Whether or not you are Vegan, you will love lunch at Mint Tulip, simple, vegan food done well. We just finished up the vegan burger and a grilled veggie sandwich. The veggie burger was a lovely shade of pink thanks to the sweet beets. With the regular burger fixin's and some vegannaise, it was very satisfying. The grilled sandwich had tomatoes, asparagus, artichokes and what I think was cashew cheese. The bread was perfectly toasted and the cheese added a nice flavor. Strangely, what really stood out for me were the sides. The potato salad was perfectly balanced with mustard and not-too-mushy potatoes. The pasta had a lovely earthiness from (roasted?) mushrooms that added a depth and intensity not usually found in a pasta salad.
The aesthetic reminds me of places we used to frequent in Portland and Seattle--good colors, quiet music and a lack of pretension. Their hours are 10-4 Monday-Saturday and dinner is served on Fridays. Tonight's menu includes polenta with grilled vegetables and a faux meatloaf.
I sincerely hope that their location near campus (2110 Central) and word of mouth will help them stay in business for a long time to come. While I am not usually out and about during lunch hours, I think we'll get here when we can. Vegan places are few and far between here in the land of carne adovada and posole and I welcome Mint Tulip with open arms!
Friday, November 11, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
It's Most Assuredly Fall
It's 5:30.
It's dark.
I rode home in driving sleet.
This mac and cheese recipe is in the oven and the fire is going in the woodstove.
It's definitely fall around here.
It's dark.
I rode home in driving sleet.
This mac and cheese recipe is in the oven and the fire is going in the woodstove.
It's definitely fall around here.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Catching Up
I've been away from the blog for quite some time now. Teaching has been occupying most of my waking hours and, sadly, left little time for writing. As the seasons are turning and things are settling down on the work front, I'm hoping to be able to write more often.
Since the last post, not too much has happened. We're down to one chicken--Buffy couldn't take the summer heat. Chippy is still clucking on and we're getting the most delicious eggs. The garden has been hit by frost. The last remaining butternuts won't make it and I wasn't able to salvage the last of the tomatoes. We've had a good run, though, considering my lack of garden attention. Here is a pic of some of the squash:
Overall I think the volunteer butternut brought in ~10 good-sized squash. Not bad for not even trying!
The haphazardly planted flowers are saying their good-byes, too. The cosmos and zinnias are finished but these are still blazing on:
I planted a "save the bees" mix from Botanical Interests and wasn't sure what was going to come up. The cosmos, zinnias and India blankets did the best. I should snag some of their seeds for next season!
Here are some long overdue pictures of our new back wall. We are so glad to have some privacy and the wall acts as a sound barrier, too.
Yes, the fence around the coop looks pathetic. Chippy figured that out right away and we've given up on trying to contain her for now. She's a free-ranger, that's for sure. The bottom of our shoes can attest to that!
We asked to have hooks for the ladder installed when the wall went up. Clever us! Thinking ahead really paid off this time.
In other Lean-to news, the North Valley Dirt Park opened just a few weeks ago. This is a county-owned and managed project that is just a few miles up the road. It is behind a community center and offers spectacular dirt riding, from the pump tracks to the table top jumps to the bmx practice course. If you are unfamiliar with a dirt park, it's a place to ride bmx, dirt jump and mountain bikes. We are almost always the oldest people there by about 20 years and I am invariably the only woman. I've had very incredulous looks by the adolescent males at my bike and I, but that usually stops after they've seen me ride. One young person even told me I was "shredding it." Hah!
The dirt park has been a great way for us to get more in touch with our community and it is good fun to be out there with the youth. As a middle school teacher you would think I would get enough of that during the work day, but in this environment it's a totally different story. One of my favorite things, though, outside of picking up on tween slang, is seeing how much we improve week after week. I can jump my bike higher and further than when we began and my confidence is improving. While I'm no where near doing 360s or "one footers," I'm having a blast. And it's fun to go wearing my cardigan:
The last few evenings we've been at the park until dusk and I'm already mourning the loss of sunlight that will come with the change in seasons. I hope that I can finagle my work schedule such that I can still get a few laps in before sunset.
We've also been enjoying revisiting local restaurants, like Thai Vegan.
