tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-305909072024-03-13T15:28:44.187-04:00Cooking in someone else's kitchenSetting up home in a new country is going to be challenging. A bit like trying to cook a meal in someone else's kitchen. Maybe. This is a record of my experiences as I pack up my old life in England and start a new one in Ontario, Canada, with the aim of becoming more self-sufficient.Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16642836504821695236noreply@blogger.comBlogger842125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30590907.post-3269491090761021272023-08-19T11:16:00.002-04:002023-08-19T11:26:33.876-04:00Garlic harvest<p>It's been a while, but I thought I'd better blow off a few cobwebs and start posting here again. A lot has happened since I last wrote a post, in late 2020, a lot of it rather sad. We lost my mother-in-law on her late husband's birthday in 2021 and then last year, on his wife's birthday, my dad died as a result of a stroke he suffered during the exceptional heatwave in July.</p><p>The last time I spoke to Dad was the day I harvested the garlic in 2022 and I generally plant the garlic around the time of his birthday in October, so the plant is going to be forever linked to memories of Dad in my mind.</p><p>I harvested the crop a little later this year: it's been a cooler, wetter summer than the average, and the bulbs weren't ready to pull until early August.</p><p>I plant around 40 cloves in one of the raised beds. The garlic keeps fairly well in the basement for about six months, but after that, it gets inedible, so this year I decided to try pickling some of the crop to keep it a bit longer.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjamrANi1_OnpqT8_RoMPHBgw17ug6YAXunSwU3wD1NfDeGoTNpj9yz74xlHJ7DmM8phumD1mVkA5saBAtbpKqom-5kiDUQwc8nnV70R50ii5lX8MK4kLywDqlLNqBTk-GkojCP43HXh7Fmdj7lv0EkaloHgUNaHtsI7YtOq1Fj5iBG5N4ZfmGVCw/s991/Garlic%20harvest.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="991" data-original-width="984" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjamrANi1_OnpqT8_RoMPHBgw17ug6YAXunSwU3wD1NfDeGoTNpj9yz74xlHJ7DmM8phumD1mVkA5saBAtbpKqom-5kiDUQwc8nnV70R50ii5lX8MK4kLywDqlLNqBTk-GkojCP43HXh7Fmdj7lv0EkaloHgUNaHtsI7YtOq1Fj5iBG5N4ZfmGVCw/s320/Garlic%20harvest.jpg" width="318" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><p>After it had been curing for a couple of weeks, I reserved ten garlic heads for replanting in October, and chose another ten heads for storing and use over the next few months.</p><p></p><p>Then it was just a small matter of peeling the cloves of the remaining 20 heads of garlic. Mike gave me a hand, so this didn't take too long.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSbC4ZjfVPyBUahSrdTQF7OGUA7d3P3rTZgu6OSdhWHLC5gpOjl8a7e1ShqMmW80FgDXstgwlGWXc9QtnxHnMMlvPtC_k8mz4VGhhxtKNlDLmzPFvee1lRsA-GRHOqIBL0RBg1ehXiBknnOyY1Iuwm6Kz_azEZHrtagyAwJ5maOklKEyXg-eM-eA/s1346/Garlic%20cloves.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1014" data-original-width="1346" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSbC4ZjfVPyBUahSrdTQF7OGUA7d3P3rTZgu6OSdhWHLC5gpOjl8a7e1ShqMmW80FgDXstgwlGWXc9QtnxHnMMlvPtC_k8mz4VGhhxtKNlDLmzPFvee1lRsA-GRHOqIBL0RBg1ehXiBknnOyY1Iuwm6Kz_azEZHrtagyAwJ5maOklKEyXg-eM-eA/s320/Garlic%20cloves.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>This quantity of garlic cloves weighed just over a kilogram before we peeled them. They filled one quart jar and one pint one and needed about 600ml of vinegar (yep, still using a hopeless mixture of Imperial and metric measures). I warmed the vinegar up enough to dissolve a couple of teaspoons of pickling salt, then poured it over the garlic. These should keep well in the fridge.<br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8OJRG1YvLhruEd9vfxFvyaoM96iV_zanK5TegEfXTsh7IAj5eN6GIzBedkuip9QVbSboOc6ko3SohO5fnDCWzE4sef7z8j-ZAqBtRy7o3uuK-yYz-4NiofYb-8tOvpUjvV5TpV1xBd7ZgFqTNvzkgZkbZuRHBgRY00Cq4LMCWRZDDEiBYotYASQ/s1140/Garlic%20jars.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1140" data-original-width="912" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8OJRG1YvLhruEd9vfxFvyaoM96iV_zanK5TegEfXTsh7IAj5eN6GIzBedkuip9QVbSboOc6ko3SohO5fnDCWzE4sef7z8j-ZAqBtRy7o3uuK-yYz-4NiofYb-8tOvpUjvV5TpV1xBd7ZgFqTNvzkgZkbZuRHBgRY00Cq4LMCWRZDDEiBYotYASQ/s320/Garlic%20jars.jpg" width="256" /> </a></p><p style="text-align: left;">Garlic is pretty much the only crop I grow where I can claim any measure of self-sufficiency. I enjoy growing it, cooking with it, and eating it. Now all those things are going to be tinged with a little sadness, but I don't see that as a bad thing. <br /></p><p></p>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16642836504821695236noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30590907.post-7533605862060407412020-12-13T09:38:00.001-05:002020-12-13T09:39:11.029-05:00Ginger Explosions<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2aKPt3MdWBg/X9YiCb4mWbI/AAAAAAAAQgA/kfnATrkcWAoXnoZZZkd4E6YN4gHL4qRuACNcBGAsYHQ/s1073/Ginger%2Bbiscuits.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="777" data-original-width="1073" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2aKPt3MdWBg/X9YiCb4mWbI/AAAAAAAAQgA/kfnATrkcWAoXnoZZZkd4E6YN4gHL4qRuACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Ginger%2Bbiscuits.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I've been experimenting with ginger, trying to develop the ultimate ginger biscuit/cookie recipe. Of course, this is in a month where a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/dec/10/no-ginger-spice-heres-how-to-make-your-recipes-sing-without-it">worldwide ginger shortage has been announced</a>. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The cookies in the picture are the result of my third attempt and this time I am satisfied with the end result (the first two were just not gingery enough). The secret ingredient is crystallized or candied ginger, chopped small:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IpujlSSOC4Q/X9YiCKFc0_I/AAAAAAAAQf8/sdBekASqAsw4SXpK17CzDcVUTV0hvjRIgCNcBGAsYHQ/s993/Chopped%2Bcrystallized%2Bginger.