well this part of the house is from 1940 and the flowers were overflowing
but now it is a tomato patch on the east side of the building
and since out weather mostly comes from the west..we can have tomatoes almost till christmas
before...of course the flowers have been moved and the ground rototilled..carefully cause there is a water line and gas line in there
the cement slabs are to get to the spigot
from ugly foundation to food..hahahahahah
(http://i45.servimg.com/u/f45/13/55/53/83/hpim1814.jpg)
then the uprights and a couple pieces of plastic lattice and a spot for tomatoes
i do have lima beans in front of them..but they aren't up yet
the uprights were from a gazebo someone was tossing..i liked the way
they looked
(http://i45.servimg.com/u/f45/13/55/53/83/hpim1815.jpg)
tomatoes (from seed) in and grass waiting to be used as mulch
we did invest in a lawn rake last year..phew saves me old muscles ;D
(http://i45.servimg.com/u/f45/13/55/53/83/hpim2333.jpg)
and had to be tied up right off the bat..we were late getting them outta the pots this year
blaming it on wierd weather and not old age..hahahahahah
(http://i45.servimg.com/u/f45/13/55/53/83/hpim2413.jpg)
hey don't be afriad you don't have the space....even containers are better
than no fresh veggies
8)
I got hungry reading this.
Did you see the guy who put tomatoes, upside down in buckets and then hung the buckets in front of his house. He cut a small hole in the bottom, started them right side up and then flipped them. I never saw the final results but I guess you could hang them anywhere. No ground needed. Easy to water. Easy to pick. Maybe out of reach for Racoons. hum!
Deuem, off to ask the wife for a tomato sandwich. Hunny?
Do you know how to peal a tomato. If not I will write how.
;D
yeah have seen the upsidedown tomatoes..they don't get real big but a nice size
we like the indeterminates and tying them up ...rathar than just letting them on the ground..
and
another yes to peeling..
but tell your method anyhow..
i'm always open to new info
;D
Well we used 2 ways.
Poach the tomatoes until the skin starte to peal, pull from water and peal by hand.
Real, real sharp knife. Slice the tomatoe like an Orange and lay the slice peal down on the table, start at one end and filet it like a fish skin. Rock the knife. It will cut he skin off like a fish. Sharp is the key here.
Deuem the retired cook but still eating....Believe it or not we had tomatoes for supper. A tomato egg dish, yum yum. served on the side like peas. Nice color.Yellow and red. Uses sliced and pealed tomatoes. Just by chance....My wife makes it. I put it over all that white sticky rice we have. Consistancy like a sloppy joe mix.
Deuem
wel mister retired cook..you better get to the food thread then..lol
yep we do it the same way..
i use the hot water and hubby is the knife guy
but for making tomato juice you need a victorio strainer
and then you don't have to peel..luv when tools work like that
;D
For the juice, I just toss them out in the road and wait for the trucks to run them over and then go out and sweep it up. Maybe strain it. I never said I was a good cook. lol Deuem
out in the road and let the truck run ove em , huh...
lol
that's how my dad used to hull walnuts
nice to know it is a useful method ;)
Quote from: sky otter on June 04, 2012, 02:04:01 PM
;D
yeah have seen the upsidedown tomatoes..they don't get real big but a nice size
we like the indeterminates and tying them up ...rathar than just letting them on the ground..
and
another yes to peeling..
but tell your method anyhow..
i'm always open to new info
;D
Hey y'all! Nuts go good in everything! especially walnuts. We get beautiful pecans from Georgia every season, and I cant count the ways Ive used them, or the number of different pestos Ive enjoyed making with them!
Indeed, peeled 'maters taste better!
I poach them as D says, and then push them through a wire sieve with a walnut wood spoon to extract the good stuff without the seeds and pulpy parts.
I do this for my legendary tomato soup, in which I use yellow grape tomatoes grown in a container garden.
Of course my favorite tomato based food is called Butter Chicken and is an Indian recipe Im sure many are familiar with. That one takes 4 pounds of 'maters, and a whole day of cooking! Not to mention the two or three bottles of chardonnay to go with it!;D
Peeling can be a bitch for these little guys, but they are so plentiful and hardy, it's all I grow!
Dueum, your a chef!
I am quite fond of cooking and cheffing and have spent decades honing my craft!
I am wondering what amazing new methods youve learned since being in China, as Chinese and Thal food are two of my favorites!
So many unique food styles, so little time!
Oh, You had to mention Thai. I have been craving Thai food for SOOOOO long! I adore a good pad thai, and any curry - the hotter the better! (I once went to a Thai restaurant and ordered a dish. The waitress said, "No, no. That dish, VERY hot." I said, "I know. That's why I ordered it." She objected, and I insisted several times around, and finally She said, "Oh-kaaaay," in a very dubious tone. When She brought the dish She set it in front of Me and went across the room to watch. I took a bite...and then reached over to the hot chili spices and dumped a bunch on. Only time I have ever seen anyOne's jaw literally drop! LOL!)
