Pies, Plants and a Cookout

The fresh strawberry pie that I made for an event this past weekend.

This week we had quite a bit of cold, rainy weather! Each day it struggled to get past 60 degrees! Despite the weather, the plants in the garden continue to do well. However, it will still be a while before we plant our tomato, pepper and basil starts! It sure needs to warm up! I remember that about 2 years ago we had a nice, normal, warmer spring! However, for the past 2 seasons we have had a very late, cold and wet spring!

Here is some information from my Mom about the weather here in the Northwest and about the progress in the country garden.

Weather Report and Country Garden:

We are several degrees below normal in temperature, and several inches above normal in precipitation. (See the NOAA weather comparison chart below) I was shocked to see that between October 1 and now that we are nearly 10" over normal! And, if you look at just January 1 to now, it is about 5 1/4 " above normal.

...THE PORTLAND OR CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR MAY 25 2011...

CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1971 TO 2000
CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD 1940 TO 2011


WEATHER ITEM   OBSERVED TIME   RECORD YEAR NORMAL DEPARTURE LAST
VALUE   (LST)  VALUE       VALUE  FROM      YEAR
                            NORMAL
..................................................................
TEMPERATURE (F)
YESTERDAY
MAXIMUM         57    647 PM  90    1947  68    -11       64
MINIMUM         45   1159 PM  38    1975  49     -4       51
                1964
AVERAGE         51                        59     -8       58

PRECIPITATION (IN)
YESTERDAY        0.23          0.63 1989   0.07   0.16     0.38
MONTH TO DATE    2.34                      1.96   0.38     3.41
SINCE OCT 1     41.67                     31.76   9.91    29.52
SINCE JAN 1     22.82                     17.56   5.26    17.61

Dad and I have been talking about planting our tomatoes and peppers, and we are going to do a similar thing that you and I did last year with the tomatoes, and that is to put some chicken manure in each planting hole along with some soil. That will help to warm the roots as well as feed them. We didn't do that last year with the peppers, but we will do it this year.

So far, the kale, cabbages, broccoli, turnips, rutabagas, potatoes, and peas are all looking good. The radishes are really coming along fast, and I believe carrots and onions are emerging, but the first leaves look so much like grass I have a hard time knowing for sure.

I am not sure the lettuce and beets are emerging, so I will check again as it has been a few days since I last looked.

I am happy to report that all of the berries are doing well. We even have some gooseberries! The middle blueberry that was looking so bad has been putting out some new growth. One of our huckleberry bushes has flowers on it. Yahoo! We fertilized the raspberries and boysenberries. I had some Annie's organic fertilizer, so I thought I might as well use it up.

I did get the boysenberries weeded. Both the boysenberries and raspberries are sending up strong new growth, too.

Beaverton Farmer's Market Report:

I (Trista) have decided to add a new feature to our blog. Since I shop just about every Saturday at the Beaverton Farmer's Market I will buy and sample one or two new items every week and let you know how they are and give you information about the vendors. I enjoy shopping at this market to get fresh, local produce and foods-especially early in the gardening season when we don't have a lot of produce to eat from our own gardens.

Every week I like to buy 2 quarts of milk and a pint of heavy cream from Lady Lane Farm. I love their fresh milk! I really like that they use glass bottles. Every week I wash out the bottles and bring them back to trade for full ones. So wonderful! I also buy some vegetables, pears and strawberries this time of year. I have also bought some salami and sausage from Olympic Provisions.

This past week I decided to get some treats from the market. So, even though I love to bake myself I bought a mini blueberry pie from Market Fruit/Packer Orchards. It was such a delicious pie! It had really nice blueberry flavor and I really liked the struesel topping too!

I also bought some whole wheat cinnamon rolls from Baking with Grace. The next morning we had them for breakfast and they were delicious! I liked the fact that they were moist and had a great cinnamon flavor.

I look forward to getting a new small treat each week and I'll profile it here. There are all kinds of lovely foods to be had- from breads to cheeses to jams and candies!

Suburban Garden Report:

My favorite azalea finally blooming late in the spring!

All of the plants have been blooming so late this year! However, better late than never! I love this azalea plant in the picture above. Every year it gets better and better! I try to keep it free of weeds and give it plenty of space to grow and it has really paid off. It looks spectacular this year and I'm really enjoying it.

The sweet woodruff blooming in my yard. It was a volunteer plant that has spread nicely.

Also, the lovely volunteer plants in my yard- the sweet woodruff and the ginger plants have been blooming and are becoming such a nice ground cover.

The wild ginger plants forming a nice ground cover in one of my flower beds.

Other good news is that despite the late, wet and cold spring we are going to have a lot of apples on our little dwarf apple tree! It is such great news! It'll be fun to make something out of these cute little apples when it comes time to harvest them.

Little apples forming on our dwarf apple tree!

Other great news is that ALL of my rose bushes have several buds on them! I am so very excited! I have 2 large, more established traditional rose bushes and then three heirloom varieties that were transplanted into my garden last year. I am so happy with their new growth. It really paid off to prune them well last fall.

A large bud on one of my rose bushes. Hopefully soon I will have many rose blooms!

Lastly, this Friday my parents came to visit. It had been a while since they had been to our house so it was fun to show them around our yard and garden. We were able to see that our lettuce continues to come up very well in the two rows that I planted.

