I Will Have Tomatoes In 2014!

I can't believe how my mindset has swung 180º in less than a week. I can't believe I can look out back and see Stupice seedlings and a big pot of nasturtiums this morning when a week ago I'd all but given up on a garden.

I went to the farmers' market last Saturday and as I stood at the Forty Weight Coffee table talking to Andrew, I glanced at a sign in the stall next to him. It listed the varieties of tomato seedlings they were selling including Stupice!

I went back to the Thursday market and spent a good bit of time talking to Jamie (Wyllie Fox Farm) about seedlings. I came home with a flat of 18 which should be sufficient but I will be going back next week for some additional cherry tomato varieties and a striped eggplant called Listada De Gandia.

Jamie expects to have some nasturtiums in a week or so but I couldn't resist a big pot of three varieties from the only vendor who had them yesterday.

The Ultimate Cheesecake

McCall's Cooking School, circa 1975?

I'm going through old recipe files. This one has been haunting me since I pulled it out a few weeks ago.

Many years ago I think I made it twice before I found a recipe I liked better for the filling but I continued to use the Lindy's version for the crust. I have never liked a graham cracker crust for cheesecake. Who's idea was that I'd like to know.

The recipe I use for the filling is one that the Family Circle test kitchen called "Our Finest Cheesecake" and is attributed to John Clancy, author of "John Clancy's Baking Book". I like it because the cake is lighter and drier than most.

1.5 lb. cream cheese, room temperature
1-1/4 cups sugar (or less)
1/4 tsp. salt
6 eggs, separated, room temperature
1 pint sour cream
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Grated rind of 1 lemon 
Juice of 1/2 lemon
 
With electric mixer on low speed or with a wooden spoon, beat cream cheese in a large bowl until soft. Gradually beat in sugar until light and fluffy. 

Beat in egg yolks, one at a time, until well blended. Stir in sour cream, flour, vanilla, lemon rind, lemon juice and salt until smooth. 

Beat egg whites until they hold stiff peaks. Fold whites into the cheese mixture, soufflé-fashion, until well blended. Pour into prepared pan. 

Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees F) 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until top is golden; turn off oven heat and allow cake to cool in oven for 1 hour and then remove it from oven to cool on a wire rack at room temperature.

Chill to ripen overnight before serving. Dust with powdered sugar if desired just before cutting.

There's no getting around it. I'm going to make a cheesecake.

Pete Seeger 1919-2014

He was still bringin' it at 93. A good soul he was.

Old Lady, New Bike

Every once in awhile I think about coming back here but the moment usually passes quickly and I'm on to other pointless stuff.

This past year however was a little less pointless. I spent it, in large part, losing some weight and, more important, regaining strength and bone density.

I'm pleased with my success but even happier to be able to demonstrate to others that it's possible to get fit at 65.

A year and half ago I was despondent when I put my old road bike in the attic. I simply couldn't ride more than five miles without pain and/or numbness in my hands and/or feet. Fortunately I could still ride my town bike but not on any major roadways or too far afield.

Several people had suggested that I could get a hybrid bicycle that would put me more upright like my town bike and get me back on the road. I wasn't sure about spending money on a new bike but once I felt leaner and stronger I wanted to do more cycling than I could on my town bike.

2013 was, for me, the year I got Medicare and a Bianchi camaleonte tre for my birthday.

A Good Griddle

I guess the best way to sum up the past year on these two acres is to say it was one of transition. The process is ongoing but at this point we are pretty much 'retired'.

One of the changes we've made in the past year is the way we eat. We used to eat the conventional three meals every day but now most days we are eating a larger breakfast around 9:00 and a main meal around 2:00 with a light snack in the evening.

As breakfast became more important so did the problem of a griddle. Since I gave up my favorite griddle years ago because of the Teflon coating, I hadn't been able to find a replacement I liked. I had been using a large skillet but sometimes there were tell-tale flavors from previous heavily seasoned dishes and even a hint of garlic is not something I want in my banana pancakes, thank you.

A few weeks ago we made what I expect to be our last investment in high-quality cookware. We used our Christmas gifts from The Mister's father to buy a Swiss Diamond griddle. It is absolutely perfect and the first breakfast of sour buckwheat cakes was delicious as was the sourdough French toast on New Year's morning.

Dave Brubeck 1920-2012

You know you're going to outlive a lot of people who have been important in your life but I'm surprised how difficult I'm finding these mounting losses. I suspect it may be that I'm less able than most to offset the losses with some measure of faith in the future but the future was a very different place when I came to appreciate the music of Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond in the 60's.

I saw Dave Brubeck in concert whenever I had the chance, the last time being here in Syracuse in 2007, but of all the concerts and recordings, the image I love best is the one portrayed in a 2001 hour-long interview with Hedrick Smith, "Rediscovering Dave Brubeck". It's not often one can truly believe a famous person known from afar is also a fine human being but Dave Brubeck was just that.

Buttoning Up

The attic is quiet. I'll miss the flying squirrels but not the red ones.

With new coverings of hardware clothe and screening there's only the the sheet rock to replace and a couple of holes to patch. We've considered adding to the cedar trim but I haven't had any problems with moths in the woolens so I'm just going to fill a few old pillowcases with cedar shavings and place them around the room.

