Josh Kilmer-Purcell's Blog, page 122
April 5, 2011
D.I.Y Week 3 Recaps
[image error]
Josh was once asked to participate in a project called "the six word memoir" where you had to tell your story in 6 words or less.
Josh wrote:
He wore dresses. This caused messes.
That pretty much summed it up.
In the true nature of Beekman 1802, where we believe in doing it yourself and in sharing, we like the fans of the shows to do the recaps.
Can you re-cap tonight's episode in 6 words?
Leave your recap for this week's episode in the comments section below.
Remember that your goal is not only to fill people in on what happened but also to inspire newcomers to tune in. Can you do it?
Peas from a Presidential Tradition!
Most people associate George Washington with a Cherry Tree. My association of Good Old George is through peas. Why is that? I'm not sure how our family tradition began. I think it might have been the joy my father felt at seeing dirt and not snow in February. Yes, as a displaced North Dakotan, he was unbridled in his passion for peas, and for that matter, sunflowers, but that's another story.
From early childhood my father imparted the pleasantries of peas to my sister and me. The fact that they grew in weather that was not as productive for weed growth was yet another bonus for this late winter planting. We loved the fact that we could harvest the little green jewels, before the weeds overtook our plants. Loved the peas, loathed the weeding. So, from an early age there has been a race to plant peas on George Washington's Birthday. Living in Oregon affords this timeframe for planting. However, you need to find out what plant hardiness zone you live in. This can easily be done online from several sites. I like Garden.org. for information. What you need is a consistent soil temperature that has reached 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Since peas are a cool-season plant you can plant early and be rewarded by an abundance of green fingerlings beckoning you to devour in about 65 days. The added bonus is that you can also plant these seeds in the fall for a late season crop if your zone allows it. In Oregon, that can be July or August. For a greater production yield, you might consider an inoculant. I'm doing an inoculant experiment this year and will track it, to see if I get a 50% greater yield. I'm mixing the inoculant to look like paste and rolling my peas in it. I've heard that is all you have to do. This also works with beans, which I will be planting soon.
OK, I have to admit, this is one of the few years that I didn't plant my peas on George Washington's birthday. I'm located in a very challenging space right now, so I will call this my year of mad gardening experiments. Most of my life I've lived on hilltops or ridges. Sunshine was endless and crops were abundant. I now live in a boggy bottom of verdant vines and swampy soils. This year will be spent experimenting with limited light and fussy PH levels. I will be sharing the transformation of our Sand Volleyball Court into a Garden O' Plenty. If my experiment doesn't work, I have a backup plan. Friends with benefits, and in my case I mean they have extra land available for me to plant. I'm also a native forager, so when my garden doesn't perform, I will forage on my shady acre and share some native plant lore. I can see the camas just peeking through and the licorice fern is in abundance. I just read a fabulous article about a local chef, Matt Lightner, who also forages and cooks up some amazing dishes from NW foraged foods. http://www.oregonlive.com/mix/index.ssf/food-trends/castagna-chef-matt-lightner-forages-the-northwest.html
Enjoy the read and let's get gardening.
Susan Epping is a Beekman NW Area Heirloom Garden Evangelist. She live on almost 2 acres of shade covered land with her partner Rick, college bound daughter and pets. Sue likes promoting backyard gardening and no spray landscaping along with foraging for native edibles.
April Showers bring May Vegetables in South Florida
Good morning Beekman 1802 Gardeners ! We have had some beautiful weather in South Florida and the Beekman 1802 Heirloom vegetables are loving it ! We have had temperatures in the mid 80s during the day and 60s at night. Which is perfect for our garden.
The winter and summer squash are gigantic and blossoming as of yesterday. The flowers are a beautiful bright yellow. I have also seen flowers on the bush beans and sugar pumpkins. The flowers on the bush beans are a beautiful lavender color.
