Tag Archives: West HoCo

One Week Left

Posted on December 22, 2013 by AnnieRie

Until I turn 61 years old. This last week before my birthday has been pretty crazy. The weather has been amazing, with spring temperatures.

The last minute holiday baking and cooking has been intense. I got shrimp from Boarman’s the other day, in order to make steamed shrimp with Old Bay. The requested dish for my brother’s Christmas Eve party.

I made two kinds of cookies today. Chocolate pistachio and chocolate chocolate chunk.

These cookies again came from Bon Appetit. Hard to make. They tended to break up when slicing. But, very good. Particularly with red wine, for dessert tonight.

As for the weather, with the doors open today (it hit 72 degrees here), the starlings made a huge racket in the trees out back.

Thankfully, they weren’t nailing my bird feeders.

As for the last week of my 60th year, I did request that we try and go to the newly opening Highland Inn for brunch on my birthday. That is, if they open in time.

On the way home from Boarman’s yesterday, they looked like they were close to opening but who knows.

I saw their new menu on Facebook today. A bit pricey, but for special occasions, like those where we used to go to King’s Contrivance, they might be a new local special place.

We shall see.

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Posted in Birds, Food, Local Businesses, Restaurants, Sixty@Sixty and tagged birds, cooking, Food, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, weather, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Dreams vs Dreary

Posted on December 17, 2013 by AnnieRie

OK, after buying a ticket like millions of others, I didn’t win MegaMillions.

It would have been nice, wouldn’t it? Maybe I could fix dreary Columbia!

If you haven’t followed the latest local drama, the “dissing” of Columbia Gateway as dreary, by a New York writer, then you have been out of the local news loop for sure.

Personally, I agree the Gateway area leaves a lot to be desired. Maybe the Columbia residents need to pressure businesses to stop calling something Columbia when it isn’t.

Me, I think I will continue to love my part of the county. Make cookies again tomorrow.

Toll house, and then my mom’s sugar cookie recipe.

And, enjoy my tree from Greenway.

I think I did an awesome job decorating it.

Oh, by the way, much of the area is pretty dreary in the winter. Unless you love sunrises and sunsets, which are the heart and soul of the solstice.

Lovely, isn’t it? And, no, we didn’t win the money.

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Posted in Commentary, Dark Days, Howard County, Local Businesses, Nature, Weather, West HoCo and tagged commentary, community, Howard County, local businesses, nature, weather, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Hoe! Hoe! Hoe!

Posted on December 13, 2013 by AnnieRie

Getting into the Christmas spirit using local farms for inspiration and products.

Like my poinsettias from Greenway Farms.

We headed out to the tree cutting site on Rte. 144 west of Cooksville after a visit to the landfill to rid ourselves of all the downed tree limbs.

I only wanted to get my poinsettias and maybe a really tiny tree. Turns out I really want a tree in the living room, so we succumbed and cut a five foot high white pine.

It is sitting in a bucket in the garage waiting for tomorrow to be put into place.

We also got a small basil for my kitchen window. They also have little rosemary trees, if you want a specialty tree for a table.

Keeping in the Buy Local spirit, tomorrow I am heading out to Copper Penny for a ham, and Breezy Willow for alpaca gifts.

Then, home to decorate while watching my favorite football game.

Christmas, only 11 more days to go.

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Posted in Farms, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, West HoCo and tagged farms, Food, holidays, Howard County, local businesses, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

It’s Been A Soup Sort of Week

Posted on December 10, 2013 by AnnieRie

Seems to be the norm this week to have soup for lunch or dinner. What with a second snowfall today.

At least we got the snow thrower some hours. I think it hasn’t been used in two years. My husband had everything done in about an hour this afternoon. All told, between the two storms we had about seven inches of snow on the ground.

It even brought the red bellied woodpecker up close to the house, something she rarely does.

While we were out there, the crockpot was on, with my latest version of cauliflower leek soup bubbling away.

The secret to my soup? Garam masala. It makes it much more complex in flavor.

The recipe:
1 small head cauliflower, broken into pieces
4 medium leeks, sliced, white part only
2 scallions, sliced
4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, parboiled first
1 pint stock (I used turkey)
1 pint almond milk
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt

Everything in the crockpot except for the almond milk, for six hours on high, or eight hours on low. One hour before serving, I pureed most of the mixture, leaving about 1/4 of it in its chunkier form. After pureeing it, add the almond milk for the last hour to give it the creamy texture.

Tonight we dressed it up a bit.

I had a package of Copper Penny Farm mini chorizo in the oven on slow cook (250 degrees) for that last hour. Placed a few of them, with some of their juice, over the soup.

