Christmas aftermath

Here it is, 1:30 a.m. the day after Christmas. Why is it I can never sleep during holidays? I think it must have something to do with not working hard enough during the day, so I'm not tired enough at night. Though last night I was dropping off around 8:30. Not sure why I'm so tired earlier in the night but wide awake halfway through. A nearly daily occurrence when on vacation.

Oh well, it gives one time to reflect on the important things in life. Like, say, I've decided there are two kinds of people: stackers and singles. There you sit at the table, dinner over, the detritus of a good meal all around you. When it's time to take the dishes to the kitchen, some people stack, scraping leftover food on to one plate, then placing each plate upon the other, all the silverware at the top. And some people like to take many trips to the kitchen, one plate in each hand.

I'm not a huge fan of inefficient movement, and I abhor making more than one trip, so it might surprise you to know that I'm a single, I'm not a fan of the stack. What makes the single more efficient is recruiting someone to clear the table while I start the rinsing of dishes. But if not, I'll still make several trips to the kitchen, with just a couple plates.

It must be how we grow up, how your own mother did things, that determines which way you do them as an adult. Don't you think?

For instance, I never once in my life had plum pudding for Christmas dessert until I visited London during the holiday season in my 20's. But for Tom, one bite of his grandmother's recipe, and he's back in a happy childhood. He loves plum pudding.

We've had good food this week, some of it nostalgic (like that plum pudding), and some of it quite modern (a fresh orange and honey sorbet flavored with cardamom and star anise). All of the main meals were dependably good as usual, my mother is an excellent cook. What's more fun lately is that my kids are starting to learn signature dishes and prepare them each time they are called for. That's something that will follow them in to adulthood.

I often wonder: what are the things my kids will remember and pass on to their own families? And I also wonder what new things they will learn from the families they marry into?

Later today we have our annual Christmas cookie making party with close family friends, which is a tradition I hope will live on in my kids and their own kids someday. It's pretty darn fun. I have a few loads of buttercream to make and color later this morning, in preparation for that. And Saturday night, we get to see the new Star Wars, which I'm really excited about.  Seeing the very first Star Wars movie in 1978 is part of my own cultural history.

I got some lovely gifts. I have a new vinegar crock and a vinegar 'mother,' so I'm all set to make red wine vinegar at home. I got some new cookbooks to help continue to inspire me in the kitchen, and some special airlocks for fermenting food in mason jars. Tom signed us up for a weekend at a farm near Mendocino, where we'll help cook local, seasonal meals in the farm kitchen. Do you sense a theme?

I'm thinking Kate got the best gift; a raft of special gift cards to hand out to the homeless people we encounter every time we take BART into San Francisco (although more and more, we are seeing homeless on every corner of our home city, Walnut Creek, as well). Kate has a very soft heart for hungry folks, so Gram found her this special service where she can hand out these cards which have $25 loaded on to them and can be spent on food, clothing, or lodging. When it gets light outside and everyone else is awake, I'll find them and let you know where you can get them, too.

It's cold tonight, a hard-freeze warning is in effect. The vegetable beds are snug in their row covers, I imagine the chickens are pressed cheek by jowl in the hen house, and Joe the dog has a new soft blanket to cuddle up in, which looks pretty cute I must say. Maybe I'll snuggle up in a blanket myself and see if there's something to watch on TV, or download that new cookbook I told you about. It's good to be cozy and comfortable at home, even if sleep is elusive. I'm thankful for plenty to eat and for family traditions, even silly ones like stacking or singles.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Bah Humbug!

To the ants, anyway. To the freaking ants who keep coming in the freaking beehive. Bah! Bah to you I say. You take me out of my happy Christmas place and send me right in to panic mode. BAH!

I can't believe nothing has worked. Not diatomaceous earth, not vinegar, not cornmeal, not cinnamon, not coffee grounds. I caught them today, red-handed, crawling through the muck at the bottom of the hive legs. I lifted the roof of the hive (it's chilly but sunny) and there were dozens. I may have freaked out a little. I stood there for fifteen minutes and killed every ant I saw. I hovered, watching; one would crawl out from the combs, and he'd be history. I may have cackled maniacally. I may have hollered, "Gotcha, you little shit!"

And then I left to do some weeding. And when I came back, THEY were back! So that's when I hollered to Tom. And we brought out the big guns.