[image error] [image error]
In Zone 10 at this time of the year it is hot and dry. We might get a rainstorm or two, but it could be a week between good drenchings. Keep an eye out for wilting crops. Nothing spoils production more than dry soil. Make sure all of your irrigation equipment is working properly. Crops that are growing tall and wide need more water. You may have to increase watering frequency to every two to three days in sandy soils. Maintain a 1/2 to 3/4 inch watering. If you are using mulch layers and if they are starting to decompose, add a fresh layer. They should not be more than 3 to 4 inches at one time. Mulch that is too thick can keep water from reaching the roots. If you are using containers to grow your vegetables, they may need water more than once a day. We always water early in the morning so that the water can soak into the soil before the sun reaches over the house and the temperatures rise.
The Simpson Elite lettuce and the Gerrys Round Dutch cabbage are flourshing. I cannot wait to harvest the lettuce, it looks just like spring with it's bright green curly leaves. I am sure it will be delicious in a salad or on top of your favorite sandwich. Now my mouth is watering.
By now the newly planted crops are ready for another feeding. You may use any one of several feeding techniques. Keep granular fertilizer away from the stems of the plants. Scatter granules over the surface of the root systems. Drench liquids over the root systems as well. Water the plantings after feeding to move nutrients into the soil. Use manure as a sidedressing over the root system or apply a manure tea drench. Keep beans and their relatives at one or two feedings. Give container gardens a weekly feeding with fertilizer solution.
The Black Cherry tomatoes and Slicing Cucumbers are also well on their way. I have noticed a blue colored fly on the tomatoes and I am researching what difficulties he may bring. The two worst disease problems are wilts and leaf spots (blight). Wilts are caused by a bacteria or fungus. Plants start to wilt as if they need water and gradually decline. The only controls are replanting new plants, planting in another area, or growing the next crop in containers. Leaf spots and blight form on the leaves, often starting with the lower leaves. A fungus or bacteria is usually the cause. I hope everything continues to be healthy but thought I would mention what to look for in case you see anything usual.
The Bell peppers have grown to about 8 inches high and we are hoping they will flower soon. I had to include some pictures of some of our Cavandish banana trees. My husband Dan and our Bichon Bentley are a great help to me in the garden. We planted two banana trees over 5 years ago and have had many bananas. I thought it would be interesting for the Beekman gardeners to see what a bunch of bananas on the tree looks like. We are quite proud of them and share with friends and neighbors when they are ripe as a bunch can contain more than 100 bananas. The purple flower lets us know bananas are on their way. When the tree falls over, the bananas are ready to harvest. They are the sweetest fruit I have ever tasted. They make great banana creme pie, banana bread and banana muffins.
Wishing all of the Beekman 1802 gardeners a very happy Sunday from Camp Reed. Enjoy every minute of today and I look forward to catching up with newly acquainted friends on the garden forum. Take care !
April 4, 2011
Beekman 1802 Cajeta
[image error]
When thinking of new products for Beekman 1802, we look for inspiration all over the farm (and even all over the world). For our latest, we didn't have to look very far or very hard at all. One day about two years ago, in a conversation on the stoop of Farmer John's house, he mentioned that you could make caramel out of goat milk.
Eureka!
We immediately took a gallon of milk into the kitchen and started cooking it down. About 5 hours later, we had the most delicious golden caramel we've EVER tasted.
Most caramel sauces you'll find at your local store are primarily composed of high fructose corn syrup. Some dulche de leches are made the old-fashioned way—cooking down high quality cow's milk until all that is left is the sugars. But cajeta–a tradition in many Latin countries–is made with pure goat milk.
Traditionally, cajeta is somewhere between a sauce and a caramel chew. You eat it out of small wooden box with a spoon.
But like everything we make at Beekman 1802, we put our own twist on things.
Beekman 1802 Original is made with goat milk, pure cane sugar and vanilla beans. Excellent over cakes, in chocolates, or cinnamon buns.
But some like it hot.
