Everyone okay here?

[grasswire]

C&B has gone quiet lately. What's happenin where you are?

Farmers market opens tomorrow in my town, and there are fifteen tiny baby turkeys in the incubator in the garage. Lilacs are blooming even though it's still only in the 50s and rainy.

Asparagus is much too expensive still. Don't know why.

Last night I made a lovely loaf of whole wheat banana bread to send to the college freshman. I use concentrated orange juice in it, and it has good flavor and nutrition.

I feel like baking! I need to develop a gluten-free pie crust that tastes good, and I need to test some recipes for a reliable hand pie dough. Probably a galette dough with butter. Yesterday I was at a "whole foods" type market and saw galettes made with goat cheese, roasted asparagus and sliced almonds. They lookied scrumptious.

[eleny]

1. Doing pretty good here

The only thing I'm going to be doing that's different is making my own vanilla extract. I got some beans via ebay. I just need to wait till we use up a bottle of wine so I can use that dark glass bottle to make it in. :D

[kestrel91316]

2. Brand new farmer's market opening up this evening in my neighborhood, too.

And it's within walking distance! WOOT WOOT!!!

[kurtzapril4]

3. I think people are outside

doing yard work! I would be, too, except I had surgery on my ankle on 4/26, and am kind of laid-up for now. Paid a neighbor to do the clean-up on my gardens, and hubby is in charge of cooking. He's a decent cook, but I'll save the more involved stuff for when I get back on my feet again.

[The empressof all]

4. Now that I'm eating Vegan I really haven't been cooking much

I'm living on brown rice, beans and lots of braised greens as my staples. I still look at the weekly adds and prepare meals in my mind. :rofl: It's a challenge to skip the meat and dairy when you want to make a full out feasty kind of meal but now that it's just the two of us I haven't had much need to drag out all the kitchen gadgets. I'm trying to keep the fat low and stay away from the wheat and sugar so I haven't been that interested in baking goodies either. I did see a recipe for a sugar free, wheat free banana peanut butter cookie when trolling the vegan sites... but I haven't gone there yet.

[trud]

11. lots of good vegan recipes around

See what the hell does a vegan eat anyway at http://veganmenu.blogspot.com/ and http://vegandad.blogspot.com/

[The empressof all]

17. Yes there are certainly not a lack of tasty vegan recipes.

I've just become lazy...:rofl: So I just do whats simple and quick and easy. I'm not bored out of my mind yet so alls good! And now that summers coming I'll be able to switch up the fruits and veggies real soon. I'm really getting ready for home grown tomatoes with fresh pesto and Rainer Cherries....yummers.

[Denninmi]

5. Yes, I've noticed that too.

Personally, I don't cook much this time of year, it's more of a "throw something together, fast" season. Whatever I can come up with.

I spend more time outdoors than in, or at least, in a normal season I do. This cold, wet, nasty spring has left me kind of in a funk. Things are far behind where they should be, although a few good days will catch me up.

One of my turkey hens is sitting on a communal nest with 14-16 eggs the last time I could look in there, which was a week ago. The other three seem to be still laying and adding to it, but I don't know if they have continued in the last week. Since it's a staggered incubation, and I'm not sure what the rest of them would do if any hatched, I'm going to take the eggs next week and put them in one of my Brinsea Octagon 20's, as soon as the goose eggs or quail eggs get done, whichever one gets empty first (both are the same hatch date, but they never all hatch on time).

I have picked one picking of asparagus, and there will be another tomorrow, some of which will go in the freezer.

I also sent about 20 dozen eggs up to my sister in northern Michigan via a friend who was going that way.

Oh, and I planted close to 100 lbs of seed potatoes last weekend.

[grasswire]

8. 100 pounds of seed potatoes??

What is the expected yield on that? Sounds like a huge crop.

[Denninmi]

10. Don't have a clue.

Some years they do really well for me, some years not, so whatever happens will happen. If I have a lot of extra ones I'm going to feed them to my birds.

I still have probably 40 lbs to go, 20 are from the grocery store, the rest are my 2010 crop, sprouty and shriveled but they'll grow.

I'm concentrating more on known producers this year, and less on weird stuff we won't really use. So, more potatoes, sweet corn, squash, cutting back on things that are fun to grow but we don't use much of like turnips, bitter melon, citron, etc.

[trud]

13. Denninmi

You posted photos of your gigantic garden, if I recall correctly. New photos? More garden porn :-)?

[Denninmi]

16. I'll snap some. There isn't anything to see yet, though.

Right now, the only thing I have in the ground are the potatoes.