Yet I'm lamenting the fact that I've been so exhausted that cooking really feels like a chore. Today I woke up with the woodstove raging and rain pelting our windows. It was a perfect kind of day for lots of tea drinking and veggie chili making. I think more days like that are on the horizon. I've got to use up all of that butternut squash somehow!
Since the last post, not too much has happened. We're down to one chicken--Buffy couldn't take the summer heat. Chippy is still clucking on and we're getting the most delicious eggs. The garden has been hit by frost. The last remaining butternuts won't make it and I wasn't able to salvage the last of the tomatoes. We've had a good run, though, considering my lack of garden attention. Here is a pic of some of the squash:
The haphazardly planted flowers are saying their good-byes, too. The cosmos and zinnias are finished but these are still blazing on:
Here are some long overdue pictures of our new back wall. We are so glad to have some privacy and the wall acts as a sound barrier, too.
Yes, the fence around the coop looks pathetic. Chippy figured that out right away and we've given up on trying to contain her for now. She's a free-ranger, that's for sure. The bottom of our shoes can attest to that!
In other Lean-to news, the North Valley Dirt Park opened just a few weeks ago. This is a county-owned and managed project that is just a few miles up the road. It is behind a community center and offers spectacular dirt riding, from the pump tracks to the table top jumps to the bmx practice course. If you are unfamiliar with a dirt park, it's a place to ride bmx, dirt jump and mountain bikes. We are almost always the oldest people there by about 20 years and I am invariably the only woman. I've had very incredulous looks by the adolescent males at my bike and I, but that usually stops after they've seen me ride. One young person even told me I was "shredding it." Hah!
The dirt park has been a great way for us to get more in touch with our community and it is good fun to be out there with the youth. As a middle school teacher you would think I would get enough of that during the work day, but in this environment it's a totally different story. One of my favorite things, though, outside of picking up on tween slang, is seeing how much we improve week after week. I can jump my bike higher and further than when we began and my confidence is improving. While I'm no where near doing 360s or "one footers," I'm having a blast. And it's fun to go wearing my cardigan:
 |
| See that guy in the back? I can do that, but on a smaller scale. :) |
The last few evenings we've been at the park until dusk and I'm already mourning the loss of sunlight that will come with the change in seasons. I hope that I can finagle my work schedule such that I can still get a few laps in before sunset.
We've also been enjoying revisiting local restaurants, like Thai Vegan.
 |
| The P.E.T (pumkin, eggplant, tomato) dinner combo is great! |
Yet I'm lamenting the fact that I've been so exhausted that cooking really feels like a chore. Today I woke up with the woodstove raging and rain pelting our windows. It was a perfect kind of day for lots of tea drinking and veggie chili making. I think more days like that are on the horizon. I've got to use up all of that butternut squash somehow!
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Putting It Up
This time last year I was canning like mad: pears, peaches, prickly pear, plums. The pantry shelf was full and I felt oh-so self-satisfied. This year,however, I've done practically nothing and last year's jams and preserves are down to a mere handful.
What's the change this time around? Instead of putting up food for us, I'm teaching my middle school outdoor education students the art of canning. With a parent volunteer each student took home 1/2 pint of loganberry jam and today we canned 16 half-pints of prickly pear. I can't exactly call that one jelly, because I'm not convinced it's going to set. It might end up being 16 half-pints of prickly pear syrup. They'll love it just the same.
The Householder's Guide to the Universe comes to mind often these days. Harriet Fasenfest devotes quite a few pages to the notion of working part time, so one can household the rest of the time and I can see why. I've been putting in 10-12 hour days at work and then a few more grading papers at home. It's exhausting and doesn't leave much time for canning or even cooking, for that matter. I'm missing the summer afternoons where I'd start pizza dough at 4 to have for dinner that night and be able to tend to the garden properly. Now I'm just thankful that the tangle of tomatoes are finally ripening and that the volunteer butternut is still chugging along. It's a big mess, with a giant sunflower toppled over into the whole shebang. It has a certain beauty, and the bees and goldfinches love it, but it is a reminder to me of how much I work, how little time I am spending at home, and how I do miss being in the garden and the kitchen on a daily basis.
Don't get me wrong, I really love what I do. I get to teach middle schoolers about convection currents and ecosystems; pythagorean theorem and variables. It's just that I'm seeking some sort of balance. It'll come but by then we'll be in the dead of winter with only dreams of spring ahead.
Happy harvesting and preserving to those who are in a state of abundance!
