The scourge of basil growers everywhere has struck. I have planted basil plants a half dozen times this season and watched as every plant has yellowed, then turned brown and shriveled up. After noticing the latest batch (one week in!) start to turn. I turned to the interwebs and googled “basil fungus” and sure enough. Downy Mildew….and no known cure. I guess I should be glad I’m not a basil farmer.
Here’s a link to some more info, photos, reporting/monitoring
On the surface this would seem to be a good idea, and I’m for anything that supports family farms. But, does this leave the farmer to beholden to food producers? I really don’t know. But I do know this, you didn’t come here for answers to life’s big questions.
No, not to get home from the shore. Bacon is underway on the BGE before 9 AM! Black pepper, coriander, bay leaf cure. My clothes already reek of applewood smoke.
Filed under: Camping, Food, Kitchen | Tags: Bluegrass, Camping, Delfest, Food, music, Vietnamese Food
Seriously. Well, for this family at any rate.
For the last few years we’ve been going to a music festival in western Maryland called Delfest every Memorial Day weekend. Camping out at a county fairground and soaking up the music for four fun filled days. Last year we started what we hope will be a tradition. Vietnamese food night at Delfest!
Clay Pot Pork had made it into the heavy rotation for dinner at home and one night shortly before last year’s Delfest we figured out it could be made pretty easily on a camp stove, particularly if all the prep work was done at home before driving down.
Once the Principessa started cooking, we had a constant stream of people stopping by our campsite, angling for taste. Hell, next year we could probably vend the stuff!
Too many tomatoes, what a chore! NOT!
Primo and The Principessa made this wonderful tart on Saturday
Our current favorite band excels at face-melting bluegrass music. But it turns out mandolin player Jeff Austin is also quite accomplished in the kitchen. We should have known when we saw them last summer they talked about the great restaurant down the street from the venue. A restaurant a friend had recomended to me and we passed up. Just think! We could have dined with the band!
Great interview on Epicurean Musician.
Not much going on here but I did want to share a killer recipe. We went to NH for Christmas to Mom’s for Ye Olde Fashioned New England Christmas. And for x-mas dinner, to go along with the roast beast, Mom made this killer recipe for Yorkshire Pud’.
After Friday, Wednesday is my favorite weekday. Why, you ask? Well, because that’s the universal day for newpapers to run their food sections. Most of these sections are pretty lame, “10 New Ways to Use Canned Mushroom Soup” et. al. But, the grandaddy of all food sections is the New York Times. Because I work an overnight shift, I’m constantly clicking on “refresh” starting at midnight on Wednesday to see what this week’s offerings are. I usually buy the paper on the way home anyway to have a hard copy but sometimes the online perusal can save me a buck and a quarter.
Once upon a time, in the dark ages of the internets there was a website called SauteWednesday which collated all the food sections from around the country onto one website. But, alas, the blogger who put that together turned pro and abandoned it.
In other food publishing news, my latest edition of Meatpaper arrived yesterday. My subscription was a Christmas gift from my sister and one of the better gifts I received this year. This quarterly publication has fascinating articles on “the culture of meat”. Some even written by vegatarians! This month’s issue includes articles Israel’s clandestine pork market, and Tunisian goat testicles, among others.
JerzeeTomato 