Tomato Vines Loaded with Green Fruit: Heirloom "Costoluto Genovese"

I have only picked a couple of ripe tomatoes so far, but the vines are all full of green fruit. This variety I grew from seed that I bought from Park Seed. They are called "Costoluto Genovese", an Italian heirloom tomato that is supposed have an intense flavor that makes them good for canning and sauce. I love the lobed shapes on these! 

I planted many different varieties, and in the first planting I had a nice chart of which were where. But after they all froze to death and I had to scurry to replant, I didn't track placement. So until they ripen, it is hard to tell which is which. These Genovese ones are unmistakeable though. 

Homemade Sweet Cherry Ice Cream: First Freeze of Summer Fresh Fruit

 I know it isn't quite Summer yet, but it is here since I have made the first batch of homemade ice cream. It is cherry season, at least in those places where they grow cherries. Central Texas doesn't get cold enough and gets too hot for the quaint stone fruit, so this is something we must import from places like.... New Mexico*, which I think of as close enough to be almost local.  Anyway, whereever they come from, fresh cherries are abundant and relatively inexpensive right now.

I found a bargain on some that were past their prime, and had been drastically discounted. For ice cream, we want them cut into quarters rather than halves, plus they need to be fully ripe, so this is a good use for imperfect fruit that has reached full flavor. The necessity of tiny pieces of fully ripe fruit I discovered last year when I made the mistake of using commercially frozen peaches in large chunks. They froze so hard that they were not pleasant to eat.

My recipe is a custard-type. It uses egg yolks and is cooked. This makes a luscious, rich ice cream with just the right amount of body. Mema used flour to thicken hers, but I never liked that, I prefer the smoothness of the eggs. The fact that we can buy yard eggs with golden yolks from our neighbor's happy hens is a bonus.

It takes a little practice to learn how to make a custard. There isn't really any secret, just have to be whisking the eggs really fast while pouring a stream of the hot milk into the eggs to "temper" them, then whisk the hot milk really fast while you pour the tempered egg yolk back into the pot and finish cooking. Until you get the hang of it, pour the whole cooked batch through a strainer when it is cooked. That will remove any "scrambled eggs". Eventually you won't need that step any longer.

*(*THINK FOR YOURSELF TIP O' THE DAY: I won't go into the politics of the northwestern state fruit growers and the unreported twists in a lot of the mess our domestic food and immigration policies are in but it is something worth researching sometime. Hint: you will learn a lot if you read news from about 1995 through 2005 on sites sympathetic to Migrant Labor, Fruit Growers, etc. )

Now without further ado, on with the recipe!
 

Fresh Cherry Ice Cream
Makes about 1 1/2 Quarts

1 1/4 Cup Sugar
2 Cups Whole Milk or Half and Half
5 Egg Yolks (freeze the whites to use for meringue)
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Heavy Cream (Whipping Cream)
2 Cups Cherries, pitted and coarsely chopped (about 1 1/2 pounds)

Pit and chop the cherries, stir in 1/4 cup of sugar and set aside until the end.

Scald the milk in a 2 quart saucepan ("scald" means heat to steaming but do not boil).

Whisk the egg yolks and 1 cup of sugar in a mixing bowl.  Temper the yolks by pouring about half the hot milk in a thin stream while whisking the egg yolks very fast. I like to use a pyrex measuring cup for this, just dip it out (careful not to burn yourself) and pour. Makes it easier to keep whisking if you don't have someone to help you.  A stand mixer is also a good helper for this task - it can be beating the eggs whilst you pour.

Then pour the tempered egg yolks back into the rest of the milk while whisking the milk. Cook and stir, to prevent boiling, for 3 or 4 minutes until the mixture has thickened some. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temp. It is at this stage that you can strain it if you wish. 

After the custard has cooled, add the heavy cream and the vanilla extract.

Freeze in your ice cream freezer, following manufacturer's directions. Pay special attention to the need for salt in the freezing process - it is the salt that lowers the temperature below that of ice alone to enable freezing.

When the custard is frozen, remove the dasher and fold in the cherries. At this stage, I transfer my ice cream to freezer containers and put them in the chest freezer. If you want to finish the freezing in your ice cream maker, leave the canister set in the ice, remove the lid and the dasher, stir in the cherries then replace the lid securely, fill the whole bucket with more ice and salt, cover with a towel and let it sit for an hour or two until you are ready to serve, adding more ice as necessary.

I used to use a hand-cranked freezer, but last year I bought an electric one - mainly because my little manual one was not large enough. The electric one seems to take longer to freeze, but since I am not powering it that doesn't hurt! :-)

Enjoy!


