The soreness continues…
Busy, busy night. My screen door now works again (mostly). The bamboo table of wasp-y doom found a new location, so hopefully I’ll be able to use the balcony again during daylight hours. All of the pots I filled with ‘dirt’* yesterday now have plants in them, as does my second apple basket (which make great planters by the way — wish I had more!) and the new pots. Yes, there are more pots, since it was obvious I was running out. I dashed to the grocery store before it got too dark, found another three big terracotta pots, and somehow dragged them home (owwwww, my arms may never work again). Filled these, and did my second round of planting. Then I wandered the neighbourhood scavenging water bottles from peoples’ recycling bins, to use with my ‘Plant Nanny‘ watering stakes. Those are neat things, and I really hope they work. I have a set of four for starters, and I also have a set of PlantMinders to test (but already suspect the Nannies will prove more useful for an outdoor garden with full-sized plants, because the reservoirs are bigger).
Now I am sore. Or, to be honest, more sore, since I was sore after yesterday’s gardening too. Despite two entire evenings of gardening effort I still don’t have all my seedlings planted. Egad.
There won’t be time to finish over the weekend either. My dad’s incoming for a visit, along with the majority of my camping gear (which has been stowed in Montreal since our east coast trip last fall). When we arranged the trip it seemed only natural that we should jump in the car and go camping together while we had the chance, so I booked us a site at a conservation area we keep trying to visit. For the first time ever we managed to actually get a spot — usually it’s booked solid. Yay! Um…but I cheered too soon. As I was collecting granola and pudding cups and tins of dolmas and looking for other camping-friendly foods, the weather formed a vortex of nastiness on the time horizon: Sunny…sunny…sunny…RAIN…THUNDERSTORMS…RAIN…sunny. All that rain? Yeah, those’d be the three days we planned to be camping. *sigh* So much for veggie dogs roasted on a campfire, fire baked potatoes, or toasted apricots stuffed with vegan marshmallows. 
Oh well, at least I’ll get to show off my garden while he’s here.
* The dirt is actually a combination of 1/3 compost, 1/3 coco coir, and 1/3 vermiculite, the virtues of which are extolled by Mel Bartholomew of Square Foot Gardening. I’m hopeful that this combination will work better for container gardening than the regular potting soil I’ve used in the past, which [a] tended to compact too densely, and [b] dried out super fast.
Down and dirty
Oh. Ow. Gardening is hard work.
I’m partway through assembling my balcony garden. On the weekend my gf and I went to one last gardening workshop (bio-intensive gardening) and then made a run to Canadian Tire for supplies. I snagged all their remaining bags of aged compost (for a total of seven, since I already had one), two giganto-bricks of coco coir, and five bags of vermiculite. So far I believe I’ve used one and a half bags of compost, one brick of coco, and three and bit bags of the vermiculite. These have filled seven large pots, three long narrow planters, and one huuuuuuge apple basket (already planted with potatoes). I’d still be out there, but I ran out of coco. Good enough reason for taking a break — the other brick is rehydrating as I type this. The add-water-and-stir nature of Coco coir makes me laugh — instant garden!
It’s too bad I don’t dare plant any of my seedlings tonight, but we have a frost warning! What the hell? We’re only three days from June! Getting frost warnings now is just crazy.
I have this terrible suspicion that I don’t have enough pots for all my seedlings. *le sigh* So far I have two large cherry tomato seedlings (yellow cherry), two sweet mini bell pepper plants, one cucumber plant (’salad bush’), a cayenne pepper, and an anaheim ’salsa pepper’. Oh, and a wee oregano plant. All those came from the seedling sale we went to on the weekend, and if those were all I had to plant, all would be well. But, um, there are also the seedlings I grew myself — two yellow bean plants (doing very well), brussel sprouts, chard, turnips, more cherry tomatoes (all very wee), and a bunch of herbs. So yes, Not Enough Pots.
In addition to the pots for planting, I now have two large-ish rectangular containers full of last year’s dirt. Coupled with the fact that I’m attending a vermiculture workshop on Friday, I’m having composty ideas for those.
