Junque Pile

The holiday weekend has been nice, with a few bumps in the road, but that's to be expected, right?  Saturday started out with a trip to the local farmer's market, where we bought some of the tomato and pepper plants. We have a favorite vendor there, a life-long multi-generation farmer woman who always takes the time to talk to us, and give up hints and tips on growing. She also sells lots of heirloom variety plants, and we have had great luck with her plants. She's friendly, knowledgeable, and a hoot to chat with.  I believe she's got a secret crush on the Hubster, and it's reciprocated, even though he won't admit it.

It's not normally too early in the season to plant the warm weather veggies, but the spring has been so cloudy and cold, most of the tomatoes and peppers aren't as robust looking as they normally are. But we make do, right?

picture borrowed from www.plantertomato.com

We like to buy farm eggs at the market when we can, but the ultra-premium price they go for here is not conducive to our family budget. At least some of the time. This past Saturday we decided to splurge when we say another vendor was selling duck eggs. Never having had them, we chatted the seller up on the difference between duck and chicken eggs. They are larger, richer, with a bigger and more vibrant yolk. If you've had farm fresh eggs vs. store bought commercially laid chicken eggs, you know the yolks are more vibrant in and of themselves. Duck eggs go way beyond!  We brought them home, lovingly cradled in my arms, and I set to work frying up a couple for us. Delicious! The whole meal was.  I felt all down home. Bacon, a fried duck egg, and toast made of home made bread. It was almost a religious experience. If the city I live in won't give in and let the residents keep chickens (a cause I've helped lobby in the past), I'm going to smuggle a couple of ducks in here, I swear it.  :)

The weather precluded us from planting a lot, though the Hubster did construct a cage for growing potatoes. We were originally going to grow them in a set of leftover tires from our car, but after researching on the net, he decided that a cage of landscaper's cloth filled with straw would be more to his liking. He planted a good 4 lbs worth of potato eyes, while I attempted to weed the herb garden and the poor pitiful strawberry garden.

The soil has been to wet to mess with the strawberries, and as a result, the grass has started to take over the patch. But when I saw that they were struggling to put out their pretty little blossoms, I knew I had to do something. So Sunday, I was delicately weeding in and amongst the strawberry crowns, trying not to disturb them, while ripping out the grass. Thankfully, Hubster was smart and got a couple of extra bales of straw, as we hear it makes for great mulch, and weed suppressor.

When it was storming too much, or the fog was too thick, we'd come inside and do the normal weekend things every body does, cook, clean, etc. I attempted to make some home made hamburger and hot dog buns, with a 50% success rate. I made the buns too small, anticapating that they would grow larger after the last rise.  Not so much, unfortunately. Next time I will try not to be so frugal and squeeze more buns out of the batch. Either that or we will have to have teeny tiny burgers.  LOL.  Check out the recipe I used here: Belle's Hamburger Bun recipe on Allrecipes.com.

On a sad note, my microwave died on Sunday.  It was a quick and most likely a painless death for the poor overworked thing. It was a gift from one of Hubster's cousins, and we'd had it for most of the time we've been co-habbing (about 8 years). I was heating something up, and it just shut down. I thought that the circuit breaker blew, as it occasionally does. The fridge and the microwave are on the same circuit, and they occasionally fight each other for current (it's an older house).  But no, the circuit didnt need to be reset, and the fridge was still running. I guess the fridge won that little battle.

I breifly contemplated running and experiment where we see how long we can go without a microwave before Mr and Mrs Junque kill each other, then I slapped myself upside the said and told myself to get real. I may be all for "Living the Simple Life," but there's simple, and then there's simple.  Right?

Today, the weather god's have promised sunshine and warm temps. I'm holding them to their promise, and we will get those tomatoes and peppers planted.  We will also get the cukes, zuke, and loofa seeds in their appointed spots and make the appropriate genuflections to the above named gods that the weather becomes summer like, and the seeds germinate.  I draw the line at ritual killings, but do you think they would take an offering of some misshapen hamburger buns??

Junque Yard

It's Memorial Day weekend, and in my neck of the urban woods, that means it's planting weekend. Our frost free days start around this time of year, though you wouldn't know it from the temperature this Spring. I've complained enough about the lack of warmth, and the excess of rain, and I shan't do it again here (yes, I said shan't).