Yeah, OK, it's a toothpaste box. But Tom, my genius of a husband, put a bunch of that liquid ant killer stuff inside? and since it's buried in the ground and only open to the ground, the bees can't get to it. And yeah, I know. We're all about no poisons around here. But I just have to help out the bees a bit. They've had it rough these past few months, their numbers are diminished, there's obviously no way they can fend off an ant invasion (this has been going on for a while, after all) and we can't have the ants eating all the honey because the bees need that to survive this winter. So, yep, I used poison. And I hope it works.

As I was standing there murdering every ant I could find, I watched the guard bee at the hive entrance. She was pretty upset that I was standing there making noise (thwap! smash! "#&!^*#!) and every so often would fly out and buzz my face. The bees are on edge. Too many invaders lately (wax moths, varroa, ants), too cold (a few hard freezes and many frosts), too little forage (it's winter, after all). Normally they leave me pretty well alone, even when I'm taking out comb after comb, poking around. Not today. Today, the bees were also saying 'bah humbug.'

the feisty guard bee, patrolling her landing board

Originally I went out intending to weed, and I got to it eventually. The buckwheat is still coming up like mad everywhere, so each little sprout needs to be pulled. There's less every week, though. And it keeps me in touch with what's going on in the beds. For instance, the potatoes have sprouted. Didn't I just say I thought the potatoes were going to be duds? Seems like all I need to do is say that sentence, and the potatoes sprout. Happens every time.

Other plants are doing well also.

carrots, and some random weed I missed

the garlic bed

shallots

turnips

I haven't had much experience with turnips, but this is a small salad variety, so I think they'll be great. Also I look forward to eating the greens.

The Mock Orange is setting seed, so that means it'll start its next process of putting out buds. Mock Orange is one of the first things that blooms in my garden in the spring and the bees adore it, so this is a reminder that springs not far away. We've hit the solstice, folks!

The Mead is Bottled

Merry Christmas and Cheers! Our wassail this year is our homemade honey wine.

If you recall, we started our process with some already-fermented honey, plus a ginger bug that I had made. (You can read that blog post here.) Our ratio was three cups honey to three quarts water, plus another cup of ginger bug.

The gallon jar of mead sat around for a good three weeks, not doing much of anything. I stirred it frequently, but it wasn't moving as quickly as we would have liked. So a few days before Thanksgiving, Tom pitched in some wine yeast, and decanted it into a carboy with an airlock. The mead really started bubbling after that. We tasted it on Thanksgiving, and it was extremely sweet - the specific gravity reading was around 1.045. We wanted it to be quite a bit drier, so it sat for another month on the floor of the kitchen (about 60-65 degrees). Tom and I tasted it yesterday and thought it was perfect, and the gravity was down to 1.01. Not bone dry, but certainly not sweet. So we bottled it! We'll take it to our Christmas dinner celebrations.

It's an odd drink. I'm not much of an alcohol drinker, so I'm perhaps not the best judge, but mead messes with your mind a little. You totally smell and taste the honey, but it's wine, dry and with a kick, not sweet. Your experience doesn't meet your expectations. Maybe I just need to drink more of it!

I did a little research about mead. Mead predates both wine and beer. Early brewers started to use fruit, hops, and spices to enhance the flavor, and eventually this drink evolved into both wine (grape mead) and beer (hoppy mead). A wonderful history can be found at the Skyriver Brewing website.

This was a fun project, I recommend giving it a try yourself!

Oranges

Today I scored a bucket full of organic oranges from yet another generous neighbor. How fortunate am I? My neighbor warned me that these oranges are never terribly sweet. Needing to see for myself,  I peeled one and ate it. No, it's not like candy, but it has a wonderful orange fragrance and flavor that I quite enjoyed! With the addition of a little sugar, any recipe with these will be delicious.

on the tree

harvest

I think I'll make an orange and honey sorbet, and maybe some chocolate orange biscotti. Those sound like good Christmas Eve desserts, don't they? Do you crave citrus this time of year, like I do?

Speaking of Christmas, that's generally what's going on around here - preparations for and celebrations around the holiday. We've had a night caroling with friends, a day watching Adam perform at the Conservatory, fun excursions to find stocking stuffers, and plenty of baking time in the kitchen. We've had such a glut of eggs that I've been making egg-centric dishes; mini frittatas for the caroling party, a sponge cake today. Thank you, chickens!

