Category Archives: Howard County

Making a Messy Kitchen

Posted on June 9, 2012 by AnnieRie

For whatever reason I seem to be able to make a real mess while cooking. Maybe because my husband cleans up when I cook. Must be something significant in that, but who knows.

Today, a lovely Saturday, saw us out with the masses taking trash to the landfill. The storms last week took down lots of trees so the back area of the landfill was hopping this morning.

Then, from there, like all good west countians, we headed off to Glenwood to the market. Had to get veggies and eggs and bread. TLV had no eggs so we stopped at the farm on the way home, and also picked up half a chicken with those eggs. We had to get veggies from Zahradka, to complement the turkey from them that we grilled last night.

The veggies were squash and green beans.

We heated the turkey wing and kale casserole that I made last night, and added the steamed veggies to make tonight’s local dinner.

I also was fixing things to take on a picnic to VA tomorrow. That’s where the messy kitchen comes in.

Bread from the Breadery to go with mushroom pate that needs to be eaten soon. Watermelon for salad. Berries to add to tonight’s sangria along with the watermelon juice.

I keep a container of cut watermelon in the fridge. Great to snack on after working outside. The accumulated juice, after being strained, makes a great addition to wine and orange soda, for sangria.

As for those garlic scapes, they went back into the fridge. Not needed yet, but tomorrow night I may be messing up the kitchen again to make hummus with them.

I did boil some new potatoes and then steam some green beans to make a salad for tomorrow’s picnic. Adding some tzatziki to them to make simple potato salad.

I am currently using Costco’s tzatziki.

But that is only until my cukes start ripening, and I make my own tzatziki. There are two out there already, one slicing and one pickling.

Once the cukes and tomatoes start coming in, the kitchen will be a work zone full of stuff. Can’t wait to start canning and freezing.

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Foraging Wild Asparagus

Posted on June 7, 2012 by AnnieRie

All my past posts about my asparagus growing under my crepe myrtle sparked interest in how to find asparagus, and what it looks like when it goes to seed.

This is a really good example. Caught Tuesday night while I was volunteering at the transit of Venus. This is cultivated asparagus. The wild asparagus in my yard came with the crepe myrtle. Now that you know what it looks like, you can look around your area and see if you find some. This is a climate they like and plants will produce for 20-30 years.

Ours has been producing for the eight years we have lived here. I harvested what seems to be the last three spears yesterday. Nothing else coming up. A total of 36 spears from the one plant this year. They are fun to watch as they push through the deep layer of mulch. Particularly when they come up white.

The size differences are interesting to observe, as well. The thin ones stay thin, and don’t fatten. The thicker spears push through at the same size as they grow. The thin ones just get taller, not thicker. Took me a while at first to realize that leaving them in the ground won’t change their diameter much. Just pick them and enjoy. The thinnest ones don’t even need cooking, they are so tender.

My final three spears will probably find their way into something like my steamed spring veggies with butter and mint, that I made the other day.

Check around your area now that asparagus would be visible like the pic above, and maybe you can find a source of foraged deliciousness. Or, with patience, put in your own asparagus beds. Either way, spring flavor unique and fleeting.

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Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

Posted on June 6, 2012 by AnnieRie

At first last night it didn’t look promising to view the transit of Venus across the sun. As dozens of astronomers were setting up, the skies were cloudy.

Dozens of people started arriving, to wander among the scopes and binoculars. The clouds began to clear away and first views were registered.

Lots of excitement and people crowding around STARDOC’s sunspotter, where you would be able to capture a photograph of what you would see through the safely protected equipment that the Howard Astronomical League (HAL) members had set up across the Conservancy meadow.

I came in to take a picture of what I had viewed using a number of different scopes and binoculars around the field.

Then, as things progressed, the sun came out below a cloud cover and lit up the area.

Lots of viewing for quite a long time until the sun finally fell below a cloud cover on the western horizon, but it was certainly bright out there for long enough to capture some great views. The sheer numbers and sizes of all the scopes were incredible, and everyone got opportunities to view. The HAL members are such wonderful people, giving their time and sharing their equipment with the hundreds of people who attended.

Many people there had never heard of the Conservancy and they were interested in the trails, the events, the walks and the gardens, asking the three of us who volunteered that night countless questions about using the facilities, hiking the trails and coming to events. I had to refill the kiosk with trail maps and give out rental brochures to a couple of potential wedding rental queries.

