Ninja Poodles Local: July 2008 Archives

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Sunday, July 27, 2008 - 10:35:59

Nothing Better Than A Watermelon Pickle

Another brief installment in what is becoming a series of my exploits in taking the parts of food I'd normally throw out and putting them in jars to eat instead, I give you the luscious watermelon pickle. And I tell you, in all honesty, that if I can do this? An addled monkey can do this. So go make some pickles while the watermelon rind is abundant. You'll thank me later.

Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle Received from a Friend Called Felicity

During that summer
When unicorns were still possible;
When the purpose of knees
Was to be skinned;
When shiny horse chestnuts
(Hollowed out
Fitted with straws
Crammed with tobacco
Stolen from butts
In family ashtrays)
Were puffed in green lizard silence
While straddling thick branches
Far above and away
From the softening effects
Of civilization;

During that summer--
Which may never have been at all;
But which has become more real
Than the one that was--
Watermelons ruled.

Thick imperial slices
Melting frigidly on sun-parched tongues
Dribbling from chins;
Leaving the best part,
The black bullet seeds,
To be spit out in rapid fire
Against the wall
Against the wind
Against each other;

And when the ammunition was spent,
There was always another bite:
It was a summer of limitless bites,
Of hungers quickly felt
And quickly forgotten
With the next careless gorging.

The bites are fewer now.
Each one is savored lingeringly,
Swallowed reluctantly.

But in a jar put up by Felicity,
The summer which maybe never was
Has been captured and preserved.
And when we unscrew the lid
And slice off a piece
And let it linger on our tongue:
Unicorns become possible again.

~John Tobias

Posted by Belinda at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments [0]

Friday, July 25, 2008 - 23:15:51

You Did WHAT With Those Purple-Hull Peas?

So, there I was, home from the Cabot Farmer's Market last Saturday with a whole heap of beautiful purple-hull peas, and only one known recipe for cooking them: Hoppin' John. I got online, and in short order found myself at the website of the Emerson, Arkansas Purple-Hull Pea Festival & World Championship Rotary Tiller Race. It was there that I was introduced to the idea of making jelly from the hulls of these distinctly Southern field peas, and further searching turned up many, many recipes for just such a concoction. I was intrigued by this statement on one recipe site:

"Purple hull peas produce grape flavored jelly. White crowder peas produce honey flavored jelly. Lady peas make apple jelly; and by combining the hulls of crowder, purple, whippoorwill and lady peas a plum tasting jelly results."

Well, that was a challenge I simply couldn't pass up. I had to find out if I could, indeed, make "grape" jelly with humble purple-hull peas. The recipe I adapted from a few sources follows. The verdict? There is definitely a "grapey" flavor. Not deep and intense as if from actual grapes...more subtle. But when my husband came in after I'd cooked the jelly, I had him tastes some. "It's good!" he said. I asked him what flavor he thought it was. He looked around the kitchen for visual clues, and not finding any, guessed, "Grape?" Success!

After shelling purple-hull peas, save the hulls, and wash them at least three times.

Pack clean hulls into a heavy pot, and cover with about 5 cups of water.

pack hulls into a heavy pot, cover with water

Boil hulls until tender. It's not the hulls you're concerned with--it's the purplish "tea" that you're making of the boiling water. Steep those babies until the water's pretty and purple.

Strain the "tea" from boiling the hulls, and pour 4 cups of it back into the saucepan.

strain liquid from boiling hulls into saucepan

Bring juice to a boil, then add 1 package of Sure-Jell (fruit pectin). Return liquid to a rolling boil, and add 5 cups of sugar.

boil, add pectin, boil, add sugar, boil, simmer

Return liquid to a rolling boil again, and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside for 5 minutes. Skim. Pour into hot, sterilized jars, seal, and process in a water-bath for 5 minutes. Set jars aside on a towel for 24 hours.

Posted by Belinda at 11:15 PM | Permalink | Comments [3]

Saturday, July 12, 2008 - 01:37:36

This State Is Bustin' Out All Over Right Now. Get Out In It.

some like the thrill; some like to chill

Well, seven of us (Mom, sister, nephew, brother-in-law, Husband, Daughter, Myself) headed up to Greers Ferry Lake to spend the day out on the water. And I will just mention, to satisfy this month's NaBloPoMo "food" theme, that picnic lunches are where the whole locavore thing falls apart, for me. Look, sometimes, I just need some nice fresh bread and stuff to go on it that people will eat, and I don't want to spend 7 hours the day before preparing it all from scratch, or driving around two counties buying it. We formed an assembly line, and slapped together a bunch of sandwiches, bagging and labeling them for the cooler. That was pretty much what we ate that day. As it turned out, we were way too busy to eat, anyway.

First and foremost, some boating and tubing. Some of us have, shall we say, the hang of this.

Arkansas, in case you don't know, is beautiful.

bluffs along Greers Ferry, middle-fork? South Fork?

Some swimming at the above spot, and then more tubing. Nephew was a good enough sport to allow his much smaller cousin to ride with him. I'm not sure, but I THINK she appreciated it. She MIGHT have had a good time, but really, how can you be sure?

Did I mention that Arkansas is beautiful? I might not have stressed the fact enough.

