Container Gardening

      Or as I like to put it, fresh herbs and vegetables, NO WEEDING! For a few years we did the giant vegetable garden, but when our little slave , oops daughter, flew the coop, it came down to Wifey or I to weed. As neither of us list this as one of our favorite outdoor activities, the garden had to go. Off it went to return as a beautiful flower garden,( see previous posts for pics of this years blooms).  And since flowers are strictly the domain of the wife (I get to help plant BUT only where I am told to plant), the weeding falls out of my jurisdiction, WOO HOO. What I am in charge of are the containers on the deck, every year these hold a variety of fresh herbs, hot peppers and what ever else catches my eye on our annual plant shopping trip.

     This year has been a bumper crop for tomatoes , ( seriously we had three ripe ones already, which is three more than last year). a new pepper crop called Caribbean red hots, ( not a lie, had the first on Saturday, wooo hoo a bit spicy ), basil is nice, Rosie is doing great, ( year round rosemary plant, we bring her in every winter), mint has exploded (this has to be a weed, I grow good weeds). Lemon grass (what?? sounded like a good idea at the time) and fennel are both doing great (OK ,seriously, anyone know how to tell when the fennel bulb is ripe and ready to pick?) . Not doing so good, serrano's, (plant died), habaneros, I JUST got flowers, we may never see peppers,  jalapenos are OK but very small crop, only 3-4 this year.

 A look at this years crops;

                                                   Jalepenos

Caribbean red Hots

Mint,and two basils

Rosemary

      All in all not a bad crop. Update, Wifey decided that the fennel must be ripe (it wasn't) So now we will never see if we can grow fennel to bulb size (at least until next year). And I still have to figure out what I am going to do with the lemongrass, but it looks cool. Finally a few more late summer blooms;

                                                       Balloon Flower

Day Lily

Cosmos

Hydrangea

      Until, next time happy gardening.

Cooking 101: Fettucine and Meatballs

      OK,  not so much a recipe this time, as an endorsement. Sometimes life gets in the way of Supper and you need to come up with something quick. Whether for a quick supper with the wifey or a meal with friends and family, here is what we put together on Saturday;

      All three products available at your friendly, neighborhood Costco store ( or I am sure, grocery store also). Add the first two ingredients to a crock pot, turn on low and go take a nap, (OK this was my recipe, you may not want to follow it exactly). Now if you ARE following exactly, wake up from your nap, realize the crock pot was on low AND the meatballs went in frozen, so now crank up the pot to high and after your guests arrive, stall them with appetizers and several drinks. Appetizers can be most anything, but as we had perused our local farmers market (see previous post) we had some stuffed breads to offer, garlic and roasted tomatoes and my favorite, blue cheese and pear.

      For drinks you can add your personal favorites or some of my previous tinis, OR better yet, here are two brand new concoctions for you to try. The first I call Tropics in a Glass ( makes two)
2 ounces Coconut Rum
2 ounces Mango Rum
2 ounces fresh Mango Juice
4 ounces Lemonade
Splash of pineapple juice from the sliced pineapples in a can
1 Pineapple slice split in two

Shake the first 5 ingredients vigorously in a shaker with ice cubes . Strain into martini glasses and one piece pineapple slice to rim and VOILA;

      The first drink was found delicious by all who tried it, For the second drink, I went away from the tropics and more to home grown fruits. This one shall be dub  ummmm hmmm naming contest, I will go with the Black Berritini but really that title sucks, all my loyal readers, what do you think? Here are the ingredients;

In a shaker glass , muddle

Large handful of ripe fresh blackberries
4-5 sprigs of fresh mint
 To this add;
2 ounces coconut rum
2 ounces regular rum
6 ounces lemonade

Shake vigorously and again VOILA;

      What would you name the lovely concoction? For the guys , two new beers, Ommegang Abbey and Noire de Chambly. The first brewed in Cooperstown  NY and the Second in Quebec. Both were delicious, with a slight edge going to Noire de Chambly.

      As you can tell, not images I took, sorry, forgot to photo the beers, ANYWAYS back to our regularly scheduled dinner. So with drinks and appetizers in hand and a very addicting program I had downloaded on the laptop, Spotify, (try the free version, you have to listen to a few ads but man is it fun to try and stump the computer), we were all having a great time. As far as we can tell, you just can't stump this program, I think they have every song ever made. In no particular order we  found and listened to Dominique by the Singing Nun, Battle of New Orleans by Johnny Horton, 10 cc, Play that funky music white boy (Leif Garret sang this also who knew?), Black Sabbath, The Ballad of the Green Berets Oh and about a few hundred more. So while everyone was engrossed in digging up the most obscure songs ever ( The Singing Nun,  REALLY), I checked on the meatballs, thawed and hot, just how I like my meatballs. On went a huge pot of boiling (OK, technically it started out as non-boiling and soon became boiling) water with olive oil and kosher salt thrown in. Drop in the fresh pasta, wait a couple of minutes, (no more people, this is FRESH pasta, no more than 2 -3 minutes REALLY). Dump the pasta into a nice big colander, back into the now empty pot , splash of extra virgin (olive oil !!) and you are ready to serve.