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="679" data-original-width="993" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IpujlSSOC4Q/X9YiCKFc0_I/AAAAAAAAQf8/sdBekASqAsw4SXpK17CzDcVUTV0hvjRIgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Chopped%2Bcrystallized%2Bginger.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>And this recipe also contains fresh ginger, along with the usual ground variety. I combined two different recipes to get the perfect combination.</p><p><b>Ingredients for Ginger Explosions</b></p><p>100g butter</p><p>75g brown sugar</p><p>100g golden syrup</p><p>0.5 tablespoons grated fresh ginger</p><p>250g all-purpose flour</p><p>1.5 tablespoons ground ginger (1 tablespoon for a less fiery taste)</p><p>2 teaspoons baking powder</p><p>1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda</p><p>1 egg</p><p>100g crystallized/candied ginger, chopped into small pieces</p><p><b>Method</b></p><p>1. Melt the butter with the syrup, grated ginger and sugar. Set aside to cool.</p><p>2. Mix the flour, ground ginger, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.</p><p>3. Stir the cooled butter mixture into the flour mixture and add the egg and ginger.</p><p>4. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture on to baking sheets lined with parchment paper, leaving room for spreading.</p><p>5. Bake at 350F/180C for 15 minutes. Cool on sheets for a few minutes, then transfer to cooling racks. </p> <p></p>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16642836504821695236noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30590907.post-1173079436430396012020-06-28T11:10:00.001-04:002020-06-28T11:11:04.353-04:00Easily pleased<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s8o1jbylOpM/XviuXtQzK4I/AAAAAAAAQTA/5bEkbMRS3JcJCfvFQ1FPsgmdFQmok0PmACK4BGAsYHg/s1365/Eggplant%2Bflower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1023" data-original-width="1365" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s8o1jbylOpM/XviuXtQzK4I/AAAAAAAAQTA/5bEkbMRS3JcJCfvFQ1FPsgmdFQmok0PmACK4BGAsYHg/w400-h300/Eggplant%2Bflower.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I made some garden-related comment to Mike the other day: it might have been about the first eggplant flower, or perhaps it was about the strawberries that were starting to ripen, I forget. His reply was "You're easily pleased, aren't you?"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Yes, yes I am. I take huge pleasure every year from watching the seedlings grow into food-producing plants, from harvesting the fruit and vegetables, and from serving food from the garden at the table. And in these constrained times, I also take pleasure in knowing that these things can continue. I have a friend whose community garden was closed because of Covid-19 and I honestly can't imagine not having access to growing space.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">One of the industries that has done well in the pandemic has been the vendors of seeds. I visited the <a href="https://www.rareseeds.com/">Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds website </a>back in March to order something I had forgotten (beetroot seeds, I think), only to find this temporary closure notice:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-joTPhjoQ_hw/XvixeFOQPII/AAAAAAAAQTc/y2ekCI559nUXHFRgUWDT91MJ99VDw0QpwCK4BGAsYHg/s1374/Baker%2BCreek%2Bsite%2B21%2BMar%2B2020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="626" data-original-width="1374" height="183" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-joTPhjoQ_hw/XvixeFOQPII/AAAAAAAAQTc/y2ekCI559nUXHFRgUWDT91MJ99VDw0QpwCK4BGAsYHg/w400-h183/Baker%2BCreek%2Bsite%2B21%2BMar%2B2020.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And supermarket shelves were being denuded of flour and yeast. Suddenly it seemed as though the whole world was shifting to live life the way I do. In the midst of all the concern and disruption, there was something strangely validating about that. It will be interesting to see if the shift to home growing and home baking lasts beyond this year.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16642836504821695236noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30590907.post-81433463176227684672020-05-31T07:50:00.000-04:002020-06-28T10:47:16.229-04:00Signs of lifeI ordered some fruit and nut plants back in February as part of the general aim of self-sufficiency. They arrived ten days ago and we have been busy planting and watering them. It has been good to have the new plants to dote on as a distraction from pandemic news...<br />
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I have been watching them anxiously for signs of life and nearly all have rewarded me with progress. The picture is of the shoots on the peach tree, 'Reliance', which is supposed to be able to take the winters here. Frankly, I am doubtful, but I hope that I am wrong! [Edited to say that actually this is the sweet cherry tree, not the peach!] The other plants include hazelnuts, blackberries, a mulberry bush and a cherry tree. 'I had a little nut tree' has been going round in my head now for days...<br />
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The only things yet to show any indication of growth are the raspberry canes.</div>
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I was able to go into work on Wednesday of this week, which was great. I had a list of things I couldn't deal with while working at home and managed to deal with most of them. I was back to working from home on Thursday and found it was very hard to settle to anything after having a day at work. Uncertainty is the worst part of it: it will be good to get into a set routine again.</div>
Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16642836504821695236noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30590907.post-50289932224936110532020-04-13T18:17:00.000-04:002020-04-13T18:17:04.301-04:00Taking it slowLife in lockdown is not so different from normal life for me. I don't have small children out of school to worry about and I can work from home with no great difficulty. With Mike and Child2 here with me, I don't feel particularly isolated, and I'm still in regular contact with my father and my aunt in England. We have plenty of space for a long walk with the dog (although he's getting on a bit and not as keen on a long walk as he once would have been...). I know we are luckier than a lot of people who are cooped up with less ability to get out in the fresh air.<div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">What has changed is the pace of things. Not that my life Before was exactly a whirlwind of activity, but now I am not rushing to get out of the house before 7.30 to see my mother-in-law in her nursing home before going off to work, things feel much more leisurely. The library where I normally work was closed to staff from 23 March and I went in on the 24th to finish some jobs and pick up a few things (including the office orchid!). Working from home involves connecting to my desktop remotely and this can be a frustrating experience: there's a bit of a lag across the network and it feels like I am working in slow motion most of the time.</div><div><br /></div><div>I think my brain is on a go-slow anyway, with a low-level background level of panic which actually reminds me of my state of mind back in <a href="https://www.someoneelseskitchen.com/2007/05/posting-under-duress.html">May 2007</a>, just before we left England for Canada. It's quite hard to concentrate on anything for any length of time: reading fiction seems beyond my capabilities at present, for example, and my sleep is disturbed. I feel unproductive as a result, but I am not going to beat myself up about that: if we can't make exceptions for ourselves in exceptional times, then when can we?</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DEZpSipQ_hg/XpTgvYK2vPI/AAAAAAAAO1c/H6XmGTrGv248GRA-Ttlppo6h8ElmZbN0wCK4BGAsYHg/Asparagus%2Bshoot.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Asparagus spear emerging." border="0" data-original-height="476" data-original-width="680" height="280" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DEZpSipQ_hg/XpTgvYK2vPI/AAAAAAAAO1c/H6XmGTrGv248GRA-Ttlppo6h8ElmZbN0wCK4BGAsYHg/w400-h280/Asparagus%2Bshoot.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Outside of work, I'm focusing on watching the garden come back to life and getting comfort from the usual cycles of plants and wild birds. Humans might be making a mess of things, but Mother Nature is still doing her thing. Hope you are safe and well wherever you are reading this.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16642836504821695236noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30590907.post-13355573685254809492020-03-22T09:03:00.000-04:002020-03-22T09:03:46.031-04:00Strange timesWell, I haven't been doing a very good job of keeping this blog up to date, have I? My impression is that the coronavirus crisis is creating a new generation of bloggers as people are more and more confined to their own homes and finding that blogging is a good way of connecting with friends and family. I should probably do the same.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KLOutyAkcg4/XnddZidJKEI/AAAAAAAAOLA/nIOcmtoiEcY-Imce6iARqKVEFCvAciAigCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Closure%2Bnotice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Closure notice" border="0" data-original-height="1363" data-original-width="876" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KLOutyAkcg4/XnddZidJKEI/AAAAAAAAOLA/nIOcmtoiEcY-Imce6iARqKVEFCvAciAigCNcBGAsYHQ/s200/Closure%2Bnotice.jpg" title="" width="128" /></a>Things are moving fast: right now we have 1,329 reported cases of COVID-19 in Canada, with 377 in Ontario and 19 deaths. The public library I work inside was still open on 16 March, but closed to the public that evening. I closed the archives on the morning of the 16th, but have been continuing to go to work, as I can still be doing things like answering enquiries and digitizing archival materials while the building is closed.<br />
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Not that people are really asking questions about archives at the moment, but that might change as this situation becomes the new normal. I'm fortunate in that I don't use public transit to get to work and I don't really interact with anyone while I'm there. I will probably start talking to myself, soon, though...<br />
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Restaurants and bars were shut down last week, and my impression is that people here are being fairly diligent about maintaining distances from each other and not doing too much in the way of panic-buying.<br />
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The nursing homes started restricting visiting hours and screening visitors on 2 March: they were taking people's temperatures and I could only go and see my mother-in-law on my way home from work instead of my usual routine of popping in twice a day. On 8 March that changed and all visitors were banned in order to protect the residents. My mother-in-law is not well enough to be aware of this change (😢), which is some comfort, I suppose, but it must be very hard for many families.<br />
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Meanwhile, I'm focusing on getting the garden going and appreciating the change of season. Yesterday I potted on all my eggplants and peppers. I have 58 plants in total, so we should be fairly self-sufficient in those this year, all going well!<br />
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Next weekend I will sow the tomatoes and in April I am expecting a delivery of fruit and nut trees and shrubs to regenerate the orchard. It's good to have something else to think about...Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16642836504821695236noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30590907.post-73994042262303828732019-11-16T07:41:00.001-05:002019-11-16T08:41:45.747-05:00Wild November November has been a fairly memorable month so far, in terms of weather. On the first of the month, gale force winds brought down several trees and left us without power for two days.<br />
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This red cedar (Eastern juniper) in our back yard was the most significant casualty. It also took down the power line from the house to the barn and greenhouse.<br />
