Wasatch Community Garden

On Tuesday we went over to the local Community Garden to attend a workshop on winter gardening. Yes, you can and should grow things in you garden during the winter time. At this point I want to go off on a tangent so if you are really interested in the winter gardening part then skip the small print.

Why can't we all just be normal? I like gardening there is something wonderfully visceral about digging i the dirt and a feeling of wonder and fulfillment when you first see little sprouts popping out of the ground. I like gardening because it connects me in some way to that prehistorical, and medieval, and modern person that ate the food they grew. I believe it is in our basic makeup to grow food. Adam was a farmer. So why is that I feel so out of place when I go to workshops like this? Why is it that me and my wife and this other lass who recently moved from Cali are the only ones who were young and had kids. why is anytime I want to enjoy and learn I am verbally attacked on behalf of PETA or the Vegan Liberation Front? Anyways.

The Garden was interesting, as a landscape architect I am extremely critical when it comes to design. As a human the garden was pure delight, there were sunflowers everywhere. The Wasatch Garden really is a great program. We learned about planting garlic in the fall and covering it with 6 inches of mulch and then in the spring, pop! You have more garlic growing. We also learned how to make hoop houses out of pvc pipe and some cloth. All in all very interesting and when we get back to Kansas we are going to put all of that knowledge to work. First I think we are going to plant peas and lettuce for the chilly months of September and October. Visit Wasatch Community Garden on the web at: http://www.wasatchgardens.org/

or the community, CSA, or farmer's market near you.

Holy Ice Cream Batman!

If I have not mentioned it, I live above a chocolate store that also serves hand dipped ice cream. It is a local favorite and my oldest son really likes the chocolate dipped gummy worms. So needless to say I was alarmed when we returned from the park to find a number of candles and other trinkets on the sidewalk outside of the store. I thought that someone had died. The next morning my wife is outside and she sees the owner taking photos of the candles. Upon enquiring about the reason for the candles the owner told my wife that someone had seen a face in the spumoni, and there had been a midnight candle vigil. Go here to read more. http://www.kutv.com/content/news/topnews/story.aspx?content_id=7827b0d3-aa09-4eba-940f-5dae259243eb

Soccer and French Food

Ok, I went to the Real game this last Saturday and woohoo! It was a great game. Real is now number one in the Western Standings. The first goal was scored in minute 3. Anyways it was a blast. The other thing I wanted to talk about first thing on Monday morning is how to make a yummy and easy french dessert. Here is what you will need. 4 eggs, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 1/2 cup milk, and a pound of cherries or other fruit like berries.

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350. Crack open the eggs and mix them up with 1/2 cup of the sugar. Then whisk in the flour making a nice thick batter. Next pour in the vanilla, and the milk, but pour the milk in 1/2 of a cup at a time stirring the batter until all of the milk is incorporated. If you have ever made crepes you will have a thin crepe like batter. Now take your fruit and toss it with the remaining sugar to coat it and make it all delicious. Put the sugar coated fruit into a pan. Any sugar that didn't end up stuck to the fruit can be discarded, I like to sprinkle it on cereal. I can't tell you exactly what pan to use, I used a tinfoil one that had store bought cinnamon rolls in it. I think that if you use a brownie pan you should be just fine, or a 9x13 but this will be a little too big. Anyways, after you have the fruit int he pan pour the batter into the pan, and place the whole thign in the oven. Bake for 40-45 minutes until the cake looks sponge like. Take it out and let it set for about 5 minutes and then spoon it up and eat it. It will not look like a cake it will look like a custard but it will be delicious. Good luck.

Great Pizza

It was on a calm Saturday afternoon here in Salt Lake City. I had just gotten a call from my good friend James, both of our wives were out of town so we decided to live it up. We went to the movies to see Prince Caspian, good flick, but that is beside the point. In the movie theater there was a pizza place so we grabbed a slice and scarfed it down before the show. After the film James helped me move some stuff into my new apartment and before we knew it dinnertime was upon us. I suggested that we get pizza, real pizza. I had seen a pizza joint on the side of the road and it looked, authentic. Now we had eaten pizza once, so of course we had some reservations about eating pizza again, but like I said our wives were not with us.

Once inside I knew that this place was going to be different. I think I smelled the real wood burning pizza oven before I saw it. It was more than glorious. We both ordered a pizza margarita which is said to be one of the first pizzas ever made in Napoli. The taste was delicious. Everything a flavorful authentic pizza should be without a mountain of cheese to mask the tomatoes, the olive oil, the basil, and the crust. I asked the waitress about how they made their dough, I am a baker at heart, and she explained that the restaurant is certified by the Vera Pizza Napoletana, an organization that dictates the pizzas be made a certain size, with authentic ingredients, and baked in an 800 degree wood fire oven. I watched the pizza being made and it took 2 minutes to bake, and this left the pizza chewy, but charred all along the edges and the bottom. So, if you are ever in Salt Lake City, or Las Vegas visit Settebello. http://www.settebello.net/SLC/main.html Or you can just visit me this winter when I try to recreate that heavenly flavor on the grill outside of Seaton Court. You will need to call for a reservation.