My house has very little natural sunlight peeping into the windows, and my years' past attempts from starting my garden from seed indoors have been failures. Yes, I've tried grow lights, fluorescent, etc. and all I get are thin, leggy stalks that struggle to survive. If one of my herd of cats doesn't dig into the soil and kill the burgeoning seedlings, they are too weak to make it outside. So unless I seed directly outside, I buy starters from the local Farmer's Market. I am lucky enough to live in an area where farms do good work. Tomatoes and peppers are must haves in my garden. DaMan and I have found that we enjoy Roma tomatoes for canning. We just put them up plain to turn them into sauces at a later date. I have a fondness for banana peppers, which I pickle and can vast quantities of, but love to slice them fresh and put into salads, or just dress with vinegar and a little oil, maybe a wee bit of onion for a quickie side dish.

Bell peppers are a staple in this house hold - all colors of the rainbow. The price of bells in the grocery store have doubled and sometimes tripled over the winter. I can't swallow paying $3.99 for a red/orange/yellow pepper. I plan on doubling my production of those this year, and freezing them for cooking with later on.

Cucumbers are another thing that I enjoy growing. I don't buy starts of those, as they are a warm weather plant, and I can seed those direct. I'm going to be trying out a bush variety that is supposedly more compact than the vine variety. The plan is to pick them small to make pickles, but there's always a few that hide under the foliage, and grow GI-NORMOUS.  Those will go towards making pickle relish. I made both sweet and dill relish last summer, and ran out of the sweet sometime after Christmas.  They made handy gifts, and were well received.

DaMan has a fondness for green beans. Unfortunately, we get lazy, and let the bean grow too large. Then they get tough and stringy, and not very palatable. Lesson learned. Pick your green beans early and often!

This year we are going to be trying potatoes. DaMan will be growing them in a set of tires. Yes, tires.  Potatoes grow in an interesting way.  You get starter spuds from the nursery, and cut them up so they have at least one eye each. Place the tire where you want to grow (where they will get at least 6 hours of sunlight a day), and throw some compost, or well amended soil, or heck, even rotted straw in the bottom. Lay the potato pieces eye side up, and cover with more soil or straw. Water well. The eyes become the stalks of the plants. When the stalks are about 6 inches high and leafy, throw more soil around them, mounding them up. Continue to do the same, and when the stalks and leaves wither and brown, yank them out of the soil, and count how many new potatoes you have!  The tires (or you could use a clean dark colored garbage can) act as a warmer for the soil (black draws in the heat from the sun). But it also serves the purpose of growing something else that isn't taking up space in your garden. And here at the urban micro-mini ranch, space is at a premium.

I haven't even touched on our fruit bushes, the lettuce "patch", or the herb garden...yet. :)

Junque Food

"Isn't she lovely? Isn't she wonderful?" I have to say, DaMan and I are contenders in the home made pizza arena. We've got it down to a science, but it's kind of fun, too.

I make the pizza dough in batches of four, and freeze them. I make the sauce ahead of time and freeze it too. The toppings are always what we have on hand. Now that summer's coming, the variety will change, as veggies will be plucked from our garden and thrown on a whim.

This pizza was topped with pepperoni, cheese, pickled banana peppers, and fresh spinach from the garden. And it was heavenly. Now, I'm not saying that I will never order for pizza delivery again, but I tell you, when you can make it so easily, it's hard to justify dialing up Domino's.

My online friend, Cherry, gave me her recipe for pizza dough.  She said she found it online long enough ago that she doesn't remember where, but has tweaked the recipe enough that it probably doesn't matter.


Pizza Crust

1 package yeast (or 2 1/4 tablespoons if you buy your yeast in bulk)
1 tsp sugar
1 c very warm water
2 1/2 c bread flour
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp italian seasoning ( I just used powdered garlic and crushed basil)

Combine the water, yeast and sugar. Let it rest til the yeast starts to bubble (about 10 minutes). Add half the flour, the oil, salt, and Italian seasoning, Gradually add as much flour as needed to make a soft dough, Dump onto floured surface and knead for 5 to 6 minutes. Let rest for 20 to 30 minutes. Divide into 2 equal portions. Roll out to desired thickness/size. I usually prebake the crust for 6 to 7 minutes at 400, top, and bake another 6 to 7 minutes. Of course, the baking times will vary with how thick or thin you roll your crust.

