One, my copy of The Gruffalo DVD came today, and as soon as I'm done making this update I'm going to watch it with daughter Jesse, who is also home from school with the same virus that I have (I'm sure she passed it onto me).

Two, a package containing 5 new cigars for me to sample and review arrived courtesy of Cigars Direct. If you look on the right sidebar of this page you'll find the Cigars Direct link, where you can buy premium cigars at discount prices. (Note to a certain spouse I happen to be married to: cigars make the perfect gift for any and every occasion, or even just for the heck of it!). So, as soon as I've conquered this virus I'll be sampling these little beauties and sharing my reviews with you all.

• 2 Arturo Fuente Gran Reserva
• Corojo Special Torpedo by Rocky Patel
• La Gloria Cubana
• Casa Magna Colorados

This time I added kale and sweet potatoes to the hash recipe and it turned out great, with the oven crisped kale adding an interesting texture and slight note of tasty bitterness to the sweet and savory hash mix. And it looked pretty too.

Here's the recipe (the ingredient amounts are what I used to make enough for the seven people at breakfast).

Ingredients:

• 7-8 medium russet potatoes, peeled and chunked (I prefer my hash a bit on the larger side, but you can cube it into smaller pieces if you so desire)
• 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chunked
• 2 large onions, cubed
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
• ~ 1 lb thick cut bacon
• sea salt and cracked pepper
• 1 tbl fennel seed
• ~ 1 tbl honey
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• couple medium leaves of kale, chopped
• 3-4 tbl olive oil

Pre-breakfast coffee appreciation moment.

1. Preheat oven to around 375° (I'm a little waffley on that temp because our oven is wacky right now and doesn't seem to want to behave consistently, so I'm constantly adjusting the dial and checking the temp.)

2. Place all of the chunked potatoes, russet and sweet, in a very large bowl. Drizzle olive oil over and toss to thoroughly coat. Season with salt and pepper, and a couple pinches of the fennel seed. Toss again. (When we made this hash at the coffee house we usually used a variety of heirloom finger potatoes, which made for a lovely dish with potatoes of white, yellow, red and purple).

3. Coat a couple of baking sheets with a bit of olive oil and spread the potato mixture on each pan. Bake for approx. 25 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked but still slightly firm.

4. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium-low heat. Add the garlic, onions and half of the fennel seed and simmer for about 15 minutes, until everything is softened up and the butter has thoroughly embraced the flavors of the garlic, onions and fennel.

5. Cook the bacon; set aside to cool. After it's cooled and hardened a bit chop it into approx. 1-inch pieces.

6. Once the potatoes have cooked, return them to the bowl. Add the chopped kale, garlic/onion butter mixture, the rest of the fennel seed, and the bacon pieces. Drizzle with the honey. Gently toss to thoroughly coat and mix. Season with salt and pepper again if you think it needs it (I did).

7. Turn the oven up to 400°. Return the potato hash to the pans and bake for around 5 minutes, until the kale crisps up nicely.

Good food and good company make for an excellent breakfast. Image by Marty.

We had to drive over to Dixie's place so we transferred the hot hash to a large lidded pot and made the trip. Once we got there we didn't eat for another 45 minutes or so, so we kept the pot warm in the oven during part of that time (had to remove it to cook the brown sugar bacon, but it still maintained some heat and was warm when we sat down to eat). All of the flavors came together nicely during that time and the kale softened up as well. We left with an empty and clean pot.

~ Edward Abbey

I snapped some fairly awful pictures of the process, feeling confident that the dish would turn out well. It did in fact come out wonderfully. No doubt this recipe would work well for just about any small game mammal or bird.

Here we go:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• few tbl EV olive oil
• Almost a whole stick butter
• Kosher salt
• 2-3 cups apple wine
• 2 rabbits, quartered
• 1 cayenne pepper
• few strips of salt preserved lemon
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1-2 tsp Pimenton (smoked paprika)
• 2-3 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 big onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• small bunch cilantro, chopped
• some rosemary sprigs
• 1-2 tbl fresh ginger, grated
• 1 lime
• 1 cup canned tomato or puree
• tbl peppercorns
• tbl fennel seed

1. Grind the peppercorns and fennel seed in a coffee grinder or mortar & pestle, add around a tbl of rosemary leaves and continue to grind til well pulverized and mixed.

2. Make a marinade with the apple wine by adding the pepper/fennel/rosemary mix, the grated ginger, cilantro, juice of one lime, Pimenton and a couple pinches Kosher salt. Pour it over the rabbits and let it sit for at least a couple hours, stirring it around every so often.

