Stop and Pick Up the Litter - An Earth Day Post

I awoke this morning to the sound of a flicker drumming on the street light by my driveway. I assume this is some sort of "This is My Turf" activity because sometimes it gets a reply. One time another flicker drummed on the the furnace vent of the house across the street in reply - the behavior went on for several hours and while I found it amusing the neighbors didn't. Studying up for this post I discovered that I have Red Shafted Northern Flickers (Pictured). There is also a Yellow Shafted Northern Flicker.

Tomorrow is the start of Spring and the date of the 39th Earth Day. All day long today I've had the lyrics to Bob Dylan's "Forever Young" playing in my head. It seems appropriate somehow and I hope that the idea of Earth Day does stay Forever Young.

May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.

When I was younger I remember "Don't Be a Litter Bug" public service announcements on TV. It always seemed like the obvious thing to me to not litter, but I do remember a semi-traumatic experience riding back from a baseball tournament where the family I was riding with bagged up all the trash from our fast food meal and heaved it out the window as we drove down the highway.

Today I drove to the liquor store to pick up some Campari. Driving down the street I noticed that not only is this week the start of Spring, it's also the start of Garage Sale season. People are big on putting up signs for their garage sale, but most seem to lack the follow through on pulling down the signs when the sale is done. I guess we're supposed to just ignore the sign when the date has passed.

I stopped by the Post box down the street to mail a couple of things that I'd missed getting into today's mail. There on the utility pole by the Mail Box was a fluorescent green garage sale sign. I pulled it down and threw it into the litter sack in my car. I pulled down another ten signs over the rest of the trip to the liquor store and library. It felt good. The neighborhood looks better. It probably added ten minutes to the trip, but when all was said and done, it was time well spent.

This isn't just something I did today. I pulled down a few more than usual and I'm more inclined to stop and pull down pole litter on a sunny day than on a day when it's pouring rain. The point is that if we'd all just pick up a couple of pieces of litter here and there, the world would be a better place.

Negroni

This is the Classic Recipe
1 ounce gin (I used Tanqueray)
1 ounce Campari
1 ounce sweet vermouth (I use Martini & Rossi)
Garnish: Orange slice.

Shake or Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail class.

Garnish with an orange slice

For a less sweet, stouter drink try David Wondrich's Version

Perfect Negroni

1 1/2 ounce gin
3/4 ounce Campari
3/4 ounce sweet vermouth
Garnish: Orange Peel Twist.

Shake with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange twist

Spring Break

I'm still battling the laurel hedge in my front yard. The more I hack away at it, the more I want to cut it down to the ground.

When we first moved in to our house thirty plus years ago the road was a thoroughfare (note to self - don't buy a house on a road with striping down the center). Luckily they built a freeway a couple of blocks down the street a few years later and now I live on a dead end street.

The hedge was a barrier to sight and sound in those early, more heavily trafficked days. Now it hides the lawn when I neglect to mow in a timely fashion and provides a cloistered feel to the front of the house.

Yesterday morning I hauled a trailer full of hedge prunings to the yard debris recycling center. I had good intentions to fill the trailer and make a return trip this morning. I found several other things to do instead. Perhaps I'm feeling a bit unsure about what to do with the other larger part of the hedge. Pruner's remorse perhaps.

So here I am, sitting inside on a beautiful spring day, sorting through books and magazines, clearing the bookshelves of clutter.

Taking a break from the sorting - I've got salmon in the oven. I think I'll dine outside.

Salmon en papillote with preserved lemons and fennel

This is the grown up version of the Hobo Lunch (hamburger patty, carrots and potatoes wrapped in tin foil and pitched on the campfire)we used to take on Boy Scout day hikes.

Preheat the oven to 425F while preparing the packets

A couple of squares of parchment paper lubed up with olive oil
2 - boneless skinless salmon filets - about 6 oz each and seasoned with salt and pepper
1/2 a preserved lemon - finely diced - you could substitute a couple of thin slices of lemon
1/2 a red bell pepper - cut in thin strips
1/2 cup of fennel fronds finely chopped
1 small zucchini coarsely grated

Divide the zucchini between the two pieces of parchment paper

Lay the salmon on top of the zucchini

Spread the red peppers on top of the salmon

Cover the red peppers with the fennel fronds

Sprinkle the preserved lemon over the top of the fennel fronds

Fold the parchment over the goodies and roll up the edges of the paper, crimping it as you go. Put a couple of slits in the top of the packets.

