.

I currently am drowning in tomatoes, and getting ready to process some tomorrow. Unfortunately those heirloom tomatoes on the tray are from the CSA, and not my garden. I have at least five German Johnson that are close to ripe. I hope to pick them Tuesday or Wednesday. I have enough cherry tomatoes to enter, and enough plum tomatoes. Need a couple more medium early girls to get the minimum for submission.

Besides tomatoes, this year I have enough onions to enter.

There were 24 onions left in the ground last week. I had to find the five best out of them. Fun job. Besides the onions, I harvested the rest of the leeks and the shallots.

My onion/garlic/shallot bowl is overflowing. Time to do some roasting and get them ready for winter.

I have herbs for entry. Just can’t figure out which ones I want to pick.

And, finally, enough variety to make the vegetable display, which needs five different varieties of vegetables.

See you at the Fair!

Olive Oil and Pasta …

Posted on July 24, 2014 by AnnieRie

… and so much more.

I have written about Secolari before. And, used their products in many of my favorite meals. Products like their oil and balsamic, their flavored salts. Plus, that lovely pasta from Pappardelle that they carry.

Now, I can add chocolate mint honey to my latest finds. I am thinking about the suggested use in iced lattes.

Last night we had a bloggers’ get together at the Columbia Mall location with the owners highlighting some of their products. A “perk” so to speak of being a blogger around here.

Goodies like popcorn with Black Truffle salt and Lime Olive Oil.

There was a good crowd there. Tasting the oils, the vinegars, the honey, and enjoying small bites from Zoe’s Kitchen, located across the promenade from Secolari.

You don’t have to be a blogger to taste their products. Whenever you visit, you can sample before choosing your favorites. Barth and Mary deRosa have a wonderful shop here.

If you aren’t into oil and vinegar, but love pasta, they have a product for you. Pappardelle.

Another favorite of mine.

This orzo, with the lemon infused oil, will be paired with these little gems.

A baking sheet covered with my tomatoes and shallots. Slow cooked in a 200 degree oven. Tomorrow they will be mixed with the orzo and drizzled with oil. A very tasty salad.

Check out Secolari. Buy some pasta and olive oil. Indulge. Much better and so much cheaper than dinner in a restaurant.

Thanks Barth and Mary for hosting us last night.

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Posted in Community, Food, Gardening, Howard County, Local Businesses, Real Food and tagged community, cooking, Food, foodie, gardening, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, real food, tomatoes. Bookmark the permalink.

Tidbit Tuesday

Posted on July 15, 2014 by AnnieRie

Where I run off in all directions and have no single thing to say in a post.

There were 75 pounds of vegetables collected today for the food bank. A lighter day for squash, and the tomatoes aren’t ready yet.

I was up at the Conservancy gardens this morning, “basking” in the 70something degree temperatures with about the same amount of humidity. I hadn’t been there since Saturday, which was fairy house building day.

This is what 118 people look like before they headed off into the woods.

Creativity, a great time, and lots of pictures for this year’s album.

Now, on to the next events, and the continuous harvest of my garden.

The bulk of the five dozen little tomatoes I harvested. Fifty supersweet 100s and 10 sungold. Mixed with olive oil, salt, pepper, thyme, basil, chopped onion and banana pepper, and a touch of sugar. Roasted at 250 degrees for a couple of hours. Destined to be frozen and used as one of my recipes in my presentation next month on preserving food.

Then, there were the onions.

I had to harvest a number of them today, as they were getting mushy at the top. We had 1.5 inches of rain in the rain gauge at the garden (in a 36 hour period). It is driving us nuts, splitting tomatoes and washing away my mounded soil over the onions, leeks and shallots.

Some of those onions, along with new red potatoes and bacon from England Acres, roasted along with the tomatoes. There will be a very nice salad made from this.

As for zucchini, I did make that lemon blueberry zucchini bread. Thanks to the Lean Green Bean.

I did substitute, as usual. Used all AP flour. Upped the sugar to about 4/10ths of a cup. It tastes wonderful.

There is more shredded zucchini sitting in the fridge so that tomorrow I can make zucchini fritters and freeze them. Another project for that preserving food program scheduled in late August.

I have been a busy bee today. Time to head off and watch the All Star Game.

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Posted in Community, Food, Gardening, Howard County, Real Food, Volunteering and tagged community, cooking, Food, foodie, gardening, Howard County, howard county conservancy, Locavore, real food, tomatoes, volunteering. Bookmark the permalink.

Taking the Buy Local Challenge

Posted on July 14, 2014 by AnnieRie

For the third year in a row. The MD Buy Local Challenge. Dates are July 19-27.

This year I almost forgot about it until I received the reminder email. Since most of our food is local or regional, we already eat at least one item every day that comes from our Lancaster Farm Fresh CSA, our Friends and Farms basket, a local market or farm, or my garden.

If you wanted to join in, it is easy to do. You don’t even have to cook. Buy some fruit.

Peaches and blueberries are definitely in season. Or how about watermelon, or cantaloupe? Blackberries?

Seriously. Take a trip to Larriland and pick fruit, maybe take home some tomatoes.

Hit the farmers market in Ellicott City Sunday. Some Breezy Willow eggs. Cheese from Shepherd’s Manor. Meat from Orchard Breeze.

The list goes on. If you want sungold tomatoes, check out Love Dove at the Miller Library or HoCo General Hospital market.

Or, any of the Howard County markets. And, don’t forget wine counts too. Black Ankle maybe> Or Elk Run? Or Big Cork?

Are you in?

#hocofood

260 Pounds

Posted on July 9, 2014 by AnnieRie

That’s how much food from the Food Bank garden plot we donated the past two weeks. July is my month to “manage” the collection of food from the food bank plot and other garden plots designated by their “owners” for delivery to the Howard County Food Bank.

At our Conservancy community garden site, we have roughly 800 square feet designated for food bank growing. As well as a 250 square foot annex. And, many gardeners ask us to harvest and share their bounty when they are away on vacation. Or, they drop off bags of veggies the morning we collect.

We fill wheelbarrows full of fresh vegetables every week.

And sometimes that squash thing gets out of control.

This was July 1st’s harvest of squash. That day they counted 117 pounds of food. Mostly greens, cabbage, squash, beets and carrots. Tuesday this week I drove over in my Jeep piled full of vegetables, totaling 143 pounds. This week we had our first tomatoes, Plus, being a holiday week for many, we had donations from a large number of community garden members.

We harvested garlic Tuesday. But, it needs to cure before we donate. A couple dozen heads of garlic went home with a fellow gardener to be cured in their garage.

Gardens are like that. Some years you can be overrun with something you planted, and others you lose plants to pests or the weather.

It is nice to see that we provide fresh ripe vegetables to the place we call home.

#hocofood

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Posted in Community, Food, Gardening, Howard County and tagged community, Food, gardening, Howard County, howard county conservancy. Bookmark the permalink.