About the photo:  Fresh Cherry Ice Cream gets pride of place for its picture in my great grandmother's Pink Cherry Blossom Depression Glass. Big Granddaddy gave this set to Big Grandmother for one of their anniversaries, and I inherited it from her.   Isn't that vintage spoon adorable? It says "Betty Lou" on the handle, and is Carlton Silverplate. I have a funny little collection of figural spoons. I'll take pictures and show them here sometime.

Taste of Summer: Hand Cranked Mango Ice Cream

 The grandkids and I made a tiny batch of ice cream when they were here - they wanted to test drive my little garage sale find of an ice cream maker that has a bowl you put in the deep freeze, with a handle on top to turn the paddles. It works great! Very speedy and not much effort required. The only trouble is that it doesn't hold much, so it is only useful for a couple of servings.

The recipe I used was a keeper for sure: Mango Ice Cream! YUM!  Our church had a picnic gathering on Wednesday evening for Independence Day and I made a large batch to take. It was a big hit.

This recipe is for a half gallon (2 quarts), but you can divide it by four and make as little as 2 pints successfully. It is smooth, creamy, rich - and makes Husband-King Paul swoon! :-)

Mango Ice Cream

4 ripe mangoes
3 cups sugar
Juice of 2 large limes (4 tablespoons)
4 cups whole milk
10 egg yolks
2 cups heavy cream (whipping cream)

Peel and cube the mangoes into small pieces and place in a glass or ceramic bowl (not a metal one - the acids would react). Squeeze the limes into the bowl with the mangoes, add 1 cup of sugar and stir. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, about an hour.

Separate the eggs and freeze the whites to use later for meringue. I used the fresh country eggs we buy locally, and the rich yolks are wonderful in ice cream.

Stir the yolks and 2 cups of sugar together in a mixing bowl.

Pour the milk into a large pan and "scald" it - this means to get it hot but not simmering or boiling. It should just be steaming.

Whisking constantly (or use an electric mixer), pour the hot milk into the eggs. Be sure to whisk the eggs without stopping so they won't turn into scrambled eggs! It helps to have two people at this step. Or use your stand mixer if you have one. 

Whisk all of the milk into the eggs, then pour it all back into the pan, and keep stirring over medium heat for 4 minutes, until it has thickened slightly. Stir constantly and don't allow it to boil.

Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

When cool, combine with the fruit mixture and the whipping cream. Chill overnight and freeze in an ice cream freezer. When well-frozen, remove the ice cream to a storage container and place in the deep freeze for several hours until frozen hard. It may need to be stirred once or twice during that time.

My little ice cream freezer only does a quart at a time so it took two rounds of cranking to get it all made. Since the custard was chilled, it only took me about 15 minutes of churning per quart. I used one bag of ice and about half a box of rock salt: keep adding more ice and salt as it melts down. The salt makes the ice colder, thus it freezes faster.

I worked outside in the cool of the morning and it was really nice: lovely memories of "helping" Nandy freeze the ice cream when we were kids, and anticipation of the upcoming 4th of July events made the time go by in a dreamy hour. Would that all mornings could start so sweetly!

Computer Failure and Summer Pleasantries

My trusty Dell Inspiron lies comatose, due to hard drive failure. It is 6 years old, so unlikely that we'll have it repaired. I'm going to ask Devin to look at it, and if it is costly to fix, he can have it for parts. There go all my bookmarks, photos, blog notes. C'est la vie. We won't replace it soon, there are more important priorities. For the time being, Paul is letting me share his computer - which is also our tv source.

So blogging will be lighter, but will not disappear. This blog has done well as an outlet for me and I enjoy my readers and the friends I've made through it.  I'll simply be posting once a week instead of 2 to 3 times. Maybe the quality will improve! Ha! :-)  Anyway, thanks for reading and for continuing to follow along. In the meantime, feel free to visit our sponsors.   :-)

It's actually been pleasant to be without a laptop.  At Paul's urging, I've resumed an old hobby, making costume jewelry and stringing beads - and making beads. When we met, I sold my jewelry in a couple of shops and did shows, but had let the hobby fall to the wayside long ago. Expect to see some pieces here at some point.