A mostly local meal tonight. Just the spices and the almond milk, not local. Warm, satisfying. It’s interesting how soup is one thing we love to have when the “weather outside is frightful”.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Birds, Farms, Food, Locavore, Nature, Weather, West HoCo, Winter Eat Local and tagged birds, cooking, crock pot cooking, crockpot soups, farms, Food, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, nature, weather, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Icy Weather

Posted on December 9, 2013 by AnnieRie

Yep, it snowed yesterday and iced up overnight. Not a pretty sight out by the evergreens.

We lost a few limbs. Most of them, though, just were heavily laden with ice. We try to keep the trees healthy. And, we cross our fingers most of the time when the ice comes our way.

Everywhere in the yard, I was taking stock. Making sure the best trees looked OK and weren’t about to break off limbs.

Today was also a soup day. Nothing beats a good hearty soup, to warm you up after time spent shoveling snow.

This was turkey noodle soup. I keep a container full of pasta and noodles, to use for soups and stews.

Pasta shapes. Whole wheat noodles. Pot pie noodles.

Today, I combined leftover Maple Lawn turkey with CSA chicken stock. Added one carrot, one stalk of celery with leaves and the green part of half a dozen scallions. Some salt and pepper. Simmered it while we shoveled snow.

Lunch was wonderful. While our clothes dried out.

Now, we have to get ready for round two tomorrow. I am so ready for winter to end, and it just began.

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Posted in CSA, Food, Weather, West HoCo and tagged CSA, Food, real food, weather, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

One Snowy Sunday

Posted on December 8, 2013 by AnnieRie

And it still isn’t over. There are at least five inches of snow on the ground, and we are crossing our fingers that there won’t be much ice tonight.

Around noon, things were somewhat under control but with more snow and now freezing rain, getting up the hills could be interesting. I am so glad as a retired old person that I can sleep in tomorrow and avoid that rush hour mess around DC.

We always got a bit more snow and ice here in the western edge of Howard County. Our elevation of 600-800 feet across these parts is high enough to be a few degrees colder, and we see it in our snow fall totals.

This is the beginning of the heavier snow and ice on some of our ornamental grass. I hope tonight that the evergreens are spared the ice load. A few years back, we lost quite a few limbs on our pines and fir trees.

Watching football with a glass of Old Westminster Chardonnay, and some Bowling Green cheddar. Nice to be inside and warm. Wish us luck, to keep us from losing power!

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Posted in Community, Howard County, Retirement, Weather, West HoCo, Wine and tagged community, Howard County, MD Wine, nature, retirement, weather, West HoCo, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

One Slow Cooked Bargain Meal

Posted on November 18, 2013 by AnnieRie

Actually, it turns out there will be two meals out of the turkey made in the crockpot yesterday.

It all started with those turkey drumsticks from Maple Lawn Farm.

You can head out to the farm and pick up frozen turkey all during the year. The fresh turkey is sold for the holidays, but they have frozen packages and other specialties.

After bringing home those drumsticks, so I could vacuum seal some and save for soups this winter, I did keep two out to cook on Sunday.

I have two packages like these in the freezer. Each package cost approximately $2.33 as the six pack was $7.

You can’t beat that for making an economical meal. Throw some carrots, onions, celery, some stock (my last container from last year’s turkey), two drumsticks, a little water, salt, pepper, poultry friendly herbs like tarragon and marjoram, all in the crockpot.

Since the turkey was barely defrosted, and the stock was a brick of frozen goodness, I put the crockpot on high for six hours, then renewed it for another 3 hours. In the last hour, I added some wide noodles and a bit more water to thin it out.

We had it for dinner tonight, and it was simply wonderful. Really rich. So much flavor. It’s amazing and you can’t believe the entire pot probably cost $5-6 in total ingredients. We only had half of it, so lunch or dinner later this week will be our second meal from these drumsticks.

My husband and I both like the dark meat on turkey and chicken, more than we like the bland white breast meat. At Thanksgiving, my husband always takes a drumstick on his plate.

I suppose you could say we are crazy, eating turkey the week before Thanksgiving, but soup is so good on crisp fall days.

If you haven’t popped out to Maple Lawn after the holiday rush, you should. Even the frozen turkey is so much tastier than those butterball things.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Farms, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Uncategorized, West HoCo and tagged cooking, crock pot cooking, crockpot soups, farms, Food, foodie, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, real food, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Free??? Energy Audit

Posted on November 11, 2013 by AnnieRie

Remember GreenFest in Howard County? Where you could put in your name and “win” a free energy audit? Free, being a relative term.

