Caught Somewhere In the Middle

Homesickness is a funny thing.

I haven't written much about this recently. It can come off as complain-y. Instead, I write emails to my best friend who's dealing with the same affliction. Nevertheless homesickness has come on strong in the past few weeks. I blame the sale of my parents' house, my "home" in Wisconsin, in Wisconsin, my house, which I miss so very much and didn't realize how attached I had become until I left. This is where the complain-y part comes in, you see, my parents are moving here, right down the road. We'll see them once a week, at least, again. They will babysit when Caleb gets sick unexpectedly, or we need a night out. My mom will call me from the grocery store, a call that evolves from "these cherries are on sale, and look really good, do you want me to pick you a bag?" and ends with "we're having roast for dinner, do you guys just want to come over?" and I'll say "yes!" I'm so very, very glad they will be here.

But all of a sudden I have no home in Wisconsin. Wisconsin! A place I did not think I was attached to, because I hate the Packers and I love Southern cooking. Right? And yet, I'm terribly, terribly homesick and the week before last was the worst, holding back tears at the office, feeling all the feelings about losing the home when I got dressed for 2 proms, packed for college, came home from my first date with my husband (and lots of other first dates!), got ready for my wedding and my son took his first steps. Feelings, so very many feelings.

My friends who visited (from Wisconsin!) asked me "What's your favorite part about living in Tennessee?" and in my homesick mind my first thought was "Well, we have jobs. And that's about it." It was snarky and I didn't say it out loud. There are plenty of things I like about Tennessee: springtime, the longer growing season, live music everywhere, lots of bbq. I could counter with all the things that I'd prefer in Wisconsin: the summer, sweet corn & tart cherries, fish fries, snow at Christmas, my home church that I still miss, the ability to pronounce all the funny Indian names of towns that we don't have down here.

I find myself caught in the middle in the kitchen. I recently picked up The New Midwestern Table, by Amy Thielen, who lives in the Northern reaches of Wisconsin. I made Swedish Pancakes, a dish popularized at a restaurant in Door County with goats on the roof. I've now made them twice, they are exceedingly easy. They are a definite cure for some of the homesick blues.

They definitely had a Southern twang served with Bourbon Poached Peaches instead of Lingonberries. My sister has strict instructions to bring some with her from IKEA.

Also, this cookbook is amazing, it's on my Christmas list. I will be checking it out from the library repeatedly until then. Every recipe I've tried is outstanding, they have obviously been thoroughly tested and well written.

But then, yesterday, I stopped at the farm stand in town. It sets up on T/Th/Sat and has a small variety of fruits and vegetables. It's not everything I might find at a farmer's market, but what it lacks in variety, it makes up for in convenience. I can pull right up to the tent, leaving the car running with Caleb and grab a handful of things for dinner. Everything is $2 a pound, grown in a small town just west of us, maybe 20 minutes away or so. The Southern part of my heart thrilled to see a basket of okra. I was introduced to okra, fried, in college in Texas. Brian loves it and I hoped Caleb might see it as a version of a french fry (he didn't, but he did at least try it twice). I took it, and some exceedingly nice plums and passed on the peaches, but might go back later this week because peaches are only here for so long! I fried it up, sans recipe, because I can fry okra with my eyes closed. And that makes me feel a little bit more at home here. 

Simple Fried Okra

I like okra cut longwise, into long strips as you see above. They've easier to pick up and less work than the small rounds you often see. 

1 handful okra, or however much you want to feed your family. I do not enjoy reheated fried okra, so I try to fry just enough for the one meal.

 

Wet: 1 egg + a nice splash of meat + cajun seasoning. Whisk together. I would add something spicy if I weren't trying to get Caleb to try it. You could also use salt and pepper instead of the cajun season if you prefer, but go easy with the salt. You can always salt them later, hot out of the oil.

Dry: Equal parts self-rising flour and cornmeal. I like the yellow cornmeal. You could use All-Purpose flour, I liked the way the self-rising flour made the breading extra puffy. 

Bring a heavy pot with about an inch of oil up to frying temperature. I used Peanut oil, Canola or Vegetable is also fine. I didn't tend to use a themometer here. I just turn the heat on high and keep an eye on it- you want it to shimmer, not smoke. Flick in a little of the flour mixture to test it. When it start sizzling, turn down the heat a touch and toss in your okra - not all at once. If it sizzles too fast, turn down your heat a lot. 

