Sea Camp!
July 26, 2009 Posted by: ERIN
This past week the field station was teeming with 40 local children who were all here as part of our annual Sea Camp. The camp is an opportunity for kids from the island to learn about ocean conservation and practice their snorkeling. I was in charge of the 7-to-9-year-olds group, with a 5 year old and a 3 year old thrown in for good measure. We dubbed ourselves the 'Dashing Dolphins', and we spent our time singing and swimming and coloring pictures of coral reefs. We also learned to identify different sea grasses and fish. My campers were adorable and took to their snorkels like old pros. The whole week was really fun and quite exhausting.
In other news, tomorrow Tom and I are leaving for our summer vacation. We'll be making a grand tour of eastern North America with stops in Baltimore, Chicago, Halifax, The 1000 Islands, and Rochester. Posting will probably be very light and maybe even nonexistent over the next five weeks ... but just so you aren't too sad, I'm leaving you with these fun photos from Sea Camp!
Conch 'n Grits
July 18, 2009 Posted by: ERIN
I believe it was last November that I first tasted conch 'n grits, and since then it has quickly become one of my favorite Bahamian dishes. Here in the islands it's a traditional breakfast item, but I can eat it whenever. It's tender chunks of conch and veggies suspended in a creamy, savory grits. I'm not exactly sure what the all seasonings are, but I do know it includes dried thyme. Tom did a good job of describing conch 'n grits as similar to jambalaya, but less spicy. Whatever it is, it's so delicious and satisfying ... true Bahamian comfort food.
Don't ask me how to make it, because I do not know. And frankly, I don't want to know, because I could never do it as well as the lovely ladies in the field station cafeteria. A fisherman friend of ours gifted us with several fresh conch earlier in the week, and since cooking conch is still not quite in my culinary repertoire, Tom asked the ladies in the kitchen if they wouldn't mind whipping up a batch of conch 'n grits for everyone. The ladies were very sweet, wanting to teach me how to make it, but I don't think they realized I was a lost cause when they would say things like "start it out just the way you would a conch stew" and "season it just like you would your peas 'n rice" (another Bahamian dish). I just love those lovely ladies, and I'll always eat their conch 'n grits.
What are my other favorite Bahamian dishes, you ask? Crab 'n rice and lobster salad. They are every bit as good as you might imagine.
Erin's Almanac
July 11, 2009 Posted by: ERIN
With the heat and searing sun of summer upon us, things have wrapped up in the veggie garden for the year. It was a great year, though. I'd say the highlights were the heavenly Big Rainbow heirloom tomatoes and the delightful Fresca strawberries. But the broccoli, green onions, and bell peppers were spectacular too. Oh, and my sucess with cucumbers was much improved (mostly because I figured out the early warning signs of melon worms). Radishes, hot peppers, and pole beans were new additions to the garden, and each proved quite prolific. Sadly, I think I'm giving up on melons for the future. They just take up too much space and are too vulnerable to pests here. I barely managed to squeeze out a single watermelon, while the remaining watermelons and all the cantaloupes succumbed. My beets and sweet peas need some work next year, but I'm not giving up on those yet.
Last month I found myself feeling a bit weary of the garden, which I immediately felt guilty about. I loved my garden and working outside in the soil and was proud all my produce! But at the same time I was getting to be "over it". As I thought about why, I realized that I was in my 9th month of gardening. Yup, I had been at it for NINE straight months. Compared to the approximately 4 months of vegetable gardening that my temperate-climate upbringing had accustomed me to, I'd been running a garden marathon. So I forgave myself for being ready for a break, and began planning ahead for next year.
I've already ordered a bunch of seeds for next season, which will start in the fall. I'll be adding a few additional tomato varieties, including Brandywine heirlooms that I'm particularly excited about. I'm also going to try my hand at snow peas, swiss chard, okra, and kohlrabi. Maybe cauliflower too. In the realm of herbs and helpful companion plants, I'll be adding calendula, marigolds, bee balm, and borage. Doesn't borage sound so glamorous?
Looking back through photos, I've realized that I didn't take nearly enough of the garden this year. Most of what I shot were already-picked produce. I'm kicking myself that I don't have any of heirloom tomatoes on the vine, because they are so funky looking. I'll have to remember to take more shots of the plants themselves next year.
I hope all you temperate-climaters are growing lots of good things these days, or at least making the most of your local farmers market. I can't wait for our vacation in August. Fresh berries, corn, zucchini, and peaches ... here I come!
Burgers Done Right
July 5, 2009 Posted by: TOM
Inspired by Hamburger America, a documentary Erin got me for my birthday, we decided to have burgers for the 4th of July (this being the Bahamas and all, there weren't too many other celebrations for American Independence). Erin had a recipe for brioche burger buns which she wanted to try and I suggested that we grind our own beef from a few steaks that we had in the freezer. Grinding their own meat was a common theme among most of the featured hamburger places in the movie, so while we didn't have fresh ground beef (as in recently slaughtered), we were able to grind better meat than we probably get in the 5 lb. logs of ground beef we have here.
Erin made the the homemade buns early in the day to allow for the multiple rises, and then to cool adequately before we'd be slicing, toasting, and eating them. After she'd finished with the buns, I took over in the kitchen and set-up the meat grinder attachment on the Kitchen Aid. After trimming the steaks a bit, I sliced them into long strips which could be easily fed into the grinder. After the first grinding, I passed the ground steak through the grinder a second time (twice grinding is recommended). In no time we had a nice bowl of ground steak. It went much smoother than I expected and the grinding attachment was also very easy to clean. I may even have proclaimed, "Clean-up is a breeze!", although I think Erin is making that up. I added a bit of salt to the ground steak and then with Erin's help shaped four large, thin patties. We both commented on liking the big thin burgers that we saw featured in the documentary, and so this was what we were going for.
Lacking a large flat-top grill in our place, I settled for cooking the burgers in two non-stick skillets. The burgers were given a single flip and then topped with monterey jack cheese which melted nicely over each burger. It was during the cooking process that I wished we had one of those nice cast iron weights to put on the burgers to keep them nice and thin instead of plumping up.
I applied thin layers of mayonaise and stone ground mustard to my buns, while Erin used stone ground mustard and ketchup on hers. We each also included pickle slices. As an experiment, Erin also topped half of her burger with some tangy homemade slaw. She seemed pleased.
I think the burgers came out exceptionally well, with the meat definitely being much better than plain old average store bought ground beef. The homemade buns were outstanding, and were also good this morning toasted and topped with jelly. Given how fast and easy most of this was (the buns were by far the most time consuming at three hours total time, which included a lot of waiting for it to rise twice, and bake), and the far superior taste to both store-bought ground beef and buns, I'm sure we'll be doing this often in the future.
