Mid July in Nova Scotia. My grandmother’s century and a bit more home, painted white wooden siding freshly cleaned by rain from the day before. It might reach 85 at it’s hottest in summer there. Years later while I am old and cantankerous, living in Florida I’ll mock myself for thinking it was hot. For now, for us in that moment and time it was pretty warm.

My grandmother’s kitchen was the focal point for her entire house. Sure, you stepped into a front porch so you could take your coat or your shoes (in this case, usually sandals, flip flops, or just wipe your bare feet) off there. The front porch later held her deep freezer and a tiny wooden stove for winter–but nobody spent any time there.  It was too small and that’s not the function of a porch.

The first room people came to at my Grandmother’s house was the kitchen. People didn’t often bother going any further. She had her rocking chair set up on the far wall from the door, facing the larger, brightly lit window that let her watch the front door and her walkway to it. To the left was a small table and two or three chairs for company to seat themselves by that window. To the right was a long cabinet that reached all the way through the kitchen and dining room, broken only by the oven who seemed like a silent indicator of the line between where kitchen ended and dining room began. Her fridge was at the furthest wall, bright yellow as her oven.

The dining room had a window that mirrored the one in the kitchen that looked out over the door and walkway. These were perfectly set up for the lazy sort of breezes July carried. The morning and the night time were the best times–the coolest, sweetest breeze carrying either the morning’s or evening’s fresh cut grass, alfalfa and flowers would wiggle its way through the screens and billow flower bedecked curtains.

My grandmother’s kitchen was the soul of her house. People didn’t come and sit in the living room when they visited. They didn’t often settle in her other porch–her sun porch–to relax and talk, play card games or gossip. They came and they settled like little chirping birds in her kitchen and she would make the meals that would remain with me for the rest of my life. Hodge-podge, fresh baby carrots, peas, potatoes and beans from her own garden, roasts and chickens and the best gravy you’ve ever tasted and who cares if it was fattening or how many calories or how much salt was in it or if it was organic or not? It was summer time and you’d been out all day in the sun doing whatever or at work and even though the day was hot there was nothing like Grandma’s dinner.

Everyone walked away with their bellies full, grinning lazily with the after effects of eating just a bit too much but nobody really said anything or minded–they ate too much, too.

But there’s are two specific dishes my grandmother made that will forever be hers in my head. It’ll always make me remember and picture summer’s in her kitchen.

It’s the simplest thing on the planet to make, and the recipe (if you could call it that) can be adapted, changed, fiddled with and spiced up how anyone saw fit.

She’d take a one or two cucumbers grown from her very own garden and wash them. She peeled them, but that I suspect was a personal choice and then begin to slice them moderately even and thin. Then she’d slice a sweet or yellow onion very thinly, just enough to flavor the cucumber. When she was finished, she’d take the cucumber slices, onions, sprinkle them with salt and place them in a wide bowl and put a saucer or small plate on top of them. On the plate covering the cucumbers and onions she’d put the heaviest cans or jars she had and let that sit for about an hour.

When the hour had passed, she’d drain the water from the cucumbers into the sink and give them a quick rinse to remove the salt. This was the base for her side-dish. From there, she might pour heavy cream, salt and pepper and call it done. Or she’d mix white vinegar with sugar in a bowl. There was never any measurement, she’d just say, “Well, until it tastes right.” Then she’d put the cucumbers in either the cream or vinegar mix and let them sit from morning to evening in the fridge. Supper time came around and she’d put the big bowl of cucumbers on the table.

If the bowl lasted past dinner it was always a miracle.

I had almost forgotten about this side-dish. For the longest time, there were no reminders of home in my kitchen.  When I visited my mother and father in Alberta a while back, my mother made this dish four or five times when I was there–both the creamed and vinegar version. Watching her make it was like watching my childhood unfold again; she is her mothers daughter in the way her hands hold the knife to cut the cucumbers. In her, “Well, let me just taste it to see if it’s right,” for checking if she put the correct amount of sugar to vinegar in or not.  The cucumbers might have been store-bought but they came out as perfect as any memory I have of my grandmother’s version.

When I came home to Shawn one of the first things I did that week when we went grocery shopping was to grab some cucumbers and vinegar. Now, personally, I like to play around with it. I used red wine vinegar and red onions. I put a liberal sprinkle of dried dill into the mix. But it’s the same to me because at the core it’s like…tasting a memory. It’s sweet, a little tart, nostalgic.

It’s odd what our brains choose to associate with a memory. And I want to know–what foods trigger a happy memory for you?

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Ok, I couldn’t resist sharing. The garden continues it’s amazing development. While we finally said goodbye to the peas, that we still have a bag full, I might add, everything else is coming up like crazy! I hope you all enjoy the pics of a walkaround of the most awesome 2PhatGeeks garden ever. A special “Hello!” to all of you that are following this at Mel’s LiveJournal.