So for those we steeped habanero peppers from our own garden as the caramel was cooking down. The combination of sweet and heat is unlike anything you've ever tasted. It brings an entirely new complexity to any ice cream or fruit dipping sauce.
To try the recipe that chef Marcus Samuelsson said he'd like to steal from us, click here. Or if you'd just like to try a jar of ours, shop here.
Then come back and share with everyone else how you used it in the comment section below
Week 3 Sipping Game
A Very Refined Sipping Game
To enhance your viewing pleasure and to make each and every episode of The Fabulous Beekman Boys as fabulous as possible, we're going to encourage the playing of a nice parlor game.
Each week, we'll post a new Beekman 1802 elixir recipe for you to use and give you a new reason to "raise your glass"—to your mouth that is.
This week the beverage of choice is The Valhalla (click here for the recipe) in honor of our special guest, chef extraordinaire, Marcus Samuelsson. His restaurant Aquavit infused his Scandinavian background and was the first "fancy" restaurant in NYC in which Brent ever supped. His new restaurant, Red Rooster, is getting rave reviews.
During tonight's episode, raise your glass every time you hear us say "cajeta".
The Valhalla
[image error]
In Norse mythology, Valhalla is the equivalent of heaven. We've found our heaven at Beekman Farm, but a few sips of this cocktail will put you in that paradise state of mind even if you haven't quite reached that dream destination.
The Valhalla
Instructions
Rip the tops off three mint sprigs and set aside.
In an empty mixing glass, muddle the mint stems with three wedges of meyer lemon and one bar spoon sugar. Muddle just enough to gently rip the mint leaves. You are not making pesto here.
Add
1 1/2 ounces aquavit
1 ounce St. Germain
Add ice and shake 20X . Strain and serve up. Remember the tops of those mint sprigs? There's your garnish. You may serve in a martini glass, or better yet, a stemless wine glass to concentrate the aromas.
This drink is intended to augment your liquor cabinet with aquavit, which ranks high on my list of Spirits We Don't Drink Enough. Bored of vodka but the juniper in gin is too much? Hello, aquavit. The delicate fennel and caraway flavors augment patio cocktails with a nice complexity. Aquavit is Scandinavian in origin, but I'm rather fond these days of Krogstaad, from Oregon.
Eben Klemm is the Senior Manager of Wines & Spirits of BR Guest Hospitality, a group of Restaurants, Bars and Hotels. In that capacity he creates all the specialty cocktails served there. He grew up on a small family farm in Sharon, five miles from the Beekman Mansion and is proud to say that the first cocktails he ever consumed were rejected from his body, at very high speed, not far from its shadow. His book "The Cocktail Primer: All You Need to Know to Make the Perfect Drink" was published in 2009 by Andrews McNeel.
April 3, 2011
Habanera Cajeta and Graham Cracker Ice Cream
Graham cracker ice cream with cajeta
Mmmmm…hot peppers for dessert!
Okay, even we'll admit that might not sound terribly tempting –at least to the more traditional among us. But lest you think that us country-folk lead a bland & simple existence, we want to share one of our favorite made-up Beekman creations: Habanero Cajeta. Translated roughly, that ends up as "hot-pepper goat-milk caramel." (And be sure to read all the way to the bottom to find out about our XXX-rated serving suggestion.)
Making cajeta takes the better part of an afternoon, so it's not a great choice for a quick dessert. But for the length of time it takes, it's very simple. The basic recipe couldn't be easier: simmer a goat milk & sugar together until it's thick. There's a little baking soda thrown in, as well as some flavorings, and that's pretty much all there is to it. But the complexity of the slow cooked caramel can't be matched by any other method.
Many modern Mexican households make a type of "quick cajeta," by placing a can of sweetened condensed milk in simmering water for about an hour, then adding some vanilla. We imagine that it's also very tasty, but nowhere near as wonderful as cajeta from scratch.
