Holy Manzanita!

Matt and I have been on a mission to find regionally-local manzanitas to introduce in our garden.  Manzanitas are the taller relatives of kinnickinnick (in fact, they're the same genus).  Bees and hummingbirds love 'em.  Like kinnickinnick, manzanitas are evergreen and have a fairly large range, occurring from southern British Columbia through Mexico.

We were looking for two species, Arctostaphylos columbiana (hairy manzanita) and Arctostaphylos canescens (hoary manzanita).   As it turns out, finding particular species of manzanita can be challenging, as this genus has a tendency toward hybridization, including between "manzanitas" and "kinnickinnick".  Short of wild-harvesting plants, the best we could do was acquire a few manzanitas that do well in our region.

Photo of  mature Manzanita x 'Austin Griffiths' from Las Pilitas Nursery website.

During a recent visit* to Echo Valley Natives in Oregon City, Matt and I picked up a wild-collected manzanita.  Again, due to the wide-variation in the genus related to hybridization, we're not entirely sure what type this is.  It's now living above our retaining wall in the front.

Last weekend we took our first trip to Cistus Nursery on Sauvie Island.  For reasons I don't completely understand it's still the slow season there for retail, so there wasn't much to see.  However, that didn't stop us from spending ages deciding on three manzanitas to bring home.

Our Austin Griffiths is loaded with blooms- hurray!

Manzanita flowers might look familiar to blueberry growers.  Vaccinium (blueberries/huckleberries) and Arctostaphylos are both in the Ericaceae family.

Arctostaphylos x 'Austin Griffiths' is a hybrid described as having "glossy green leaves and dark maroon-brown bark, forming an attractive backdrop for a large cluster of soft pink flowers.  The blooms appear in early winter, providing a valuable nectar source for hummingbirds and bees.  Over time, this upright manzanita can reach a height of up to 10 feet and width of 4-6 ft."

Welcome to your new home, little guy.

And we got two itty bitty Arctostaphylos myrtifolia to flank the steps leading up to the front door.  It's hard to tell from the photo, but they have adorable teardrop flowers and bristly stems.  Upon researching this species, A. myrtifolia appears to be a federally listed "threatened species" and is endemic to the Sierra Nevada foothills (so not quite native- oops.)  We were looking for a manzanita that wouldn't grow more than four feet and this fit the bill according to the folks at the nursery.

Love those little flowers.

*Echo Valley Natives turned out to be the only place I could find Euonymus occidentalis, or Western Wahoo.  For some reason this wonderfully showy native plant is almost impossible to find in nurseries around here.  We brought home two.  They're gorgeous in the fall, especially.  I'll take photos of ours at some point.

The Frosted Garden

It's winter and I, along with the other bees, have been less busy around the garden lately.

Crystalline fruit of the Nootka rose.

Today, however, I looked outside and was instantly inspired to leap out of bed, don my coat, grab my camera, and snap some photos of a rare Portland sight.  A crunchy walk through the crystalline garden offered an almost surreal experience.  Frost is really a neat thing, isn't it?

Foggy view from deck

We've had a few foggy days lately in the Pacific Northwest, and I've been walking around, feeling like I'm part of some fantastical movie, or at least that something fantastical is about to happen.  And I suppose it does.  The vibrant greens of Portland in the winter, including our infamous Douglas firs, paired with glimpses of snow-capped mountains on clear days and views of the city skyline are enough to make me giddy.

Okay enough gushing.  Good Dog; I love this city!

Forgotten spiders' webs reappeared today as icy formations.

Bristly Nootka rose looks especially neat with icicles as thorns.

Snowberry encased in ice.  How fitting.

My friend, Douglas meadowfoam, is preparing for its summer show.

Sword ferns and moss; keeping it green all winter.

The surprising evergreen-iocity of our deciduous Western azaleas.

A wild-collected Oregon grape. Such great color.

