We are drowning in squash after heading to the veggie stand in a farmer's front yard just over the hill (I was not back from Houston in time to plant squash). By now, he recognizes who we are and had squash "seconds." These "seconds" are the kind of squash that must be cooked RIGHT NOW or they will go bad. We fed some to the chickens, then I chopped up the rest.

Experiment 1: frozen diced squash. Later this week, I will remove the frozen diced squash from the freezer and cook with it. We will see if being frozen so damaged the cell walls that it is mushy (eeeew).

Experiment 2: Sautéed Green Tomato and Summer Squash Ensalata

• 1 cup diced squash
• 1 large diced green tomato
• dude, I am so out of onions, so there are none in this go around, but try adding at least half an onion and I bet it will taste good
• 1 tsp Slap Ya Mamma Cajun Spice
• 1 tsp dried garlic (fresh would be better but I am also out of that)
• 1 tablespoon corn oil (you guessed it, out of olive oil)
• 1/4 cup corn meal or ground up corn flakes (who knows why I am NOT out of that when I am out of every other thing in this kitchen today)
• Salt to taste
• 2 cups diced salad mixture
• 2 tablespoons diced fresh cilantro
• 6 tablespoons salsa
• 1 spoon sour cream

Heat up the oil until it sizzles when you drop water on it. Toss in the tomatoes and squash and let them sizzle on one side for about 1 minute. Sprinkle the flour or corn flakes on top, then, turn the entire mixture over. Sauté until it is done. I like it bordering on dark brown, but with the veggies still al dente.

While the sautéing, get two large bowls (for eating) and put 1 cup of lettuce into each. Add half the cilantro to each.

When the sauté delight is done, put half in each bowl. Top with the salsa and sour cream if you like it. Since I don't eat sour cream, there is only one spoonful above, but there would have been two had I wanted one on my bowl.

The salad mixture can be whatever kind of lettuce plus other salady things you like. Ours had cucumbers, red tomatoes, cabbage and romaine.

        

The move out of the city has proven to be a wonderful choice when it come to both nutrition and flavor in our recipes.

In spite of being berated for supporting the petroleum economy by moving out of the city, we are happily living  where there are stars in the sky, friendly neighbors, kick azz recreation within walking distance and the best darn tasting fruits and veggies at this time of year.

Someone asked me the other day why I would move from Oregon to Tennessee (as if this is a shocking choice) and my answer is this: I can live on a small farm in Tennessee, but not in Oregon. Why? Oregon's restrictive zoning laws make farm land so freaking expensive and regulated that my mini chicken endeavor and vegetable garden would not be possible. Even if I had the cash to buy a small tract of land (which would cost about 10 times what this one did), it is unlikely that the zoning would allow me to have the sorts of livestock I wish to raise.

Anyway, the great thing on a farm right now from a foodie point of view is the quality of our meals. In early July, in Tennessee, we are chowing on summer squash (it never tasted so good), blueberries from our two bushes (we get 10-15 a day), tomatoes (from the Mennonites, ours need another few weeks), and yesterday for the first time potatoes!

Every meal is organized over what is ripe and must be eaten. I am dreaming of an outdoor kitchen for when canning season hits in a few weeks.

Lannae - so far so good on the pepper crop...

        

For every person eating, wash and slice a potato.
For every potato, slice one 1/4" round of onion and half an apple, a clove of garlic.
Have on hand half a dozen key limes.
Put some olive oil in a skillet that has a good, tight cover.
Add all the garlic.
Put in a layer each of onion, potato, and apple.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Keep layering until you run out of stuff, hopefully all ingredients during the same layer.
Cover the pan and put on medium heat until the lid talks to you, then lower the heat.
Once in awhile, open up and see if it needs liquid and how the potatoes are doing.
For liquid, squeeze in key lime juice (this is Der Schwung or Der Pep).
Takes 30-45 minutes, depending upon the heat of your "simmer" and the tightness of your pan.

        

So I was sitting in a session at the PDF Conference with mostly liberals and progressives that was supposed to focus on local blogging.

The classical liberal crowd, commonly called libertarians with a small l, was in the minority. One asked a question and mentioned that he felt the problem cited in the presentation where the locals had to fight to force the city council to not change zoning in favor of a builder was less a problem of corrupt builders and politicians on city council and more a problem of the city council having too much power to choose winners and losers.

