We are overrun by chillies

Tonight was the welcome social at NW IV. And what a difference from last year, when we were brand new! This year we really enjoyed ourselves.

Salsas 3 and 4

One of the differences is that instead of just being an ice cream social, there was also a potluck. So we used it as an opportunity to harvest More Endless Hot Peppers from the garden. We made a salsa verde and an ancho chili sauce (both from The Well-Filled Tortilla Cookbook) and made Christmas-colored enchiladas.



We liked the salsa verde, although I'm not sure how often we'll make it given the tomatillos (not great quality at Kroger) and effort. But we really liked having a non-tomato salsa. Pity there wasn't any leftover (it all went onto the enchiladas); it works really well with chips.

The ancho sauce was, unsurprisingly, MUCH hotter. It's a great way to use up garden ingredients, and I'll make it again, but only for specific dishes where the heat can be countered or baked mellower.

The social aspect

Last year we didn't know anyone, and appeared to be two of only a handful of attendees without kids. This year, there were several people without kids, and we all gravitated towards each other. AND most of them belonged to SNRE or public policy, so even more of a win - they're our nonprofitty-type people :) At least one is even a sci-fi fan, so you know I was relieved to find kin.

So we had a much better time. The circle we were in kept growing. We kept meeting new people. We were social. There was even sorbet, so I could enjoy the ice cream part of the event.


It's definitely interesting how one change in the dynamic completely changes our experience. It is really difficult to insert ourselves into a group of parents who all know each other and are hanging out while their kids play. It's much easier when there are other people with the same obstacle, so we all wind up together instead.

Another thing we've been here long enough to go to again

This year we were at Dancing In The Streets with a couple of other people, and that made a big difference. (It also helped that there were attendees this year, and that they were dancing.) So Arthur got to dance for a while, and he was also a volunteer. He's now a member of the community, rather than a newcomer peering in.

Further experimentation required

Pico Redux

Made a second batch. Excluded the vinegar, increased the lime juice. Close to my idea of the perfect salsa - maybe a little less onion next time :) I did incorporate a poblano this time as well, since the recent rain knocked one off the plant before I was ready. So it was a little hotter than the previous batch, depending on a particular bite.

Tested this pico and the salsa fresca on guests tonight. All but one preferred the pico. I think I like it because it's closest to fresh flavor - the fresca has ground cumin and coriander in it. The flavor change is subtle, but it's there. I think I've established that if I am doing any kind of fresh tomato salsa, I should skip any recipes with dry spices. (Or vinegar.)

Still planning on working on roasting poblanos and making a non-tomato salsa soon. Need to eat the current ones first.

You Scream Two

The instructions for this chocolate coconut-milk ice cream were excellent, and will help with other recipes. I think this is the best custard base I've ever made, for anything. The texture was about the same as a store-bought coconut ice cream (close to, but not exact, a cow milk ice cream), which is worlds better than the pumpkin texture was. The flavor was slightly less dark than my natural preference, but I actually think adding in some Oreo crumbles or something instead of darkening it will make me just as happy.

I will absolutely make this recipe again.

Salsa, Merengue...

Two batches of ice cream means... two batches of meringues! How else to use up so many egg whites at once?

I went with the basic Joy of Cooking recipes. I used the Meringue I for the plain ones (this is granulated sugar), and the Meringue II for the chocolate ones (this is half granulated sugar and half powdered sugar). The chocolate were definitely chewier - in a good way (I thought).

We don't eat meringues much in general (too sweet), but with guests coming over, it was such an obvious solution to the egg whites taking over the fridge. Plus, I'm not sure I'd ever made them before? I think I must have, but it's been a long time. And boy, does it remind me how much I love my KitchenAid! Love love love. And there are plenty of ways to use up leftovers around here. Sunday's picnic, or the neighbors sitting outside... options.



Other ideas for egg white usage? Meringues are fun, and great to bring places, but we can't eat as many as result from ice cream experiments. Need alternatives.

The heatwave broke! So it's time for experimenting in the kitchen.

With all the chilli peppers taking over the garden, it's time to start working with different salsa recipes.

Salsa One

First up was a simple pico de gallo from New World Kitchen.

• I am a fan of simple, fresh salsas, so this was close to ideal for me.
• I used half the vinegar called for, and it still felt like too much. So maybe eliminating the vinegar altogether (and upping the lime juice) would fix the problem. And be pretty darned close to perfect.
• I tripled the recipe and we used most of it in our quesadillas. There's enough left for maybe one more meal.
• I didn't bother skinning the tomatoes first, so we'll see whether that bites me in the arse in a few days.
• The generic mild chilli peppers worked quite well and weren't too strong, while still lending a little heat.
• Oh, I also skipped the cilantro, since too many people have cilantro issues. I personally did not miss it.

