SWEET ONION HONEY DIPPING SAUCE RECIPE

This is a delicious dipping sauce we recently discovered.  I am not sure the origin, but it sure is good!

The sweetness of the honey, then the cayenne pepper kick, and the zestiness of the green onions, delicious!  Unfortunately, for some reason, my picture didn't come out the last time we made this.

So I got to thinking, since it's so simple and easy, why not just show the ingredients before they end up in the final product?  So here they are.  Four ingredients.

Ingredients:

1 cup sour cream

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup finely chopped green onions (both green and white portions)

1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (more or less according to heat preference)

salt and pepper to taste

In small bowl, combine all ingredients, cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Simple and quickly done, makes a great dipping sauce for either fried or fresh vegetables.

Enjoy!

PAINTER UPDATE AGAIN

From what 2nd Family tells me, the painter came last week and did something, I would assume it's the test spots for texture on the walls, but he never called me to say it was done.

Now in all fairness, he was going to texture one day and then wait for that to dry and paint another time.  But I'm not sure if that's been done yet.  What worries me is that maybe he went out to do it and ran into problems on those "old walls" and maybe it's not ready for us to look at it.  I called him today and left a message and will wait to see.  We're anxious to get the ball rolling on the paint. 

Once we have the repairs and painting done, we'll be on to the floors and when that's finished, the interior will be ready for us to start the fun part...decorating.  Of course we might not have any funds left by then, but hey, a couple of window units, an inflatable air mattress, a portable fridge and some sandwich stuff, and we can spend the days out there and stay overnight if we are too tired to drive back to the city.

WATERMELON RADISH

How pretty is THIS??

Watermelon Radish

This is a vegetable I've never had before but saw it on a recent tv cooking show and thought I needed to research it some more.  It might be something cool (and unsual) to grow on the farm.

It gets it's name of course from the fact that you slice it open and it's got the brilliant pink interior that looks more like a Watermelon that a Radish.

The are very easy to grow (as are most radishes) and seeds can be found almost anywhere.  Their flavor is said to be much sweeter and not as "spicy" as regular radishes.  Radishes are divided into Spring and Winter, these fall into the Spring category.  That gives me hope that we might be able to have some at the farm next Spring.  I'll see if I can sneak it onto our "must have" list of things to grow.

As for cooking, they can creamed and served as a side dish, added to stir fries, braised and sauteed, pickled, diced and put into soups and stews, served with dressing in a salad, or even raw in a vegetable platter.  Don't be afraid to try something new, you might just have a brand new favorite!

BEEKMAN BLAAK CHEESE REVIEW

Well, the Beekman 1802 Blaak cheese arrived.  It was very well packaged.  What looks like a label is actually a card that has the Beekman 1802 Blaak name on the front and detailed instructions on the back showing you how to serve and care for your Blaak cheese.  

Upon removing the string and card, you find that the cheese is double wrapped.  This keeps it fresh and presentable.  When unwrapping, you'll see the care with which they take at Beekman 1802 in making sure your cheese gets to you exactly as it left Sharon Springs, NY (their hometown).

Here it is unwrapped and in all of it's beautiful "Blaakness".  The choice of coating the rind in the black wood ash gives this a very striking appearance.  It is sure to wow your guests when presented. We would recommend a white serving dish for presentation.  Yes, the black ash is food safe and edible, actually adding a slight smoky flavor to the overall bite.  

A word of caution, the black ash on the rind does come off very easily, as you can see on 2nd Man's hands, but all that means is you need to be careful when cutting and don't wipe your hands on your clothing.  We found that simply using a paper towel or piece of wax paper was enough to keep yourself clean.  It's a fair trade off for such a great end result and we think it's kind of fun.

This is a semi-hard cheese.  It's more like what you might think of in an Italian style of cheese.  A little salty, yet deeply earthy and savory.  If you are worried about the goat cheese taste that some find a little too much (we don't), this has none of that.  It's a 60/40 blend of milks (60% goat/40% cow) so it creates a rich flavor with just a hint of the acidity that you get with goat cheese and yet you still have all the mellowness of a cow's milk cheese.

For best taste and texture, let it come to room temperature.  It slices beautifully, no crumbling at all, and the black coated rind is just visually stunning when served.  Yes, you can eat the rind, it's firm yet gives just enough to blend with the cheese perfectly.  It's a seamless transition from where the rind ends and the cheese begins.  We served it with some roasted Italian sausage, tomatoes and balsamic, toasted homemade bread and a glass of Malbec.  You can see a picture of that dinner here.  The next morning, we had fresh bread with some of my famous jalapeno jelly (more on that in a future post).  Wow, the sweetness and spiciness of the jelly was a fabulous compliment to the cheese.  Bottom line, we LOVED it!  We've only had it three days and we are 1/4 of the way into the wheel!  Our only regret is we don't have more!  We would recommend that you get on the waiting list to get some the next time it's available...this is a seasonal and aged cheese so it's not available year round.  You aren't obligated to buy it, it just lets you know the next time it's ready.  You can do that at their website HERE.

So a fabulous THANK YOU to the Fabulous Beekman Boys for being not only an inspiration, but producing a delicious and quality cheese that will be the hit of any dinner (or a midnight raid on the fridge, shhh, just don't tell 2nd Man).

VINTAGE CANNING POSTER SUNDAY

Canning Poster

This is another pretty cool poster.  Not specifically tied to the war effort, but still I'm sure it was out at the same time.  Really practical words at the bottom.  If you have a fruit garden, you ought to use a canner!

My thoughts exactly!  We will be planting several different fruit trees and some berry bushes / vines, so I will be using a canner.  I've already dabbled, as you know from reading the blog, so I can't wait to try more!

