Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard - Persimmons

A friend shared some of their recent Hachiya Persimmon harvest with us, and to be honest we did not quite know what to do with them.  Correction: we still don't quite know what to do with them.  Several years ago we both tasted a Persimmon, and were not all that excited.  Since then, we've been a bit shy to embrace this much-loved fruit, but we took them with open arms and will not let them go to waste. Several of them were very, very ripe, so I did what I normally do with very, very ripe fruit - cook them.  The skins seemed to be quite tough, so this was removed, and the belly of the fruit was place in a sauce pan with a touch of honey and a small pinch of salt.

I am unsure if the honey was slightly browned while cooking (I had to put the little man to bed and kind of forgot this was on the stove), or if it normally comes out this darkened color, but we have a delicious, stewed Persimmon compote to eat come morning.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and join us at Robin's Thursday's Kitchen Cupoard.

Garden Tour 11.30.11

After more than a week away, we came home to a garden with much needed work. Here is a tour of what we found upon our return.

The epidendrum orchid bloomed. We can grow these in the ground, and the are surprisingly hardy and easy to grow. We never feed them, and they bloom every year.

The lemongrass is out of control, and over 8 feet high. It looks like it might flower, and I heard that seeds are extremely rare because of how it has been propagated for hundreds of years. Alison wants it moved, but I think I might leave it for now and see what happens.

Here is the first banana flower of the year. I have never grown bananas before, but I know they are heavy feeders. I started feeding it a few months back, and it gave us this flower pretty quickly thereafter. I forgot what variety I planted here, so it should be a nice surprise to see what we get.

All the leaves fell off my Mexican Lime Tree. I think it is getting too much water, and doesn't like damp roots. This isn't looking good.

The tangerines are turning orange. Last year, they tasted awful, and things aren't looking good this year either. The fruit is pithy and dry, which I think comes from sporadic watering. Some of my citrus is located next to my small lawn, which needs more frequent watering than the citrus. Hopefully I can figure out a balance one of these days.

Bloody dock, or red-veined dock. It is growing like mad, and is ready to be harvested. Does anyone have a suggestion as to what do with this? The bulb fennel is also doing quite well.

I have never grown cabbage before, and here is my first attempt. It seems like it has been in the ground for a long time, but doesn't really do much of anything. I wonder when I might get my first head?

Another Musquee de Provence pumpkin is ready to be harvested. Have I mentioned lately how much I love these things. I used one on Thanksgiving for pie, and it was wonderful.

The asparagus bed is ready to be clipped down to the ground. I will probably do it this weekend, and then cover the bed with some cow manure and compost. There are a couple volunteer tomato plants growing in this bed - they turned out to be roma type, and were extremely productive. I think they came from when Ezra was throwing some rotten tomatoes the year before. It is amazing what sprouts up in random places.

The garlic bed has some sprouts, and is looking nice. This is my first year growing garlic, and we are pretty excited about the crop. I am crossing my fingers about this one.

Here is one, extremely large, cardoon plant.

Shelling peas, ready to be harvested. I really love fresh peas, and was hoping they would be ready for Thanksgiving. Looks like they will be just a few weeks late, but that means more for me.

The chile plants were damaged by some cold weather last week, but they are still chugging along. The ghost pepper, bhut jolokia, is cranking out some red devils, and I was glad to see them showcased on Top Chef last week.

Ezra's garden is always overgrown with random, out of season plants, and we love it this way.

The Valencia oranges are starting to ripen. This is one of my favorite trees on our property.

The chickens had to stay in their coop while we were away. They can fly into neighbor's yards, and I didn't want my friends to have to go chasing after them. As soon as we got home, I let them out, and they immediately headed for the giant bamboo to take a dust bath.

Passion Fruit, wrinkled and dark purple, and ready to be harvested.

I have six Yuzu ready to be picked. Ponzu or marmalade?

Vanilla Extract

About a year ago I began making our own homemade vanilla extract. I placed 1/2 cup of vodka in a jar with 1 whole vanilla bean that was sliced lengthwise and scraped into the vodka. The lid was sealed shut, and it sat in our pantry for about 4 months. Since then, it has migrated into the kitchen cupboard, and replaced any store-bought versions.  As we make recipes that call for whole vanilla bean I add the leftover to this jar, and it continues to develop flavor. At this point, I need to top-off the jar with a bit of vodka and continue the process.  

Fresh from the oven

Per Ezra's request, pumpkin muffins - made from our Musquee de Provence. 

Home Sweet Guava Home

After more than a week away in the western Sierra Nevada Mountains, we are back home in San Diego. When we left the mountains, it was 45 degrees. When we arrived in Cardiff, it was a balmy 73 degrees. Ezra immediately went for his train set, and I made a quick dash to the garden. I am always amazed at how much can change in only a week- there are new gopher holes, the asparagus is ready to be cut back, and there is much work to be done.

I was able to harvest our first White Guava today, and it was delicious. I have been eyeing these guys for months, and here is the first one to ripen. Tomorrow I will do a full garden update and tour, but right now there are some small, fun looking waves that are calling me.

Homemade Holiday Gift

Old cashmere sweater + serger sewing machine + sister-in-law = new gloves and hat

Weekending

And, yes, California does have Fall colors...

Alpacas

We spent our Friday morning with a visit to the Open House at the KT-Lee Alpaca Ranch.  Located in North Fork, CA, it's just about a mile up the road from our family's cabin at Bass Lake.  I knew it would be a great little place to check out with Ezra, and I was hoping to scoop up some fleece.