I've also been working on a big project that has been sitting and waiting for a couple of years: a tiny Cardinal travel trailer, vintage late 1960s. It had been gutted and I guess used as a food cart or something so it was a real mess! We aren't "restoring" it as such, but making it liveable as a secure place to sleep. Whereever we camp will certainly have "facilities" with showers and clean toilets, thank you very much! I am a big fan of hot water and indoor plumbing even when roughing it.  Paul shored up the inside and got the tags on and will take care of the electrics. My brother in law is going to paint the outside of it for us when we get to that point. Yesterday I finished the second coat of paint on the interior and now I'm searching for curtain material. It needs to have a touch of the avocado green of the naugahyde cushions, have a little blue, either  beachy, tropical or mid-century modern pattern. I lost the "before" pics on my computer, but I'll put up some "in progress" ones soon.

Yesterday morning after I got off work, we went to Cross Plains Texas to Robert E. Howard Days (aka Barbarian Days). I've been wanting to go to that since I first heard about it but something always interfered. We toured the author's house, bought various bits of Conan the Barbarian comic art, took pictures (I'll add them in a later post), and went to the Barbarian Festival. Cross Plains has a great, oak-shaded park for this kind of event. It was cool and comfortable. Live music, great Fair food, free watermelon and neat tshotshkes. One book I bought was "Lone Scout of Letters", the collected correspondence of Herbert C. Klatt, who died at 21 on 1928. Not only for those interested in Boy Scouts history, the Lone Scout organization, or the history of amateur journalism, the book also gives a glimpse into the life of a teenaged boy in rural Texas in the early part of the last century. 


We'll pick up the grandkids today to come spend a week or two. They are older, and they come each summer to help with the community Vacation Bible School. They always have a lot of fun, and we are so happy to have them. 

Now, off to church. Dinner on the ground and baptisms this afternoon, as more people answer Jesus' call to "Come, follow me."   


God bless you this Sunday, and through your week!

31 Things to Do With The Grandkids (Even Teenagers) This Summer

 Summer is nearly here. Time for the Grands - even if they are "old" teens - to come and visit! Don't wait for them to invite themselves - call and ask their parents when they can come spend a few days with you.

You don't need to spend much money to entertain them. Most of the things you will do with them are so new to the kids it will be an adventure even if it is something you do daily. Even busy schedules will have a few free days or a long weekend sometime in the summer. You will be tired when they leave but you will never regret it - and they will remember the time their whole lives.

Here are some of the things we've done on school breaks or in the Summer:

Take them to church. Doesn't matter if they don't bring dress clothes - kids don't dress up for church now anyway!

Hang a porch swing for them to swing in.

 Go bowling with them!
 

 Take them to Dairy Queen for Banana Splits and Blizzards.

Give them colored pencils and paper and let them make Get Well cards or Birthday Cards.

Learn to bake together.

Eat German food!

They never get too old for Legos. Don't get rid of those plastic bricks - watch how quickly they pull them out and start building with them again.

Let them give the dogs a bath!

Let them sub at your Bunco night!

Take them volunteering with you.

Go to the Zoo!

Show them the old family pictures.

Take them with you to get an accupuncture treatment!

Let them have some free time to find their own things to do around the house.

Take them fishing!

Take them to an antique shop. Or a gift shop. But don't buy anything - just look at stuff and talk about it with them.

Try on hats!

 Introduce them to a baby donkey!

Let them drill holes in stuff.

See if Vacation Bible School needs volunteers - Two of ours come every year for a week just to go to the community Vacation Bible School. Cade and other older boys help with outdoor games for the little kids, and Bre helps by keeping the babies in the nursery.

Teach them to dance! (ok we didn't do this one but if I knew how to dance I would!)

Take them to see local talent perform at the Coffee House. 

 Show them your favorite old movies!

Take them to the flea market, or an auction.

Buy them cheap light-up sunglasses.

Take them to see their ancestor's graves.

Get them to move the wood pile for you and bite your tongue when they start chasing lizards - let them do it!

Teach them about Doodle Bugs.

 Go for a walk!

Give them lots of hugs!

They might even leave you a little love note. :-)

Trying To Fight It: 62 New Fires, 2 Dead, 500+ Homes Burned Since Yesterday

 (Photo a reader-submited picture by@calebthefox via Twitter to the Austin Statesman Reader Wildfire Photos Gallery: http://galleries.statesman.com/gallery/reader-wildfire-photos/#217883) Sunday, September 4, 2011 (updated on 9/05/2011 at 6:15 p.m.) 

Merv at Prairie Pundit, reports that Governor Perry returned to Texas because of the terrible fires that have burned more than 500 homes and killed two since yesterday, forcing him to cancel his plans to take part in the DeMint Palmetto Freedom Forum.

[9/6/11 Update: Losses have climbed to at least 1,000 homes burned to the ground as of this morning.  And the fire still burns.]