Toss the okra in the wet, then the dry, then into the oil it goes! Keep an eye on it. If it browns too quick, turn down your heat. Pull it out with a slotted spot when it's golden brown and put it in a paper towel lined bowl or basket or pin tin. I like to sprinkle a little seasoning salt on top, but taste before you do! Over-salted okra is no good. 

Brian and I cannot keeps our hands out of this before we get to the dinner table. It's just too good!

Garden Update, Early August

So here's what's going on with the garden: It's freaking hot and the bugs are EVERYWHERE. I have zero motivation to get out and weed or even pull the plants that need to be pulled. The most time I want to spend out there is to pick a few ripe tomatoes and beans and get the H out.

My summer as a fledgling Tennessee gardener isn't going as well as I had planned. I'm writing this blog post to remind my January and February self not to over plan for next year. Here's what I'm thinking right now:

More tomatoes. The tomatoes are doing really well and I would focus on the small tomatoes. The garden plot just doesn't get enough sun for the bigger varieties. There are so many different kinds of miniature tomatoes and it would be fun to explore those.

Flowers! Next year I definitely want to plant some flowers. Zinnies, Calendula, Sunflowers. I would consider using study sunflowers as support for beans.

Beans. I'd definitely grow beans again, now that mine are finally producing like crazy. I would like to try using the fence of my garden as the main supports. I think that would be a great use of my space, to run the climbing varieties around the perimeter.

And like I said before, peas. The sugar snap and snow peas were great, so I would grow those again as well, also around the perimeter of the garden.

Speaking of the amount of sunlight, I'd also like to tackle more trimming this winter. It's just too hot and buggy to spend a ton of time outside, up in the branches, right now. Winter and early spring is definitely the time to do that.

So beans and peas around the outside, flowers and tomatoes inside, with some greens maybe. My herbs are doing great on the deck and I definitely prefer to have them close to the kitchen. So that's all for this time of year in the garden!

What I Love, Mid-Summer

Our wi-fi reaches out to the garden and I often listen to podcasts out there, although right now I get in and out as fast as possible, before I'm eaten alive by mosquitoes. I mention this because my green beans must have access to the internet. No sooner than did I post their imminent destruction than lo and behold! Fully grown green beans! On the vine! Let's go, beans! 

We are in the dog days of summer here. Temps reach well into the 90's every day and it doesn't get below 75. Our play is mostly inside after dinner, and Caleb's school is mindful of that as well. So what am I loving during this hot, humid weather?

Listening: Gravy Podcast. Episode 17, A Charleston Feast for Reconciliation, is the one that struck an emotional chord in me. A dinner party mirroring a post-Civil War dinner party took place in Charleston between the murder of Walter Scott and the mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. To hear the host and dinner party guests speak about the need for racial reconciliation, knowing what takes places only a few weeks later, is heartbreaking. It is excellently done and I highly recommend it.

Reading: Hungry Monkey, by Matthew Amster-Burton. It's part cookbook, part memoir, which is one of my favorite types of books. Matthew writes about feeding his daughter, from the time she is born through her toddler years. It reaffirms that my kid doesn't need to eat everything (vegetables are just about gone from his plate). Caleb very well might order chicken strips for more than a few years, much like I did, and still grow up and discover condiments and Brussels sprouts in his 20's, much like I did.

Also? Don't judge, but Amish Christian fiction. I can't fully explain the appeal, except that it's a total escape from real life. There's love! And love of God, which comes so easily without any reservations or denominational infighting or theological wrestling! And lots of amazing food! I mostly read it on my Kindle so no one can see.

Cooking: On the grill. Everything, on the grill. Yes, it's hot, but it doesn't seem so bad when there are burgers and strips of squash on the grill and a sweating cocktail in your left hand. Monday night we had pimento cheeseburgers with grilled onions and peppers. I bake frozen french fries in the oven and it's a meal. Last night I tried a foil packet, stuffed with sliced potatoes, onions, bell peppers and crumbled hamburger. Half an hour of unattended time later, everything was tender and ready to eat. I might make everything in foil packets ever. Next week will include hot dogs, in an effort to use some frozen hot dog buns. I might wrap them in bacon. We'll see. I bet the Amish could use grills if they wanted.