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Mike has been busy with clippers, chipper, and chainsaw since. I still can't get over the amazing colour of the cedar wood, once it is cut up.</div>
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A closer look at the root ball of the tree shows just how shallow the soil is here: the roots have wrapped themselves around the limestone rocks below.<br />
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A killing frost in the first week put paid to all the tender crops in the greenhouse, so I spent last Sunday clearing them all out and putting the greenhouse to bed for the winter. I'm glad I did, because this week we had significant snowfall on Monday, followed by <a href="https://toronto.citynews.ca/2019/11/12/toronto-gta-extreme-cold/">record-breaking cold</a>.<br />
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It might be an interesting winter!Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16642836504821695236noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30590907.post-15794784660666588692019-10-25T16:35:00.000-04:002019-10-25T16:41:05.275-04:00Tomato Last Hurrah<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'm still picking tomatoes from the greenhouse, but they are ripening very slowly now and I know it won't be long before a killing frost gets to them.<br />
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This week I have been making the most of them by making panzanella for my work lunches. I often make a Dutch oven loaf at the weekend (I follow Tara O'Brady's recipe for <a href="https://www.thetoastedspice.com/seeded-boule/">Seeded Boule</a> from her book <i>Seven Spoons </i>but don't always bother with the seeds. So these days it's just Boule, really...). If I'm lucky, there will be some of the loaf left over for Monday. This week I was extra fortunate, with enough bread left for Tuesday, too.<br />
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Both days I made panzanella with a torn-up slice of the bread, a few tomatoes, and a few olives. Then I drizzled over some red wine vinegar and olive oil, mixed it all together and let it sit until lunchtime. It's such a simple dish, but tastes lovely and is a great way of appreciating these late-season harvests. On Tuesday I made the same thing, but this time added a few of the <a href="https://www.someoneelseskitchen.com/2019/10/resurrection-with-pickled-peppers.html">pickled peppers</a> I made last week, just to give the meal a bit of a kick.<br />
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<br />Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16642836504821695236noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30590907.post-73984694963893476992019-10-20T12:35:00.000-04:002019-10-20T16:07:27.995-04:00Resurrection with Pickled PeppersIt's been a while since I've been here (over two years, wow), but I want to get back in the habit of writing regularly, and this seems like a sensible place to start. I thought I'd write up my recipe for pickled jalapeño peppers. It's an adaptation of a few different recipes I found online. And, unlike one of those, it does not begin with "Clean your kitchen" as the first instruction. 😒<br />
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I grow two kinds of hot peppers: a cayenne type and tam jalapeños. The cayennes are easy to deal with: I just put those straight into the freezer and take them out when I need them. They are thin-skinned and defrost quickly. I probably have enough for the next ten years...<br />
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The jalapeños are a bit more work: they can be frozen for a short period of time, but their thicker skins mean that they suffer from freezer burn if you keep them like that for too long. I like to slice and pickle them, but as I only grow four to six plants, it takes a while to harvest enough to make it worth pickling a batch.<br />
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My solution is to freeze the jalapeños as they ripen to red, and leave them frozen for a month or two until I have a sufficient quantity to pickle.<br />
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Today I harvested the remaining (mostly green) jalapeños from the greenhouse and let the frozen ones defrost before slicing them all up and discarding the stems.</div>
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I use my pressure canner to process the pepper slices. The recipe is pretty simple: for each pound of sliced peppers, you need 330ml of water and 110ml of white vinegar (roughly 1 cup and â…“ cup) and half a teaspoon of salt. Bring the water, vinegar and salt to a boil to make a brine, then blanch the sliced peppers in the brine for two minutes. Pack the peppers into a two pint jar, then pour the brine over, seal with a lid, and pressure can the jar for ten minutes.</div>
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These are nice as a pizza topping, or to add a bit of heat to quesadillas or salads. Once opened, they will keep for several months in the fridge. In theory, anyway...</div>
Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16642836504821695236noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30590907.post-61034009067998435082017-08-19T10:27:00.000-04:002017-11-05T17:26:25.383-05:00Tomato processingThe tomatoes are starting to come in fast and I realise that I have never written up my current method for turning them into sauce for the winter. So this post is to remedy that situation. I've simplified the process as much as I can, but it does rely on a couple of pieces of equipment: a food mill and a pressure cooker.<br />
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First of all, the tomatoes are cut in half, placed on a baking sheet with a lip and roasted at 180°C/350°F for an hour to an hour and a half (less if they are small, but most of mine are big). You can add seasoning, garlic and herbs to the cut tomatoes, but I tend to leave them basically quite plain and add flavourings to the sauce when I use it later.
