Sandwichspace Day 2 and 3

Day 2 - A bit of a disappointment today. Focaccia, grated cheddar cheese, the same ground turkey mix as yesterday. Scrambled eggs with spinach and sauteed peppers. The peppers were not too tasty, perhaps burned a bit. Same with the turkey meat. Even the bread was a touch burned. I guess that is one of the dangers of cooking it on the stovetop especially when I am distracted by getting ready for work.

I won't re-grade the bits I graded yesterday. They would probably lose a point or two because they were a bit scorched. The cheese kind of got lost in the unpleasant flavors and was much less pronounced. I think grating is a decent way to go in general. Maybe 

Scrambled egg with sauteed peppers and spinach - Not great, 2/10. I think I could have used different peppers and cooked them better and gained maybe 4 or 5 points.

Appearance - 2/10. Yikes

Taste - 2/10.

Probably worth a comment or two on my ranking scale. I'm thinking:

0 - Completely terrible

1 - Bad

2 - Mediocre

3 - Ok

4 - Better than ok, but not quite up to good.

5 - Good. I think 5 is a decent sandwich, like, I would happily eat a 5 every day for breakfast

6 - Better than just good, a standout in some way.

7 - Very good, satisfying

8 - Great, a real standout.

9 - Exceptional

10 - Best I've ever had

Day 3 - Focaccia, sliced cheddar, scrambled eggs and sauteed onion, frozen sausage patty. This one was good, but it wasn't that well executed. The onions didn't taste too good, which was surprising. You'd think it would be hard to mess up onions sauteed in butter. The egg was well-cooked, but the onions detracted from them, 4/10. The cheese melted ok. The sausage patty was a bit think and leathery, which was disappointing, 3/10.

Appearance - 3/10

Taste - 5/10

Sandwichspace Day 1

 This morning's sandwich was a bit fancier than normal. I had some leftover cooked ground turkey from last night's attempted potstickers as well as some raw potsticker filling - ground turkey, minced onion, scallion, garlic, and cabbage. I made a sausage patty out of the filling. Sauteed onion, tossed in scrambled ground turkey, and two scrambled eggs. Topped it all with some shavings of cheddar. Served on toasted focaccia.

The focaccia is really nothing special to look at, but I love the taste and the texture. The cheese did not melt all that well. The turkey patty was pretty good for a turkey patty. I usually think of turkey as a healthier but not tastier option. But the add ins really boosted it. As for the eggs, I fried them in a pan on the stove. They were cooked on low heat and turned out well, I do not enjoy scrambled eggs when they get browned at all. I do like having add ins, they help give the egg a bit more structure and I feel like it makes them fluffier. Sauteed kale is a favorite for that purpose, but I don't currently have any kale.

I guess the question is how to rank it. Maybe the way to go is rank each piece, then maybe an overall rating for the sandwich on taste and appearance.

Bread - Focaccia - Love it. 8/10 maybe. Crispy crust, soft interior, cheesy bits on the crust

Cheese - Cheddar is great, 7/10. Poor execution here

Meat - Ground turkey patty. I'd say 5/10 here, maybe 4/10 if it didn't have the extra stuff

Eggs - Scrambled is the way to go for sure. Add ins boost the yummy. 8/10 for this attempt, but I think scrambled/omelet is going to be the definite winner here.

No sauce or toppings

Appearance, maybe 4/10. Not too pretty.

Taste 7/10. Very good, but turkey meat and cheese failures brought it down a smidge.

More focaccia tomorrow, I've got 3 more pieces to get through before I maybe try some other bread.

Breakfast Sandwiches

 Now for some subject change whiplash. Been enjoying breakfast sandwiches this year. But haven't experimented too much with them. So I thought it might be fun to wash the bad taste of a rough garden year out of my mouth with a fun little project. I'm thinking explore "sandwichspace" by trying as many combinations of meat/egg/bread/toppings as possible and rating them until I uncover the ideal sandwich to be my daily workhorse breakfast.

