The Manuka

Doing research on "the manuka" --fascinating. Melaleuca, manuka and eucalyptus are all in the myrtle family.

Made a fabulous grilled cheese sandwich today the way I like it with butter and parmesan on the outside and cheddar on the inside with fresh tomatoes on the side. I might have to have another one for breakfast!

All this researching honey has made me crave it on butter and white bread.

Tonight we trudged up and down four flights of stairs in our son's high school to meet all his teachers. Peter and I want to take French because they are using sign language and it looks like so much fun! Interesting the choices of posters the teachers use. There was one I wanted to rip off the wall I hated it so much. I liked the drama teacher. She seemed like a real firecracker. The gym teacher looked like he'd been in one too many boxing or wresting matches. Tiny cauliflower ears almost worn right off. God what are they feeding the grade twelve boys? They are giants.

Blackberry Chutney Crumble Squares

I made a plum pie this weekend (butter crust with streusal topping which was eaten with Ernest's Salt Spring Plum ice cream. At one point I added a spoonful of my blackberry chutney made out of the berries I'd macerated for the shrub. A light bulb went on: "I'm going to use this chutney to make bars." And so this morning I combined 1 c flour with 1 cup oatmeal, with 1/2 tsp baking soda, salt, 3/4 cup brown sugar and 1/2 c coconut oil melted with 2 tbs butter. I pulsed a cup of the mixture in the food processor and pressed it into an 8" square pan. I spread a thin layer (just about 1 cm) of the chutney on top. Then I mixed some shelled pumpkin seeds into the remaining crumb mixture and baked at 350 degrees F for about 25 min.

I warned Peter they would be weird. "Why can't you make normal bars? Why do you always have to experiment?" he wined before tasting them. My family, the intrepid culinary explorers. Anyway he actually liked them. I think I will work on this and a recipe of some goat yogurt ice cream to go with them.

It's raining cats and dogs and veternarians today, be careful where you walk. We went out for sushi and I am soaked. The buddleia are dripping. I'm glad I brought my hops inside. This morning I plucked off the fruit in my pajamas while listening to Mr. Enright on CBC radio learning to bird by ear on his excellent "Sunday School" segment on The Sunday Edition.

I have just learned we are losing our local  Legion. End of an era.

I have been watching a lesbian love drama called Last Tango in Halifax which is excellent, but the person who put it on the internet did their own edit, which was unfortunate. This led me to a musical comedy series about dueling choirs called All the Small Things. Some of the characters hit me as being a little too close to home.

And of course I am reading about bees, bees, and more bees. My overdue fines are astronomical. Must do better.

Oatmeal Flax Walnut Cookies

 I baked these while listening to a fabulous CBC documentary about Mickey who mades bespoke suits for the stars for New york's postwar celebrities--radio gold. Another reccomended listen is Sheilagh Roger's extended interview with Ruth Ozeki about Ruth's new novel called A Tale for the Time Being.

I was snacking on black garlic--my new replacement for chocolate. Yes, I gave the latter up because it gives me migraines.

2 c rolled oats

1/4 cup ground flax

1 cup toasted walnut pieces

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2/3 c AP flour

salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 c brown sugar

3/4 c butter

1/2 tsp Mexican vanilla

1 egg

--modified from a Ricardo Recipe

You know the drill--cream butter and sugar, then eggs and vanilla. Mix flour, baking pwder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, then mix into the wet ingredients. Add the flax, then nuts, then oatmeal. Drop with a medium sixed 3 tbp ice cream scoop bake 14 min.

Eat with a side of black garlic.

Blackberry Shrub and Chutney

As he washes the dishes Peter looks very puzzled when he asks "what did you do with a whole bottle of apple cidre vinegar?"
"I poured it over the blackberries, I say nonchalantly. I'm making a shrub." He chooses to ignore that comment." I can read his thoughts, "Another crazy culinary experiment that will end in tears." Okay, so I am curious about these shrubs the food bloggers are making. It sounds like a drink that Southerners have on hot summers strumming their banjos on muggy porches. "Hand me another glass of that shrub, would ya Bubba? I got a terrible thirst." Truth is, I've drunk shrubs without knowing what they were. Someone at the farmer's market in the Comox Valley makes "Woo Pop", which is a vinegar-based drink that's deliciously thirst quenching.

There's a bunch of different methods to make shrubs, which involves macerating fruit in sugar or honey and adding a bunch of vinegar, You strain it and then use that to mix with soda to make the shrub. You can also add things like herbs, spices and alcohol. So I've done it. I was decadent and used some honey on ripe blackberries and added a whole bottle of apple cider vinegar. Don't ask me what the proportions were, I just eyeballed it and then tasted it. I let it sit for two days on the counter, covered to protect it from fruit flies, or to protect the fruit flies from it. Then I strained it and put it in my Medalta crock in the fridge. Oh how I love my Medalta crock.

