Posts from — June 2009

Last weekend was the Singapore feast, and this past Saturday we hosted another big dinner in honor of Jaime’s arrival — this time, representation from the (arguably) best known of the Southeast Asian cuisines: Thai.

The cooking only took a day this time (not counting some minor prep the day prior) but I had a lot of help from Jaime who can fry Pad See Ew like nobody’s business, among his other many talents.

We ended up with a crowd of a little over 20, and we estimate we fed everyone for a little under $3 a head — not bad, given the variety and the fact that we made two meat dishes, and fresh rolls with shrimp. Yum.

Prep work took most of Saturday morning and early afternoon

Mise en place — almost all the ingredients, ready for cooking

The chef snacking on a mango pit

The feast!

Jean serving up some noodly goodness

Patio arrangement courtesy of Lucy and Colin. Flower arrangements by Jaime.

Green Papaya Salad (The papaya was verging on not-green, but it still turned out dee-licious)

Tom Kha Gai, Galangal & lime chicken soup (This soup was a major triumph, just the right amount of coconut, and the dried galangal and leftover kaffir lime leaves from last week infused the soup with a fantastic flavor)


Ground Pork Lettuce Wraps (Simple stir-fried crowd-pleaser)

Pad See Ew (Very similar in style to the Char Kway Teow from last week, but Jaime’s mad frying skillz made it so that the noodles stayed beautifully intact during the frying process)


Basil Tofu (Simple, quick and tasty vegetarian dish)

Fresh Rolls with Shrimp (Made with fresh local spotted prawns bought at the farmer’s market that very morning!)

Dessert
Black sticky rice with mango and toasted coconut

Synergy Farm Thai-style Lettuce Wraps

1 red bell pepper, diced finely
1 1/2 cups carrots, diced into 1/4” cubes
6-8 brown crimini mushrooms, diced into 1/4” cubes
1 cup snow peas, cut horizontally into 1/4” strips
3 garlic scapes diced into circles 1/4” thick
1 small onion minced
1 large shallot minced
2 cloves garlic minced
1 lb ground pork

2 tbsp oil for frying
2 tbsp fish sauce
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
black pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped cilantro or mint or basil

2 lettuce heads (preferably a butter lettuce variety or trouthead for perfect lettuce-wrapping cups)

optional: 1 tbsp oyster sauce, two green thai chilis, minced finely, other vegetables such as bean sprouts, cabbage, sugar snap peas, green beans, etc.

Heat 2 tbsp oil on high heat in your pan or wok. Add in shallot and onion and fry for 10 seconds until fragrant, then add in garlic and fry another 20 seconds. Add ground pork, breaking it up with your spatula or wooden spoon. Fry for 2 minutes, or until browning, but not yet cooked.

Add in carrots and snow peas and scapes and fry another 2 minutes, stirring well. Add in mushrooms and bell pepper and fry another 2 minutes. The meat should be cooked, and everything should be well mixed.

Add in sauce and chilis, if using. Stir well to coat all ingredients. Add in chopped herbs (cilantro, mint or basil) and stir until wilted.

Serve at room temperature with washed lettuce leaves.

On Sunday, Jaime woke up around 9:30, washed a few more dishes from our Thai feast the night before, bungeed our picnic lunch to the back of our bikes and rode out to the 11:40 ferry out to Lopez Island.

It was a gorgeous day of biking, beach, birds and ice cream cones. By the time we made it back for the 7:05 ferry to Friday Harbor and home, I was exhausted.

In all, including the ride from the farm to and from the ferry landing, we covered around 35 miles.

Sunning ourselves on the ferry ride over

Fast-moving currents at Shark’s Reef

Agrarian scenes on Lopez

Turkey vulture enjoying the remains of little creatures torn up by the haying equipment

A short visit to Spencer’s Spit inspired a promise to come back to bike camp later in the summer!

View

in a larger map

I love this photo essay on people’s refrigerators. It inspired me to do a little photo of my own refrigerator the other day… if only I could compare to what my fridge looked like when I worked at the Googs.

To describe the difference succinctly: less meat, less fruit, more veggies, more food I grew, no doggie bags.

Next, I want to my own version of this awesome set of pictures — one week’s worth of farm food…

First on Monday, the baby chicks. Then, on Tuesday, my baby!

Jaime’s here for June and July! I can tell the summer’s going to be awesome. Today was the first day at the swimming hole with the lovely Pritha + tadpoles, and then a spectacularly delicious dinner:

Jaime and Jess reunited salmon cakes

1 can pink salmon from Alaska
1 bread slice’s worth of yummy bread crumbs from the sourdough boule I baked up yesterday
1/2 a garlic scape, chopped into small rounds
1 cracked egg from the discard pile
1/2 shallot minced
3 cloves garlic minced
5 sprigs thyme
BUTTTTTTTER

Saute the garlic and shallot in BUTTTTTTTTTTER. mmm… savor the smell. Break the bread into little crumbs and mix up with thyme. Add everything else in and mix well. Fry up with a little more BUTTTTTTTTTTER in a well-seasoned cast iron Griswold you bought at a restaranteur’s garage sale in Cole Valley for $2.

The babies arrived today.

Peter was at the post office when it opened to pick up our 123 new chicks.

Lucy and I were on “mom” duty for the day, checking on our broods every hour to monitor the temperature in the hoop houses out on the pasture. Baby chicks need to be kept at 90 degrees for the first week or so of their lives, which means a lot of raising and lowering of heat lamps and opening and shutting of the vent flaps on the side of our hoop house.

The very first thing we had to do, though, was teach the little ones how to drink. Each chirpy fluff had to be carefully lifted out of the cardboard mailing crate, dipped beak-first, carefully in a water tray, and then placed in the enclosure with its mates. The little guys and gals haven’t had a drop to drink since their hatching the day before and this little baptism ensures that they get the idea of H20 and don’t get dehydrated.

Our birdies got the idea all right, and were soon hopping over one another to splash into tiny water trough like hot little kids in a fountain in summer. Once in, they dip their little beaks down, scoop out a few drops, then throw their heads back to gulp gulp gulp. This week we have temperatures in the 80s, which is good, because in our last batch, 3 little birdies who got too wet in the trough ended up with fatal cases of hypothermia.

They really are adorable, but it’s easy not to get too attached since we’re now all-too-intimate with where they’ll eventually end up.