The First Seed Catalog
I got my first seed catalog in the mail yesterday. I know a few bloggers have already talked about getting seed catalogs, like Chicago Mike and his Seed Savers book a couple weeks ago. It was from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Baker Creek offers 1400 heirloom varieties. They offer open-pollinated seeds: pure, natural & non-GMO! Started in 1998 by Jere Gettle, as a means to preserve heirloom seeds.
It’s awfully exciting. I flipped through it quickly, but I had a lot going on so I didn’t have time to read through it. I’ll be looking through it over and over I’m sure in the coming weeks, folding pages that contain interesting veggies. I ordered most of my seeds from Baker Creek this past year and I’ll be ordering some this year as well.
Have you received your first seed catalog yet? Are you eagerly anticipating a certain one?
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I Love Nativity Sets
I’m a big fan of nativity sets. I’ve always wanted to collect interesting ones from around the world. I only have 3 right now, but I’m sure I’ll acquire more throughout my lifetime. Mr Chiots and I bought our first nativity set on our honeymoon. We went to Seattle and while at Pike’s Place Market we saw this lovely little set made out of volcanic ash from Mt. Saint Helen’s.
It’s an interesting set not because it’s made out of volcanic ash, but because one of the characters is the little drummer boy!
The second nativity set I got a gift from “our pets” although I think Mr Chiots had a hand in it. Each year I’m given a few more pieces to this wonderful set. It lives atop our TV cabinet throughout the season with some lights behind it.
My newest nativity is a family set. My parents purchased this set in Cartagena, Colombia while we were there on vacation (since I grew up in Colombia that was the usual vacation destination). It’s a wonderfully interesting set, I think it was modeled after the art of the famous Colombian artist Fernando Botero. It’s handmade of clay and has such interesting metallic accents. I have fond memories of this always being out at home and I was thrilled when my mom gave it to me for Christmas last year.
My favorite pieces in this set are the animals, particularly the little fat sheep with their curls. I really love this one because it’s from the country I was born and raised in. It reminds me of Colombia when I look at it.
I always look for nativity sets when we’re traveling, they’re not your typical touristy item though, so they’re difficult to find. Especially interesting and unique ones. I don’t mind though, I don’t want to have 50 sets, just a few that I really love. There are some beautifully interesting nativity sets over at Etsy.com.
Do you have a nativity displayed in your home during the holidays?
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The First Sign of Christmas
You know that the holidays have arrived here at Chiot’s Run when you see chocolate covered cherries on the counter. I usually try to start making my famous chocolate covered cherries the week after Thanksgiving. This year, I was too busy so I started last Wednesday evening. I don’t really making cookies during this season, I spend my time making chocolate covered cherries and a few peanut butter cups. I also make a few batches of caramel corn for the wonderful people at the post office and the library.
These cherries are famous. A week or two before Thanksgiving people start asking about them, wondering if I’ve started making them yet. They want to make sure I remember to make them and they want to make sure I remember that they’re on “the list”.
Making cherries isn’t difficult, but it is time consuming, especially if you use real chocolate that you have to temper (which I use on about 2/3 of my cherries). It’s as simple as making a fondant to wrap around the cherries and then dipping them in chocolate. I’ve developed a few tips during my 10 year cherry dipping career. The fondant recipe below is the best, I’ve tried 10-15 different recipes and this is the easiest to work with because of the corn syrup. You can buy non-GMO corn syrup at your health food store if you’d like. Using anything else; milk, golden syrup, honey, maple syrup, etc. makes the fondant stickier and much harder to wrap around the cherries without a big mess!
Make sure you get the fondant fairly thin, too thick and it won’t turn into liquid. I cut the fondant into small balls and knead each piece, then flatten into a disc to wrap around each cherry. Kneading the fondant makes it smooth and warms it making it more pliable for easy wrapping. You don’t have to chill your fondant if your kitchen is cool.
I find that wrapping the disc around each cherry, then cutting off any excess before rolling works perfectly. I lightly roll them between my hands to smooth out the fondant, don’t use too much pressure or you’ll make the cherry leak juice which will turn your fondant into a sticky mess. Keeping a bowl of confectioners’ sugar close for dipping your hands and cherries into will help in case this happens. If you have a cherry that starts to produce juice too soon, simply dip in powdered sugar and then roll lightly between hands. Keep a wet rag and a dry towel around as well to clean your hands every so often. This keeps the process moving along smoothly.