MASON JAR CHICKEN FEEDER CANDY DISH / DISPENSER

Chicken Feeder Candy Dish

I SO want a few of these scattered around the house at the farm.

There is really no DIY here, the instructions are pretty simple.

You can buy these chicken feeders at many places online.

Then you fill a fresh, clean mason jar with small candies, such as M&M's or, as in this picture, Jelly Beans.  You could even use gum balls or nuts.

Screw the jar on, and enjoy.

It's simple, retro, and OH so "farmhouse"!

HOUSTON WATER RESTRICTIONS STAGE 2

Well, with temps over 100 degrees for so long, and a record drought occurring, it was bound to happen sooner or later...Houston is now under what is called Stage II Water restrictions.

Here is the "official" watering schedule:

Click to enlarge

No outdoor irrigation on non watering days.  It's divided up via even numbered and odd numbered addresses.  There seemed to be some confusion as to the times, and what they mean.

I have confirmed with a city employee that if it is your day to water, based on your house number, you have between 12:01am - 10am in the morning, and 8:00pm and 12:00am at night, on YOUR designated watering day.

This water usage restriction applies to all irrigation systems, sprinklers on hoses, washing your car, filling pools, ponds, fountains, etc.

There seems to be some confusion about watering by hand with a hose and/or watering watering bucket.  I've read it both ways,   My thinking is they figure most people wouldn't stand around outside for hours in this heat watering.  Sprinklers and "unattended" systems like that allow for water to run for hours at a time and this is what the city is trying to prevent.  I will call the City of Houston 311 number on Monday to clarify that issue.

UPDATE:  I made some calls to 311, as well as checked a couple of online forums and hand watering is  OK, using a hose, bucket, watering can, etc.  It's the unattended systems they don't want (and that includes a hose with a sprinkler).  You can even water your lawn by hand using your hose, just no sprinkler.  That doesn't really matter to us as we've sort of given up on the front yard anyway.  I'll water on the days I can, but as we have a lot of clay pots in the backyard (not to mention the pecan trees we bought earlier this summer), they must have water every day or they will die.  I will continue to water those every morning before work.

You can go the official city website with all the rules HERE.

There are plenty of links to other water issues...conserving our water is important ANY time of year.
Until then, remember:

COMPACT FLUORESCENT BULBS - GREEN LIVING

Green Farm Living

A couple of the bulbs at the farm (in closets) needed to be replaced.  These are the old school kind of lights with pull chains.  One reason is we needed something brighter since it was in a closet, and another reason is the bulbs are a bit closer to the wall than we'd feel comfortable with and so we were wanting something that doesn't get as hot as a regular bulb.

When I was shopping for bulbs, I remembered that we wanted to make sure we try to live as green as we can in this farmhouse. So for the first time ever, I bought compact fluorescent light bulbs.

Compact Fluorescent Bulb

They are more expensive than a regular bulb of course, but according to the package, they will last several times longer than a standard incandescent bulb (in some cases up to TEN times longer).  They also burn cooler, which of course was important for the closets, and they use less electricity.


When you are shopping for bulbs, they will show the "lumens" on the package.  This is the amount of light that a bulb puts out.  What you want to look at is see how much light the regular bulb puts out, and then compare to the compact fluorescent.  They don't match up "watt for watt".  For example, a 75 watt regular bulb is not the same wattage in one of these.  I bought a 4 pack, which seemed a better deal than buying them individually.  For now I put them in the three closets and one in the bathroom.  On first glance, they are bright, have a nice white color, and best of all, don't get hot.


The official EnergyStar website has lots of information about the bulbs and links to other websites.  You can visit it HERE.


Since we are finishing a house from scratch, we want to use green alternatives when we can.  We'll use these bulbs throughout the house wherever we can, in lamps and light fixtures, etc.  I'll report in after awhile of using them and let you know how we like them in regular everyday use.

FRIDAY NIGHT DINNER WITH THE BLAAK CHEESE

Dinner

Here is tonight's dinner, featuring our newest acquisition, the Beekman Blaak cheese, direct from Sharon Springs, NY.


Heirloom tomatoes with aged Balsamic vinegar, homemade toasted farmhouse bread, oven roasted Italian sausage, a glass of Malbec, and of course, the Blaak.

More later this weekend, including our review of the cheese
(hint: it was goooood!)

COKE BOTTLES AS VASES

Not sure who to give credit for on this, I found it randomly online not attached to a website.  I think it's a very pretty way of using flowers and Coke bottles to create a fun and vibrant centerpiece.

Coke Bottle Vases

Certainly would be cheap to do.  You could even use different bottles to coordinate your flowers with the colors on the label of what you are using.  Maybe even use someone's favorite brand of soda or beer?

Very neat!

THE BLAAK CHEESE HAS ARRIVED

Our Fabulous Beekman Boys Blaak cheese arrived at the office yesterday.  The ice packs were melted (it was 103 afterall) and so it was immediately put in the refrigerator at the office to keep it cold until I got home.  Then it was transferred to the home fridge, awaiting our first taste test. 





Beekman Blaak photo courtesy
of: http://www.beekman1802.com/



Can't wait to try it.  We have a new bottle of wine to try (a new Malbec) so tonight, I'm thinking we might just have a dinner of wine, heirloom tomatoes, homemade bread and cheese!

We'll let you know!

INSPIRATION THURSDAY



English Garden Path



While we don't have hillsides like this (gotta go further West to the "Hill Country" for that), I do like the idea of a path that meanders along and vanishes around the bend.  It's like it beckons you to follow it and see what mysteries lie at the end.

OK, maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I still like this, it inspires me.

Have a great day and I'll be back here tomorrow with updates and other fun stuff!