What did you eat today that you picked?

No!!

 

I'll have a cutting from that cake tree, thankyouverymuch. Maybe there's another area of the forum for the other subject(s), just as a matter of interest.

 

Back to the topic.
We have been away for a few days and came home to copious salad leaves and radish in the greenhouse, these and one of last years onions from the shed formed the base of a salad that we had with a quiche that my OH "threw together" as she says!!

 

I have had an aggravating day dealing with the byzantine complaints management at Amazon®™ over some really bad product download - and thus not returnable. swines.

And so I am going to make a chocolate meringue pie to cheer up, hopefully. - I have to go out first and then who knows. But using eggs is a constant objective as chicken keepers know, and my meringue pies use 7 eggs. And they are fanatic.

 

I went out to pick greens last night with a light I had been busy till dark. So I gathered a couple leaves of: broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale, and chard. I pull out the main rib and roughly chop the leaves - boil in a small amount of water - an inch max. Boil longer for tough greens like the broccoli ones. I serve the greens in a ramekin with the liquid and drink it when finished. Greens every day - spring as usual.

In the soup, hot and sour this time with lots of mixed peppers - white carrot and onion from the garden.

 

Mrs picked the first radish today - only about 4 but its the start of it all coming in

 

well I picked from a Chinese take away menu
Beef in a black bean sauce
Barbi ribs
Sweet and sour Chicken
Singapore noodles

Just waiting for the bell to ring and I am gone

 

Hi Spruce - the lack of bees here is pretty chronic. We see big bumble bees, but not honey bees right now. My trees have pollination issues.

Beef in a honey sauce
Barbi honey ribs
Honey and sour Chicken
Singapore noodles with honey.

Could you give me a good honey/meat or fish recipy? I have a pint of honey from the farmers market.

 

I've had rhubarb crumble from my tea (rhubarb from my plot) forced under a dustbin lovely and sweet and tender.
Re Colne's point on threshing etc.I went to work on a farm when I left school,July 1952,we started to harvest about 6 weeks after I started and we worked 7.30 am to dark 9/9.30 pm how I used ti wish for a drop of rain to finish at 5 pm and get a rest. Very hard going you never got a break unless it rained. Then came the threshing days another bad day as you had your normal chores plus threshing. At 16 years old I had to carry corn,Oats 12 st,Barley 16 st wheat 18 st bags.I was never asked if I wanted to do but was told in no uncertain terms,you do it or get down the road.Now I wonder why I have a bad backBut must admit that as you got stronger it was also one of the best ends of a threshing machine to work as all the dust and rubbish was blown down to the back end of the machine.

 

Filey, when I was a child in the Middle East the threshing was done with animals on a pivoting pole right from the Bible

For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn. And, The laborer is worthy of his hire.

This is one of the most important lines, that pay should be fair. When times are rough the inclination when hiring casual lobour is to offer less because many are needing the work........... this bit of the Bible is excellent.

then on any rise, even on roofs, the women would cast the grain in their flat baskets and catch it over and over as the wind winnowed it. I can still see it so clearly. The hardest part began when the grain ripened before mechanization.

And we are having tacos with garden lettuce. Soup again with carrots, broccoli, onions from the garden.

 

These rice paper disks (spring roll wrapper - Vietnam) are a staple of ours. Are they available in England readily? One puts them unto a shallow pan of warm water, holding them to feel the softening and to move them about, 4-5 seconds and they become soft and translucent.

I have a Romaine lettuce leaf (iceberg is hard to roll, other leaf lettuce fine) with brown rice and some meat or fish in a line down the center. Place the wet disk in front of the leaf, slide it onto the now very thin and soft disk and roll it up - it takes practice and a good sized work surface. The rice paper sticks to its self like shrink wrap and makes a spring roll. I have 3, my wife 2 - make them all up just before serving. Then one needs the sliced pickled ginger, wasabi, siriacha hot sauce and peanut sauce (peanut sauce in small ramekin for each with a spoon). Our favorite meat filling is the same as taco filling so a big batch is made then taco one night, spring rolls the next.

peanut sauce - I do not measure because I make it so much and it does not matter - a big spoon of crunchy peanut butter, twice to three times as much water, some hoisin sauce if available or some soy, some sesame oil, some diced candied ginger or fresh ginger chopped, three good sized cloves garlic chopped, 1/3 as much brown sugar as peanut butter. Put in tiny pan and simmer 3 minutes and let cool. It becomes a thickened sauce, all homogenized.

This is one of my very favorite things for lettuce - and the thicker and meatier the lettuce the better - but any works. I do not fold over the ends like the Vietnamese do but let the leaf rib stick out one end and the top be rolled to a taper - it does take some practice, but not near as much as grafting tomatoes.

With tacos I make a big plate of shredded lettuce each and cram the tacos full - then the rest is my salad. Love lettuce as part of the entrée.




These ones have the mung bean threads instead of brown rice which is prettier, but I prefer the rice, I also use Pho, or rice noodles, sometimes.

edit: And coriander leaf! Sprinkle on the roll filling, very authentic. (cilantro in USA)

 

Sorry, missed your reply @colne Sea Beet is a fleshy leafy veg that grows right upto the edge of the sea. Needs cutting back to provide new growth, forms large clumps. I'll see if I can find you some seeds, not available in the shops as far as I know.

 

Is this some exobotany plant?
They would not end up eating my dogs one night would they?