While Texas has fought fires constantly all summer, major fires that erupted yesterday in Travis & Bastrop Counties are threatening Austin's environs - Bastrop is commuting distance from Austin, as are Cedar Park, Spicewood Springs, and other areas being discussed in news reports. This is the heart of "the Hill Country" of fame and legend. In East Texas,  fires caused the deaths of two people yesterday.
 
Here is a link to Austin Statesman Reader Photos of the fires.  There are some really terrifying shots among these - and some that make very clear how dire the situation is. 

The Texas Forest Service updates can be found here. This page is usually updated each night, to reflect the previous day's information.

Links to information & a video about the massive blazes known as "fire storms" can be found at Texasfirestorm.org. 

Here is a link to a Wild Fire Map (via About.com) from the USDA Active Fire Mapping Program that is updated regularly to show wildfires for the whole United States. As you can see at the time of posting, Texas is on fire.

The InciWeb Fact Sheet on Texas Wild Fires can be found here. The stats updated as of half an hour ago include these sobering numbers:

Total fires in Texas since Nov. 15, 2010: 20,906

Total acres burned in Texas since Nov. 15, 2010: 3,601,775

(exceeds previous record of 2,105,361 acres set in 2005-2006)

Fires in Texas in 2011: 18,887

Fires nationally in 2011: 55,477

Proportion of total national fires in 2011 that have occurred in Texas: 34 percent

Acres burned in Texas in 2011: 3,538,852

Acres burned nationally in 2011: 7,213,113

Proportion of total national acres that have burned in Texas: 49 percent

Ten-year U.S. national average acres burned: 5,863,193 acres/year

Six of the 10 largest wildfires in Texas history occurred in 2011.

Total Aviation Hours: 13,577.05 (As of 9/5/11)

Total aviation drops: 40,950

Gallons of fire retardant dropped: 4,856,080

Gallons of water dropped: 20,851,869

Most flight hours recorded in a single day: 238.39 (20 June 2011)

Most gallons of water and retardant dropped in a single day: 1,188,883 (1 Sept 2011)

(Note: All air operation figures are from 21 Dec. 2010, when record-keeping began.)

Texas counties where Texas Forest Service has fought wildfires: 199 of 254

Homes and structures saved since November 15, 2010: 45,359

Homes saved: 29,055

Homes and structures lost since November 15, 2010: 3,523

Homes lost: 1,091

Record number of homes lost in Texas history on a single fire: 476 homes lost on the Bastrop County Complex Fire on Sept. 4 and 5, 2011.

Sarah Palin Goes To The Fair: Inspiration From the Original Midwest Bus Tour

Via Texans for Sarah Palin:




America is the most awesome country! Thank you, Sarah Palin, for telling anyone who wants to listen just how great our everyday world is in the USA.

RAIN!!!!! HALLELUJAH!!!

"The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none." Deuteronomy 28:12

Radar Map via WFAA.com 


We are receiving the loveliest rain today  through a large swath of Northern and Central Texas.
Thank you Father God for sending the rain to water the land! We are grateful for your bounty.

This follows on Thursday's (Aug 11) West Texas rain, when San Angelo received nearly 1/2" of rain, the first moisture they've had since June.

 The state of affairs in our drought is becoming dire. Texas lands, plant and animal life and wildlife, cities and towns suffer not only the catastrophic lack of rain, but also from record constant high temperatures that have been so extreme as to make the rare 98 degree day feel like a cool spell.


The Colorado River Municipal Water District, which provides water to most Permian Basin cities, including Midland, Odessa, Big Spring, Snyder, is implementing waste-water reclamation to enable sewage water to be purified for use as household and drinking water.

Robert Lee, Texas, is fast running out of any water at all, down to 1% of its normal water supply from nearly dry Lake E.V.Spence. Anxious to run new water pipelines to bring water from nearby Bronte, environmental and regulatory permitting is still up in the air.

 Kemp, Texas has no water at all temporarily, until the city can repair damaged pipes and refill its empty water towers.

Brown County, in Central Texas, has had water use restrictions since mid-June, and has anticipated moving to Stage 3 restrictions within the next couple of weeks (unless this lovely rain continues to spill out of the heavens).


Even Dallas, normally secure from water limitations thanks to its location in North Texas, has implemented  use restrictions, setting up watering schedules on an odd/even basis.

Please join with us in continuing grateful prayers for the rain we receive, and asking God's favor to speed the end of the drought.