On the indoor front, my spinach experiment has gone awry in the strangest way. After a good start, the wee plants sort of…faltered. They didn’t die, but they didn’t thrive either. The first set is now 5 1/2 weeks old, and here’s the thing — they’re only a couple inches high, and they only have a few teeny leaves each…but they’re flowering. That’s just so not right. Flowering, to me, suggests that a plant has found all the nutrients it needs, reached the peak of its growth, and is ready to reproduce. There’s no way these spindly seedlings look ready for that, and yet there they go. I can’t explain it. The mesclun mix in the same container is all bushy and leafy. Maybe a bit pale, but definitely not failing in the same way as the spinach. I’m stumped. Maybe it’s a light issue, or maybe it’s the soil (they’re planted in pure coco coir), or maybe it’s the seeds themselves. My plan is to plant some more outside, and perhaps set up a daylight lamp next to the existing indoor planter, and see if either does better. Hopefully I’ll figure out what’s going on, because I really would like to be able to grow greens indoors year ’round.
Okay, time to go finish rehydrating the coco coir. Ta!
Pie!
A rare alignment of the culinary planets brought me fruit, lots and lots of fruit. I had a huge bunch of rhubarb, two plump mangoes, and maybe 24 hours in which to use them up. Hmmmm, I thought, wonder what they’d taste like together?
The answer? Tasty. The sweetness of the mangoes nicely balances the tartness of the rhubarb. (Well, the mangoes plus a cup of sugar, but I digress.) I think the combination might actually work even better in a crisp, but won’t know until a similar culinary alignment brings me those ingredients again. And next time I’d make it tarter, because I like my rhubarb treats mouth-puckeringly tart…but my housemate declared this version perfect for the rest of the world. 
Rhubarb mango pie
- Pie dough for two crusts (I made a full batch of this, used half, and froze the rest for some future pie-making. There were enough trimmings to make an extra tart after making the pie.)
- 1/4 cup ground almonds
- 1 tablespoon unbleached flour
- 2 cups mango, peeled and chopped small
- 2 cups rhubarb, chopped small
- 1 cup sugar*
- 1/3 cup flour
- 1/2 T cinnamon**
To assemble:
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Prepare your pie dough. When ready, roll out half and fill a pie pan, trimming the edges.
- Line the shell with a sheet of parchment paper, and pour in enough dry beans to cover the bottom. (These will keep your crust from shrinking as it bakes.)
- Put the pie pan on a cookie sheet in case of drips, and bake until golden brown (app. 15 minutes). Remove the parchment paper and beans. Sprinkle it with the mixture of ground almonds and flour. Bake another 5 minutes.
- Let cool.
- Mix the rhubarb and mango with the remaining flour, sugar, and cinnamon.
- Pour into the cooled pie crust.
- Roll out the other half of the pie dough until big enough to cover the pie. Press the edges and cut steam vents on top.
- Bake (again on a baking sheet for drips) for 45 minutes to 1 hour…basically until golden brown on top and bubbly in the middle. I started with 30 minutes and then checked every 5 to 10, but lost count. )
* Next time I would cut the sugar to 2/3 cup, because I like my pie tart rather than sweet, but my housemate thought it was fine as is (and proved it by snagging two pieces).
** Cinnamon was okay, but mango demands something a little more exotic. Next time I’m thinking allspice.
R.I.P., Postum
I’ve been off coffee, and specifically caffeine since the beginning of this year (with a one week exception for when we went to Cuba, because Cuban coffee is fabulous and not to be missed). Amazingly I don’t really miss the stuff all that much. Sure there have been a few rough mornings and a couple evenings when some coffee would have helped perk me up…but I like being in a place where I can enjoy coffee for its flavour without needing it for its kick.
Coffee was my favourite hot drink though, and I found I needed a replacement. Tea didn’t really do it for me, sadly, and hot chocolate was too sweet for a regular beverage. So after a week or two I found my way back to an old childhood staple — Postum. Never had it? It’s a drink made from ground, roasted grains. I used to drink this stuff long before I ever tasted my first java, and loved the nuttiness of it.
