Weekend in Review

Over the weekend, we welcomed a couple of days of rain, which meant that (other than sneaking in a little yard work Saturday morning) I spent a lot of time in the kitchen. 

But first, I picked these garden treasures. The broccoli is still putting off tender shoots, much to my delight. I finally harvested all the cabbages, which had been picked over pretty badly by cabbage-eating bugs. The winter garden is taking a cue and winding down, just in time for spring. 

We stopped by one of our local nurseries and picked up a few six-packs... of strawberries. They found a happy home in one of our small 4-by-4 beds; planting instructions be damned! They are in rows on the diagonal, which is so very appealing to the part of my brain that wants to be a designer.

After much reassuring that pursuing a fermented recipe would not make our house stink, I set about making a simple recipe for kimchi. I sort of combined elements of this recipe and a couple of tips from this one for an easy version, which to me seems like an easy refrigerator pickle. Not wanting to dirty up the processor, I mashed garlic, ginger, and red chiles together with a mortar and pestle.

I used our garden cabbage, local carrots and green onions from Johnson's Backyard Garden, and a few other organic ingredients. If it turns out tasty, I'll post the recipe. If not, we'll just call this a happy little weekend experiment. 

After an afternoon nap and a cup of tea, I found myself gathering ingredients for these unbelievably decadent salted caramel brownies from Smitten Kitchen. Shockingly, the recipe (which calls for you to make your own caramel candies and then make brownies from scratch) was very simple and I used only two dishes. It could not have been a more straightforward recipe. Which is all the more reason to go forth and make them.

And when they came out of the oven, well... These were, without a doubt, the most delicious thing I have ever baked in my life. Perfect. Fudgy and toothsome, with an impressive caramel flavor, a hint of salt, the bitterness of dark chocolate, and a rounded sweetness — these brownies are too good for ice cream but perfect with coffee.