what is snow good for? cooling off things quickly!
in this case, a pot of vermicelli for a shrimp/vermicelli salad with avocado, carrot, green onions and cilantro.
and the second pot contained macaroni for a chicken/macaroni salad with apple, celery and pecans.
here's a delicious supper from the other night - veg stirfry.
well, it finally has come to pass that we can no longer leave this cedar at the front of the house.
the previous owner probably bought a little bush, planted it here and didn't realize how big it would get. it's roots are destroying our foundation and it bangs against the house when it is windy, which is pretty much always. neither of us wanted to cut this beautiful guy down, but he is actually dying on the backside. jambaloney used his trusty ryobi saw.
and quickly cut him down. we will make use of our beautiful cedar - jambaloney will use the bigger tree parts to make handles for hand tools, while the smaller limbs and leaves will be run throught the chipper to make some wonderful mulch.
on to seed starting - woohoo! this is our set-up for starting seeds indoors. pay no mind to the bowl of cat snacks.
we bought the greenhouse thingy and plastic cover about 6 yrs ago for about $40. it takes up a huge area in our kitchen, which is already too small, but it is really worth it! we put it in front of our second kitchen door so that the seeds have natural light all day. but if you notice the big wood thing on the outside was built by jambaloney. on each side are 2 fluorescent lights. here they are turned on.
we find that the natural light and fluorescent light makes for strong plants which don't get too leggy before they are brought out to the greenhouse or transplanted into the ground. i have been using the same styrofoam cups and plastic containers for years. i fill them up with a combination of our compost and horse manure that we get from a guy. with a little peat moss mixed in. the seeds love that combination! i haven't started any seeds yet - i will wait a few days. we have another snow storm coming tomorrow and thursday - so maybe friday. there are currently 73 cups that will be planted with tomatoes and peppers. as you can see, there is room for more so i will start some other things as well next week.
brussel sprouts are out and there is nothing i love more than brussel sprouts! here's some fried in butter with some spinach - a great way to start the day!
we love veggie stirfries around here!
and here is all of the ingredients needed to make a wicked shrimp pasanda.
i like to make all of my curries or spice mixes myself. kinda looks tiny in the picture - teehee.
but we enjoyed shrimp pasanda and jambaloney's delicious sticky rice.
jambaloney makes the most awesome rice in the world whether it's sticky rice, basmati, brown or white. his trick? he uses our 10yr old rice maker, rinses the rice several times, fills the bowl with rice and water to the appropriate amount and then adds a good dollop of almond oil to it. the almond oil makes all of the difference!
he is at work today and tomorrow for 2 long days - crab season starts next week and everyone at Lobsters 'R Us are in full swing getting ready for it. lobster season will start on april 20 and it looks like a promising year!
i am here with 4 lazy, depressed cats and i totally understand. it's grey out again today and if we don't start seeing something resembling spring soon - i'm gonna lose it!
i hope you all are keeping busy and having a wonderful day!
I hate it when we have to cut a tree down. But, sometimes they are just in the wrong place. So glad that Jam will make good use of it. As usual your food looks delicious. Hope spring heads your way sooner rather than later!
ReplyDeleteyou and me both Dallas! i hate cutting down trees - for that matter - we hate cutting our grass and only cut what absolutely has to be cut! jam will make great use of that cedar. thank you for the compliment. and i think that spring is finally on it's way. xoxo
DeleteI do the same steps as Jambaloney making rice except for the dollop of almond oil. I'll have to give that a try next time.
ReplyDeletethe almond oil works really well with basmati, jasmine, sticky, brown and white rice. it adds a little more nuttiness to the flavour. xox
DeleteI've had to take down some trees here, and I really hated doing it. Big poplars and Maples, mostly. But when they get diseased, they represent a real threat. People get killed up here in the mountains by trees falling on their houses at night during storms.
ReplyDeletePoor Cedar tree. It wanted to grow up, so it could become shakes to repair my house. All of the the cedar shakes I buy at Home Depot come from Canada.
yes Harry - we feel the same way. but in your situation you have to take them down. bahahahaha! i read your second paragraph to jambaloney and we got a good kick out of it! xoxox
DeleteAwesome!! And delish. Crazy to see your snow, I just got our garden planted last weekend (post up today with pics) and worked on flower beds too. I broke a sweat, ha. Gotta love weather!! Hugs to you!