3. After letting the rabbits soak in the wine bath it's time to get down to business. Heat 1/2 stick butter and a tbl olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the carrots, onion, garlic and a pinch of salt, and cook til they start to soften a bit. (If I had had celery on hand I would have added that to the mix as well...next time.)

4. Add the coconut milk, cider vinegar, tomato puree, lemon zest and cayenne pepper and continue to cook.

5. Take the rabbit out of the marinade and dry it off. Add the marinade to the stewing veggie mix, making sure to get all the spices at the bottom of the bowl.

6. Heat rest of butter and tbl olive oil in another large skillet over medium high. Add a bit of salt and pepper to the flour and dust the rabbit pieces in it.

7. Brown the rabbit on each side in the oil/butter.

8. Add the remainder of the flour to the veggie skillet and stir it in well.

9. Add the browned rabbit pieces to the veggie skillet and cook over medium to medium low until the rabbit is cooked through and tender, around 45 minutes or so. Turn the rabbit pieces over after 25-30 minutes. The sauce will reduce and thicken.

10. We plated it with some of the sauce/marinade and served with a small salad of greens and some garlic mashed potatoes (sweet potato/russet potato mix).

11. Our friend Pat joined us for dinner, pronouncing on facebook, "This was very good! I only remember having rabbit once before and it was fried in an Air Force dining hall. This was tender. The garlic mashed potato/sweet potatoes were excellent too." Pat brought a six-pack of Leinies Amber Bock, which looked and tasted great with the meal.

12. For desert we had a little shot of the rosemary peach noyau I made last summer. Candy alcohol heaven.

Reading through some of the information on the Slow Food website I thought, "Why not start a local chapter for our part of the state? There are certainly enough people in this region who embrace the ideals of Slow Food." There are a lot of folks just in my own relatively small sphere who are foodies and who are supportive of local artisan food production and urban farming activities such as bee keeping, in-city chickens, farmers markets and gardening. We also have a group of friends who get together about once a month for what we call Foodie Potluck (Foodie Potluckers is the group name) and who enjoy and support the kind of things that Slow Food advocates.

Point being that there ought to be enough interest and support for a Slow Food chapter around here. My friend Alex Galt, who owns Kavarna Coffeehouse and Parisi's Delicatessen in Green Bay just happened to make this facebook post today: "Guys, just want to let you know how excited I am that the infrastructure for Wisconsin food is getting better all of the time. Things that just were not possible are slowly but steadily getting super possible." He's right, things have improved tremendously over the last several years and they keep getting better as more and more people become "aware of the social, economic and environmental impact of the food choices we make every day." (Slow Food, "What We Do") 

The purpose of this blogpost is to offer a little insight into what Slow Food is and does and what might be involved for any of you friends who think it might be a good thing to pursue as a local chapter. I'll copy and paste a few highlights from the Slow Food website below and include a few links that will provide more than the cursory overview I'm presenting here.

Slow Food "advocates for food and farming policy that is good for the public, good for the planet, and good for farmers and workers."

The Good, Clean and Fair page indicates that, "the idea of good means enjoying delicious food created with care from healthy plants and animals. The pleasures of good food can also help to build community and celebrate culture and regional diversity...[and] When we talk about clean food, we are talking about nutritious food that is as good for the planet as it is for our bodies. It is grown and harvested with methods that have a positive impact on our local ecosystems and promotes biodiversity...[and] Food that is fair should be accessible to all, regardless of income, and produced by people who are treated with dignity and justly compensated for their labor."

From the Plate to Planet page:

Our members are involved in activities such as:

• Raising public awareness, improving access and encouraging the enjoyment of foods that are local, seasonal and sustainably grown
• Caring for the land and protecting biodiversity for today's communities and future generations
• Performing educational outreach within their communities and working with children in schools and through public programs
• Identifying, promoting and protecting fruits, vegetables, grains, animal breeds, wild foods and cooking traditions at risk of disappearance
• Advocating for farmers and artisans who grow, produce, market, prepare and serve wholesome food
• Promoting the celebration of food as a cornerstone of pleasure, culture and community

Slow Food also promotes a number of Programs that fall under the headings of Campaigns, Children and Food, Ark of Taste and more (click here).

Under Start a Local Chapter:

What local chapters do

• Create projects and plan initiatives and events that fill a need in the community.
• Work to create access to and awareness of healthy, local and sustainably grown food.
• Work to connect producers and consumers.
• Grow the movement. Chapters involve and engage new members in their work and the food movement.
• Work collaboratively with other chapters and local partners to share resources and ideas.

