GardenGateBlog

Beautiful Day

I have a long list of "to do's" and I am picking away at them, and noticing that I don't procrastinate as much as I did when I was younger.  Maybe I have finally learned to just get on with unpleasant tasks. 

I hope so.  I like the "efficient" me a lot more than the slacker girl...

I hope your week is off to a good beginning.

Cynthia

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Cynthia McKenna Counseling

November

The summer garden is winding down and the fall plants are growing - in that slow way that seedlings do.  I am making the internal transition from summer to winter in terms of cooking, eating, and productivity.  I love the cooler months and the opportunity to be a little less busy and a little more reflective.

I was just reading about some gardens in the northern states that are already suffering from early frost, freezing rain, and even snow.  Today in Texas, it's warm and sunny.  The house is open and I can hear the water from the pond.  In the heat of summer, I wish I lived where it was cool - but once the heat breaks, there isn't any place prettier than Texas.

November 1st is the Feast of All Saints.  If you were in church this morning, you might have heard a litany of names of people who are deceased, but still loved and remembered.  Its a good time to pause and think about the people who have shaped your life - and offer a little prayer of thanksgiving for them.

Cynthia

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Cynthia McKenna Counseling

Halloween Pie

 

Happy Halloween!

Got crust?

Roasted pumpkin

Not quite so Gourmet...

Feeling more like Little House on the Prairie as I scrape the flesh out my organic, home grown pumpkins. 

I don't remember Ma having a glass of Sauvignon Blanc while she made the pumpkin pie, but I'm finding it helpful.

Cynthia

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Cynthia McKenna Counseling

Into the oven

When I grow up, I'm gonna be a pumpkin pie

I'm roasting sugar pumpkins today for a Halloween pumpkin pie for tonight's dessert. It's my first time growing sugar pumpkins - and my first time to roast them.

 I'll keep you posted 

Cynthia

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Cynthia McKenna Counseling

Um...no thanks.

I bought some sodium free bouillon because I thought needed it for some soup I was making.

Just read the ingredients

sugar, potassium chloride, onion powder, maltodextrin, monoammonium glutamate, gelatin, dextrose, chicken fat, turmeric color, dehydrated parsley flavoring, disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate, silicon dioxide,

Finding it tough to find the right words for how much I don't want this chemistry project in my soup or in my body.  If I were home, I'd use the homemade stock I keep in the freezer.  This "stuff" is going in the trash.

Want to make your own stock?  Scrape up those tasty pan drippings after you roast a chicken or other piece of meat, and freeze it.  Then you can cut off little bits to add to soups, beans, etc.  Or you can use your crock pot and add vegetables and the meat of your choice and let it simmer while you are at work.  I generally use:  onion, garlic, celery, carrot, tomatoes, plus chicken or turkey. 

Did I mention how grossed out I am about this stuff?  

Cynthia

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Cynthia McKenna is a therapist specializing in women's issues - she also loves gardening and cooking.

www.CynthiaMcKennaCounseling.com

Pippin's new toy

Mr. Pippin is 5 1/2 months old now and we celebrated with a new toy.  Pity the sound isn't better because he is purring madly.  He is quite a kitten.

Insight from Barbara Crafton

A thoughtful piece from Barbara Crafton's Almost Daily eMo

Use your words

Garden update - Sept 2009

This has been a challenging year - late freeze, hail storm, then two months of 100 degree weather and 2 year drought.  The Garden did well considering all that.  Here are the photos from this morning.  

Cynthia's Garden

I'll post more in a couple of weeks - I managed to plant lettuces, peas and beans this weekend and will get some more wintery things planted as soon as the seeds arrive.  

Mr. Lolly is looking particularly good in the garden.

Cynthia

Now,

These look like croissants. I bet it's because I played Carla Bruni's Comme si de rien n'etait while I rolled out the dough.

Fingers crossed!

Cynthia

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Cynthia McKenna - making Croissants from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Mark Bittman - Eat Real Food

A friend sent this to me, and it is worth watching.  Mark Bittman talks about how our food has become industrialized.  Its a good reminder to eat local as much as possible.

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Cynthia

White House Garden - Update

Great video about the White House Garden. I love seeing gardens make a difference.  I was pretty interested in this project when it started and I am glad to see the process and some of the harvest.  The White House Garden is an organic garden, and a teaching garden - hard to ask for more than that.

I'm going to start my fall garden this weekend - about a month late thanks to our 100 degree temperatures.  We should still be able to get some beans and lettuces since they grow so fast.  I'll probably buy broccoli plants though, and who knows what else.  First I need to make some space...

Cynthia

Thank you Sheila Lukens.

I just learned that Sheila Lukens, co-author of The Silver Palate cookbook, died yesterday.

Here is the obituary from the New York Times.

When I was in seminary, we were required to take a short course in January - between the main fall and spring terms.  The class doesn't jump out in my mind, but it was taught by Dusty McDonald, Dean of the Seminary of the Southwest, and I remember him recommending to us that we find something we enjoyed to add to our busy lives.

Dusty said that he had purchased The Silver Palate cookbook years before, and had (or was) cooking his way through the cookbook.  This was before Julie & Julia - and it seemed to me that finding a good cookbook, and making things from it regularly was a really good idea. 

I bought The Silver Palate and started cooking.  I think the first thing I made was the potato cheese soup (page 60).  I've made that recipe so many times that the book binding is broken.

 

I have so many cookbooks that are barely used, but The Silver Palate had been a great help to me, and given me and the guests at my table, many, many good meals.

Thank you Sheila Lukens & Julee Rosso.  Thanks to you too, Dusty, for the good recommendation.  

Cynthia

Croissant Monday: Success!

The croissants are great.  I learned a lot and really can't wait to make another batch so I can correct a few mistakes.

I found the "rolling out into the actual croissant shape" part of the recipe to be confusing.  In hindsight, I think I rolled wrong and that is why it was such a chore.  It took me 45 minutes to roll out 12 croissants - I did roll two of them differently and the difference was remarkable - these two are probably the best croissants out of the batch - really beautiful texture.  The others are good , but more like a dinner roll than a flaky croissant.  

But they are still good - super buttery taste and remarkable flavor.

I have to teach a class tonight - otherwise I'd probably make the second batch today - but I'll wait until the weekend and see what I can do.  Start to finish this took 14 hours and I turned out the lights just after midnight - It'll be quicker next time and I'll start early in the morning.

The bottom line - try making croissants.  Even if you don't get it just right, you still end up with a pastry that is delicious.

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Cynthia McKenna - making Croissants from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Is it Still Sunday Croissants?

They are looking a lot less like space food and more like croissants. They are a little slow to rise but we are getting very close.

Sunday Croissants - Bedtime - or not...

Well, well.  Its 9:15 and time for bed, except I just got the croissants rolled out and they have 1.5 hours to rise before baking.

The rolling out and actually forming the rolls was challenging. 

First, I couldn't tell if I was doing it right - the directions seemed to say cut a square in half, then roll that long diagonal side into the point - except first you have to roll it really long and thin.  

Then they weren't all the same size, probably because in my making of 55 layers, I did not get the dough an even thickness - which caught up with me in the end. 

 

I think the croissants look like aliens made them, but then, I was born in Roswell...

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Cynthia McKenna - making Croissants from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Sunday Croissants : early evening

Here's the little packet of goodness with 55 layers of dough and 54 (?) layers of butter.

Wait 2 hours then we'll cut & roll

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Cynthia McKenna - making Croissants from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking