Weekly Randomness 8 August 2014

This Week's Randomness - 8 August 2014

News that made me stop what I was doing to look it up.

• Biomedical science industry is highly competitive, but generally forgiving of honest mistakes owned up to and corrected. Sad sad times.
• It's about time. 
• Milwaukee is "biophilic" - who knew?!  ( I do rather like living in a "world-class laboratory of hope")

Weekly Shits n' Giggles

• Just discovered the existence of the Edward Gorey house. Want. To. Visit. 
• Lightning beheads a cobra.
• Turtles as purveyors of art. Discuss. 

Weekend Aims

• Visiting the folks. 
• For the bicycle geek in all of us. 

A Flock of Blue-cans on My Table

We inherited many strange and wondrous objects when my parents downsized their home last year. I recognized most. The arcane chemistry pieces: my maternal grandfather. The lacy aprons: my maternal grandmother. The wooden policeman whirligig: no idea. The original vibrating hand massager: I don't even want to think about it. 

I remember canning a lot of tomatoes when I was a kid, 40 years ago now. Late summer in my grandmother's kitchen, the one my mom & aunt grew up in, I would watch them can quarts and quarts of stewed tomatoes. I wasn't actually a fan, but it was family girl bonding. And afterward there would be ice cream. 

I don't recall them ever using any of these jars. Stored in the root cellar at my parents' house, now in mine. I'm totally hooked by the different shades of blue. My husband found dating schemes for the Ball jars online (some apparently dating back 100+ years), a few older Kerrs. 

Some other brands I'd never heard of: 

Can you see the bubbles in the glass of these Atlas jars? I am completely geeked out by that. 

 Schram 

 Drey

Another style of Atlas, possibly not as old as the blue ones, and a Presto. 

Jumbo Peanut Butter. Not a canning jar, and not as old, but still fun. My mom's family are the thrifty type, saving anything that could possibly be used (did you see the set of jelly jar drinking glasses on the right side in first photo?). 

I don't really know that much about them other than they are old, I like them, they are old, I want to continue using them in some way, and they are old. I don't trust any of them to withstand the heat of a water canner. Too pretty to risk. Possibly for decoration or lighting, or fridge pickles, or dry goods, or... ideas?

Savory Clafoutis

I don't know if there is such a thing as a savory tooth. There should be. Even as a child I preferred cheese to pie, didn't much care for chocolate, and never ate all the candy I got at holidays. That was before I knew cheese was a perfectly acceptable "dessert", before I met dark chocolate, and the reason why I never got cavities. 

This recipe is a take on the Cherry Tomato Clafoutis by Marc Matsumoto (Fresh Tastes blog on pbs.org). I totally understand his curiosity in transforming a sweet into a savory. I'm still working on savory meringues, but that's a toughie since it's the sugar that provides so much of the structure. Anyhoo, being summertime in Wisconsin, tomatoes are in season. The cherry mater plants on our patio are really producing now, and his recipe seemed just the thing. 

Savory Clafoutis 
Adapted from Cherry Tomato Clafoutis, Marc Matsumoto, Fresh Tastes blog on pbs.org

4 eggs
3/4 cup half and half
1 oz flour (I used my own gluten-free flour blend)
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tblsp minced basil (we're growing Boxwood Basil this year; kinda lemon/spicey)
2 cups-ish vegetables (cherry tomatoes from the patio)
1 1/2 oz grated cheese (mixed cheddar/jack, because that's what I have)
1/2 oz parmesan, grated
Butter/grease for the pan (we often save bacon or goose grease to cook with)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 deg F. Grease an 8-9 in pie or cake pan. 
2. Whisk eggs and half and half. Whisk in flour, making sure there are no lumps. Whisk in thyme, salt, and pesto. 
3. Pour egg mixture into greased pan. Drop in the vegetables. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 35-40 minutes (don't overbake or it will be dry; like a roast, pull it out just before it's done, and it will continue cooking while it rests). 
4. Rest the clafoutis for 10 minutes before slicing. 

We had ours for brunch. It shared plates with a Stone Fruit Crisp. But that's another story. 
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And afterward...

Pretty Porch Plantings Provide Pleasing Picture

Perfect!!

(ahem...)

We dress up our part-shade front porch with several container gardens each year. I spend weeks thinking about the right color combinations. And then... we go to the candy store (a.k.a. nursery)... and my plans get abandoned like last week's weeds. So many plants and colors and possibilities and too many ideas, it overwhelms my senses and we come home with something completely different. 

Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

The goods. Small but beautiful and so, so healthy. 

We've used the matched pair of blue ceramic pots for a few years and recently inherited the three others from downsizing family. The colors coordinate well, and being glazed ceramic, they don't dry out too quickly. 

Just planted. And apparently just watered. 

Two months later, and all growed' up. Couldn't be happier! 

What luck with your container gardens?

Dilly Garlic Beans

Pickles were never a favorite when I was younger. Too bitter, too tart. My maternal grandmother made outrageously good pickled beets though, and I still love sweet/sour over just sweet or just sour.

These days I enjoy eating pickles almost as much as I love making them. They are by far the easiest, most tweakable thing to put up. While you can't really change the acid and/or sugar balance too far and still keep them safe, you can add all sorts of vegetables and spices. 

Dilly Beans "before"

These Dilly Beans were totally inspired by the recipe by Marisa McClellan at Food in Jars. Even so, I looked for every green bean dill pickle recipe I could find, and made a big spreadsheet comparing all the ingredients to find the common themes. What can be changed, what is mandatory. It's my first try at Dilly Beans, and the scientist in me can't help herself (hey, it's a new kitchen protocol! You geeks out there, and you know who you are, know exactly what I'm sayin' - am I right?!). 

Deciding on the common-theme green bean dill pickle recipe (1 cup water, 1 cup white vinegar, 1 tablespoon kosher salt; process pints for 10 minutes), I added a garlic clove, couple tiny dried red chillies, and a few black peppercorns to each jar. The hard part now is waiting a couple weeks before trying them. The Bloody Marys will have to wait.

Dilly Beans "after"

There were no cucumbers

Well, no bushels of cucumbers at pickle-making prices. So we came home with this lot instead:

We spoke with the farmers, and our Wisconsin summer has been too cold. Tomatoes and cucumbers will be another couple weeks. Beans and beets, however, look grand.

Looking at that haul, I can't help but see pickles. Maybe I should have that looked at.

Crazy Trillium

There's a saying about poison ivy that goes "Leaves of three, beware of me." It's only partially useful though because a lot of plants in the wildwoods have leaf trios, like trillium and shamrocks. Who doesn't love shamrocks?!  Poison ivy is more like "Leaves of two opposite with one extra hanging on the end, uh, stay away". Not as catchy.

We are blessed to live close to a major wooded park system along the Lake Michigan lakefront, and the trails are plentiful. A ten minute walk can take us to the beach, or up along narrow cliff trails where we can see the lake through tree-tops 80 feet up. I think "wow - this is just like being up-north and walking along the big lakes" and then I remember I am walking along a big lake. Instant transport away from urbanity.

We spotted crazy dense patches of trillium out hiking the other day - shades of white to deep pink - beautiful!!

Trillium 

These are growing mixed with a rue of some sort; see the tiny ferny leaves? The rue will bloom soon, after the trillium are done. We are in the process of naturalizing the woodland garden in our backyard, and hope it looks like this some day.