Tag Archive | Chili Pepper Madness

Weather Geeks

Dec21

I’m a weather geek, and I’m grateful for other weather geeks that populate the various weather stations: weather research stations around the globe, weather TV and radio stations, and the backyard home weather stations with citizen science movements like CoCoRaHS, the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network (“because every drop counts”). I keep my TV tuned to Fox Weather because it’s the best weather station available, and every time I turn on to stream something the weather pops up first. Sometimes it’s worth watching for awhile.

And so it happened this afternoon that when I turned on TV to watch my current lunchtime show, I came into the middle of this story. A Fox weather-lady in Philadelphia began knitting temperature blankets a few years ago. She started with a scarf but with a row a day, she pointed out, it soon became too long to be practical. So the next year she knitted a blanket, using just the basic garter stitch. Some of her colleagues hold up the past several years while she holds the current year and explains that it’s become a trend, and you can even buy a temperature blanket kit now. The man just off screen on the right is wearing the 365-row scarf. Unfortunately, they’re not standing in chronological order and I lost track of which year was which.

I was tickled rainbow to see this creative interpretation of temperature data, and wanted to see more, but a quick internet search didn’t give up the goods. Oh well. I think it’s a fine idea, and I might just buy some yarn to start one New Year’s Day. Obviously, I’ll need a lot of red.

Meanwhile, crab cakes, anyone? Growing up, I never liked them though everyone else in my family did. But the last few times I visited Auntie, who lived in crab country along the Chesapeake Bay, I tried crab cakes a couple of times when we ate out, and they were pretty good. I had some frozen fake crab that I bought for a recipe awhile ago, but then I lost track of that recipe. But that crab-flavored fish in the freezer started whispering a craving to me a couple of weeks ago, and then I found the perfect recipe to try, sweet potato crab cakes.

So last night I mashed up some baked sweet potato with breadcrumbs, fresh parsley, and everything else, and fried them a few at a time. They were pretty good, but they did not taste much like crab. For one thing, their main ingredient is fish. How do they get crab flavor, anyway? I don’t really want to know. For another thing, the fake crab fish was pretty tough and hard to break up into smaller chunks without getting out the food processor. But the sweet potato in there was genius, and the flavor was good with the spices I used, which of course varied a bit from the directions.

But give me a blob of tasty protein fried to a golden crisp to dip into a delicious sauce, and I’m happy. And grateful. I pirated the sauce outline from Chili Pepper Madness’s crab cake recipe. I’ll definitely make these again, but next time I’ll use canned crab as called for in the sweet potato recipe, since fresh isn’t a viable option in my landlocked homestead. This will entail some research to determine what the best canned crab is based first on environmental and ethical criteria, then flavor and quality reviews, and finally availability. We’ll know more later!

I ate three last night, froze four, and put two in the fridge for me and the one I burnt for Wren. As I drifted off to sleep last night, I imagined my lunch today: a crab cake broken into a spinach tortilla, wrapped up with cheese and avocado, and heated, with leftover sauce on the side. It was delicious! I have one more for tomorrow, and I’ll spread some leftover sweet potato in there too. I’m grateful for playing with my food.

Good Food

Jul6

Last night our internet was down so I couldn’t post. I’m making up for it today with a catch-up on the week’s food. I could just say I’m thankful for food, but I am especially grateful for good food: food that has been grown organically, or prepared with care, or is extra tasty or nutritious, or comes from my own garden. This popcorn doesn’t come from the garden, but is organic, and was extra tasty. I craved kettle corn, a delicacy which I was introduced to late in life so haven’t had much of. And where am I gonna get it after dark around here except my own kitchen?

I’ve tried it just a few times, popping as usual on the stovetop, tossing with melted butter, salt and brown sugar, but the salt and sugar always fall to the bottom. A few nights ago, I made it and thought to melt the brown sugar in with the butter in ‘the right tool for the job,’ this beautiful and functional Dansk butter melter. It worked great! I just had to make sure to take it off the heat before it caramelized, and have the popcorn ready shortly after. So simple, so delicious!

The next day, something a little more healthy, red beans without the rice. I used these wonderful heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo, and modified a vegetarian red bean recipe from the same site with a little bit of smoked paprika, maple syrup, and Dijon mustard.

And tonight’s snack, fresh snow peas from the garden, sweet potato noodles, with a Thai peanut sauce from Mike Hultquist at Chili Pepper Madness. Making great use of that last quarter cup of peanut butter in the jar, and cleaning out the jar at the same time. I’m grateful for good food.

I’m not the only one eating well around here! The phoebes continue to spill out of their nest with all the growing they’re doing, from all the bugs that the garden provides. There are still four chicks, as far as I can tell. I’m trying not to pester them too much so only taking a few shots each day. Below, mama delivers a fat grasshopper…

… and then she cleans up! What an amazing system they have: not every time, but often enough after she feeds a chick it turns around and pops out a clean white pellet for her to catch and carry away.

Heat

Nov5

Today started with me massively over-sleeping, and of course I’m grateful for the ability to oversleep when I know so many people who can’t sleep through the night. I’m grateful that my first zoom of the day friend was gracious and understanding when I was half an hour late. I’m grateful for ample firewood so I don’t feel the need to scrimp on a chilly grey morning, and Wren is grateful for a thick cotton rug on the hearth. Today is the first time she’s stretched out in front of the woodstove, and I’m grateful she’s comfortable to do so. I’m grateful for a quiet Saturday to rest, read, and catch up in the kitchen.

I’m grateful that my strategies for salvaging the two Datil pepper plants worked, and I was able to harvest enough ripe Datil peppers to make this delicious hot sauce recipe from Chili Pepper Madness, with homemade tomato sauce and paprika, honey, garlic powder, and apple cider vinegar. It was crazy to choose to grow Datil peppers–they’re a St. Augustine, FL, specialty, and I might have known they’d need far longer to mature than the growing season here. I may not try to grow them again for that reason, but I sure am glad I tried them this year. After simmering the ingredients for about 25 minutes, I blended them and got two squeeze bottles full of a fruity spicy sauce, with a touch of sweetness. I’m grateful for shedding the label I gave myself decades ago of ‘can’t handle the heat.’ I can handle a little bit more heat today than yesterday, and more yesterday than the week before. And it’s been fun and fascinating to grow all these different hot peppers this summer, and play with how to use or preserve them.