(In other words, if the city council and/or government is not given the power to choose winners and losers, and thus be easily influenced by money from rich builders, then no one has to worry about if they are or are not on the dole.)

After he made the comment, a spectator spouted "He must be a Republican."

It illustrated to me the problem with trying to have a reasonable conversation on the merits of an issue with folks who are more worried about their labels than the issues: They resort to name calling when they can't find a reasoned retort.

She probably did not think when she called the fellow a Republican that anyone who is likely to be pro drug legalization or pro peace, and anti government coercion on a zoning issue, is also likely not to be a Republican. And she also did not realize that calling a classical liberal a Republican is akin to our calling a progressive a Nazi, but I decided not to explain it to her since she showed me by making such a comment that she wouldn't get it anyway.

It also brought another difference between progressives and classical liberals home to me: I am perfectly happy to have a conversation with a progressive about issues and walk away with neither of our minds changed. On the other hand, progressives seem to go batty when I don't join their cult - they can't let me believe that freedom and individual choice will actually allow the world to prosper.

        

Arriving in the Big Apple a few days before a conference, was an excellent plan. I hardly ever see my uncle and he has a beach house out of the city at this time of year. We met up on the train to paradise. His friends are always a hoot, and this group was no different.

        

In response yesterday's post about Al Gore's mansion consuming 10% MORE electricity after installing solar panels than before (which makes me question why we are polluting China with waste chemicals in order to use such panels here), Diesel Mike wrote:

lots of hydroponics and grow lights?

HA HA HA.

Now, the Gores are probably not growing marijuana in a home grow set up, but it got me to thinking:

The war on drugs has forced growers across the country to hide their grow operations in an effort to supply a government-created, artificially high-priced clientèle with plant matter.

These suppliers stand to make great profits by taking the risk to set up grow lights inside to produce pot for the masses. The grow lights use tons of electricity, which is how the drug agents identify growers.

Why not say enough is enough? Hemp is a plant that, from all reports, grows like a weed in the wild. Let's get the growers out of their basements, or garages or wherever, and also reduce electricity use too!

Not only would our jails be less full, and police be able to focus more on violent and property crimes, but hemp could be cultivated for clothing, alternative fuels, rope, paper, ....?? The possibilities seem endless.

Of course some officials would be out of work, but they could retrain to enter the new hemp economy.

Seems like a win-win to me...

---

On no particular schedule, I take a walk. Each time this happens, I have a thought. This is Nicole Sauce's Thought of the Walk.

        

Yesterday, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research (TCPR) released an update in the now infamous research of a year ago on Al Gore's personal energy use.

Astoundingly, his energy use went up after spending more money than many of us could imagine on such a thing to add solar panels to his mansion, along with a fancy schmancy geo thermal heating system, GWB style.

An excerpt:

Since taking steps to make his home more environmentally-friendly last June, Gore devours an average of 17,768 kWh per month –1,638 kWh more energy per month than before the renovations – at a cost of $16,533. By comparison, the average American household consumes 11,040 kWh in an entire year, according to the Energy Information Administration.

This year, Al Gore's Spokes Person actually responded to the data release with the following summarized statement from our local paper:

But Gore spokeswoman Kalee Kreider scoffs at the claim. The Gores' utility bills have gone down 40 percent since the green retrofit, she said, thanks largely to their new geothermal heating and cooling system, which cut their natural gas bills by 90 percent.

But look carefully at the above statement - it does not answer the question about electricity. Their gas bills must have gone down from the geothermal heating system, but the solar panels have done nothing to reduce their electricity.

How do I know? Well, the spreadsheet summary is right here. (Compare June 2007, pre-renovation, to June 2008, post-renovation. Not only is there no decrease, the electricity use INCREASED.)

Any Tennessee resident can request their own copies for this data if they want to verify it, but I can see no reason why the Nashville Scene would lie.

Gore's spokeswoman on the other hand, while she is technically not lying, is misleading the conversation (and I suppose doing her job well.) She in fact distracts us from the much more important question:

What is all this electricity, combined with all the electricity generated via the solar panels, being used for?

Anyone have any ideas?

        

Well, we made it back to Tennessee and there was tons of work to do on the farm, plus TWO parental visits to prepare for. But, Nicole Sauce is back in the saddle.