Bread

1. Focaccia - https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2023/03/02/small-batch-focaccia
2. Ciabatta - https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2015/03/no-knead-ciabatta.html
3. Rolls - https://imgur.com/pull-apart-cheesy-pesto-bread-EbsZQd2
4. White Sandwich Loaf - https://www.abreaducation.com/content/lesson1-first-loaf
5. Tortilla
6. Pizza Dough to make like a breakfast calzone?
7. French bread - http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/easy-crusty-baguettes-recipe
8. Brioche

Meat

1. Bologna
2. Bacon - thick cut/thin
3. Ham
4. Sausage Patty - frozen/homemade
5. Italian Sausage/Bratwurst
6. Scrapple
7. Pork Roll
8. Pastrami
9. Mortadella
10. Spam
11. Pepperoni

Eggs

1. Scrambled
2. Over Easy
3. Poached
4. Sous vide
5. Omelet with add ins like spinach, kale, sliced lunchmeat, Chicken chunks

Cheese

1. Provolone
2. Cheddar
3. American
4. Cooper
5. Moz
6. Gorgonzola

Other stuff

1. Sliced Avocado
2. Hollandaise
3. Marinara
4. Ketchup
5. Mayo

Just tossing out some ideas to get started. I baked some focaccia today, so that will be the base for tomorrow's effort.

Just Terrible

 I planted like 30 tomato plants. Surely I should be awash in tomatoes, right? Nope. I've gotten tomatoes from like 2 plants. What went wrong? I think the problems are deer and chipmunks. Chipmunks chewed through the stems of three plants. Deer completely violated the plants out in the rock garden. But even with that issue, I should have gotten some tomatoes since they can't quite get at the whole plant thanks for the concrete reinforcing wire cages. But I have not see a red tomato. I think the culprits are chipmunks. I've definitely seen them scurrying away from the tomatoes. In the end, tomatoes were an utter disappointment. If I want to have some sort of tomato harvest next year I am going to need to come up with anti-deer/anti-chipmunk measures. I think I could put up some posts and wire to keep the deer at bay. But the chipmunks are going to be a bit tougher. Maybe some chicken wire around the cages?

Zucchini did pretty poorly this year as well. I got a few, but < 10. Out of like 7 plants. Only a couple of the plants did well getting started, and they're all completely gone now.

Cucumbers did poorly as well. I got basically one small harvest. They seemed to suffer from the heat and dried out way too fast even with religious daily watering.

Hot peppers did ok, I've picked a lot of them. Made some powder, froze some green chile and long hots. Probably the star of the garden this year.

Plans for next year:

• Deer proofing absolutely required 

•  Chipmunk proofing methods needed 

•  The peppers need bigger pots. Need to find a source of decent pots, maybe get a yard of compost or something to fill them. 

•  Better soil and mulching for everything in pots, especially cukes. Maybe a better location for cucumbers. 

•  A berry planter. The strawberries were good, though only got a few, and likely chipmunks ate a few. Maybe a shelter of some sort for them.

I didn't do anything with the planters out front along the driveway this year. Might plant some kale out there this weekend. 

Thinking a lot about maybe a hydroponic setup in the basement. I can afford decent lights and would be cool to get some basil, maybe strawberries or something.

As always, my battle cry is NEXT YEAR!

Current Tomato Setup aka Kiiiiiiind of Overdoing It

 I got my first tomato this morning! A little ping pong ball sized beauty hidden in the foliage by the driveway. I took a glance at the blog here to see which type it was and to my horror realized I didn't have a map. I mean, I have one, I'm not a maniac. But I didn't have it online. So I made a nice map for my self based on my sketches in the ol' garden notebook.

Couple notes. This morning's first tomato was an A Grappoli d'Invierno. Very prolific. The "hole" in the Rock Garden map between the Cherokee Purples in the front center is a little stump. Too big to get out easily. So I left it and put landscape fabric over it. Which has been a great decision! Keeps the weeds in check. The dotted green circle in the upper right of the lower section of the rock garden is actually not in the ground yet, haven't even dug the hole. But soon! It's still in the trough that I originally planted it in. Of the remaining plants, it's the biggest, strongest, most powerful one. Even already has fruit on it. Will it survive? Good question. The current 5 on the right in the lower section of the rock garden bed are doing not so great. Partly no doubt due to it being in the 90s here the last couple days since I planted them. And I waited too long to transplant. And there's a metal pot placed over another tree stump in the middle of that area - maybe that gets too hot for the plants? Unsure. I _think_ they'll make a comeback. Also the top right Roma in the upper bed is sagging a bit as if it's not getting enough water. I think they could all do with some mulch of some sort to help hold the water in. I will see about that this weekend. All told 32 plants. The odd one is a Roma in a bucket.

