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Barbecue Time

Did you all have a good Independence Day? We had the cousins together for a parade, a visit to the water park, and then a barbecue at Grandmom and Granddad’s house. Aren’t they cute:

Earlier this week we had good old fashioned pork barbecue for our all local meal. We actually had ribs too but I’m not a big fan of ribs so they weren’t on my plate. The local pork butt was cooked on the grill, the local pork spareribs were roasted in the oven, the local veggies were mixed into coleslaw, and I canned the bbq sauce last summer from local ingredients.

- corn (17 miles)
- cabbage, kohlrabi (30 miles)
- pork butt, pork ribs (88 miles)
- vinegar, spices (non-local)

One Local Summer – Week 3

Published June 21, 2009 CSA 2009 , Cooking , In the Kitchen , One Local Summer 2009 5 Comments

Last week our local meal was lamb kebabs and a cucumber-feta salad. The lamb kebabs were seasoned with curry — a favorite of Katie’s — and grilled. The cucumber salad was made with local cucumbers and feta and seasoned with herbs from our garden. As usual the only non-local ingredients were the oil, vinegar, and spices. I need to find a local source for the vinegar at least but I am excited because I found a local source for grain this week. Tomorrow I’ll tell you about the other local meal we had this week. Oh my.
- dill, mint (0 miles)
- lamb (17 miles)
- feta (19 miles)
- onion (69 miles)
- cucumber ()

One Local Summer – Week 2

Published June 14, 2009 CSA 2009 , Cooking , In the Kitchen , One Local Summer 2009 1 Comment

Another salad. I promise it will get more exciting soon. I actually had better plans for dinner last night but they got changed at the last minute. So, salad for lunch is my one local summer meal today. Once again the only non-local ingredients are the oil and vinegar for the salad dressing and the spices on the grilled chicken.

- grilled chicken (17 miles)
- feta cheese (19 miles)
- lettuce (30 miles)
- radishes, carrots (100 miles)
- bacon (88 miles)

One Local Summer – Week 1

Published June 7, 2009 Cooking , In the Kitchen , One Local Summer 2009 3 Comments

So I officially signed up for One Local Summer this year. I think in previous years I had missed the deadline or forgot to sign up or something. So here is our first OLS meal of 2009. We had local lamb sausage with a local salad. The only non-local ingredients were the oil and vinegar for the salad dressing.

- lamb sausage (17 miles)
- cheese (18 miles)
- lettuce, radishes (30 miles)
- eggs (32 miles)
- bacon (88 miles)

Making Me Happy Today

Published May 11, 2009 Cooking , Crafted by Friends , Homemaking , In the Garden , In the Kitchen , In the Mailbox 7 Comments

:: wearing matching outfits with my girl on Mother’s Day ::

:: first berries of the season, and consequently the first canning session of the season as well ::

:: herbs in pots on my deck ::

:: a vegetable garden that is planted and ready to grow ::

Party Like Picasso

Published March 30, 2009 Cooking , Crafting With the Urchins , In the Kitchen 10 Comments

It was tonsillitis. Sore throat, high fever, crummy tonsillitis. I think it’s been banished by the mighty z-pack but I’m not claiming total victory just yet. I noticed while working out this morning that my throat is still feeling a bit swollen. Luckily, I had recuperated enough by Saturday to celebrate an upcoming sixth birthday. Our little artist and a whole bunch of her friends gathered at our house to create some art and sing happy birthday. We set up three stations — the kids are so familiar with the station concept from school it was a good way to keep them organized — for the art projects and divided the kids into three groups. We really wanted the kids to use real art materials so at station number one they used watercolor crayons — less messy than watercolor paints and just as fun — to paint on canvas.

This was the painting Katie created. The watercolor crayons are great, the kids draw with them like crayons and then use a wet paint brush to move the color around on the paper. I so wish I took a photo of all the different paintings drying together. At station number two the kids made a sculpture. We used crayola model magic clay for this because it is lightweight, not messy, and only needs to air dry. I did not want to be worrying about baking clay in the oven, especially because station number three was perler beads and that was crazy enough with Tristan repeatedly trying to use the iron.

For the food we had sliders and pigs-in-a-blanket with french fries. We also served a variety of fruits — organized by color on a painter’s palette — with fruit dip. Papa made the cupcakes and we placed them on another palette — I just picked them up at our local art supply store — by color. Today on the way home from kindergarten a mom stopped me and said her son told her it was the best girl birthday party he had ever been to — success!

Weekend Report

Published March 10, 2009 Cooking , Gifts , In the Kitchen , In the Mailbox , Papa Urchin , This & That 6 Comments

March may have come in like a lion but we sure had a lamb of a weekend. Temps were in the 70s both days. Crazy. We’re back to more seasonal March weather now, blustery and colder. But about the weekend, it was a really good one, and not just the weather. Saturday morning Katie and I headed to Molly’s place to have lunch with Molly and Emily and their gangs plus Erin who was visiting for the weekend.