We had this spot all to ourselves for most of the afternoon. I can't even describe the peace, pleasure and wonder of just this place. It was like a little miracle. We couldn't bail out of the boat fast enough to all get in that waterfall. Husband was good enough to float in on "Big Mable" and get some nice pictures. Did I play? You know I did.

I may not be able to afford the BlogHer conference in San Francisco this year, but you know what? This, I can have for free, not more than an hour from my front door. This planet of ours, it's something else. This state of mine, I just have to love it, despite oppressive heat and humidity, choking pollen, and legendary biting insects.

So, after the waterfall blissfest, it was time for some adrenalin. Luckily we had the boys for that. With BIL driving the boat, and Husband and Nephew on the tube, it was just a contest of wills--a battle of the hangers-on versus the slinger-off. Husband didn't help matters much with what my sister referred to as his "barbaric YOP," either. I think I heard phrases like "Is that all you GOT?" and "BRING IT ON!!!"

BIL brought it. At one point, I heard my sister asking her husband to "please remember that our CHILD is also out there." I don't believe, judging by his expression, that said child shared her concerns, however. You'd think, from this shot, that this is a guy about to take a drink, wouldn't you?

Well, YOU'D BE WRONG. Say what you will about my husband, he is nothing if not tenacious. He actually came BACK from that near-sling-off, and got re-seated. That lull didn't last long, though.

This literally went on until they BROKE THE TOW-ROPE. And they were fastening on another one, when...we ran out of gas. Out. Of. Gas. In the middle of the lake, surrounded by, well...no one.

Just to make it clear that we're not a bunch of dopes, I give you Exhibit A: LYING, PUNK FUEL-GAUGE.

Remember when I told you how beautiful Arkansas is? Well, I should also report that Arkansans are friendly. And helpful. And kind. We were stranded for all of about 29 seconds, before we managed to flag down a boat from across the lake. These lovely people and their miniature dachshunds came to our rescue.

I can't even tell you how painless it was--a potentially horrible situation resolved instantly, merely through the kindness of strangers. Here is exactly how it went down: We waved. Boatload of strangers came over immediately. We said, "Our fuel gauge is malfunctioning, and we're out of gas!" Their immediate response: "Need a tow?"

And so it was, that a boat full of generous souls surrendered a good portion of their precious tank of gas, along with one of the last hours of daylight on the final day of a holiday weekend in order to tow a stranded boat full of strangers all the way to their home landing.

If you know these people, thank them for us. The would accept nothing from us in return for their good deed but a promise to pay the favor forward to the next strangers in need we encounter. That, we can do.

Husband and BIL somehow got our boat loaded back up, which is no easy task with no engine power, and we left the water for the day. It was a good day, a good weekend, a good time to be alive and a great place to be living.

Whether you venture afar, or stick close to home, I hope you all have a wonderful summer.

Posted by Belinda at 01:37 AM | Permalink | Comments [0]

Thursday, July 03, 2008 - 04:01:13

Fried Green Tomatoes: Hello, Summer!

The National Blog Posting Month theme for July is "food," so this seemed like a good cause to kick back into gear for summer: Fried Green Tomatoes. This is a dish that has as many variations as it does people who cook it, and I'd love to hear yours.

This recipe almost doesn't need words, but I'll use a FEW. Get some of these (I got mine from the Certified Arkansas Farmer's Market in North Little Rock):

I have actually had people tell me that they couldn't find "this kind" of tomatoes, only the red ones. Well, these are the red ones. They're just not ripe yet. The rest of you quit laughing. There are actually people who have never seen a tomato before it hits the grocery store, where it's probably arrived from Mexico or California. Green tomatoes are apple-firm and wonderful to work with. A lot of people seem to prefer the ones that have just a hint of pink blush forming, but I like the pure greenies. I like fried pickles, too, though, so take that into account when you select your degree of green-ness.

Slice 'em up. I like to do them at an angle instead of straight across the middle, but that's just me. I promise the tomato-slicing police will not show up at your house if you do it differently.

Have a shallow dish of buttermilk, salted and peppered to taste, at hand, and as you slice the tomatoes, add the slices to the buttermilk. They don't have to soak or marinate, but a couple extra minutes couldn't hurt, right?

In another shallow dish, combine equal parts cornmeal or cornmeal mix, and flour. Take the tomato slices from the buttermilk, and dredge them in the flour mixture. I usually just lay the wet slices onto the flour, cover them, and lightly press the flour mixture into the tomato a little.

Cook in hot oil until golden-brown, then turn them over and brown the other side. The tomato slices will soften as they cook, but don't let them get all mushy. If your slices are no more than 1/4-inch thick, they should get done about the time your coating is golden-brown.

Drain slices separately on layers of paper towels, or in a wire basket or on a rack (though that won't get as much oil out as draining on paper), and serve HOT. We like ours with cold ranch dressing, but I'd love to hear any other ways of enjoying fried green tomatoes.

An alternate, and equally acceptable method is to simply dredge very thin green tomato slices in seasoned cornmeal mix and then fry them. That should get you a result like these slices, from a popular Arkansas country restaurant (can you guess where?). Also yummy, if greasier and floppier.