First we have a couple shots of the northwest corner of the garden. While initially this was dominated by bluebells, they’ve gone to pod (yay, more bluebells next year!) and these Blue carnations have taken over

Here we have a couple shots of some of the edibles. We can see some Sage, Onions, Basil, the side of the Jalapenos (which are just starting to bloom) and a little Oregano.

And check these out! Cayennes are coming up really nicely. Yum!

Remember that White Tri-color Daisy Chrysanthemum? Well, we have just a few more.

In addition to the mostly white variety, we also have these cool little light purple ones scattered in.

Hey, who’s that’s poking their head in the picture? Oh yeah, this little guy! He was quite the surprise and there seem to be a good number of these coming in, too.

The Tomato plants may start demaning “Feed Me!” at any moment. We have about 30 tomatoes by our count. If they taste haslf as good as they look, they may be fatally delicious. I can’t wait to have fresh basil and tomatoes. or maybe even ad in a little fresh mozzarella from the deli and make a little home grown pizza margherita!

This guy is so big he needs his own caption. I don’t have tiny delicate little fingers, either.

Not pitured are parsley and dill that are growing literally like weeds… so much so I couldn’t get a realy good picture aside from the little snippet in the title image. The dill is about 3 feet tall and still growing. We’ll be sure to let all of you know just how delicious everything is. Hope every one is having a great spring… summer is just around the corner!

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Meltastic crab rangoon

<– You see that? You see that delicious picture? I just took that picture with my canon. That, my friends, is home made crab rangoon. With actual crab meat in it! It’s crazy, I know. Usually, I order some crab rangoon from my favorite chinese take out, Hop Bo, and there’s lots of cream cheese in it and flecks of something that I suspect might be carrot to fool us into thinking there might be crab in it. A speck of something so miniscule it really is just fried wonton wrappers stuffed with cream cheese.

Well. Last week I stumbled upon this recipe: Blogchef.net: Crab Rangoon recipe

NO MOAR PRETEND CRAB RANGOON. As you can see above in that delectable sexy-time picture, I have made RANGOON OF POWER. With crab in it! And in case you don’t want to click the link? Here’s the recipe from the site:

Ingredients:
• 12 ounces of cream cheese (at room temperature)
• 50 wan ton wrappers
• 1 cup imitation crab meat (or canned)
• 2 green onions (minced)
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 egg (beaten)
• oil (for frying) I used peanut oil.

Cooking instructions:
Step 1: In a bowl cream the cream cheese, soy sauce, green onions and garlic powder. Stir in the crab meat (if using imitation crab it should be chopped into pieces).
Step 2: In a separate bowl beat 1 egg. Lay out a wanton wrapper so it forms a diamond shape and place 1 teaspoon of filling just below the center of each wrapper.
Step 3: Brush the opposite corners of the wanton wrapper with the egg mixture. Fold over the edges of the wrapper to form a triangle and seal tightly.
Step 4: Deep fry in batches at 375 degrees for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown.

Go forth, my children, and make the delicious. You will not be disapointed. There is flavor a-plenty. Now if you’ll excuse me, Ima’ NOM OUM NOM and game some more!

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Several months ago I found a recipe for Chinese Tea Eggs here: Appetite for China – Tea Eggs

I thought to myself, that, as unusual as it sounded to my big fat Canadian/American tastes, I bet it would actually taste really good.

So today, I made myself a batch of them for the first time and I can safely say that if you like boiled eggs you will love these. They will make your entire house smell like awesomesauce while they are cooking as well.

So how to they taste? Very, very, very faint sweetness and salty with normal everyday boiled eggs. The flavor is very light (after simmering for two hours) and I almost wish I’d let them cook for three just to see if the flavor deepened. Shawn and I ate ours on a bed of plain rice with a dash of soy sauce and enjoyed the hells out of it. (Read: NOM OUM NOM NOM)

For those of you afraid of clicking links, here’s the recipe if you are curious about trying them yourself:

Chinese Tea Eggs – 茶叶蛋 （cháyèdàn)

• 6 medium to large
• 2 tablespoons or 2 tea bags of black tea or Pu’erh
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 4 pieces star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 teaspoon cracked black peppercorn (optional)
• 2 to 3 strips dried mandarin peel (optional)

Put eggs in a medium-sized pot with enough water to cover the eggs. Bring water to boil, then lower heat to simmer for 3 minutes. Remove eggs from heat and allow them to cool a bit before handling (running them under cold water does the trick quickly.) Take the back of a knife and crack eggs evenly all around.

Return eggs to the pot and add the rest of the ingredients. Bring liquid to boil again, then simmer for 1 to 3 hours, longer for a more intense flavor and color, adding water if level gets too low. Remove from heat, and serve as a snack or addition to rice or noodles.

Really really easy recipe and you know, you could make them the night before a picnic or a long trip and have something delicious to snack on later.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Mel food post without actual pictures of my food. Brought to you by: Geek, and Canon.

