Encounters with a Strange Fruit

Yesterday, before going to the 99 for dinner, we went grocery shopping.  As we were in the produce section looking for fennel, Geo and I saw this fruit.  It was bright orange and had spikes on it.  

After we got home I searched for it online and found out that it is called a kiwano or horned melon.  Inside it has green pulp and many seeds.  Geo thought we should pass on getting one until we knew what it was.

My fennel search continues.  I've tried both Hannaford's and Price Chopper but there is no fennel available.  My next cooking endeavor will be Arugala Salad with Grapes, Fennel, Gorgonzola, and Pecans.  In the meantime I have all the ingredients for Arugala Salad with Figs, Prosciutto, Walnuts and Parmesan. 

I'm most excited to try Arugala Salad with Oranges, Feta and Sugared Pistachios.  I've found that cooking with nuts is fun.  So far I've tried toasted walnuts, pecans, and hazlenuts.  I look forward to adding pistachios to the mix.

We are anxiously waiting to hear about our woodstove installation.  The estimate has been payed for and now we are waiting to schedule the install.  It hasn't really been too cold lately which is great but it feels like it won't be too much longer before it's really cold.

Time to do the dishes

Duck with Saba & Grapes accompanied by

Brussel Sprouts with Toasted Hazlenut Butter

We had a wonderful meal last night.  Absolutely delicious!!! The process of creating it though means that nearly every usable pot, utensil, and dish needs washing.  That's ok though.

Geo had second helpings--this means the meal was a success.  I can always tell if he likes something by whether or not he goes for seconds.  I realize this puts him in a delicate situation.  He is always sensitive of my feelings.

Our dinner was a joint effort--Geo helped me reduce the duck sauce and slice the duck.  It's nice having an extra set of hands when you're in the finishing stages of making dinner:)

The best part was relaxing while eating dinner and unwinding with each other.  The dogs were very very quiet during dinner.  I attribute this to it being extrememly dark outside.

I'm very very happy that tonight is 99 night!  It will be wonderful to have a break from cooking today.

The Georges of St. George

Geo my husband left and George my brother right

We had a wonderful day yesterday!  After church we went to the Elm City Brewing Company at the Colony Mill.  This may become a weekly tradition for us like the 99.

The food is amazing and so is the beer!  I don't drink at all but I enjoy a taste now and again of the beers they make on site.  My parents and brother decided to join us after church.  Dad treated us to a fantastic meal.  Thanks Dad!

An inspired chicken dish with maple syrup-Yum!

We like to watch the Patriots Game every Sunday.  We have great seats right in front of the widescreen TV at the bar.  It's fun to watch the game with other pats fans.  It also is nice to watch something without having to worry about the dogs barking, coming inside and outside, or generally interrupting whatever we decide to watch.   Geo and I can usually watch things in 5 minute increments before we have to pause the movie or program to attend to the dogs.

Today I am making two recipes from Fine Cooking.  These two are from the October/November 2009 issue.  They are  Brussels sprouts with toasted hazlenut butter and Duck breast with saba and grapes. 

I worked this morning on the toasted hazlenut butter:

1/3 cup hazlenuts (about 1 oz)

4 Tbs. unsalted butter, softened

2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest

1 1/2 tsp lightly chopped fresh thyme

1/2 tsp honey

kosher salt.

I love cooking with nuts it's so autumnal:)

The first part of this recipe involves toasting the hazlenuts at 400 degrees for about 5-6 minutes.

I used a cake pan for the toasting

Place the toasted nuts on a clean dishtowel

Rub nuts together in towel to remove skins

Take 1/4 cup of the nuts and pulse in a processor

I love this machine.

The finely ground nuts at last

Save the rest of the nuts to coarsely chop as garnish.  Now it's time to make lemon zest.  For two teaspoons of zest I found one medium lemon the perfect size.

The benefit of zesting is your hands smell like lemon:)

Cooking is easy when you get all the prep work done ahead of time.  The butter is on the counter softening.  Once I finish cleaning up the dishes and going on a morning walk with the dogs.  I'll write more.

His and Hers day: Sapa & and the Tractor

Geo worked on the tractor curtain and sidearm

Geo's tasks took him outside today.  Tractor maintenance is key before the first accumulating snow.  I put the sidearm for our external cell antenna on the curtain he repaired today (see above pic).  He climbed the tower next to the house to mount the sidearm on the cell antenna.   It makes me nervous when Geo climbs towers!!!!

My day was mostly indoors finishing work on making grape-must syrup called Sapa or Saba according to the recipe I have.  In greek it's called μούστος, pronounced MOO-stohs.  Moustos is made using the juice squeezed from fresh grapes.

According to a site see link, the ancient Greeks of  Calabria made this syrup as a sweetener.  Further research on wikipedia  seems to substantiate this, as ancient Greeks did in fact settle there.

