My New Favorite Pepper in the Garden

We eat a lot of peppers at our house.  Now, I don't grow the super-hot varieties.  I don't like the peppers that make you sweat and your nose run.  Jalapenos are about the top of the Scoville Scale for my liking, and I do love jalapenos.  I don't do habaneros or definitely not ghost peppers or Carolina reapers.  Mainly the varieties we grow in abundance are: Anaheim, Jalapenos, Sweet Bell (several varieties), Banana and now, my new favorite: Shishitos!  Shishito peppers originate in East Asia and this year is the first year to add this variety to my pepper roster.

Shishitos grow quickly and produce abundantly.  I'm picking peppers about every three days or so.  Here is a little mess of shishito peppers that I picked.  You'll notice from the photo below that I like to leave the long stem on each pepper, if possible.  I'll show you our favorite way to cook them.

We get a cast iron skillet heating up on the stovetop with coconut oil in the bottom of the pan.  While that's getting hot, I drizzle olive oil on top of the shishito peppers and shake to make sure the oil has coated all the peppers.  By now there's smoke coming from the skillet and it's time to pour the peppers in.  You'll hear a lot of sizzling and some smoke will rise, so turn the vent hood on.  We usually put a cover on the skillet to keep the heat in and stop the oil from popping and making a huge mess in the kitchen.  We keep shaking the skillet to keep the peppers moving.  You'll notice than the peppers are starting to blister and char.  This is exactly what you want.  Now, pour the peppers into a serving bowl.

At this time salt the peppers real good and cut a lime in half, squeezing the juice onto the peppers.  We also like to add chunks of bleu cheese (the recipe calls for cotija cheese), and I'm sure grated parmesan would be good as well.

Put a cover on the serving dish and shake real good to distribute the salt, lime juice and cheese evenly.

And now it's time to devour them.  They are not spicy - the just have a nice taste and make a good side dish for most any meal.  They have become a family favorite and were a key part of our Independence Day BBQ.

Replacing Old Glory

We fly the Stars & Stripes in front of our home every day - not just on Independence Day.  We love our country.  Is it perfect?  No, but it is the greatest country on earth.  Why?  Because of its people and because our Founders (who were not perfect people, but who is? I certainly miss the mark by a very wide margin), set up a system based on Judeo-Christian values, that has no comparison in the world.  If we are so greatly flawed, why to people continually flock to our shores to be a part of this great experiment in freedom?  The following quote has been falsely attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville, but regardless who said it, I think it is true:

“Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the greatness and genius of America. America is great because America is good. If America ever ceases to be good America will cease to be great.”

Our flag, due to display in inclement weather, heat and cold, and the ravages of the sun, is ragged and worn, not unlike the flag in our National Anthem.  Ours doesn't have cannon ball holes in it fortunately.  But each morning when we wake and look out by the 'dawn's early light,' She's still there.  But She needs replacing.  It's shameful and unpatriotic to continue displaying the flag like this.

So earlier this week, I passed by a store and turned in.  I wanted to purchase a new flag to fly on Independence Day.

After getting my purchase home and beginning to take it out of the package, I noticed something that might be indicative of some of our problems in our country.  

Our American Flag.  Made in China.  I'm sure that there are American Flags made in America.  I hope they are.  I should have checked before leaving the store.  I want to support American workers.  Anyway, back at home, I took the old flag down and folded it as I was taught in Boy Scouts (RIP).  Tricia was out so I folded it by myself.  The final product wasn't as crisp as I'd been taught or as I taught my scouts.  My old scoutmaster would be disappointed in me.  I'd have to fold it again and again until I got it right.

I unfurled the new flag and displayed it as the other worn flag.  The colors were sharper and brighter.  There were no frayed, tattered edges as the old one had.  I felt a resurgence of pride and patriotism in what our flag stands for.  Freedom is so important.  Free people often take it for granted.  I never want to take it for granted.

In the photo above you can see a puddle of water beneath the column.  I'll tell you what that's all about.  When getting on a ladder to hang the new flag, I noticed a wasp nest about the size of a silver dollar with four nervous and aggressive wasps discussing amongst themselves where they were going to sting me when I got atop the ladder.  Not today, my friends.  I walked inside and got a small sauce pan of water boiling and added Dawn dishwashing liquid to it.  When it was appropriately hot, I took it off the fire and stirred it up.  Walking outside I sloshed the hot, soapy concoction up toward the wasp nest, covering it.  The four wasps fell to their deaths unceremoniously as I set the pan down and hung Old Glory.

