fertilizer and pruning (boring)

SHOOPING carts need not apply

Today hardly seemed like August. It was cool and dry this morning and remained so through 10:30 a.m. It made for a beautiful walk and then hour or two spent in the garden. I fertilized the vegetables, the backyard gardenia and lantana and roses with 2 gallons of neptune's own. I also pruned back the knockout roses in the front by almost one third. And I destroyed the privet. Damn that felt good.

Couldn't catch a fish, but caught me a local treasure...

So I've had no luck catching a fish on my own. I'll admit, I didn't try THAT hard the other day (I think we had the line in the water for about an hour with no bait). A large one jumped clear out of the water about 20 feet away as if to taunt me, but he wasn't simple enough to bite at MY fishing line. Oh well - I will try fishing again when I return to Norway. Here's a pic of me as a fishing virgin. What a place to fish.. :)

Forget fishing - I caught a local treasure I will be talking about for a while. Johan Setnes - a teacher and resident here in Andalsnes runs his own small winery, started as a hobby in 1980 since becoming a recognized cellar and tasting attraction for those who enjoy fruit wine. Using only local organic fruit or herbs (strawberry, apricot, plum, birch tree, cloudberries etc.) - some from his own garden, he produces his wine, with 14 cellars at his disposal.  

Frozen fruit and berries for wine prep from the surrounding Region

We took a tour of the cellars and tasted about 11 different varieties, all unique and flavorful with different levels of sweetness. Most wines run around 11-12% in alcohol content, and depending on what you drink you could become intoxicated *very* fast if you aren't careful. The plum wine had virtually no sign of alcohol going down and was incredibly smooth. Others less so - and more to my personal liking. Some of the wines were quite sweet (for instance, yellow gooseberry or raspberry), and others quite rounded in flavor, having a deliciously 'funky' taste to them - like the 21-year aged Lingonberry, blueberry and Cranberry blend we tried in the last candlelit stone cellar towards the end of the tour. This bottle was my favorite:

21-year blend - a 6 out of 6 from Norwegian wine experts

Our tasting of this wine in a candlelit cellar

His process is fairly straight-forward - Johan collects the fruit and freezes it (this adds more flavor, he tells us). Then after crushing for juice, he adds yeast and lets it sit for approximately ten days. It is then added to a container and eventually topped off with sugar water. The next step is to release all the air that may be left in the containers (plastic device at the top of the containers below), which you do slowly over time. 

Release the gases!

When the bubbles are gone (about three months), you switch it over to a glass container where it goes through a process of resting. He stores most wines in glass containers for years before bottling. Once bottled, they are stored in his slightly damp and cool cellar - some for over a decade. All this was understood by me quite vaguely as it was told to us in Norwegian and my translator was doing his best but had to summarize at times rather quickly (my boyfriend). Any mystery about the process can be dispelled as Johan has published a book about it - in Norwegian, of course. :)

Stored bottles - the wall grows substantial mold - part of the process

I've been to wine tastings, but this one trumps the rest. The small cellars provided a cozy and intimate atmosphere, and Johan's personal attendance and lecture of his process and wines was a treat - not just because of their flavors :) I begged him to sell me a bottle of the Birch Tree or blended berry wines but his bottles are not for sale. If you want Johan's wine, you can only sip it at a tasting here in Andalsnes - frustrating INDEED. Taxes mainly prevent him from selling them, but he clearly enjoys giving the lectures in person - and receiving company from people who come to taste what he has lovingly produced. Oh well. Guess I'll have to come back.

Johan Setnes with  his wines - WWW.TUENVIN.NET

watermelon margarita and the existential crisis

We bought a watermelon the other day. This is a very southern thing, and being a westerner, I view it with no small amount of suspicion. In the desert, no fruit would be allowed to hold this much fluid. Not without attracting all manner of beast and foul that would, eventually, spell its doom. Growing up, watermelon was something we found prepackaged in cellophane. I couldn't really figure out what it looked like until I was old enough to piece it all together.

In any case, the point here is that we bought a watermelon, and it turns out they are utter beasts. Not even eating watermelon every day put a dent in this monster. And so I lugged the half we still had up to the kitchen, pulped it, pulverized it in the blender, strained it, and then made watermelon margaritas. The formula went roughly this way:

6 oz. tequila
4 oz. watermelon essence
4 oz. lime juice
1 oz. triple sec
squeeze of agave syrup
turn of the sea salt wheel

Made adjustments with each batch, but this was bout as much as I could get into the shaker at any given time. It was heaven.

Which brings me to the existential crisis. I know this is a simple watermelon margarita, but it was the first one I had and it did not follow the crappy recipes I found online. So I'm claiming it. But I don't have a name for it. Our guests suggested a few names, all of which had my name in it. But I don't want to go there. Instead, I want something that either plays on southern or western themes. But doesn't mix them. Here's what I've come up with:

The Sound and the Fury (Faulkner)
Darl's Potable (also Faulkner)
Evening Redness (McCarthy)
Watermelon Margarita (from the interweb)

skirting the steak

The skirt steak hangs beneath the ribs, and along with the hanger and the flank is probably my favorite cut of meat not called ribeye (or tenderloin, although it's been so long I don't even recall what it tastes like). I'm actually a huge fan of the flavorful cuts, and enjoy playing around with them. The similarities between the skirt and the hanger are remarkable. They both carry a distinctive texture, on the tougher side and certainly chewy, but nothing like the leathery brisket. Their flavor is deep and rich, almost organ-like.

I have no recollection of ever cooking a skirt, although my blog tells me I had skirt steak fajitas in January of 2011. Now I will buy them regularly. They are cheap. They are delicious. They take marinades well. They go great with any variety of sides, especially greens.