Quote from: Amaterasu on June 06, 2012, 04:22:43 PM
Oh, You had to mention Thai. I have been craving Thai food for SOOOOO long! I adore a good pad thai, and any curry - the hotter the better! (I once went to a Thai restaurant and ordered a dish. The waitress said, "No, no. That dish, VERY hot." I said, "I know. That's why I ordered it." She objected, and I insisted several times around, and finally She said, "Oh-kaaaay," in a very dubious tone. When She brought the dish She set it in front of Me and went across the room to watch. I took a bite...and then reached over to the hot chili spices and dumped a bunch on. Only time I have ever seen anyOne's jaw literally drop! LOL!)
You showed her, Amy!
Heat cant be beat!
;D
I love the balance of chilis and sweetness in Thai, and I found a perfect shakeable seasoning that is cheap, cheap, cheap!
Ask the thai grocer for Thai curry spice powder, and he will steer you right. Then sprinkle a bit on a free range chicken breasts, and sear it in coconut oil. You will then remove the chicken from the pan right as it's done, and splash some heavy cream into the drippings and add a bit of wondra to thicken the pan sauce.
It is to die for! And spicyness can be bumped up by roasting some chilis in the toaster oven, and peeling them and adding them into the pan sauce at the end.
I make this twice maybe three times a week, and it never gets old!
So easy, so good!
happy heat!
Littleenki
Alot of people here got really excited about those upside down tomatoes and of course they had them at WalMart ( Sorry Littleenki but that place is what we desert rats call a " trip t' town Maude")
Problem here is that hanging like that they just require too much water..... you have to remember that to make toast here all you have to do is leave the bread out for a few minutes!!!! And if that doesn't do it.... the winds bounced the poor things around so much if they had tomatoes they all got whiplash and fell off!
Do you know how to peal a tomato. If not I will write how Is that where you dip them in boiling water for a few seconds? Or did I just dream that? I don't know where I got that information so maybe thats not it!
Huh.... maybe thats the solution for taking alot of skins off things huh. Dip them in something really hot.
Now that I have read the whole thread is that what you call "poaching" a tomato then???? You guys are so cool.
The only thing I learned how to cook when I was single was a pretty good pot roast. With the kind of guys that I dated at the time..... meat and potatoes always went over well..... if the relationship got to where I had to cook something different.... I changed relationships..... worked for awhile until I met George.
He is still here.... he hasn't withered away... I do most of the cooking so I must be doing something right. But I will NEVER qualify for an expert in this stuff. It sure is fun to read. Thats why the most published type of book( besides the Bible )in this country.... is the category of cook books.
I am sure I am not a sophisticated " taster"
I don't think I even know what curry tastes like....
Linda
well you foodies would luv kimchee then...hot marinaded cabbage....
i have a recipe we have tried and hubby ok'd it...
me..not adventurous in the food department..lol
if you want the recipe i'll post in in the food thread
LE
went i married hubby he was growing mushrooms for a living with his brother
i learnt from the ground up and did all the jobs and then when labor
was hard to find we closed up and went to work for a spawn company
in research...so i could probably take you thur what ever part you were interested in
but we only grew what you would find in a grocery store..from regular white and brown
to some exotics...none of the mind bending ones
but there again..another thread..not sure if that would be food or gardening though.. ;D
I am not a chef, I just play one on TV. Or is that watch one on TV, I get mixed up!
Hey when your in another country and you want your own food, you learn the hard way. I am an Engineer, case you forgot. Ah, that has gotten me to design so many different things I can't remember them all. But I have done several kitchens, small to large. Feeding a 100 to 5,000. So you get around a lot of places. Even designed a couple of custom stoves. The poached tomatoes I learned from some show. Yes it works well if your making anything that hates the skin. Toss them in boiling water, covered with water and wait till they self peal, not all the way or you will have a mess. Just split skin all over. Yank them out and peal by hand. Becareful they are hot. Then strain like LE said or mash for sauce.
Tomatoes are like the magic potatoes, you can use them for everything. Most Chinese people don't like them because they say they are bitter. OK, More for me!
Deuem
I have heard old timers say that tomatoes were at one time poisonous ( maybe because they are the same family as Nightshade)..... but were they EVER poisonous or is that just a fable?
I know some folks can not tolerate them. My Dad was
one of those folks.... cooked.... ok..... never raw. Strange. Linda
Oh, Im having kim-chee withdrawals now, Sky!