It was a win-win event for HAL and the Conservancy, and I was happy to volunteer a few hours to park a few hundred cars. I recorded another picture of what I had seen.

Recorded the sunny finish of the event.

This event is the first of many in the month of June at the Conservancy, which also includes an event sponsored by the Columbia Festival of the Arts. Check out the upcoming events page and come out to a lovely site in Woodstock. This weekend is the monthly free wonder walk, Saturday at 10 am.

Don’t wait for the next solar event, but also keep in mind the August meteor showers, Night Sky/Dark Sky: The Perseid Meteor Showers on August 12th.

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The Transit of Venus

Posted on June 4, 2012 by AnnieRie

For those into astronomical events that only occur once or twice in your lifetime, Tuesday evening has one of the better ones. Cross your fingers that the weather cooperates, and come to the Howard County Conservancy where HAL is holding a viewing party for the transit of Venus across the sun.

Set up is around 5:30 pm, with the start of the transit at 6:03:38 pm EDT. If the sun is visible, there should be viewing available until almost 8:30 when the sun has set.

If there are no clouds, many club members are bringing nighttime viewing scopes and will hold a star party after the solar viewing ends.

If you miss this viewing, you can catch the next transit in 2117, one hundred and five years from now. Do not try to view the sun directly on your own, as you may damage your eyes.

Come say HI as I am one of the volunteers from the Conservancy assisting in HAL’s visit to the site.

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The Calm AFTER the Storm

Posted on June 2, 2012 by AnnieRie

Last night was pretty intense. The worst weather passed us by, east and west of us. We sat in the middle but winds made us nervous when it came to the antennas and the gardens. We lost no trees this time, thankfully.

I did a walk around this morning to check the garden and the wires in the trees. We got 0.6″ of rain. Ten miles east or ten miles west there were reports of 2-3 inches of rain. I count ourselves lucky this time.

The garden survived. Things are growing like mad.

Tomatoes

Cukes getting closer

Pole beans

My flowers are ready to pop open

I think again Howard County was mostly spared from lots of damage. We are thankful that we dodged the devastation and our prayers are with those in the other areas of Maryland affected by the severe weather last night.

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Connections Through Food

Posted on May 30, 2012 by AnnieRie

On June 1st, a small group of ten women who met over the internet are setting off on a self imposed challenge to reap the bounty of summer harvests, cook what looks great, and blog about it once a week.

We call it our Southern SOLE Food Challenge. I have a page dedicated to it. The ten of us participated for four months last winter in a challenge to cook locally once a week, when farmer’s markets were scarce, and when our gardens were mostly dormant. We made it through with much support and encouragement by our section leader and chief cheerleader, Sincerely Emily, from Texas. Emily recapped us weekly, and commented on our meals through the entire challenge. SOLE food. Sustainable, Organic, Local, Ethical. We try to find foods that meet all the criteria, but sometimes sacrifice one or two in order to complete a meal. We certainly have enough choices here in Howard County to find local and organic, and meat that is pastured or free range is abundant. My local resource page will show how many I already have found here. Add to that my garden, which is pesticide free, and has many heirloom varieties of tomatoes and five varieties of cukes.

In essence, we all became acquainted over the internet, and didn’t want to lose the camaraderie once the challenge ended. We chose to continue cooking our local specialties across the summer, and share again what we find, and make using what nature gives us.

Some of us have met, as well. Victoria and I live less than 10 miles from each other, and met at the Glenwood Market a few weeks ago. We frequent the same stores and grow some of the same veggies. We get cooking ideas from each other, and share emails when we see something interesting.

Every week I will post about something local and seasonal that I am doing, maybe cooking, maybe canning or freezing. So will the rest of the group. We will talk about it and comment on our own blogs, and have some low key theme weeks. All for fun, and sharing what we find. Like what to do with kohlrabi, garlic scapes, baby turnips and tons of greens.

I get my CSA box tomorrow, so will be doing something from it this weekend. Summer cooking, easy, light, local and shared. Stay around to see what I will be making. In the meantime, a link here to one of the participants getting ready to start. We all have been emailing and suggesting things to get ready.

Like Rebecca over at Eating Floyd posts about making your own homemade lemon curd. Doesn’t this pic from her blog look simply mouth watering? I am adding this recipe to my to do list because it will be used often. I like her idea of freezing it. I also loved all of Rebecca’s feasts from the winter challenge.

