Harvest Season 2015

Harvest Time and everything is coming up RED. It's tomato time in the office garden. And other things.

Last year, the zucchini plants were home to a toad. This year, I found that the garden was home to ... older things.

Little did I realize when I went to harvest the tomatoes that I was actually a fossil hunter as well.

I give myself about 20-30 minutes every other morning or so, OR as fast as I can fill up a bucket or two.

This is what the crop looked like this morning spread out to air ripen and for people to take home. (Some of the larger tomatoes were from yesterday's bucket. And can you spot the dino?)

Yesterday it was: 1 person, 1 pail, 2 spiders, 2 crates, 30 minutes in the office garden for a tableful abudanza of veggies. 1 zucchini=5lbs

 Zucchinis to scale*

 Cucumbers to scale

* I made a LOT of zucchini baked treats for the Box Office kids this summer.
They never did believe me that there was zucchini in the chocolate cakes.

Earlier this summer, we had kale and lettuce, not to mention herbs,

 which we used for garnishes, kale chips, salads, etc.

We've also had beans, peppers, egg plants, and squash.

I would have picked more that day, but I was in a dress, it was hotter than blazes, and those beans STICK to you if you aren't watching. (Harvesting in a Festival dress = not a good idea.)

 There are also pots of things scattered around offices and porches.

FORESTS of Fennel

Plus the wild stuff.

What do you do when someone hands you a cup full of wild backyard raspberries? You make mini lemon raspberry muffins to share.

Pardon me -- it's time for dinner: A BLT with an office grown tomato OR (call me Mistress of the Obvious, why didn't I think of this earlier this summer?) an adult sized, dinner sized Cucumber Sandwich.

Note: Too bad there were no pumpkins planted this year.These were spotted back in 2013.

 

 Outside the HR office. No word on whether there was a Carve your Complaint into this Pumpkin contest.

~photos by iTouch

43 Ideas for Birthday 43: Craving Carnegie

Well, the diet idea was already blown, so .. here's my other craving. Carnegie Deli in NYC's brisket on rye (the brisket is like buttah) and their Fifth Avenue Bar Pie. Yes, they are known for their cheesecake, which is delicious and all, but it's their Fifth Avenue Bar pie, with the peanut butter and chocolate is what I crave. 

Also pricey, but you can eat 2-4 meals on one sandwich and to be careful, take 1-2 meals to finish one slice of the pie.

Please see these handy reminders of Save the Dates for upcoming culinary holidays.

Tender, hand-sliced #brisket on rye bread as only @carnegiedeli can make it. #since1937 pic.twitter.com/COuKaicniI
— Carnegie Deli (@carnegiedeli) January 2, 2015

Whether you're eating our brisket or grandma's #brisket, we hope you have a fabulous #NationalBrisketDay! #since1937 pic.twitter.com/HBAqTNfGoR
— Carnegie Deli (@carnegiedeli) May 28, 2014

#PiDay may not be a holiday on the scale of Thanksgiving, but 3.14 is a good reason to enjoy @carnegiedeli pie. pic.twitter.com/ZrvlXI6EGf
— Carnegie Deli (@carnegiedeli) March 14, 2014

Happy National #PeanutButterDay! Celebrate with a slice of creamy peanut butter 5th Avenue Pie at @carnegiedeli. pic.twitter.com/9lAQY9zC37
— Carnegie Deli (@carnegiedeli) January 24, 2014

Happy #ChocolateCakeDay! As if you ever need an excuse to enjoy a slice of irresistible @carnegiedeli chocolate cake! pic.twitter.com/34epKvnPtS
— Carnegie Deli (@carnegiedeli) January 27, 2014

Going out of my Gourd: A Zummer of Zucchini

Hello? Who is this? Mother Nature, you say?

thanks to Intern Elizabeth for letting me take these with my iTouch

You want me to what?

Pick the Zucchini?

  

Why?

It's growing out of control?

 

1 bucket full just of cucumbers and one bucket full of zucchini from the office garden; 

1 morning's harvest to be joined by the pile on the table from the superintendent's garden

I mean, we're trying to harvest them before they grow out of control ... but

there's only so much you can do when you are getting zucchini the size of babies.

I'm not kidding. This one was 5 lbs and 7 ozs. I weighed it on the postage scale.

And when you are going of your gourd on zucchini, you get a little silly after a while.

photos: courtesy of Christine's iPhone; Emma is proud mom and Auntie Tahra is cooing in delight

So you bake, share, bake, share, and share some more.

left: traditional zucchini bread from ye old-Better Homes and Garden recipe book (see below)
right: Chocolate Zucchini Cake from Summer 2014 Penzey's Spices Catalog

Zucchini Bread

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, white
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup sugar, white
1 cup finely shredded unpeeled zucchini (I peel mine)
1/4 cup cooking oil
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel
1/3 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

In a mixing bowl combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg. In another mixing bowl combine sugar, shredded zucchini, cooking oil, egg, and lemon peel; mix well. Add flour mixture; stir just until combined. Stir in chopped walnuts.

