29 August 2012

Droughtfruit

This summer was tough on our vegetable garden, a casualty of the drought that affected much of North America. Because we don't actually have vaporators, only about 60% of our garden came to fruition.

Undaunted, we turned to our most prolific produce to see what we could make of peppers, tomatoes and (believe it or not!) watermelon*.


Last year we were (happily!) overrun with cucumbers so I quickly learned how to make preserves and, with the help of Krista and various visitors to Small Pond, made jar after jar of relish, bread & butter pickles, and garlic dill pickles. With nary a cucumber in sight this year, we decided to try our hand at salsa, and last night Krista and I preserved eight jars of it, using a recipe provided by our friend Elizabeth D'Anjou. 

Salsa!
Perfect peppers.

Tomatoes, scored for easy peeling.


Tomatoes taking an ice bath.
Then it was on to a depression-era recipe that a recent visitor mentioned to us...pickled watermelon rinds!

Prepping the watermelon.

Pickling the part you normally discard.

Watermelons in the sun.

Only two jars, but lovely.

And finally, a refreshing and sweet treat...
Fresh watermelon sorbet (secret ingredient: vodka)


If there is a lesson to be learned from all of this, which is dubious, it is this: if you can't pickle the one you love, pickle the one you're with! 


*UPDATE, 06 September 2012:


Our very first watermelon harvest.
That speck near the top is the moon.

Gorgeous and delicious!

09 August 2012

Grave Robber

In July 2012 we held our second annual Cornography, a festival of art on the theme of food.

The afternoon included A Funeral for Bad Food, detailed in an earlier blog post.


Are you curious about what food our audience members wanted to put six feet under? Well, I was too, so I dug up all those little coffins. Call me a grave robber if you will, but I couldn't resist. 


Here's what they said (spelling intact!):
- Chicken fingers
- Bottled sauce (had a picture of skull and crossbones)
- Trans fats
- Fast food
- The sardines my neighbour smokes
- Candy
- Onion
- Jelly beans
- Monsanto corn
- Flesh of animals... cute or otherwise
- Peel chopped boiled potatoes
- Unagi
- Salad 
- Potatoes
- A & W fast food
- Brussel sprouts
- Cheese strings and yogurt tubes
- Brocili, brustles sprouts, green beans
- Bologna
- Coca Cola
- Catchya later, ketchup!
- Mushrooms
- Snickers
- All GMO's
- GMO soya
- White bread
- RIP chips
- I wish I wish I never heard of chips!!!
- Chicken McNuggets
- Factory-farmed cows
- Ban Duncan Hines - put some effort into scratch
- Cheese
- Brocili
- Wheat
- Macaroni infused deli meat
- Kraft Dinner

I love the diversity in what people wrote! Everything from the obvious evils concocted by our corporate overlords, to the naughty snacks we struggle to resist, to children's loathing of vegetables. It's a beautiful thing to see people of all ages embracing the opportunity to express their ideas and opinions.

What food would you banish if you could have things your way?