Comfort, food, and the apocalypse

Looking back at the hope I wrote of a month ago and, like many things in this current pandemic, it seems like that was years ago. There is still hope in the world. My garden is still growing. So many other things have changed though.

We were on vacation in Florida with family when everything started to go sideways. I'm grateful for the time we did have there. And before anyone jumps down my throat, this was all before all of the stay-at-home orders were in place and just as the majority of the social distancing guidelines were being rolled out. We were staying at a private condo, with a full kitchen, private beach, and plans and supplies to cook the majority of our meals while we were there. It was sort of surreal as the news and situation changed every 12 hours or so when we were there, often coming back from the ocean and sand to a new alert or state issuing guidance. We had a good time overall, mostly due to the joy that Angus had in the pool and ocean every day (pretty sure he's part fish...).

Coming home it was like stepping into a whole different world. I got the call the day before we left that, due to the developing pandemic, I was going to be furloughed indefinitely. It made more sense given that we didn't know how long this was going to impact the business and I have a pretty firm "expiration" date of being able to work with my due date just 2 months away on June 3rd. Angus no longer had school when we got back and less than 48 hours later we got the announcement from the state that Michigan was officially under a stay-at-home order. After the first few days of scrambling to get a routine figured out and the basics of WTF was going on it started to feel manageable.

As has been the case throughout most of my life, in times of stress or upheaval, I found myself turning to the kitchen. I felt bad/guilty every time I scrolled through my social media feeds and encountered someone who was panicking about the state of grocery stores in the area. My pantry was not bare, in some sense, this is exactly the scenario that my anxiety has been preparing for. With only a few exceptions, there weren't any staples that I was lacking. Now, this wasn't because of any specific hoarding, but rather because this is how I stock my house and have for many years. I buy a lot of things in bulk when I can - flour, sugar, dried beans are basically always on my shelf and my standard unit of purchase is a 50lb bag. It means that I get a better price overall, and I only have to purchase these 3-4 times per year. We got in the habit a couple of years ago of getting 1/2 a pig at a time from small farmers and stocking the freezer. We also had a good chunk of the 1/4 beef that we got a year and a half ago in there. Except for fresh vegetables, we were in good shape.

Still, I am cooking intentionally and using the things in my pantry. I'm taking advantage of the fact that I don't have a great need for many things to spend my grocery money intentionally, supporting as many of my local farms and farmers as I can as they begin an uncertain and difficult season. I'm excited that our CSA has started with fresh greens coming in to bring some brightness and crisp flavors to our meals. And last but not least I'm trying to maintain relationships with my local restaurants, having one meal a week that supports my home industry that is struggling just to stay afloat right now, hoping to make my small contribution to their survival.

Today I made one of my personal comfort foods for dinner and figured with the state of the world at the moment, it would be a good one to share. I'll be back more often I suspect, now that I have a little more time on my hands.

Haluska - Cabbage & Egg Noodles

This is a dish that you find varations of throughout the region of the world known as "Eastern Europe". This version is based loosely on the Hungarian tradtion of the dish and is a recipe that I have personalized depending on what is in my cupboard at any given time. My "origianal" comes from one of the early "Intro to Hungarian Foods" that I took from Ari at Zingerman's when Zingerman's Bakehouse was starting to focus on some of the baking traditions of that country. It remains one of my favorite low-key recipes that is both frugal and easy to make.

Serves: 8 (or 4 with leftovers)

Time: 1 hour including ingredient prep

Ingredients:

• 1 medium cabbage (about 2 lbs), shredded (pre-shredded is fine here and saves time!)
• 1 onion, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb bacon, chopped (a bacon that is smokey and not too sweet works best)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt  
• 16 oz wide egg noodles
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon caraway seed, crushed or ground
• 2 tablespoons Hungarian sweet paparika
• salt & pepper to taste
• sour cream for the table

Instructions:

1. Start a pot of salted water heating to a boil. When it reaches a boil cook the egg noodles according the package directions until al dente.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook until it begins to render, 3-5 minutes.
3. Add the sliced onion to the pan and cook until the onion is soft, another 5 minutes or so.
4. Add the cabbage to the bacon and onion in the pan. Depending on how big your pan is, you may need to add this in 2 batches in order to fit it all in. Add 1/4 tsp of salt over the cabbage and mix. Cook until the cabbage starts to soften and get glossy, for me this generally takes another 8-10 minutes. In the last 1-2 minutes, just before the cabbage is right, add the minced garlic, taking care that it doesn't burn.
5. Turn the heat down to low and add the butter, paprika, and caraway to the cabbage mixture. Toss until the spices and butter coat the cabbage to create the sauce. 
6. Add cooked and drained egg noodles to the pan (you can do this in a seperate bowl if your pan is too small for the volumn), and mix throughourly. 
7. Serve with sour cream, salt & pepper to taste.