Pour batter into a greased 8x4x2-inch loaf pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 55 to 60 minutes or till a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack.

Remove bread from the pan; cool thoroughly on a wire rack. Wrap and store overnight before slicing. Makes 1 loaf (16 servings).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chocolate Zucchini Cake from John and Lois Thomas

1/2 Cup margarine or butter (1 stick), room temperature 13/4 Cups sugar 1/2 Cup oil 2 eggs 1 tsp. PURE VANILLA EXTRACT 1/2 Cup buttermilk or sour milk (1/2 Cup milk plus 1 tsp. white vinegar = sour milk) 21/2 Cups flour 4 TB. COCOA POWDER 1 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. PENZEYS CINNAMON 1/2 tsp. salt 2 Cups grated zucchini, peeled if desired, drained (about 2 medium) 12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips 1/2 Cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 325° (for a glass pan) or 350° (for a metal pan). In a mixing bowl, cream together the room temperature margarine/butter and sugar. Add the oil, eggs, VANILLA and buttermilk and mix well. In a small bowl, combine the flour, COCOA, baking soda, CINNAMON and salt. Gradually add to the wet ingredients and mix well. Fold in the zucchini. Pour into a greased and floured 9x13 pan. Sprinkle the chocolate chips and nuts over the top of the cake. Bake at 325° for 45-50 minutes or at 350° for 35-40 minutes. Let cool before cutting.

Prep. time: 20 minutes
Baking time: 35-50 minutes
Serves: 12-15 

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Today's creation is destined for chivalrous neighbor Darryl who always insists on holding the door for me (even though "I know you are a strong, independent, and capable woman, I have to do this. My mama [said with a Southern-inflection] would be angry at me if I didn't.") and graciously admiring my "confidence" and silver streaks. The smells coming out of my oven were an interesting counterpoint to the nasty and quick summer rain monsoon and wafts of ozone from oh-that-was-too-close-unplug-everything lightning that were coming in my window about 2 hours ago.

From Betty Crocker website: 

Cinnamon-Topped Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread

Bread

3 cups shredded zucchini (2 to 3 medium) [Or 1 ginormous one, cut down to get most of the seeds out]

1 2/3 cups sugar

2/3 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 eggs

3 cups Gold Medal™ whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Topping

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon cold butter or margarine

Directions

1. Move oven rack to low position so tops of pans will be in center of oven. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottoms only of 2 (8x4-inch) loaf pans or 1 (9x5-inch) loaf pan with shortening or cooking spray. 

2. In large bowl, stir zucchini, 1 2/3 cups sugar, the oil, vanilla and eggs until well mixed. Stir in remaining bread ingredients; mix well. Divide batter evenly between 8-inch pans or pour into 9-inch pan.  

3. In small bowl, mix topping ingredients with fork until crumbly. For 8-inch loaves, sprinkle evenly over batter in both pans. For 9-inch loaf, sprinkle over batter in pan. 

4. Bake 8-inch loaves 50 to 60 minutes, 9-inch loaf 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on cooling rack 10 minutes.  

5. Loosen sides of loaves from pans; remove from pans and place top side up on cooling rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days.

National Bundt Day - November 15

Courtesy of The Food Librarian, designed by JustJenn

Courtesy of The Food Librarian

Proud Bundt baker for many years, I still have my I Like Big Bundt pin from The Food Librarian from 2011. While nowhere as ambitious as Mary the Merry Bundt Baker/Food Librarian, I did make two this week.

I cheated a little and doctored two cake mixes, but I still chopped nuts, and grated baby carrots (and my knuckles), and I still used Grandma Ollie's trusty and now well used bundt cake pan for:

Mail Room Matt's Carrot Cake Birthday Bundt

Frosting on the side

Though, the surprise was on me. He took the whole week off. Whoopsie Daisy. His colleagues were happy. I hope it tasted okay. I went back today, and no one saved me a piece. WHAT THE...?! You always tithe the baker, people. Feed her and she may be fat -- and happy to make you more food.

Also, a stressed person may just bake up a storm to try and use other parts of her brain.

Case in point.

I got home really late last night, after going cross-eyed late at the office in the throes of data streams. (SO MANY DATA STREAMS) I don't like spreadsheets with over 65,000 lines and countless columns. (I like deadlines of next week even less.) It's handy to know some filtering tricks, so that you don't get too sour on the whole project(s). In honor of National Bundt Day, I was determined to bake something - that would then end up in the office, and so as this bundt baked, I also balanced my checkbook, paid my bills, and worked on this blog post all the while wondering how many poppy seeds I'd have to consume before the opiates took effect and I could sleep.... (Consuming the other 1/2 cup of powdered sugar glaze frosting certainly didn't help with the whole sleep situation!)

But I digress.

