lovebenton0

you must've been at the table behind us; the owner sat down and received his accolades, and then mentioned the chef was from Rainbow Lodge, of all things. We had a great meal and good bottle of wine for less than $80. .............Roaring Fork has a great list, too. Rainbow Lodge in Houston? New York? San Juan?

I made some burlap "tents" actually these are cylinder of burlap which I put around the bays when the weather begins to get very cold at night (late November) but leave it bunched around the base of the little tree. I have a large bag of leaves next to each tree so that when the news says we are going to have very low overnight temps I can pull the burlap up, stuff leaves into it and staple it together over the top of the tree. That is just enough insulation to keep it from freezing and still allow me access to the leaves when I need them. One is in a more exposed area and that one has its own little string of holiday lights which gets plugged in and a large plastic bag (actually a lawn furniture cover) goes over the top when the temps are going to be in single digits. The small amount of heat from the lights is enough to protect the tree from temps that have been as low as 2. I also have these lights in some of my large pepper plants which are now several years old. These are the chile tepin and pequin which are wild plants and not strictly annual plants. I kept a tomato plant going through the winter year before last with these lights and a plastic tent. I had brandywine tomatoes off the vine for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Thanks! I missed this wintering advice for my bayleaf trees earlier. With a big, old, shade-tree liveoak growing through the center-cut hole in our back deck I have no shortage of leaves when I want to gather them. I pack them around a lot of my container plants to help them through the summer heat/rapid evaporation here. It does help. I have a mystery squash we have been doodling our noodles over in the TX Garden thread. The tag said "zucchini" but it's not like any zucchini I've grown before. Elongated, but fat, and with dark green base color, a bit stripey with lots of almost white speckles, yet still from a bushy plant. Good about half-size of a typical spaghetti squash, and the same shape. The inside is creamy white, thin-shelled. We love it -- been great grilled. I plan to save some seed. Here's one still ripening on plant. Anyone know what this is?

milo was asking for suggestions. What do you do with your horseradish, jackal? And what is the "beany spinach" you mentioned?

Sliced Mystery squash (possibly mid-eastern variety -- the ID hunt is on in the TX Gardens thread) and baby yellow crooknecks into wheels, added thick-sliced sweet yellow onion then butter sprayed and grilled over direct heat on a screen for a few minutes each side. Then wrapped it all in foil, sprinkled with lemon juice and coarse ground black pepper, topped with several little sprigs of lemon basil, closed it up and finished cooking on the grill while meat cooked. The steaks were wonderful, but the garden veggies stole the show.

Great ideas. OK, I've cooked with tatuma squash and this is also a no-neck, but elongated (not your perfect date, memesuze ). Thinner- shelled than tatuma I've had, it is also a darker green but with almost white speckles, and there is a slight but distinct stripey pattern to the coloration. It is very creamy, and actually a bit nutty in flavor (wasn't sure if the grilling was bringing that out or if it was the squash itself). So maybe mid-eastern is the key. Whatever it is we're loving it. Thanks everyone! I'll keep looking too and let me know if you google up anything else, fifi, and all the other garden detectives out there. Jess, how are your pink Brandywines doing? My orange Bs are acting like they want to bloom, but not accomplishing anything yet. Great leaves -- if I were growing them for foliage I'd be happy. The super fantastics are producing, not in mass quantity yet but about 20 tomatoes growing on the four plants, and lots of healthy looking blooms. The Beefeaters are acting kinda puny, like they don't know their job yet, but as they are later 'maters I'm willing to be patient.

Ok, so elaborate; why LA over Clem spineless, exactly? Jess, the LA Velvet produces a long thin okra as opposed to the thicker Clem. They have been less seedy and will grow longer without toughening for us, a benefit I like for gumbo and my ability to get up there to pick them. Also do well in pickling when picked small; taste good and make pretty little hots. Well, jschyun, I really do think it is something different! Although the tags said zucchini and the plant is nice and bushy this not like any zucchini I've ever grown before! They are shaped more like a spaghetti squash, and about 1/2 the size of a typical spagetti squash, but with very smooth green and white speckled skin. Delicious! We grilled some the last couple of days and they are wonderful! Anyone have thoughts on this? I plan to try to save some seed for next season.

Just a nice bushy zucchini up there. Also have some little yellow crooknecks growing baby squashes but they were too difficult for me to get a shot at -- and not as impressive looking as they're still much smaller. I'd love to have some others but am restricted to what/when the mr can get out with me for transport to and from the nursery and new dirt was postponed this year so we just decided to go with what we found the couple of places we went. No okra yet, Mayhawman That goes in for us later in the summer to take the spots of plants that go down in the heat. Louisiana Velvet is my favorite so far. I like them better than the Clemson Spineless for hot pickling and gumbo. What okra are you growing over there? I want to put in pumpkins also this year, later on for a good fall harvest. I'd like to do some little babies that I can wrestle around. Anyone have any good suggestions for a smaller, pie pumpkin? Thanks for the milk tip for powdery mildew, jschyun.