This burns off a lot of the water in the tomatoes and you can do a lot at one time. At the height of the season I cook three baking sheets at once.
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After they have been roasting for the hour, remove them from the oven. There will be a lot of water in the sheet.<br />
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Use a slotted spoon to lift the tomatoes out of the sheet and into a food mill sitting over a large jug. Use the mill to process the tomatoes. The skin and seeds will be left in the mill, with all the pulp being pushed through into the jug.<br />
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If you're happy with the consistency of the sauce, you can proceed to the canning stage. If not, you can boil the sauce down a bit in a saucepan until it's thick enough.<br />
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I've never found it necessary to add lemon juice to the sauce, but if you prefer to do so, add it now. Pour the sauce into sterilised glass jars and cover with lids and rings. Put jars into a pressure canner and process for 30 minutes.Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16642836504821695236noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30590907.post-72517374370025953562016-09-04T11:06:00.002-04:002016-09-04T11:10:26.887-04:00A severe summer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
This was a screenshot from the Weather Network site last month:</div>
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It caught my attention, as 'severe' is not usually a word I'd associate with summer weather. But it has turned out to be an apt one for this season.<br />
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We are used to dealing with very dry summers, but this has been the worst one since we've been in Canada. At the height of the drought, on August 13th, I forced myself to take photographs of the vegetable garden. With barely enough water for the household, I had not been able to water the garden at all, and the plants were really suffering. In the whole of July we had 23mm of rain and the previous three months were also very dry (April 23mm, May 19mm, June 48mm).<br />
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The cabbage patch:<br />
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The squash plants:</div>
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The row of sunflowers next to the squash:<br />
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We got an inch of rain that day, followed by half an inch three days later and that was enough to start the plants growing again. It's still very dry, but the 48mm we received in August has made a huge difference to the garden.</div>
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This how the cabbage patch looks now:</div>
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And the sunflowers, with the squash behind them, are looking a bit healthier. Two of the squash plants died in the drought, but the others have recovered and I'm now picking patty pan squash. This week I will pick the first of the zucchini/courgettes. The only problem now is that the weeds are also enjoying the rain!<br />
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In less happy news, I have to report that my entire flock of chickens (33 birds) were killed by a mink during July and August. I don't know if the dry weather was a contributory factor, but I suspect it might have been. Over the course of three weeks I fought a losing battle with this night-time killer. Every time I thought I'd managed to mink-proof the coop, it found a way through (they only need an inch) and killed one or more chickens. One night it killed eight. On the morning of August 8th I found the last seven chickens dead on the floor.</div>
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After eight years of keeping chickens I think I'm going to stop, for a while at least. I am really going to miss them, and their eggs (my birds had produced 15,000 eggs in the time I had them), but right now one less responsibility is probably a good thing. But yes, this summer has been severe indeed.</div>
Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16642836504821695236noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30590907.post-40106747594114261022016-07-03T09:41:00.000-04:002016-07-03T09:55:08.033-04:00Last post [?]Ten years ago today I published <a href="http://www.someoneelseskitchen.com/2006/07/first-post.html">First Post</a>, the very first entry on Cooking in Someone Else's Kitchen. As I explained in my <a href="http://www.someoneelseskitchen.com/2016/05/still-here.html">most recent post</a>, life has rather got in the way of my blogging of late, but this anniversary seems a good time to sit down and reflect about the way this emigration journey has gone.<br />
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Ten years ago our small family was about to make a leap into the unknown. We had no jobs to come to in Canada and we knew very little about the country. A lot has changed in those years, both here and in the United Kingdom. Mike and I both have permanent full-time jobs in our respective careers, and our kids have grown up into thoughtful young Canadians.<br />
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These last weeks I have been watching the news coming out of the UK with rapt interest, as the country dealt with the EU referendum vote and then its aftermath. One of the best things I've seen about the impact of the Brexit vote was by Michael Dougan, an EU law professor from the University of Liverpool, who presented an analysis of the Leave arguments <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USTypBKEd8Y">before</a> the vote and then <a href="https://news.liverpool.ac.uk/2016/07/01/watch-professor-michael-dougan-assesses-uks-position-following-vote-leave-eu/">again</a> after the vote's results were known.<br />
