Tag Archives: hoco loco

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.

5 Comments

Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Food, Gardening, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, West HoCo, Wine and tagged cooking, CSA, farmer's markets, Food, foodie, gardening, hoco loco, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, real food, West HoCo, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

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.

hocofood@@@

1 Comment

Posted in Food, Foraging, Gardening, Howard County, Locavore, Nature, Real Food, Volunteering, West HoCo and tagged cooking, Food, gardening, hoco loco, Howard County, Locavore, volunteering, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

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.

hocoblogs@@@

3 Comments

Posted in Adventures, Commentary, Community, Howard County, Nature, Volunteering, Weather, West HoCo and tagged commentary, community, hoco loco, Howard County, howard county conservancy, nature, volunteering, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Kofta

Posted on June 5, 2012 by AnnieRie

Something I have wanted to make, and never got around to it. My New Year’s resolutions included cooking different ethnic foods.

Kofta Kebabs

Made with Kite Hill Farms lamb bought at the market in Catonsville. More spices than you can shake a stick at. Worth it to grind them yourself. I did have cumin seed, coriander seed, allspice, cinnamon and peppercorns to grind and mixed that with the cayenne, ginger and sea salt to make the spice mix that went into these kebabs.

The recipe is from Sara Moulton.

I made three large kebabs and used metal skewers instead of soaking bamboo. We ate outside last night as the weather was lovely. I opened an old bottle of Virginia wine from King Family Vineyards. A Meritage blend of 75% merlot and 25% franc, a soft wine that went well with the lamb. Besides, it was ten years old and definitely ready to drink. I just checked on my wine cellar spreadsheet and see we have one left. Need to make a note to drink it soon.

I served the kofta with tzatziki, not home made, since I don’t have ripe cucumbers yet. Costco does make a nice tzatziki, and we use it all the time with spicy foods, or put it on potatoes. I made steamed English peas, asparagus (foraged), mini bok choy and snow peas. Served with butter and mint. Parboiled, then grilled new potatoes. Most of these are CSA or farmer’s market veggies, and the asparagus is almost the last of my wild ones. I have four spears still growing out there, ready almost but not quite. Haul this year seems to be a total of 36 spears of wild asparagus.

Dinner was relaxed, the breezes mild and the sun stayed out. A perfect evening enjoying the weather.

hocofood@@@

4 Comments

Posted in Farmer's Markets, Food, Foraging, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Weather, Wine and tagged cooking, farmer's markets, Food, foodie, grilling, hoco loco, Locavore, real food, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

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.

hocoblogs@@@

How Did I Do on Avoiding Grocery Stores in May?

Posted on June 1, 2012 by AnnieRie

A while back I made a resolution to avoid shopping at chain grocery stores unless I absolutely had to get something not easily found elsewhere. I also promised my hubby to clean out the pantry and freezer, and maybe he would get me a chest freezer for my summer produce and fruit.

We found the freezer at Costco and picked it up yesterday. He kept his part of this bargain and I did pretty well on my part. This March picture of the freezer shows lots of CSA and market meats that needed to be used.

I have been plowing through them and not shopping until I made a dent in it. This crock pot Tuscan style soup, made with beans, greens, new potatoes, tomatoes included chicken stock plus a smoked ham hock from the freezer.

I grilled CSA Italian sausages more than once this spring, so they are gone now.

I only set foot in Giant once, and Weis once this month. Grand total there was less than $100 together. Mostly staples and things like Mother’s Day card and Graduation cards. No produce. No meats. No seafood. I got all those things from Boarman’s, Roots, CSA, farmer’s markets, or Costco.

I also am down to only three organic pizzas in the freezer, left over from buying some packaged items at Roots before my February surgery. Turns out we didn’t need to use them.

I have to say I did a good job of ridding my freezer of processed foods. Now, to reap the benefits of my garden, the CSA, and U pick projects at Larriland by filling the freezer with summer bounty to enjoy next winter. My new chest freezer will be dedicated to fruit and veggies, and maybe part of whatever we get at the County Fair. I am thinking of getting lamb at auction this year.

I am using that last package of ground lamb from the winter farmer’s market to make kofta kebabs this weekend. My first attempt at making these. Should be interesting.

Cooking from scratch. It is far more satisfying to me to do this.

Taking this:

To this:

hocofood@@@

2 Comments

Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Food, GGSAC, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food and tagged cooking, crock pot cooking, crockpot soups, CSA, farmer's markets, Food, GGSAC, grilling, hoco loco, local businesses, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

Spicy Kale Chips, and Other Goodies

Posted on May 27, 2012 by AnnieRie

Finally made the kale chips. They were easy but a bit time consuming.

The drink is a blood orange Cuban basil fizz. These were tonight’s cocktails on the deck. I also made a mostly local dinner to kick off our challenge to eat locally at least once a week. I did a veggie frittata tonight and served it with a Maryland wine.

The frittata used asparagus, scallions, turnips and eggs all local. There was some Parm in it, olives and olive oil, none of which are local. The bulk of the meal was local though.

The kale chips, from my CSA kale with salt, smoked paprika and white pepper. Roasted in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. Crispy, salty and so good with the cocktail.

The wine, a Black Ankle Gruner Veltliner. A perfect match to the earthiness of the turnips, olives, scallions and asparagus. The frittata was started stove top and finished under the broiler.

It came out beautifully. Don’t even miss the meat in this dinner. Vegetarian, light and so tasty. Dessert later will be the last of the strawberry rhubarb crisp made with last week’s haul from the Howard County markets.

hocofood@@@

9 Comments

Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Food, Locavore, Real Food, Wine and tagged cooking, CSA, farmer's markets, Food, foodie, hoco loco, local businesses, Locavore, real food, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

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?

hocofood@@@

10 Comments

Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Food, GGSAC, Howard County, Locavore, Real Food, Wine and tagged cooking, CSA, farmer's markets, Food, GGSAC, hoco loco, Locavore, real food, value of CSA, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

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?

hocofood@@@

1 Comment

Posted in Food, Foraging, Gardening, Howard County, Locavore, Real Food and tagged cooking, Food, gardening, heirloom tomatoes, hoco loco, Howard County, Locavore, real food, tomatoes. Bookmark the permalink.

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.

hocoblogs@@@

1 Comment