With all the tainted tomato chatter on the internet and grocery store and producer recalls, only one question comes to mind: Can anyone tell me where to buy boxes of cheap potentially tainted tomatoes? I'd love to can them. By the time the pressure cooker gets done with the jars, there is no chance for salmonella.

        

As many know, I have been on a hard road schedule the last 4 weeks. I was lucky enough to have a fellow blogger friend fill in while I was out and about.

For those of you who have not seen Lannae Long's blog, you should check it out. She has a number of great restaurant reviews, photo documented cooking adventures, and she even manages to post blog entries when she is on the road. She is so good at blogging that local chef's invite her to their pre-release tasting sessions!




Please help me thank Lannae for posting to this site to keep things rolling!

        

This just in from my favorite real estate agent who is also a musician:

THE REDNECK YACHT CLUB sets sail this weekend at Hurricane Marina on Center Hill Lake! We play at 7pm. Here are the directions! From I-40, take Exit 273 toward Smithville / McMinnville.

Follow TN-56 South for 3.5 miles. Turn RIGHT onto Floating Mill Road, and follow the signs towards Hurricane Marina.

A friend of mine, Steve Williams, wrote a country song entitled "Redneck Yacht Club" with a buddy of his named Tom Shepard and it was a big hit single a couple of years ago by Craig Morgan.

Now Steve and Tom have starting doing gigs calling their act "The Redneck Yacht Club".

Most of the gigs are at marinas as they're playing up the "boating" thing. That's what this is all about. We're doing songs they've written along with some Jimmy Buffet tunes and other fun stuff.

Tell everybody to come out!

The 2005 Song performed by Craig Morgan:

More importantly, a performace by the BAND:

        

My friend was just chatting with me and came up with the following statement:

I almost blew a gasket last week when [my son's] English teacher sent home an assignment;  interview your parents or grandparents about the great depression and what they remember from it...

Now, I am no history major, but it did not take me long to figure out that this assignment is impossible for most of America's children.

Worse, who wants to learn from an English teacher who has no idea that the Great Depression was so long ago that his/her student's parents AND grandparents were probably not alive for it.

Sheesh.

        

Breaker 19, this is sort of a Thought of the Walk, but really it was a thought right after a nap.  Back in the 1970s, the CB radio, the citizens' band radio, was the internet chat, web messenger and cell phone all wrapped in one package.  As we started up Convoy, a free movie On Demand, after my nap, I declared that we should get a CB radio because we live near an interstate highway, and I want to know if people are still using the CB radio.  Then M said that the CB radio usage has to be back the way it used to be before the movie Convoy, Smokey and the Bandit happened, and before when everyone had to have CB radio in their car.   I remember my old roommate from college had a CB radio, so when she drove the 300 miles home on one of the busiest highways in the USA, she could get a smokey report, and not get caught doing 90 mph.   All the gentlemen on the other side of the CB radio would call her "sweet angel", and  probably had little fantasies about her during and after using the CB radio.  Over.

        

photo of my coffee from Bongo Java

Hi there!  I am Lannae from LannaeLong.blogspot.com, and I get to be a guest blogger on Nicole Sauce's blog.  I get to blog about whatever I want on Nicole's blog, so I decided to blog about my coffee cup.  When I was in college, I drank a lot of coffee to stay awake as much as I could.  I probably drank between 1/2 a pot to 2 pots of coffee per day.  I had THE original travel mug, and it was attached to my hand at all times.  I would walk around campus that way, and everyone knew me as the one with the coffee mug.  The mug was red plastic, it once had writing on it but that paint chipped off, it only held up to 12 oz, and the base of the mug was a disk shape, so it could fit into the mug holder that could be glued to a dashboard of a car.  Since I did not have a car when I had this mug, I just carried the mug by its handle.  That travel mug got me through 4 years of college, 3 years of grad school, nearly 10 years in Philadelphia, and about 4 years in Nashville.  Where that mug went, I am not sure.  I sure wish I still have it because it, filled with coffee, got me through all of college and my 20s. Sometime during grad school, I bought a 2nd plastic coffee mug, but this one is bigger,  it is 16 oz, and it came from one of the hundreds of Dunkin' Donuts in Boston, it is as spherical in shape and it has that disc at the bottom for the dashboard, and this plastic travel mug had "The Big One" painted on the side of it.  I still have that Dunkin' Donuts mug, but the paint has chipped off the sides, and ti looks like it says | -  \ . _ ) ' |_` instead  of The Big One.  I actually use the Dunkin' Donuts mug everyday at work, and it has been my work coffee mug for over 10 years now.  Day in and day out I use the same mug.  This mug is attached to my hand most of the morning, and co-workers expect to see me with this mug in my hand.  Since I am older now, I can't tolerate full caffeine anymore, I drink only 1/2 caf and 1/2 decaf now.

