snowangel

A lot of how invasive a plant gets has to do with where you live (that zone thing). I think the only thing that's really invasive here is the mint family (and a few perennials). A Minnesota winter really keeps things under control.

Sweet corn (picked at 4:00 pm, eaten at 6:15 pm) BLT's. Bacon smoked and purchased at the wonderful meat market in Nicollet MN, and the FIRST local tomatos. The tomatos are an early variety, and tasted wonderful because they are the first we've had. Bread was double levain from Acme in Berkeley (a friend just came back from visiting my sister and brought me 3 loaves). Local strawberries for dessert. This is the meal I look forward to all year long.

I make chicken stock far more often than beef stock. When I want a cut up chicken (for another purpose), I always cut them up myself, and put the back, neck, etc. into the freezer. Likewise, on the occasion that I want a boneless chicken breast, I bone my own and freeze the bones. So, when I am ready to make stock, I am less likely to use a whole chicken than I am to get thighs and/or thigh leg quarters (often only $.29/lb here). Is there a reason to use chicken breast in the stock? I often also add a few chicken feet since they are readily available. And, can you please address chopping bones? Should one whack those legs in half to release what is in the bones?

Maggie, I had a garden fresh cherry tomato today! Just one, mind you, but there is hope. And, I have one tomato on my early big variety that is looking not quite so hard and little. And, they do not ripen any faster if you stare at them.

What about bacon? Raisins are nasty, nasty, nasty. I will eat just about anything except raisins, peanut butter and bananas that are not borderline un-ripe. My mother hated raisins and peanut butter and never served them; perhaps this is the root of my aversion?

We have had our first local sweet corn, picked 2 hours before cooking (I know it should have been picked after the water started boiling...) As sad as I was to leave the cabin today, this meal made me smile. We ate it with green beans from my garden (picked while the water was coming to a boil. I ate some of my ears plain, the other's dripping in Hope butter (unsalted). Those That Don't Know Any Better had a burger as well. For the next month, I will eat sweet corn at least once a day. I will be happy, and I'm sure my colon will be clean! Sweet corn and bacon are my hugest crave foods. The sweet corn must be local and picked within hours of eating, and the bacon must be really good.

Then check out my Black Bean and Rice Salad. Let's not forget bacon salad, either -- a variation of my bacon on bacon sandwich involves bacon and bacon -- crumbled. No nothing else.

The stove at our cabin is an old (like at least 30-year old) Kenmore gas range. It runs on LP gas. Is it my imagination or does it run hotter on LP than regular natural gas?

I do most of the cooking. Big breakfasts -- eggs, waffles/pancakes/muffins, meat (bacon or sausage). Lunches -- noshing/sandwich type. Dinner -- depends on how much noshing we did during the day! We did catch some fish. The boat was out of gas and I couldn't remember what type of gas it takes, so we went out to the point (state land, abuts our land) and Peter and I took cane poles with bright yellow jigs and night crawlers and came back with enough sunnies for a couple of meals. Once my kids reach the age of 5, they know how to clean fish! For most people, the "ultimate" fish to catch is walleye, but it is just too much work -- I want more bang for the buck. The perch were a little wormy, we we tossed those back. We can catch a ton of bass (small-mouth) off the rock in front of the cabin, but I don't like to eat those -- they taste dusty and muddy. Crappies can be good, but not in high summer. Those are best in spring and fall. We also picked "pin cherries." I think they are a service berry (???), but they were right this weekend. They seem to have about a two-day season. We didn't get many, but there were enough to make syrup for waffles one morning. Topped with blueberries, of course. It has been a spectacular year for blueberries. I've been home for a few hours now, and am ready to hit the road for the cabin again. Sigh. I just need my 10:30 pm swim before bed.

The White Castles here also make breakfast sandwiches. A real biscuit (or English muffin) with bacon or sausage, cheese, and eggs. They actually crack real eggs on the griddle -- none of those odd pre-formed eggs "things" that other fast food joints serve. They are as good as one would make at home.

