Author: Mark Linton

I would like to thank Bruce Cole over at Saute Wednesday for adding me to his Food Blogs links.

Breakfast was a glass of orange juice, two cups of coffee, scrambled eggs, and three links of maple venison/pork sausage.

Lunch was two slices of banana bread, and a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Dinner was a (roasted) rolled rump roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, pop overs, two glasses of 2000 Vendange California Cabernet Sauvignon, and a piece of Angel Food Cake. A wonderful traditional meat-and-potatoes, Sunday dinner end to a wonderful weekend to end a wonderful vacation.

The apples in the orchard are blooming…

…and the lettuce has germinated.

Breakfast was two Krispy Kreme doughnuts that Gretchen’s sister picked up for us, a glass of orange juice, and two cups of coffee.

Lunch was a bowl of spilt pea soup and a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

We took a break this afternoon and I had another Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Dinner was pan fried haddock, asparagus fried in bacon fat, and a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Yes, the asparagus was amazing. Try it some time. Stop boiling that poor asparagus. Roast it if you must, but you have to try frying it. Grab as much asparagus as you would normally serve per person. Wash it and slice it on the diagonal into inch long pieces. In a large skillet over a medium heat, render the fat from one strip of bacon for each person you are serving. When crisp, remove the bacon to a paper towel and reserve for later. Add the asparagus to the skillet and sauté until tender, but not mushy. You can accelerate the cooking by adding a lid to the skillet. When you serve it, crumble the reserved bacon over the asparagus. For an extra touch, top with some grated Parmesan cheese. Delicious!

The dogwood has opened.

As has the crab apple.

And we have our first harvest of asparagus!

Breakfast was a slice of ham, hash brown potatoes, two cups of coffee, and a glass of orange juice. I weighed 158 pounds.

Lunch was a bowl of multi-bean and ham soup, a glass of Redwood Creek Merlot, and some peanuts… all while sitting on the front porch.

Dinner was a steak salad, and two Sierra Nevada Pale Ales.

Gretchen and I were talking with Verne, her father, and mentioned that the remaining potatoes we have in cold storage were sprouting, since the cold room was warming up with the weather, and we were worried about loosing all of the potatoes we had left. He recalled that one of his most hated chores as a boy was to pick the sprouting potatoes out of the storage bin and break the sprouts off so they would keep longer.

The temperature in our cold room is up to about 55°F and the ideal temperature for storing potatoes is around 40°F with high humidity — around 85%. Well, it turns out that those are just about the same conditions that exist in the vegetable crisper of your refrigerator. So now ours is filled with de-sprouted potatoes… and it seems to work. The potatoes are noticeably firmer.

We planted a new flowering crab apple tree this morning, down along the driveway.

Later in the afternoon, we planted the potatoes.

First I tilled the area we were going to plant. (Look! I’m a Troy-Bilt ad.)

Next, we hooked up a gadget to the tiller that digs a trench for the potatoes.

According to Fortune, this is how to store coffee:

If possible, buy beans within two to three days of roasting, and purchase no more than you can drink within a week. Roasted whole beans remain fresh for up to two weeks, but if exposed to light, heat or humidity, they’ll make a less than stellar brew.

To store, tightly reseal open bags of beans with a clip or rubber band and tuck them into an airtight opaque container. Store beans in a cool spot away from the stove, but not in the refrigerator or the freezer. [Food Network Kitchens]

There is more detail at Food Networks.

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Food Network Kitchens. “How to buy and store beans for fresher coffee.” Alameda Times-Star. 28 April 2004. <www.timesstar.com/Stories/0,1413,125~1549~2113210,00.html> (29 April 2004).