Alas, the stuff went quietly out of production late last year. I grabbed a couple extra bottles while I could, but this week the terrible day came when I ran out. I scouted the local grocery stores with no luck. Even eBay failed me, because apparently I’m not the only one who misses the stuff — there are some truly insane auctions going on for it, with a mere six bottles going for as much as $175US!
So now, ironically, I’m looking for a Postum substitute. There are lots of coffee substitutes, but I don’t actually want something that tastes like coffee — I want my nutty grains back! Yesterday I tried Bambu, and today I’m trying ‘Sinka’ (or something like that). Both are coffee substitutes made mostly from rye, chicory and barley. Sadly they’re just not the same. Chicory tastes a bit metallic to me, which is both disconcerting and a little unpleasant.
*pine* Dear Post, please bring back Postum!
Home again
Well I’m back from Boston and Toronto, and still a little brain dead from the travelling. Boston was gorgeous though, and I already miss everyone in Toronto. Plus there was some spectacularly nummy food! (Reviews to come sometime soon-ish.) No matter, it’s nice to sleep in my own bed again, and cook in my own kitchen. Nothing fancy has come of that so far — just enough granola to supply several Boston trips, a stab at a seitan version of tasty tempeh ribs, and some cabbage-potato slow cooker comfort food. Oh, and the best pancakes ever. Hmmm, maybe I haven’t been as slothful in the kitchen as I thought since getting back two days ago.
On a completely unrelated note, today I read that Oprah is doing a 21-day cleanse that involves going vegan, and giving up caffeine, alcohol, sugar, and gluten. Hardcore! More on her goals here. I’m interested to see what kind of response she gets, and how well she does at making the change seem easy, appetizing, and worthwhile. So far I’m a little hesitant, because the few recipes already posted to her site may prove daunting to someone new to the veggie lifestyle. Will readers know where to find kombu and tempeh? I take tamari and nutritional yeast for granted, but maybe they could use some introduction for newbies? Anyway, I hope her challenge works out well for her and any others who decide to try it.
Wandering Stratford
I have a fridge full of veggies, and no time to cook*. The weekend saw me skivving off to Stratford (the Canadian spin-off, not the UK original) with one of m’darlings for a couple days of pre-birthday fun. It was nicely uncrowded and even fairly un-touristy at this time of year, particularly considering that it was Mother’s Day weekend. We stayed at the lovely Glenwood B&B, saw The Music Man at the Stratford Festival, and had a wonderful time browsing some of the interesting shops around town. If you ever make it there, check out Quark Soup and the amazing toy store, Family & Company! They’re well worth a romp or two, and it doesn’t matter how old you are.
The chocolate shops proved a tasty diversion too. The first (Rheo Thompson) was not terribly vegan-friendly, but the second (Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory) offered one of those happy vegan experiences that make time away special. We showed up, made our usual “do you have anything without eggs or dairy” request, and promptly got a personal, friendly tour of the half dozen options available to us. The Power Hounds (dark chocolate coconut clusters) were soooooo good. I’m not sure it’s a good thing that I just discovered they have a shop in nearby Kitchener, and another in downtown Toronto, and yet another in the very airport I’ll be passing through on Wednesday…
But really, the culinary highlight of Stratford? VegOut. It’s a little vegan cafe just off the main strip. Great location, even better food. If we’d been Good And Responsible Food CriticsTM, we’d have ordered a few different dishes to share, so that we could report back on the full range of offerings. We didn’t. In place of long excuses, I’ll give you three words:
Fish. And. Chips.
Okay, let’s make that four: Vegan. Fish. And. Chips.
Yes, you read that right. They offered battered fake fish, complete with vegan tartar sauce. It mimicked real fish and chips well enough to suit my rusty memory. In fact I liked these far better than I ever liked the real thing — most F&C always seemed to be made with either low-quality fish, or come over-battered or over-greasy. These were crispy, well-filled, fried but not greasy, and very tasty. The fries were equally good. We both ordered the same thing without even hesitating. Then we went back later for dessert. 
