GL challenge: To you, it's just a zucchini...

But to me, it's a freakin' miracle!! You see, people say anyone can grow zucchini. They say, you'll have zucchini coming out of your ears. But for the past two summers I've planted. I've watered. And waited. And then they all died. I've never been able to pull a zucchini out of the garden. And then eat it. Never. Ever. It's very sad for me.

Until now.

See! I not only pulled one, but have actually pulled another one out of the garden too! And later this week I'll have about three more! Plus I finally picked my beans and I'm thinking there's about 2 pounds there worth of pure yumminess!

Usually, my zucchini look like this:

They begin to grow only to rot at the end. I've still had 6 or 7 of these happen so far. Anyone have any idea why? I've heard it's because I water too much. And because I don't water enough. So ya, still scratchin' my head over that one. I welcome all suggestions and your favorite zucchini recipes!

GL Challenge*: Canning with Amy Pennington

Last week I took a canning class from gardener, canner, cookbook author & uber savvy business woman Amy Pennington. She's recently written a cookbook called Urban Pantry, Tips & Recipes for a Thrifty, Sustainable & Seasonal Kitchen. It's about growing what you eat, eating local and preserving food. It's a delightful book full of great recipes and a lot of inspiration.

During the class she made a quick batch of raspberry jam and brandied cherries. I learned a quick and easy technique for water bath canning when one doesn't have the official water bath canning equipment (shes says to put a clean dishtowel in the bottom of big old pan to keep the jars from clanging around together).

Here's Amy looking all Seattle suave with her iced drink and hot pot!

Mmmm....red raspberries cooking down for jam!

All prepped and ready to go!

If you're in the Seattle area, Amy is teaching a canning/preserving class one Thursday a month (day and evening classes) through October at Cupcake Royale on Capitol Hill. Each class she'll can something different and seasonal so if you take more than once class, you'll learn something new! I'm thinking of signing up for the October class to see what fall goodness she comes up with!

*Go Local challenge is pretty cool, check it out!

Summer baking

For some reason, when the temperatures heat up outside - and inside my un-air conditioned kitchen - I seem to feel the need to bake. Because 83 degrees inside isn't hot enough, I break out my bread pans, muffing tins and cooking sheets. Why you ask? I blame the summer fruit. Fresh picked blueberries from the farmers market seem to want to become warm, gooey blueberry muffins.

And who am I to stand in their way?

Although, I think next time I may try to make Popsicles. There would be less sweating involved in those.

GL Week 3*: Our go to meal

Our go to meal this summer has been steak salads. I've never really eaten them too much before. I figured if I'm going to have a steak, than have a steak. And the same with a salad. While they're on most menus they've just never really appealed to me. Until now.

On a whim I bought some steak from the farmers market at work. It was from a farm  in Carnation, WA. The steak was a smaller cut and thinner than most in the grocery stores. Since it was smaller, and I'm not much of a meat eater, I suggested the idea to the hubby since we had so much lettuce in the garden. (Plus, I'm already getting a little tired of salads with everything. Not a good sign as it's barely the second week in July).

We marinated the meat, then the hubby fired up the grill as I got the salad fixin's (there's a nod to my Southern' days) ready. In the end, it was a delightful treat full of our lettuce, snap peas, carrots, local blueberries, a sprinkle of local cheese and of course the steak.

But the recipe I want to share this week is that of the dressing. It's not local, but since it goes on a local salad, I'm calling it close enough. It's my mom's balsamic vinegar. And as many times as I've tried to recreate it, it's just never as good. She was here this weekend so I got out all the stuff and an empty jar and asked her pretty please to make me some. It's quite tasty! Enjoy!

Joy's delightful summer balsamic vinegrette

- some balsamic vinegar

- some olive oil

- a teaspoon or so of dijon mustard

- a dallop of honey

- juice of 3/4 lemon
 - pinch of salt & pepper

Dump all ingredients into a jar and shake. Taste and season to your preferences. Feel free to add more of other spices if you prefer.

*GL stands for the Go Local Challenge. It's technically week 6, but I'm a little behind as Mother Nature didn't quite cooperate here in the PWN.

GL* Week 2: Opening Day

I am lucky enough to live in a good eat-local-foodie city. And when the weather warms up (please, please let it warm up soon) the farmers markets seem to spring to life throughout Seattle. Case in point: Downtown.

While we do have Pike Place Market, it's usually filled with tourists this time of year. Not exactly the ideal place to pick up your locally grown veggies and fruits when people are constantly taking pictures of your veggies. Luckily Pike Place Market created Pike Place Market Express, a smaller version of the famed market minus the loud fish tossing guys right in the heart of the Seattle business district. And even luckier for me, it's right outside my office door. Literally.