I Scream One

Before the next salsa, I decided to tackle my first homemade coconut-milk ice cream. Several of you banded together and got us an ice cream maker when we got married, and we were having fun experimenting with stuff then, but have rather fallen off the wagon as my dairy allergy got worse. (And there are few sorbets I like, since I dislike most fruit.) But! It's warm enough to eat ice cream, while cool enough to have the energy to putter around the kitchen.

I'm not focusing on vegan ice creams (at this time), since I want to learn to work with a custard base. And I don't know much about different coconut milks - this is a learning experience all around.

I wound up choosing a pumpkin recipe, because no matter what, it'll taste great! (Plus I tossed in a handful of crystallized ginger just to see how the flavors balanced.)

The flavor was, indeed, lovely, but the texture was way off. It was like iced pumpkin pie filling, not ice cream. I've gotten some advice, and will try some other things next time. In the meantime, I suspect that putting a scoop of this batch between two graham crackers to make an ice cream sandwich is not the worst way to spend a summer evening.

Salsa Two, Cha Cha Cha

A basic salsa fresca from In the Pink.

• The recipe called for pickled jalapeños, but I just used a fresh one from the garden. (And since I only picked one, I supplemented with the milder, generic chilli peppers mentioned above.) While eating the salsa wasn't too hot, my fingers were still burning for hours after chopping.
• Again, I skipped the cilantro, but I followed the rest of the recipe.
• It's not bad, but it doesn't do it for me. It just feels like salsa, not homemade, garden-fresh salsa. Which is sad.
• I doubled the recipe, and wow did it make waaaaaaaay more than the previous recipe, so we have a ton leftover. And, oops - we ran out of tortilla chips!

There's also a great-sounding bean salsa on the same page as this salsa fresca (all part of an enchilada recipe), so that'll probably be next week. (The unused peppers will last longer than the unused tomatoes. Not that I can't take care of the tomatoes in a myriad of other ways. Yum.)

There may have been a wee bit of rain

Yup, another garden post. Today was one of those perfect weather days, and there was plenty to pick in the garden.

There was a massive amount of rain a few days ago, which of course was good in that gardens need rain, but made it difficult to pick the salad we intended to have for dinner. And rain just encourages weeds, too. Really, what doesn't encourage weeds? Sometimes evolution needs to back off.

One thing we like about all these storms is that they often do break the humidity. I remember that in D.C., storms just made it worse. Here, it'll be a torrential downpour and lightning everywhere and then... sunshine and a beautiful evening with low humidity. Granted, I'm still terrified of the whole tornado aspect. Everyone here takes it so casually, because it's what they grew up with. But it's still new to me. And SCARY.

But all the rain made the peas finally appear :) One day, no pods. Rain rain rain and voila - two days later, it's pods everywhere!

Everything is thriving, and now we even have beautiful purple beans. We're only waiting for the cucumbers at this point, but they were a late replacement, so it'll be a while. (And we've completely given up on the spinach.)

We're about to be overwhelmed by chili peppers. I welcome my chili pepper overlords :) We have some generic "garden salsa" plants, as well a poblano, a jalapeno, and an I-can't-remember-right-now red chili as well. And the bell peppers look soooo cute as babies!

We only got a single plot this year, so we're mostly growing things that either both of us eat, or that we eat a lot of. One of our neighbors has a double plot, however, and their broccoli patch is making me think that next year we should go for a double plot. The peas need more space, and I'd like to add in some onions and broccoli.

The basil is looking spectacular. We're planning to make some [manchego] pesto this week. And it's time to start experimenting with the Thai basil leaves as well. We have some coconut milk, so I suspect that the day after the pesto dinner will be a curry dinner.

It's been really good for Arthur to pick dinner each night. He spends most of the day working from home (or the library; but not in an office with colleagues) for his internship, and evening time in the garden helps provide a clear break between home-and-working and home-and-relaxing. He's enjoying the rhythm enough that he's even making fresh salad dressing every few days.

Oh! And we had a very Northwood experience the other day. Many of the families here are from overseas, and in the summer many relatives visit. And one evening I was weeding while Arthur was thinning the out-of-control lettuce, when one of the foreign parents came by (with her very adorable grandson) and was practicing her English (trying to identify each plant by the English word). And she saw what Arthur was doing, and offered to show him a better way. The next thing I know, there's a charming baby in my arms and Arthur has help in the lettuce patch. And this baby was very sweet. (Dear Neecy: he smiled. No crying. You need to up your game!)

Buds're bustin' outta bushes/And the rompin' river pushes

After a long stretch of rainy days, there was finally a sunny streak. And the garden loved it!


We've just had our first sungolds ripen. And the lettuce has been growing gangbusters, so we're having daily salads. (Although because of all the really hard rain immediately after planting, some of the seeds travelled and there are leaves in interesting places...) Oh! And out of nowhere a chili pepper matured. Woohoo!