Bake for 12 minutes on a baking sheet.

I served this up with a fennel slaw made from a finely shredded fennel bulb dressed with a simple slaw dressing of mayo, rice vinegar, a dab of Dijon mustard and a bit of salt and pepper.

I was wishing for a nice bottle of a good German Spatlese with this, but settled for a glass of iced tea

Homonymy

One of the signs of specialization in modern society is our junk mail. Since I own a few rural acres and have been known to attend Oregon Horticulture Society meetings; I get junk mail for farmers. Farmer junk mail consists of advertising for seeds, fertilizer, land use issues and several small advertiser supported agricultural magazines that specialize in the latest and greatest farming techniques using products advertised in the magazines. Got a nematode problem? Have we got a product for you!

It's been a long week. I worked hard in the yard last weekend in a burst of energy, incited by a couple of nice Spring days. I managed to aggravate old injuries in my knee and shoulder. Today I had one of THOSE DAYS! and came home with a splitting headache and wallowing in self pity over my decrepitude.

When I walked through the door, the phone was ringing. Caller ID showed an area code unknown to me. My luck seemed like it was due for an uptick, maybe it was Publisher's Clearinghouse calling to tell me I'd won a million dollars! Hey, it could happen.

No such luck. I'm not a millionaire and we're not having a big party to celebrate. Don't give up hope though, I dropped a couple of bucks on lottery tickets this week.

Me "Hello"

Guy "Is this Keith?"

Me "Yes"

Guy "We're calling about the information request you sent in for our new weed killer"

Me "I don't use weed killer" note: I'm a lying bastard - I use weed killer and I would have hosed this guy down with it in an instant if he'd been standing in front of me.

Guy "Let me ask you this; Do you own a farm?"

Me "Yes"

Guy " Well what do you use to kill weeds"

Me "Goats and Hoes" note: I'm a lying bastard - I've never used a goat for weeding - I'd like to, but at this point I haven't. I have used a hoe and I would have whacked this guy in the head with it in an instant if he'd been standing in front of me.

Guy excitedly and volume going up "Ho's! You use Ho's to weed?"

Me "Not Ho's, Hoes - You know Garden Hoes!" Images in my head of Female Garden Gnomes plying the world's oldest profession...........

Guy - still excited and loud "Oh, well those aren't the kind of Ho's I use!"

Me laughing "Well to each his own"

When I was a kid, my dad used to make hoe cakes - I haven't had them in forty years. Seems like it might be time to make them myself. These were called Hoe Cakes because the field hands would cook them on their hoes.

Hoe Cakes

A couple of handfuls of cornmeal, a teaspoonful of salt. Mix with cold water (all my dad ever did) or buttermilk and soda if preferred. Make a thick batter; pour 3 or 4 inch sized hoe cakes on a hot greased griddle (this is a perfect use for that stash of bacon grease in the fridge) or for a more authentic experience go get your hoe and build a fire in the garden.

Serve with a bit of butter and syrup or if you're like my father you'll skip the butter and syrup and splash them with a bit of Tabasco.

If this seems too mundane or trailer park to you, jazz them up by calling them "Grilled Polenta"

Some Like it Hot!

Last Sunday we had sunshine, wind, rain and hail. This weekend's ending on warm and dry note. I've got daffodils and my few remaining hyacinths in bloom. The fruit trees are starting to bud and I'm late pruning the grapevine along the fence. Hopefully the late pruning will cut back on the vigor of the grapevine.

After a fairly hard winter by my wussy Portland standards, I'm ready for spring weather. I'm not ready for the spring yard work that's needed. I took a trailer load of yard debris to the recycling yard yesterday. I can't say that the yard looks any better for it. The first load and the next are just getting rid the winter debris and accumulated junk in the yard and garage.

Spring is the season for rebirth and renewal. I've got big plans for the yard this year. The laurel hedge out front is reaching for the sky, the lawn is full of moss and weeds and the old garden plot has been overwhelmed by blackberry vines. I'm afraid that I'll be taking a load a week of yard debris out of this place until the end of September of next year.

After getting the trailer cleaned out I came home and loaded up the back of the Suburban with recycling and boxes for Goodwill from the basement.