Today was first day. I ran outside at 10 a.m. eager to see what was in store. There's plenty of fresh vegetables, fruit, and of course the famous market flowers. New this year is a local honey vendor and meat booth. While I passed them up this time, I am going to try them both out this year. This week I couldn't pass up the raspberries or the apples. I have to say, I love the apples from the farmers market so much more than the ones at the store. Not only do they taste better, but they are the perfect size! I can't stand the super sized apples from the grocery store. Too big for me.

I took this pic with the phone on my camera. It was a pretty quick pic because I didn't want a coworker coming into my cubicle asking, "Why are you taking pictures of your food?"

The only downside to this market. Getting your bounty home on the bus.
* GL = Going Local. If you haven't seen it, check it out.

Going Local 2010 (and getting a late start)

Once again this summer I'm taking part in Living Sense's Go Local Challenge. The theme this summer is Using Your Bounty. I'm really excited to take part again this year and I'll even be a guest writer on her blog in July (I'm excited about my topic but you'll have to wait and see it for yourself!)

Each Monday (OK, I'm late already but are you really surprised here?) I'll be posting on my site about my local gardening/eating experiences and sharing links to others in the program. Be sure to check them out!

I have to admit that so far my local eating and gardening hasn't been so great. The cold, wet spring hasn't been too kind to my garden, especially with my slug infestation! But I'm hoping this challenge will help get me motivated to look for some good local food at our area farmers markets. Stay tuned.

#%^! Slugs!!!

They're back!

Towards the end of the summer last year the slugs found my garden. Apparently they've been waiting for me all winter.

It didn't take them long to feast on the veggies I've got in the ground. I haven't even tried anything in the garden and they already have.

They even got to my little baby bean sprouts! Is there no justice in the garden?!

So....what do you think? How do I get ride of them? I'm not a fan of putting chemicals in the garden. Last year I tried an organic treatment and I think I could hear the slugs laughing at me as they still slithered and munched away.

Any ideas? Anyone?
Please?

Julie, Julia & Meg

This summer I read Julie & Julia and My Life in France. They both made me laugh. They both made me hungry. And they both made me want to cook.

But with record high temps outside and in my kitchen (there were several days where it was at least 84 degrees or higher in my kitchen) and that pretty much wiped out my desire to cook.

But it's cooler now and I'm ready to tap into that inspiration. I think it has something to do with fall. The cooler temps and colored leaves make me want to bake and make soups.

I got a little creative with the mass amounts of tomatoes I got from the garden. I decided I was going to whip up a sauce for our pasta. So with a couple of handfuls of tomatoes, some green onions from the garden and chives from the herb pot, I tossed them into the pan and cooked them down to a delightful topping.

And then I heard the peaches calling my name from the farmers market. So I whiped a tart from an old receipe (that I've saved forever but never actually made). It's from Real Simple. It calls for a pre-made pie crust, and while I do love baking, sometimes, you just need to fake it and use a pre-made pie crust, know what I mean? I also didn't have enough peaches so I improvised with a handfull or two (don't you like my great measuring systems?) of fresh raspberries.

I have to say, both dishes were quite divine. I think the ladies would be proud.

Here's to a return to the kitchen.

Book Report: Farm City

Book: Farm City - The Education of an Urban Farmer

Author: Novella Carpenter

Farm City is the story of a woman (Novella Carpenter) and her experience as a squater when it comes to urban farming. Yes, squater. In a very bad part of Oakland, CA of all places.

I found this book incredibly charming on several levels.

1. We're both from Idaho

2. We're both journalists

3. We both live (or in her case lived) in Seattle

4. We're both slightly obsessed with our new gardens

She however takes her obsession to a level my hubby would probably not really want me to go to.

(Right now he only shakes his head when I tell him my plans for the chicken coop.)

If you enjoy gardening, this book is for you. If you enjoy growing your own food, harvesting it, finding the perfect recipe and sharing it with your friends, this book is for you. If you've ever looked out your window onto your garden and thought, yeah, I could raise chicken, geese, ducks, turkeys, rabbits, pigs and then slaughter them yourself, then this book is for you.

Ok, even if you don't go that far, this book is still a delightful, charming read that will have you laughing out loud and contemplating your role in our food/consumer relationship. Oh, and it'll make you hungry. After reading her chapters on pigs and what they will mean to her (nurishment wise, not emotionally attached to them - although that does happen), I actually ordered bacon the other day. And I ate one piece. That's a big step. For me anyway. The hubby gladly took care of the other two slices.

