So, it sounded like a good idea in my head

Here was the plan: take my bike and catch the bus into Monterey (departure time 8:27 AM). Hang out in town for a bit, get cash at the bank, and bike over to the Friday morning farmer’s market (starts at 10:00). Get produce. Bike the 15 miles home with produce in back pack.

I arrived at the bus stop in high spirits. I had watched a video on youtube of how to put my bike on the bike rack. Bus arrived and I did just as instructed and took my seat on the bus feeling REALLY proud of myself. (I realize it’s not that complicated to master the rack but still it felt like a mighty fine accomplishment!) After I got into town I thought I might get a cup of coffee at Peet’s and read for a bit before heading over to the farmer’s market. First mistake! (Actually, my first mistake was bringing a book along…a hard back copy no less.) How can I say this nicely? The coffee at Peet’s sucks. Their poor excuse for French roast coffee is pathetic. I took two sips (first one to recoil, second to make sure it just wasn’t a fluke) and then threw away the rest of the cup.

Now feeling a little headachy, I got my cash, then on to the market. Found some great buys on peppers (bought 5), eggplants (bought 3), kale (1 bunch), sorrel (2 bunches), apples (bought 6). Then I tried to shove all of this produce into my backpack (along with my book). Yeah. I realize at this point that maybe this idea wasn’t the greatest. I hoist the pack onto my back (the hard back book resting on my spine) and feeling rather like Quasimodo, proceeded to head home.

Did I mention the weather? None of the lovely Central Coast fog…oh, no. It was the first day of a heat wave and it was well into the 80’s as I navigated onto the road to get me onto the highway I’d be travelling on for home. I was sweating profusely, the gargantuan backpack not helping one little bit. It’s at this point I notice that a brush fire is happening close by and smoke is clouding the sky and drifting across the road. Really? Today? Feeling a slight burn in my lungs, I pressed on through the haze. Fortunately it cleared and the road beckoned ahead.

You know how much fun it looks when you cross the Golden Gate Bridge in your car and you see everyone walking across and you think you’d like to do that someday? And then that day comes and you realize it’s nicer driving across in your car? Well, this felt the same way. Trucks and cars went speeding by, exhaust and fumes spewing into my face. If I was going fast it might be ok. But I’m in the lowest gear, sucking air, my arms straining from the weight of my pack and all the traffic just wasn’t any fun.



A rather sad sight



Heat. Book. Heavy pack. Smoke. Bad coffee. Fumes. I decided to call it quits. I called Steve. He put the bike in his truck and took me home. I want to try the whole trip again but leave the book at home, drink only water, buy nothing at the market (not even bring a pack) and wait for a foggy day. Not that I want to do this regularly but just so that I can say I did it. I may even post a video on youtube.

Small but still pretty tasty

I thought my carrots would grow bigger.  I figured if I left them awhile longer they would eventually get nice and long like the picture on the seed packet. But it didn’t happen. So before Laura left for school, we picked them all. The orange ones were knobby and stunted. The purple ones were the right shape but only 3” long. We kept them in a bowl in the fridge to snack on and they made for good eating alongside lunch.  

After Laura and Tim left for school and lands far away, the rest of the carrots remaining in the bowl looked rather sad. I figured if I wasn’t a little more proactive, they would get all rubbery and end up in the compost. Not a very honorable end to a noble effort. Carrot bread sounded like the right way to finish off the darling runts in all their glory. Found a great recipe in this little cookbook I have called Quick Breads by Beatrice Ojakangas. It’s out of print but you can find used copies on Amazon or you might find a volume at a used bookstore. It’s got some really great recipes: Mincemeat Apricot Bread, Orange Pecan Bread, Cinnamon Pear Tea Bread, Colonial Brown Bread. At any rate, the recipe for Carrot Walnut Bread sounded like just the right thing. Took all the little carrots and whazzed* them up in the food processor till they were “grated”.  (*Jamie Oliver’s technical term.) Made three small loaves in foil loaf pans…two to keep and one to send to Laura at school. Toasted with some sharp cheddar cheese…deelish!

Laura had some stuff that didn’t fit in her suitcase that she wanted me to send. I boxed them up and so carefully and thoughtfully as a mother does, tucked the loaf into the package.  When I got to the post office shop I was told by Ramon that it would cost $25 by UPS and the box would arrive a week later. “Hmmmm…not so good for the bread,” I thought.” Can you get it there faster?”  I ask.  “Sure,”  says Ramon. “You could Fed Ex it and the package would arrive three days earlier…and it would cost $50.” Now I know the carrots are dear, and the loaf was lovingly packed but was it really worth an additional $25 for a little loaf of carrot bread? Not so much.

I’ll try planting carrots again next year but I’ll give them more room and do a better job of thinning. Hopefully that’ll do the trick. And I think I’ll just stick with orange ones. Millions of rabbits can’t be wrong.

Carrot Walnut Bread

2 cups all purpose flour                                    ½ teaspoon salt
                                  

1 cup chopped walnuts                                    2 cups finely shredded fresh carrots

½ cup granulated sugar                                    ½ cup milk

½ cup brown sugar, packed                             1/3 cup vegetable oil

3 teaspoons baking powder                              1 egg

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour one 9 ½ x 5 ½  inch loaf pan or three 5 ¾ x 3 ½ inch loaf pans. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, nuts, sugars, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt until well blended. Stir in the remaining ingredients just until moistened. Spoon into pan or pans. Bake 50 to 60 minutes for a large loaf, 35 to 45 minutes for small loaves, or until they test done. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to finish cooling.