Vegan MoFo: Fig and Ginger Jam and Cream Cheeze

I told ya all about my Fig and Ginger Jam yesterday, right?  Well, while I was busy at work making the jam, Julian was working on the cream cheese recipe by Miyoko Schinner in the recent Cheese Issue of VegNews.  Each of these things are wonderful standalone toppings, but when spread together on a baguette, they become pure magic!

Don't believe me?  Try it for yourself.  Sooooooo goooooooood.

The jam, as you can imagine, has a nice ginger flavor that isn't too over-powering.  You get extra jolts of gingery goodness when you get a chunk of the crystallized ginger, as you can see here.  I realized after taking this photo that strangely, there weren't any fig chunks in this plop of jam. The creamy, slight smokiness of the cream cheese adds a richness to this snack.  Seriously, this is good stuff.

VeganMoFo: When life gives you figs...

You know, I'm not sure why the phrase "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade" exists.  They're not just some sour, single-use ingredient.  I put them in everything.  Enough about lemons, though.  Today we're talking about figs, and more importantly, fig jam!

Our neighbor has a 20+ ft tall green fig tree in her yard, which happens to have sent a bunch of branches over our way.  We're not complaining and neither are the dogs, who immediately zoom to the spot below the fig tree when they're let out.

Yesterday I set out with my ladder and my biggest colander (which I had to empty three times) to collect roughly 170 figs (and I left a ton on the tree).  Remember, this amount was only from the branches that have grown over from our neighbor's yard since Feb 2011 when we put up the fence!  Basically, I got a lot of figs.

This photo is deceptive.  This bowl is HUGE.  I ended up only using half of these.

Then I made Super Scrumptious Fig and Crystallized Ginger Jam 

I am not a canning expert, so I mostly just followed the directions that came with my pectin box.

Here's what I did:

Ingredients:

24 cups quartered figs (will turn into roughly 12 cups when cooked)

1/2 cup water

Juice and zest of one lemon (~1/4 cup juice)

1/2 cup chopped crystallized ginger

6 cups sugar (can you believe this is the "reduced sugar" recipe?)

A full box of Pomona's Universal Pectin (follow the directions on the pectin box you choose)

1. I sterilized several jars (although not enough, so I ended up making a few jars to keep in the fridge) and their lids.  As they were sterilizing I began chopping figs and preparing the rest of the jam.

Sterilizing the jars at 350* F for 20 minutes.

2. I quartered figs until I had 24 cups of fruit, which was all that would fit in my biggest soup pot.  I placed them in the pot along with the water, lemon juice, lemon zest, and that calcium water made from a packet that came with my pectin (yours may differ).  I cooked this over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the volume decreased by half and the figs were pretty soft- about 10 minutes or so.

24 cups of quartered figs!

3. I mixed the pectin powder (your directions may differ) with the sugar, then added the mixture to the figs, stirring continuously for 1-2 minutes.  Then I brought the mixture to a boil and removed it from heat. 

4. I filled my jars, leaving 1/4" of space on time, wiped the rims clean, screwed on the dried lids, and tightened the lids until my wrists hurt.  I gave them a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

That's it!

15 jars of varying sizes

Oh we did some very yummy things with the jam last night.  More on that tomorrow!  For now, some more dog and fig photos!

Emerson Fig Lover, has become quite adept at standing on his back legs to position himself directly under a particular fig.  He'll even stay outside in the rain, something he ordinarily avoids.

Getting Emerson to look at the camera has never been easier.  A fig was the answer.

Andy, Jungle Beast.

VeganMoFo: Simple Squash Soup

A simple soup with a smile.

Ingredients:
1 cup raw cashew pieces
1 cup water
6 cups peeled, seeded, and chopped delicata squash
2 cups water
1 clove garlic, pressed
corn from two cobs (about 2 cups)
hot sauce!