We've made ours even more special by adding one of our Beekman-grown habanero peppers. Many of you have probably caught on to the recent restaurant trend of adding cayenne pepper spice to chocolate desserts. It's a marvelously surprising combination. There is no actual pepper taste per se, but there is the stinging hot kick of the pepper's capsaicin.
[image error]
Habanero peppers from the BEEKMAN 1802 Vegetable Garden
Cayenne peppers score an impressive 30,000 on the Scoville scale – which measures a food's "heat." Habaneros score almost TEN TIMES higher. So the first time we made this habanero flavored caramel, we were a little apprehensive. We found that removing the pepper from the simmering caramel about halfway through the cooking time results in a nice bite, but no tears and running to the water faucet.
Trust us. You really have to try this recipe. For shopping's sake, it's okay to use cows milk instead of goat milk, or a blend, if you wish.
HABANERO CAJETA
2 quarts milk (traditionally, goat milk)
2 C sugar
2 Vanilla beans (or 1 T vanilla extract)
1.2 t baking soda
First bring the milk to a boil in a very heavy large saucepan. (Since the cooking time is so long, it's very important that the sugar doesn't burn on the bottom of the pot.) Reduce to a simmer and add the sugar. Stir to dissolve.
[image error]
Vanilla beans
Split two vanilla beans down the center, and drop the four halves into the hot milk and sugar.
[image error]
Next, drop one whole habanero pepper into the pan.
Once the mixture is simmering nicely, dissolve the baking soda into a small amount of cool water. Add that to the cajeta. It will begin to foam. Keep stirring it in for about a full minute. If it seems like it might foam up over the edge, quickly turn off the heat for a moment.
[image error]
There's not much to do for the next couple of hours except be certain that the mixture is over a low enough heat so that the milk doesn't boil or burn. Also, stir it every fifteen minutes or so to be certain nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pot.
You'll see the color go from white to beige…
[image error]
…to brown…
[image error]
Remember to sneak a taste occasionally to discover when to remove the habanero pepper. Make it as "hot" as you wish. Remember, you won't be able to taste the pepper, just the heat.
As the cajeta cooks, it will, of course, also thicken. As it reduces, it becomes important to stir even more frequently. Towards the end, one should be stirring every few minutes. What's the end? We're aiming for a "soft ball stage," which means that if you drip one drop into a glass of cool water, it will coagulate into a ball, but is still malleable. Don't worry if you cook it a little too long and it seems too thick once cooled. Simply gently reheat and add back in a little more water or milk until it reaches a pourable consistency.
Once it's cooled, strain the caramel through a mesh strainer into a jar and keep refrigerated.
Cajeta can be used in any recipe that calls for caramel. We generally use ours on ice cream to really let the "hot" flavor show off. This weekend, we used it on homemade graham cracker goat milk ice cream. (For that recipe click here) Why graham cracker ice cream? Besides the fact that we thought it would compliment the caramel, we also thought the caramel would insult the graham crackers.
Insult?
Graham crackers were invented in 1822 by a Presbyterian minister named Sylvester Graham for a very puritanical reason. In those days, some people were obsessed with the problem of, how shall we say this?… "self abuse."
The urge to, um, pleasure oneself, was thought to be in part caused by spicy foods. The blander the foods, wisdom had it, the blander one's libido. Rev. Graham set out to help those afflicted with self-affection by creating the mildest tasting cookie available. Hence: the graham cracker.
Being somewhat naughty, we thought it would be interesting to defile Rev. Graham's cookies with our very spicy habanero cajeta.
So what kind of mixed message did these theologically opposed ingredients send to our nervous system?
Well, that's not the sort of thing one talks about in polite blogs.
Click here for more cajeta recipes.
PS: Sonja Morgan
[image error]
PolkaSpot is serving a month-long internship as a BendelGirl for the legendary Henri Bendel. Check back here for all of the majorly important things she's Spotted this week.