And after reading about her garden, I just wanted to share some of my garden pics!

Go Local Challenge: Homemade Bread

What's better than sliced bread I ask?
How about some homemade wheat bread!

While the ingredients used aren't exactly local, instead of buying a loaf of bread this week at the store, I made two loafs myself! I used my brand new KitchenAid and it's fabulous! The recipe takes a while, but it's super easy and it's so tasty!

The hubby couldn't wait to cut of a slice and try it. I enjoyed my warm slice with some homemade raspberry jam! Quite tasty! I'll be making this recipe again!

*There would have been more pictures of this process, but I was mostly through the mixing when I remembered to grab the camera. And when I did, the battery was dead. But it charged while the bread baked! I'll have more pictures next time.

Go Local Challenge: Finally a local meal!

I'll admit that I haven't been doing too well at the cooking locally. But the other night, I feel like I've rebounded.

Dinner:

• Locally raised chicken marinated in balsamic vinegar (not local) and seasoned with Herb's De Provence (not really local, but I'm counting it as local since I bought them in the Provence region of France and brought them home.)


• Steamed green beans from the Full Circle Farm.


• Potatoes from another local farm that I can't remember cooked Hobo Style*
  

*Hobo style:

If you like eating potatoes in the summer, but hate cooking them on the stove because it's too damn hot, this is best way - ever.

Chop up potatoes - I like Yukon Golds - into medium sized bites. Chop up a medium sized yellow onion. Mix onion and potatoes with olive oil, garlic salt, rosemary, chives or whatever you have growing in your herb garden, in a bowl.

Toss everything onto a sheet of tin foil and wrap it up tight. Toss it onto the grill. Heat until the potatoes are soft. Let cool a bit. Enjoy!

Go Local Challenge: Heat Wave

While I - along with most of the Pacific Northwest - was melting last week in this heat wave, a funny thing happened in the garden. It exploded! It exploded with greenery!

The tomatoes doubled in size. And the tomato plant I thought was a goner even doubled in size!

(There are some red ones peeking out of there)

The corn is finally growing.

And my squash looks like it might actually produce something too!

Plus, I harvested another two gallon size bags full of lettuce (on top of the one gallon bag from earlier in the month!)

The radishes are popping up like crazy! (Don't know why the pic is blurry. Obviously I'm so excited about the garden I can't focus!)

And I can watch my garden grow from my new favorite room!

Go Local Challenge: Loads of lettuce

The garden is still coming along, however there is one star player: the lettuce. It's growing like weeds.

We've got red lettuce, butter lettuce, some other kind of lettuce and I can't think of the name right now and some chard thrown in for good measure.

What's one to do with this bounty? Make my favorite summer salad!

Chicken & Fruit summer salad:

- lots of greens

- a handful of your favorite veggies (I used carrots, local grown tomatoes as mine are about a week out, and there would have been our own grown radishes, but the hubby ate them before I could chop them up)

- fresh fruit (I used blueberries from a local farmer)

- grilled chicken, cooled a bit

- feta cheese

Throw in a yummy whole wheat roll and a glass of local wine and you've got a fabulous summer meal!

Go Local Challenge: Jammin'

The plan started out simple enough. A friend and I were going to take advantage of my new big kitchen to do a little jamming. We planned. We researched. We emailed and dolled out tasks. We were just going to do three jams: raspberry, black berry and orange marmalade.

But when my dear friend showed up at my place after picking up the fruit, it quickly became obvious we were in for an adventure of sticky proportions! She bought: raspberries, black berries (enough for two batches each), oranges, plums, peaches, pluots and cherries.

So we quickly got to work. And we washed, stirred, chopped, pureed, boiled and stirred some more. The final product: 85 jars of delicious jams and marmalade of various shapes and sizes.

Turns out, when you plan a jammin' session with a friend who grew up on a working farm in rural Oregon, a day of jammin' means something else altogether. Next up, we plan more jammin' this fall with pizza and pasta sauces. I can't wait!

Go Local Challenge: Guest Blogger

I'm the guest blogger over at Living Senses for this week of the Go Local Challenge. Check it out.

Not sure what the Go Local Challenge is? It's all about eating locally, trying new foods/recipes and supporting the farmers around you.

Join the fun and eat great this summer!