The next project was to determine how to retire the worn flag.  You can burn it.  I didn't want to do that.  You can bury it.  I didn't want to do that either.  As it turns out, the Southwest Louisiana Veterans Home is in our town.  It is a nice place that treats our veterans with dignity and respect.  The place is immaculate and the workers love the residents.  I drove there down an avenue of flags that gently waved in the humid, summer air.

Right by the entrance there is a drop box for retired flags.  I deposited ours in the box.

Out with the old and in with the new.  I love America, and I'll continue to fly Old Glory.  She'll never come down and no other flag will replace her.  May God bless America!

One Man's Trash...

In a post in the not-too-distant past, I wrote about some tomato starts that came up volunteer in some seed pots that I grew French Sorrel in.  The seeds must have been in the soil that I reused from back in January when I started the spring tomatoes.  Today I re-potted them so they won't have to compete with the sorrel for nutrients.  Now they have their own pots to grow in.  There's nine of them in all.

Because they kind of came up on their own, I don't know the varieties.  It'll be a little mystery until they fruit in the fall.  Hopefully they are Black Krims or Cherokee Purple.  They are healthy little plants

I wanted to show you a little something that I found in the yard day before yesterday when I was mowing.  It was a big spoon.  Someone tossed it in the front yard.  Who does that?  Were they eating a bowl of cereal and milk, finished up, and tossed the spoon out of the window?  Who knows?  I got off the lawn mower and picked it up.  I'd hate to run over it.  I put it in the cup holder, meaning to throw it away.

But the more I thought about it, the spoon had promise.  The spoon would be my new garden tool - something perfect for transplanting seedlings without cutting the roots.  It just needed some alteration to make it more ergonomic.  The 'gift' spoon had some sharp edges that wouldn't be comfortable on the hand while digging, but I can fix that!

I cut one of the sleeves off of an old t-shirt and wrapped it tightly around the top of the handle.  You might call it a cushion.  Then I wrapped some duct tape around and around it until covered up the t-shirt.  Now, I just needed to give it a test drive.  It superbly uprooted the tomato seedlings from around the roots of the French Sorrel and dug a hole in the soil where I was to plant it.

It felt good in the hand and worked good for my little task.  I think I'll keep it.

I've heard it said that some people are born with silver spoons in their mouths.  It isn't quite that way with most.  Sometimes we have cheap spoons thrown away in our front yard and we learn that we can find a way to turn one man's trash into another man's treasure.  Maybe I can patent my new Garden Spoon design?

Tea Time

Wouldn't you know that we just finished talking about how we enjoy coffee and now we have a post on tea?  As a youngster, I loved sweet tea, the sweeter the better.  Lately, when I go to a restaurant, I've gotten into the habit of asking for half and half (Half sweet and half regular).  Today we're making tea at home.  We have lots of herbs growing: Lemon balm, mint, French sorrel, oregano, basil, fennel, rosemary.  Most of those are growing in the garden or in our little raised bed herb garden back by the bees.  We do have some lemon balm and mint on the back patio, though, and that's what we'll be making our tea from today.

I picked 50 lemon balm leaves...

And then picked 50 mint leaves to add to our herb harvest...  The honeybees were really active over by the herbs.  Their buzzing was loud, and they were all congregated on the side of the four bee boxes.  I got what I needed and got out of there.  

First, I washed up the leaves and then sort of rolled them up together and cut them up.  I bruised the leaves themselves with the back of the knife, thinking that would release some of the oils from the leaves.

I got 8 cups of filtered water boiling on the stove.

Then I poured the hot water over the crushed lemon balm and mint.  I bent my head down and smelled the steam coming off the fresh herbs.  So lemony and minty!

I gave it a good stir and covered it with a plate to let it steep for about 10 minutes.

Then I poured it through a sieve and into a pitcher and set it on the window sill while we went to Wednesday night prayer meeting.