My attempt to make ice cream every week has not been successful, but last night I finally made the Spicy Mexican Brownie Chocolate Ice Cream I've had on the brain for weeks. It was crazy good.

And that's about it as we roll into August!

 

Round Robin Catchup

I did not mean to be away this long. Let's go through all the things:

Caleb: He's 18 months old! He got tubes! It went great! Truly, while I understood the risks around even minor surgery, getting tubes was very easy for us and him. Two weeks later he's been seen by his pediatrician and his ENT specialist, with pronouncements of "ears look great!" That's something I haven't heard in over a year now, and I'm crossing my fingers that this continues.

Caleb is so much fun at 18 months old. He runs, he climbs, he sleeps, he eats, he's learning a new word every other day. Earlier in the week I had to guess how many words he can say and my mind blanked. I guessed 10. Thinking about it later though, I think it's between 25 and 30, between family names, animal names and noises, please, thank you, etc. As for what he can understand?? Everything. I'm convinced he can understand 90% of what we say clearly to him. Probably not Brian and my's dinner table conversation when we talk church and theology, but he'll follow commands like "Go find Daddy" or "Go put your shoes in their basket" or "Stop whining, what do we say?" "Please."  He whines, a lot. That's my least favorite part of this stage. He doesn't use words for whining, just a whiny noise that he makes every time he wants something. It's rough and I find myself correcting him, a lot, along the lines of "Is that how we ask for something?" Then I make him sign please, sans whiny noise. It's probably a little much to ask an 18 month old, but I don't really care. I'm probably going to be a really strict mom. Oh well. In general he's a really great kid- he plays independently while I'm making dinner, with his blocks or trucks, or flipping through his books. He loves to roughhouse with Brian or on our bed. Flipping himself onto a pile of pillows and rolling around is his favorite activity. Watching him grow and learn is constantly entertaining!

The Garden: Oh my, the garden. I really, truly thought I'd be drowning in homegrown vegetables right now, late July. Instead, no. A trickle of tomatoes and cucumbers. Here's what happened:

First zucchini plant: Voles. Planted another, still small.
Yellow Squash: Squash vine borers. Gonna pull it this weekend.
Kale/Broccoli: Bugs. Heat. Gonna pull them this weekend.
Cucumber: Was great, now wilting, and not just from the heat. We'll see what happens.
Pole Beans: Jungle-esque vines, 0 beans. I don't know if they aren't being pollinated or what, but I'm about ready to take them down.
Purple cabbage: Hopefully still forming heads...
Bush beans: Produced a few beans, but are overshadowed by tomatoes and didn't get big.
Okra: Took forever, now overshadowed and crowded by other plants. Think I'm going to transplant them into the squash spot.
Delicata: Vine still looks good
Bell Peppers: Zero peppers.
Onions: Teensy-weensy 
Tomatoes: The only thing thriving. Everything's starting to ripen. 

I'm seriously considering just planting early peas and tomatoes next year. There are so many kinds of beautiful tomatoes, maybe I'll just focus on them. This year I've got a yellow pear (so pretty!), sungolds, red cherry tomatoes, some kind of medium red tomato and the heirloom brandywines. My only tomato issue is that my stakes aren't tall enough- the tomato vines are taller than I am. Next year I would consider planting some bush tomatoes, maybe a canning variety since bush tomatoes come in all at once.

This has been a rainy year, so I'm told. It seems rainy to me, I hardly ever water my garden. The heavy mulching I did with straw a couple months ago seems to hold in the moisture well. My front garden has a couple things too, my azaleas are blooming again.

In the Kitchen: Canning! I've been bit by the canning bug again, and I've put up blueberries, strawberries and peaches. We've been grilling a lot and I'm trying to keep our meals easy and simple, at least what I consider simple. 

Weekend: We've got a fun weekend ahead of us. Family is coming in town for a Bachelor weekend my husband is hosting. Thankfully my sister-in-law is coming as well, to play with Caleb and I. We're going to break out the new baby pool I bought last weekend!