1. Let the cashews soak in 1 cup water for an hour or so.  Then blend until smooth.
2. Boil the squash in the remaining water until soft, about 10-15 minutes.  Add the garlic and cashew mixture and blend until smooth.  Return to pan.
3. Add the corn and continue simmering until corn is cooked, stirring every so often.
4. Top with hot sauce.

Vegan MoFo: Sorta participating in Iron Chef

On Friday I announced the secret ingredients, potatoes and sesame, for the second Iron Chef Challenge on the Vegan MoFo website.  Technically, since there is no winning or losing in the Challenge, it probably would have been okay for me to participate, but I would have felt strange promoting my own dish on the MoFo site.  Instead, I will feature it here today!

I made a slow-cooked Indian Potato and Tahini Stew.  Everyone seemed to like it, since it was gone in a matter of hours, with only a small amount for Matt to take to work tomorrow.

Ingredients:
2 cups dried chickpeas* + 4 cups water
1 1/2 cups peeled and roughly chopped potatoes
3 cups peeled and roughly chopped sweet potatoes
4 cups vegetable broth
14 curry leaves
2 tsps curry powder
4 tbsp tahini
1 green bell pepper, diced
4 cloves garlic, smashed
1 jalapeno, sliced
4 cloves garlic, smashed
salt to taste
lemons, hot sauce, and sesame seeds for garnish

How to:
1. Add dried chickpeas and four cups water to slow cooker and cook on high for two hours.
2. After two hours, add the remaining ingredients except for the salt, lemon, and hot sauce.  Stir to combine well.  Cook on high for two more hours, or until the potatoes and chickpeas are soft.
3. Add salt, if needed, and lemon juice, hot sauce, and sesame seeds.
4. Serve over rice or eat as is.

*You can substitute six cups of canned chickpeas for the dried chickpeas and four cups of water, adding them in Step 2.

By the way, did you see the entries for the Challenge?  Take a look at the Round Up here.  Those knishes- wow!

Vegan MoFo: Welcome to my Kitchen

Inspired by, Kittee's kitchen tour post from a few days ago, I decided to snap a few shots of my work-in-progress kitchen.

So, come on in!

The natural light coming in from the windows makes all the difference throughout the year.  I stand at my sink and overlook the back garden, which is a real treat!   The electric range, which is caving in in the middle and has a broken drawer and only two working burners, will be on its way out soon.  We plan to replace it with a white double-oven gas (or dual fuel) range.

Botanical artwork by moi.

This is the breakfast nook-turned extra kitchen prep area.  My friend, Joel, and I built this piece from reclaimed wood, although it's not quite finished.  Below, we store things like the VitaClay rice cooker, and various food stuff like oils and vinegars.

See that cute crocheted cupcake on the top shelf?  That was a gift from a U.K. swap buddy.

The shelves, also reclaimed wood, hold jars of grains, pasta, beans, and other items we use frequently, as well as our vegan cookbook collection!  Non-vegan cookbooks reside in the dining room.

The books on the end are library rentals!

The drawers contain some of our spices and teas.

Juicer, popcorn can-turned kibble container, and other items live on the other side of the nook.

The bee curtains were actually hand towels I purchased on Etsy.  We love bees (if you couldn't tell from the other photos!)  You can also see the adorable soap bottle apron my grandma made.

I spy Matt's favorite kitchen gadget in the bottom right corner.

I turned the broom closet off of the kitchen into a pantry.  After a lot of searching, I found a shelving unit that fits almost perfectly inside.

Andy peers at the somewhat usual pantry contents.

I am in love with the color I painted the kitchen.  I got the paint mixed at Miller, but the color is Farrow&Ball's Chappell Green.

My beloved measuring cups, magnetic knife strip, and slow-cooker.

And, while I like my thrifted dishes and glasses, I decided not to bore you with glimpses into all of my cabinets.  I'll leave you with this colorful photo of some of my bakeware.

Le Creuset, I love you.

This concludes the tour of my kitchen.  I looooove peaking into other peoples' homes, so if you have a link to your very own kitchen tour, please do share it below!