I have two very attractive things to show you. One is our new 'rain barrel.'

note the corner of a sand bag to the right

We noticed a breach in the gutter in this corner, which caused waterfalls, which caused our garage to flood last week. So our very elegant solution was a plastic trash barrel (and some sand bags). Listen, I really love it, despite the way it looks. I love that I can just dip my watering can in and get it filled up, rather than having to attach a hose to some wonky valve near the bottom and then haul the hose around, bent over. And I can keep the ever-drippy hose nozzle inside to catch the drips, too. Not that I'm having to use rain barrel water; we've been getting some regular rain, thank goodness!

The other very attractive thing; the legs of the bee hive.

ew

We still have an ant problem. We've had enough rain that I can't keep up with the need for diatomaceous earth. (That stuff is expensive!) So I've tried every other trick I could find. I sprayed the legs with vinegar. The ants crawled right through it. Then I tried cornmeal. Ants crawled right through it. Then I tried cinnamon. You guessed it, ants crawled right through it. Lastly I added coffee grounds. All together now: the ants crawl right through it. What a mess. I'm about ready to use borax.

The garden is creeping along, with some things doing better than others. The garlic and shallots are acting like it's summer. The greens are coming along great, as are the peas. I have incremental growth on the brassicas, and no growth at all on the potatoes. (It's looking like winter potatoes are a bust, but maybe come February they'll surprise me.)

The narcissus continue to bloom early.

Onward to the holiday. I hope wherever you are, you're enjoying some time off, some homemade treats, and lots of time with loved ones!

Check out the nearly-empty canning shelf. We did a great job making many of our gifts this year!

Preserved Lemons

I picked another three dozen lemons from my generous neighbor's tree.

They're perfectly ripe. Meyer lemons are thinner-skinned then regular lemons, and have a slightly different taste and scent, a bit sweeter. I juiced a bunch - roughly a dozen makes a pint of juice for the freezer. But I wanted to try a new project, preserving them in salt.

I don't make Moroccan food very often - in fact I'm struggling to think of a Moroccan dish I've made in the last year and none come to mind. Moroccan dishes are usually where you find preserved lemons. However, we do have a roast chicken every month or so, and I always want lemons for the cavity. As you know, I hate buying anything out of season, especially if I can preserve it in season. So I thought, do folks use preserved lemons in roasted chicken? And sure enough, when googled, a dozen recipes pop up.

I did a lot of research on this a few months back when I was thinking of Christmas gifts, so I just needed to refresh my memory. Most recipes call for cutting the lemon into quarters, leaving the stem end together so the lemon ends up like a sort of opened flower. However one of my favorite websites, NW Edible, had a recipe that called for quartering them completely. I followed Erica's guide for these, and so far I'm really pleased.

Basically all you do is quarter a bunch of lemons and put them in a big bowl. As you put each lemon in, sprinkle it with two tablespoons of Kosher salt. When they're all in, toss 'em around.

Then stuff them into a jar (or jars).

Let them sit for an hour to get soft, then press them down into the jar so they form a tight pack and release some juice. Then juice another few lemons and add to the jar until the salted lemons are nearly covered with juice.

You'll let these sit on the counter top (a cool place, easy in winter when lemons are ripe) for a week, giving them a good shake every day. After that, you store 'em in the fridge for up to a year.

The week on the counter means you're basically fermenting these guys, so you might get a sort of whitish 'bloom' in the jar. Apparently this is harmless.

Every time I ferment something on the counter, I think of ancient times, and how people used to do this regularly as a part of their food preservation. It's a skill that's generally lost today, though I know that you can take classes in home fermentation everywhere in the Bay Area, so it's coming back in to fashion. I've put Sandor Katz's book "The Art of Fermentation" on my Christmas wish list, so I can learn even more. We've fermented pickles, peppers, and ginger, as well as milk, but we've yet to try cabbage or the hundreds of other fruits and veg that can be fermented.

Anyway, here's what the lemons look like in the morning light today. They'll get glossier as the week goes on.

It's raining lightly again today, which is gorgeous. I'm determined not to let grey skies depress me this year, because it means that we're getting much-needed moisture. I tend to get a little 'S.A.D.' every winter (Seasonal Affective Disorder). I find several ways to combat it: I try to appreciate what the season brings, try to find projects to distract me from early dark, try to get outside as much as possible, and walk a lot. Since Joe is injured, the walking isn't happening as much, and I just don't feel good about going out without him. But I might have to just put on my boots and go for a muddy hike and try not to think about him at home, longing for a romp in the open space.

One of the things the season brings is pretty mushrooms. I found several of these beauties while mucking about in the compost yesterday.

And I've already seen several stinkhorns in the vegetable beds. It's mushroom time again!