Watching Your Food Grow

Not in the sense of having spent far, far too long in the fridge but in the sense of getting home from work each day and being able to go out and see how much taller, how much fatter and thicker the tomatoes are. How fresh and beautiful the basil looks (well, all of it except for the purple ruffles basil but it's P's least favorite so that's alright).

And today at lunch Zanatto's had Tomato Basil Bisque in their soup bar. A simple and excellent soup that I'm very much looking forward to making from our own garden when the time comes. And its coming, there are dozens and dozens of tomatoes on the four plants that we've got growing on the back patio.

Quick side note, tomato plants have got to be one of the best smelling plants anywhere. There's just something comforting and incredibly appealing about their scent. I can literally just stick my face into the plant foliage and inhale its wonderful smell.

The best thing about having a patio garden is that we can check out the plants at any time, keep them trimmed up, clean off any bug issues (though a container of ladybugs we got totally took care of any bug problems, nothing like 1500 ladybugs chomping on any bugs they find!). So we're planning things to make out of the small garden we've got going. Small now but I know, once we have the space, we will have lots and lots of fruits and vegetables all the time. Herb gardens, old growth Californian fruit trees and vegetables like nobody's business.

I think the first dish that we'll make will be the most straight forward, simple bruschetta made from the three varieties of tomatoes (regular red containers, green zebra stripped and purple toms) and a mixture of the basils, some regular sweet, some thai, some cinnamon basil (which has absolutely the most heavenly scent ever!) and maybe some of the holy basil if the little sucker rebounds. Combined with some other ingredients like thinly sliced red onions and the secret ones and it'll make for one powerfully tasty spread!

But now I'm sure that I also want to give a try to making the bisque. Its a bit like a bruschetta soup but has more of tang to it and less bite. Does that make sense? Anyway, I don't serve the bruschetta soup hot ever. Its a cold soup served on hot days and is refreshing and light. I'll have to get around to posting some recipes up here though or this here blog might just end up withering on the vine like the tomatoes do when I forget to soak them in the morning before leaving for work because it gets so outrageously hot in the back yard during the day.

But damn, it was some yummy soup and I'm excited to give it a run at home now!

And I need to get around to upgrading the comment system on Cooking Stories even though there's really just about no traffic through the site as of yet.

Skirt Steak, Blue Cheese Stuffed Burgers and Well Done Salmon Fillets

Ahh, the joy of cooking in the great outdoors. Food smells waft all over camp grounds, an odoral cornucopia for the nose. Burgers and hot dogs over there, bratwursts over here, more elaborate camp gourmet stuff going in pockets all over.

It would be really interesting to peek into everyone's coolers to see what they bring camping. What makes it a camping trip for them. S'mores? Yeah, those go down on the all time list of camping foods. Hot dogs (or sausages for those that just aren't into the snout and tails of a typical hot dog).

Camp Cooking

This weekend ought to be an interesting and fun one. We're packing up and rolling south to Big Sur for the weekend with a few friends and a dog.
The hardest part about going on a trip like this is not knowing how much food to bring, what spices must go and all the other myriad food based questions that can arise.

Clothes and camping gear are pretty straight forward but food's subjective and more subtle. You never want to run out of food while camping but you also don't want to haul your entire pantry into the wilderness.

And then, car camping is a very different animal than hiking into the back country where every ounce you bring is another ounce on your shoulders and hips. Car camping is a more indulgent form of camping that allows the chance to bring alot more equipment than is necessary.

But that's half the fun, isn't it? Not having to worry about having enough to eat. Just enjoying the wilderness area. We'll see how the meals go, should be interesting if nothing else. I'll see about adding pics later.

New Month? Let's Start a New Blog
I've been ruminating about starting a new blog for a little while and June 1 seemed like the best day to initiate the concept.

This is a blog dedicated to the culinary side of our days. Recipes that my fiance and I invent, migrate, adjust, update and Californian-ize. This can be something as basic as adding some lemongrass to a marinade to specialized handmade sushi parties.

Since we're just getting started, things may take a few evolutions to get to where we're happy with them. And then we may still change our minds a few weeks later.