I would assume that fresh, hot, brewed lemon balm/mint tea would be great on a cold day, but the heat index outside today is 101 degrees Fahrenheit.  Hot tea just isn't in the cards, so I let the tea cool off completely and put the pitcher in the ice box.  I poured a glass of lemon balm/mint tea over ice and garnished with mint leaves:

VERY refreshing on a sweltering summer day!  If I had one change to make, I would make it stronger.  Next time, I'll cut the water down to four cups instead of eight while using the same amount of herbs.

The New Coffee Bar

My Mom & Dad aren't real big coffee drinkers.  They enjoy hot tea.  We keep an assortment of teas when they come to visit.  Mom likes Raspberry Zinger.  Growing up, my Grandparents drank coffee.  I can remember spending the night at their house and waking up to the delicious smell of coffee percolating.  At my maternal grandparents, they drank Seaport Coffee Between Medium and Dark Roast.  At my paternal grandparents, it was Community Coffee Dark Roast.  Each had a distinctive aroma.  We would make what we'd call "coffee milk."  That's where you pour half a cup of coffee and half a cup of milk along with a couple of tablespoons of sugar.  It was so good!  At the end of the cup you'd hold the cup up to allow the not dissolved sugar to drip into your mouth.

My wife and I enjoy a cup (or three) of coffee.  I am in charge of making the coffee.  The coffee machine is near the stove and when I make it at night to set for the morning coffee, I find myself quite often incurring the wrath of my bride because I get in her way in the kitchen.  There's an old saying that says, "If you can't stand the heat, get outta the kitchen."  That became my goal in life, so I began on a project.

If you've read the blog for any time, you know I like re-purposing old things.  In fact, there's no joy like the joy of finding a use for something that you've set aside (for years) thinking that you might need it in the future.  Well, when we installed a ceiling fan in my office, we removed the old fixture and I set it aside for "later use."

Here's where things start coming together.  In our den we have an armoire where our TV and stereo sits.  We don't watch much TV and the armoire is a big bulky piece of furniture.  Perhaps we could move it to the kitchen and turn it into a coffee bar!  That's just what we did:

I hung the old fixture to the top of the armoire and screwed some plywood to the back.  Tricia picked out some rustic/vintage looking tile and we had it affixed to the plywood on the back.

And here is a shot of our new (old) coffee bar!:

It sits in our kitchen, welcoming coffee drinkers and has enabled me to abide on the outskirts of the kitchen away from the triangle work stations of the refrigerator, sink and stove.  Coffee is set to begin brewing at about 6 AM sharp tomorrow morning.  After morning milking, we'll sit and drink coffee and read the Bible.  It is a perfect way to start the day!

Big Brunch in a Little Town

Our oldest son, Russ, invited us to go eat brunch at a restaurant in the little town of Arnaudville, LA.  The population of Arnaudville is 999.  You read that right.  But it this small town, they have a big-time restaurant.  It's called The little BIG Cup.  We arrived around 10 AM anxious to enjoy a great meal with family in a neat locale.

We decided to get the breakfast brunch.  The menu is unbelievable.  I'll list what we got:

Chicken and Smoked Sausage Gumbo
Fresh Baked Buttermilk Biscuits with white sausage gravy

Fresh fruit, garden salad

Creme brulee French Toast

Egg Frittata

Applewood Smoked Bacon

Breakfast sausage

Stone ground grits

Praline Chicken & Waffles

Pork Butt and Smoked sausage jambalaya

Pork backbone stew

Pork ribs

Fried hog cracklins

boudin

hot coffee

Did we ever eat!  You are looked at two satisfied diners!

The restaurant is in a very old building and it sits on the banks of Bayou Teche.  It is landscaped and decorated very nicely.  There are even tables to eat outside on the patio/dock.

I guess if you wanted to, you could paddle your pirogue, working up your appetite and tie up on the dock and go eat a great meal.  

After we had eaten and had a real nice visit and taken in all the sights and sounds of Arnaudville, Louisiana, it was time to head back home.

What a special morning spent with some of the special people in my life!  I'd highly recommend making reservations at Little Big Cup.  Bring the special people in your life and bring a big appetite!

The Dairy Daily Diary

Tonight I'll bring you up to date with what's going on with the milking operations at Our Maker's Acres Family Farm.  We're milking one cow (LuLu) and two goats.  We drink all we can and sell the rest.  Despite the high heat LuLu, our Jersey cow, yields rich milk, high in butterfat.  Look at the cream line in that gallon jar of milk!  The cream rises to the top and almost a third of it is heavy cream - perfect for butter or whipped cream, excellent in coffee or for making ice cream.