This morning after unloading at the recycling center and dropping off boxes at Goodwill, I hit Cash and Carry for some supplies. By the time I got out of there I'd purchased all the ingredients I needed to make a megabatch of Hot Sauce. The habaneros were a bit spotty and when I mentioned it to the guy he gave me a second pound for free.

By the time I got done with all of the things I wanted to get finished before starting on the Hot Sauce it was 2 PM. I should of been taking a nap and I was starting a frigging canning project. What a dumbass!

Picking through and cleaning two pounds of hot peppers took about an hour. You've got to have everything in place and be prepared to ignore the phone and anything else. These peppers are so frigging hot that you don't want to get the smallest amount in you eyes or on your nether regions. Once I got done with the peppers the pressure was off. For once I managed not to get peppers on any tender places.

So now it's quarter to 10 and the last batch of Hot Sauce is in the canner. Twenty Quarts of goodness to share and consume. I'm glad I'd scheduled a vacation day for tomorrow!

This is a recipe for a Caribbean style habenero hot sauce inspired by Portland's own Secret Aardvark Sauce. I'd been a fan of it for a couple of years and I heard a rumor that the guy that makes it was going to stop production. I bought a bottle and read through the ingredients. A couple of batches later I had a reasonable facsimile at a fraction of the cost, at least if you don't count labor! Secret Aardvark is still making sauce locally and so am I!

I've posted the recipe on eGullet, but I'll save you the click.

Sorta Secret Aardvark Sauce

1 – 14.5 oz can of roasted tomatoes chopped - include the juice

1 – 14.5 oz can of rice wine vinegar

1-1/2 cups of peeled and grated carrots (packed into the measuring cup)

1 cup of finely diced white onion

1/4 cup of yellow mustard

1/3 cup of sugar

2 teaspoons of Morton’s Kosher Salt

1 teaspoon of black pepper

13 small Habaneros – seeded and membranes removed. (This was 2 oz. of Habs before cutting off the tops and removing the seeds and membranes)

2 teaspoons curry powder

1 cup of water when cooking

5 or 6 cloves of garlic - roasted if you've got it

Put it all in the crockpot on high until everything is tender. About 3 hours

Whirl in food processor – Don’t puree until smooth – make it lightly/finely chunky.

Makes 3 pints - To can; process pint jars in a water bath canner for 15 minutes

Feast of the Longhouse

My buddy Jeff and I met for coffee Saturday morning at Blend, our new favorite coffee shop. We’d been looking for a new favorite coffee shop for a while. Our old favorite spot moved to a new spot across the street from the old location. The old location was homey and low key, the new location is much larger, glitzier and too noisy for us to hold a conversation. We needed to find a new "Go To" place.

I saw a piece on local TV a few weeks back filmed at Blend showing local baristas in action and getting ready for the National Barista Championships that were held here in Portland. Blend is close to where I work so I decided to give it a try. The folks there seemed genuinely happy to see us and the coffee is very good. So now happily, we’ve got a new favorite coffeeshop – woohoo!

My buddy Jeff is a hunter and fisherman. Actually, he’s a great hunter and fisherman. He’s also a generous hunter and fisherman, which means I get to share in his success and reap the benefits via a share of his harvest and the stories that go with it.

Spring in the Northwest means one thing to a serious fisherman and that’s Spring Chinook. The Spring Chinook is the Cadillac of salmon. The fish are fresh from the ocean and headed upstream. They’re also all fattened up for the trip upstream to spawn and have the richest flesh of all the salmon. This time of year you can just about walk across the Columbia River on the wall to wall fishing boats when the fishing is good.

Jeff has a tradition of sharing his first fish of the season with a privileged few. He calls it "Feast of the Longhouse". The idea being that by sharing the first fish of the year it ensures a good catch for the year. I don’t know the origin of Jeff’s tradition, but I assume it’s got its roots in the First Salmon Feast that is a tradition among the Columbia River Tribes. The reason we’d gotten together for coffee this morning was so he could carry on his Feast of the Longhouse tradition and present me with a piece of the first Salmon of the year. That's Jeff's fishing buddy holding the first fish of the year.

I served up the Salmon with some Spicy Daikon Slaw, Brown Rice Pilaf and a 2005 Sparr Gewurtztraminer

Feast of the Longhouse Spring Chinook Salmon
4 – 6 oz pieces of Fresh Spring Chinook
Old Bay Seasoning
Lemon

Season the fish with the Old Bay Seasoning

Put the fish skin side down in a hot cast iron skillet and sear the bottom for two minutes.