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I did have a vote in the referendum, and I voted Remain. My motivation was primarily one of keeping options open for my kids: having an EU passport gave them the opportunity of living and working anywhere in Europe if they wanted to. If the withdrawal from the EU goes ahead, they will only have the option of living and working in Canada and the countries of the UK (and that's assuming that the UK holds together as one nation). Which is still better than only being able to live and work in the UK, of course, but I feel bad for the British youngsters whose futures have been trammelled by those who believed the <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/vote-leave-vote-lies-the-dishonest-uk-referendum-on-europe/5531608">empty promises</a> of the Leave campaign.<br />
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One of the consequences of the result of the vote has been an increase in British people investigating <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/uk-eu-brexit-vote-move-to-canada-1.3651308">how to move to Canada</a>. It will be interesting to see if this will cause a spike in applications. This is a country that welcomes immigrants, but doesn't actually make it all that easy to become one, so good luck if you are in the UK and thinking of applying!<br />
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And speaking of new immigrants, my mother-in-law (and her dog) will soon be joining us from the UK. She arrives at the end of the month and we are busy making space for her and her things (it's amazing how much junk we have accumulated after being in the same house for nine years!). We sponsored her back in 2010, so this moment has been a long time coming. I'm hoping she'll arrive before civil war breaks out in Britain. Just joking! (I think...)Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16642836504821695236noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30590907.post-24855661003226857482016-05-02T20:56:00.000-04:002016-05-02T21:00:50.251-04:00Still here...I thought I'd better post an update in case anyone is wondering why I haven't been posting much recently. The main reason is that I'm back working full-time again, for the first time since moving to Canada. Carving out time for gardening is one issue, but finding time for blogging about it is quite another!<br />
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I'm working as the archivist for the County of Hastings and the City of Belleville. I took over the job on a temporary contract last July, and was appointed on a permanent basis in March. In the first nine months I had to move the entire archive to a new location, which was quite a challenge but we are now safely in the <a href="http://cabhc.ca/?p=3135">new building</a> and settling in. I am loving it.<br />
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In other news, Mike's mother has finally received permission to move to Canada as a permanent resident. (We got this news the same day I heard about getting the permanent job - a red-letter day!) We first applied for her to come over in April 2010, so it has been a long process, but now we can move ahead at last. The to-do list has grown again, but at least we can now make definite plans for bringing her here and making changes to the house to accommodate her. Exciting times!Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16642836504821695236noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30590907.post-18133171796609546792016-03-25T12:48:00.000-04:002016-03-25T13:22:51.314-04:00Winter's last blast After a mild few weeks, the weather took a turn for the colder this week. Yesterday an ice storm came through and left a fairly thick coating of ice over everything. This morning it warmed up quickly, so the ice began to melt: we could hear it almost exploding off the roof as we woke up.<br />
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The chickens' run resembled an ice rink. And it turns out chickens don't like skating, even if they are Canadian.</div>
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<br />Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16642836504821695236noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30590907.post-38088115171992231852016-01-31T08:41:00.001-05:002016-01-31T08:41:21.448-05:00Chickens out<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Last day of January and a rare sight: the chickens being able to venture outside. For the last two winters they were cooped up for three months in a row. This winter has been much kinder. There are still a few inches of snow on the ground, but today's temperature is due to climb to 6°C/43°F, so I'm thinking by this evening there won't be too much left.<br />
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We have yet to have a day this winter where the temperature has gone below -20°C/-4°F, which is fairly unusual, and the average temperature for the month of January is running at -5°C/23°F, where normally it is -7°C/19°F.<br />
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The week ahead looks mild, but then there is a return to more normal winter temperature after that. As this week and last week are usually the cold point of the year, I'm certainly not complaining...Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16642836504821695236noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30590907.post-88262201865801975532016-01-16T15:47:00.001-05:002016-01-16T15:47:31.324-05:00Library trip<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I don't let the weather stop me returning my library books...</div>
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It turned quite snowy here this week, with about a foot of snow falling on Wednesday night/Thursday morning. Luckily the book drop box has been designed with Canadian weather in mind!Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16642836504821695236noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30590907.post-56152168839774180152016-01-03T16:16:00.000-05:002016-01-03T16:16:03.769-05:00First and last...harvest, that is. The first of 2016 and the last of last year's crops, I think.