8/13/11 PM UPDATE:  So far today we've received about 2 and 1/2 inches of rain in a nice slow steady downpour that lasted all morning and into the afternoon, and I hear that Brownwood received about the same.  What a lift it is to everyone's spirits! This is an optimistic part of the country, and people try to stay cheery, but the long weeks of heat and absence of rain was beginning to wear on everyone. This bit of rain today will give encouragement to tide us over even if the drought is not over yet (some predictions say it could last another year, since we seem to be moving into a second La Nina cycle).

8/14/11 PM UPDATE: We had another lovely rain late this afternoon. It began raining here before we left for a gathering in town and rained hard all the way through our 15 mile drive. I haven't heard how much total yet but it was certainly welcomed. God is Good, all the time.

Have Fairy Potters Been in My Garden? A Wonder From One of God's Little Creatures

One of my earliest collections, when I was a little kid, was miniature pitchers.  The two white porcelain ones near the front of this photo were in our little shoebox of playthings at Big Grandmother's house from my tiniest days. One is actually a doll's sugar bowl but it had lost one handle long before I came along. The dark pewter one just behind them (and in front of the Holy Bible) was the first antique I bought for myself, when I was about 9. It is very old, and until Sunday was the smallest of miniature pots in my collection.

On Sunday, I added a new pot, so tiny and fragile that it is protected in the clear glass jar to the right of the peach pit basket.

Let's open the jar and see. It doesn't look like much in there, does it?

Ah. That's better.  It looks for all the world like the seed pots that studio potters were so fond of in the 1970s.  Except it is so tiny it makes a penny look large.

I found this little pot a couple of weeks ago. On a geranium leaf in the side yard!

A tiny mud pot, as round as one coil-built of clay, tapering to a slender neck and finished off with oh so thin and fragile flaring rim.

At the time I found it, the neck was still open, as though it were a vase waiting for a flower. But I knew that it wasn't, even though I'd never seen this before.  So finely made that it might be at home with one of Rose Cabat's Feelie Pots, this was not made by human hands.

It was, instead, the home of a tiny creature. When I went back to check on it  a few days later, the hole in the neck had been sealed up. So I just waited.

On Sunday, the side of the vase had been broken open and the small creature had moved on to the next phase of its life. So I carefully picked up the tiny pot and brought it inside.

With the opening in the side, it now looks something like the crockery bottle birdhouses that the Prichards' make at the Luling Icehouse Pottery  ( They are a warm and friendly couple - we bought birdhouses from them for our gift shop when we lived on the coast ).

Wow I love the internet. I used to have an enormous library of references on all kinds of subjects, and it was a labor of love to spend hours searching through various volumes to try to find an answer. But sometimes I just didn't have the right book to find it. That's where Yahoo search and Texas A&M's amazing online resources come in.

In just a couple of minutes, I learned this little pot is made by the Potter Wasp as a cradle for its next generation. It's scientific name is (Order) Hymenoptera: (Species or Family) Vespidae: (subfamily) Eumeninae. 

We've had blue-black mud daubers (aka dirt daubers) everywhere I've ever lived. They are a harmless - actually beneficial - wasp that does not sting so I leave them alone, but their houses are not very attractive.

The Potter Wasp is kinfolk to the dirt daubers, a small, solitary wasp that can sting but usually won't. It sounds like it keeps to itself, so maybe that's why I haven't seen it before.

From lightning bugs to butterflies to potter wasps, is it any wonder people once believed in fairies?

Pottery is one of the oldest arts of mankind. And throughout the Bible, God's relationship with man is referred to as that of The Potter to the clay. Even the anthropological history and linguistics identify Man with the clay, and God with The Potter.

The shared attributes of various creatures, even down to the need for a home, points to the maker's mark. Some creatures are more simple, some complex, but a single Creator.

The infinite variety of God's creatures is so amazing. There are wonders everywhere we look, if we pay attention.

Take A Trip Outside Your Door: The Beauty of Local Day Trips

Pat Austin @ And So It Goes In Shreveport has developed a whole series of posts of one-day jaunts to nearby small towns: the "Take A Trip" series. I've written about them before, and her posts are themselves a bit of armchair travel that can help the cares of a crazy day fall away just reading them.

This week's "Take a Trip to Natchitoches and to Melrose Plantation" has a special focus on the architecture in the area: ranging from poteaux-en-terre to post-revolutionary African Congo-style construction to antebellum churches with copper roofs to sleek new design that's a pure study in the range of light and shadow.

Set aside an hour or so to immerse yourself in the images and follow her generous links to more information. Notice the surprises: how many knew the first American plantation built by and for free Black Americans was in Louisiana shortly after the Revolutionary War? That it was the home of primitive artist Clementine Hunter? Or that Natchitoches is the oldest permanent settlement in the whole Louisiana Purchase - dating back to 1714? Or that it now boasts the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and a great independent bookstore?