It’s always fun to go to Molly’s and it was great to meet Emily and Erin. We arrived a little early and Katie just took off to collect eggs with Mary and Emma and I helped Molly get lunch ready. How I wish we lived closer. I’m blessed to have such thoughtful and generous friends though, even if they live hours away. Both Emma and Katie were hoping to go in the swimming pool — apparently being 6 or 7 makes you immune to freezing water — but after Emily and Erin arrived we went to the creek instead. I brought some gifts for the ladies and we ate lunch, each helping with the other’s children. Erin and Emily left and I helped Molly clean up lunch while we talked about our girls.

On Sunday Stefan had a race in the morning and we celebrated his birthday with some of our extended family. Katie went to my parents’ and Tristan helped me make the birthday dinner — spaghetti bolognese — and birthday cake before everyone returned for a loud, laughter-filled evening with the windows open. A perfect weekend really, thank you March.

How Do You Feel About Marmalade?

Published February 2, 2009 Cooking , In the Kitchen 8 Comments

Had you asked me that question about 6 months ago I wouldn’t have been too enthusiastic. A few weeks ago I got a box of citrus from someone I know in Arizona. She has lemon, orange, and grapefruit trees in her yard — lucky duck — and offered to send some to me. Um, yes please. And let me tell you fruit from the tree is so much better than the grocery store, but you knew that didn’t you. Katie and Tristan were thrilled to see real lemon leaves! Yesterday afternoon I got the chance to make some lemon marmalade and I am a convert. Actually I might be a marmalade zealot, this stuff is soooooo good. Now I just need to figure out how I can sneak lemon marmalade into the dinner menu.

Edited to Add: I used this recipe doubled and I used 10 lemons and 2 oranges.

Urchin Bistro

Published January 27, 2009 Cooking , In the Kitchen 8 Comments

Do you ever dream of owning a restaurant? Papa and I do. We’re pretty good cooks and we love good food. We don’t go out to eat that much but when we do we are amazed at the really mediocre options out there. The Urchin Bistro would be a family gathering place with good family food. Things like homemade mac-n-cheese, ham and bean soup, Irish soda bread, and brisket. There would most definitely be brisket, the best you’ve ever had:

Papa’s Brisket
* 4-5 lb beef brisket
* 1T minced garlic
* Pepper
* 1/4t ground mace (clove might work if you don’t have mace)
* 3 medium onions
* 2T oil
* 2/3C beef broth
* 2/3C red wine
* 1/2C cider vinegar
* 3/4C brown sugar
* 1 1/2C BBQ sauce (we prefer bulls eye for this)
* 1C ketchup
* 1T hot sauce

Preheat oven to 350.

Trim brisket and season with pepper. Lightly sprinkle with mace (about 1/4t, but this is important) and then rub in garlic. Heat a roasting pan over medium-high heat on the the stove and then add oil. Brown meat on both sides approx 4 minutes per side. Remove meat and lower heat. Add onions and brown until limp. Deglaze pan with the beef broth and red wine, scraping the bottom clean. Remove from heat. Add the remaining ingredients and mix. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Place meat back in pan and flip to coat with sauce. Cover the meat with some of the onions. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and cook for 2-3 hours until tender. Serve with egg noodles, mashed potatoes, or on bread.

This will be even better if made a day ahead. After cooking, slice and refrigerate then reheat in the oven when you are ready to serve. Get a bigger piece — or more than one piece — of meat than you think you need. We rarely find we have leftovers.

2008 – The Year That Was

Published January 2, 2009 CSA 2008 , Cooking , Fiber Crafts , In the Kitchen , Knitting , Sewing 9 Comments

It’s time for that bloggy tradition — the year in review. Last year I set some lofty crafty goals. Let’s see how I did….

I said, Knitting wise I’d like to make more socks using a variety of techniques.

and maybe you can count these:

A pretty pathetic showing, I must admit. It seems that 2008 was instead the year of the mitt:

I said, I’d like to conquer a lace projectand I did just that, not once but twice!

I also said, I am going to knit a sweater for Papa. and it didn’t happen. I’m not even sure why it didn’t happen but I did finish the sweater for my brother which I hope will be the largest sweater I ever make:

I wanted to continue to improve my garment-making skills and I think the proof is in this picture:

Those were some serious garments made with some seriously annoying fabrics. I really feel like I’m starting to understand basic garment construction.

And I was hoping to conquer my fear of knits which didn’t really happen. Maybe 2009 will be the year.

I said I also want to make a bed-sized quilt top — I’ll probably send it out to be quilted. And that is exactly what I did:

At 68″x68″ it isn’t the size of any bed but is comparable in square inches to a double bed quilt. There are so many reasons I love that quilt.

I wanted to tell you more about some of the great food we’re eating and I think I did, if not here than on flickr.

and I said I really want to try to compost less of our CSA share each week which I’m pleased to say happened. Preserving was the key. I canned more than I have in many years but very little of that was from our CSA share. Instead I started freezing portions of green beans, chard, celery, roasted tomatoes, herbs, and ratatouille.

In fact 2008 was the year I started thinking of our farmer’s market as our grocery store. We’re lucky to have excellent local sources for beef, cheese, chicken, butter, eggs, and vegetables and in 2008 we really started taking advantage of that.

So not too bad 2008, but I have a feeling 2009 is going to be even better. If you are interested in seeing all that I finished in 2008, take a look at my flickr set.