Good Food, Good Conversation

 Seems I took a breather for sometime and I'm glad things are still here and I can continue. My last entry had something to do with politics and how the seeds of division were being planted.    Those seeds have grown and will soon be set out in the cold of 2021 Winter. We are in a strange place as a nation wanting to keep our ways while also embracing the cultures of others.   Fortunately when we remain open to learning we can grow from our mistakes, using them as stepping stones to make better choices. As a Society wek have to start thinking differently by choice.   We know there is a big divide between the top 1% and the rest of us and it's not slowing down. It's hard to see ahead to plan for some circumstances unimaginable then,  but very real now.        

It's hard for me to believe that so much has changed in the last 4 or 5 years.   Politics seems to have take the seat in the front row and everyone now seems engaged in one way or another.    I say working local is a solution, but it does take a lot of effort.   For instance, you have to do some of your own research on who is running and what the different offices are.   We never got this education in school; government was glossed over for the most part always in the back ground and always with full faith and trust. Today that is no longer the case, at least not for me.    Humans are humans regardless of their post in life and some of them are bad apples simple as that. I am interested in food, the art of it, the social impact, the science and so much more if you choose to stick with me for a while. Obama lost me when he signed into law a bill protecting Monsanto from any future liability.    More on that later.

I've got some bread working.   This one incorporated white and rye flour.   I've created a sour dough starter and am adding six cups flour and letting it sit for a bit while I visit with Ellen.   (Ellen has been kind enough to give me some of her time to explain the in's and out's of working on a computer.) I think making bread is a great teacher.   We are working with just three ingredients.   Water, flour, and salt.   Sometimes we can also use yeast or other additives like milk, additional grain, dried fruit, just use  your imagination. The dough looks and feels great after kneading, but I don't have time to bake it now.   Into the refrigerator so I can bake it later.    The cool temperatures will slow down the rising process and result in a bread with a more interesting and complex flavors http://www.reneesnewkitchen.com .   In the end, more time is good.

This year I hope to put together a collection of ideas, recipes, and photos with the hope of communicating my love of cooking, family, and the garden. This Spring will mark my first attempt at growing a few vegetables in a 10x15 foot garden plot.   Last Fall, I mulched it with straw and lots of leaves.   I have added a little organic fertilizer to see if that will also help the soil which is quite dense.   A container or two could produce some lovely lettuce or tomatoes.   I'm moving the blueberry bush down to where it will get more sun and treating it's soil as I understand the blueberry is an acid loving plant. Annette, my sister, helped me to put up the fence to keep out the deer of which there are many.   A sledge hammer would be nice to have, I'll see if one of the neighbors has one I can borrow to drive in those four stakes holding the fence in place. My primary objective is to organize what I have learned, so it can be of use to others.   That is where you come

So, it 2014 and the time is passing so quickly that I loose track of what day it is.  

As a child I remember sitting around a large table at my Grandfather's house listening to the grownups talking over dinner. Most of the vegetables had been grown in the garden behind the house not too far from the chicken coop and the railroad tracks. My Dad and family lived "on the right side of the tracks, but so close that it didn't matter to some. My Grandfather had come down from Canada to settled and worked on the railroad. He was a big man, with a belly of a stomach that was firm against my head when he hugged me. In the living room was his chairand no one else could sit in it. It was an over stuffed rocking chair with wide legs and runners, sturdy enough to hold him and me while he read the Sunday funnies out loud. People talked a lot more those days. The dinner table was where all the excitement happened. There was a lot of laughter, big voices, points of view that would anger my Father and make my Mother red in the face. Children were reminded to "be quiet&

What can we do to create more certainty during these uncertain times?