In the waning years of the Baby Boomer World where so many have become "jet setters" - dashing about on holidays to exotic locations, when it comes to renewing vacations, the bluebird of Happiness is still right in our own backyard. A lovely day spent exploring the countryside around our own home can be as memorable as, and probably more meaningful to our quality of life than the All-Inclusive Here's Your Menu 4 Days 3 Nights Fantasy Cruise.

There's something renewing about walking along the corridors of our own time, the trails of our own past. As we balance on the railroad tracks of our youth and look across the graveyards of those who balanced themselves before us, there's a great opening perspective.

This is real: right here, right now. The beautiful decay of rusting sheet iron made way for the shining stars thrown by the welding torch that builds a continuing future just as bright and exciting as the past we still admire and learn from.

All we have to do is turn 180 degrees and our future waits, just one footstep further along to the horizon.

Go see it.

Putting Up Peaches: Peach Chutney For A Change

It's Peach Season! Time to eat all we can and can all we can't. ;-) I love canning - it's one of those tasks where we get to enjoy the fruits of a day's work for a long time.

The jar to the far right is Peach Chutney I made last year. It turned out great! It is wonderful with roast poultry and makes a really nice alternative to cranberry sauce. We can't grow cranberries in Texas so this is a good thing for those trying to eat locally or do the "100 mile diet" bit. Aside from some of the spices, all the ingredients either were local or "could have been" homegrown.


Personally, I don't think we should count the spices when trying to eat locally, because spices were one of the early commodities traded as far back as stone age people thousands of years ago - right up to what is now called "The Spice Trade" explosion in the 15th century Age of Exploration. It's why Columbus discovered America: looking for a shorter trade route to the continents and islands of the Orient (the Orient - from the Latin root "orientem" meaning the direction of the sun rise - was the Eastern world, the Occident, from L. "occidentem", direction of the sunset, was the word for the West), where all sorts of wonderful spices originated.

I found the original version of this recipe for "Spicy Peach Chutney" on Allrecipes.com, submitted by "Shana":

Original Recipe Yield 6 - 1/2 pints

Ingredients
* 4 pounds sliced peeled peaches
* 1 cup raisins
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 1/2 cup chopped onion
* 5 ounces chopped preserved ginger
* 1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
* 1 tablespoon mustard seed
* 1 teaspoon curry powder
* 4 cups packed brown sugar
* 4 cups apple cider vinegar
* 1/4 cup pickling spice

Directions
1. In a large heavy pot, stir together the peaches, raisins, garlic, onion, preserved ginger, chili powder, mustard seed, curry powder, brown sugar and cider vinegar. Wrap the pickling spice in a cheesecloth bag, and place in the pot.
2. Bring to a boil, and cook over medium heat uncovered until the mixture reaches your desired consistency. It will take about 1 1/2 hours to get a good thick sauce. Stir frequently to prevent scorching on the bottom.
3. Remove the spice bag, and ladle into hot sterilized jars. Wipe the rims with a clean moist cloth. Seal with lids and rings, and process in a barely simmering water bath for 10 minutes, or the time recommended by your local extension for your area. The water should cover the jars completely.

I used fresh peaches I had just picked off the tree, but it can as easily be made with canned, frozen or dehydrated fruit. You could even use your peach jam (I'd leave out the sugar in this recipe if I were making it with jam).

To make Peach Chutney using dried peaches, pour plain hot water over the fruit in a ratio of 1 1/2 cups water per cup of fruit and let soak for an hour. Don't add the sugar yet or it will keep the peaches from absorbing the water. Measure out 6 cups of reconsituted peaches and use in place of the fresh peaches called for in the recipe.

This recipe, like many pickles, is best after it has had time to age for at least 2 months. Made at this time of year, it was perfect by Thanksgiving, and we enjoyed it all the way through the winter.

Helping the Gulf Coast: Ask Your Grocer For Wild American Shrimp!

This Mexican Shrimp Cocktail is my version of those served in various restaurants. Mine has a lot less ketchup and is very fresh.

My neighbor fills his yard with tomato plants each year and sells the fruit. These have tender skins so I didn't bother peeling them but if you need to, just put the whole uncut tomatoes into boiling water for 1 minute. Remove them and cut a shallow X in the skin - it will slip right off!

If you don't like seeds, cut them in half and squeeze the pulp and seeds out into a strainer over a bowl so you won't lose the juice. I don't mind tomato seeds so mine has seeds in it.