No funny mushrooms for me, just sh&taakes and creminis mostly, with some whites mixed in if they look inviting.
As far as tomatoes, cherry and grape are my favorite, as I can grab a handful while working in the yard. They are good anyway you make them!
Dueum, if you watch cooking shows, you will quickly become a chef, as thats the equivalent of a culinary lesson every half hour for free!
Emeril inspired me twenty years ago, and as Ive worked in a few kitchens, most of my efforts in the food industry has been designing and creating menus and food service plans. In a rest. ordering and prep are 80 % of the job, and for most cheffing is quite boring, as sous chefs and line cooks do most of the work anyways.
I love to get plants at WalMart, Linda, and have found some nice plants and veg there in the past, I just try to buy things there that arent a cheap replacement for the quality versions thereof. I know WalMart is an American store, so I dont hate them, just the cheap crap they sell in replacement of the quality ones.
Like you said, save your money for a few months, and buy the good version of everything, itll last ten times longer, and work better to boot!
Just look at the Hyundai cars, they are great now, as noone would buy them again when they first came out, until they got the quality up, and LG and many others have caught on, too.
Cheers, and have a tomato sandwich, on me!
Littleenki
i guess somewhere along the line we have adapted to different toxins and actually enjoy eating a few..
tomatoes are the bane of most sewage plants cause the buggers will grow like weeds every place they get a chance...which is pretty funny when you try to grow them and they die..always cracks me up
;D
if you're up to reading some info below on the whole thing
8)
SolanaceaeFrom Wikipedia,
Solanaceae is a family of flowering plants that includes a number of important agricultural crops. Many species are toxic plants. The name of the family comes from the Latin Solanum "the nightshade plant", but the further etymology of that word is unclear. Most likely, the name comes from the perceived resemblance that some of the flowers bear to the sun and its rays, and in fact a species of Solanum (Solanum nigrum) is known as the "sunberry". Alternatively, the name has been suggested to originate from the Latin verb solari, meaning "to soothe". This presumably refers to soothing pharmacological properties of some of the psychoactive species of the family.
The family is also informally known as the nightshade or potato family. The family includes Datura, Mandragora (mandrake), Atropa belladonna (deadly nightshade), Lycium barbarum (wolfberry), Physalis philadelphica (tomatillo) , Physalis peruviana (Cape gooseberry flower), Capsicum (chili pepper, bell pepper), Solanum (potato, tomato, eggplant), Nicotiana (tobacco), and Petunia. With the exception of tobacco (Nicotianoideae) and petunia (Petunioideae), most of the economically important genera are contained in the subfamily Solanoideae.
Many members of the Solanaceae family are used by humans, and are important sources of food, spice and medicine. However, Solanaceae species are often rich in alkaloids whose toxicity to humans and animals ranges from mildly irritating to fatal in small quantities
.......
AlkaloidsSolanaceae is known for having a diverse range of alkaloids. As far as humans are concerned, these alkaloids can be desirable, toxic, or both.
One of the most important groups of these compounds is called the tropane alkaloids. The term "tropane" comes from a genus in which they are found, Atropa (the belladonna genus). Atropa is named after the Greek Fate, Atropos, who cut the thread of life. This nomenclature reflects its toxicity and lethality.
Tropane alkaloids are also found in the Datura, Mandragora, and Brugmansia genera, as well as many others in the Solanaceae family.[4] Chemically, the molecules of these compounds have a characteristic bicyclic structure and include atropine, scopolamine, and hyoscyamine. Pharmacologically, they are the most powerful known anticholinergics in existence, meaning they inhibit the neurological signals transmitted by the endogenous neurotransmitter, acetylcholine. Symptoms of overdose may include dry mouth, dilated pupils, ataxia, urinary retention, hallucinations, convulsions, coma, and death.
Despite the extreme toxicity of the tropanes, they are useful drugs when administered in extremely small dosages. They can reverse cholinergic poisoning, which can be caused by overexposure to pesticides and chemical warfare agents such as sarin and VX. More commonly, they can halt many types of allergic reactions. Atropine, a commonly used ophthalmological agent, dilates the pupils and thus facilitates examination of the interior of the eye. Scopolamine is used as an antiemetic against motion sickness or for people receiving chemotherapy. Atropine has a stimulant effect on the central nervous system and heart, whereas scopolamine has a sedative effect.
An infamous alkaloid derived from Solanaceae is nicotine. Like the tropanes, its pharmacology acts on cholinergic neurons, but with the opposite effect (it is an agonist as opposed to an antagonist). It has a higher specificity for nicotinic acetylcholine receptors than other ACh proteins. Nicotine occurs naturally in the Nicotiana or tobacco genus.
