The Garden in Winter
“In winter, the sun sinks to its lowest point in the sky and pinpoints everything withs harp clarity lacking at other times of the year. As it slants through bare branches it exaggerates every twist and turn, picks up textures on paths, trunks and buildings and deepens the winter palette of olive greens, tomato reds and faded browns, blacks and beiges.
I see this stripping away as the gardening equivalent of the life laundry – less clutter and less summer froth define what your garden is about, or should be about, giving you the chance for some quiet reflection.”
Val Bourne in The Winter Garden: Create a Garden that Shines Through the Forgotten Season
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Grow Your Own – Be Sure
I really love the old posters from the 1940’s when the government was encouraging people to grow Victory Gardens and to preserve their harvests. I’ve always thought about buying some, but never have gotten around to it. This year, a good friend, gave me one for Christmas. It’s the perfect one because of what is says:
We all have our reasons for growing edibles in our gardens, mine is to know exactly what’s going into my vegetables. Sure, I buy from local farmers who’s farms I’ve visited, but even that’s not quite like plucking things from your own little spot of earth.
When I eat a tomato from my garden I know the seeds were saved from a previous year, the plants were nurtured from tiny seedlings to rampant vines, they were grown in soil lovingly cultivated to be as healthy as possible, and the fruits were harvested just a few minutes before being eaten. I am familiar with every moment in the life of this tomato and it makes me smile. I love knowing that it wasn’t picked to early or sprayed with anything scary. Not only is this good for my health, it’s good for my pocketbook as well!
Why do you include edibles in your garden?
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Better Late Than Never
The day before yesterday, we had my family Christmas dinner & celebration. It’s a bit late because my mom’s being treated for breast cancer. As a result our holiday celebrations have been been worked around doctor’s visits and other appointments. After being postponed once, we were finally able to get together to celebrate on Monday. We’ve never been big on going all out, generally a simple affair is what we like. We gather for a meal, a few small gifts and then coffee and conversation.
Since I’m usually in charge of most of the cooking, it’s a deliciously local affair. This year the main star of the meal was a nitrate free ham cured by Whitefeather Meats from a hog raised by some friends of ours. There were au gratin potatoes and brussels sprouts that were 100% local. The rolls weren’t all local, the flour came from King Arthur, but the rest of the ingredients were local. (here’s my recipe for dinner rolls if you’re needing a good one)
My sister also brought mashed potatoes, homegrown green beans and corn, but I somehow didn’t get a photo of those or the HUGE plate of cookies and treat she made with the nieces & nephew. Probably because as soon as the ham came out the oven everyone descended on it like vultures. It was quite delicious, both of my parents said it reminded them of the ham they enjoyed for the holidays when they were kids.
Then we gather round while my dad reads the Christmas Story from the Bible. Then we go around and open gifts one at a time starting at the youngest and working our way up to the oldest. After the gifts were exchanged, we made some homemade ice cream to eat over the pie I made. It was a simple celebration just like all the years gone by and it was nice finally be able to celebrate this milestone even if it was a little later than usual. Since we were so late in celebrating our Christmas, we also postponed our New Year’s meal (Mr Chiots and I had the traditional meal by ourselves here at home). We’re planning our New Year’s meal of sauerkraut & pork in a few weeks, better late than never I guess. After all holidays aren’t about the specific day of the week/month/year, they’re about spending time with those you love!
Does your holiday meal consist of the same dishes each year or do they change? Do you have specific dishes made by specific people?
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Behind the Scenes
If you’ve been reading here for a while, you know that Mr Chiots and I own a business and are self-employed (our business is 2nd Mile Productions). Mr Chiots does websites (new Chiot’s Run blog in the works) and we do video production as well. We love being self-employed, but sometimes it can be a bit of a challenge as well. Last week we spent the better part of two days filming and editing a couple videos for Ethel Gloves. I had to laugh when I came out of the office and headed down the hallway to the kitchen; our kitchen had been turned into a set.
It’s not just for our video jobs that this happens either, since almost every thing in our lives is photographed for this blog, you’ll find me taking photos of our food right before we eat, the garden while I’m working, and my life in general as things happen. I sometimes wonder if my family gets sick of seeing my camera more than they see my face! My life is definitely not “normal”, but then again, who’s life is?
What would you like to see us make a video about?
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Cooking up Some Prosperity
It’s long been a tradition in my family to gather together on New Year’s Day to eat pork and sauerkraut. When I was young, my grandma was the cook and the entire family packed into her house, cousins, uncles, aunts to help eat the roasters full of kraut that she made. I never liked it growing up, usually I’d eat the tiniest bit of sauerkraut and stuff myself with the delicious dumplings that topped it. It was a meal that had to be eaten on New Year’s day to ensure that the coming year would be a prosperous one.
When I was in college, the task of cooking the meal was passed down to my dad with my grandmother’s passing. We started gathering in our smaller family group instead of the big extended family. My dad would start cooking early in the morning and we’d enjoy the meal while watching the Rose Bowl Parade. This year, we had to call off the meal because of some illness in the family. Rather than risk not having the prosperity that this meal provides in the coming year, I decided to make it for us.
The kraut was made back in October and it’s been resting in the fridge for the past month. The pork was purchased from a local friend and set aside for this special occasion and was roasted in a hot oven for 30 minutes before going into the pot of kraut.
In case anyone wants my dad’s recipe, here it is:
SPECTACULAR SPARERIBS AND INCREDIBLE KRAUT
Guaranteed prosperity in the new year
2 racks of pork spareribs (4 to 6 pounds of local pastured pork)
3 to 4 pounds of sauerkraut (preferably homemade)
4 finely chopped tart apples (about 2 cups)
4 finely chopped or shaved (with vegetable peeler) large carrots (about 2 cups)
3 cups of home canned tomato juice
1 cup of diced tomatoes
6 finely chopped dried apricots
1 cup of brown sugar (I use maple syrup)
4 teaspoons of caraway seed
(I also add a half cup of butter to the pot)
Cut ribs in pieces, season with salt and black pepper (approximately 2 teaspoons of salt and ½ teaspoon of black pepper); place in a large stock pot with olive oil and brown well. Combine the kraut (which can be rinsed to reduce production of gas) with remaining ingredients; spoon over ribs to mix thoroughly until well mixed.
Simmer covered for three hours at low heat making certain the liquid covers the kraut and ribs. Skim off excess fat. Then remove lid and allow the kraut to simmer until some liquid had simmered away, leaving top of kraut exposed. Then make dumplings and place on top of the kraut and over, allowing the dumplings to bake for about fifteen minutes. Makes approximately ten servings and will warm your house for days.
Fluffy Dumplings
2 cups of sifted all purpose flour
4 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
…
1 cup of whole milk
4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together and make certain the dry ingredients are well mixed. Add the milk and oil and kneed with pastry blender until moistened. Drop onto the kraut and cover. Do not lift cover and let mixture return to a slow boil for 12 to 15 minutes. This will make 10 generous dumplings.
This sauerkraut doesn’t taste like most kraut, you’ll find it much less assertive, even our small nieces and nephews like it. With the huge batch I made yesterday, we’ll be eating on it all week long. Looks like we should have a very prosperous 2012.
Do you have any traditional meals with special meaning?