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With winter finally putting in an appearance, and the temperature due to drop drastically tonight, I dug up my remaining swedes/rutabagas and harvested the cabbages, sprouts, purple cauliflower and kale which were still bravely clinging on in my two brassica beds. There were over ten pounds of swedes!<br />
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The cabbages were still very small, so I decided to use them up by making kimchi out of them. They're not napa cabbages, which is the usual kimchi one, but I will experiment with what I have, approximately following <a href="http://www.beyondkimchee.com/green-cabbage-kimchi/">this recipe</a>, and if it works out, I'll buy the proper cabbage next time I go shopping. I found some baby leeks, carrots and one lone Chioggia beet in the greenhouse, so I've sliced those up and added them to the kimchi mix.<br />
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Now I just need to find a way of using up all those swedes...Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16642836504821695236noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30590907.post-8734862713809969172015-12-24T16:23:00.001-05:002015-12-24T16:23:40.340-05:00Christmas Eve harvest<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I know it can't last, but the exceptional weather has continued, with temperatures hitting 15°C/59°F today. I was able to harvest quite a few green things from the garden for our Christmas dinner:</div>
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broccoli</div>
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kale<br />
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small but perfectly formed purple cauliflowers<br />
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and both sprouts and Brussels tops<br />
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I pulled up a swede/rutabaga, too.<br />
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We are promised a storm next week and I'm sure winter proper will be upon us soon, but I am thoroughly enjoying this reprieve, however temporary!<br />
<br />Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16642836504821695236noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30590907.post-91321498902428160942015-12-06T10:48:00.000-05:002015-12-06T10:49:54.325-05:00Bringing the garden indoorsStill mild here (hope writing that doesn't jinx things) - the greenhouse herbs are still going strong. Here's the dill:<br />
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The parsley is still going, too. I mentioned the herbs to a colleague who asked if I bring some in for the winter. I don't normally (apart from the rosemary), but this struck me as an excellent idea, so this winter I have done just that, bringing some in from the garden, others from the greenhouse. The cat is having to share her windowsill with rosemary, dill, sage, thyme, oregano, parsley and coriander/cilantro. You can't see it in this photo, but the rosemary is actually flowering at the moment!<br />
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There were still some root crops to harvest: I pulled the last of the parsnips, most of the carrots and a couple of parsnips from the greenhouse and dug up a couple of pounds of sunchokes from the garden, as the soil is still soft enough to dig.<br />
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I also got a cabbage from the brassica patch, which is still doing well - there will be swedes/rutabagas to pull and more kale there. I think we might even get some Brussels sprouts, although they won't be as big as the ones happening in the UK this year. They even made the front page of the Weather Network's site (I think they are having to drum up stories about sprouts because the weather is being so un-newsworthy here!).<br />
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<br />Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16642836504821695236noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30590907.post-81774730171156596782015-11-29T17:31:00.000-05:002015-11-29T17:31:19.666-05:00Winter on the wayNovember has been so mild, I'm still picking kale from the garden. Which is lucky, because the ones in the greenhouse are being comprehensively nibbled by caterpillars.<br />
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This morning was the coldest yet, -8C/17F but gorgeously sparkly. Just a taste of winter.<br />
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Or maybe a warning...<br />
<br />Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16642836504821695236noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30590907.post-6419301888313797392015-10-18T16:55:00.000-04:002015-10-18T16:55:20.654-04:00Pre-frost harvest<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Yesterday evening I was running round the greenhouse in a variation on Supermarket Sweep, gathering up vegetables that I thought might be damaged beyond edibility by the coming frost.</div>
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The frost certainly arrived: touching my marigolds</div>
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and my outside vegetables. Not that this kale will mind: there's a fair bit of broccoli, cabbage, sprouts and cabbage still to harvest outside and this level of cold won't do them any harm.<br />
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And having done all that harvesting, the plants in the greenhouse survived the frost undamaged, so with any luck there will still be more tomatoes and peppers to gather in the next week or two.</div>
<br />Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16642836504821695236noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30590907.post-87457196595512727592015-10-10T13:10:00.000-04:002015-10-10T13:10:17.760-04:00Thanksgiving harvest<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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There was a slight frost this morning: not enough to kill anything, or spoil the tomatoes, but enough to turn the roof white and create a crispy feeling underfoot.<br />
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The Thanksgiving weekend is upon us, and Child1 has come home from university to share it with us. We've been talking on Skype most days, probably for longer than when we were under the same roof, but it's nice to have everyone under the same roof for a while (even if it is covered with frost).<br />
