Hiatus

Well, something happened.  To me, not to the garden.  I got this stupid thing called a job.  A JOB for chrissakes!

So, I think I'm gonna take a break from ye old blog for several months and focus on working my ass off and saving every single penny so I can buy this house.  Then, when I am king of my castle...lord of my domain....and bard of the backyard, I will make a return to the blogosphere.

Hopefully that return will include cold-frames, winter gardening, chopping down trees, and expansion of the current weedy state of affairs.

Thanks for reading y'all.  You don't know how much I appreciate it.

Recipe - Wannabe a Rasta

I don't watch a lot of TV anymore...mostly because after living with Micah's 56" Plasma for 6 months, watching our old-school 27" boob tube is like reading a book.  Go ahead, literature nuts, hate on me.  One of the shows I do watch (besides sports of course!) is No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain.

I just recently saw his Jamaica episode, and at one point he visits a guy who is some sort of leader in the Rastafarian movement and is served  some down-home Rasta fare.  One of the dishes is a mash up of corn, greens, and maybe some grains, and the vision, that was planted in my brain...still remains.  It inspired me, along with Dad's new vegan obsession, to create the following dish, which turned out pretty excellente, por favor.

Rastafuchsian Barleytash
2-3 Cobs Corn
1 cup Uncooked Barley
10 or so Collard Green Leaves
1 bunch Green Onions
2-3 Jalopeno Peppers
1 Lemon
Salt, Pepper, Olive Oil

• Cook barley as you would rice, for about 45 minutes in 3 cups of salted water.  You want it to be both chewy and tender at the same time.  Also, I didn't do this, but in retrospect you may want to rinse the barley in a strainer after you cook it.  There's a lot of starch, sort of like in oatmeal, and this makes the finished dish kind of...sticky.
• Boil corn for about 5 minutes in salted water, and then cool in cold tap water or ice water.
• Chop collards into small pieces, approximately centimeter squares.
• Slice green onions and jalopenos (seeds removed) as small as you can get them.
• After barley has cooled, slice corn off of cobs, and mix all ingredients together with a good drizzle of olive oil, juice of lemon, and salt and pepper to taste.  I prefer a good amount of salt...maybe 2-3 pinches or more...enough to balance with the lemon acidity and bring out the sweetness of the corn and the toasty barley flavor.
• Put it in the fridge for a few hours and serve cold.

As a side note, I believe this recipe to be vegan, but it isn't technically an acceptable Rastafarian dish.  True Rastas, from what I've read, do not eat either salt or oil.

Pictures, Straight Up

I'm too lazy to format all these and add captions.  You'll see a bunch of the veggies that are coming along, plus flowering radishes, lettuce seed pods, and beets going to seed.  In fact, let's just turn this into a little game.  The game is:  You look at these pictures and see if you can guess what they are.  If you aren't a hermit, you'll do well.  Best game ever!  Enjoy.