Holiday Cheer

Get rid of holiday blues

Be simple

Be kind

Make 

wreaths

fir branches, collect 

pine cones, eucalyptus, 

no poison ivy Toyon holly thornless

cactus is gorgeous but succulents are easy

green / red plants, wire, hangers, gloves, fishing line

bunches work same as cooking raw spinach, shrinks down.

Spruce, juniper berry, marjoram, pine essential oils no diffuser?

few drops on a plate cheer your soul

Be simple

Be kind

Hot soup - 

roast pumpkin cut in half 

(seeds removed skin on, soft face up to moon) 

generous olive oil in the pan, sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg

bake until the flesh is caramel brown and the house smells yummy

No pumpkin? Use butternut squash, fine chop: onion and garlic

portions unmentioned, saute in olive oil in big pot until clear 

add stock, salt, pepper, curry, add roasted gourd in the pot 

and simmer. Check and smash as it steams

To put in bowls use a spoon

of Greek yogurt

or go ahead

add heavy 

whipping

 cream 

Share 

with 

great 

bread

Melting Hat Story

Woman waits for her ride,

brown bag covers white hair.

Sorrel melts in the rain.

Linda asks, "You need a lift?"

"No, my friend is in route."

Inside the Pack and Ship store

lights shine on bubble wrap.

Linda enters, buzzer rings.

She's on camera overhead.

"May I ask a favor?" 

Man looks up from his T. V.

"No." he answers.

"See the lady out front?"

"Yeah, she sent a package."

"May she wait inside from the storm?

He looks up queerly, "Sure, You know her?"

"No but thank you kindly, really thank you."

Linda returns to the barrage, shouting over noise

of traffic and hail.

"Come inside. I'll wait for out here your friend."

"She might miss me?"

Linda insists, the old woman explains 

the make and model of the driver's car.

Windshield wipers of Linda's car keep

time with music on the radio. 

The woman now inside the store, 

with the man,

he  leans forward over the counter.

They smile.

Tamale Share Story

Rose waits in line at the mercado for masa. 

Grandmother's gone, but she holds 

 traditions of preparing tamales for 

Christmas Eve. 

The opportunity gathers teenage children 

as a binding party before the holiday. 

Ten dozen tamales 

pork, chicken, and pineapple

The recipe takes 120 ojas (cornhusks) and 

fifteen pounds of prepared masa. 

Rather than mix cornmeal, shortening oil, 

baking powder, and salt by

hand she orders pre-made dough. 

Braised and pulled meats steam at home. 

Daughter stirs the fillings and juices.

The mercado cannot locate the woman in front of Rosa's order. 

"Sold out, perhaps tomorrow, after six, we'll have extra to sell."

The woman ahead of Rosa looks down as if to cry.

"The bus doesn't run tomorrow, I planned to make these

tonight for my Bisabuela in the rest home with extra for nurses."

"Sorry, tomorrow, next in line."

Rosa interjects,"how many pounds do you need?"

"Five, it's okay, I'll buy the dry ingredients and start right away, maybe

I'll have them ready for lunch tomorrow.

"Cut a third off my order." Rosa says.

Caroline Gerardo copyright 12/25/2016

Fall Simmer

I love Fall

Simmer garlic, onions, peppers and squash...

Vegetables picked before I let the chickens out at dawn.

Shush don't point to poultry there's feed in the lower garden.

You'll find it strange if I tell the names of the chooks.

Dixie is a speckled Sussex. She's first. 

Dixie leads a chick band, though she isn't the largest or a rooster. 

Dixie is the daughter of my neighbor's male from his rogue visit.

Yesterday I picked the last pumpkins up from the raised beds, 

they stand guard outside the front gate. 

Chickens will eat pumpkins before Halloween if inside.

Last night coyotes yelped and hollered at three A.M. 

With mag flashlight in hand, 

I went out to have a meeting with them.
They know I have a shotgun.

"Want me to drive down to the barn and settle this?" I yell.

They gather, silent. No snickers about my nightgown.
Answer came from Dr's barn in the canyon where 

puppies cry and the big dogs growl.

Ursula Major and Minor point towards

solar lights in the valley below. 

Glow shares from stars to crescent moon,
platinum against a cloudless dome.

Coyotes look up with me in that moment.

The pack's paws crunch on ash leaves,
scattered on rocks, now become softer.

Coy wolves leave without argument. 

"Try luck with bucks grazing in the oak grove," 

I whisper to their long gone tails. 