ReplyDeleteyes, i have garden envy seeing all of you southerners putting your gardens - ya show-off - bahahahah! hugs back to both of you! xoxox
DeleteWe have had to cut trees down since being here, but to date I have planted just over 1000 new ones, unfortunately the previous owner neglected the trees and hedge lines and we had a fair bit of taming to do.
ReplyDeletei have been watching all of the work that you guys are doing, Dawn - great job! i can't wait to see how the new hedge grows in! xox
DeleteFood looks AMAZING! Yum
ReplyDeleteSome people were really upset when we cut down the trees here. But they were sucking all the moisture out of the ground and were hitting the house in bad weather. Let alone the biggest was rotten right through the middle. sometimes lovely trees are dangerous.
Hope the weather gets better soon! it was warm here today. 20 oC when I left work! And I accidentally got sun and wind burn on Sunday in Cornwall. It was an excellent day for sailing!
thanks a bunch Sol! and as much as we don't like it - that cedar had to come down, just like your biggest one that was rotten in the middle.
Deleteoh an excellent day for sailing - can't wait! and i love my first sun and wind burn of the year - bahahahah! xoxo
Hi Kymber :)) I love coming to your blog, you always have such beautifully plated meals, they look very appetizing! I wish I could eat avocado, but that's my worst allergy, it always looks so creamy and delicious though. You seem to have a good supply of fresh fruit! The fruit at the grocery stores here are tiny and dried up, ick. I stick to frozen berries and (as fresh as I can get) apples all winter. I can't wait to taste some really juicy oranges though!
ReplyDeleteWe're having more snow this weekend too and the pets are all fine dozing and hanging out in the yard, but I need something! I'm reading some boogs on Hygge, the Danish way of making life very cozy. It's a very interesting concept, I found the books online to download.
I love your indoor seed-starting greenhouse. I don't think we can set that up right now, but it's something I would love to have at our new place in a few years.
Just reading "crab" and "lobster" season makes my mouth water. I remember the lovely seafood available when I lived on PEI and in Moncton...it's such a treat!
ah thank you so much Rain - that's very sweet of you to say. oh crap - no avocadoes? i think i would die! as for our fresh fruit and veg from the store - we have an awesome Atlantic Superstore in our 2 big cities - lots of organic fruits and veggies! they might not be local but they are at least organic. we try to eat as locally as possible but we also like to include a variety of food in our diets.
Deleteya - we had a bunch more snow over the past week. and yes, i read that you were learning about hygge - i think a lot of homebodies already practice hygge whether they know it or not. but it's nice to be conscious of it and consciously setting up our homes and gardens to be more reflective of the hygge concept.
our first year here because we were all backwards and had an extra cupboard in front of our 2nd kitchen door - we set our little greenhouse up on the table! talk about losing table and cupboard space, cooking food space. that was dumb-*ss and we learned from our mistake!
oh the seafood and shellfish and regular fish here is to die for! you definitely enjoyed some of the best living in PEI and Moncton. we are super lucky indeed! xoxox
I can't wait for the snow to go, too - but we are in for one more (let's hope only ONE) snow 'event' tomorrow. Just in time to challenge my weekend! I've got the same seed-starting set up without the cool wooden frame. I need myself a Jambaloney! As usual, your food is awesome. Spring is on its way - hold on!!! oxoxo
ReplyDeleteoh Susan - i think we are close to having our last snowfall, but there's always one or two more that sneak in! the cool wooden frame works out marvelously - ugly - but does the job! i am glad that you have one too! thank you for the compliment. and yes - soon we'll all be playing in spring mud! bahahahah! xoxox
DeleteWell, I'm here with four rowdy cats who can't make up their minds if they want in or out! LOL. But during the day they all settle down. :)
ReplyDeleteVery good idea to put up the greenhouse in side! I've wondered about those things and couldn't think of what to do with one.
We've had several trees too close to the foundation too. Funny how people don't take full growth into account when they plant.
Leigh - our cats have 6 cat doors between the house and porch in order for them to come and go as they please. but no - they will stare at the big door for 20mins until one of us opens the big door to let them out in - they're a pain i tell you! bahahahah!
Deletethe greenhouse in the house is a great way to get a jump on tomatoes and peppers and has worked out just fine for us for years.
and yes - lots of people go planting trees without taking into consideration how big that tree will be in 15-20yrs. xoxo