We're 3 to 4 weeks behind. It looks and feels like early April, not early May. We should see things pop this week, they're calling for 70s and maybe even around 80, with lows around 50. Most of April, we barely cracked 50 for the highs.

[pengillian101]

25. Aren't YOU the ambitious one? Love it!

Good on YOU!

You will have so much fun!

[housewolf]

6. Laying low, appreciating the few nice days we've had so far, wishing for warmer weather

Lurking here daily but haven't posted for a while.

How are your pie shop plans going?

[beac]

7. We leave a week from tomorrow, so I've mostly been packing and

cleaning (having a housesitter coming has been GREAT incentive to tackle those nooks & crannies I ignored all winter, LOL) and throwing together dinners based on cleaning out the freezer and/or a huge entree salad that I can make in ten minutes.

I should have internet access most of the time we're gone, so I'll be popping in here and there to see what everyone's up to. That and the gardening forum MIGHT be my only DU visits. I'm thinking a break from US politics while we're overseas could be just the tonic I need.

[Lugnut]

9. Yard work.

We're trying to get as much done as we can before the hot temperatures come rolling in. Today it was mulching. Tomorrow is front porch furniture and roll-up shades.

[trud]

12. coughing my lungs out

with spring allergy stuff, even though I come up negative on the 48 pin allergy test, this happens every spring.

If anyone has any suggestions, I am all ears. So far:

Singular: relieves congestion does nothing for the postnasal drip that seems to cause the coughing.

Nasonex: makes everything taste like metal.

Claritin/Clarinex: do nothing.

I can't use anything with a stimulant in it due to occasional afib.

Have enjoyed getting the garden ready, though, even though the dust probably makes things worse. Sigh. I used to live in the reputed allergy capitol of the universe, south of San Francisco, and never had any trouble. Since I moved back to RI it's cough cough all spring.

[NMDemDist2]

20. i like Zyrtec

it works for me when Claritin does NOTHING!!!

if you've got a lot of post nasal drip, get the Zyrtec-D for the decongestant

feel better!!

[trud]

24. Thanks, NMDemDist2! n/t

[Callalily]

14. Well . . . been baking NYT's bread

every week! LOL!

And right now I'm attempting a new recipe, "sprouted lentils." I'm on the sprouting step right now. Needless to say, this recipe takes DAYS! ;-)

If it turns out, I'll post the recipe along with pics (of course :rofl:)

[yellerpup]

15. I has been quiet.

I haven't been cooking so much lately. I'm working on a sitcom (animated) script/pitch and haven't even thought about the kitchen this week. Also, I saw my doctor on Monday for an annual checkup and I am 'phenomenal' on the health front except for high cholesterol. (I'm borderline high and refuse to take statins again because the first time I took them, after a week my thoughts began to drift into disturbingly dark territory). I even made myself some oatmeal for dinner one night. The galettes you mention are making my tongue drag the floor. And the lilac scent....heavenly. Baby turkeys in the garage is a sure sign that spring is coming on strong. I'd love to hear them greet you when you feed them in the morning. :hi:

[Phentex]

18. I'm still doing the birthday countdown...

fine, I admit it. It's harder than it sounded at the time because I also love to just throw something together or try something new. I feel a bit pinned down, lol. :)

But we're all learning something new in history so it's worth it. One thing I've learned is recorded history seems to focus on wars and crime. sigh

[shanti]

19. asparagus

is cheap here in cali, 99 cents a bunch at the 99 cent store. our store gets a ton of veggies, but many are from mexico.

[NMDemDist2]

21. we have been completely re-doing our deck

lots of long weekend hours with hubby and lots of one-girl chores when he's at work..... and since I'm starting work the 23rd, trying to catch up on chores that will go undone while I'm making the cash to pay for the deck :rofl:

here's a pic, it went from a nasty old 12x16 uncovered POS with skanky boards and nasty wood rails to this 16x16 covered beauty with a brick "BBQ" patio, but it was expensive and a LOT of work




and here's the brick patio for the BBQ, now we're just waiting for the 10x20 building to go in that will house hubby's shop and some much needed storage (I miss my 2.5 car garage....)



the kitchen only sees me when I grab another bottle of water it seems like these days :blush:

[pengillian101]

23. Thanks for posting the pics!

Very nice! :hi:

[MrMickeysMom]

22. I'm just a busy girl, but I still lurk on this thread

However, I will tell you that my municipality is getting ready to do gardening, so I might be stealing time over there...

I will always love seeing how and trying as a result how you good folks do tasty dishes here.

Next to thinking we all have to have gardens, I say, we all have to do more scratch cooking!