Copyright October 8 2016 Caroline Gerardo

Recipe:

3 garlic cloves cut very fine

1 whole onion (type you have) chopped well

1 bell pepper chopped up (more coarse than the first two)

1 carrot chopped fine

saute above in cheap olive oil on medium about a tablespoon of oil

1 cup chopped squash - you pick the type - but peel it

add squash to saute and cook a minute

add 2 cups vegetable stock or chicken stock (don't tell my chickens about the stock)

tablespoon thyme leaves yes not teaspoon

1/2 teaspoon oregano

tiny sea salt to taste start with 1/4 teaspoon depending if stock is salted then none

tablespoon of soy sauce

hot peppers to taste (this amount and type up to YOU)

Allow to simmer

do you have a hot soup blender? use it to cream half the soup

You don't have a soup blender then use your fork best you can

If you like creamy add 1/2 cup greek nonfat yogurt at the end just as you serve

slice basil in threads and place about a tablespoon on top

Yummy soup is ready

Happy #NationalFarmDay

My neighbor's pen

Zucchini Flower Recipe

A twist on my Noni'e recipe

Easy delicious flavors that remind me of Grandma.

I grow zucchini. It is the easiest vegetable for my climate zone.
In late summer the green goblins take over my garden.
I was longing to make these so bought the flowers at the
farmer's market on Sunday

Ingredients:
3 eggs (toss 2 yolks)
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 cup flour (use gluten free if you like)
1/2 cup panko flakes
about 1 cup of cheap olive oil (not EVOO)
teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
about 24 flowers
couple paper towels


Mix 3 egg whites and one yolk with milk in a wide bowl.
Wisk for 20 seconds with a fork

on a plate spread the panko and flour and stir together

mix salt pepper turmeric and garlic powder in a tiny bowl
put 1/4 in the liquid and 3/4 of the spice into the dry

Heat a heavy pan on the stove add 1/8 cup oil to pan
allow to get hot 1 minute

after you rinse and air dry the flowers
dip each one into milk then roll in dry mixture
Your hands get gooey, dry them off.
Wet first dry second-
the yellow flowers will look flaky not "caky."

Drop the flowers into the pan and allow to lightly saute for
less than a minute each side. Keep face back it can spit.
The flowers should have space around them as they cook.
Put cooked flowers on top of a plate with
a paper towel to drain any excess oil.
If the oil turns brown, dump, wipe the frying pan dry
 and add a new 1/8 cup- olive oil, enough
to line the bottom. You don't want bits of burned panko
in the oil.
Continue cooking each batch

Total time about 12 minutes from preparation to done

You might sprinkle with sea salt when done
Serve right away.

My children like lemon juice lightly drizzled I gobble mine
before dinner.

my kitchen window

Fruit salad, olives, artichokes and sorry they ate all the flowers before dinner

My Noni lived to 89 years old.

Jam Recipe

The nights cool.
Bad dog ate a winter melon on Saturday.
The melon was larger than her four pound body.
I brought the last one to my sister - my nephews
ate it in their driveway without a napkin.
Juice running down their arms
Alex says, "I've never had one."
Every year I give them a few.
I hadn't planned on sharing with the dogs.

The last sunflowers
Gave to a friend diagnosed with cancer.
She asked me to talk about the
pros and cons of pursuing aggressive treatment.
The Japanese have an intense chemo and radiation that
either the treatment kills you or you recover.
Transfusions, lethargy, days by the toilet bowl are things
I never discussed before.
Surprised how open I could be.

The French plums
Mosquito netting over trees
Unattractive but effective - or
songbirds steal my crops.
I make balls of peanut butter and millet,
fill the feeders with black niger
and elaborate tricks to keep the mice away.
Funny there is barely enough to make jam.
I'll share the recipe with you below.

winter melon from the garden

French plums, perhaps they are Italian the first seed came from NONI

Wash then Cut in half and toss pits 12 lb of ripe plums
4 cups sugar
box pectin
tablespoon almond extract
8 pint jars - sterilized ( boil for 5 minutes jar and lid)

Put plum and sugar in large pot medium heat.
Allow to slow bubble for ten minutes.
Don't let it roll boil- stir to keep from getting a scummy top of bubbles.
Don't let it stick to bottom.
Use a pot with a thicker bottom.
Allow to cool
You are going to cook four times.
This may require a glass of wine and music
The last cooking add the almond extract.
Examine how thick the mixture is.
If it is dense as toothpaste you may not need the pectin.
There is natural pectin in the fruit -
all depends on the scientific qualities
of your soil, sun and water.
I'm an organic gardener.
I suggest you add half the box of sure jell
for the last bubbling to be certain the jam sets correctly.
Read about sterilization and keeping the jars and lids free of any bacterium or
molds.
(The complete jars can be placed back into near boiling water to super
seal them BUT sometimes they break and there you have claret colored glass
shards and sticky explosion...)
Label the jars and share the rich taste of homemade jam.

You can strain the skins with a colander on the second cook, (sounds
like Walter White lol)
but I prefer to leave them in. By the time you heat the plums the
fourth time the skins are tiny flecks of burgundy.