Garden Time At Almost Heaven South

We rarely have a February dry spell of sufficient duration to get the soil dry enough to till, but it happened this past week. Since I had no idea when I might get another chance, I just had to till the garden and plant a little.

I’d spread some composted horse manure on part of the garden last fall and as a result, I grew a healthy crop of Henbit (weed) over the winter. Previously I’d tried just tilling it in and it basically chopped each weed into 10 pieces and replanted them, so this time I gave them a dose of Roundup a few days prior to tilling. I’ll still have to deal with all of those seeds I turned up to the surface and it’ll likely take me a couple of years to get rid of all of them.

Here’s the before shot with so much green it looks like I sowed a cover crop - click on photos to enlarge.  When I remembered to take the picture, I'd already started tilling with my little Kubota mini-tractor .  It's basically a 4WD, diesel, lawn and garden tractor with a PTO and 3 point hitch - I love my little machine - a man's got to have a few toys.

and the after shot – you can tell from the blacker soil where the compost went and why I like my little tractor.

I love the look of fresh tilled spring soil.  Down in the far left corner, I planted some radishes, spinach, green onions, lettuce, cabbage, and kale.  If the weather holds, I may be able to get my whole spring garden in over the next week.  The garlic, planted in November, looks like it's ready to take off, so I fertilized it and the asparagus with composted turkey doodoo.

I rarely plant this early, but it seems to be getting hot earlier each year and I'm going to try to get things in the ground sooner so they don't bolt and deal with the cold and frost that will likely occur.

I got my tomatoes and eggplants sowed in the greenhouse, a few days late, but they'll be ready by the last frost date.  I often sow my seeds in individual pots so I don't have to transplant them but tomatoes benefit greatly from being tansplanted.  They are unique in that any part of the stem that gets buried will put out roots, making the plant stronger and healthier - so always plant them deeper than they were.  I filled each cell with Miraclegrow potting soil and set the tray in water so the soil could begin getting wet.  I firmed the soil a little and put 9 seeds in each 3"x3" cell then pushed them each a little to be sure I had good soil contact.  I topped with an eight inch of sphagnum moss, misted to wet it, and added the clear domed top.  I keep them in the warm green house during the day and bring them into the house at night.

I also began the hardening off process for my lettuce and brassica's and cut my seed potatoes into pieces with 2-3 eyes each and set them in a shady spot in the greenhouse.  This will encourage faster sprouting than cutting and immediately planting them in the cool soil and it allows the cuts to scab over a little for protection.  They'll be ready to plant in a few days.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

Smoked Pork Wellington

I had no idea how to go about this, so it was an absolute experiment. I knew pork was used for Wellington and since I’d made one from beef I was comfortable with the process – and I remember the mistakes I made with it. I could have made it from a raw piece of pork loin, but I wanted the added dimension of smoked pork, but I had no idea how done to cook it in the smoker to keep it from overcooking as the pastry cooks in the oven.

I decided to smoke it to the bare minimum of 142* and hope for the best. My assumption was that for the beef, it went from room temperature to 125* while the pastry baked, so the pork, would hopefully not go past 140*, starting at room temperature.

I considered stuffing it prior to smoking, but decided to smoke then stuff and I just took a wild stab at a combination. I cut three pockets into the roast from opposite sides and stuffed in some Boursin cheese – no way that can be a bad idea. I did pockets rather than full length slices to prevent the cheese for exiting the ends.

Then I brushed a coat of Fischer & Weiser’s Roasted Raspberry Chipotle Sauce on both the pastry and the meat

and rolled it very tightly in hopes the Boursin would stay put - I made sure I kept the pockets in the horizontal position while it baked and I cut the vents in the top that I forgot last time.

This is just out of the oven.

And this is just after the soggy bottom broke and I did't have a good enogh hold on it.

 And this is my plate with the side of stir fried asparagus.

Before the main course, Bev served this salad from a magazine recipe from - it's lettuce, oranges, apples, a citrusy viniagrette and crumbled blue cheese on top.

I have to say this experiment was a failure, but not a complete loss - we had a filling meal and the salad was good.  Plus I learned several things:

1. Boursin will not stay in place at the high temps.
2. Even on a rack and with vents, it can still get a soggy bottom - maybe the cheese did it.
3. Puffed pastry cannot be cooked above 350* in our oven.
4. Don't try this with fully cooked meat unless you prefer it well done.
5. Always use a spatula plus tongs when transferring to the cutting board.
6. Next time I want Wellington, go to a restaurant - it's not worth the effort to me :-).