I've spent much of the past few months hauling stuff out of the attic. The last boxes of books, crockery & glassware, linens, Christmas decorations, etc. went this week.

The once cluttered and crowded attic is now almost empty and I can't for the life of me decide how I feel about that.

Good Vibes

I finally got to see "The Intouchables" and while I'm not unaware of the film's flaws, I thoroughly enjoyed it because of the wonderful performances by Omar Sy and François Cluzet.

Now I have Earth, Wind and Fire running through my head 24/7...

Georgian Crystal

So I'm pulling the last of my garlic, 24 plantings of what I expect to be Nootka Rose, and I realize half of them have hard necks. I can't believe I didn't notice the difference when I prepared the garlic last fall but it seems one of the two growers from whom I ordered Nootka Rose last year sent me something else, a porcelain with the lovely name, 'Georgian Crystal'.

It's really quite pretty and not like any of the others I've grown. The silvery outer wrappers have a blush of pink and the cloves have just a bit more color. It has a nice full flavor without much heat. Even though all my garlic is small this year after I planted later than usual, I think I have enough good-sized cloves that I will be able to grow some full-size Georgian Crystal next season.

That's pretty much how I'm coping, by looking forward to next season. The storm systems that do roll through central New York almost always part as they approach us, going north and south, leaving us dry as a bone. We get the odd brief shower and it greens up the grass but does nothing for the more deep-rooted.

Everything seems to be in stasis, waiting for rain.

Summer 2012

It's July and I'm on my annual virtual vacation in France. J'aime Le Tour de France. I also adore Dave Harmon, Sean Kelly and Carlton Kirby, the Eurosport broadcasters.

Other than watching the cycling I'm spending most of my time schlepping hoses around the yard & garden. NO rain for weeks now and all I'm trying to do in the garden is tomatoes, eggplant and peppers, some beans and summer squash. After all, the critters have to have something to eat.

The bad news is that it's dry, the good news is that it's dry and so the 90º weather is surprisingly bearable. We haven't gone to AC more than a few nights when there was some humidity along with the heat. I'm just glad I don't have grazing animals to worry about.

The other upside to the dry conditions is that it's almost wiped out the nymph stage of the deer ticks.

Still, I wish it would rain.

Mira by Melody Gardot

NO Fruit In 2012!

Today was the first day of the full Farmers Market. At first I was happy to see the vendors who don't come in the winter but then I spoke to an old-timer who has been one of the major fruit vendors for many years. He's despondent. I knew they had suffered a lot of damage last month but until he told me, I didn't realize last week's low temperatures pretty much finished off the rest of the crops.

There's been very little in the news but in Canada the situation is much the same:

"'This is the worst disaster fruit growers have ever, ever experienced,' orchard owner Keith Wright said Friday. 'We've been here for generations and I've never heard of this happening before across the province. This is unheard of, where all the fruit growers in the Great Lakes area, in Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York State, Ontario, are all basically wiped out,' the Harrow, Ontario grower said."

Breaking Out

I've been dying to see what the heron hatchlings look like and, by gum, they look very heron-like, no? I guess it's all in the beak!

Herons

I'm doing a good job of not mentioning weather or climate, here or anywhere. In that overly used phrase, "It is what it is." I'm am however going to express my admiration for the Great Blue Herons nesting on the pond at Sapsucker Woods in Ithaca. Since the peregrine falcons in Syracuse don't appear to be having any success again this year, I've been checking this heron nest in the morning. Monday it was barely visible through the snow and there could be more of the same tomorrow but the herons seem to take it all in stride.

I'm trying to follow their example.

The Year of the Tick Continued

Maple Syrup 2012

Our maple syrup supply this year isn't local but its carbon footprint is phenomenally smaller than that of any I can find closer to home.

Berkshire Sweet Gold not only uses reverse osmosis to reduce the time and energy required to shed the water in the sap but they use solar generated electricity to power their evaporators. The end result is not only environmentally sustainable but wicked good!

A Lovely Trout

Regardless of the lousy photo I want to honor this lovely trout. The season opened on Sunday and Mark, the friend who primarily supplies us with duck and goose, caught this two-and-a-half pound beauty. Thank you Mark! And thank you fish.

Best of 2011

Last year's tomatoes weren't spectacular but some did better than others. The old favorites, Jaune Flammé and Isis Candy were good as ever but the tomato I ate as quickly as it ripened was Super Snow White. It was my 'best of 2011'.

The first seeds have germinated including Super Snow White and the other cherry tomatoes, eggplant and bell peppers. I'm trying to use up the older seeds I have so the germination rates are hit-or-miss. I may have to try again with a few varieties but it's nice to see the little green shoots lined up in the flats.

May In March

Actually it's more like July in March. Which begs the question, what pray tell will July be like?

If our temperatures continue to run more than 20 bloody degrees above average, July will feel like equatorial Africa and I will be suicidal. I know it's pointless to speculate but I had such high hopes of doing so many things that I wasn't able to do the past two summers...

Let Them Eat Ticks – and Slugs

The Tractor Supply Co. also sells guinea fowl which I have every intention of getting some next spring if I survive this summer...