To Do List:

• Plant some basil somewhere
• Build strawberry bed out of salvaged 4" x 4" by 10' posts from the fenced in garden. Where to put it?
• Transplant strawberries there
• Figure out where to put Serviceberries (3) and Blueberries (3).  Blueberries seem very happy. Serviceberries somewhat less so. On got attacked by a deer a little bit. They might have a rough time of things. Blueberries also need soil modification - Sarah says sulfur maybe??
• Find a spot for the Roma in the bucket?
• Clean out the back section of the rock garden. Perhaps load that up with zucchini.
• Clean out the back left section of the rock garden. Perhaps basil? If not find some place for basil. Containers?
• Clean out 4 stone planters by the driveway. One has garlic, that doesn't need to be cleaned out. One has kale that has gone to seed. I'm gonna let it, then maybe replant with those seeds. The one nearest the house has a metal mesh surrounding it, that will contain beans. The other two will be... I dunno. Strawberries didn't see to do well there. It is hot, and it is full sun. Either need some shadecloth or need to figure out something that likes that.
• Maybe lettuce in the little side bed in the back? Neighbor put up a 6' tall plastic fence. At any rate this needs to be cleaned out and harvest the rather-unlikely-to-have-produced-anything garlic in that bed. Maybe spinach?
• Old potting shed that I never used completely rotted out and fell over. Burn the remnants and maybe build a new one? Thinking more like a shelter for tools, shovels and the like.

Productive Weekend, Yet Not Productive

 There was a ton to do this weekend, I'm a bit behind. Peppers need to be transferred out of the big ol' troughs so they grow a bit better. I did prep some buckets for them, need to transplant though. That's the plan for Detil, Cayenne, Korean Dark Green, and Buena Mulata. And I need to figure out a spot for the New Mexico peppers. Hmmm. There are 4 unoccupied stone planters out front. Probably one will be beans, one will be kale, and the other two not sure. So those are possible spots. Also perhaps the little brick planters on the deck by the house for a few. That would work nice if it doesn't get too hot. There are probably 20 of them, so I can certainly experiment a bit.

I planted cukes as well. Youtube guru said the burpless varieties are less prone to bugs and mildew, so I got a few of those. For reference here is the setup with the buckets.

Also have a few straggler tomato plants left. No reason not to put them out in the rock garden. Seems like the tomatoes I currently have in the rock garden are loving it there.

Other random plans... There's a big spot in the rock garden cleared, and two other spots needing to be cleared and landscape fabric'd. I maybe plant up some extra zucchini in one of those. Also need to figure a spot for basil. Perhaps some other herbs. Strawberries are going to go in a planter I'm making out of the remains of the fenced in garden from the back - some long 4"x4" posts that I'm going to make a planter out of. The neighbor says he's putting up a fence, so that makes it a little easier to just put a planter there.

Also vaguely thinking spinach.

Getting warm out

Finally getting warm out. A bit before the first frost date, but weather.com suggests we're not gonna have any temps below about 50 in the next few weeks, so I think we're in the clear. I've been hardening off the seedlings for two days now. Yesterday was just for a couple hours, today was most of the day - they seemed happy enough. Last week I planted zucchini.

They're coming up already, woot woot! Winner for first sprouts is Fordhook.

I also planted a few tomatoes outside. Cherokee Purple in front, Black Cherry in the back.

Lots of tomato seedling left to go. Gave away 5 to Jill. May see if the neighbor wants any, I think I promised him a Cherokee Purple.

All of em!

Batch 1

Batch 2

Batch 3

Couple kale plants still left over from last year. I pulled a few that were moldy in the middle. The stems are like 2" across, huuuuge.

Kale

Garlic is looking amazing.

 

I bought some landscape fabric. The weeds in the rock garden can be insane. Going to put out some tomatoes up there, hopefully the deer don't feast on them.

Like 10% done

Got the fabric at the local mom and pop hardware store. They also had strawberries (Honeoye) and long hot peppers (maybe a local Philly thing?? I never find seeds for these.)

Junebearing Strawberries