I'd call this one a winner

We’ve never had much success growing tomatoes. More than likely due to the fact that the spot we had for our veggie garden a few years back got a ton of shade from the neighbor’s trees.  A few tomatoes would set and then they’d mold…go figure! So with our big new raised bed for our garden along the back side of the house that gets a ton ‘o sun we thought it would be good to try tomatoes again. Friend Lorrie told me that there are varieties for cool weather. Good to know! So I headed out to my favorite nursery and inquired, list in hand with several varieties I thought sounded good. Alas, all they had in stock was Stupice (say it this way stew-peach). Wasn’t on my list but I was eager to plant. I wanted a 4” pot but they only had pony packs of 6 so I got them. Steve had this great idea: since we don’t have any luck with tomatoes, why don’t we plant 3 in one tomato cage and 3 in another and then if one or two don’t thrive, we can just pull them out. Sounds good!

Now here it is 4 months later. Note to self: Stupice do well in our garden and will grow like weeds. The plants are spilling over the side of the bed, climbing up the trellis we strung for the sugar snap peas. They sent out long, tall stalks and then fell over with the weight of the green tomatoes. After the cooler summer, they’re now starting to ripen. It’s quite a challenge to spot the flash of red in the jungle of overgrown greenery but I’m happy to get close and personal with the plants, the pungent scent of tomato all up in my face. I was hoping to start roasting and freezing the tomatoes. But they’re ripening at just the right pace to keep us supplied with a large bowlful for salads and cooking.

Dinner the other night:  browned some beef in the pan (grass fed…why? That’s a post for another day) then put it in a bowl. Sautéed patty pan squash and those round yellow ones, onion, leek, garlic (of course), some roasted red and yellow peppers I had stored in the freezer, and a huge handful of fresh basil in olive oil. I poured boiling water over a large bowl of tomatoes and when the skins started peeling, I took the peel off and diced the tomatoes into the pan. The tomato juices bubbled up making this incredibly awesome veggie broth. I added the beef back in then served it over pasta (with a little parm cheese on top).  

The heirloom tomatoes at The Farm (veggie stand down the street) are starting to ripen. I think I’ll start roasting those to “put up” in the freezer. My own Stupice? I’ll keep eating those babies one bowlful at a time.  

I guess I'll admit that summer is over

My internal calendar has always told me that once school starts, summer is over. The autumn equinox doesn't really factor in. So with no beginning of the school year for me, summer just kept going and going. Last year at this time, I had already put out golden mums and made pots of pumpkin soup. But this year Laura didn't have to head back to school until Sept. 11. And with Laura's boyfriend, Tim, visiting from Boston for two weeks, it was easy to pretend that there was nothing else to do but take road trips and eat awesome food.

We headed up north to visit the Point Reyes lighthouse. It was a gorgeous drive out to the point...a beautiful sunny day. But wouldn't you know it: the lighthouse was closed so we couldn't walk down the 308 steps to see it up close. The fog was rolling in to boot but still it made for some lovely views. Lunch was sublime. The plan was to stop at the Rouge et Noir cheese factory, get some brie and camembert and have a picnic. I brought along some toppings for the cheese and bread: roasted veggies (zucchini, peppers, eggplant, onions, and leeks) corn relish, bread and butter pickles, and olallieberry jam. The plan also included a pot of hot tea, but I forgot to bring a lighter for the camp stove and when I asked inside for some matches I was told no fires allowed. Zerg! But that didn't stop us from stuffing ourselves silly. Didn't think about taking any pictures until the eating was well under way.

Last Friday we took Tim to the SF airport...he's in Nepal for the quarter. And Saturday Laura headed off to Illinois for school. So, the road trips have ended for now. And the food frenzy has abated...temporarily. I mean, let's see...what kind of eating did we do for two weeks? Croissants at Tartine, fish tacos at Nick's Crispy Tacos, beignets at Brown Sugar Kitchen, gnocchi at Cafe Citti, salted caramel ice cream at Bi-Rite, chicken Marbella, homemade rhubarb pie with homemade strawberry ice cream (that was for Tim's b-day), chocolate cake with homemade chocolate ice cream (that was for Steve's b-day...making ice cream is the best fun!) We tried to get shawarma in the Mission and fried chicken sandwiches at Bakesale Betty but there's only so much eating one can do. Throw in blueberry pancakes for breakfast and corn dogs at the fair, I think we did ourselves proud in showing Tim a culinary good time.

This morning I had oatmeal for breakfast. Oh, and with a handful of blueberries from the freezer. That's it. And it was tasty. There'll be more road trips and more insane food experiences. But for now, I'm happy that summer was good and that autumn is upon us. I even think I'll make some pumpkin soup this week.

Corn Relish

I took the basic recipe from the Martha Stewart website but then did it my own way. She has you boil the corn but I like it fresh. Of course by not boiling you have to keep it in the fridge and it'll only last so long. Maybe I'll try it MS's way and then I can enjoy corn relish in the winter. At any rate, here's the way I like to do it. You can halve the recipe if you want to make a smaller amount.

2 1/2 cups cider vinegar
1 1/4 cups sugar
4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp whole mustard seed
1 tsp fresh thyme (I used a little extra)
1/2 tsp celery seed
10 peppercorns
2 bay leaves
10 ears of corn (I prefer white)
2 red peppers
2 white onions

Mix together vinegar, sugar and spices in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook a minute or two. Turn off heat and let brine sit while you prep the veggies. Cut the corn off the cob and place kernels in a large bowl. Finely dice the peppers and onions and add to the corn. Pour the brine through a sieve over the corn, peppers, and onions. Mix and pack into jars. Put into fridge. Ready to eat the next day...or in a couple of hours if you can't wait.