So I guess I want to say that today is Earth Day.  Even before I knew what Earth Day was, I used my coffee mug to get re-fills from the student union, from the coffee shops and from my own coffee maker.  I really don't care to use paper or styrofoam cups because that just don't hold up as well as my old faithful coffee mug.  I also like using my own mug because I am cheap, and and many places offer discounts on coffee if you bring your own mug.  Believe me, as a poor college student, getting a discount was a big motivator to make something like reusing a coffee mug a habit.  I am so glad my cheap ways fall in line with Earth Day, so this blog post can tie in my coffee mug with Earth Day.  Other than that, I really don't have much to say about Earth Day accept reduce, reuse and recycle.  I am sure good at reducing the number of coffee mugs I use, and I have been re-using it everyday for definitely over 10 years.  I have no need to recycle it yet, as it is still a perfectly good mug. 

        

Guess what we learned how to cook?

        

We've all seen people get into big trouble on the Internet because they were traced via their IP address. Especially folks who post commentary on politics from work, which is traced to their company.

Luckily, the Internet has solved this problem for us (along with many other ones).

HideMyIP.com is one way to mask yourself. You can hide behind a thicker screen of anonymity. It is wonderful.

Just a tip for the day.

I am heading into the great traveling void for 2 weeks and will post infrequently. Anyone care to be my guest blogger while I am away? There needs to be more cooking content for awhile.

Oh yeah - coming soon - my first attempt at grass fed pork chops!

        

This article from TechCrunch is interesting. Their mother effing pop up ads are annoying though.

        

So, we all hear about how special interests are controlling our government. You know - BIG OIL - PHARMACEUTICALS - ETC...

(Tee hee hee - I just realized the word "harm" is in pharmaceuticals...)

In any political discussion, you will hear about some industry that represents their interest through bribery or lobbying to glean special favors through the coercion of government.

Well, don't get me started today on the role of government in the business world - I am sure that is a different Thought of the Walk.

No, no - What I wondered yesterday was this:

• Why don't these same people get outraged when the specials interest of an ever growing government are preserved at the cost of its citizens? You do not hear complaints about "GOVERNMENT MONOPOLY INTERESTS."
  
• Why don't people RAGE about the teacher's unions becoming so intertwined with the government that they not only do not help children learn, they also do not HELP TEACHERS TEACH?

If you get pissed off about special interests of BIG OIL being represented, then you should be outraged when the GOVERNMENT MONOPOLY keeps you from getting decent internet service, or worse, causes a mother and child to be separated because of national origins.

---

On no particular schedule, I take a walk. Each time this happens, I have a thought. This is Nicole Sauce's Thought of the Walk.

        

Spend all weekend adding your favorite 80s tunes to a playlist, then embed it in your blog:

        

From the comments field:

Jenni wrote:
"Free the Grapes" is supporting direct shipping from wineries.

If you want to be able to purchase wine in Tennessee grocery & convenience stores, show your support at www.redwhiteandfood.com
Reply to this

Can we add booze too?!!

        

Well, Lannae just tipped me off to the good news: Trader Joes is FINALLY coming to Nashville!! Read the article here.

Now, I can understand why they chose the former Wild Oats building in Green Hills: Trader Joes always seems to try to move into pre-built places with parking lots. However, I am dismayed that they did not consider the other side of town.

Yes, I will fight frickin' traffic and no decent freeway access just to get a year's supply of coffee and a case of pasta sauce every so often, but had they chosen a more accessible location, I would have fit them into my regular rounds.

Now the next question is: Will they built a separate entrance to sell 2 buck chuck?

As we all know, Tennessee's State Government thinks that wine is so extremely dangerous to our populace that they safely stow its sale away in specialty stores with liquor. Beer, on the other hand, is ok for general consumption seeing as you can't get drunk off of it. (These people make no sense.) 

Does this piss you off too? Check out Free the Grapes.