Yep... I am afraid that is a universal problem in the vegetable as well as the animal kingdom. Yes! We have evidence of the successful love life of squash! It was early in the evening but the shade from monster photemias make it look like it's dark out there. I couldn't manuever around to show the other 4 squash on the happy mama.

I think you're right, fifi! There is no such thing as excess basil. However, the mac salad sounds wonderful. I'd slice tomatoes, sprinkle them with a tiny bit of lemon juice, top with a lemon basil leaf for garnish and lay around the plated salad to serve. This is on my list for summer salad. As far as the cinnamon basil goes -- I also love it with heartier tastes such as an eggplant/fresh tomato sauce, a tossed green salad with basalmic vinagrette and cheese, or a corn/black bean/sweet potato toss, and it is absolutely made for lamb. The taste is not exactly cinnamon, although the aroma is distinctly so, but it is a warm flavor that brings the others ingredients together under a sunny rich umbrella. And such a beautiful plant. I know that the accepted method for growing basil is to pinch off the sprigs before they have a chance to bloom to give more flavor to the leaves-- but the cinnamon basil blooms are rich in flavor as well as aroma. They are especially delightful as a garnish so you can enjoy their beauty as well as the taste. I always allow one cinnamon basil plant to bloom repeatedly and pinch the sprigs then for a different and tasty garnish.

Ah, yes! Peaches and herbs. Our own peach tree, infamously crazy, was covered in Central TX snow when the peaches were just nib-sized and most were killed. However, our neighbors have brought almost 30 pounds of peaches from their own well-behaving peach tree. I put up a batch of peach jam a couple nights ago and am now setting up to do a batch of ginger-spiced peach butter. Stir-fried our first Japanese eggplant of the season, tossed with a chiffonade of fresh cinnamon basil, a sliced spring garlic, spring onions, and cilantro sprigs (all from the garden), and Thai noodles today. That was a winner. Thanks, mudbug for the Harvest Forum thread. I had not come across that myself.

Susan, come down to visit me! Your friend is very fortunate to have you. The gift certificates is a wonderful idea. Some communities, unfortunately not all, do have service orgs that provide help for people with disabilities to go shopping. Some even provide more personal help such as helping one with the put up and prep of the groceries you bring home, or changing the light bulbs in your home. You can go to your state's web site to find a link to your Disabilities Commission or Dept. In the Resources section you will also find a link for web sites listed by state that may provide some help for you. In all fairness to my dear neighbor -- she also has disabilities and had a mountain of peaches to deal with herself. Her husband helped her with theirs -- he is also dealing with disabilities from severe back injury -- and I told her how to freeze some. We wanted to meet here -- she is a little more mobile than I am (I could not have gotten the peaches to her if our situations were reversed!), and I have the set up here -- so we could make jam together, which she has never done before. Our good times during the day were not matching up so she went the freezer route. Their grown children help them quite a lot in the garden, they are lucky. We help each other when we are able. We trade garden goods, share recipes, and check on each other when we haven't seen that smiling face over the fence. My husband finally realized what a task I was tackling and sat down and prepped about 10 lbs of the peaches in the time it takes me to get everything set up. sorted, and started on mine. I cooked jam after midnight when I was feeling better after spending most of the day down on the couch or in bed and by then the kitchen was cooler anyway. Canning is a difficult chore for me -- dealing with sterilizing jars and moving them and the hot product in and out, up and down, is pushing my safety envelope to the limits -- but I'm not going to give it up. The pleasure that it brings to me to "put up" homegrown food, or neighbor-grown in the case of the peaches, is too great. Discovering the right tools that work for you, help make the job safer for you, when attempting kitchen tasks is essential. We can find a way to do many things, to cook and be part of the world we enjoy. Everyone has limitations, whether due to disabilities or to the availability of options in their lives, so I just keep trying new ways to work around mine. The jam is still worth it. I have one more batch to go.

I know we're eGullet and we think about, talk about, and cook about food like the foodies we all are over the entire site. . . But I believe there is something special about the cooking we do with the food we have grown ourselves. And we're in TX where the goodies are coming into our kitchens a bit earlier than in many places in the country. So what are you cooking with the "fruits of your labors?"