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Image via Wikipedia

This is NOT a sponsored post. I really, really like tea.

Not to be confused with a tea snob, because a tea snob probably knows way more about brewing tea than I ever will. They probably know specific temperatures, the correct alignment of the sun, what time of the day is best for what and how many leaves, precisely, to use.

I however, am just a tea wh*re. I love tea. I will give any tea a chance. I’ll let any kind of tea, regardless of it’s brewing, to pass my lips at least once so that I can say I have tried it and whether or not I like it.

It all started several eons ago when dinosaurs roamed the earth when I was a small girl. My parents and my grandparents drank tea like like thirsting men in the desert enjoy water. Specifically, my Grandmother’s house was filled with Red Rose, or Tetley Tea and my home filled with the same. My father started his morning with a cup of tea, same as my mother. My father liked his tea with very little milk and sugar, while my mothers, as my father jokingly remarked, like “swamp water tea.” A lot of milk and a lot of sweetener.

Off and on through the years living with them, I’d endulge in a cup of tea, but it never truly grew on me. Not until this year.

Now, whether it’s a sign I am growing old and crotchety…crotchetier? –or whether it’s simply a sign of tastes changing as one grows older, I have found myself obsessed, pleased, and calmed by tea. It all started with four tea bags of Genmaicha tea handed to me as freebies from the local organic health store and I haven’t quite been right since.

I’ve had a slew of samples from Adagio teas, some of my favorites are: Cirton Green, Kukicha tea, White Monkey, Chocolate tea, chai tea, Lemon Lavender and Mint tea.

I used to start my days with coffee and drank near a full pot every two days. That’s a lot of coffee and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the healthiest decision. There’s something terribly soothing about tea, now that I am older I’m able to appreciate it.

Lately I’ve been on a tea prowl. What can I add to my taste-collection that I’m missing out on?

Are you a fellow tea-wh*re? What’s your favorite brand or flavor and where do you love having your cup of tea? I’m always looking for a new flavor to try, so do you have any recommendations for me to try?

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My grandmother used to make these delicious cabbage rolls which were the simplest things to make. They weren’t spicy and they weren’t a grand production, but she always spent a lot of time rolling the rice and tomatoes into cabbage leaves before settling them to cook in tomatoe sauce.

Today, reading one of (the many) favorite blogs within my growing collection of awesome blogs, Life in the Garden of Eden, found a recipe that reminded me so much of my grandmother’s cabbage rolls that I decided that’s what we’re having today. Shawn seems sceptical that I’d want to eat anything ‘so plain,’ because apparently I am pickier than hell.

It’s not so much the food I wanted to make. Each stir of the pot is a stirring of memories of my Grandmother, who was an incredible woman. Each day that passes, I am both appalled and surprised at what I have forgotten about her and what I remember.

It’s always been kind of funny to me what triggers a memory or what we end up associating people with. A smell, a sound, a piece of music, color, fabric–do you have any warm and pleasant memories that are triggered by something? Do you do it often on purpose for comfort, or find yourself stumbling accidentally over good memory-finds?

If you’re curious, here’s the recipe: http://www.home-ec101.com/one-pot-meal-ground-beef-and-cabbage-skillet/

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Yes. You heard me. I started the dough too late, it’s one of those recipes you have to put the dough in the fridge for 2-3 hours after making it so….I didn’t get to making the cookies themselves until midnight.

Now that I am finished and finally posting about it, it’s almost six am. Wow. I am a slow cookie maker!

I don’t mind too much, I’ve screwed my sleeping schedule up again to being up at night and asleep during the day now, so why not. It’s not like anybody thinks I’m normal anyway, why not bake at three am?

We didn’t have a heart-shaped cookie cutter, so Shawn brought home one of these heart-shaped little vase/desk top pen holder things. The first few cookies that came from me using that are just AWFUL. The cookie shape came out like, “woop, Grandma’s been hittin’ the bourbon” squiggily and..lumpy.

So I cut out a piece of the cover on my construction paper pad in the shape of a heart and have been using a knife to cut out hearts in the dough. For your viewing pleasure, I present to you:

The speshul cookies

Cookies:
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartarPowdered Sugar Glaze, if desired:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 to 3 1/2 tablespoons milk
Decorations, if desired

1. In large bowl, beat butter, 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, the vanilla and egg with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon. Stir in flour, baking soda and cream of tartar. Cover; refrigerate 2 to 3 hours or until chilled.

2. Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Divide dough in half. On lightly floured cloth-covered surface, roll each half 1/4 inch thick. Cut with 3 1/2-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter. On ungreased cookie sheet, place cutouts 2 inches apart. If desired, sprinkle with colored sugars.

3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until delicately golden. Remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

4. In small bowl, mix glaze ingredients until smooth and spreadable. Spread glaze over cookies. Decorate with decorator icings.

High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): No change.
…So. Uhmm. Who’s coming over for some cookies?

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