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I did a sweep of the garden and greenhouse to gather up food for the weekend. Pulled a <i>huge</i> cabbage, three pie pumpkins, some tomatoes, eggplants, zucchini and peppers. Bottom left are what I at first thought should be purple cauliflower, but then gradually worked out are in fact purple sprouting broccoli. This is the first year I've successfully grown these. There are some mini purple cauliflower coming too, but the leaves, now I look at them, are different from the broccoli ones.<br />
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Plenty to give thanks for, anyway!Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16642836504821695236noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30590907.post-85764816634668735092015-09-27T19:00:00.000-04:002015-10-10T13:14:16.174-04:00Sun-drying tomatoes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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One of the tomato varieties I regularly grow is Principe Borghese (I seem to recall that these were a gift from another garden blogger, some years ago). In one of the descriptions online was a note that it used as a sun-dried tomato in Italy. Ever since I read that I've been thinking I should try this, but haven't got around to it until this year.<br />
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My oven has a dehydration setting, which is what I used for my first batch, but it was not very successful: even after 24 hours the tomatoes weren't dry and I wasn't impressed at having to leave the oven on for so long. (I did learn that my oven automatically turns itself off after being on for 12 hours, so that was vaguely interesting.)<br />
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So, Plan B. Which involves the sun. Much more satisfactory.<br />
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My set-up is about as low-tech as it gets. Small tomatoes, cut in half and arranged on a baking tray in the greenhouse. I've put the tray on top of some small plant pots - thinking this might deter crawling insects - and I have loosely wrapped horticultural fleece over the tray. The fleece allows the sun through, while letting moisture evaporate off. It also stops flying insects landing on the tomatoes.<br />
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They've only been out there for eight hours and are already looking drier than the first batch did after 12 hours in the oven.<br />
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If this works, it really is ridiculously easy!</div>
<br />Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16642836504821695236noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30590907.post-75299407185859386192015-09-06T09:00:00.000-04:002015-09-06T09:01:08.959-04:00All shapes and sizesI've got three different eggplant varieties growing this year, and so far I've had one fruit from each, with quite a few more to come if it stays warm for a while.<br />
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This one, applegreen, is new to me:
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JaUogOCw5r8/Vew1WXGrAsI/AAAAAAAAJHc/UOFoYnSDBa8/s1600/applegreen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JaUogOCw5r8/Vew1WXGrAsI/AAAAAAAAJHc/UOFoYnSDBa8/s320/applegreen.jpg" width="291" /></a></div>
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Korean early long:
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hMqodbSUYvo/Vew1WhokVyI/AAAAAAAAJHg/oeHVDQx0Zjk/s1600/korean%2Bearly%2Blong.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hMqodbSUYvo/Vew1WhokVyI/AAAAAAAAJHg/oeHVDQx0Zjk/s320/korean%2Bearly%2Blong.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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And my favourite, as far as looks go, rosa bianca:
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XlgJmCx4Ctk/Vew1V8XXspI/AAAAAAAAJHU/GeH7AdMknGU/s1600/rosa%2Bbianca.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XlgJmCx4Ctk/Vew1V8XXspI/AAAAAAAAJHU/GeH7AdMknGU/s320/rosa%2Bbianca.jpg" width="310" /></a></div>
<br />Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16642836504821695236noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30590907.post-72674657587783783372015-09-05T12:27:00.002-04:002015-12-06T10:52:33.638-05:00Peppers (again!)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The hot weather in the last couple of weeks has really been ripening the peppers. I spent a happy ten minutes this morning, picking them.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2ZKm1pUCWWE/VesVOHYpHaI/AAAAAAAAJGw/nszfjTlv0Xg/s1600/fresh%2Bpeppers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2ZKm1pUCWWE/VesVOHYpHaI/AAAAAAAAJGw/nszfjTlv0Xg/s400/fresh%2Bpeppers.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I roasted the sweet peppers and then pulled the skins off them, once they'd cooled down a bit.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--ycvzkU-X4o/VesVPDcbJvI/AAAAAAAAJHA/PBqnOZ2VkDw/s1600/roasted%2Bpeppers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="201" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--ycvzkU-X4o/VesVPDcbJvI/AAAAAAAAJHA/PBqnOZ2VkDw/s400/roasted%2Bpeppers.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Then I packed them into a jar and pressure canned them for half an hour. This should preserve them over the winter.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eQaZ_Y16_Bs/VesVNZedZ6I/AAAAAAAAJGo/w3B-qaolDbE/s1600/Preserved%2Bpappers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eQaZ_Y16_Bs/VesVNZedZ6I/AAAAAAAAJGo/w3B-qaolDbE/s400/Preserved%2Bpappers.jpg" width="263" /></a></div>
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I also tried a new trick with the pressure cooker - using it to cook eggs. Fresh eggs are always a pain to peel, but if you cook them in the pressure cooker, they turn out to be extremely easy. I cooked them at the lower pressure setting for six minutes. I think next time I'll do it for four or five, as the yolks were a bit dry for my taste, but this was definitely an experiment that was worth repeating.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4FzyzKGOtbE/VesVOMrfZbI/AAAAAAAAJG0/n9d091lK2Jk/s1600/pressure%2Bcooked%2Beggs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4FzyzKGOtbE/VesVOMrfZbI/AAAAAAAAJG0/n9d091lK2Jk/s400/pressure%2Bcooked%2Beggs.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16642836504821695236noreply@blogger.com1