Kitchen Chick

The Bucket of Death: on flowers and vegetables and the insects that eat them

 

I have been killing cabbage worms for several weeks now, dealing death twice a day — morning and evening — to the munching green worms of cabbage destruction. I had been crushing the green worms under my thumb. Okay, just the tiny ones. I'm too squeamish to crush the big ones. They get tossed far away or ground under foot.

Today, however, I saw the summer's first Japanese beetles in my garden, and that required a new plan.

I had half-hearted-ly tried to control them in previous years, but this year, with my renewed beautiful veggie garden in their new raised beds and my mom's phlox and other flowers from her garden transplanted to my garden.

It was time to get serious, and preferably without chemicals.

Later I will apply nematodes and milky spore to go after the next generation when in their grub stage, but for now I have opted for the bucket of death, which I am pleased to say looks an awful lot like this bucket. I put a few inches of water and some dish soap into my trusty blue bucket, gloved up, and went off to wage war, up close and personal.

Before, the death I dealt to my insect foes was quick, but now I deal in drowning, and it is surprisingly satisfying, yet also a little disturbing. I try not to look too closely as my captured foes go to their watery graves. I dropped cabbage worms into soapy suds, shook beetles from flower petals, and even knocked one right out of the air and into the bucket as it was flying. I stood vigilant and quiet, surveyed the battle field for the enemy, learned to identify the flight style and patterns of the beetle versus bees and wasps. Even scolded a bee for getting annoyed at my presence. Listen, bee, I'm defending your food source. Get out of my way.

The Japanese beetles are not getting my mom's phlox.

That's really all I have to say about it.

The mostly flower side of my garden, including the echinacea and phlox that Japanese beetles do love.

 

The mostly veggie side of the garden.

Camp Bacon - the best summer camp ever

 

The Bacon Dinner sold out within days, but the other events are still open. If you're not sure whether you want to spend a lot of money on this, you can check it out FOR FREE at the Artisan Market on Sunday! 

We'll be at the Artisan Market.  Last year, Joe went to the equivalent event and they had a lot of amazing samples -- different kinds of artisan bacon, pork belly courtesy of San Street, the list goes on.  Last year, they also had some Ojibwe dishes using bacon; those won't be there this year, but we're excited to see what they come up with instead...

Sunny-side up egg over chorizo-spiced pork and potatoes

During the weekdays, my breakfasts are simple and fast, and often eaten in snatched bites as I finish getting ready for work. Oatmeal or a bowl of cold cereal, sometimes topped with fresh fruit, and water. On the weekends, however, I get to cook something fun.

One of my favorite easy savory weekend breakfasts is chopped hard chorizo pan fried, diced potatoes pan fried in the flavorful oil left behind by the chorizo, and a fried egg. But I don't always have chorizo on hand. Fortunately, this very flexible dish can be made with sausage, diced ham, or ground pork. This morning, I used ground pork seasoned with chorizo sausage seasoning, ancho chili powder, and whole coriander and a touch of cayenne to add more heat, but you can use any number of different seasonings such as regular chili powder or for a smoky flavor chipotle chilie powder. Don't want a Southwest theme? What about diced ham with sage and garlic? The possibilities are endless.

I don't have amounts or even exact spice suggestions. This is one of those dishes I throw together, and season according to how I want them that day.

Fried Egg Over Spicy Potatoes and Meat

• Potatoes — I use red skin or yukons.  Peeled, and diced around 1/2 inch size.
• Meat — chopped if needed to a similar size as the potatoes. Your choice: good options are chorizo, sausage, ground pork, ham
• garlic — a few cloves, crushed and peeled
• spices — if your meat is unseasoned, you'll want to spice it. Examples: chili powder, ancho chili powder, coriander. But you can use whatever combination you enjoy.
• garlic — a few crushed cloves
• salt
• eggs

Peel and chop potatoes in about 1/2 inch size. Soak potatoes in a bowl of cold water to remove excess starch.

Chop the chorizo or sausage or ham. If using ground pork, mix with salt and spices. Possible spices are chorizo sausage seasoning, chili powder, coriander seeds.  Heat a bit of oil in a saute pan large enough to accommodate your potatoes and meat. Cook your meat but not dry. Remove from pan and leave any flavored oil behind.

While the meat is cooking you can drain the potatoes. I like to put the drained potatoes in a clean kitchen towel and shake out excess water.

Cook potatoes and crushed garlic in same pan. Add extra oil if necessary. Season with salt and add a bit of extra spices, especially if there wasn't enough spicy oil to flavor them. I like to use ancho chili powder. Cover and cook until done. Periodically press the garlic into and turn potatoes periodically to keep them from sticking to the pan too much, and to get the other sides to crisp up a bit. Want them crispier, then don't cover as that traps moisture. When potatoes are just about done, add meat, stir to mix, taste and correct for seasonings, and set to low to keep warm.

Heat pan, preferably non-stick, with a touch of oil. Cook eggs until desired done-ness. I like sunny-side up, but you can cook until set or even flip them to get both sides. I don't usually cook with non-stick pans, but they are fabulous for frying eggs.

Serve an egg over a serving of potatoes and meat along with some tabasco or your favorite hot sauce.

Frita Batidos — Review in February Current, Photo Essay here!

Our Current review of Frita Batidos is up (for more descriptive details have a look and feel free to rate it), and here are our photos from that visit.  This place has made it onto our short list at present, so we've been back there multiple times and can say that they're still good.  We'd avoid them at peak times, though, because it gets crowded. 

The fish frita has gotten spicier and more exciting, by the way...

 

Conch fritters -- very tasty!  With various sauces.

 

A flock of fritas!  Clockwise from back left: beef, chorizo with everything ("frita loco"), chorizo with fried egg, fish.

 

Back:  Inspired Cuban, front: Cuban Sloppy Joe (basically, a brioche roll filled with picadillo, which is excellent).

 

Sides:  clockwise from left, "beans, rice, salsa, and cheese", black beans, coconut ginger rice.

 

Plantains: back, with cinnamon sugar; front, twice-fried ripe plantains.

 

Rum soaked pineapple.

Roasted Bok Choy

I was helping Tammy cook one of her supper club dinners, and we had to do something quick with the baby bok choy she bought. I don't like bok choy all that much. A bite or two is fine, but otherwise... meh. But I don't care for cauliflower all that much, and I love it roasted. And I didn't think I liked brussel sprouts either... until I tried them roasted. (Deep fried is also good.) So we roasted the bok choy, and it turned out pretty darn good. Good enough that even Joe ate his serving (though he qualified it with saying that he's still not a big fan). Good enough that I made some for myself the next day. Twice.

Roasted (or broiled) Baby Bok Choy
The leaves crisp up quickly, while the body of the bok choy retains its water and crunchiness.

Baby bok choy (The tiny ones that are around 4-5 inches long. Tammy found hers at a local Asian grocery store)
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Black pepper

Heat oven to 400-450 F, or you can use your broiler if you have a good hot one.

Halve the bok choy. Toss with a bit of olive oil (It doesn't take much!) and kosher salt and pepper to taste. Spread boy choy in single layer on cookie sheet. The oil should keep them from sticking to the pan, but you can use parchment paper or a silicone baking mat if you prefer.

Roast at a nice high temp 400-450-ish F until leaves are crispy and beginning to blacken. Watch them carefully or you'll end up with blackened bok choy! Alternatively, you can put them under a broiler. When I made the bok choy shown above, I used the broiler setting in our toaster oven rather than heat my large oven.

Variations: add some zested lemon or lemon juice, or perhaps a bit of mirin or sherry.