ashen
From: ♣Canada♣about me
sunday afternoon BBQ
I thought i would post out some pics from my Sunday afternoon BBQ... I went a different direction this time on the ribs.... just salt and pepper at first then 3 hrs on the smoker with applewood chunks for smoke .. after the 3 hrs basting with a paste made with fresh homegrown herbs( rosemary, golden oregano, marjoram,thyme,chocolate mint ) , fresh garlic cloves, lemon zest, lemon juice, and a small glug of X virgin olive oil, gray salt bashed up in a M&P.. I let them go for another half hour with the applewood smoke. then grilled off the veggies to go with it.. cut up zucchini, red pepper,button mushrooms, asparagus coated with S&P , olive oil, lemon juice before hitting the grill then back into the same bowl afterwards and tossed to pick up the leftover marinade in the bottom..
I moved the ribs over direct heat to finish with by squeezing the juice of a lemon on both sides..
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Secondhand treasures...
Not too long ago i picked up this vintage but fully working 25 LB by oz American Family scale at a second hand store . even the tare adjustment knob works great to zero it out... I love the look of this old scale and that fact that it is functional makes me very happy. 
I don't think it will ever be a collectors item but it will go along with my eccentric hodge podge of old ceramic bowls and cast iron that drives my wife crazy. 
OH Christmas Tree!!
Today was the annual pilgramage to get a real christmas tree. We tried a new place this year and I think it will become a tradition to go there from now on. Wintersingers Christmas tree farm. Set about 20 minutes into the country and covering a huge area they have about 6 different kinds of cut your own trees. They take you way out back of their farm on a hayride and drop you off in an area with 9 to 10 yr old trees of the variety you wish. After that comes the hard part, picking a tree that everyone can agree on. This one is too short, that one is too skinny, the other one has a twisted trunk. This years selection was actually one of the fastest in recent memory, about 25 mins . We still ended up with a tree that looks someone tried to tie a knot in the trunk but it does certainly have character. The angel on top of this crooked charmer looks a bit drunk though. Cut the tree down and drag your prize thru the snow to the wagon pickup. I love the tree shaker this place has. It basically knocks all the loose needles off before they bundle it up for the ride home. Watch out for the dogs though, the person in front of us had a very excited golden Lab puppy christen his tree while waiting for this The transport home went very well this year, no repeats of the almost flying tree . 
We had to trim it a bit once home, and cut a small disc off the bottom of the trunk to make sure it will drink water for a few weeks. This year we had the idea to make an ornament from the cut off disk. I used a dremmel and engraved 07 in on side and a pic of a christmas tree in the other then drilled a hole and hung it from some nice ribbon. Once it dries a bit i will shellac it and will do the same for every tree from now on
canning tomatoes
I canned up some tomatoes this past weekend and took a few pics along the way...
the process is very simple but time consuming. It is a great way to use up all those extra tomatoes from an overproducing garden. Unfortunatly my tomato plants didn't do well this year so i ended up buying a half bushel from the local farmers market.
basic hardware you need would include;
water bath canner (xlarge pot works but canner with bottle rack makes things so much easier)
large pot of boiling water (about a gallon of water).
large pot/bowl with icewater.
large bowls for peeling and holding peeled tomatoes
jar lifter
clean sterilized 1 quart/liter mason jars, bottle rings/bands ..hold new snap lids in hot but not boiling water. approx. 180 F
clean linen kitchen towels
ingredients;
tomatoes (do not use low acid tomatoes for this. ripe but not overripe is best.. overripe tomatoes have lower acidity and this can affect safety. )
kosher salt
citric acid powder form ( this is a safety related addition. it raises the acidity of the tomatoes. Most tomatoes are right at the borderline of safe acidity for preserving. can be found at most pharmacies and wine making supply stores. may also be found at places carrying canning supplies)
ascorbic acid (optional*this will keep a nice colour on your tomatoes after processing.. strictly an appearance thing in the jar.*)
get the canner boiling and sterilze you jars by boiling for at least 10 mins.
wash tomatoes well
bring second pot of water to boil and add 1 tsp of ascorbic acid *this is strictly for colour preservation and completely optional.*
make up the ice water. you want about a gallon of ice and water together.. add 1 tsp of ascorbic acid to this..
put about 8 tomatoes into boiling water until their skin cracks..
take out with large spoon and put into ice water . once cooled off (shocked), peel tomatoes.
after tomatoes are peeled, cut them up into medium size pieces ,you should remove the core out at this point.
add 1 tsp of kosher salt , 1/2 tsp of citric acid per jar .
top up with cut up tomatoes and their liquid . be sure to push down the tomatoes in the jar and use a spatula to get any bubbles out, leaving 1/2 inch headspace .
wipe rim of jar with clean toweling and place new snap lid on top .. screw the bands on fingertight.
process in waterbath canner for 45 mins.
The FrankenChili
I seem to have created a monster somewhat by mistake.
I decided to grow a couple of varieties of superhot chilies this year. Thirteen Red Savina Habenero plants and two tepin plants. Somewhere along the line I seem to have cross-pollinated the two. On the habenero plants I am getting two differnt kinds of chili. One looks like a normal habenero and a few other peppers look like double/triple size tepins with the red colouring of the habeneros. They are very hot and I am hoping that I might be able to grow some plants from the seeds. I am worried that the plants from the seed will just revert back to normal habenero though. If I can get a plant that grows these little fiery wonders, I think I will call the peppers Satan's Tears .
I will get some pics loaded up in the next couple days.