The main focus of the visit was for my Dad to disassemble and take home the chicken coop that has been in our yard for some time. They will be able to reassemble it on their property for the second brood of chickens that need a more permanent nesting/living space. It is nice to have more space in our yard and flower beds now that the chicken coop is no longer there. We were planning to have chickens at one point and our friend was kind enough to build us a wonderful coop but since my parents have so many chickens and thus so many eggs, we ultimately decided not to get any chickens. Adam sure had fun "helping" Grandpa with the screwdriver and nails as you can see in the picture below.

Adam with Grandma Serena helping put the screws in a jar to keep for reassembling the chicken coop.

Along with weeding and mulching the flower bed where the chicken coop was- I was able to put my trellis back up on the fence and start to train the clematis back up the trellis. I have been trying to grow that same vine of clematis without a lot of success for several years in a row. I think now it has the right space and sunlight so I hope it will thrive there!

One of the rhododendrons that we planted in our yard a few years ago. I love the lilac color!

Two Kinds of Pie:

The lemon meringue pie that I made last weekend for a dinner party we went to.


A close up of the fresh strawberry pie that I made.

This Memorial Day weekend we were fortunate enough to be invited to three lovely events! On Sunday afternoon we went to a barbecue for my friend Carol's graduation. I brought the fresh strawberry pie pictured above along with some fresh heavy cream to whip and put on top. Unfortunately we had to leave early because Adam was getting very tired- so we had to leave the pie there without trying it. However, I am positive it was enjoyed by all!

Me with my friend Carol in her front yard at her graduation barbecue.

Later on that evening, we went to a friend's house for dinner and for dessert I brought the lemon meringue pie pictured above. It got such rave reviews I'll have to make it again soon. I still need more practice with the meringue because it shrank a slight bit- but with practice I am sure it will look wonderful. I made the two pies on Sunday morning. I had made the crusts ahead of time, put them in the freezer and then baked them in the morning and prepared the fillings.

Because of these two events I have decided that since I like to bring pies to parties in the future I need to get a pie carrier. That would be very handy!

Lemon Meringue Pie:

This recipe is from a very old newspaper clipping that either my mom or grandma cut out years ago. I finally decided to try it and it is wonderful! This was Mildred Isaac's recipe according to the article.

Ingredients:

One nine and a half inch pie shell- baked and cooled

Filling:

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch
2 cups boiling water
2 tablespoons butter
6 egg yolks, lightly beaten
grated rind of 3 large lemons
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice

Meringue:

6 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
12 tablespoons superfine sugar

Directions:

In a large saucepan, mix the sugar and cornstarch. Add the boiling water and slowly boil until clear over low heat, stirring constantly. Add the butter and then gradually, the six egg yolks. Cook until thick still stirring constantly. Stir in the lemon rind and lemon juice. Cool.

Poor cooled filling into the baked pie shell.

For the meringue, beat the six egg whites with the cream of tartar until frothy. Beat in the superfine sugar, adding a little at a time, until mixture is stiff and glossy, and sugar is dissolved. Swirl meringue over filling with a spatula, touching crust all around and making sure there are no open spaces. Lift spatula to form peaks. Bake at 300F for 25 to 30 minutes or until light brown.


Fresh Strawberry Pie:

This is a pie recipe from Cook's Illustrated Magazine. I love that it turned out so picture perfect! It needs to be served quickly because over time the pie gets very juicy from the juiciness of the strawberries. It smells heavenly!

Ingredients:

One nine inch pie shell- baked and cooled.

4 pints (about 3 pounds) fresh strawberries, rinsed, dried and hulled.
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 teaspoons Sure Jell for low sugar recipes
Generous pinch of table salt
1 tablespoon juice from 1 lemon

Filling Directions:

1. Pick out around 6 ounces or 1 1/2 cups of berries that are mishapen or unattractive. In a food processor, process berries to a smooth puree, 20 to 30 seconds. You should have about 3/4 cup puree.

2. Whisk sugar, cornstarch, Sure Jell, and salt in a medium saucepan. Stir in the strawberry puree, making sure to scrape the corners of the pan. Cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly and bring to a full boil. Boil for about 2 minutes scraping the bottom and sides of the pan to prevent scorching. Transfer to a large boil and stir in lemon juice. Let cool to room temperature.

3. While the glaze is cooling, pick out the best strawberries for the pie filling. Only halve the largest ones. Measure out about 2 pounds of berries. Add the berries to the bowl of cooled glaze and stir with a spatula to thoroughly coat the berries. Mound the berries into the pie shell and arrange them so that no cut sides show. Refrigerate the pie for 2 hours. Serve pie within 5 hours of chilling.

You may serve this pie with freshly whipped cream.

Our Memorial Day Hot Dog Cookout:

On Memorial Day this year we were invited to a hot dog cookout at my parent's house. The weather started out cloudy and even rained a bit during our lunch- but later on the sun came out and we enjoyed the afternoon eating and visiting together! We had a lovely spread including homemade hot dog buns that my mom made! It was such fun! Below are some photos of our event:

My husband Paul and son Adam roasting hot dogs on the lovely fire that my Dad made.

Me next to the hot dog roasting fire pit near my parent's orchard.


All of the delicious treats at our cookout: hot dogs, homemade buns, chips, salad, baked beans, deviled eggs a rhubarb custard pie, lemon meringue pie and cheesecake!

My mom (Serena) fixing up a hot dog.

A hot dog from Shy Ann Meat Company on a homemade bun by my mom.

My mom, Paul, Kim and Dad getting ready for lunch.

Adam feeding clover to the chickens.


Me with Adam on our walk in the woods.

I hope that all of you have a great week! It is supposed to shape up weather-wise starting next week- getting warmer and drying out. It may be about time to plant the tomatoes and peppers then! Here's to keeping the faith!