all in the family (cucurbitaceae)

technically, cucumbers are in the same family as squash, cucurbitaceae (and are therefore fruits, though i don't know that i'll be turning them into dessert anytime soon). last night, as the zucchini bread baked, i decided it was time to make pickles. yeah, it was an odd mesh of aromas in the kitchen.

like their counterparts in the garden, our cucumbers are taking off and are quite large. the recipe i found called for about two pounds and made a few jars of crunchy bread and butter pickles - my favorite. i was happy to find a recipe that used cider vinegar, because we prefer it over white vinegar - so much more flavor.

an onion or two, some sugar, salt, turmeric, and mustard seeds and then, with just a little time - pickles.

it was amazingly simple, and they tasted so much better than store-bought. we've got two strong cucumber plants going in the garden. a third is quite a bit smaller, but may still produce. i imagine we'll be eating and making more pickles in the near future, adding fresh cucumbers into salads, force-feeding ourselves, and giving some away.

courgettes continued

courgette is another name for zucchini. sounds like corvette, which makes me think of the zucchini 500 races they sometimes have for kids at local farmers markets and fairs.

another night of zucchini usage. alright, i'm not going to lie...it's been two nights in a row of experimenting with the sweeter side of squash. on tuesday, we plucked a yellow zucchini about the length of my fingertips to my elbow (though, significantly more girthy). it has since yielded nearly 8 cups of grated zucchini. so what better than to make zucchini bread, right? let me just add that wikipedia backs this up:

"...botanically speaking, the zucchini is an immature fruit, being the swollen ovary of the female zucchini flower." hmm. that was potentially too much information, but it lends credence to my baking endeavors.

made a few minor adjustments to a recipe i found online - namely, my trademark substitution of some whole wheat pastry flour for regular white flour (i know, as if it's not bad of me for already trying to jam squash into a dessert). i thought about adding in some ground flaxseeds, but withheld the urge, and instead added cocoa, chocolate chips, and dried figs to one batch; dried cherries and walnuts to another.

since we still had some of the same squash leftover, i went for it again tonight. made the chocolaty batch in the form of muffins, and topped them with a simple glaze (powdered sugar, milk, cinnamon, and vanilla).

all in all, the sweet experimentation has been positive. with a couple loaves in the freezer, we'll be able to enjoy this later in the season when the zucchini in the garden is long gone. then we might even miss it. maybe.

zucchini, again?!

that's the edited exclamatory remark i've been getting from my other half when it comes to meal times. i can't help it - the drive to utilize the remarkably large zucchini in the garden - it's like a personal challenge for how creative one can get with squash.

to date, we've grilled it in sandwiches a couple of times. tossed it and other grilled veggies in quinoa. turned it into dessert through the magic of zucchini-chocolate chip cookies. last night we experimented once again. a dinner of pasta w/homemade pesto (herbs courtesy of the lopez farmers market) and what i'm calling a cross between lasagna and eggplant parm.

inspired by another jamie oliver recipe, i layered grilled zucchini slices (uniformly made with help from a newly purchased mandolin - i can see myself using this tool quite a bit!) with some quickly homemade sauce, ricotta and pecorino romano. then topped it off with a generous amount of fresh breadcrumbs and a little more cheese.

after a few minutes under the broiler, we determined it to be an excellent use of this excessive vegetable. the end product was a nice partner to the pesto pasta. is this the last you'll see of squash? unlikely. we may test out a zucchini bread recipe tonight...stay tuned.

the lopez wave

over the weekend we spent some quality time on lopez island up in the san juans with a handful of friends. enjoyed some really beautiful sunrises and sunsets, delicious local foods, and the warm and inviting atmosphere that is lopez. we love the fact that drivers wave while going past another vehicle.

a few photos of the natural beauty and the farmers market scene:

view from the ferry, headed toward lopez
sunrise w/mt. baker
heirloom tomatoes, some the size of pumpkins!
garlic (we bought several heads to plant next month)
wood-fired pizza vendor - everything looked so fresh

hope to make our way back up to the islands in the near future. thanks, laura, for the great time!

savoring squash, part one

so we've been eating loads of squash. so much so that brian nearly requested i stop sneaking it into things. as evidenced by this photo, some of the zucchini is growing at an explosive rate. this lovely image of gus and company is from friday evening. we've since managed to eat about half of this zucchini - over the course of at least 4 meals.

but it's been fun trying to figure out what to do with the abundance. we've grilled it and made sandwiches with onions, radishes, goat cheese and rosemary. grilled some more of it to go with some fresh pasta and lamb meatballs.

and tonight, i managed to incorporate it into dinner and dessert. (no, i did not make zucchini ice cream). i'll share more in part two of this squash story.

it's getting late, and i'm getting terrible at uploading photos as i take them, so forgive me. we've been so distracted by the olympics, notably the michael phelps phenomenon...

in other news (and on a food-related note), we're headed to one of our favorite restaurants tomorrow, osteria la spiga, to celebrate our second year of married life. we're secretly hoping we don't run into any squash on the menu. (squash blossoms...maybe).

canada photos

this has nothing to do with the garden, but i did say i'd post some. a few of my photos below. see some of brian's on his website...

moraine lake sunrise, banff national park

lake o'hara cabins, yoho national park

takkakaw falls, yoho national park

peyto lake, banff national park















(below) somewhere beautiful in the lake o'hara region of yoho np (near obabin plateau)

oh canada

just back from nearly a week of camping in the beautiful canadian rockies. spent several days in banff, jasper, and yoho national parks (will try and post a photo soon!).

did not get the best nutritional intake at our campsites. meals consisted of dehydrated and processed foods. but, at nearby campsites, we were surrounded by european and canadian families cooking out of their campers and rvs. our last night in yoho, the german family next to us cooked a whole salmon over a fire, made a cold pasta salad with a bunch of fresh veggies, and roasted peaches over the fire, then served them with ice cream. we were quite jealous.

granted, brian pointed out, that you can do a lot more with a full kitchen (we were camping in a teeny tent, and our little stove broke mid-week, until we picked a new one up in banff). still, the contrast reminded me of what seems to be a major difference in the way people around the world view food and mealtimes. seeing the families really savor not just the act of eating the food, but also the preparation, was a nice gentle reminder that we should do the same.

and so, as we return to our garden and kitchen at home, we look forward to really creating meals, and spending time doing so. we're also quite excited to participate in the first ever mercer island farmers market this sunday!!