The apple-raspberry pie was wonderful — nice tart apples, a good crust, and I even got to enjoy that crust since it was heated in an oven rather than a microwave, and thus wasn’t soggy and gross. The soy hot chocolate was the most chocolatey I’ve had outside my own kitchen. M’darling found his chocolate-peanut butter ‘cheesecake’ less rich than the versions we’ve had at Vegetarian Haven in Toronto, but enjoyed the couple bites he managed to steal of my pie.
I took no camera and thus took no photos. Just take my word for it — the food was fabulous and you too should go there if you ever have the chance. We found the place through HappyCow. Travelling? Need to find a vegan or vegetarian restaurant? You should check out HappyCow, and add reviews of any new places you find too!
So those were the highlights of the weekend. Tomorrow I’m off to Toronto, and Wednesday I’m off to Boston. At this point I’m not even sure when I’m back, but certainly by this time next week. Cookery, photos, and assorted blathering to resume then, or sometime near then. =)
* Which is killing me, because our eagerly-awaited grill just arrived. Literally. It’s still in a big box in front of me, and all I want to do now is grill and eat everything in the house. *g*
Stick to yer ribs
The awesome folks over at What the hell does a vegan eat anyway? got me lusting last week, when they posted pics of a rib recipe (veganized, bien sur) from Gourmet magazine. Mmmmmm. But lacking the key ingredients (black vinegar, seitan, and the ability to deep fry things), I figured I’d take a stab at a baked tempeh version.
OMG. I bet the original version is even better, but these are yummy. The sauce reduces to a rich, savoury-sweet glaze full of ginger and caramelized shallots and garlic. I served them with steamed dandelion greens and garlic-celeriac mashed potatoes the first night, and balsamic mushrooms, cornmeal potato cakes, and a spinach/kale mixture the next. My omnivore housemate liked them a lot — he felt they really did have a certain ‘ribness’ going for them.
Damn, I’ve gone and made myself hungry.
Fertile ground
Last week C asked how my mini garden was doing. It’s doing quite well!
Let’s see…so far I have two* small planters (10×22″) filled with seeds and seedlings. There’s the spinach I started several weeks ago in one, along with a second round of spinach seeds and a mesclun mix. In the other planter I have seedling pots, which are also full of seeds — yellow beans, tomatoes, brussel sprouts, chard, turnips, coriander, chives, lemon balm, peppermint, and three kinds of basil. (Pretty ambitious given I only have a small balcony, hunh?)
The spinach are still quite wee given how long they’ve been growing — they’re just starting their first true leaves now. They seemed to stall last week, and I’m not sure why. They’re healthy-looking though.
The mesclun mix seems…eager. That third of the planter is dotted with a spray of different greens, mystery plants poking their way through to sunlight. The mystery element amuses me; I look forward to seeing what the mix actually contains.
As for the other planter, it’s also doing quite well. Both containers have clear covers, and every time I lift the one on the seedling plantery I’m hit with a wave of super-warm, moist, earthy-smelling air (which I love). The turnip and brussel sprout seeds went in last Friday, and they fairly leapt from the earth — they had seedlings up the very next day! The other seeds took a bit more time. The chard came up next, complete with glorious little red stems. The basil was next, and the opal basil seedlings are a 50-50 mixture of green and purple. Neat. =) Yesterday I saw the first hint of a bean seedling starting to emerge. Today the first tomato peeked back at me, and also the first lemon balm and coriander — a nice sight to start the day.
They’re all still tiny and young, but tending my little mini garden makes me happy each morning. They have three whole weeks to grow before it will (probably) be safe to plant them outside, so I expect to see a lot of growth in the next little while. Hmmmm…that means I’d better start sorting out permanent homes for them, doesn’t it? Otherwise they’ll have nowhere to grow three weeks from now. And I’ll be away for part of the month**. Eep!
* Of course there’s also the sprouter, which continues to produce weekly mini crops of salad sprouts. Does that count as part of the garden? And also my recently potted basil plant, and two pots of coriander and chive seeds that don’t seem to like the soil they’re in.
** Anyone know of good vegan restos in Boston?
