R.I.Pee Wee

 

Paul Reubens, Pee Wee Herman, died today.

He will be missed

https://youtu.be/BodXwAYeTfM

I Grew Free Potatoes!

 And it kind of worked!!  

In April I came across free potatoes and carrots at a thrift store in the region.  Some were pretty edible.  But, I figured if they were at all edible in April, probably store well or overwinter in the ground well so I planted some.

3 Carrots in the wee greenhouse...2 of them are putting out flowers for seed (carrots are bienniels..so the seed saver book tells me)

Maybe 10 potatoes with eyes in the ground on April 8.

The gophers or something have been murdering the potato plants and I'm low on veg at the house yesterday so I dug one or 2 plants (hard to tell when the little b*st*rd gopher things eat the tops off!) and got 2-3 lbs of nice red potatoes.  I left a few tiny ones in the ground.   

I had some for lunch today with the goat meat we canned at work a while back.  This had loco-lime spice mix on it, that was a gift...and DELICIOUS!!

My July experiment is cooking from ingredients everything I eat.  Whole raw fruit or veg is allowed...which will help with an all day meeting I need to go to  (and one person's bday dinner has been booked for this month since December so that would be a meal where I make an exception).
Getting free potatoes and having meat that I prepared in the past really helps.   

I got enough greens out of the garden for salad and topped it with some service berries I picked over the weekend and soaked in vinegar, finished it with a vinaigrette that I made.

Over all, a very "local" lunch and dinner.  Breakfast was eggs from a friend's hens so also very local.  Spices for the most part are from elsewhere.  Herbs mostly out of my garden.

Last time I tried to grow potatoes, I got less out of the ground than I put in...sort of like this years corn "crop" (is it a crop if the harvest weighs less than the seeds you planted?)  (perhaps an "anti-crop")

Giving up on 3 local restaurants

 For real!!!

My builder is at the place (YAY!!!) and the crew likes cinnamon rolls.  OK then.  I brought them cinnamon rolls on their first day back on the job.

So.  They needed 6 rolls.  I had to go to 2 places to get a total of 6.  That is fine.  2 from Restaurant G...um...they are OK.  Dry. Frozen and thawed out.  frosting on the side in a little plastic tub.  Meh.

Restaurant Z.  Those were really good.  Not too sweet. Moist.  1 frosted, others plain (which personally I prefer.  If you are hiding the roll under a giant pile of gunk, there must be a problem).  

Today, I tested Restaurant T as they are closer to my place.  Um.   BARF!!!!!!!   They heated up the roll in a microwave which makes the bottom BLAZING hot.  the rest was still frozen.  And the frosting was off brand shortening and powdered sugar.  PUKE!  I threw it out.  I asked for a non-warmed up roll and they said they couldn't because they were frozen.  They served it in a styrofoam container which I am pretty sure had been in the microwave too.  Double barf.   Nothing like the smell of hot cheap plastic to whet the appetite.  I tried a cookie as well.  You wouldn't think you could mess up a peanut butter cookie but alas...it tasted mostly like baking soda and shortening.  Maybe margarine but I'm pretty sure it was shortening.  Also threw that out. 

I am at work today, the weekend, making up a bit of time lost to the construction and didn't remember lunch so ordered "to go" from Restaurant G.  Well, 2 out of the 3 items I ordered were in the bag.  I give up.

Which is fine.  I was going to see if I could do all of July cooking from scratch, minus 2 events that are already booked and a possible birthday dinner with a friend that is pending a date.  No "to go" meals or "I can't be bothered" unplanned outings.  Not even treats from the farmers market.   So, probably good that the restaurants are letting me down.  I won't miss them.

Certainly the value for money isn't there other than bringing the builders treats and getting them to keep showing up.

ICWA Upheld by Supreme Court!!!

 I generally avoid politics here but this is a big one.

The Supreme court UPHELD Indian Child Welfare Act.  This is such an important law.  I can't even start on why and how because that is a graduate seminar in history, law, genocide and more.

For the full background, or fuller because there is no way to contain the impacts that this law was meant to correct in a webpage, book or other written material, check out these pages:

Native American Rights Fund

https://narf.org/nill/documents/icwa/index.html  which is HUGE so start here

https://narf.org/nill/documents/icwa/ch1.html

National Indian Child Welfare Association

https://www.nicwa.org/about-icwa/#:~:text=The%20intent%20of%20Congress%20under,%C2%A7%201902).

Excellent Presents Redux

 MORE excellent presents

cash for construction...because "construction"...

Coffee bean sampler! Yay!!! I get to grind and taste compare 9 different coffees.  AND a friend got the same batch so we can be precious coffee princesses together.  I should blog the flavor options.  

I even have an artisanal hand grinder at the office and a french press.  So I can be a coffee dink at the office.  Nice.

And visiting relatives (HI!!) brought me that box of groceries...coffee beans (I just finished the first bag of 3 and it was DELICIOUS!!! I think I have enough for one last cup tomorrow), and other treats all of which I eat like nuts (heh heh...I said 'nuts')

I got a bag of goodies and a free lunch from a friend today...including a new enamelware cup (that might be out of her overstocked cupboard and I do not mind at all) which I will be using for my coffee taste testery.   And I'm sure the chocolates in the bag will go really well with coffee.

All excellent gifts.   I'm wearing undies and sox that were gifts in the past.   (I am also wearing  other clothes, not just undies and sox, that's for later while I'm eating my bday treats while watching Grace and Frankie Season 6 on DVD from the library)

But what did I do as a warm up for my birthday you ask....butchered and canned goats. 

You know, like all the single ladies.

Gertrude Stands Alone...

 4 more chickens went in a day a while back.  Gertrude is the last one alive.  I kept her in the coop for about a week (with plenty of food and water) but could not figure a way to fence out whatever can take chickens that stealthily and leave no trace other than a few feathers.  

I'm not going to build Fort Knox for poultry.  The investment is crazy high and the odds of it working crazy low.  Keeping a chicken strictly inside is not humane.  So, after several days we had a chat, Gertrude and I (I did most of the talking), and I told her she was on her own to be wily and careful.  So far so good!  And she laid a couple of eggs again. She shut down after the trauma of losing 4 companions in a day.

Here's hoping she remains OK but for now, she's living her best hen life.

DAMMIT! ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

 Or rather, another one gotten bitten.

There was a chicken kerfuffle this morning.  This is not odd.  They are chickens.  They kerfuffle every time one of them lays an egg.  And then there is the constant rooster rape.

I eventually looked outside and saw nothing.  So, went back to my breakfast.  I'd let the chickens out, fed them, the usual.  They are free range, not fenced.  

Then, as I went down the hill to the car I see a bunch of feathers!  Red ones.  FROM A GOOD LAYER!  Damn and blast.  I found the carcass.  dead, not gutted, ripped open or anything gross.  Neck snapped.  That is a canine type kill.   Either a neighbor dog or a wild canine.

So, time to fence the chickens in for at least a while I guess. And get a game cam so I know what I'm up against. 

If eggs weren't so expensive I wouldn't mind much losing a free chicken but the finance balance has changed now.