Hope in the garden

When we moved into this house about four years ago, the yard was a huge expanse of grass. The previous owners had some small landscaping "gardens" around the house, but nothing in the way of a vegetable garden or even decorative gardens elsewhere on our 3/4 acre site. The first summer we didn't grow much, there was a lot of other work that needed to happen on the property to get things ready to garden, and we focused on the easy projects of the gardens right around the house. Some of that first year was just waiting to see what comes up and figure out what is staying and what needs to be changed. The rest of the year was spent plotting and planning for the following summer.

The second summer was our most productive at this house so far. We tarpped over a 10x25 section of the backyard and added around 2 yards of compost to that and tilled it all in. The goal was (and still is) to move to mostly no-till beds, but we were starting with relatively sandy soil without much organic matter in it, so we knew that we were going to have to do a fair bit of soil amendments with compost and other organic matter to get some great beds for long-term use. That second summer we grew our pretty standard compliment of veg: collards, kale, Brussels sprouts, zucchini, hot peppers, and rutabaga. Donald did some experimentation with a three-sisters style planting and Angus picked out watermelon as his plant for the year. There were a lot of successes, the greens all did pretty well, and the rutabaga did great. Everything else was a little sad, but that had as much to do with a cold, dry summer that had us struggling with water the entire season. But overall it gave us hope for future endeavors and we knew it was a good site overall, but we really needed to address the lack of water on that part of the property. At the end of the season, we tripled the size of the main garden and put it all to sleep for the winter.

Year three was the folly of overconfidence. We got our 2 yards of compost that our township taxes give us and dropped it in the middle of the main garden, intending to once again fire up the tiller and get it all mixed in. Except the tiller wouldn't start. And when we dropped it off with the small engine shop they were backed up 2 week's with other jobs. Frustrated by the delays, we took a deep breath and reminded ourselves that a 2 week delay wasn't too bad. Well, 2 weeks stretched into a month, and then longer. We never got anything planted into the main garden last year and the tiller didn't get finished until after the first fall frost. In hindsight, we're could have borrowed or rented a tiller and gotten something, anything in the ground, but we didn't.  So year three ended up being another planning year. We did get the rhubarb transplanted into some of our beds by the house and a small strawberry patch by the front door, so it wasn't a total failure, but not a great year.

We are getting ready for our fourth season at this house and it feels like everything is finally falling into place. We have already checked the tiller, have the compost center opening date on the calendar and our seed order is placed. There is a plan for getting water back to the main garden so we can water if needed. We are also going to put up fencing around the main garden so that the dog and marauding children can't hurt the garden. I'm also excited about putting in my culinary herb garden up near the house this year. I love cooking with fresh herbs but never remember to buy them, or balk at the prices knowing they are things I can grow pretty easily. The herbs are planned to be just outside the back door integrated into our patio space, which should be perfect for easy access.

There is a plan. There is hope. We just have to nurture it.

Resurrecting My Voice

It's been a really long time since I wrote anything here! That's not to say that I haven't been writing, or that I haven't been doing a ton of things, just that I lost track of this blog in the shuffle.

• I had a baby! Angus Donald roared into the world on August 12th!
• Bought a new house!
• Started a new job!
• Amazing amounts of little victories & losses in life to numerous to detail in this list!

And just to bring this blog full circle, I'm pregnant again! The newest little WhiskeyAndCheese will be joining us in early June. This time around, just like they tell you, has been a totally different experience. Still a pretty easy pregnancy overall, but running around after a VERY active 5-year-old in addition to growing another human has been a lot of work. 

I started a project last winter to start baking again. After some really abysmal loaves early on, I powered through though and got pretty good at it overall. I started a sourdough starter back in March 2019 and George and I have been baking every week with great results. The current favorite in the house is Sourdough English Muffins which even the kiddo loves (lavishly slathered in Pimento Cheese of course)! On the non-sour side of the bread world, I've been adding in one of my other loves, beer! The Honey Ale Sandwich Bread from The Beeroness is our current favorite for a nice soft sandwich bread that makes amazing PB&J and grilled cheese sandwiches for lunches. 

Still knitting, still spinning, still being crafty in general. I'll update on some of my favorite projects one of these days...