Now I am going to make chutney out of the fruit that was left over. There were some peaches getting overripe on the table, so I've added them and tonight I'm going to finish the chutney by simmering it with with ginger, onions, garlic and spices.

It's that time of the year when I see the preserving women with bags under their eyes and dishpan hands working themselves to the bone puttin' up food for the winter. Let us celebrate those women, pamper them with certificates to spas and give them plenty of whiskey to make it through the season, with the secret hope we might be the beneficiary of some of their hard-won goodies.

I've also been instructed by Peter to make a plum pie, so that is on the go. I think a butter crust and streusal topping would be good. I bought some walnuts to make more oatmeal cookies. Tomorrow maybe I'll make a byriani to use accompany he chutney. I've instructed Peter to make some of his granola.

I am very excited about pumpkin pie season and yesterday I took a class with the Mayan gardeners at UBC Farm and learned how to make a delicious simple squash dessert. I can't wait for the UBC Farm squash market--should be coming up soon. I saw them curing in the greenhouse.

We are finding it very hard to buy clothes for Ullie since he is in between the boys and mens sizes which is very frustrating. I am having a hell of a time trying to find new shoes--a search which seems to lead me near the best bakeries in town. We have lots of cake, but no shoes. The sesame religeuse at Beaucoup Bakery is my new favorite thing to eat in the world. I may have to go shoe shopping near there again this week. No shoes to be found near the new Ernest Ice Cream shop, but plenty of inked hipsters in ice cream induced comas and a cashpoint system that really needs changing. Bring real money. Buy the Saltspring Plum Ice cream. It is delicious and we're having it with honey cake from the Honeybee Centre store up the street tonight for dessert, with fresh plums on the side.

I also went to the UBC Botanical Garden bulb sale this weekend and got garlic for eating and growing and  new tips for planting which was well worth the trip. There was a proper tea room with some really good ginger coconut squares that I really want to learn to make.

Ginger-Studded Oatmeal Cookies

The reasons I love fall:

The weather is comfortable enough for gardening, but also baking. The farmer's markets are bursting with produce. I went up to UBC Farm Saturday and could barely drag my rolly home. I bought tomatoes, tomatillos and beans from the Mayan Gardeners. So today I made tomatillo salsa which we ate with Peter's beef stew on quinoa with UBC Farm greens. That's one of my favorite meals

I made oatmeal and coconut cookies from a Sugar Cube recipe and added candied ginger instead of chocolate chips to half the batch. The chocolate chip ones go with Ullie on his camping trip.

Peter is such a great dad, practicing opening the combination lock for school with Ules, gathering all the camping gear, checking to see if Ules can figure out all the snaps and geegaws. I am preoccupied with other stuff so it's good someone's on the ball. I am putting in long days of work, yes, even on Sundays. But that's the way it's gotta be. I'm upping my health regime to boost my stamina. Stay away from the cookies missus!

I am obsessed with Midsommer Murders and Bergerac, alternating between the two series. Sometimes it is comforting background noise, sometimes just an escape.

People's fall rituals are clicking in. I can feel my friends and family hitting their stride. My parents are booking their Christmas trip. Wow. Christmas.

Fall Rituals: Healing Honey

I thought I'd go back to using this space again to write about daily seasonal family rituals.

Last night was our Labor Day weekend  family Dinner with roast beef, green beans with almonds and bacon, and roast potatoes. Dinner was date squares with two kinds of ice cream made with coconut milk. Peter is very excited that his dad is now keyed onto making his ice cream without lactose since a good quarter of the family has problems with milk. The caramel coconut ice cream delicious, especially with a Barsac.

For the wine, we had a fun time guessing what was in the bottle, a gift from Poplar Grove that is an unlabeled mystery wine that we are supposed to enter our best guesses in their contest. The family guessed cab sauv, merlot, and shiraz in French oak. I can't remember the year we guessed, but C's knowledge of the history of the winery helped us out. Grandpa says it could use another 5 years in the bottle. We were able to eat outside and stay their until dark because it was such a warm day.

We also went shopping for back to school clothes for Ules and had sunch at Chutney Villa which was very busy. I picked a footlong zucchini at the community garden bed and now I've got to make a cake with it for sure.

This morning I got up early to write for an hour, then made scones from my recipes substituting creme fraiche diluted half with water for a treat. I ate mine with a very ripe peach, healing honey from Planet Bee we got in Vernon, and ground flax seed which I was inspired to add because we had it on the table at the yoga centre.

Today I get to put my books on new shelves. Yay! I also get to go to J's birthday, which will be a treat. This morning is cloudy and 18 degrees C.

I am wishing all of you a happy and productive fall.