Chop two medium size tomatoes into small - half-a-bite or less - pieces, and put in a mixing bowl.


I used fresh Thyme, minced superfine, because the cilantro had already set seed and gone the way of all things. Thyme is also a great choice if you don't like cilantro. Fresh herb adds a nice touch with fresh veggies, but in a pinch, even "a pinch of oregano" would be great.

Mince, very finely, one stick of celery and 1/4 cup of sweet onion (we used Vidalias we bought as we passed through Georgia. Texas 1015s would be great) and add to bowl with tomatoes. Red onion would be very pretty in this too.


Put one large or two small cloves of garlic through the press. If you don't have a garlic press, add that to your Christmas Wish List and mince the garlic very very fine.

Add it to the bowl of chopped veggies.


Oh we love the vacuum wrapped fresh avocados - always just exactly ripe, never bruised, and, unopened, they keep a long long time. There's nothing added to them, the vaccuum packaging keeps the air away to keep them fresh. Chop 3 or 4 avocado halves into pieces about the same size as the tomatoes, and add to the bowl.



Squeeze the juice from half of a lime and pour over the veggies. These are large limes - maybe the juice of one lime if you are using small ones or key limes. You could also use fresh lemon or 3 tablespoons of bottled juice.

Add a couple of splashes of Worchestershire Sauce (about one Tablespoon), one Tablespoon of ketchup, 2 teaspoons of prepared Horseradish, salt to taste, and mix well.

Paul likes his with more liquid: if you wish, add one 16 ounce can (2 cups) of V8 juice.



The shrimp: there's more after the recipe on helping the Gulf by using only wild American shrimp. Being in Texas, I consider Gulf shrimp a "local" product, and it's in season right now.

Use your favorite size of pre-cooked, peeled, deveined, cocktail shrimp, with the tails removed. I prefer tiny shrimp, Paul likes large ones. We both decided that next time, I would cut large shrimp in half.

These in the pictures have their tails on. That is very nice for arranging around the side of the glass, but if you are going to toss them in the cocktail, remove the tails.


Chill, and serve in chilled glasses, with saltine crackers. Those that like heat can add Tabasco sauce at the table. Or finely mince a fresh jalapeno (with seeds removed before mincing) that people can sprinkle on to their own taste. A nice easy supper on a hot summer day!

Now then: what's so special about wild shrimp? Many believe that wild caught shrimp is best for the people, the customers, the shrimp themselves, and the environment. Not only is wild shrimp free of antibiotics and other - often banned - chemicals widely used in foreign shrimp farms, it is also shown to contain higher levels of nutrients than farm raised.

It is a healthier product that is easier on the environment and enables self reliance for small businesses on our Gulf coasts. Shrimping is an important part of the Gulf States' and South Atlantic economies (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South & North Carolina).

Demand for wild-caught American Gulf shrimp increases habitat preservation in the United States: wild shrimp live and grow in coastal wetlands and marshes, and their economic value to those local economies means everyone has an interest in keeping those wetlands open, protected, and wild.

When we lived on Lavaca Bay, we had a neighbor who was a shrimper. He sold us fresh shrimp right off the boat. Paul would remove their heads and pack them raw in containers, cover with water and freeze 25 pounds at a time. By adding the water, they don't get freezer burn and they keep fine till next shrimping season.

If you live near enough, you can drive down to the Gulf and buy your own fresh shrimp to freeze, but you can get it inland too. Most cities of any size these days also have markets that receive shipments of fresh shrimp flown in. And many places will even ship it to you.

If your grocer doesn't carry it, ASK for American Shrimp.

You can buy Wild American Shrimp fresh, frozen or canned. Here are some brands to look or ask for (please post if you know of other brands of American wild shrimp and I'll add to the list):
FROZEN:
Arista Brand
Caught Fresh Brand
Dominick Brand Frozen Shrimp
Emeril's Louisiana Shrimp
Premier Shrimp
Sea Pearl Frozen Shrimp
SeaPak Shrimp Co.
Tony Chachere's Shrimp
CANNED:
BumbleBee Canned Shrimp
Orleans Canned Shrimp

And to wrap up, here are some links for more information and sources of sweet American wild shrimp:
Texas Shrimp
Louisiana Shrimp & Seafood
Mississippi Shrimp
Georgia Shrimp
Wild American Shrimp

Ain't That America? Pat Austin Takes A Daydream of a Southern Road Trip

Go on over to And So It Goes In Shreveport, and feel the tension disappear. Feel the world right itself again, and remember how it feels to go home in America.