Syrup made. It came close to filling one 16 quart stock pot AND one 8 quart stock pot. I went by advice from an Elizabeth Davidson book, which agreed with the info in a 1952 Lutheran church cookbook from a small town in Nebraska. It have all been "put up" and I have many, many jars of glistening syrup. We are taking one jar to the cabin; we leave tomorrow. Guess what we'll be giving for Christmas this year?

They are wonderful -- occasionally. As the kids and I head north tomorrow for a week or two, we will leave early morning and stop in Hinckley (1 hour north of the Twin Cities) and get a 10 pack (at least) of sliders for breakfast. They can't wait! ETA in Hinkley is 9:30 am in case anyone wants to join us. They are nice because you can eat them while driving and not loose too much crap on your laps.

Before you buy anything, check books out of the library! Some other's include "Thai Food" by David Thompson, "Land of Plenty" by Fuchsia Dunlop (sichuan cooking), anything by Mahdur Jaffrey (Indian Cooking), Barbara Tropp's "Modern Art of Chinese Cooking." Asia is big, and I would target books on more specific cuisines.

Peter (age 7) went to the slaughterhouse with our neighbors to "get a pig." Peter watched the whole process, and prounced it "way cool, Mom. There is a lot of blood. The pig kind of flops around after they stick it." Paul predicted that Peter (who has not liked pork in the past) would return a vegetarian, but Peter has decided that he will probably like pork now that he knows how it is made. I predict a party next door tonight or tomorrow night. Carnitas, fried pig, home-made tortillas, that great rice, fried salsas (red and green), pico, beer, tequila, the band, grandmas, grandpas, babies, people of all ages. I'm ready!

After a long month, Diana returns from camp late this afternoon. So, for dinner, we will celebrate with steak, green beans from the garden, boiled new potatos from the farmer's market, a salad with fun stuff from the farmer's market and some really dynamite feta cheese (also from the farmer's market), with yet another raspberry pie for desert. It will be wonderful to have my kitchen buddy and helper back home, and I know she's going to horrified with all of the "stuff that is growing" in the fridge. She, Peter, Heidi, Heidi's aide, and I head north again on Monday morning. Better get Diana going on menus and grocery shopping!

I am PEA GREEN! Do you know how many times I've not copied down a recipe because there isn't a prayer that I could get that many raspberries without first robbing a bank???? Just picked 3+ more gallons. I think I'm up to 12 gallons, and we live in the city on a not-too-large lot; I should add that I'm also getting them from the house next door (nasty divorce; I have permission). I have never seen a harvest like this. It's a syrupy afternoon!

By the end of every August, my family is sick of my corn obsession. I want just corn and tomatos every night for dinner. With the occasional BLT. For some reason, my family insists that we also have burgers, chicken, pasta, something else to accompany the corn and tomatos

Susan, do you toast in the oven or on top of the stove? I have bought toasted rice but wasn't impressed with the quality. On top of the stove in a heavy skillet (in my case, a 60 year old enamel cast-iron pan). Much better than store bought. I toast up quite a bit at a time and store in a jar with lid.

I have boatloads (slight exageration, gallons would be more accurate) of raspberries. It has been a prolific year. I have made pies. Many of them. Using my great-grandmother's recipe, which Cook's Illustrated seems to have pilfered. I still have berries. Lots of them. Any hints on making syrup? We eat a lot of pancakes and waffles in this house, and I'm thinking this would be a good use for the raspberries. I'm seeking something not too sweet, not watery-runny, but not too thick. Syrup. Any advice from the experts?

I think so, plus some texture. I never buy the toasted ground rice -- I always make my own. Toast raw sticky rice and then grind in spice grinder. I like mine to have a little more texture (or varied texture) than the purchased stuff has. I don't think panko would work, Rachel; wouldn't it absorb too much and just become like soggy crumbs? In Thailand, it is usually served room temp, but given that room temp can be really high...

Green beans, fresh from the garden. One raspberry/blueberry pie;; raspberries from my back yard, blueberries from far northern MN. That was it. We were sated, in that way that one can be in the summer when everything is peak and fresh.

The kids and I regularly ride our bikes to the DQ for the purpose of the Mr. Misty headache!