Another class of toxic substances found in this family are the glycoalkaloids, for example solanine which has occasionally been responsible for poisonings in people who ate berries from species such as Solanum nigrum or Solanum dulcamara, or green potatoes.[5][6]
The chemical in chili peppers responsible for the burning sensation is capsaicin. Capsaicin affects only mammals, not birds. Pepper seeds can always survive the digestive tract of birds; their fruit becomes brightly colored once its seeds are mature enough to germinate, thereby attracting the attention of birds who then distribute the seeds. Capsaicin extract is used to make pepper spray, a useful deterrent against aggressive mammals.
LE
try some shitake with asparagus..ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh so good
cut each into usable size and toss into a skillet with a little butter...
pepper and salt and cook to your desired crunch-ness
it's my favorite recipe for when the asparagus comes up
;D
sky otter
lol word censor removed the " s h i t" from "s h i t ake"
lol poopake. lol
Quote from: sky otter on June 06, 2012, 07:37:25 PM
LE
try some poopake with asparagus..ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh so good
cut each into usable size and toss into a skillet with a little butter...
pepper and salt and cook to your desired crunch-ness
it's my favorite recipe for when the asparagus comes up
;D
Sounds fantastic, Sky as i have a big package of asparagus on the counter today!
Ill try thatrecipe when I get some poopake mushrooms, and for tonight, it's steamed with a light cream sauce, with dill and german thyme butter.
That was a real informative post, and quite funny as I love tomatoes and peppers, and the best plants Ive had were from "popups" where the birds had pooped!
You should see the red peppers I grow, they are enormous and I never even planted them, the birds ate my other peppers and deposited them right where they ate and pooped!LOL!
As Hobbit would say...look to the wise blue jay!
Cheers!
Littleenki
I never knew this
Capsaicin affects only mammals, not birds. Pepper seeds can always survive the digestive tract of birds; their fruit becomes brightly colored once its seeds are mature enough to germinate, thereby attracting the attention of birds who then distribute the seeds
A toast to the Grand designer. Linda
;D
sky otter
lol word censor removed the " s h i t" from "s h i t ake"
lol poopake. lol
Undo i saw that in Le's post and just thought he was trying to be cute... ;D
very funny
it means tree mushroom..just in case anyone wondered about it..
word censor..geeeeeeeeeesh
::)
Quote from: Littleenki on June 06, 2012, 04:46:59 PM
You showed her, Amy!
Heat cant be beat!
;D
I love the balance of chilis and sweetness in Thai, and I found a perfect shakeable seasoning that is cheap, cheap, cheap!
Ask the thai grocer for Thai curry spice powder, and he will steer you right. Then sprinkle a bit on a free range chicken breasts, and sear it in coconut oil. You will then remove the chicken from the pan right as it's done, and splash some heavy cream into the drippings and add a bit of wondra to thicken the pan sauce.
It is to die for! And spicyness can be bumped up by roasting some chilis in the toaster oven, and peeling them and adding them into the pan sauce at the end.
I make this twice maybe three times a week, and it never gets old!
So easy, so good!
happy heat!
Littleenki
Well Dave... As They stripped My food stamps... It will likely be a while before I can afford such things (not that I could even with food stamps!). Food will be a wee bit on the short supply for a few weeks - but one of My friends here is giving Me some organic stuff to eat. Not a lot, but it's better than nothing.
Hope to have You cooking for Me at least once in My lifetime. [smile] (I am a gourmand, NOT a gourmet.)
The first meal I make for you, Amy, wont be the last!
I feel so bad posting about food and treats within my diet, and hope someday you will be having everything you want and need foodwise, and otherwise.
When we meet, lets just say, there will be a shortage of food at the local organic market, as we will buy everything they have, and have a feast to rival King Arthurs roundtable!
Your integrity is clear and apparent, and soon you will see the goodness the world has to offer a warm heart such as yourself, and when that happens, the prize will be abundant!
All is occuring for a profound reason, and if you stick to your guns, the battle will be quickly over, and you will win the war!
Hugs!
Littleenki
Quote from: Littleenki on June 07, 2012, 05:10:04 AM
The first meal I make for you, Amy, wont be the last!
I feel so bad posting about food and treats within my diet, and hope someday you will be having everything you want and need foodwise, and otherwise.
When we meet, lets just say, there will be a shortage of food at the local organic market, as we will buy everything they have, and have a feast to rival King Arthurs roundtable!
Your integrity is clear and apparent, and soon you will see the goodness the world has to offer a warm heart such as yourself, and when that happens, the prize will be abundant!
All is occuring for a profound reason, and if you stick to your guns, the battle will be quickly over, and you will win the war!
Hugs!
Littleenki
Waiting is, Dave. Waiting is. It WILL come to pass. [smile]