What's the change this time around? Instead of putting up food for us, I'm teaching my middle school outdoor education students the art of canning. With a parent volunteer each student took home 1/2 pint of loganberry jam and today we canned 16 half-pints of prickly pear. I can't exactly call that one jelly, because I'm not convinced it's going to set. It might end up being 16 half-pints of prickly pear syrup. They'll love it just the same.
The Householder's Guide to the Universe comes to mind often these days. Harriet Fasenfest devotes quite a few pages to the notion of working part time, so one can household the rest of the time and I can see why. I've been putting in 10-12 hour days at work and then a few more grading papers at home. It's exhausting and doesn't leave much time for canning or even cooking, for that matter. I'm missing the summer afternoons where I'd start pizza dough at 4 to have for dinner that night and be able to tend to the garden properly. Now I'm just thankful that the tangle of tomatoes are finally ripening and that the volunteer butternut is still chugging along. It's a big mess, with a giant sunflower toppled over into the whole shebang. It has a certain beauty, and the bees and goldfinches love it, but it is a reminder to me of how much I work, how little time I am spending at home, and how I do miss being in the garden and the kitchen on a daily basis.
Don't get me wrong, I really love what I do. I get to teach middle schoolers about convection currents and ecosystems; pythagorean theorem and variables. It's just that I'm seeking some sort of balance. It'll come but by then we'll be in the dead of winter with only dreams of spring ahead.
Happy harvesting and preserving to those who are in a state of abundance!
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Winter Squash in August
I've always found it funny that winter squash is ready to be harvested in summer. I get that its name comes from its ability to be stored through winter and for that I am very grateful. Our volunteer squash are doing very well and the other day I harvested two butternuts and one acorn squash.
The tomatoes appear to be waiting for cooler weather to ripen. Note to self: a glacier tomato is probably better suited to cooler climes.
The sunflowers are really putting on a show as are the cosmos. Things are looking really good here, despite my inattention and downright neglect.
Speaking of neglect, we pretty much forgot we planted two cherry trees a few weeks ago. They were in bad shape by the time we got to them this past weekend. I think they may be able to be resurrected. I see now how permaculture's notion of zones really comes into play. The closer the zone, the more likely you are to visit it to maintain that zone's vitality. Maybe the ditch is just too far for us to have plants we really have to care for.
In two days our middle school is having a cooking-from-scratch extravaganza. We'll be making pizza, mozzarella, pesto, oven fries and homemade vegannaise. I hope I can get my mozz. technique down tomorrow night because my first attempt was nothing like cheese. I think I need to heat the milk a little higher and maybe more slowly. Keep your fingers crossed! We'll be using convection ovens, conduction stovetops, solar ovens and an horno. This is to prep us to watch What's on Your Plate? a documentary made by two adolescent girls in Manhattan.
Also at school our 45 6th and 7th graders and I built 10 4'x4' tables using power tools and elbow grease. They turned out beautiful and funky and the kids looked great working at them today. They have such confidence and pride in this type of work. My outdoor ed class is also looking forward to building the school chicken coop, which we hope to start next week.
Busy, busy, busy around these parts.
And it's raining!!
The tomatoes appear to be waiting for cooler weather to ripen. Note to self: a glacier tomato is probably better suited to cooler climes.
The sunflowers are really putting on a show as are the cosmos. Things are looking really good here, despite my inattention and downright neglect.
Speaking of neglect, we pretty much forgot we planted two cherry trees a few weeks ago. They were in bad shape by the time we got to them this past weekend. I think they may be able to be resurrected. I see now how permaculture's notion of zones really comes into play. The closer the zone, the more likely you are to visit it to maintain that zone's vitality. Maybe the ditch is just too far for us to have plants we really have to care for.
In two days our middle school is having a cooking-from-scratch extravaganza. We'll be making pizza, mozzarella, pesto, oven fries and homemade vegannaise. I hope I can get my mozz. technique down tomorrow night because my first attempt was nothing like cheese. I think I need to heat the milk a little higher and maybe more slowly. Keep your fingers crossed! We'll be using convection ovens, conduction stovetops, solar ovens and an horno. This is to prep us to watch What's on Your Plate? a documentary made by two adolescent girls in Manhattan.