      Best way I have found is assembly line style. On the counter your first dish should be pasta, next the crock pot with the meatballs, (lid removed DUH) and finally a micro plane with a nice block of Parmigiano-Reggiano. Here is where you need to spend a bit more, c'mon supper was inexpensive, buy GOOD cheese (hey that should be my new motto). We went with a nice block from (where else) Costco but any good cheese shop can help you here. DO NOT buy shredded parm at the grocery store YUCKKKKKKK !!! And if you have some , some fresh thinly shredded basil over the top would be Divine (OH yea I just used the word Divine). Everyone agreed a great meal. And for dessert from our trip to the farmers market.

      Moroccan delights, small but intense flavors, a perfect dessert. But feel free to insert your own dessert. There you go, a quick easy meal for two or many more.

BFM's Forever

      OK, I believe the phrase is BFF, but in this case we aren't talking about best friends but rather the Burlington Farmers Market. Here in Vermont, we are very lucky to never be far from a farmers market, no matter which town you live in. But the granddaddy and probably the biggest of them all is the Burlington Farmers Market. This is a great combination of fresh produce, ready to eat foods and of all things, Arts and Crafts. With such a great variety of things to see and taste and smell, one can easily spend hours wandering the booths.

Garden if front of City Hall and a few booths from the market;

      Fresh produce and prepared foods are the highlight of any market. And you will be hard pressed to find greater diversity than the Burlington market. Just a quick walk around and we found ready to eat food from Tibet, Africa (Samosaman YUM), Jamaica, Nepal, Morocco, China and food items like Barbecue, desserts, brownies and homemade root beer,  numerous baked goods, breads and lots more. In the produce department, every kind of fruit and vegetable you can imagine, fresh eggs, incredible cheeses, Vermont wines, organic meats, poultry and lots of fresh cut flowers.

      We had company coming for supper otherwise I could have spent several hours exploring. We had a quick bite to eat at Orsini BBQue, (try the Porky, half a serving of homemade mac and cheese , half incredible pulled pork DOUBLE YUM !!) And of course, a big shout out to Samosaman with a full offering of samosas and chicken curry and rice.  Next time we visit, we will bring the in-laws (Bro and Sis) and eat our way through the market, offering reviews on all the food. Just a quick thought, if you are planning on coming down to the farmers market to get bargains, think again. From what a couple of vendors told us it is VERY expensive to have a booth here, maybe the most expensive in the state (Thanks Burlington). So prices will be higher than your local mega-mart grocery store. But the trade off is, nothing will ever be fresher, the corn we saw was picked that morning, the eggs we bought laid the night before, the cheeses (Boucher Farms INCREDIBLE blue) fresh from the farm. For us it worth the extra money to A) get absolute farm fresh produce and B) to give money directly to the farmers who are working so hard to supply us with quality ingredients.

      So what did we come home with? Lets see, three different Boucher Farm cheeses, fresh eggs (Eric's I believe?) blueberries (Willow farm), Moroccan Delight Deserts, Stuffed breads (sorry can't remember the booth). These breads were great by the way, mine was a bread roll stuffed with blue cheese and pears YUMMMMM.  Some just picked organic arugula, and of course the BBque we ate while there. I am sure I forgot something, as the bags were quite full. A perfect way to spend a few hours in the sunshine of Vermont.

      Here are a few more pictures;

      A great time was had by all and an activity I suggest everyone participate in. Just think ahead, bring a cooler with some ice (or cooler packs, we did neither, of course, BUT I did remember the camera YEA) and after wandering around the markets, stop for a lunch at one of Burlington's many fine restaurants. We recommend Church and Main, Ri Ra's , Daily Planet and we are soon to try the New El Gato and we still haven't made it to Farmhouse Tap. What's missing? Well off the top of me head, fresh seafood, ( I know the ocean is a ways away but someone should drive to one of the big fish markets and bring back whatever is fresh for the Farmers market), pies, cakes, cookies , whoopee pies, I saw none of these and a HUGE miss is Ice Cream, the PERFECT summer treat and not a bite to eat. If anyone takes me up on these missing offerings, just send me an email and I will gladly let you know where to send the commission checks.  As far as activities go, I rate this one an A.