Here's what you will need to make Grape-Must Syrup:

About 2.5 lbs of Concord Grapes

I was inspired to create this grape-must syrup of many names ie: Saba, Sapa, moustos, etc.  because I found a recipe for duck breasts with grapes and it called for this ingredient.  Sure I could order it online from a gourmet store but, really, why not save a few dollars and learn something in the process?  Being an aspiring localvore --sourcing my food close to home is important to me.

After washing put a few handfuls in the food processor.

The idea is to puree them skins and all until they are well chopped.  I found that putting the grapes in by a few handfuls made the processing easier.

Store in a glass or stainless bowl for 48 hours.

When you are finished processing your mixture should look something like this picture above.  Don't worry about skins or seeds.  This is the most relaxing part of making the syrup as you can take a break from it for two days.  Then take the bowl out of the fridge and:

Pour the mixture into a fine mesh sieve over a saucepan.

This is where you will employ lots of elbow grease.  It's a good upper arm work out.  Using a spatula or wooden spoon push grape mixture through strainer.  Do this many many times scraping the bottom of the strainer also until your mixture looks like this.

The Ancient Greeks of Calabria were strong!

Now put the saucepan of extracted grape must on the stove and bring to a boil.  After boiling reduce heat to low and skim the top as needed.  If you want to make vinno cotto you would add wine at this stage.  I chose to make mine without wine.

Reduce the liquid by 2/3rds

By the time it has spent hours reducing over very low heat, you should have a syrup consistency that will coat the back of a spoon--think maple syrup here.  When you are finished pour into a glass container--I used an empty balsamic vinegar bottle. 

  

Yay- It's done!!!

The good news is it can be stored up to one year in a cool place such as your refrigerator and it tastes delicious.  I'm looking forward to using it in the sauce for my upcoming duck breast recipe.  The best part is that you too can share in eating something very ancient:)  We now have something in common with ancient Greeks and modern day Calabrians.

The Flurries Accumulate

Beach Plum Trees with Snow

When I woke up thie morning and looked outside this is what I saw.  There's just enough snow to make it look like everything is dusted with confectioner's sugar.  From what I could see it's just up in the high places.

The sun is slowly peeking out between the clouds so this snow is just a temporary guest for now.  Pretty soon though I think we'll have more accumulating snow.

The puppies have never been exposed to snow.  They were born on Christmas Eve last year and by the time they were old enough to venture outside it was Spring.  Ursa adores the snow.

Her thick fur allows her to be blissful outside even in below zero temperatures.  I remember bundling up in many layers to take her outside when she was a puppy.  She wanted to play and all I could think about was getting back in to get warm:)

The puppies coats are not as thick.  When they went outside this morning they made a quick circle around the beach trees then made a beeline for the house.  My day will be filled with puppy play time today since they will most likely wish to stay in.

The geek within!

Here's the parts list for my new computer.  It will be a lot of fun to put one together from scratch.  Many thanks to Geo for this belated birthday present:)  This is so much better then the kindle!!!!!

Those of you that know me very well may know that I have an abiding interest in computers that function very well.  This stems from my grad school experience in classes like human computer interaction.  Also, I do enjoy gaming which tends to stress a system (overclocking for the win). 

Lately, I've been pursuing more multimedia uses for the computer, like pictures, music, videos and blogging.  My poor little lap top has been a trooper but is no match for these latest challenges.  I suppose I really am a nerd now:)

1 Antec P183 Black Aluminum / Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case -

1 GIGABYTE GA-MA790FXT-UD5P AM3 DDR3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard

1 EVGA 896-P3-1170-AR GeForce GTX 275 896MB 448-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

1 Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified ...

1 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor Model HDZ955FBGIBOX -

2 CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMX4GX3M2A1600C9 -

1 Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

1 Western Digital Caviar Green WD5000AADS 500GB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive -Bare Drive

1 SAMSUNG 2343BWX High Glossy Black 23" 5ms 16:9 Widescreen LCD Monitor -

1 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM

An apple a day

The one apple from our trees this year

Woke up this morning to snow flurries.  They didn't stick when they hit the ground.  It's a reminder that winter is on the way.

For our wedding anniversary two years ago--Geo bought us apple trees.  Two trees to be exact.  I think apple trees are very beautiful when they grow.

One is a MacIntosh tree and one a Cortland.  According to what I've read of trees it takes them 3-5 years to bear fruit.  We were excited that we got one apple ahead of schedule this year.

I have plans for when they fruit-- cider, cider vinegar, pies, etc.  It may be awhile though,  I'm willing to wait.

The windmill

Our windmill today

As Neil told us when he came to look at our windmill--  it's non functioning.  The problem seems to be that the generator mechanism is melted.

I asked Geo to make me a diagram of how the windmill used to work.  Here is his diagram:

Being married to an engineer means you learn things:)

In the Spring, we will be able to replace our windmill.  The number one source of power usage in our home right now is our heating system.  The house uses forced air propane heating.

The prior owners of our home did not install wood heat.  Hopefully soon our wood stove will be installed.  This means that even though we won't be able to generate power with our windmill, we will be able to have heat on low power "grey" days.

