Dinner tonight was great. To start off with, I had a Rockfish, freshly caught from the Chesapeake Bay. I filleted it, and then went out to my garden. I picked the last of the lettuce, a handful of cherry tomatos, a pepper, some carrots, a Vidalia onion, some scallions and 3 ears of corn. I sauteed the onion, dropped the corn into boiling water and made the rest into a salad. I put the fish fillets in the pan with the onions, put a dab of butter on them, sprinkled them with Old Bay seasoning, covered them and simmered for about 8-10 minutes. When they were ready, I had some good eatin! That’s dinner in the summer, Baltimore style! There is something about producing your own food that makes it taste better. I highly recomend it to anyone. It’s not that hard, I live in a townhouse, for crying out loud. You don’t need acres and acres of land to grow your own food.
Oh, I forgot. I picked green beans too. Steamed them and ate them with the rest.
Mmm, sounds good. But you ain’t et until you’ve had a trout caught in the Rio Grande gorge, fresh picked green beans, and calabacitas: squash, corn and green chile.
Oooooh yes! Tomatoes are ripening. Time to stock up on bread and bacon. I could eat BLTs for a month when they’re made with real tomatoes.
And sauted zucchini sprinkled with Parmesan cheese!
Sigh.
Alright, Dave. You’ve finally forced me to ask…
:::looking disgustedly at the pile of Taco Bell wrappers on the table, then longingly over at Dave’s plate:::
Will you marry me?
A kindred spirit! My tomatoes are ripening, the peppers are lookin’ good, and my herbs are flourishing. Fresh from the garden or bought from a farmers market is the only way to go.
I’ve been blissfully munching down on salads, made w/ mesculun and fresh herbs. (Mesclun=fresh lettuce from the farmers market, my own dandelion greens, etc.)
All notable cuisines are based on the same principle: what’s freshest, local and in season. If the ingredients are that good, it’s almost impossible to mess them up. Actually, the simpler the better.
BLT’s; vine tomatoes, warm from the sun, sliced w/ paper thin red onion, provolone and a spritz of lemon juice; tabbouleh, w/ fresh tomatoes, cukes and mint; gazpacho; homemade salsa, from deep, deep red tomatoes, onion, lime juice, cilantro and jalepenos…YUM!!!
Veb
I really thought this thread was going to be about getting hold of a bad joint.
I agree, though–homegrown vegetables are the best. Curse my shady backyard!
Dr. J
Found this.
haven’t tried it yet.
Fried dandelion blossoms
1 Tbsp water
2 eggs
1/4 cup nut oil
2qts fresh picked dandelion blossoms washed & dried
1 1/2 cup fine cornmeal
beat water and eggs
heat oil in skillet
dip 1 at a time blossoms in egg then cornmeal
saute turning often until golden
drain
serve hot or cold, as snacks,a vegetable side dish or a garnish.
We canned 45 pints of sweetcorn last week. makes for good eatin this winter.
I got started late so the tomatos are not ripe yet.
We’ll can them when they are ready.
Sugar snap peas are done and the weeds have got the onion patch.
green beans are late,see excuse above.
Damn I like gardening I just wish I could talk the kids into taking care of the garden.
My European relatives grow stuff in hothouses. Always loved the hothouse strawberries. MMMMMM.
It’s real damn hot down here, so I ordered in seeds from Henry Field’s that were heat, infection and disease resistant for green peppers and tomatoes. My soil is piss poor and my last crops elsewhere kind of flopped. This time I worked in a lot of cow compost and peat moss. I sprouted the seeds and planted them - late - and worried as the heat index soared.
I heavily fertilized twice monthly with Jobs fertilizer, plus Epsom salts and iron supplements. Then I put in basil and parsley.
I was impressed. My tomatoes boomed! I had more tomatoes than I expected. My green peppers boomed (though, they turned out smaller than expected) and I had lots of them! My basil flourished! However, my parsley just kinda weakly grew. I haven’t figured that out.
The heat resistant seeds made all of the difference because when everything else was being cooked to a crisp, my tomatoes and peppers were doing fine. Delicious. The crop is over now. I’ll be plowing the remains under and around September or October, I’ll plant again. You can get two crops here. I’ll leave the still growing basil, but instead of parsley, I think I’ll plant oregano and I might chicken wire trellis and grow squash or Cukes.