I walked out in the pasture in the late afternoon.  Cows aren't super smart, but they aren't super dumb most of the time, either.  Notice how Rosie and Elsie are grazing in the shade.  They follow the shade out and wait until the shadows lengthen before they move on out.  Belle is guarding her charge, too.

LuLu is grazing by herself, but she's following the same protocol.  She'll move on out as the shadows lengthen.

Here is Rosie in the foreground.  She is 18 years old!  She is the first Jersey calf born on our property.  She was a champion show cow in her time and gave us many wonderful calves over the years.  Her time is getting short, however, and we'll have to make some hard decisions soon.

Here's Elsie.  She's a bossy beast, if there ever was one.  She is still a heifer.  She should have calved two years ago.  We had the veterinarian come and check her out when she never got pregnant.  He found a cyst on her ovary and got rid of it.  She was going into heat every cycle, but still never got pregnant.  She's a fat, good looking Jersey, but if she's only going to eat and not give us calves and milk, well... the clock is ticking for you Elsie, girl.  The pressure is on.

We'll see.  We haven't seen her go in heat for the last several cycles and Tricia seems to think her udder is showing some changes.  Is hope on the horizon for this heifer?  Funny, I pray every single morning that our cows get pregnant.  As I said, we'll see...

And this is LuLu.  I call her LuLu Boofaloo.  She has been in milk now for two years come July.  That's a long time to be milking a cow.  We need a break and she does too.  We plan on drying her off on July 4th.  Independence Day (in more ways than one.)  We've seen her milk production really fall off.  It could be the heat or the time in milk, but it could be that she's bred, too.  We will find out in due time.

Here is the bull.  Nicky.  He's a registered Jersey like Rosie, Elsie, and LuLu.  He, hopefully, has planted his fertile seed.  When the girls had not gotten pregnant, I had talked to a neighbor down the road.  He has a Holstein Jersey cross.  He wants to trade me his bull for Nicky.  That way we'd learn if Nicky is "hot" or fertile.  Introducing a bull with Holstein would make calves with more volume.  Holsteins give more milk, but Jerseys give richer milk.  I'm thinking we'll just keep Nicky, but if he's not going to be successful in his breeding endeavors, we'll make necessary adjustments.  We send our bulls to be processed to fill our freezer and it's pretty empty right now.

The pasture is holding up pretty good right now, thanks to the lime Dad and I broadcast in the early spring as well as the wonderful rains we have been getting.  Cows head down is something you like to see.  Later, when they sit, chewing their cud, you know they are happy creatures.

That's gonna be a wrap in the Dairy Daily Diary.  

Putting up Salsa

Growing up, we ate a lot of ketchup - on french fries, on fish sticks, you name it, we poured ketchup on it. In 1991 something happened, sales of salsa in American households overtook ketchup, and we've never looked back.  Today, we don't even have a bottle of ketchup in the house, although there are a few packs of it in the fridge leftover from the few times that we go to fast food restaurants.

When we have a decent tomato crop (we didn't last year), we try to put up some salsa in pint jars.  We grow a wide variety of heirloom tomatoes: Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, Pink Brandywine, Organic Rainbow Blend, Black Tomatoes, Creole, Chadwick Cherry, Mortgage Lifter and Black Vernissage.  My two favorites are probably Black Krim and Chadwick Cherry.  They give us a nice mix of colors and flavors that go well in salsa.

We chopped onions, grated garlic, sliced up a bunch of cilantro and diced jalapenos, anaheims, and hot banana peppers:

We blanch the tomatoes and slice the skins off and cut out the cores.

Here's a big bowl of just blanched tomatoes.  You can see the skins are wrinkled and ready to be removed.

All the cut up tomatoes and vegetables are thrown in a big pot.

I wish you could smell this as it starts to cook.  We have so much in the pot, we keep a close eye on it as we don't want it boiling over!

We ladle the salsa in the pints with a canning funnel and can the pints of salsa following the canning instructions and then pull them out.  We set them on a towel and listen intently for the crisp "POP!" as each one seals.  When the last one seals, our job is done.  17 jars for the first batch.

It's beautiful salsa from homegrown ingredients.

How fast will 17 jars disappear?