Sunday, April 29, 2012

Saturday Night Special

I'm pretty sure the general rule is don't drink and blog. Uh oh. I just broke it. How could I resist a blueberry mojito made from mint I purchased this morning at the farmers' market and blueberries I picked today at a farm owned by a friend of a friend?






A mojito calls for rum, but the only rum I had was Black Strap Cruzan, a very strong rum with a molasses smell. I kept looking through my seldom used liquor cabinet (I'm not a big drinker, honest). I found this fire water I won for making the best tortilla in Guatemala. Okay, not the entire country of Guatemala, but the best tortilla from among the mostly geriatric cruisers on my shore excursion in a tiny port town in Guatemala. It really wasn't that hard to do.



I crushed the blueberries slightly, then put in the mint, fire water, club soda and a liberal sprinkling of sugar. Top it off with ice cubes and I had a delicious dessert mojito.



I had one last pork shoulder roast left over from the pig I bought from my friend Angie. I decided to go whole hog (man, I am on fire tonight!) and slow-cook it using a recipe I made up. I didn't even google to get a base! I cut up an onion from my CSA share and added two diced gala apples (organic, natch). I placed the shoulder roast on top of them and poured a bottle of Angry Orchard Apple Ginger Hard Cider over the roast.  I salted the shoulder roast with some Hawaiian black sea salt and poured apple butter on top. The roast cooked on high heat in my slow-cooker for six hours. Craig said it was the best one I've made.



I was driving back from an appointment yesterday when I saw ducks in the nearby pond (and a Mother Goose, Father Gander and 6 super cute goslings, though Ryan was absent). That made me start thinking about alternatives to chicken eggs. Why not duck eggs? I didn't want to go through the hassle of stealing eggs from nests by that and other ponds in town, so I contacted my egg source yesterday and asked if he had duck eggs. He had one dozen available, and I picked them up at the farmers' market this morning. Duck eggs are heavier and more expensive than chicken eggs. The farmer told me to use them for baking as they have a strong, rich taste. My kids love corn muffins, so I made my gluten-free honey corn muffins using two duck eggs, local grass-fed milk and local raw honey. The duck eggs really did make for a richer taste. Or maybe it was the 1/2 cup of melted butter in the muffins rather than the 1/4 cup that the recipe called for. For whatever reason, the muffins were fantastic.



I sauteed Swiss chard that I grew in pots on my patio. I've been cutting off leaves here and there to put in scrambled eggs and the chard has grown back. But it's getting hot down here, so the season for chard may be coming to an end. I wanted the chard to go out in a blaze of glory, so I cut every leaf and sautéed them in extra virgin olive oil and salt. I also steamed the beans from the CSA share and some store bought broccoli for my picky eaters. At least they ate the pork, broccoli and corn muffins. Also the coconut rice I made, which is the farthest from local you can get. I think both the rice and coconut milk were from Thailand.


I made a salad from the CSA share  - a delicious dark leaf lettuce, purple and orange carrots and cucumbers. I have chives growing on my patio, so I snipped off some flowers and added them to the salad for a garlicky taste. I topped it off with my gas-station mustard salad dressing.


I went all out tonight and made chocolate chip cookies. I used almond flour and adapted the recipe from the back of the Honeyville almond flour bag. I substituted maple syrup instead of agave syrup and used melted butter instead of grape seed oil. How do you think they turned out? I'll give you a hint: I only needed a small container to store leftovers.

I'd love some ideas for topics. I will post why eating local and organic is important to me, but I know it's been done to death all over the blogosphere.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

<3 the ryangosling reference :)

Zoe said...

You should drink and blog more ofter - this is hilarious! Also, yummy looking. Also, gas station mustard dressing?

Ruth said...

Zoe, it refers to a salad dressing I described in an earlier post. http://goodpersonalitycooking.blogspot.com/2012/04/beige-dinner.html

I'm OK said...

My chard season is just about to start. Looks fabulous, can't wait!

And share more drink ideas! Cruzan rocks.

LoriD said...

I must say, you've been doing AWESOME so far coming up with your topics because my mouth is watering after reading each of your posts!

Since you asked, I have an idea for some topics for you. In one of your more recent posts, you asked what else you could do with cucumbers. I was just thinking, maybe you could do a post here and there on unusual things that you make or cook with a typical or non-typical food/drink item. You seem to be really awesome at experimenting! I'm always worried about wasting food if I experiment and it fails. I can't wait to see what you come up with next! ;)