We took a break from homeschool last week. I’m so glad we did! My big kids were tired and cranky from camping at the Earthskills gathering with my mom, and Clothilde had her sprained ankle (she is getting better everyday – still not walking, but she can stand up with out help now). In…
Author: toadstoolsfairyrings
COEUR DE BOEUF – Beef Heart Stew
Now that we have lots of beef, it will be easy to find recipes in La Cuisine to try. As R. Blondeau says, “Beef is the base of our cuisine; if the flavor and quality changes with the cuts of meat used, it remains nutritious and enjoyable.” Most of the beef from last week is…
Oxtail Soup
Everything went well on Friday – and yes, I do have a pot of oxtail soup on my stove right now! I made some changes to my usual recipe and used soaked cassava instead of potatoes, pumpkin instead of carrots, and Shungiku (an edible chrysanthemum) and cutting celery instead of celery. It made me happy…
Arrow of Light
This week has been SO busy! I kept meaning to write, but then not being able to. Tuesday was Mirin’s Arrow of Light ceremony with cub scouts, and I had offered to bake a cake for it. And then last Friday Clothilde jumped down from the monkey bars at a park – not even a…
HORS-D’OEUVRES DE LEGUMES: LES RADIS
I usually grow the long, white daikon radishes for pickling in my fall/winter garden. They take about as much space as some of the smaller radishes, but they can get enormous. The winter rains and cold snaps make them sweet and delicious. This fall, my first planting was fiery hot and spicy because of…
Eating From The Earth
My garden is finally starting to look like something. I was so behind this year, and the cold weather was a long time coming. A lot of the brassicas really didn’t like the heat. They are finally looking happy. It’s a small garden this year, compared to other years, but we are getting so much…
The Baby On The Wall
On Monday Ethan was off of work, and we met some friends at the park. They brought along an out-of-town sister-in-law with two children, and we had a mass of children running all over the park, along with what seemed to be two bus loads of disaffected high schoolers, for reasons not entirely clear, as…
OEUFS DUR AUX CREVETTES – Hard-Cooked Eggs With Shrimp
With Valentine’s day just behind us, all the stores seem to have seafood on sale. Ethan found some good shrimp for me. Shrimp was my favorite childhood food. Ethan was always crazy about salmon, but he feels funny if he eats shrimp. On the rare occasions we get seafood, it’s invariably salmon, not shrimp. So…
The Hoggetown Medieval Faire 2016
Last week we took advantage of the Medieval Faire’s cheap school-day rates. I was hesitant, because we almost went with some friends last year, and ended up not going, and then it was in the paper that some 15-year-old girl was attacked and raped by a convict who was working at one of the greasy…
Free Knitting Pattern # 2: Little Hearts Mitts
It’s been ages since I had picked up any knitting, and I had a big bag of lovely yarn staring at me from my knitting basket on top of the piano. I just wasn’t inspired. It was just too hot in December to think about knitting. When the cold weather hit at last, I remembered…
POTAGE AU POTIRON (Pumpkin Soup)
Here is the next French recipe from “La Cuisine,” featuring two things we’ve got from the farm: Pumpkins from last year’s summer garden (I still have six! The Seminoles keep so long!) and milk. According to Chef R. Blondeau (the author), soup must be served at the beginning of dinner if it is not part…
Soaking and Fermenting Cassava
I started growing cassava three years ago. My friends and fellow gardeners Paul and Ginny Campbell gave me the first stalk. Cassava is propagated that way – by saving the stalks to plant the next season. The trick is to store them until the spring without them drying out or molding. Some people wax the…
Toadstools And Fairy Rings 