I should be picking beans (finally!) later this week, and hopefully Paul will pick for me next week when I'm at the cabin. My neighbors, who offered me their vegetable plot this spring (I took them up on the offer, since our veggie garden went the way of a swingset for Heidi), are aging, and did not even pick raspberries when I was gone. I have two huge bowls of them, and coupled with the blueberries we picked at the cabin (check out The Cabin on The Heartland), I will make them pie tomorrow, and then go and mow their lawn. Tomatos are still about three weeks away, I think. They have lots of blossoms, and lots of large tomatos set, but it has been an "interesting" gardening year -- either hot or cold, dry or rainy. On a very sad note, the elm on the boulevard, in front of our house, has the disease. In the course of the four days we were gone, it dropped a tremendous number of leaves and twigs. It has the "orange" ring painted on it, which means that it will be gone very soon. 90 years in the making will be 10 minutes in the undoing. There are 7 trees slated on our block, so the look will be quite different in a few weeks. Boo hoo. So, tomrrow or Thursday, I will go and buy a new tree to plant in our front yard.

I am passionate about our cabin. Located near the Canadian border (and very near Superior National Forest and Voyageur's National Park), it sits at the end of a jeep trail, bordered on one side by state land (a spectacular point). We can't see our neighbor, and the island prevents us from seeing any other cabins; the only thing we see is a small resort. We have almost 1,000 feet of lakeshore. No running water, no electricity, but we do have a big LP gas tank and a Servel gas fridge (quiet!), Humphrey gas lights and a gas stove. My in-laws purchased it 30 years ago for something like $20,000. It has two bedrooms, one with double bunk beds, and a large screen porch. It is heaven. Fortunately, the kids and Paul share this same passion, and many Friday nights find us pounding up north -- 258 miles one way. I figure 4+ hours in the car -- same prep as if we did 2 hours, and the rewards of isolation are supreme. There is a reason my kids are not terribly involved with summer sports. Our sport mid-May to mid-October is going to the cabin. So, what do we eat? On Friday nights, I tend to power pack the kids with scrambled eggs and toast while I pack the car. The minute Paul pulls in, kids in car and off we go. This past Friday night, Paul and I had a bag of goldfish, washed down with a bottle of squirt as he drove, I read the newspaper outloud to him, and the kids slept. At the cabin, breakfast takes center stage -- always bacon or sausage, waffles or pancakes, and eggs. Lunches are finger food -- sliced meat and cheese, good bread, leftover veggies in vinagarette, fruit, out on the dock. The first night we're there for dinner, we always have steak, and I always buy way too much because leftover steak is supreme. We're lucky that we can leave all non-perishable items at the cabin. In addition to baking ingredients, there are a ton of condiments -- all sorts of mustard, fish sauce, dry rubs, etc. I took a small watermelon this past weekend, and to cool it down, we just hung it in the lake in a plastic bag. Best of all is the "other" food -- the food for the soul. Popping popcorn at night and playing Milles Bournes (sp?). Sitting and listening to the deafening silence. Fishing. Looking at the stars at night; Peter can now identify Cassopia's Way. I finished painting the trim on the cabin this weekend, and when I got hot, it was clothes off and a dip in the lake. Blueberries are in -- we look for granite outcropping that have been fairly recently logged, and grab ice cream pails and head in. We had a whole pail (5 quarts) in less than an hour. We had blueberry pie for dinner on Sunday night. The blueberries seem early this year, and the raspberries late. I will head north again this Sunday with all three kids in tow, leaving Paul to work, pay the bills and mow the lawn, and plan to stay for a couple of weeks. He will commute up on the weekends, bringing provisions. Nearest grocery (small at that) is 30 miles away. My schedule, starting next weekend, will be dictated by weather. The absolute best part of this past weekend: kids are in bed, it's midnight. Paul and I head down to the dock with cocktails. Look up, and we are privy to the most spectacular display of the northern lights we have ever seen. It was only 50 outside, but the lake is just over 70, so we stripped down, and laid on our backs in the water watching the display. The only sounds were a couple of owls hooting. Food for the soul. Am I the only "cabiner?"

They are also good with a Thai cucumber, rice vinegar, sugar, hot peppers, shallots, cilantro relish/sauce.