I also poke the crust with a fork several times just before putting it in the oven for the blind bake so that it doesn't puff up any more. We like our crust thin here at the micro mini-ranch.

As I said, I double this recipe, and make 4 crusts at a time. I ball the unbaked crust into ziplock baggies and freeze what I won't use in a week. Cherry has said that she rolls out her crusts and does the first bake, then freezes them. If I had more space in my freezer, I would probably do the same thing, as it would be quicker to throw the end product together at night after I get home from work, but I don't.  The frozen dough takes about 2 hours to thaw, or is thawed if I take it out in the morning and put it in the fridge before work.  It's a little wet and sticky, but that is handled by tossing on a bit of flour and doing a quick knead prior to rolling out.  The dough also stays fresh in the fridge for about a week.

I challenge you all to make a fresh pizza from the ground up. Tell me what fresh veggies you use, odd combos that work for you and your family. Making something from scratch is so satisfying, isn't it?

Musings at the Junque Pile.

Hi there,

It was productive, yet an unspactacular weekend at the mini-micro urban ranch. There are times when non-drama is good for the soul, and this was one of those times.  The spring, which to date has been cold, cloudy, and rainy, took a break for a warmer interlude, and that led the hubster and I to dash outside and do as much as we could under a gentle but shining sun.  He washed the dog, and I weeded. He mowed most of the lawn. I weeded. He weeded. I mowed the rest of the lawn. We both weeded. I potted some plants. Weeding commenced. You get the idea.

Wild Rhubarb and Stubborn Dandelion suffered and died horrible deaths. Yes, you can eat the rhubarb, but you really wouldn't want to. I used to give it to co-workers, but they never asked for more. I took it as a sign. The dandelions...well, they were taking up valuable real estate.

I went to the local Farmer's Market. Gosh, I missed that place. They have several during the week, but I cannot go as they are during work hours. The Saturday one is special to me. I've made acquaintance with some of the vendors there. It gives me a sense of peace knowing that I, a former Flower Child of the 70's, turned Valley Girl of the 80's can talk about bees and eggs and tomato varieties and double headed begonias. I feel like I'm starting to come home. I'm what you might call...a late bloomer.

Junque-olgy - It's Curtains for you!

I'm in desperate need to get rid of my mini-blinds. They are disgusting and broken, and UGH!

I'm starting easy, because it's many, many moons since I hauled out the sewing machine (remember "Hammer Time?" - remember "Hammer Pants?" - yeah, I made those).  I want to make cafe curtains for one window in the kitchen that sits over the sink.  The walls are pale yellow.  The counter top is a mottled pottery color (not orange, not brown, but just like a clay pot), the appliances are all white.

So, I'm looking for fun and funky prints to buy for curtains this morning, and most of the things I like are labeled "Juvenile." I'm trying not to be insulted, and mostly I'm just giggling at the thought of truly WILD prints, and the look on DaMan's face when I finally get them up.

say...something like this: 



But he probably wouldn't have a problem with this:



I love this, but it's a jersey knit, and not at all right for curtains:



... and people wonder why I never get anything done.



So help me out...wild prints, that aren't too dark (my house is light challenged), in the yellow/red/green family preferably. Please?

I promise to write up the whole process of what is sure to be a comedy of errors - Me vs. Sewing Machine vs. Tension Rods, etc.

And!!!  Bonus points to those that might point in me in a trying Junque-like fashion of re-using something else to make my curtains.

Junque Yard

It's a slow news day on the neo-faux-ghetto homestead...

Spring has been a cold and wet loser-fest. I hate to sound like a Negative Nelly, but I heard one newscaster say something to the effect of there only have been 4 clear days since the end of February. And it's probably been longer, because I remember January and February both being cloudy all the freakin' time.

The point is, there hasn't been any dang sun.

This makes for slow growing here on the urban micro-mini-ranch. I've got herbs going crazy, but that's about it. The sugar snap peas that I planted at the end of March are only 2 inches high. My spinach and lettuce aren't even worth mentioning - and that's usually my first bumper crop of the season!