Finally, a local chapter needs 5-10 founding members to make it happen. I'm just wondering or sending the call-out to folks, wondering if there is indeed interest in pursuing this. Are there enough like-minded people out there that would warrant starting a local chapter? If you're interested and motivated then please let me know (via comment here or, more likely, via messaging me on facebook). If it looks like it could be a go, then I'll do the paperwork, inquiries and initial bull work to make it happen.

Personally, I think it's a good thing and would only serve to enhance our extended communities and the kind of lifestyle and things so many of us enjoy (good food, community, fairness, support of local and small scale farming practices and so on...).

My facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/JavaTikiKing

I pickled some eggs this morning (shown above) and here's the simple recipe.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons pickling spice mix
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons sea or Kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon hot Thai or cayenne pepper salt
• dash of red pepper flakes
• 1/2 small onion, roughly chunked
• 4-5 garlic cloves, slightly smashed to open them up a bit
• couple teaspoons brandy.
• 12-18 regular-sized eggs
• 1 big jar with lid

1. Add the sugar and other spices to the vinegar and simmer for 5 minutes.
2. Hard boil the eggs and peel.
3. Add the peeled eggs to the jar, interspersing with the garlic and onion.
4. Pour the pickling liquid over the eggs and then add the brandy to top it off.
5. Close the lid and let it sit in the fridge for a week or so.

That's it, easy as pie.

When it's freezing outside just the sight of a woodpile warms the spirit.

There are a number of decent books already published on foraging wild edibles, and 2011 even saw a few chefs author cookbooks that focused on wild edibles. It seems that the culinary world has caught up with what many folks in rural areas have known for generations, that there are a lot of fine tasting plants and fungi growing in our woods and cities that have long been ignored as fine table fare by most people. A weed by any other name would taste as good?

At this point I'm incorporating our gardening and self-sufficiency efforts into the project as well, as the whole thing falls under the umbrella of sustainability and self-reliance.

Because we closed our small business last year I had an opportunity to get back into my own foraging lifestyle with the time and energy that I hadn't had for several years while running the business. I shared a fair amount of those outdoor and kitchen experiences with people, so much so that friends and family began to urge me to write something that would help others learn about and enjoy foraging too.

So, what I've always found to be a personally enjoyable and practical activity seems to be growing into something bigger. We also hope to offer a few educational events this year where we take people into the woods, so to speak, to do some hands-on foraging, followed by preparing and dining on what we've harvested. I'm visualizing some wonderfully fun "field to table" events.

This was the "trophy" for the chili cook-off: A bottle of merlot and sombrero.

There were some darn tasty chilis on the table, including a meaty chocolate chili from Jason Prigge, former chef of the much-missed Element Bistro in TR (I'm sharing that bit of information to reveal how stiff the competition was, which of course adds even more prestige to my victory…yes!). Best of all, the night was a lot of fun. Anyway, here's the recipe for the winning chili:

Road Kill Chili

I called the dish Road Kill Chili not because I incorporated any actual road kill, but because I used a couple ingredients I had foraged/hunted…that, and because it just sounds cool.

Ingredients (no amounts here because I did it off the cuff and didn't really measure anything)

• Chicken stock (I made my own stock but you can, of course, use any store-bought stock)
• A couple of de-boned squirrels (or rabbits, venison, chicken or whatever meat you prefer, chunked small)
• Apples, 4 or 5, peeled and chopped
• Ground spices: cumin, curry, salt, pepper, chili powder, nutmeg
• Hot sauce, I used just a couple of dashes of the hot sauce I make
• Onions, 2 of them, chopped
• Garlic, couple cloves minced
• Butter
• Olive Oil
• Heavy Cream (or half-&-half or whole milk if you don't have cream)
• Flour, maybe 1/2 cup
• Pinto beans, couple cans

1. Melt some butter and a bit of olive oil over medium heat in a very large saucepan.  Add the apples and onions and cook until they start to soften, maybe 4-5 minutes. Add most of the minced garlic; save a pinch for the meat. Season with a good amount of cracked pepper. Season with the other spices but less so because you're going to use the same spices on the meat and you don't want to overdo it. You don't want to overcook this; pull it when everything is cooked but still firm. Dump it all into a big pot and set aside.
2. Add to the same saucepan you just used a little more olive oil and butter and heat over a low-medium heat. Add the meat, lightly salt and pepper it, and cook until tender over low heat. When it's about halfway finished add the pinch of garlic and season it with the spices like you did with the onions and apples.
3. While the meat is cooking add chicken stock to the pot with the onions and apples, reserving a cup or two of the stock in another bowl. Add flour to the reserved stock and whisk until it gets creamy. Add the creamy stock to the pot and stir it all together.
4. When the meat is finished add it to the big pot as well. Heat over low-medium heat. Rinse the beans and add to the pot. Gently stir everything together. Add the cream (or half-&-half) and stir. Give it a dash or two of hot sauce. When the whole thing is at a palatable temperature taste it and add any additional seasoning you think it might need.
5. Ladle it up, pour a good lager for yourself and anyone else who's joining you, tell a few stories or watch the parade and enjoy!