Seattle's newest Farmers Market

The Pike Place Market Express is now set up for the summer every Tuesday from 10 am - 2 pm at the City Hall plaza. It's right outside my office door! And it was a hit today! It's starting out small but organizers say they are going to get bigger as the summer progresses. And with the lines today, I can only hope they start getting bigger next week!

I wasn't able to get out to the plaza until ll:45 am and already things were sold out! I did manage to snag two things of raspberries, a bunch of romaine lettuce and some broccoli - all locally grown.

I think I'm going to enjoy having a farmers market outside of my office. I just need to get out there earlier. Hopefully work won't get in the way of my local produce shopping!

Go Local Challenge 2009: My garden

How does your garden grow?

Hopefully, pretty damn good.

We got into the house this weekend. And while the big move isn't scheduled until next Saturday (I originally had to work this Saturday), we were able to get in clean, move a few things in, and most importantly, work in the garden.

This is what I showed up to on Saturday morning:

Yep, it was a mess. A woefully neglected garden. Those really tall weeds that were basically my height turned out be carrots. Really old, neglected carrots. I pulled up about 1/2 a dozen of them along with some really old radishes. After a while in there, I finally had it garden ready.

So we headed out to Home Depot to get some goodies. One of the best things about moving to a new neighborhood is exploring and finding new haunts. On our way to HD, we found the West Seattle Nursery & Garden Center. We pulled in and I quickly met Kathy, my new garden BFF. She was very impressed that by 2 pm on the day I moved into my house I was out shopping for stuff for our garden. She gave me some advice, a fabulous selection of greenery and sent us out the door with the confidence not to kill everything.

Back at the ranch we started planting. Here's what it looks like now:

We've got tomatoes, corn, 2 types of squash, carrots, onions, radishes (the last three are all seeds) plus basil, chives, rosemary for my herb pot. I also transplanted the kale and lettuce starts from my bucket, but I've got to be honest, I don't think the lettuce is going to make it. I'm also a little worried about the transplanted tomato. Fingers crossed!

We also bought a raspberry plant and I've got my eye on two blueberry plants back at the nursery center. I'm also hoping to get some zucchini, spinach, more lettuce and a few other things, but I'm not sure what yet. Any suggestions? (You can't say strawberries. the hubby thinks I may have pulled up a strawberry plant in my zest to weed out the garden. But in my garden, strawberries are weeds!)

Go Local Challenge:Week One - Nada

Well, what can I say but the truth. I sucked at week one of the Go Local Challenge. Time got away from me to get to a market. There was a "heat wave" for a few days this week that knocked power out to our place on Wednesday for about 7 hours (no cooking, no shopping, just sweating, a game of scrabble on the deck and knitting with a head lamp.) It was just one of those weeks.

However, I feel slightly redeemed with this act of local eating: for my job, I wrote a story about Seattle's newest farmers market coming to folks of downtown Seattle. And the best part about this story (aside from exposing more folks to local farmers), is that this new market is literally outside my office! Starting in the end of June, there will be NO excuse for me not to be shopping locally. I'll simply grab my cash (the ATM is also in my building), grab my bag, then walk out the door to go shopping!

Go Local Challenge 2009

Summertime is here and with that the fresh green bounty from the farms are trucked into the city! That means farmers markets are bursting at the seams with all sorts of fresh, yummy goodness that I can't seem to find at the grocery stores!

Lucky for me, SewHappy Jane over at LivingSenses is here to encourage all of us to take advantage of this delectable delightful season by setting up the Go Local Challenge! It's easy to participate. Just hit your local farmers market, buy whatever your heart desires, and make at least one meal a week using local ingredients! It's a great way to try new fruits and veggies, meet the folks who help put the food on your table, and help the environment by reducing your carbon footprint by making sure your dinner isn't shipped from some where very far away.

It's a fun and tasty way to spend the summer!

Thieves don't like broccoli

Or radishes. But they do like apples, bananas, peaches, bagged spinach, potatoes, two cans of organic tomato sauce, green onions and organic rolls. How do I know this you wonder? Because that's what was supposed to in my organic delivery box yesterday. Only, the wasn't there. Today when I came home, the delivery box was there. But when I opened it up, the only things in it were the broccoli, radishes and the carrot bunch tops. And they had clearly been there sitting in the sun for a while. I'm thinking someone in our complex found our box and returned it to us. So now we're cancelling our organic delivery service so it won't turn out to be a free organic meal for someone every Tuesday. While, I'm disappointed in yet another robbery from us (the car, the bike, several car break-ins resulting in car/window damage in case you keeping track along with me), I'm surprised it hasn't happened earlier. I'm just going to look at this as our organic contribution to the food bank.