I'm really really looking forward to this addition to our home.  Both Geo and I love the smell of woodstoves.  We have paid for our installation and are now waiting for the contractors to schedule the day with us.

In the meantime we are hoping for mild temperatures and lots of sun!   Our Solar Panels are still operative ( I need to have Geo make me a diagram of those too).  We also have the generator as back up for when there is no sun.

A fog filled morning

Salsa and I at 7am

It's one of those mornings that reveals itself gradually.  There is mist that will burn off as soon as the sun fully rises.  The other five dogs are out exploring.  We are very hopeful that all the porcupines are going to sleep as they are nocturnal creatures.

Earlier this morning as Geo and I were having our first cup of coffee together and the dogs were eating their breakfast, it looked like this outside at 6 am today (see picture below).

The moon is up still and bright enough to read by when it's overhead.  You can see that gradually the sky is lightening as the sun is coming up.  The sky turns slowly from grey to light purple. 

I love watching the day unfold, having that first cup of coffee with Geo, and feeling sometimes like we're the only two people on Earth.

Little Shells with Carmelized Onion Sauce

This is what I made for dinner last night.   It uses one of my favorite ingredients- Onions!  The authors are Linda and Fred Griffith.

Little Shells with Carmelized Onion Sauce (from page 206).

7 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 jumbo sweet onion, coarsely diced

2 tablespoons dry vermouth

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 pound conchiglie or small shell pasta

1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan over very low heat, combine butter and oil.  Add onion, cover, and cook, stirring often, until onion carmelizes, about 1 hour.

I use a non stick pan for the carmelizing

Stir in vermouth, thyme, salt and pepper into onion mixture.  Cover and cook for 5 minutes.  Keep warm over very low heat.

Yum carmelized onions and vermouth

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  (I've decided to add bacon to this recipe and peas.)  While the onions are carmelizing and the water is boiling I make 7 strips of bacon.

Bacon is the best!

Cook shells until tender but still firm to the bite about 12 to 15 minutes.  Drain thoroughly.  During the last 5 minutes of pasta cooking time I add half a package of frozen peas.

The peas add some nice color

Toss pasta with sauce.  Serve in heated soup plates and sprinkle with Parmesan.

The finished dish.

The Griffiths suggest pairing this dish with the following wine: Volpe Pasini Sauvignon (Italy)

Though this recipe says serves 2 the portions are very generous and leave enough for Geo and I to have leftovers the next day.  Enjoy!!!!

Ode to our Windmill

Neil working on our windmill

For a few weeks now our windmill hasn't been charging our batteries or generating electricity.  Today our windmill repair man came to take a look at it.  In the picture above you can see him working on it.

Sadly, the windmill, which we think may have been hit by lightning will need to be replaced.  It's been a workhorse for us and is 15 years old.  This is pretty good since it had a ten year life cycle.  As Geo so often likes to remind me--everything mechanical eventually breaks down.

The good news is Geo will be home again today.  So his first weekend off becomes a three day weekend.  We plan on taking a long walk in the woods today with the dogs after Geo finishes his Geokon work.

Church

St. George Greek Orthodox Church, Keene NH

Geo and I went to church this morning.  It was his first Sunday off in many years.  Our church is called St. George.

The name is appropos.  There are many Georges in my family: My Grandfather, My Brother, My Husband--all Georges.  I know from reading papers that my biological father's name was also George.

Sitting with my Mom on one side and my husband on the other, I felt happy.  It was familiar.  Church is family.

Dad

On the other side of Mom was a lady.  Recently, her sister passed away.  She cared for her sister who was wheelchair bound for the 20 years I knew her.

This sweet lady was utterly devoted to her sister.  Today there was a memorial service for another parishoner.  During the singing of the hymn of remembrance she was crying.

This touched me so much because it showed love.  The sort of love we heard about today in the Epistle reading from 1Corinthians 13( New International Version):


1If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

I highlighted verse 7 and 8 because this is the love I saw today that our friend has for her sister.  It's an earthly mirror of the love God has for us and it is powerful.

I feel a terrible source of sorrow from not having children of my own.  For some reason this gets magnified 100 times when I go to church because there are so many families there with young children.  It's like a trauma but then I realize that there are other people hurting and it's not just about me.  It's about love.  Love does not envy!  What I'm feeling in this complex sorting out of things is a sort of envy.  I want what I don't have. It's more than that too but that is one of the facets.

Today was a gift, it was ok to feel pain, to share it with others whether privately on the inside as I did or on the outside as our friend did.  It's honest. It's real. It has meaning.  Sometimes in the isolation of living here on the hill it's easy to become too focused on myself--not enough on other people.  Today showed me what fellowship with other believers means in a profoundly inspiring way. 

The contrast between interacting superficially and spiritually was something I noticed.  In superficial interaction God is never mentioned, emotions must be hidden, and painful topics avoided.  In the fellowship of believers, the interaction is prayerful, reminding us there is a greater thing than us,  God who is in everything we experience.

God is love.