It's not a big leap to then think about incorporating old car glass into the design, which I also thought would be stronger and even more insular than home window glass. The advantage of using house windows is that they're already framed, the dimensions are consistent with 90º corners, and they are easier to install in a conventional square or rectangular design. Most auto windows are irregularly trapezoidal in shape and would require a little more work to incorporate into the design.

Substitute "creative thinking" for "work" in that last sentence and that's enough to convince me that it should be a fun project. And thankfully, auto junkyards are full of raw material.

Of course we'll be sure to share the project with you when we dive into it in, I think, a few months.

Anyway, this morning I came across this video of an unusual home in Berkeley, California, wherein the builder incorporated the hoods and doors of junked cars in his design as siding and certain structural elements. He also cleverly used vehicle windows in the upper deck awning. The overall effect is attractive, cost effective and environmentally friendly.

website: http://www.faircompanies.com/videos/view/upscale-bay-area-home-made-from-salvaged-car-roofs-windows/

Quite different in materials used but using a similar sustainable and environmentally friendly mindset is this beautiful treehouse located in, I assume, France (I assume it's in France because the website is unfortunately, for me, in French).

There is a slideshow with a few other views of the structure on the website: http://jardin-maison.dekio.fr/reportages/maison/Les-ecotagnes-des-cabanes-ecolo-dans-la-montagne

Credit to the source for the video and treehouse. I shared the two items from one of the great blogsites I regularly enjoy: Lloyd Kahn's blogsite: http://lloydkahn-ongoing.blogspot.com/. Kahn always posts some cool stuff on tiny homes, sustainability, skateboarding, surfing and much more. Check it out and add his site to your list of favorites too.

I enjoy December. Along with the beauty and fun of Christmas there's all that wonderful planning, goal setting and hopeful pondering about the new year that makes it seem the quickest month of the year.

I'm a former obsessive list maker. I'm no longer obsessive about it but I do still enjoy planning and mapping things out, and planning what I and we want to accomplish in the new year - "New Year's Resolutions" - is a rather satisfying activity. Three resolutions from the list for 2012:

• Keep this site current like I used to, with at least two updates each week. Since closing the coffee house I've allowed the site to float a bit erratically. No more of that.
• Expand the garden. We'll be doing far less lawn mowing in 2012, as we'll be turning the entire backyard as well as the side yard into garden this year. I'm thinking of doing something with that strip between the sidewalk and street too, but I'm not quite sure what yet or what restrictions there may be concerning that terrace from the city. Trivia: in Wisconsin the strip of grass between sidewalk and street is commonly called the terrace while other states and cities may have their own terms for it, including verge, swale, berm, boulevard and my favorite, the devil's strip. In any event, we'll keep you updated on the expanded garden project throughout the year.
• Disciplined writing. I've got two writing projects I've been lazily fiddling with for the past year, sometimes allowing weeks to go by between work sessions. No more of that either. I've set deadlines and am off to a good start this first week of the year. As some of you know, one of them has to do with food, foraging and a self-sustainable lifestyle. The other is more, shall we say, animated?

Those are three resolutions for 2012. Of course I have more on the list, some of which are project oriented and some of which are the usual sort of new year's resolutions that people make and generally don't keep, like "lose weight, eat less junk food, exercise." (I've marked June 23rd as my day to exercise, so I ought to be able to keep that resolution without too much trouble this year.)

Now then, just because it's cold outside and the ground is frozen that doesn't mean that we can't do a little actual work on the garden. There are seeds to order, supplies and equipment to organize, and even some things we can do outside to prep the spot. We'll be pruning and possibly even removing some trees in the yard to open up the space to more light. With that in mind, this morning I removed a large side trunk on a smallish maple tree I planted several years ago.

We'll remove and save many of the branches to make teepee trellises and stakes.

Out with the old and in with the new!

Happy New Year to you all, peace and prosperity in home and spirit!