Darienne

Ouch. Two days ago I got stabbed by the tiny spines on a Chinese Eggplant. Had to use a needle to get the darned thing out.

I am getting nearer to my winter garden. A much younger and haler friend helped me move my desk around so that I now have a wide window sill and a shelf on which to place plant containers. It still is a mess because I must reorganize my life to accommodate the changes. That's the end of the tomatoes...about 1/15th of what his wife gave us. The window is old and the seal is broken and of course the outside is dirty. It has not been washed in our 28 years here. Couldn't access it. We might replace it. Probably not. And outside, a good neighbor, the one who gifted us with all that produce a couple of days ago, came with his tractor fitted out with this thing he invented and built and pulled the huge ugly old bush out from the ground in one fell swoop and then deposited it wherever it was that Ed told him to put it. Amazing. Now my indoor vegetable garden will have full south sun light...as much as we get in a Canadian winter. And now Ed has some work to do to make this mess into lawn.

OK. Why is the fruit 'evil' ?

There's that trick everyone should know when leaving home...put a coin on top of a frozen cup of water into the freezer and when you return, you'll know if your freezer lost power and regained it, thus jeopardizing your food supply. https://www.google.com/search?q=put+a+coin+in+the+freezer&rlz=1C1CHBD_enCA727CA728&oq=puyt+a+coin&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0i13i512l4j46i13i512j0i13i512j0i13i30l2j0i13i15i30.7901j0j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#kpvalbx=_66QJZZOxBqaZ0PEPzJeZ2AQ_30 During last year's Durecho, we had power from our old generator (now replaced by a stand-by generator which cost more money than ...), we were able to store both our meat and that belonging to our neighbors who had no generator. That loss of power was 7 days for them and they eat higher on the scale than we do.

Thanks.

OK. I don't belong to Twitter or Tik Tok and I don't read e-books and our cell phones won't do anything more than vocal calls and photos...no text... and no one has our cell phone numbers because we use the phones only to communicate with each other when one of us is not with the other one, as in medical appointments. I don't Skype and when I had to do a zoom call, I had a friend who knows how sitting beside me to help me through it. My desk computer can't do zoom, but my lap top can. That may be more information than you want. OK. Are these Tik Tok cook books hard copy or just online? Thanks.

I belong to a number of vegetarian websites and often end up using recipes from them. We are not vegetarians per se but rather call ourselves, thank to Mark Bittman, 'lessmeatarians'. Here is the name of one website you might investigate. Of course I can't think of another name right now. There are hundreds of them out there. I don't think this one is strictly vegetarian, but it does have a lot of vegetarian recipes. https://www.themediterraneandish.com/ Facebook has a lot of vegetarian websites also.

Other neighbor works at our local university with graduate students and she came and took a share which she'll give to students.

We have 'his' and 'her' tools...and he borrows mine whenever. Sometimes he returns them...and often he doesn't. I've never borrowed 'his'. I think that two sets of ovens is quite beyond our snack bracket. But thanks for the idea. I'm grateful that Ed cooks as much as he does. He does most of the North American cooking and basically all the short order dishes...I do the rest. Added: Good heavens, I think my halo is slipping...

Thanks. That is my plan for the tomatoes...except that Ed has the oven for a roast this morning. A recipe for Tomato Basil soup which calls for roasted tomatoes. Some of which will go to the produce donor of course. We've been caught with a number of projects which must be taken care of immediately before the processing can begin. The eggplants are destined for cutlets for Moussaka. Some of which will go to the produce donor female. And along with some Spanakopita. Her husband will not touch the stuff. The potatoes go into the cellar which is dark to begin with. Our house is over 150 years old and the cellar is truly a 'cellar' and not a basement, although when we added on our living room about 10 years ago, Ed had a basement room built under the living room and it has a big window and is a 'basement' room.

And am phoning two neighbors to come over and take some of this. I've divided the tomatoes into ripe, half-ripe and not really ripe yet and most of them are ripe and would be rotten in 5 days if not eaten. But one neighbor has already responded that she's overwhelmed with tomatoes already but will take some cherry tomatoes and a couple of potatoes. A couple of potatoes? Fat lot of good that will do.