Because if you won, and they came out and showed you all the bad things in your house, you could either ignore them or address them.

Those pictures showing energy loss through doors, windows, ducts and telling you how bad your old appliances are.

Slowly we have been addressing what was identified as deficient in our almost 30 year old home. I can honestly say that today I really feel the difference from replacing doors and windows on the first floor of the house. It has taken us two years to get this far.

Just a bit at a time. This time, though, it was dramatic.

The view from the dining room was enhanced with no window. Let’s not talk about the dozen or so flies I keep having to kill in the kitchen. So far, they did finish the outside of living room, dining room, and garage. And, there is a new door from garage to mud room. Our garage faces northwest. The front of the house faces west. Drapes would move when the cold fronts moved in. Now, there is a huge improvement. Although they aren’t done yet.

Caulking was done. Trim work remains. And, the kitchen window will be replaced. Hallelujah! I will have windows that open! Current kitchen windows are on their last legs, so to speak.

Of course, Thursday it is supposed to be quite cold. No cooking that day, and who knows where I will be able to take my CSA pictures.

I have to admit, I truly appreciate the changes once they are done. It’s just that the mess associated with renovations, and the frustrations with how long they take, taxes my patience.

But, a word to the wise. If you ever “win” that free energy audit, you may want to decline. Unless you want to spend what would have been vacation money to fix everything they find.

I know it ‘s the right thing to do here. But, it still drives me up a wall to deal with all the upheaval.

I just keep thinking about the good parts, like the view.

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Posted in Commentary, Howard County, Local Businesses, Renovations, Weather, West HoCo and tagged commentary, Howard County, local businesses, weather, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

It’s Not Delivery …

Posted on November 9, 2013 by AnnieRie

And it’s not DiGiorno either. My latest attempts at thin crust pizzas. I think I liked the veggie one best, even though I love the fig, prosciutto, cheese and arugula pizza quite a bit.

This is what they looked like before being baked.

I used the COSTCO kit to make these pizzas. I haven’t yet mastered dough on my own, and most pizza crusts are too thick. These shells came six to a pack with two packages of garlic sauce and four of tomato sauce. I used one package of garlic sauce and half a pack of tomato. There is too much sauce in one pack for one pizza. Unless you like soggy pizza.

I made the pizza on the right using garlic sauce, dried mission black figs bought at Roots, Hook’s gorgonzola from Roots, prosciutto from COSTCO (that giant industrial size package) and a drizzle of lemon infused olive oil from St Helena.

Arugula scattered over the top when it is done.

The left pizza is a veggie pizza. Garlic and tomato sauce mixed. My absolute favorite mushroom pate from Roots (wish I could figure out how to make this), roasted green pepper, roasted garlic (From my garden), and two cheeses. One a pecorino and the other an Iberico. Italian herbs.

Baked at 400 degrees for ten minutes. Served with my fennel orange salad.

And a North Gate Rose of Chambourcin. Bought at the newly opened Petite Cellars. North Gate is in Loudoun County VA and is part of a large selection of local wines at the new store in Turf Valley.

Petite Cellars Grand Opening is Tuesday the 12th. Another addition to the Turf Valley collection of stores and restaurants by the Harris Teeter.

Interesting how in nine years, things have changed so much out here.

As for my pizzas, my husband declared them a major success. He likes thin crust pizza and these are crisp and full of flavor.

Thanks to COSTCO and Roots I can replace delivery pizza and store bought pizza, with almost homemade. I just have to conquer that problem with making my own dough and getting it thin enough.

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Posted in Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, West HoCo, Wine and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, Howard County, Locavore, real food, VA wine, West HoCo, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Wazzup in West County

Posted on November 8, 2013 by AnnieRie

Friday with lots of options of things to do coming up, as well as just the best time of year to live out here.

My day started out leading a field trip at the Howard County Conservancy. Teaching second graders about soil (as compared to dirt). I will be back there tomorrow for the Hike to the River at 10 am. Volunteers will lead groups on a long hike down to the Patapsco River using trails at the conservancy and through Patapsco State Park. You have to admit. This is peak fall foliage week in #hocomd.

Add to that. Thanksgiving and then Christmas will be creeping up on us. What better way to get ready for Thanksgiving than to order your turkey, your sausage and your oysters at Boarman’s. I stopped there today to put in my Thanksgiving order. A Maple Lawn turkey. Boarman’s bulk sausage for stuffing. Oysters to make an oyster stew. We like standing in the line the day before Thanksgiving and talking with all the neighbors.

Oh, and out at TLV.