Ingrid, what a true learning experience they passed up on that one! They want to help people with disabilities, but they are not willing to experience even the slightest bit of what many of us live with daily? They need to start with an ADAtude sensitivity course for all their members. The daily dignities we all deserve as human beings should not be discounted as unimportant because there is no monetary value attached to them. That would have been an easy pass for me, too! Better to join with others that have some concept of what helping really means. It is a hit to get "zinged" where you least expect it. A couple of years ago -- I was still working and still driving, trying to maintain a regular life as much as possible, not walking with a cane all the time as I must now -- I had a severe vertigo attack in my family doctor's office. No one even said a word to me as I was thrown off-balance against the wall and fell to the floor, right in front of the receptionist. She just glanced at me and looked away. I couldn't even speak and knew that I was going to vomit any moment. There was no way I could stand up; I proceeded to crawl out the door to my car -- no I didn't drive. I must say that was one time I was very grateful that someone (a patient) just opened the door for me. The bushes got blessed instead of the carpeting. I felt a bit like a sick puppy down on all fours heaving into the greenery. Thank you for the links. We have quite a few in the Resources section that are not directly food related. We appreciate you sharing those with us.

No, unless it is too great a burden for you, you should come out of the closet. Limitation is our common fate. It’s all degree. Do not become “invisible.” Ironically, our society often treats those with greater than average limitations with callousness, impatience, or indifference. And yet many not only transcend those limitations in their personal lives but can achieve in their public lives eminence denied to most of us. Witness a scientist such as Hawkings or painters such as DeKooning who made some of his most poetic paintings in the last stages of Alzheimer or Chuck Close whose paintings after his stroke rival and perhaps surpass anything he did earlier. Further, all of us will experience some degree of impairment at some time in our lives either from accident or illness which may be temporary or from the creeping diminutions of time. We need to incorporate this reality into our society's values and practices. I believe that the only way that people's attitudes and misconceptions of people with disabilities will be changed is to be more exposed, not less, to realize they know and interact with people with disabilities every day of their lives. Mottmott is right -- it is all a matter of degrees. During the construction of this course I was asked if I knew the number of people in the US that are affected by disabilities. I said I knew there were many millions, but did not know the head count. So I looked. Well to be brief about this -- the current US census says that approximately 1/5 of the population of the US is affected by disabilities. 20% of the population. The numbers are staggering. Our representation and acceptance is minimal in many areas. Degrees. Some of us couldn't hide our disabilities if we wanted to, obviously. For others -- their disabilities are not as apparent. None of should have to be invisible, but sometimes that is the protective cloak we choose surround ourselves. The more we can educate people through daily living, accomplishing, enjoying the options we have available to us, the greater I think our chances are of being accepted, individually and as a whole. We don't have to shout it -- we can just be ourselves. One of my personally favorite quotes I heard from a quadraplegic writer who lives in a modern day iron lung. I saw him on TV -- I have to watch captioning to keep up with dialogue and missed his name. If I knew the name of the man to contribute it to it would be in my signature line. He said, in reference to people with disabilities: "The two most misleading statements are 'Disabled people can't do anything.' and 'Disabled people can do everything.' "

You're not being a princess, Ingridsf! This is what we're doing here. It is difficult for me to get to the store or a market also. I can no longer drive. Believe me, you wouldn't want me on the same road you're traveling on! We are fortunate to have a garden, and a long growing season in Central TX. However, that hardly supplies us with everything we need. My mr picks up little necessities when needed then takes me to the store or market about once every one to two weeks -- often my only outings for the entire month. But sometimes I am here alone for a week or so and it is more problematic then. Bringing home a lot of food at once to clean and store is a problem when those activities are difficult for one, as they are for me also. It is a real consideration when determining how you will order food. Additionally, I note that your schedule leaves you little time to complete these daily tasks. When I cannot complete that all at once I just do it in stages -- and try to eat some of the tougher to prep for storage foods first. Even the garden or good neighbors sharing a volume of food to deal with at once can be a real chore. Right now I have 20 lbs of peaches to peel, cut up, and preserve before they go bad. A wonderful gift from my neighbors but still a major task. I sat for hours today prepping peaches for jam and still have about half of them left to do. Of course spiced peach jam, and a cobbler, will be worth it.

Please join us for Part Three/Sensory Issues. Part Two also addresses some of these issues. So much is interrelated. Our three perspectives touch on many different aspects of disabilities. I'm fascinated. This is of course at a lesser level of seriousness than motor disability, but I find it curious that it's not a subject often treated (or perhaps it's merely my own ignorance). A few years ago after a respiratory ailment I spent a year totally without a sense of smell. It was a challenge I'd rather not face again. John, we also felt that this topic is often ignored. Food-related sensory issues can be very serious. We just can't live without eating! Although not the same as other physical or intellectual disabilities, the problems can be distressing, and debilitating, making it difficult for the person to enjoy eating and to maintain sufficient nutrition in their diet. These issues often reflect just one aspect of the disabilities a person is dealing with, or they may be the main problem. So glad your olfactory issues have passed without permanent loss. As in your case, sensory issues can affect our lifestyle, as well as the food we eat. My father lived without a sense of smell and very little taste for over 30 years. As a child I thought that he ate some of the strangest things. He depended predominantly on texture. More on that in Part Three tomorrow.