Dump, doctor, mix, and dump

Bake, test, touch, remove and cool

Flip, pray ... and Cheer

Et viola

An  Excel -- ent Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt to Blunt our Sour Pusses Stuck in Data Tables with a generous coating of SugarRush to Power Through The Night Shift Sweet Glaze

A long name but apropos, as pieces should be taken home by another colleague to thank her husband, the font of all knowledge on Excel formulas. We drink so gratefully from this font, and it makes our day sweeter. Thank you Jeffrey.

More Travails Via iTouch

This month has totally gotten away from me. (It didn't help that last week I got a little obsessive about a work project and stayed at my desk for 11, 10, 11, and then 12 hours before enjoying a day off.)

I did manage to do a few things. I baked a lot on the weekend(s) for myself and the various departments. Cookies and cakes good colleagues do make.

This is a very easy vegan-esque cake to whip up to enjoy at night, the only problem being is that baking in this pan makes it very easy to see that eating three slices ends up being a quarter of the cake. That's a bit too much in one sitting.

St. Patrick's Day required thematic cookies. I made lots of batches of Irish Soda bread cookies (so yummy but add more [3/4cup] buttermilk than this recipe asks for), and these sugar cookies with white chocolate frosting and magic kisses from the leprechauns were perfect for dunking in milk or tea.

One late night Cynthia and I ended up at McDonald's before heading home. I usually crave a chocolate Frosty and fries from Wendy's but that's the wrong franchise. Instead I had my first Shamrock Shake with a side of fries and the new fish bites. I joked that  Shamrock Shake really needed to be topped by the Girl Scout's Thin Mints, and Cynthia fished some out of her bag.

I recommend dipping either the fries OR the Thin Mints in the Shake. I do not recommend a Thin Mint fry sandwich washed down with a Shake. Trust me.

On the commuting front, I have only managed to walk to the train station once this month. I've either been working too late, or it rained/snowed. The one time I did, I saw a burning bush. Traditionally, that's usually a sign from above. In this case, it's a message to watch out for things falling from above.

The transit system is really stretching to get our attention on not breaking the rules regarding common decency, like not littering, playing our music too loudly, or smoking.

Look more closely. That's a Lord of the Rings inspired warning. No Elf Harps. No Wizard/Hobbit smoking, and no Gollum littering. I don't know if this is a sanctioned sticker, or a spoof. But I like it.

On other trains, people are catching on to the art graffiti movement called "Vandal Eyes" where they put googly eyes on various things. Sitting on this pelican is weird enough, but someone vandaleyes'd this with a lash-bedecked mean-one-eyed-glare. Don't sit on me. An I have yet to see someone sit there.

The pelican spooked the rest of the train hardware -- so much. See? Startled lock is startled. 

(No vandal eyes required.)

 

Just when it looked like spring was almost within reach, we got snowed on. AGAIN. (We may be snowed on again TONIGHT too.) There is something to be said about commuting late during a snowstorm. Everything seems ... more ... lonely, lovely, calm, clean, muffled, moody, etc.

Making a different kind of snowy tracks.

Fordham platform is forlorn.

By the end of the week, the grey days, lack of sun, and long long hours were starting to get to me. Luckily, Kari's slightly belated birthday package was waiting for me at the P.O. Box. And it was worth the wait for hand-written birthday wishes from the girls, chocolate, jewelry, yarn, a t-shirt ... and my first pair of hand-knit socks by Ms. Kari herself. (THANKS KREW!)

Thankfully, I had to take a day off to get my taxes done, and I always use it as an excuse to head back up to Westchester County to see my Caramoor crew. The sun decided to celebrate with me. My shadow finally made an appearance.

I even saw trees in bloom. Granted they were wall stencils/appliques in a gym nursery, but LEAVES! GREEN! COLOR! BIRDS! NATURE! I'll take spring anywhere I can get it.

The rest of this weekend has been dedicated to crafts therapy. I just didn't feel like baking, (it happens), and needed to rest my eyes from staring at the computer screen. (My eyes are actually starting to twitch working on this post - eye strain from last week's long hours.)

As previously mentioned, my little neighbor girl and I have been doing guerrilla art decoration/competitions for various holidays. My snowflakes have been attacked by shamrocks, so I had to add Welsh and Scottish flags to my door to compete with the Irish natives down next door. Now that St. Patrick's Day is over, I figured it was time for Easter decorations. I spent yesterday coloring in Easter egg graphics and slipping blank pages under the neighbors' doors. Challenge laid down. Now we wait. l: the Irish and r: the signs that the seasons are still mixing.

I thought I had crayons stashed away, but no. I still managed with highlights, sharpies, and other markers. This one is a red Sharpie and a dying red marker that I kept licking.

 My Irish/Ukrainian egg homage: 2 colors of highlighter and 1 Sharpie.

 Happy Early Easter!

I also spent time doing other art therapy, which you'll see a little later on - thanks to Christine!

Thank goodness for the camera on the iTouch. Without it, I would almost have no record of where the month went.