I have found that putting parchment paper on the the cookie sheet and coating it with shortening makes it much easier to remove the cherries once they’re cooled and set. If you don’t do this they often stick, when when you pick them up they leave a small bit of fondant stuck to the sheet and then they start to leak juice.
Make sure you chill your cherries for at least an hour in the fridge before dipping. If you don’t allow the fondant to cool and set up, it will have a tendency to melt with the heat of the chocolate and start to drip off the cherries with the chocolate.
CHOCOLATE COVERED CHERRIES
50 maraschino cherries, well drained
3 tablespoons room temperature butter
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
1 1/2 pounds dipping chocolate, white or dark
Combine butter, corn syrup and salt; blend until smooth. Add confectioners’ sugar and mix well. Knead until smooth and shiny; wrap in wax paper and chill for 30 minutes (if your kitchen is cool this may not be needed).
Meanwhile, drain cherries. Shape a marble-size piece of fondant around each cherry; place on wax paper-lined tray. Chill until firm, about 2 hours.
Melt chocolate according to kind you’re using (tempering real chocolate or simply melting to dipping consistency for chocolate coating). Dip cherries and place on wax paper-lined tray (I find those tiny muffin cups to be perfect, especially if you’re making different kinds (brandied & regular), they’re easy to keep separate if you use different colored cups for each kind). Store in covered container in a, cool dark place for 10 to 14 days to fully ripen and to attain the “liquidy” inside.
Brandied Cherries
Soak cherries in brandy for a minimum of 2 days (I soak mine for up to 1 year, but a week or two will do). Omit almond extract and add 1/2 teaspoon brandy flavoring or brandy instead. Follow recipe as stated above.
Next year I’m going to try to make my own maraschino cherries. I’m sure these will be even more delicious if I use fresh local cherries. I may even leave the pits in them to provide the natural almond flavor that comes from cherry stones. I’ll have to find a farm where I can pick them myself so I can make sure I get some with stems.
What are you famous for during the holidays? Or what is someone else famous for that you love?
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Book Report: Heirloom, Notes from an Accidental Tomato Farmer
“What taste I got of the kind of farming I would eventually embrace came on the mornings I helped Jimmy and Mildred King, the couple from Mississippi who have moved into Milt’s farmhouse, clear a tree-strewn patch of rocky, sloped Eckerton land. With nothing more than a shovel, they had turned every square inch of the half acre their house was situated on into a lush vegetable garden. But before Jinny could get this shovel to break the surface of the ground we made available to him, he had to clear out hundreds of trees, stumps, and rocks the size of radial tires. It was Mildred and Jimmy who first turned me on to fresh-out-of-the-ground carrots, sweet potatoes in need of no sugar, tender okra, lettuce with identifiable flavor, peas direct from Valhalla. Mildred’s basement full of canned vegetables, too. Pickled garden-fresh beets were my favorite. I would slurp the purple vinegar from the softened nuggets and then devour the tangy earth-flavored flesh. Mildred gave me some jars of pickled beets in exchange for my labor.”
-Tim Stark, Heirloom: Notes from an Accidental Tomato Farmer
Since we talked about winter reading lists yesterday, I thought I’d recommend adding Heirloom: Notes from an Accidental Tomato Farmer to your list. It’s a fantastic book about gardening and life. It’s filled with lots of laughs and a few touching moments. Tim, the author, fell in love with heirloom tomatoes while living in New York, these tomatoes took up all the space in his tiny apartment and finally the landlord made him move them. He planted on his family’s land and ended up with a glut of tomatoes, which he decided to sell at the farmer’s market. This book will be a wonderful read for anyone that enjoys gardening. Tim stories of weeding, groundhogs, tractors and mud will lift your spirits during these cold winter months when working in the garden is impossible.
What kind of books do you usually read in the winter? Gardening books, or novels?
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Winter Reading List
I have a long list of books I want to read this winter. I keep a note on my desktop (a virtual post-it) and whenever I come across a book that sounds interesting I add it to the list. I’ll request these from the library this winter and read through as many as I can. I want to read through the Little House on the Prairie series this winter. They were my favorite books growing up, so I thought it would be fun to read them again.
I really want to focus on learning more about herbal remedies and natural healing, so those books will come first. I also want to read through East of Eden again, since it’s my favorite book. What books are on my list?
I don’t know if I’ll get through all of these. I am a fast reader thanks to all those speed/comprehension drills in grade school, but I don’t know if I can finish them all.
What books are on your winter reading list, any good ones I can add to my list?