Transfer the skillet to a preheated 350 degree oven for another 10 to 15 minutes until the fish is just barely cooked through.

Serve with lemon wedges

Spicy Daikon Slaw
A pound or so of peeled Daikon Radish – grated with a medium grater
1 Tablespoon Grated Ginger
2 or 3 Tablespoons Unseasoned Rice Vinegar
2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
Sambal Olek or Chili Garlic Paste to taste
½ teaspoon Toasted Sesame Oil
1 Tablespoon Toasted Sesame Seeds

I just winged it this and made it to taste, so the amounts are approximate.

Sprinkle the Sesame Seeds on the slaw when you plate the meal.

You're Fired!

I've fired my cats. It was harder on me than it was on them. They not only don't seem to mind, they seem to be totally oblivious to the fact.

Three cats; all useless. These cats owe me dammit! I saved their sorry furry butts from fates unknown! All three are rescues via my vet.

India and Jubilee are sisters, an American Longhair and an American Shorthair respectively. They were a few days old when their mother was run over. The vet's staff bottle fed them and I got them at age 6 weeks. India looked like Don King with hair going in all directions and always meowing about something. Jubilee was smaller and quieter and by all appearances butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

Their lack of proper feline parenting was apparent from the beginning. No fear of dogs. In fact when other dogs come to visit they will often intimidate them by following them around the house and yard. Max, a co-worker's black lab got so frustrated he sat in a corner of the back yard and barked and howled until I rescued him from the annoying pests.


India fancies herself as the mightiest hunter of all time. Her prey consists of leaves and small sticks. Never the shy one, she announces each successful capture with much caterwauling and proudly brings each trophy into the kitchen for me to admire.

Jubilee is an avid snake hunter. In the summer she stakes out the various snake lairs in the yard and when she successfully captures one of the resident garter snakes she brings it into the house and releases it. Catch and release at it's finest.

Gigi or Ginger, she ignores either name, is a Tortoiseshell. She was brought to the vet as a kitten to be euthanized after her back was broken when she got slammed in a door. The vet managed to nurse her back to health and she shows no outward physical signs of the trauma. She is however totally skittish and paranoid and flies through the house at the slightest noise.

Ginger hunts monkeys or to be more specific "the monkey". The monkey is a small stuffed monkey that she adopted at the vets. Her daily task as she sees it, is to seek out the monkey and kick the monkey's butt (I'm pretty sure the monkey likes it). She hurls it around, pounces on it and finally grabs it in her front paws and kicks it ferociously with her rear paws. Mission Accomplished, she then settles in for a bath and a long nap.

I don't ask much from these cats for providing them with food, a clean litter box and the occassional ration of catnip. While hunting leaves, sticks, snakes and monkeys is all well and good and are even admirable talents when done well it's not enough. Really, would it be too much to expect for them to catch a damn mouse?

Friday evening while cooking dinner I saw a mouse skitter out from under some shelves across the floor and under the refrigerator. Smooth move and I thought it was pretty brave considering the fact he did it in front of two of the cats. They couldn't be bothered to respond though. Apparently a mouse is under their radar.

I turned off the stove and put things away for later. I headed up to the hardware store and grabbed a six pack of sticky traps for mice. I set three up in the kitchen and three in the basement. First thing Saturday morning I checked the traps and the one in the kitchen by the refrigerator had a mouse in it.

The cats were not impressed. They showed no remorse that I had to catch the mouse myself. I was angry and I told them so. Then I fired them. I told them each individually, explaining that they were not meeting my expectations and that I was going to have to let them go. Good thing I've had management training.

So far the their firing hasn't affected them much. I thought they might decide to seek a home where they would be appreciated for their meager skills, but for the time being they show no signs of going anywhere.

The aborted Friday night dinner was Braised Chicken Thighs with Lemon and Olives. I finally made the recipe on Saturday and it was just OK. It called for fresh lemons and I think it would have been better with preserved lemons. Since I'd bought an abundance of lemons I decided to preserve my own for the next try.

Housemade Moroccan Preserved Lemons

Scrub a half a dozen lemons - I used the common Eureka Lemon, but it's okay to use Meyer Lemons if you've got them.