I eyeballed a rub of kosher salt, paprika, ancho chili powder, and brown sugar. Then I patted the rub on the steak and let it sink in while I chopped an onion. I mixed about a quarter onion with crushed garlic and several tablespoons of lime juice, then dumped the sauce on the steak in a plastic bag. Off to the fridge. Took it out about an hour before cooking.

The grill spiked the temp gauge (again), but I'm pretty sure that it was close 950 degrees. It actually had come back down to 750 by the time I put the steak on. The grill was hot, and I did season it with olive oil.

I had no timer, but I let the steak sit uncovered over the coals for about a minute and a half aside, or at least what felt like a minute and a half a side. Then I closed the grill and shut down the vents for another couple of minutes. Steak was done pretty much perfectly.

steaks and a simple rub

Alright, my camera does not take closeups well

It's been a while.

We pulled two ribeyes for grilling. Some aspects of the grilling went quite well, others not so much. I will indicate here in bold what steps I did not do that I ought to have done, but otherwise will try to treat this as the definitive big green egg backdoor steak grilling guide.

One point: I'm finding that rubs ought not to be too complicated. One maybe two herbs. My new french thyme ought to go well with this.

1. start the fire. It will likely take more than half an hour, and the coals should be evenly lit and white all over. I am now consistently getting the egg to temperatures of above 800 degrees (I'm pegging the needle past 750, so I don't really know how hot it is), and the result is excellent. Make sure the grill gets white hot before you add the steaks.
2. try to get steaks that are at least 1 1/2 inches thick. This round was 1 inch at best. Actually, everyone around me seems to prefer the 1 inch. I prefer my steaks thicker, as I like the difference in texture from crust to slightly cool center. In any case, the directions here are for 1 inch steaks.
3. prepare a rub with ample olive oil, cracked pepper, chopped rosemary (or equivalent chopped herb), and kosher salt. Now give the steaks a shiatsu. Top with garlic salt, but only a thin layer.
4. slash the edges of the steak. They will curl if you neglect to do this.
5. Prepare the timer and get to the grill.
6. hit them hard, over direct heat, for 1:45 each side. 
7. On the second flip, turn the steaks (crosshatching the grill marks), and close up the vents. The egg will belch smoke out of any hole it can find.
8. After 3 more minutes, carefully open vents, burp grill, then open. Flip the steaks over, then close up the vents again.
9. After 3 more minutes, the steaks are ready. Let them sit for five minutes (at least) before serving.

sizzazzle

This is probably quite close to the last set of directions I posted. I have tried different manners of "closing the vents." This time I put the green lid on the top (completely closing it) and left the bottom open. The second time around I closed both. I can't say I'm completely happy with the results, but only because the grill markings were uneven (probably the result of not using enough charcoal to create an even fire) and one of the steaks curled a bit. I do believe that a thicker steak, properly slashed and with a good coal bed underneath it would end up with a happier result.

An ill omen indeed

This morning I fertilized the tomato plants, spreading nearly two gallons over all of them. This represents the heaviest fertilizing I have completed to date. But given that the soil must be weakening and the plants are getting ready to bear fruit, I was anxious to accelerate the fertilizing schedule and increase its volume.

I fertilized at about eight thirty this morning. I should have done it earlier to avoid even more evaporation. When I left the house at nine, the smell of fish emulsion was still heavy in the moist morning air. Will water tomorrow to counteract our droughty conditions.

Also, I saw this sign on my way to work today. I'm still puzzling over it. In relation to my garden, this might be an omen. My second crop of tomatoes may disappoint. Or perhaps the lettuce I plan to plant next weekend will not take. Maybe the squirrels will tighten their racket and take a larger share. I feel oddly concerned.

garden update

The Sunny Boy plant, rolled over

 I have posted several times about the out of control tomato plants, and have now come to grips with the fact that all of this really is my fault. As a horticulturalist, I am a failure at best. My only consolation is that the mammoth fruit the plants produced have kept me and my neighbors and my friends happily munching on salad caprese, BLTs, and just plain tomatoes ever since late June. With the current crop starting to vine ripen, the party might keep going until November. So I don't feel too bad about failure in this case. But, time to reflect.

The squirrel's share at mid-center

This Cherokee Purple is the size of two fists. I shall name it "two fists"

• Plant two determinate vines, one as early as possible and another one month later. Put them in cages and keep them away from the other plants. My orange blossom tomatoes were the first to arrive and were delicious. I would have loved to have them about two weeks earlier than they did arrive, and would love another batch right about now. The determinate vines produce a huge bunch of fruit all at once. They are great for gift baskets, and they would enable me to keep a more steady crop going.

Barbarella out on the town

•  Stake the vines, dammit. Tomato cages are useless (except for the bushier determinate vines). I need a real stake, not the fake bamboo junk I was hustled into. I need at least six feet of stake above ground to house these monster plants. 
• Once staked, trim so that the plant grows along the stake. This involves pulling off the suckers and making sure the plant doesn't veer off in one direction or the other. 
• I know the above two points are elementary. I had read them before I planted. But last year I survived on cages, so it was stubbornness rather than stupidity that led me to try and cage these beasts.

Bell's early orange, not quite early, but orange-y

• This year I planted one cherry (Juane Flamee), one grape (sweet olive), one determinate (Orange Blossom), and four beefsteak style plants (two Cherokee Purples; Mortgage Lifter; Sunny Boy). 
• Next year plant at least two cherry/grape plants, two determinate plants, and at least five other heirloom varieties. Cherokee Purple is a must. 
• Maybe avoid the eggplant next year. Although it is beautiful.
• Need. more. peppers. Hot and sweet. A full row next year. These plants could take the cages.