A nice thing about cooking experiments is you learn something and can still eat the failures.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

The Power Shopper Is Home

Bev made it home safe from Gatlinburg on Friday carrying several bags – I knew the serious shopping, or at least buying, wouldn’t happen until I left. One of the traits Bev inherited from her Mom is an overwhelming need to get the best possible deal and she’ll spend lots of time a gas money to be sure she does – probably more than she saves. So I’m sure she spent her time while I was there just accumulating info for the actual buying that would come later. She obviously spent most of her time in kitchen stores as I brought two bags full home with me and she brought more.

During one of our phone conversations, she advised she was bringing me a surprise and sure enough, it was.

I think it will look great against the red leaves of the Japanese maple when in leafs out.

I’ve never had a pet rock before and I love it. It’s 20”x18”x5” and must weigh a hundred pounds - I could barely get it unloaded - not too worried about someone carrying it off. It came from the Sandman’s Workshop, which is located in an artsy community outside of Gatlinburg called The Glades – this is the real art verses the mostly junk found in downtown. The design is sandblasted into the rock then the relief is painted. Nice thing about this craft is the primary material is free as these round sandstones are everywhere in this area – I’ve removed hundreds of smaller ones from my garden.

She also bought a little all copper fountain for the sun room which was made by Artisan Greg Hooker at the Fountains of Living Waters.

If you can’t find it in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area, it may not exist.

I read in the paper this morning that they will be paving part of US-441 over the mountain beginning March 1, so if planning a trip to the area, you may want to avoid that road until you know it’s completed.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

Fried Taters & Onions And Stuff

I love fried potatoes and I like fried potatoes and onions even more – it was a lunchtime treat when I was growing up - we came home from school for lunch. Fried potatoes were always sliced in my family and naturally that’s what I did, but when I met Bev, she diced hers. In thinking about it, I don’t remember a cutting board in our house as Mom did everything in her hand with a paring knife. She would cut the potatoes lengthwise to the size she wanted then slice them directly into the cast iron skillet – usually containing hot bacon grease or Crisco. She had no bowls or cutting board to wash, just the skillet and the knife. I’m a big fan of chopping and cutting boards so I now dice my taters.

I came home on Tuesday and Bev remained in Gatlinburg with her shopping friends until Friday, leaving me to fend for myself for meals. After two days of leftovers, I was ready for a real meal on Thursday evening, and I fried up a big batch of potatoes and onions for this and a few more meals. I like to cook them with a lid on until nearly done, then crank up the heat and cook uncovered to brown a little.

I sided the taters with a piece of warmed up smoked salmon topped with a sauce resembling my smoked salmon spread and lettuce with Chef Dennis’s bleu cheese dressing – I think it’s better now than when we had it for our Super Bowl party and I had a few forks full while I was cooking.

The salad was delicious, the salmon was delicious, and the taters were outstanding – actually it was all outstanding. I’m sure the Gatlinburg shoppers didn’t eat anything this good, and I might just put it up against any meal served in G'burg – in other words I liked it.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

Valentines Day In The Smokies - Part 2

The header shot was taken mid afternoon on a cloudy day, so these guys are closing up for the day, but it looks like spring is about to happen at Almost Heaven South and I didn't accomplish near as much as I wanted over the winter - we've definitely got to put the Christmas decorations away soon.

In the interest of keeping my posts shorter, I split this day-trip blog into two parts and this is the return to Gatlinburg from Cherokee, NC, where we spent the day at Harrah's Casino - see Thursdays's post for Part 1.

I couldn't get any great mountain shots on the return trip as the sun was always in the wrong place - I expected to come back sooner, but it took us much longer than normal to make our donation at the casino - I was actually ahead for about half the time, but alas, the one armed bandits eventually got me.

It was 59* when we left Cherokee and 42* again on the mountain top, with the same wind still blowing as the morning trip. This is the famous chimneys in the late afternoon sun.

This visit will undoubtedly give me all I need of Gatlinburg for a while. Over the years, as family members have visited us and wanted to go to this area, I’ve told them I will demonstrate how special they are to me by taking them to Gatlinburg.

We ate out several times (Blaine's Bar&Grill, Calhoun's, Los Rancheros Mexican, and Bubba Gump's) but didn't have anything memorable. I did have a dish at Bubba Gumps that I plan to see if I can replicate at home - I'll blog about it if I get around to making it.

Since we ate a late lunch at Paula's restaurant, dinner back at the condo was a simple affair - mead wine and chocolate covered strawberries.

They gave Bev the red carnation at the restaurant. - not a bad finish for a great day with my Valentine.

Hope you've enjoyed our little mini-vacation in the Smokies and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

A Small Mid-Month BBQ Cook

I decided it was time to take a traveling break and do a food post.  We’re having a little brunch get together on Sunday and one of the requested items is a stuffed fatty. On Wednesday of this week, I smoked the fatty, along with a slab of ribs and a piece of pork loin. I plan to use the loin as an experiment by stuffing and making into Pork Wellington. It just got a light coat of my pork rub and was cooked to 142* internal temp in a 235* pit. I also cooked the ribs for the Sunday brunch and they also got a coat of my pork rub.

I won’t go into a step-by-step on making a fatty as I’m confident all of the BBQers who read my blog know how - although they could be cooked on a grill or in an oven. I considered a bacon weave on the outside like Jeanie usually does over at Cowgirl's Country Life, but I was already planning plenty of meat for the meal.

I first diced and fried 3 strips of bacon then removed and drained them on paper towels. I didn’t have any frozen hash browns so I made some fresh ones from potatoes that were sprouting and needed to be used. I cooked the potatoes and some chopped onion in the bacon grease then added a small can of chopped green chiles and 4 beaten eggs.

When the eggs were set, I removed the mixture to a plate to cool prior to stuffing the sausage. Just before stuffing, I stirred in some shredded cheddar cheese.

In Jeanie's post, linked above, she also shows the plastic pipe and piston she uses to shape her stuffing mixture into a dense log - she's really talented. I don’t have one of them, but I do have a jerky gun that performs the same function - although a little bigger around would be better.

Here it is ready to roll up and after rolling up in the cut open gallon plastic bag that I used to shape it - I used some homemade breakfast sausage.

After rolling, I put it back in the fridge for about 30 minutes to firm up, then, gave it a light coat of pork rub and into the smoker for cooking to 145*. Here’s the finished fatty and pork loin.

This is the finished rib rack.

It was a nice 65* day here in East Tennessee - pretty nice BBQ weather for February - I wore shorts.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

Valentines Day In The Smokies - Part 1

For Valentine’s Day, Bev and I were alone and did one of the things we enjoy when we’re up in this area - we headed over the mountains to Cherokee, NC to make a little donation to the Eastern Band Of Cherokee Indians via a visit to their tribal owned Harrah’s Casino.  While we had limited cooking options, I did manage to whip up a little breakfast for My Valentine before we started our adventure.

When we started up the mountain it was 50* in downtown Gatlinburg and when we got to the top, at Newfound Gap, it was 42* with a very brisk wind - going up 3600' made a big difference.  Here's a shot over into NC, but the sun was wrong.

Note the large number of dead trees on the mountain in the background - they are hemlocks being ravaged by a little critter called a wooly adelgid.  When we got down into Cherokee, the temp was back up to 51*.

The casino was an impressive structure located just out of downtown Cherokee toward Maggie Valley, NC.  I'd planned to take a picture of the beautiful front entrance, but it was gone as they are remodeling to build a big new hotel and increase the gaming floor to one of the largest in North America, with what I'm sure will be an even more impressive entrance.  What's it tell you about the amount of money casino's make when they're spending $633 million to remodel.  As I understand it, every member of the tribe gets a significant check as a result of the casino, in addition to the jobs it provides. It’s easy to see from the increased prosperity of Cherokee why the Native American communities are choosing to do this.

The complex also contains the newly opened Paula Deen's Kitchen, which we had to give a try, even though we were underwhelmed by The Lady & Sons in Savannah.  From my web search, this is the third marriage of Paula and a casino (second Harrah's).  I had fried green tomatoes, which I liked and will look for her recipe, and a crabcake sandwich, which I won't try to find.  Bev had a shrimp Po'Boy which had a giant roll and 4 fried oysters.  Even though it was reasonably priced, I'd call it typical tourist food and will likely skip it on our next visit.

Tune in Saturday for the return trip to Gatlinburg and thanks for stopping by.

Larry