Also at school our 45 6th and 7th graders and I built 10 4'x4' tables using power tools and elbow grease. They turned out beautiful and funky and the kids looked great working at them today. They have such confidence and pride in this type of work. My outdoor ed class is also looking forward to building the school chicken coop, which we hope to start next week.
Busy, busy, busy around these parts.
And it's raining!!
Monday, August 8, 2011
What's On My Mind
When I last posted, we had had three good monsoon rains. Since then we have had next to zero precipitation and no rain of any consequence on the horizon according to the weather report.
Humph.
Luckily we have the acequia, but after the fire at Las Conchas, the acequia water was not its usual color. For a day or two it ran very silty, almost a terracotta color, and then it ran a dark, dark brown, which is unusual. This weekend it was back to its usual coloration so we felt like we could irrigate with it. Lane and I were concerned that the added silt would suffocate the plants that get covered in water during flooding. Saturday we gave the yard a good soaking and the plants are perking back up again. The butternut is seriously taking over the yard and most of the sunflowers are in bloom. Pulling up to the house after a day at work has been lovely with all of the yellow blossoms bobbing in the breeze.
Two of the Stella cherries in the guerrilla orchard did not break dormancy so the nice folks at the nursery replaced them with two more Bings. Those were planted yesterday and I am sure feeling it today. I'm really not meant to wield a pick axe.
Speaking of work, middle school starts in two days. Two days!!! I've been frantically preparing my classroom and long range plans to get ready for the Big Day. Our first two days are pretty unique. We're heading to the UNM ropes course and climbing wall for community-building and a whole lot of fun. I've heard that some of the younger students at our school are already talking about doing the ropes course when they are in middle school. I hope we can keep the tradition alive!
Our first two days on campus will also be exciting. The 6th and 7th graders will be building their own tables! Last year's 6th grade built their own desks, but since we'll be switching rooms we thought tables would be better to have that whole community feeling over the, "hey, that's my desk" sort of thing. I'll post some pictures when they finish.
The start of the school year is always stressful for me. I want the first days to be near perfect and to make sure I have all of my routines and procedures down pat. The first day of school is so crucial for establishing boundaries and expectations and I do not want to blow it. No way. This is the first year for MMCS to have a middle school and I want it to go well.
Part of the other planning I'm doing is for our outdoor education elective. This first trimester is called "Working with the Land." We're going to build the school chicken coop, cook in the solar oven, build a solar dehydrator and begin planning the middle school garden. There is also orchard maintenance and native bee research to be done. If anyone out there has relatively easy plans for solar dehydrators, please pass them along in the comments. These kids are handy with all kinds of tools, but any project that requires a pneumatic nail gun may not pass the safety board.
I'm also on the lookout for fruit leather recipes where I can use the solar dehydrator. Prickly pear, apple or quince recipes are top of the list as they will ripen about the time we'll finish up the dehydrator. I hope.
And, finally, my sister has just had her first child. She's the first (and will be the only) in our immediate family to have kids. Cameron Elizabeth came into this world without too much of a struggle and is doing well at home in Virginia. My sister sends me pictures daily which I very much appreciate.
This time last year I was working part time and a full-time grad student. Time moved more slowly and there always seemed to be opportunities for leisure. Now I'm a full time teacher and the pace of life has picked up a lot. There are many things I had hoped to do over the summer but didn't get to. I haven't planted the fall garden (which is buried under the butternut) and hope I will have time for jamming and putting up all the goodness that comes at the end of summer. The pantry shelf is looking pretty bare.
On the transportation front, my intention is to bike commute every day and I really, really hope I can stick to it. Our house is less than two miles from school, so it would be downright shameful to drive. I even have a bar-mounted coffee cup holder. If that doesn't motivate me, I don't know what will.
So as we get into the new routine, posts may slow down for a while. Be patient. We're still working on the lean-to and cooking delicious things but we may not be able to sneak a moment to tell you about them. We'll get there. Promise.
Enjoy the tail end of summer, I know I am!
Humph.
Luckily we have the acequia, but after the fire at Las Conchas, the acequia water was not its usual color. For a day or two it ran very silty, almost a terracotta color, and then it ran a dark, dark brown, which is unusual. This weekend it was back to its usual coloration so we felt like we could irrigate with it. Lane and I were concerned that the added silt would suffocate the plants that get covered in water during flooding. Saturday we gave the yard a good soaking and the plants are perking back up again. The butternut is seriously taking over the yard and most of the sunflowers are in bloom. Pulling up to the house after a day at work has been lovely with all of the yellow blossoms bobbing in the breeze.
