— giving you a moment to envision that —

…which in turn translates into near-total neglect of the poor garden.  Yes, AGAIN.

The potato vines finally started to die back last week, so this week became Potato Harvest Time.  You may recall we have two large homemade vertical bins, and one commercially produced growing bag, and this year we planted Rote Erstling, Early Rose and Red Pontiac varieties.  My curiosity got the better of me on Thursday and I dug down into the bag to find potatoes!

This is the Red Pontiac, about 3 lbs worth.  I wound up discarding about five of them due to pest chewage, but a respectable haul.  The majority of them were near the bottom of the bag, so I think we didn’t get dirt into the bag fast enough to prevent the stems from hardening off.  (Sunlight will cause the hardening, and then they’ll be incapable of producing potatoes all the way up.)

Today we cracked open the vertical bins to see what we could see. This is done by laying a tarp in front of the bin (to catch the dirt)…

…then unscrewing the front boards down to the last one…

…then using a potato fork to scoop the dirt out onto the tarp.

Of the three varieties planted, this is the haul from the Rote Erstling and Early Rose varieties.  SIGH.

Of course the Red Pontiac harvest sort of makes up for it…

So next year we’ll keep experimenting with varieties, and if the fates and gods allow, actually not have any health issues to interfere with the timely addition of dirt!

1. The XX – Intro
2. Fol Chen – Cable Tv
3. Keane – Spiralling
4. The Flaming Lips – Watching the Planets
5. The Antlers – Bear
6. Vampire Weekend – Giving Up the Gun
7. MGMT – Time to Pretend
8. The Morning Benders – Excuses
9. The Delta Mirror – He Was Worse Than the Needle He Gave You
10. The Dead Weather – Die By the Drop
11. Sleigh Bells – Crown on the Ground
12. Broken Bells – The High Road
13. Jonsi – Go Do
14. The Constellations – Felicia
15. New Politics – Yeah Yeah Yeah

And some bonus country (yes, COUNTRY) stuff I’m enjoying lately:

The Wreckers – “My, Oh My”

Little Big Town – “Bones”

Pfft, it took 2 1/2 months to compile even one!   Slow music year I guess…

1. Sleigh Bells – Infinity Guitars
2. LCD Soundsystem – Daft Punk is Playing at My House
3. Le Tigre – Hot Topic
4. Yeasayer – Ambling Alp
5. The Xx – Crystalised
6. Cold War Kids – Audience of One
7. The Heavy – How You Like Me Now
8. Metric – Help I’m Alive
9. Caribou – Odessa
10. Spinerette – Baptized by Fire
11. Ok Go – This Too Shall Pass
12. Broken Social Scene – All to All

Four words:  Never Ending Pie Buffet

Please anticipate pictures that will make your saliva glands burst with happiness.

(If you want to attend on your own, it is being held at the Omni Championsgate in Kissimmee, FL.)

Then used even more peaches for fried peach pies…

These were simply amazing, most amazing pastry dough EVER.  The recipe came from a cookbook I knew I had to have once I saw the title:  Screen Doors and Sweet Tea I’ll probably get all lawyered if I repost the recipe here, so just buy the book, mmkay?

And finally, today (appropriately enough, Pi day) saw my very first attempt – EVER – at pie.  Why?  Well, not a huge fan of fruit in semi-sweet bread, on the whole I’d just rather have a piece of chocolate, but it’s kind of one of those things you need to know how to cook, like turkey and french bread.  Oh, that’s just me?  Anyway, here’s the pie:

The crust recipe came from the above Screen Doors cookbook, and uses the French method frissage (demonstrated somewhere in that damn video, I lost patience about 30 seconds in…looks like she starts on it about 4:18 in the timeline there), which is feathering the dough on your countertop…taking an egg-sized piece, smooshing it with the heel of your hand away from you, then repeating with the remaining dough.  You’ll see some say, “Gasp!  Mon dieu!  Frissaging will destroy the gluten!”  Pfft.  Don’t overwork it and you’re fine.

See?

The crust was crazy-good, flaky and tender.  I am not a Granny Smith fan, so I used Pink Lady apples exclusively.  This made for a non-goopy filling, with nice tender-sweet apples.  Not the prettiest pie in the world, but tasted damn good for a first ever effort.

The strawberry jam recipe I started with was this one by Ina Garten…I changed a few things though.   The end result was perfect, I think.   Sweet, berry-y (that’s a word!) and makes nice small batches.

Strawberry Jam

• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 small lemon, juiced
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 pints fresh strawberries, hulled and halved

Combine sugar, lemon juice and water in saucepan over low heat, stir until sugar is as dissolved as it is going to get.  Add the strawberries and bring to a slow boil, let it do this for about 20 minutes.  Scoop off the foam as it develops and discard.  Jar as you normally would, yields about 4 half pints.

And then came time for my beloved blackberry jam.  Hate raspberries, hate blueberries, LOOOVE blackberries.  I’m like the only one in the house who does, though, so MINE ALL MINE!!!

Blackberry Jam

1. Spoon – I Summon You
2. The Matches – Wake the Sun
3. Foreign Born – Winter Games
4. We Are Scientists – Can’t Lose
5. The Features – Lions
6. Editors – Smokers Outside
7. Hollerado – Do the Doot Da Doot Doo
8. Temper Trap – Sweet Disposition
9. Postal Service – Such Great Heights
10. Phoenix – 1901
11. Weezer – (If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To
12. White Rabbits – Percussion Gun

Had dinner with some old friends last night at the tapas place Cafe Tu Tu Tango in Orlando, wherein Husband was entranced by the Sopa de Leon (a chorizo, chicken and chickpea soup), so today’s side project was cobbling together a reasonable facsimilie.   And here it is:

• 8 oz chorizo sausage
• chicken breast, cooked and shredded
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
• 1 can chickpeas, drained
• 1 32 oz can chicken stock
• 2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained
• yellow corn tortilla chips

Put oil in saucepan on medium high heat and cook chorizo 2 minutes.

Add onion, garlic and celery, sautee until onion is soft.

Add stock, tomatoes, chickpeas and chicken.  Add salt, pepper to taste and a pinch of sugar.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for 20 minutes.

Thoroughly crush about three handfuls of tortilla chips and stir into the soup.  Let simmer for another 10 minutes then serve.

1. Jackpot – Dizzy
2. Queen – C-Lebrity
3. The Appleseed Cast – Mile Marker
4. The Black Keys – Strange Times
5. Hockey – Too Fake
6. Heatmiser – Trapdoor
7. Band of Skulls – Patterns
8. Ladyfinger – Little Things
9. Glen Phillips – I Want a New Drug
10. Helicopter Helicopter – By Starlight
11. Three Legged Fox – Maybe I’m Sorry
12. Crash Kings – Mountain Man

Hamburger Buns

Ingredients:

• 5 cups all purpose flour
• 2 pkgs dry yeast
• 1 cup milk
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp salt

Stir together 2 cups flour and the yeast. In a separate bowl, heat milk, water, oil, sugar and salt to lukewarm in microwave.   Add all at once to the flour mixture, and beat until smooth, about 3 minutes.

Mix in enough flour to make a soft dough, 2 to 3 cups.  Mix well.  Dust a flat surface with flour, turn dough out onto floured surface, and let rest under bowl for about 10 minutes.

Shape dough into 12 slightly flat balls, and place on greased baking sheet to rise until doubled in size.

Bake in a preheated 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) oven for 12 to 15 minutes.

They were fantastic.  Firm textured outside, good crumb inside.  And they stood up to a cheese-leaking 1/2lb patty with no trouble at all.