Imagine walking down the railroad tracks, and exploring abandoned old stores and still-full-every-Sunday frame churches with their steeples standing in fields of verdant and wild green.

Imagine the flowering of industry sprouting up as drilling rigs for gas wells, and the pride of place when everyone benefits from a real thriving economy that meets the needs of little Coushatta, Louisiana, and of the mighty Nation she does her part to support.

Imagine bushel baskets overflowing with the freshest of home grown produce, imagine sitting in the backyard in the cool of the evening shelling purple hull peas.

Imagine all that in warm fresh air saturated with the fragrance of peaches...

What are you waiting for? Go! Go see her post and photos for yourself!

Vintage Waste Collection: Hot Cider on Trash Day

When I was growing up, razor blades and broken glass weren't just put in the trash, they had to be wrapped first. They told us, when we asked why, that it was so it wouldn't hurt the trash haulers. They had to lift the cans and carry them all the way down the driveway to the truck and dump them - then they carried the empty cans back and put them up at the back of the houses.

Plastic can liners were unheard of at that time, so trash was loose in the outdoor bins. Then as now, people looked out for others in practical ways. Razor blades were disposed of in a closed container with a slot in it - actually called a "blade bank" - which could be thrown away when full by wrapping it in a paper sack so that it wouldn't break. Nandy kept his blade bank in the medicine cabinet. It had a picture of a funny old man on it and a legend that read "For old blades, by crackey!" Same with broken glass: it was put into a paper grocery sack, folded over, and then into a second one before it was put into the trash.


Thoughtful people would bury spoiled food, rather than dump it, to help keep from attracting animals to rummage in the cans. "Garbage disposals" had not been heard of. It was easy to bury a bit of food with one quick push of the shovel, and this added nutrients to the earth.

Of course, there was far less food waste back then because we cooked all meals, ate leftovers, used things up, and most of the rest was fed to pets. If people didn't have their own pets, they would pass their scraps to their neighbors' dog, put it out for the alley cats, or save it for a friend's chickens. Stale bread not used for cooking was thrown out on the lawn for the birds. Chicken bones went into the trash, because they are dangerous for dogs (they splinter), but that was all.

I find that knowing who is picking up my trash makes me more careful of it too. I freeze chicken carcasses and put them out the morning of trash day so that our garbage won't smell bad. One of the haulers once complemented me on how tidy our trash is!

Before we moved here, we used to tip the guys who collected our trash - there were 2, one who rode the truck and one driver. A small tip of $10 each is a nice thing. One year I was unprepared and only had twenties so they got a "double" tip. We didn't expect it, but after that, they brought our bin all the way back up to the house after emptying it for the entire next year!

Blanket, where we live now, is so small that the City trash pick up runs one day each week, starting at 8 am and is finished by 4 pm. We have small individual can dumpsters that the truck can lift to dump, but the guys also will dump regular cans and pick up whatever else is left out for removal. It is very much like traditional trash collection always was.

They stop for a break at mid-day in warm weather and sit in the shade under the pecan tree in our side yard. We keep chairs out there for them - it's a nice cool place to rest in the hot summertime.

So, since we know these guys - we go to church and socialize with them and their families - they get cards at Christmas, like all our friends, and instead of a tip, they get a mug of steaming hot spiced apple cider on a cold trash day during the winter season. It is cold today so this was a great day for it. We drank hot cider in the cold sun and chatted about pecans. I really really like being able to know all the people that make our world such a nice place to be.

There's one nice cup left, steaming in the carafe, for Paul when he gets in.

Merry Christmas to All!

The Last of Summer

There's been a change in the air all week. Autumn is coming. Paul mentioned this morning that the days are already getting shorter. Around the blogosphere people are talking about it. Perhaps it is just that school has started, that September 22nd will be the first day of Fall. It seems early though. Especially for Texas.

Well I think we have waited long enough to eat the last watermelon from my garden! We have really enjoyed these melons, and they were so easy. I put down plastic, and cut holes for the plants, so no weeds. They didn't need much water either but when necessary, I just stuck the hose under the edge of the plastic and let it soak.



I learned by pure accident that the easiest way to eat a watermelon is with a grapefruit spoon. The pointed end cuts into the melon and slides right between the seeds.

If you haven't seen one, the bowls of grapefruit spoons are narrower than tea spoons and are shaped sort of like a teardrop.


It makes a world of difference - plus it is so nice to have a second reason to use grapefruit spoons!

And right now it is time to celebrate the last of the summer foods with this lovely yellow meated watermelon.

Bon appetite! :-)