Category: home; eating; food;

Summer Harvest Memories: From Garden to Table

There are two songs that ring in my head when I say the word summer. The first song is “Summertime and the livin is easy”, the other one is “We’re have’n a heatwave…a tropical heatwave!” I usually sing both these lines together and it works. They describe perfectly what summer in southern Ontario has been this year. It is a long time since I can recall having such a long hot summer. For those of us who are not our best in the heat it has been somewhat challenging. Still it has also been delightful for those who enjoy being outside on hot, sunny days. I must say I have avoided going out in the mid day just to avoid the heat. Still the early mornings and evenings are most often delightfully pleasant to be out and about. I only head out in mid day when I have to. It has been great beach and cottage weather for those who are fortunate to travel to both.

Time to Relax

What I love most about summer is the relaxed paced of strolling through my days. I have fewer commitments and more time to simply muse. I like to sleep in and linger over my morning coffee. I consider the simple things of life that can be overlooked when I get busy. I love to spend long hours reading a good novel! I leave the non-fiction for another time when I want to dig deeper.

Eating Local Produce

Now that summer is half over we are making our way through August. I find myself grateful for the summer harvest. There is nothing like a fresh ripe peach or the taste of a tomato right off the vine. I remember when I lived in the country and had a vegetable patch in our backyard. First the beans ripened. My then two year old daughter sat between the rows with a bowl between her legs. She helped pick the beans and also ate them. After the beans came the tomatoes. The first year I planted the garden I had no idea what I was doing. I planted twenty-two tomato plants. My neighbour laughed. I discovered later why. I had bushels of tomatoes that all seemed to ripen at once. I learned how to make and can everything tomato. I had shelves of chili sauce, spaghetti sauce, stewed tomatoes, and tomato juice! What I learned later is that sometimes canned tomatoes explode.

One day in the fall while making dinner upstairs in the kitchen I heard a crash downstairs. I went down to investigate and found two jars of exploded tomatoes all over the fruit cellar! I consulted with my neighbour who was experienced in canning. She explained to me that the seal was not tight and the tomatoes fermented. Needless to say I only planted 4 tomato plants the next year. We ate them fresh. No more canning for me.

Corn season has started here and the farmer’s markets are busy. Sadly, I must avoid the corn as my body can no longer digest it. I love the flavour of corn on the cob dripping with butter. Again, this is a memory of the past. Now is also the season for fresh dug new potatoes. Oh how love them. This time of year I am so blessed to savour the flavours of local produce. I love that the food I eat is grown in the soil close to where I live.

Choosing the Food We Eat All Year Round

We have all become so used to eating fruits and vegetable grown far away and transported into our community. I wonder what it would be like to only eat foods that are native to our own locale. I guess that is what the 100 mile diet is all about. What do you think dear reader? Do like to eat tropical foods from far off lands? Or do you like to eat local? I think I am more local though I do love tropical fruits like pineapple, oranges, lemons and limes. I also like vegetables that come in the winter like leafy greens that are grown in greenhouses.

There are so many choices now. We live in multicultural communities. The food offered in our local grocery stores and markets include a variety of fruits and vegetables. The foods are geared to so many different cuisines. We can choose whatever suits our pallet.

Gratitude and Privilege

We are so fortunate and privileged to have the choices we do. Sadly there are so many around the world who go to bed hungry every night or are malnourished. Knowing that is hard for me. Still I want to be grateful for our harvest bounty. Let’s take time to give thanks and remember how graced we are.

Posted on by Beth 0

The Allure of Fresh Baked Bread: A Staple of Home and Comfort

What is it about bread that draws us in? What makes us want to grab a slice and slather it with butter? There is nothing that feels quite like home more than the smell of fresh baked bread. In the days when people made their own bread from scratch, there was always a fresh loaf ready to be baked. Or there was always one just out of the oven. Today there are many people who own a bread maker. My daughter is one of them. What a treat to be able to walk in the house. Or wake up in the morning and be met with the smell of warm bread wafting through the air.

We had a tradition on Sunday afternoon in my house when I was growing up. My sister would make a big batch of bread dough and leave it sitting on the hearth of our fireplace. We would watch either golf or football with our dad. When the dough had risen sufficiently she would punch it down, knead it and let it rise a second time. An hour later it was ready to bake and we had warm bread fresh out of the oven with our dinner. What a real treat!

I loved the hard, crispy crust and the soft doughy inside of her bread. I loved how the butter soaked into the middle. It left a delicious taste in my mouth. I wanted another bite right away. Sometimes we had soup or stew. We used the bread to sop up the liquid or dunk it in the bowl. One restaurant I went to had a round loaf of bread. It was hollowed out and served their hardy soups and stews in it. I thought that was genius.

No matter where you go in the world, every culture has their version of bread. Examples include crusty Italian loaves, French baguettes, croissants, naan, pita, and roti. Bread is a staple of life all around the western world. I don’t know about China and Japan though. They are more about rice or noodles as a staple. Correct me if I am wrong.

Some people prefer pastries and sweets over a slice of bread. Not me. I could live on bread. Scriptures refer to the “bread of life”. We often hear about old folks who live on tea and toast, another favourite way to eat bread.

Bread has become a commodity that is sold in great quantities across North America. The production of bread has been taken up by large factory like assembly lines. The bread itself is filled with preservatives to make it last longer. It also contains all kinds of ingredients to supposedly make it taste better. Think of Wonder Bread for instance. It is soft doughy white bread. It contains all sorts of artificial additives to give it some sort of nutritional value. These additives also give it a long shelve life. Yet so many of us think of it as comfort food. It was the staple of our childhood, at least for many of us.

My mother wouldn’t buy Wonder Bread and I for one never understood why. The commercials on TV were so inviting and when I went to my friends houses where they ate Wonder Bread I was thrilled to have a bologna sandwich on white bread with yellow mustard. It was a real treat.

My mother made sandwiches that were really nutritious. They were filled with some sort of meat, mayo, mustard, lettuce, cucumber, and sliced tomatoes. Sometimes, she would add a slice of cheese and Spanish onion. We called them salad sandwiches because my mother was always trying to get us to eat more vegetables. For me, though, it was the bread that made the sandwich. Often we would have crusty kaiser buns or even better soft onion buns. One weekend my mother went to the local bakery and bought a fresh loaf of French stick. She sliced it in half lengthwise and built a sandwich along the whole loaf, adding all kinds of filling. When she was done she put the lid back on the loaf and cut it into thick slices. The slices were placed on a platter and everyone was invited to help themselves. There was always a dish of dill pickles, olives and sweet mixed pickles or baby gherkins.

This past weekend I was visiting a friend of mine whose family is from Lithuania. We talked about bread. In her family she remembers dark Russian rye bread smothered with liverwurst and covered with sliced cucumbers. I can taste it now and my mouth is watering.

Maybe it is the cooler temperatures, causing me to think about bread and all the accompanying treats, I don’t know. What I do know is bread is something that can offer us much food for thought. Nutrition is something that is very important to me. I am known to eat fast foods and food with very little nutritional value. Still I am interested in feeding my body what will give it the best ingredients to fuel my engines. So I look for the best bread possible.

So dear reader what are your memories and thoughts around bread? Are you a bread enthusiast or do you avoid bread? Do you make your own bread or do you have a favourite bakery you like to go to?

Let me know in the comments below what your favourite bread is and how you like to eat it. Till next time…..

Posted on by Beth 2