I’m not abandoning this blog. I just haven’t been writing in it. Sometimes I forget that I have it. Mostly I’ve been busy with other culinary pursuits. It doesn’t help that Mel and I are sharing a computer at the moment and if we are watching Netflix, no typing I will be doing. I have been doing quite a bit of food related things in the last couple of months.
I brewed my first batch of beer for the season. Caribou Slobber. A clone kit from Northern Brewer of Big Sky’s Moose Drool. An american style brown ale. Slightly hoppy with crisp malt background. It was definitely a challenge getting it all working again. I hope to do at least 3 more batches this summer. We will see.
We planted our container garden outside the work shed. Garlic, Soybeans, Basil, Thyme, Sage, Dill, Chamomile, Chives, Cat Nip, Mint and probably a couple of others I can’t remember. Everything is doing fine expect for the Soybeans. We need to replant them. I think I went a little too deep on the first try. Sadly I am using the containers from my Hop growing last year as the roots did not survive the winter and I wasn’t looking to start another set of vines if we plan to move next year. We did learn to get our rosemary, tomato, and pepper plants in the starter dirt several weeks early than we intended. They are just coming up now. I don’t think they will mature by the end of the harvest.
Much of my free time has gone into planning a week of dinners for our trip to the lake this year. Scouring books looking for that interesting recipe to start them summer off right. Mostly looking through an old series of Williams-Sonoma of books called Grilling, Vegetable & Bread. Also How to Cook Everything contributed many recipes. The hardest part was finding dessert recipes that used the grill in a tasty way. After selecting the recipes, sizing for a group of 10 and figuring out how much of each ingredient was needed for the week. Then figuring out the time needed to prep and cooking to serve. Seems like a lot of work for a vacation but I feel if I do this right now I won’t spend so much time on vacation getting food ready and more time fishing, playing games, being outside in general. That and I enjoy doing everything I listed above.
What I am most excited for this week is the first week of our CSA membership from Featherstone Farms. Mel and I are excited for the challenge of the unknown veggies during the next 20 or so weeks. We even got the larger box because we love veggies so much. We are pretty much vegetarians just be cooking habits, not by principle. Equipped with our new salad spinner we welcome the challenge of the copious amounts of greens. Last Year the first week brought Spinach, Red Butter Lettuce, Salad Greens, Radishes, Asparagus, Rhubarb, & Cilantro.
There is much more but I feel that would just be more rambling.
Til next time
-FinnKidd