 While they had a small boutique open with locally hand-knit and woven goods, there was no raw fleece in site.  After asking the owner, Lisa, we went digging in her shed for some.  She had bag after bag, labeled with the year in which it was cut, as well as the exact animal from which it came. Apparently her local mill is going through a change of ownership, so she's been holding some past cuts until the new owner's learning curve is over.  She has quality of varying degree, depending on what cut it was, and we poked through numerous bags and came up with this.  With this wool now sitting on the table, the projects are piling up in this head of mine.  It will need to be washed, and then hand-carded, something I've never done before (should be interesting). Needle-felted creatures for Ezra are a must, and then I think this is the perfect time to learn the art of the Drop Spindle.

 I also scooped up two skeins of this lovely yarn that is spun from their Alpacas.  I'm thinking a hat for the Mr. is in store, and I've just learned a good friend is expecting a new addition.  I think this ultra-soft, Alpaca yarn will be perfect on that new baby.

If you're in the area, definitely check out this farm. We had such fun flirting with the Alpacas - they're great.

Pumpkin Pie / Musquée de Provence

Alison made the request earlier this year that we grow the traditional pumpkin of Southern France, the Musquée de Provence. In 2003 we spent some time on an herb farm in the hills outside of Dieulefit, France, and the crazy, toothless lady we stayed with made us savory pumpkin pie for dinner. It was an unforgettable pie, and we have been trying to recreate it ever since. If anyone has a savory pumpkin pie recipe, we would love to hear about it. The herb farm turned out to be a sketchy marijuana farm, growing "aromatic herbs" so they called them, and we didn't stick around to get her recipe. I should really dig out some photos and do a post on that story someday.

Our crop of Musquée de Provence turned out quite well. We ordered seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom, and they had a 100% germination rate. Each plant averaged two pumpkins, and most were at least 8 pounds. The flesh is bright orange, mildly sweet, has few seeds, and is very flavorful.

For our sweet Thanksgiving pumpkin pie, we started by roasting the pumpkin in slices rubbed with a little olive oil and salt.

After roasting, the seeds were scraped out, and the flesh was more stringy than expected. We put it in a blender with some half and half, and pureed it until very smooth. Alison made the crusts, added the traditional spices, and baked it until set.

The pie turned out fantastic. It was extremely flavorful, but didn't have the overly sweet factor that I think plague most pumpkin pie. I have never been the biggest fan of sweet pumpkin pies, but this one was truly great. I think it bridged the divide between the Thanksgiving traditional pie and the savory French pie that still haunt my dreams.

The pie didn't last the night. Lucky for us, we still have more Musquée de Provence still ripening on the vine, some in the pantry and a bunch of seeds for next year.

Gratitude

As Thanksgiving is upon us, and I sit for a moment to think about that which I am thankful for, one thing tops the list: Health.  Our little man, Ezra, was born 2 1/2 years ago, with a string of health issues that caught us completely off-guard.  At 2 days old, he was diagnosed with Tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital heart defect. At 7 weeks of age, he had open-heart surgery by Dr. Lamberti of Rady Children's Hospital, San Diego.  Shortly thereafter, in a routine cardiac ECHO scan, we were told that Ezra might possibly have a liver malformation, and that we needed to seek additional care.  After numerous scans, tests, doctors and surgeons we found ourselves in the care of Dr. Superina at Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago.  In February of 2011, Ezra underwent a very serious procedure called a Rex Shunt, whereby they took his exterior jugular vein and transplanted it to replace his portal vein that was not functioning properly.

Today, we are thankful for Ezra's health.  We are thankful that the two of us have the health that is needed to care for him.  We are thankful for his doctors, and their teams.  We are thankful that we are spending this Thanksgiving in our home, not a hospital. We are thankful that we have the space in which to grow nourishing food to help heal our bodies, big and small.  And, while we've learned to take Ezra's health day-by-day, on this Thanksgiving we are thankful he is in good health.

A Walk in the Woods

Homemade Playing-Dough

I have a little man that loves Playdough, as most toddlers do.  I would purchase the classic Playdough from the store in those tiny little cylinders, over and over.  Constantly opening a new one, tossing the old containers, and feeling like our Playdough consumption was out of control.   I have bought the eco-friendly versions - still little, wasteful containers, and quite expensive.  I have bought the moldable beeswax, but the hands of a toddler are not near strong enough to move and mold.  I stashed this away and will hopefully be able to find in a few years.  This too, is expensive.

Making homemade playing-dough is easy, quick, fun and this particular recipe works beautifully.  I have tried several different recipes, some of which are too dry, too hard, or leave your hands with a coating of the mixture. The original recipe I like best stems from a wonderful blog, Play at Home Mom, though I have made a couple tweaks to this over time. 
                  Here is my recipe:    1 Cup Flour
                                                 1/2 cup salt
                                                 2 T cooking oil (I usually use Canola)
                                                 1 T Cream of Tartar
                                                 1 Cup Water
                                                 Food coloring
I find by adding 2 T of oil, rather than 1, the end result is a bit smoother. I also remove the mixture when it is still pretty wet and sticky.  I scoop the mixture onto a lightly floured surface, and knead for a minute or two. I have found that over-drying on the stove when cooking makes it too dry, and it does not last as long.  If made correctly, and sealed up when finished playing, I've had my homemade playing-dough last for a month or two.  There are so many directions you can go with this basic recipe - we've had Pumpkin Spiced dough this Fall, which I made by simply adding some standard Pumpkin Pie Spice purchased at the market.  It smelled so wonderful, and became an added sensory experience for Ezra.

  

Ezra's box of tools are on our shelf outside.  They are purposely stored on a shelf in which his little hands can reach all by themselves.  

Thanksgiving Prep

Have eggs, will travel