Hungry Times Two

One of the trickiest but also most rewarding things about moving to a new place is adapting to the food scene and culture. A common response Scott and I heard when we announced our Oregon move to friends and family was " OMG. The beer. The wine. The FOOD. " While we're very excited to try out many of the notable restaurants, plentiful food carts/pods, and the crazy explosion of breweries and wineries, I'm most thrilled about having access to the fresh local produce and seafood of Oregon. Not only do I enjoy home cooking but let's face it -- it's often cheaper to make food than to dine out. Despite the sales tax-free shopping, Oregon food can be expensive, and with one of us (me) being on a brief "job break" at the moment, meal planning and sticking to grocery lists is an important budget focus.

We're back with another edition of "Hey, we used to be bloggers." I am not so sure who reads blogs much anymore (hi Moms!) but hell, if e-newsletters are in again and the ' 90s "flatform" shoe is making a comeback , maybe we have a shot. As I nurse a gin and tonic made of nothing but the finest (here's to you, cheap Chek tonic cans from the Mount Pleasant, SC Bi-Lo - sometimes you just buy things to get the job done, especially when you're en route to Vacation Weekend after a slight detour to fix a flat tire on I-26...), I'm mulling over what's happening so far in our garden plots.  We went Tomato Crazy this year, planting 6+ mixed varieties in our raised beds that kinda-sorta get sufficient sunlight in our backyard, and 8 seedlings in one of our two Winterfield Community Garden plots. Hopefully we'll soon pick beautiful Red Delicious, San Marzano, Black Krim, Blue Gold Cherry, Brandywine, and a few "mystery" tomatoes,...

This is an interesting time to garden. It's pretty hot outside - the kind of warm that makes you reconsider your ban on grandma linen capri pants that you bought 2 pairs of a few years ago in a moment of humidity-induced weakness. (Or not. Maybe that's just me. I have three summer wardrobes: one that's meant for external audiences, a dowdy but comfy look that is Borderline Bag Lady, and a few "breath-able" things that could make a pastor blush.) In Charlotte it rains nearly every other day, either as torrential downpours or blink-and-you-miss-'em showers. I love the rain -- thanks to Mother Nature I get more time to sleep in the a.m. instead of lugging the hose to our backyard raised beds and our two plots in the community garden.  And the vegetable plants in the garden are right on the verge of exploding... but not quite.  You see the flowers popping up on the tomato, cukes and squash plants. Your green bean plants double their height ove...

This is what happens when, despite some ungodly temperatures here in North Carolina, your garden decides to go forth & dispense some goodies. I have 30 cucumbers in my crisper drawer right now, y'all. What. The. Heck. Fortunately, I like a good cucumber challenge. (Get your mind out of the gutter.) The first thing I did when our Seed Savers Exchange A&C and White Wonder  cukes started showing up was to find a good pickling recipe. And with temperatures hanging in the 100 degree fun zone for nearly 2 weeks here, I needed one that didn't require processing them. Who could conceive of a hot water canning bath in that kind of weather?

There's been a lull here at Hungry Times Two (staring at computer all day for work, or job-search), but a recent community garden visit inspired this post.  I always joke that I hate yard work/landscaping and love gardening because you can't eat mown grass and tomatoes are worth the effort. In essence, it's the debate between flower/ornamental gardening and fruit/vegetable gardening.  There's definitely one crop that achieves a beautiful, edible balance between these two camps: okra! We're growing a red okra (delicious when grilled) and this lovely flower's currently on one of four okra bushes (below). The okra shot was taken with a chain link fence in the foreground, which keeps out riff-raff (rabbits, squirrels, etc.) and is also supporting our prolific burpless cucumber plant (below). We've had a bumper crop of cukes and yellow squash, which we've discovered grows FAST in just a day or so!  Erin made sure to document "Attack of the ...

Last week I went a bit bonkers for anything a mason jar can contain. Perhaps it's my participation in Bitten Word' s Cover to Cover '13 (they're cooking the entire September issue of Bon Appetit , y'all), or because We The Eaters invited me to share a post for their canning challenges. I just decided I needed some can-therapy, and put my stash of jars to good use on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday.

God I love summer. It's the simple things.

After a decidedly stressful and busy summer of crazy house hunting & buying, moving, unpacking, and a conference visit to ATL for me last week, I came back to Charlotte on Saturday craving vegetables and all things not battered and fried or alcoholic. You know, that healthy stuff. So we hit up the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market and came back with loads of produce -- cucumbers, eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes. A bonus cameo in the photo below: our friends J&B brought over two jalapenos they grew in their garden. (I need to remember my rubber gloves when handling those! Once bitten, twice shy.)