sparrowgrass

I have a stainless steel bucket with a lid from Lee Valley Tools, and when I am done cooking for the day, the scraps go out to the chickens. They compost it for me.

When I was up North last month, we took a ride on the Grandpa Woo, out of Two Harbors. The captain was a great tour guide--I recommend the boat ride, and the brats and grilled chicken sandwiches. Anyhow, the captain said 85% of the homes visible on the North Shore are vacation homes--only 15% belong to year round residents. I brought back lots of smoked fish from Zup's--freezing hasn't hurt it too much.

The Peeing Men--you took a picture of the Peeing Men! The main road runs behind these statues, and from the rear, they all look like they are taking a leak--hands in front, hips cocked. I stopped for a picture, a rear view, when I was up there last month, but unfortunately, I have one of those old fashioned film cameras, and I don't have them developed yet.

I thought the tradition was to save the very top layer, and eat it on your first anniversary. From Wedding Basics "Another wedding cake tradition is to have the top layer of the cake made out of fruit cake. This layer is saved and frozen for the bride and groom to eat on their first anniversary. Many couples do this, but it really doesn't taste very good a year later. Oh well - it's tradition!" Perhaps if it was real old fashioned fruitcake, which is supposed to be aged, it would taste good a year later, and wouldn't even have to be frozen. I think freezing 3 layers indefinitely is a bit over the top. Go for 200 degree oven, say you read it on this great website, and when it melts down, blame us. Might even set that oven at 300, and claim you misread the instruction.

Very nice, Maggie. Specially the part about me! Yep, I had eggs for breakfast. No bacon, however.

Vineyards are an up and coming industry in Southern Illinois and in my home state of Missouri. Seems like every rich retired person from Chicago and St. Louis has decided to come down here to the country and grow grapes. For info on Southern Illinois wineries, try this site. For Missouri, click here.. Blue Sky Vineyards, in Makanda, Illinois, is just down the road from my sister's house. Gorgeous new building. Watch out for deer on the road. They are in the middle of the Shawnee National Forest, and bumped up against the Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge.

Not a cooking utensil, but a good story--my 76 year-old mom has been having some heart troubles, and the doc put a halter monitor on her for 24 hours. I called her, when the day was over, and asked her how the day had gone, and if she had had an episode. "No," she said, "But I don't know how accurate that reading is going to be. I had to kill a snake." Well my Mom is not one of those Missourians who think they have to kill every snake they see, so I asked why. She told me it was a 30 inch copperhead, and it was curled up between the two recliners in the living room. She also told me she couldn't kill it on the carpet--the carpet was too soft, so she had to carry it outside to kill it. With a hoe, not a whisk. My snake-o-phobe brother-in-law will never visit her again. Could be a good thing.

Peel and slice your peaches, sugar to taste and a few drops of vanilla. Freeze them overnight, then zip them up in the blender. Spoon into pretty little dishes. Heaven on a hot day.

Not cooking, but food related--I can't grow zucchini. I can grow anything else, but zucchini seeds just fail to grow for me. Not too worried--zucchini is not a favorite, but still. . . . .

I have 3 rows of okra in the garden, and I have been grilling it. Every night. Sometimes all I have for dinner is a big plate of grilled okra and some tomato and cucumber salad.

Dunkin Donuts for me--I still can't stand donuts or the color pink.

No, no, no. Don't do that, unless you really don't like tomatoes very much. I can live with the rest of that rule breaking stuff, but please don't put 'maters in the fridge. It sucks the flavor right out of them. I put my anodized Calphalon in the dishwasher. And my knives. I don't sterilze my cutting boards. I don't measure very often. I don't wash my eggs before I use them. (My eggs come directly from the chickenhouse in the back yard. I do wash the poopy ones.)

On the last day of a camping trip, trying to clear the cooler, I diced and fried the last few slices of bacon, stirred up the rest of the carton of eggs, and scrambled them with the bacon. The remainder of the cheese was melted on top. When I dished it up for the kids, one refused to eat it. "Looks like cat barf", he said. (He relented, after big brother reached for his plate.) Cat barf was a family staple for years.