Off to check out how my tomatoes and cucumbers fared after last night’s inch of rain. And, planning what to make for this weekend’s challenge.

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Summer CSA Week Three

Posted on May 25, 2012 by AnnieRie

I needed a wide angle lens and I had to stand on a stool to get it all in the picture. This week, the box was chock full of goodies.

Twelve items. Yep, we got to the pick up site and found the boxes full of veggies. The list from the site:

A peek down into a loaded box:

I swapped the kale for a second package of garlic scapes. I want to make another batch of pesto to put in ice cube trays and save for winter cooking. Easy, and so good to use in the dead of winter.

My cost analysis this week yielded even bigger savings than the previous weeks.

Lettuce mix – 18 oz. would cost $10 at Roots. Scallions $1.69. Garlic scapes $2 a bunch X 2 = $4. Bok Choy $3.69. Spinach $3. Collards $3. Radishes $2. Turnips $2.50. Kohlrabi $3. Rainbow Chard $3. Broccoli $2.50. Total for equivalent of organic and farm raised veggies is $38.40. I pay $29.75 a week for the CSA. Again, this week’s organic haul is a bargain. Total savings for the three weeks is $21.15. In good years like this one so far, CSAs are a real bargain, but the risk of a bad year is always out there.

Did I use everything last week? All but the kale, which I swear will become kale chips Sunday or Monday. A couple of red scallions, and half a head of romaine. Everything else got used. So, I did OK in the consumption department. I will leave this post with a pic of one of the mostly local dinners I made using CSA and market foods, and a local wine.

The wild ahi wasn’t local, nor was the Pacific Red Pepper Tomato Soup that made the sauce. The ahi was braised in sauce with red scallions from the CSA, and olive oil. The bread is Atwater’s rosemary Italian. The potatoes came from the Olney market. The garlic scape pesto I made using local scapes, not local pine nuts and parmesan and olive oil. The wine, a lovely Vin Rouge from Glen Manor in VA was the perfect weight to complement the big flavors in the pesto and in the red pepper tomato sauced ahi. 2010 was a hot dry year. This wine was 14.9% alcohol but didn’t feel like it. Good balance of flavors. I saw an email from Jeff White, the owner and winemaker, that came today saying this Vin Rouge is running low. If you want a lovely wine in a Bordeaux style produced here on the East Coast, this is a good one.

I will be using more of the garlic scape pesto tonight making Israeli couscous with pesto, and a side of fresh English peas, asparagus and mint. Dessert will be fresh strawberries with buttermilk cake from the market, and vanilla ice cream, not local unfortunately since South Mountain is missing from the market.

This entire month I went to a chain grocery store once, and spent less than $50 getting staples. You can eat well in season using local markets and your CSA. I really love this time of year. The start of the fresh food season. Now, what to do with kohlrabi?

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You Like Tomayto, I Like Tomahto

Posted on May 25, 2012 by AnnieRie

No matter how you pronounce it, tomatoes are my summer candy. So, I was excited yesterday morning to find this in my garden.

These are yellow plum tomatoes. I noticed the blossoms last week. Now, I have teeny tiny tomatoes there, and I have blossoms on the Sweet Olive plants, which are a determinate grape cherry tomato. They are an early bloomer and will be done before others produce.

The Wayfarer cucumbers are blossoming, and even have really tiny cukes starting to emerge. And yes, after I snapped the pics I went in and weeded out the emerging morning glories that inevitably come up from seeds left in the soil after last year. I use them as an attraction for pollinators at my perimeter, but they tend to take over unless you grab them out before the seed pods open in the fall.

The wild asparagus in my crepe myrtle is still producing. Besides the four spears in this pic, there are two more tiny ones coming out of the ground to the left of the plant. This year I have harvested 15 spears so far. These six would bring the total to 21, the most I have found in this location.

These two long thin spears will be sliced, blanched and find their way into some pasta with the garlic scape pesto tonight.

As for the lettuces and mixed greens, the rain rejuvenated them and there are all sorts of goodies hiding among the bolted plants. Time to harvest these and use as a garnish on a pizza.

I also think I need to do some serious mint pruning, and maybe make mint simple syrup for iced teas and summer drinks. This pot of mint is about six years old, coming back every spring.

Herbs and greens right now, with the promise of other goodies in the next few weeks. Gardening is one of those simple pleasures. What is your garden producing now?