Two of the Stella cherries in the guerrilla orchard did not break dormancy so the nice folks at the nursery replaced them with two more Bings. Those were planted yesterday and I am sure feeling it today. I'm really not meant to wield a pick axe.
Speaking of work, middle school starts in two days. Two days!!! I've been frantically preparing my classroom and long range plans to get ready for the Big Day. Our first two days are pretty unique. We're heading to the UNM ropes course and climbing wall for community-building and a whole lot of fun. I've heard that some of the younger students at our school are already talking about doing the ropes course when they are in middle school. I hope we can keep the tradition alive!
Our first two days on campus will also be exciting. The 6th and 7th graders will be building their own tables! Last year's 6th grade built their own desks, but since we'll be switching rooms we thought tables would be better to have that whole community feeling over the, "hey, that's my desk" sort of thing. I'll post some pictures when they finish.
The start of the school year is always stressful for me. I want the first days to be near perfect and to make sure I have all of my routines and procedures down pat. The first day of school is so crucial for establishing boundaries and expectations and I do not want to blow it. No way. This is the first year for MMCS to have a middle school and I want it to go well.
Part of the other planning I'm doing is for our outdoor education elective. This first trimester is called "Working with the Land." We're going to build the school chicken coop, cook in the solar oven, build a solar dehydrator and begin planning the middle school garden. There is also orchard maintenance and native bee research to be done. If anyone out there has relatively easy plans for solar dehydrators, please pass them along in the comments. These kids are handy with all kinds of tools, but any project that requires a pneumatic nail gun may not pass the safety board.
I'm also on the lookout for fruit leather recipes where I can use the solar dehydrator. Prickly pear, apple or quince recipes are top of the list as they will ripen about the time we'll finish up the dehydrator. I hope.
And, finally, my sister has just had her first child. She's the first (and will be the only) in our immediate family to have kids. Cameron Elizabeth came into this world without too much of a struggle and is doing well at home in Virginia. My sister sends me pictures daily which I very much appreciate.
This time last year I was working part time and a full-time grad student. Time moved more slowly and there always seemed to be opportunities for leisure. Now I'm a full time teacher and the pace of life has picked up a lot. There are many things I had hoped to do over the summer but didn't get to. I haven't planted the fall garden (which is buried under the butternut) and hope I will have time for jamming and putting up all the goodness that comes at the end of summer. The pantry shelf is looking pretty bare.
On the transportation front, my intention is to bike commute every day and I really, really hope I can stick to it. Our house is less than two miles from school, so it would be downright shameful to drive. I even have a bar-mounted coffee cup holder. If that doesn't motivate me, I don't know what will.
So as we get into the new routine, posts may slow down for a while. Be patient. We're still working on the lean-to and cooking delicious things but we may not be able to sneak a moment to tell you about them. We'll get there. Promise.
Enjoy the tail end of summer, I know I am!
Monday, July 25, 2011
Welcome Monsoons!
In what has been an extraordinarily dry summer, we have finally gotten some rain. In the last week we have had 3 good monsoon storms and haven't needed to access the acequia for irrigation. The yard is so happy and the butternut acts as though it is on steroids. It is truly taking over the yard and we have at least 5 squash getting bigger every day with more on the way.
In other news, we are in the process of putting up a block wall on the property line behind our house. We took the rickety wooden fence that was there are returned it to its original home on the east side of the property. I'm looking forward to training some honeysuckle and (hopefully) some berries up that fence. While some may find fences to be too claustrophobic, I find them comforting. They embrace the property and provide a snuggled-in sort of feeling. I'll post pictures as the project progresses.
Keep your fingers crossed, as I am, that the rains will continue. We have a long way to go to break this drought!
In other news, we are in the process of putting up a block wall on the property line behind our house. We took the rickety wooden fence that was there are returned it to its original home on the east side of the property. I'm looking forward to training some honeysuckle and (hopefully) some berries up that fence. While some may find fences to be too claustrophobic, I find them comforting. They embrace the property and provide a snuggled-in sort of feeling. I'll post pictures as the project progresses.
Keep your fingers crossed, as I am, that the rains will continue. We have a long way to go to break this drought!
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