I've got three reliable sources for organic free-range fresh eggs - fresh meaning gathered this morning. Duck eggs too, though that's another topic.... My favorite egg dishes usually feature poached or coddled eggs. I like the soft, delicate texture of a gently cooked egg. Another fave: pasta carbonara - the eggiest, smoothest sauce ever, provided you don't make a scrambled mess of it. ← I have 9 reliable sources for fresh free range organic eggs, and when the pullets I ordered this spring begin to lay in a couple of months, I will have 25 more sources. I love pasta carbonara too, but probably my favorite way to eat eggs is over easy in butter, with a nice slice of homemade bread, toasted a bit. I also love egg drop soup and fried rice. Do noodles and spaetzle count as egg dishes?

Hmmm. I think you should move south, like I did. I have a half bushel of tomatoes in the the kitchen right now. And okra, and green beans. And corn, though it's a bit past its prime. I should have picked it last week, but I was actually on vacation out on the tundra--spent 4 days in Ely. Are your plants big and healthy looking, with no flowers? If so, could be that you fertilized them too much/too early. I would let them go--you could get lucky, and the soil really won't care if tomatoes are growing or not.

Where did the last folks put the fridge? It looks like a sweet place--love the floors!! Enjoy, and when you get around to that garden thing, let us know--I love to tell other people how to garden. (My own is neck deep in weeds and chiggers right now.) On the gardening thing--if you are planning to garden next spring, mark out your garden soon, mow it off, and cover the whole thing with 2 or 3 layers of newspaper, Put on enough autumn leaves or compost to hold the papers down. That will smother your weeds and make turning the soil easier in the spring.

I am not Amish, but I sure did eat some good corn out of my garden last night. I planted 2 varieties--one an early white that I can't remember the name of, and Bodacious. They are not the super sugary ones, but they are new hybrids. It is all ripe, right now, and wouldn't ya know it, I am leaving on vacation in the morning. (edited because I am going on vacation tomorrow, and my brain is already on the bus and halfway there.)

If I have too many chiles, I string them, using a big needle and dental floss, and hang them somewhere dry and breezy. (Dental floss because it is amazingly strong--also works well for sewing on buttons. No mint flavored floss, please, thought I doubt you could detect it thru the chiles.) You could roast them and can them, but you would have to use a pressure canner. If you want instructions, I can probably find them for you.

Your worms are probably parsley worms AKA black swallowtail butterfly larva--those big gorgeous butterflies we love to watch. See this link for a picture. I believe swallowtail butterflies are very bitter, so birds won't eat them. Generally, brightly colored bugs are bitter.

Oooh, Della--I tried your grilling method last night. I only had a handful of green beans, and 2 handfuls of okra, so I tossed them together in some olive oil and salt, and laid them in a tin foil pan. I put them on the grill the same time I started the chicken--figured if they got done sooner than the chicken I would have a "two course" dinner, but ended up leaving them on the fire till the chicken was done. So good--I may never do green beans any other way. The okra was soft, but the green beans were kind of chewy, with crispy edges--almost like french fries. I thiink even the "allergic to almost anything green" kids would like them.

Anzu, I am with you. Once they invent a ciggie that keeps all smoke inside the smoker, they can smoke anyplace they want, but in the meantime, I would like to be able to smell and taste something besides tobacco smoke. I can't even imagine why anyone would think it was ok to smoke near other people who are not smoking--it is just beyond my comprehension. You wouldn't tolerate someone sitting at the next table spraying perfume or air freshener at you--why is smoke ok?

Thanks for all the ideas--I picked my first green beans of the season yesterday. And my first okra, but that is a thought for another thread.

Ok, sounds good. Do I have to have a blender? Can I use my food processor?

I have never dealt with an eel, but it sounds an awful lot like dispatching and cleaning a catfish, right down to the grunty noise. When I do a catfish, I smack him in the head with a hammer, cut just thru the skin all the way around the body just below the gills, nail him to the tree, and use vise grips to grab the skin and peel it off. It takes muscle, especially for a big cat. Outdoors--the tree is key. It means you have two hands free for pulling. Kinda hard on the tree however--them big city park police might fuss at you.

I graduated from Naperville Central in 1972--I think the best place to eat there then was Burger King. Gonna have to go visit my brother and find some of these places!