The strawberries are struggling, as the ground has been too wet to weed and replant the runners that popped up at the end of fall last year. Yeah, they don't tell you that, do they? You may only get about a month's worth of strawberries (these being the June-bearing variety), but they make baby plants all summer long. I swear strawberries are like the bunny-rabbits of plants.

I have one herb that I have no idea what it is. It's driving me crazy. It smells a little bit like oregano, but it looks nothing like the oregano I've got, and I only planted one kind. It's the mystery herb, and it's about to get the axe, unless I can identify it.

I have onions coming up that I planted last spring. They disappeared mid-summer and I figured I must have planted them in a place that was too wet for them to tolerate, they got soggy and croaked. Nope..these are apparently ghost onions, and have decided to come back and haunt my herb garden again this spring. Will they disappear again mid-summer?  I'll keep you informed....

And lastly, I spent 2 hours tying up the raspberry canes tonight. I'd been kind of ignoring them, because they were supposed to be dug up and put into a new bed that we've been trying to build since there was still snow on the ground. However the weather hasn't allowed us to get back there and finish. Well, that and the fact that we ran out of wood, and haven't found any other useable scavenged wood lately. So, those darn raspberries, being contrary by nature, decided to grow like nothing else in my edible beds, which means like Popeye's forearms after a can of spinach. I decided that the raspberries will be moved after they have been harvested (I didn't want them not to produce if I moved them too late in the season - I know raspberries are hardy, but still...if you've ever had fresh off the vine, you know why I'm being cautious), so we've got a couple of months yet to finish the berry boxes at the back of the yard.

I'm going to the Farmer's Market for the first time this year on Saturday. I've been waiting to see if it's open yet, and finally got word that it is, so look out farmers. I'm-ma comin'!  I can't wait to get my hands on some plants and some early veggies, and some more plants...and maybe some eggs, and them more plants! woo hoo!

Junque-ology - Cleaning Copper-bottomed pots

Cleaning Copper-Bottomed Pots

My mother-in-law knew that I coveted her ancient Revere-Ware copper bottomed pots. They were awesome for even heating and not scorching. She gave them to me when she bought herself some new cookware, and I happily took them.

At some point in time (in Happy Accident Land), tomato sauce overflowed one of these pots, and we'd noticed that the copper which was dull and dark, became clean and spiffy looking. Thinking we were geniuses, we would occasionally throw the pots in a shallow dish filled with some sort of tomato sauce. Spicy V8 was the usual fare, as we always had some around, but it never got used enough to feel bad "wasting" it to clean a pot, if you get my drift.

Anywhooooo, last week I noticed that my most beloved pot was getting reeeeeeally grimy on the bottom, and I knew that I'd have to get around to cleaning them. Since I started this blog, I thought it might might be neat to conduct a wee little experiment and see if tomato juice was truly the bestest, fastest, easiest way to clean a copper-bottom pot.

I went to my trusted old book, "Talking Dirty with the Queen of Clean," by Linda Cobb. In the book, the author said to use lemon juice and salt to shine up copper. And I got to figuring, tomato juice and lemon juice...both are acids, so why not try vinegar, too? This works out well, because I have three copper pots to clean.  :)

As you can see, they are pretty dingy. Definitely time for a clean. I got out my trusty Pyrex casserole dishes, and loaded one up with each acid: V8 Juice, vinegar, and lemon juice. I dunked one pot in each for a minute, then poured salt on the bottoms, put them back into their respective acids, and swished each for a minute or so.

Here are the results, and let me say, I'm pretty surprised:

 I'm calling it a tie between the lemon juice and the vinegar.  The pot that the vinegar was in wasn't as dingy, because it doesn't get used as much as the two larger pots. However, the vinegar pot needed to be buffed as it got a a grey-ish film on it when it dried.

The lemon juice pot still has a few burn spots in the middle, that has since resisted being cleaned off no matter what. But these pots are ancient, so I'm willing to live with a few spots.

The V8 Juice just did not live up to snuff in this experiment.  I finished it off in the lemon juice, and was able to 85-90% of the black off the bottom of the pot.

There you have it! And now I have cleaned pots that I could hang on the wall, if I ever got my shaker shelf up....  :)