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Getting Ready for a Hectic Holiday Weekend

Posted on May 23, 2012 by AnnieRie

So much to do this weekend, with the holiday and with all the other events going on. What will tempt you to spend time out and about? Are you a beach goer? Or do you stay local?

Our weekend kicks off early with Wine in the Garden at the Conservancy tomorrow night. Cross your fingers for good weather. If you haven’t pre-purchased tickets, they will be selling them at the entrance. Come sip and taste in the loveliness of the Honors Garden.

Saturday I may be off to PA for a picnic at one of the farmers who supplies our CSA. It may be me and a friend, as my OldMan (OM in amateur radio speak) will be contesting and a weekend of listening to him calling “CQ Contest, CQ contest”, is hard to take. Oh wait, this is the CQ WW WPX CW contest, so all I get to hear is key clicks. Translation of the above, means it is the Morse Code only contest, and one where hams try to work as many unique prefixes, like JY, which is Jordan, or 9WA which is Malaysia.

Complicated, and easy to do if you have a unique prefix and everyone wants to call you, harder if you are a W something, like my hubby is. No one looking for him once they have worked W3LPL. He has to work hard to find all the unique prefixes out there. And, we only have wires, not towers.

Sunday I will wander back to Olney to get some fresh berries, and hope that the VA farmers there have cherries. We got our tentative list of what will be in this week’s CSA basket so I only need fruit to supplement the greens this week. I don’t want to touch the berries I processed while fresh goodies are still in the local markets. I will know tomorrow what I will be grilling if it stops threatening storms every night.

Monday we will be chilling out and avoiding those traffic clogged roads. Memorial Day traffic on the highways around here is crazy, so a day of grilling, chilling and drinking local wine sounds like a perfect ending to the holiday weekend.

Then, as retirees with nothing pressing to do later in the week, we will take a day to visit my hubby’s hometown and check on the grave sites for his dad and mom.

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Enjoying Friday’s Bounty

Posted on May 22, 2012 by AnnieRie

Last Friday I wrote about picking strawberries, and visiting the hospital market where I found garlic scapes and rhubarb. These fresh fruits and veggies will be part of tonight’s dinner. Two dishes, one made Saturday and one made this morning.

Garlic scapes. Never knew what they were until last year in the CSA. These are from Love Dove Farm. I bought four bundles, enough to make a double batch of pesto.

If you look closely, you can see the bulging area where a flower would emerge, if left on the plant. The farmers remove this scape, in order to force the plant to devote energy into growing the root, or the heads of garlic. Not removing the scape will inhibit the growth of the heads of garlic. These curling plants have a more delicate flavor than garlic cloves but they still pack a big punch when whirled up in the blender with parmesan, pine nuts, olive oil and salt.

I made enough to freeze some in small containers, and put a large container covered in olive oil in the fridge. It will be served tonight with pasta as a side to some tomato braised ahi, which will be slow cooked in the oven later today.

The small containers were coated lightly with oil, sealed and put in a bag to go in the freezer. The large one more heavily coated as it will be in the fridge a few days. Besides tonight, I will be making bruschetta this weekend using the ends of the Atwater’s rosemary Italian bread. I don’t always follow recipes. I cook by taste, but this was 24 scapes, about a cup of Parm, a half cup of pine nuts, salt to taste, and oil streamed in until it reached the consistency I wanted.

As for dessert tonight, it will be the strawberry rhubarb crisp I made over the weekend. Using the Larriland strawberries and rhubarb from Falcon Ridge Farm, bought at the hospital market, I made a simple crisp. The juicy strawberries made this crisp moister than the rhubarb crumble I made a week ago.

We had some Sunday night and will slice off some more tonight. If I look back at my plans, I didn’t do either thing I said I would in my Saturday post. The chicken was made with a fruit salsa, and I made the crisp instead of a compote. I tend to cook on impulse, so planning sometimes goes for nothing. I didn’t get around to doing the pesto until today.

I also did get the strawberry ice cubes popped out and packaged for use later in the summer. These little nuggets will find their way into vinaigrettes, sangrias, wine coolers, and compotes.

Can’t wait to see what we get in the CSA box Thursday. I did use up almost everything except the kale. I do want to make kale chips. Let’s see if I find the time to do so. Check out this week’s goodies at the markets and make something fresh and seasonal this weekend.

hocofood@@@

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