Another Opinion Among Many

You should just go for it!

Wait. I didn’t mention it. I planted a garden. One if the first things that I asked our landlady when we moved to this place is if it would be alright for me to plant a garden. She said it was okay and that I could put it anywhere that I wanted.

I took her to heart on that one and chose what I thought was the best spot. I got a fellow to come and till up the lawn behind the house near the back, so that we would still have a continuous place to play games with the kids. I’ve not grown a garden by myself before, so this is new to me. Our last one was a single row along the fence, which produced a few munchables for the kids for a week or so, but nothing big.

So, this year, I have a 16 foot square which I have raked  into 8 rows. Our neighbor was gracious enough to let me use a big barrel that he had to catch rain from our downspout. This way, we won’t be relying as much on the well water to keep the garden hydrated (as long as it rains enough, that is).

Corn and potatoes take up a fairly large space for what you get, so I didn’t plant any of those. I also opted for this, as they’re usually pretty reasonable to buy, as far as price goes. There are many local farmers that grow these crops, especially potatoes. One of the continent’s largest frozen food companies, McCains, draws on this province for many of  its french fry potatoes.

What I did plant were carrots, spinach, leaf lettuce, beets, turnip, squash, pumpkins, peas, dill, pasrley, wax beans, and chinese broad beans. I will be ading cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers shortly. Its been five days since the lawn was tilled up, so there’s nothing poking from the ground yet, of course.

I’ve opted out of using any chemical fertilizer for my garden, relying on the earth that is already here, supplimented by some black earth that I purchased fairly inexpensively from a local store. I will let nature do its work and just add water to the garden, as the ground seems to be fairly rich as it is (the grass was growing like crazy there).

I hope that this garden flourishes, as it will help us offset our grocery bill with fresh and nutritious food. It will have the added benefit that I know where it came from and how it was grown.

I knew it! I’ve been saying it for years.

Every year, our workplace replaces the old calendars with new.  They come from the Dairy Producers of the country.  Every year, upon receipt of my new calendar, I see new recipes and want to EAT them right away! Check out the recipes! Your mouth will water, too! Yum!

I don’t know about you, but I’m a big noodle fan.  I don’t limit myself to pasta.  I also like Chinese noodles – quite a bit, actually.  I’ve gotten a bit of a craving for some lo mien or fried noodles today.  Its too bad that I’m not at home, as I cannot make them here at work.

If you like quick, cheap and tasty food, but you don’t want to work too hard at preparing it, try this fried noodle idea.  I like it (sorta made it up myself).

I start with chinese noodles from the Dollerama (one of the best and most stocked dollar stores here in Canada).  I get a brick of noodles that is equivalent to about 8 Mr. Noodles packages for a dollar.

The ingredients:

• chinese noodles
• 1 tbsp oil (vegetable or peanut)
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp oyster flavor sauce
• shot hot sauce (your choice – I prefer “Billy Bob’s” from Dollerama)
• 1 clove garlic (optional)
• sliver ginger root (ginger powder tastes like crap) (optional)
• green onion (optional)
• 1 tsp brown sugar (optional)

Cook the noodles, according to the package or to taste.  Drain the noodles.  In a hot frying pan or Wok, toss noodles with oil and soy sauce.  Fry for 1-2 minutes.  If you’re in a hurry, you’re done.  if you want tastier, add the oyster sauce and hot sauce.  You won’t be sorry.  For a different flavor, add to this the rest of the ingredients on the list.  Smash the garlic with the side of a chopping knife, like a French knife or a Chinese vegetable cleaver (my preferred knife to avoid tendonitis and carpal tunnel) and chop it up to your taste.  You can do the same with the ginger.  Sliver the onion diagonally and either toss in or garnish with it.

If you choose to add the ginger, add the sugar as well.  They compliment each other well.  Enjoy! Pictured is the dish made with shredded carrot and smoked pork loin.  The sweet carrots complement the fiery zip of the ginger.

I would never go for this size on my own as we don’t have a pan large enough for it, but a 16 inch “rising crust” frozen pizza was given to me. Turns out it was just cheese, and our meat-lover friends didn’t want it. By the time I got it home, it was more than 1/2 thawed, so we decided that pizza was on the menu for lunch. We have an apartment sized stove, which is 24″ wide on the exterior. This means that, at most, you have 18″ to work with in the oven.

What I ended up doing is putting the pizza directly on the rack, which I don’t usually like to do, as I prefer a less crunchy crispy crust. But, from experience (vast experience) in making pizzas from scratch, I employed a technique that I use on my home made pies. The trick is to cook your pizza nearly all the way and, with what you think is about 2 minutes left, turn your oven on to broil, hence using only the top element (for electric ovens – pulling the pie out and putting it underneath in the broiling drawer, if you’re lucky and have a gas stove). What this accomplishes is that golden brown “spotting” on the cheese that is a sure sign of a delicious pizza (or lasagne). The crust wasn’t too bad for a prepared product.

I’ve been trying beer from all over the globe (especially from this wonderful country, of course), as you know, and have found some great beers. I don’t know if I’d appreciate the beers that I’ve tried as much if I had not made it myself in the past. Today, I had some cans of Holsten festbock. This, billed on the top of the can, is “strong dark beer”, as opposed to their maiboc, which is “strong golden beer”. They both are strong, weighing in at 7.0% alcohol/vol. Both are nice beers with a fairly strong malty, fruity taste at first and not a lot of aftertaste (a plus for a India pale ale drinker like myself). The maibock has a lighter taste than the festbock, commensurate with its color. The festbock is really dark. Its not as dark as Guiness or some full bock’s that I’ve seen and had, but its pretty dark. If you want a tasty way to get a fairly cheap buzz in this overtaxed country of Canada, try Holsten. I cannot recommend either of these offerings, as I like them both. There’s a Bavarian offering, Bavaria 8.6, which I think that I like more, but I’m not so sure.