The basil is finally recovered, which is great. And the peas are peas - we can't add string fast enough!


The bad news is that we gave up on the peppers from seeds and bought some more seedlings. We also added some cucumbers into that bed, since there's now room. But! I think as of today, there is one (1) plant pushing up in that bed that isn't necessarily a weed - it might be one lonely surviving pepper seed. (Too soon to tell, but the leaves resemble the pepper leaves of the transplants.)

Also, the spinach is struggling. At first we thought it wasn't at all viable, then finally we got a little bit, and over the past week we have a small-but-noticeable patch. However, it is already yellowing and shrivelling. Sad spinach :( Guess we'll have to replace it with something different next year. (For now we added one pot of garlic chives.)

We're trying to figure out how to handle the beans. They're bush, so we're not supposed to stake them. But after one of the violent storms last week, they're flattened and entangled. So they're not standing up on their own anymore, and in fact some of them are now being smothered by others and are dying. We tried to untangle them, but it's difficult to do without breaking off the tops accidentally. (But they're beautiful. We bought seeds for purple beans, and the flowers/buds on these plants are just a gorgeous shade.)


I think we've finally made a dent in the weeding. I've never had to weed this much. Whatever it is that came in and blanketed everyone's spaces is pretty invasive. In one of the gardens near ours, the weeds are actually killing off the vegetables. I've been weeding daily, and only now do I feel like it's at a "normal" level. (In a "gardening as spiritual practice" moment, I got to vent some anxiety by going all crazy on the lack-of-pepper bed. I needed to tear up the weeds to make room for the cucumbers, and I no longer had to be careful. I could just take tools and attack the weeds with abandon. It felt good. Very good. Especially since that's now the clearest patch in our entire plot.) I've been ignoring the weeds by the tomatoes (since the tomato plants are pretty tall and can take care of themselves), but I should at least take a minimal pass this week.



I wasn't sure I'd be good about maintaining a garden that isn't right outside my building. But we've turned it into an evening ritual - I do some weeding while Arthur thins the lettuce. A short, but daily, task. (And at least for now, pretty endless in both cases.) And it really helps that today's weather is perfect. Couldn't ask for a better day to be in the garden.



Oh, and someone's dill keeps popping up next to my lettuce. I still smell like dill. Which is sad, because dill is something I can't really eat anymore.

Oats, Peas, Beans

Our garden is finally up and running. Mostly.

It took us a while to get started, because we were travelling, and then we had guests, and then we were sick, and then enough other stuff had piled up that we didn't have time to turn over the plot and put up fencing (we're required to fence ourselves, and fairly high due to deer).


BUT! We finally managed to get started a few weeks ago. We're trying a mixture of seeds and seedlings, since there were still frost warnings in late May. We get a 10'x15' plot (or we could buy a double plot, which many people do) over in the Northwood community garden area. It's a lot of fun to see what everyone else is growing.

We have a lettuce bed (3 kinds), a pepper bed (both hot and sweet), a tomato bed, a peas and beans bed, and the last one has basil (including Thai basil) and spinach.

When we were buying our materials, we noticed a lot of cantaloupe, both seeds and seedlings. Very popular. I'm not used to seeing cantaloupe so prevalent in gardens! Watermelons, yes. Cantaloupe, no. The climate is fairly similar to back home, so I don't know whether it's a cultural difference or a subtle soil difference. (Zucchini does seem less of a problem here.)


Just after we finished planting, we had several days of heavy rain. Really heavy rain. Enough to move some of those seeds around, so we're not sure where everything will wind up. It also resulted in this giant influx of some weed that is covering the entire garden (and most of our neighbors'). Until this week, it's been too small to pull up. But we absolutely need to, since the worst patch is blanketing the sweet pepper seeds. They're the only thing we haven't seen hide nor hair of. The beans and peas, of course, shot up out of nowhere and are already flirting with the tomatoes for height. The lettuce is looking great, but it's almost time to thin it out - which I've never done before.


Besides this annoying weed, we're struggling with the basil plants. The first day or two, they were thriving and happy. When we went back after the drenching rains, they were really unhappy. Turning yellow. So, we assumed they got too much water and left them alone. I watered them lightly once later that week, since the soil was almost bone dry. The problem didn't go away.

I've taken to watering one of them and not the other so I can narrow down whether it's too much water or too little water that's killing them. No difference - they're both barely surviving. I'm going to have to buy another bush to ensure successful basil! At the same time, everything else has had the same amount of water and is doing just fine. I'm used to basil being stronger than this.


As of today, the spinach is finally poking through. It was another spot with so much of this weed that we were afraid that the seeds would be crowded out. However, the spinach made it. Still no sign of the sweet peppers. I left room on that bed for a couple of seedlings if need be. It may needs be. Pepper seedlings and a new basil bush. Yeesh.

I love watching how quickly the beans and peas grow. My photos are already out of date!