Our neighbors from across the road, the Jammie Guys...we call them that because when they moved in, they had a sign made and put up at the entrance to their long driveway "Jammies Till Noon Farm" ...dropped over. They are not farmers. She works for the building part of the university and he now works at home on contract from I have no idea where but he's an engineer by occupation. So they dropped over and left us with this. I am, not to put too fine a point on it, overwhelmed. (Oh, that's our dining room table, a 4x8 plastic covered, plywood slab, normally hidden under a nice tablecloth. The table actually belonged to a local artisan group and we stored it for them because they didn't have enough room and if you recall we have a gigantic Drive Shed. Three times I suggested they might like it back and three times they refused and now it's ours by default. Oh, there are two more tables just like it and all three have brass plates on them stating their official owners. Please don't tell them I told you.)

Right. So I Googled enoki mushrooms just to make sure I knew exactly what they were and no I have never purchased or cooked or eaten one and I can't see the appeal of such a skinny tiny mushroom and what I would like to know is why they keep being recalled.

OK. I'll bite. Why?

It's a good thing we eat almost no prepared foods...in fact, I can't think of one, although we do use canned beans (shame on me) and canned tomatoes and paste. This way we pretty much avoid possible food poisoning and suchlike. However, food poisoning in romaine would certainly catch us off guard.

Just came across this online this online chef on Facebook and am much impressed. Adam Ragusea, Internet Cook. For me he harkens back to the days when you could actually learn something watching a television cooking show. Alton Brown comes to mind immediately. This predates when the cooking shows seemed to decline into contests where the participants had to carry a 50 lb cake up 5 stairs and down again blindfolded. Yes, I do exaggerate slightly. I could add that the cooking periodicals seem for the most part to have followed this style also. But that may be just me crabbing. Here's Ragusea's presentation on butter. Fascinating. https://www.facebook.com/aragusea/videos/316074521085805

I have been growing green onions for some time now and one bunch actually gave me 6 harvests. I couldn't believe it when the little Dickens just kept on putting forth and putting forth. I finally laid them to read after harvest #6 and started a new bunch.

Saw a video online which I found really useful. The narrator looked at the kitchen vegetables which are being touted online videos as being fun to plant and worth growing and explained fully why in fact a good number of these plants are not going to give the grower any usable vegetable in return.

Thanks for all the information. I can certainly go more than the $30...I just am currently uneducated about grow lights and what is useful and what is not...and I would have to be able to justify in my own mind whatever money I end up spending. Now your information has been very useful as is that of @chromedomeand @Senior Sea Kayaker

Half applesauce in which line of ingredients, please.

@KennethT When you say inexpensive, are you saying that this light available at Canadian Tire "NOMA T5 Grow Full Spectrum LED Light Strip, 800 Lumens, 7.5W" for $29.99 might actually be worth the buying. Alas, I have to think about that aspect of it. The garden is going to cost me probably far more than the worth of what I get from it, as did my summer dirt bag garden. So I have to put a limit on what I spend. If someething this inexpensive is really not worth the buying, as say is an inexpensive Teflon coated pan, do let me know. Thanks.

Thanks. I really hadn't thought about it in those terms. Of course, they are large. Won't try it again probably. I'm really not a gardener and for me it's too late to do large projects. For a few years we had a large vegetable garden and then for two years we tried to grow hard-shelled gourds...the first year was a success...the second wasn't...but that was 20 years ago. What is the thinking if I grow one large pot of potatoes...just for fun basically. Actually that is probably what's behind this whole idea...the joy of growing something.

Thanks @MaryIsobel. These are the next things I am going to make. ❤️

Oh would I love this recipe. Please. Or where to find it.

I'd grow Poblanos if I could. I use a lot of them over the year. They are not only very expensive, but they simply don't show up regularly in the ONE and only grocery store which carries them in Peterborough. The produce man told Ed they are shorted for peppers quite regularly. I tried growing them this summer in my dirt bag garden...was surprised to find seedlings at a local grocery store where I got my wonderful Beefsteak tomatoes ...but they simply didn't thrive or produce. I could try them in the window if you think there's an off chance I'd get two peppers for my effort. I'd have to buy seeds from Richter's I would imagine.