PolkaSpot's iPhone is full of fabulous people who know a thing or two about a thing or two. They've all asked her for beauty tips in the past and now she's making them return the favor to YOU. She's generous that way.*
[image error]
This is Ms. Sonja Tremont-Morgan
Sonja is one of the stars of The Real Housewives of New York on Bravo. She says, "I have a taste for luxury and luxury has a taste for ME." Having grown up in upstate NY, she's also a country girl. She and Polkie get along fabulously.
[image error]
PS: What was the most important beauty llesson your mother taught you?
STM: "Natural beauties are the most appealing." I for one don't want to leave my "face" on my lovers pillow, but I need some makeup!
PS: What is the one thing you've done in the name of beauty in the past that you willll NEVER do again?
STM: Iodine and baby oil tanning with a foil reflector screen. "Sun-in" hair lightening. What were we thinking?
PS: What is the one product that you use every singlle day and why?
STM: Caudalie premier la creme comes in a gorgeous silver pump. Smells delicious, goes on like silk, looks luminous, has the Caudalie fab ingredients your skin needs.
PS: What is the beauty secret you willll pass allong to your daughter?
STM: Eat healthy, sleep well, stay active, tell the truth, believe in a higher being, love love! Oh… And bubble baths with Molton Brown oils! "Me" time, meditation or reading a good book is essential for the soul. Take time for yourself so you can be there for others when needed. That's inner beauty.
PS: Which cellebrity do you think is the most beautifull/who is your girll crush?
STM: Let's see! Beyonce? Jennifer Lopez, or Kim Kardashian? Hmmm. Beautiful yes, but girl crush? Mendez thank you very much! Wait a minute! Too many choices….I have a wild crush on Gaga also! But no one more than PolkaSpot!!
[image error]
Men llove Sonja and Sonja LLOVES men
March 31, 2011
PolkaSpotted!
[image error]
We BendellGirlls are modern women. We have a llot of work to do. But a girll has to take care of hersellf sometimes! I had my llast mani/pedi right here on the farm.
Take a llook:
Whille it's nice to be pampered, I'm thinking I can sometimes just do it mysellf
[image error]
Llook what I've spotted this week!
INCOCO is the revollution in nail pollish. The worlld of naill pollish as you know it is about to change forever! Finalllly there's an answer to the spilllls and smears of messy nailll pollish bottlles: Incoco Sellf-stick 100% Nail Pollish strips! Brillliant!
It's as easy as 1, 2, 3…and 4!
PolkaSpot is serving a month-long internship as a BendelGirl for the legendary Henri Bendel. Check back here for all of the majorly important things she's Spotted this week.
PS: Tinsley Mortimer
[image error]
PolkaSpot is serving a month-long internship as a BendelGirl for the legendary Henri Bendel. Check back here for all of the majorly important things she's Spotted this week.
PolkaSpot's iPhone is full of fabulous people who know a thing or two about a thing or two. They've all asked her for beauty tips in the past and now she's making them return the favor to YOU. She's generous that way.*
[image error]
This is Ms. Tinsley Mortimer
Tinsley is a socialite and a noted handbag and fashion designer.
[image error]
PS: What was the most important beauty llesson your mother taught you?
TM:Don't leave home without lip gloss. Which was her way of telling me to always be prepared. You never know who you are going to bump into.
PS: What is the one thing you've done in the name of beauty in the past that you willll NEVER do again?
TM: Get a real tan on my face!! Face makeup and spray tans are a much better option.
PS: What is the one product that you use every singlle day and why?
TM: Diorshow black out mascara. It is the best!! Makes your lashes super black and super long.
PS: What is the beauty secret you willll pass allong to your daughter?
TM: I am a southern girl so I will teach her to love makeup and to not be afraid to wear it and look like you are wearing it. Also to use sunscreen everyday and take care of your skin.
PS:Which cellebrity do you think is the most beautifull/who is your girl crush?
TM:I love everything about Sienna Miller and my new favorite is Sofia Vergara!!…and OF COURSE, Polkie