Cut the tips off of either end

Slice the lemons from one end lengthwise almost to the other. Give it a quarter turn and repeat. You'll want about 3/4 of an inch at the bottom to hold the 4 quarters together.

Use a tablespoon of sea or kosher salt per lemon. Pour it over the open part of the lemon and then stick the lemon in a clean quart canning jar. Repeat, jamming the lemons in to the jar as tightly as you can.

Jam the lemons down everyday. They'll get softer. Rotate the jar and turn it over to keep the salt and juice distributed. At the end of a week cover the lemons with extra juice if needed.

Put them into the fridge for a month and then they'll be ready to use.

You can spice them up if you like. I've seen bay leaves, corriander seed, dried red peppers and cinnamon recommended. It might be fun to try a sprig of rosemary.

I used a bay leaf, a couple of pinches of red pepper flakes and a teaspoon of corriander seed in mine.

One Man's Trash

Clear Creek Distillery, one of the original of micro-distilleries in the United States, is located here in Portland Oregon. Steve McCarthy, the owner, is a genuinely nice guy and a man with vision. Of course it's taken 25 years for most of the world to appreciate his vision of eau de vie and other products made from locally grown fruit.

I first met Steve in about 1990 when I was making wine commercially in a rented garage in Newburg Oregon. Steve was making grappa from muscat and gewurtztraminer pomace left over from local wine production. Those of us that were willing to set aside the pomace from our production would receive a few rationed bottles of grappa from his minuscule annual production.

For those unfamiliar with the production of wine or it's terminology; pomace is what's left after you squeeze all of the juice out of the grapes. Having someone haul it away for me was a bonus. It meant I didn't have to hall it away and dispose of it or worse yet pay someone to haul it away. Getting some grappa or another one of Steve's brandies for my trash was a screaming deal in my book.

Over the years Steve added to his repertoire of eau de vies and brandies. While his pear brandy is a pure expression of the fruit from his family orchard and a wonderful product, it was never my favorite. I tended to like the aged apple brandy or the fragrant grappas made from muscat and gewurtzraminer. Occasionally when I'd stop by the distillery for a bottle I'd get to sample some of the other products he was working on like a peaty whiskey or a green hued eau de vie made from grape brandy and the tips of the new spring growth on Coastal Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii).

The first time I tried the evergreen scented brandy he pulled from a barrel, it was to say the least, off putting. It had an evergreen aroma, but it more closely resembled Pinesol than something I'd want sit and sip. A few years later after much experimentation he finally had a product that he was comfortable releasing for sale. The evergreen scented brandy he finally released had been tempered with a bit of pear brandy and the fruit complimented and rounded out the evergreen aromas. We sampled it and I found intriguing enough to get a bottle to take home.

Later, at home, I opened the bottle and found it to be a bit much by itself and set the bottle aside to contemplate later. Later didn't come for several years. I hadn't thought much about that bottle in a long time; it was out of sight and out of mind.

On Friday, Steve had his second Proof Blog entry published in the NY Times. One of the products he highlighted was the Douglas Fir infused spirit. I thought perhaps it was time to revisit that long forgotten bottle. I went looking for it and finally discovered it in the back of a file cabinet in my basement office.

I pulled the cork and took a sniff - it wasn't as powerful in the nose as I remembered. I don't know if it had mellowed as it sat in the file cabinet or if my tastes had changed. This stuff was really interesting. There were hints of the evergreen and pear and even more. It's herbal complexity reminded me a bit of Absinthe but with a bit of mint and citrus instead of anise.

I had one of those "Ahah" moments and decided to make a Sazerac with Douglas Fir spirit substituted for the Absinthe. The Douglas Fir isn't as potent as Absinthe and it takes a bit more of it to make the cocktail reflect the character of the spirit. Several years after the fact I was finally able to appreciate Steve's vision for this bottle.

Pseudotsugarac

2 oz Rye
2 barspoons of Douglas Fir Spirit
1/2 teaspoon agave syrup or 1 sugar cube
2 generous dashes of Peychaud Bitters.

Stir all of the ingredients together in a Boston Shaker without the ice. When the agave is dissolved in the rest of the ingredients add ice and stir until well chilled. Strain into a cocktail glass.

I didn't garnish this with the lemon twist called for in a traditional Sazerac. The Douglas Fir Spirit has a slight citrus quality. I suppose I should have gone out in the yard and picked a sprig off the fir tree for a garnish.