These are good links whether you must eat pureed food or not.

So my squash blossoms are dropping due to unrequited love?

Binkyboots, I know well what a confidence robber dealing with disabilities can be. When I was first diagnosed with epilepsy in 1984 it was difficult for me to believe I could venture into old activities that suddenly became dangerous for me. Swimming, climbing a ladder, and cooking among them. I had had epilepsy since at least age six, but because I was the only girl child, had my own room, and my seizures mostly occurred during sleep it was about 25 years before I was diagnosed. Not realizing the incidents were related when I woke in the morning feeling awful it seemed as though I had a "bug" for a day or two. I finally had three very bad seizures three nights in a row and boom! I had a daytime grand mal that stopped my heart and respiration for over four minutes. We got me to the doctor then! The seizures were out of control for months -- it took a year to get my meds straight. I was knocked down and scared. My son was almost 12 at the time, I was the only cook in the household -- my husband, a Chicago boy, made fabulous homemade pizza, but his talents stopped there. So I had to cook and I love to cook. I was not willing nor was I able to give that up. But, I was very fortunate we found a med to work for me. (It controlled most of my seizures for years, until I was in grad school and we had to go on the meds hunt again.) My son had always enjoyed cooking with me and began to take that a bit more seriously then -- in that amazing way that your children can become your greatest allies and supporters. That summer I was very ill for several weeks, complicated by the epilepsy, and he asked for cooking lessons. I was not allowed in the kitchen for six weeks. I sat in the livingroom by the kitchen door and gave him instructions -- he got his cooking lessons! And is still a fine cook -- much to his wife's delight. I had some accidents and did indeed have to learn some safety lessons the hard way. But I did learn to adjust the way I treated food and myself in the kitchen. I adjusted my diet to avoid foods that were seizure triggers, and to compensate for the way I needed to insure my own safety. Some of the safety tips in Part One come from those days. Jenna's lesson is certainly full of good tips that apply to people of all ages as well. I hope that perhaps you and your husband may be able to adapt to your situation so that you can cook together. It may help to build his confidence to have a "kitchen helper" to do the things that he is most uncomfortable contemplating as his job in the kitchen. I would suggest that he have a safe place to be in the kitchen, a place he can sit and feel secure while you two are cooking. Attempting simple recipes, that do not require a long process is a good way to start. As far as yummy smooth textured recipes go -- I will certainly be posting more here in the Q&A with links to RecipeGullet as time goes by. You might try the Simple Curried Sweet Potatoes, using smooth peanut butter, if your system will accept that. I have a recipe based on a mushroom soup I enjoyed often while living in Central Mexico that you may like also. I'll get it together to add that in the coming days.

This is great, everyone must be enjoying and working in their gardens! Our TX weather has been mostly cooperative, except for the torrential rain a few days ago. Hope nobody suffered any losses through that. Despite the deadline busy-ness with the Cooking for Disabilities course the gardens are still doing well. For the most part I can thank that great TX weather -- rain and sun -- and my mr for that. Although I have done my part crawling around the smaller beds for some therapeutic herb pinching and weeding. How's everyone growing out there? Any pics you want to share with us?

I'm sure more people will want to chime in on this but to get it started I'll name just a few I do myself -- Chicken and dumplings all kinds of soup hearty beans, or lentils, or blackeyed peas Check out the recipes in Part One -- these freeze well: Tomato, Eggplant, and Italian Sausage Soup Hearty Bay Scallop Chowder Cauliflower Parmesan (you can cut or reduce the garlic if need be/ reheat Cauliflower on low setting) Lasagnas are great (meat or veggie) Whole roasted chickens (or chicken breasts for those that need to restrict the fat in their diet) -- coupled with mashed potatoes and steamed or non-fat spray sauteed veggies (carrots, green beans, broccoli, and cauliflower freeze very well) Leg of lamb is often a good buy for your buck and if they'll eat lamb, the stew is great with root veggies in it. Wonderful for you to do this for your relatives, commander. They are fortunate to have a good foodie in their family.

Even before I was dizzy, stumbling about, and seeing double I placed my knives and sharp forks point down in the dishrack. I was cut once as a child and just don't trust the things sticking up! To me it is an old habit that makes me feel safer and worry less about reaching into the dishrack. This is a perfect example of things we do that are so ingrained in us that we do not think to mention them to another. Thanks for bringing up the knife "point," fifi.

Kim WB, please be sure to join us for Part Two tomorrow. I think the two lessons there will be especially helpful, and interesting, for you to read. The lesson on cooking with/teaching people with disabilities to cook will give you a good base for cooking with your son. Thanks for joining us.

Another good link! Thanks!

Please join us for Part Three/Sensory Issues. Part Two also addresses some of these issues. So much is interrelated. Our three perspectives touch on many different aspects of disabilities.