Spring has sprung!

It is Spring in Victoria! Having never been a fan of the rabbit's season, I welcomed our el Nino-induced early spring this year with open, dirty and sore-from-digging arms. A few of my favourite friends and I, armed with shovels, made good to our autumn promise of starting a vegetable patch by digging up a twelve by twelve plot in my backyard in February. My recent endeavor to live a more sustainable lifestyle coupled with the guilt of having promised the previous home owners that I would maintain their adorable little garden inevitably led me here and it has always seemed like you get to be a part of an elite Pacific North West club when you are a gardener. That and I have always suspected that I am the black sheep of my block, with my withering, dessicated plants surrounding the perimeter of my home (my glowering neighbour to the right has an ambitious veggie patch over twice the size of mine, not bad for someone I estimate to be about 85!) Despite living behind a mall, I get a nice amount of sunlight in the yard, especially come summer, and the plot we dug up seemed to be nutrient-rich soil because that is where the old owners had their vegetable patch (the grass literally grows greener on that side). The above photo is of some peas that I'd poked into the dirt a few weeks ago. I was a bit worried, as I thought they were quick to sprout and just as I was getting ready to soak a few more seeds I noticed these little suckers reaching out for some of the nice March sun we've been getting.

Spinach (above) and lettuce just started to sprout too. You can see that sneaky little slug in the top right corner. Duncan suggested the old saucer full of beer trick, but my reply was "I don't want them to be happy when they die, I want them to be scared as hell to eat my veggies." Thus, I'm saving my egg shells to make a slug-proof perimeter around the garden. Hope it works!

usedvictoria is a great resource for finding gardening equipment and plants. On Friday afternoon, someone I'd contacted was trustful and nice enough to drop off these Alpine strawberry plants without payment. Alpine strawberries are like an albino strawberry, but apparently those with a strawberry allergy can eat these without any issues! I hear they have a bit of a pineapple flavour going on too!

My partners in crime, Blair and Kevin, went to a nursery up island that sounds pretty mystical! They brought back lots of lovely things like strawberry plants and what I like to call "Taye Diggs berry" (aka tayberry) root, but my favourites were the Kalipso plants they brought back! They have such a great colouring on them and I'm thinking that I'd love to have a dress in that colour scheme. Purples and sage greens and pale yellows! Squee!
Next week I think I'm going to put some beets and green onion down and maybe some potatoes too. It's a really rewarding feeling to see all of the stuff growing and getting green. Mostly, I'm excited to eat lots of garden veggies!

Eat: Sopressata

Bought some sopressata from Choux Choux, who use local pork. It was tasty. Coupled with hard boiled eggs, Fol Epi baguette, a generous slice of goat's milk brie and a Buck Brand navel, I'd say I had a delicious Sunday brunch/dinner.

Baked: Reese's cookies

I have a hard time figuring out what to call these cookies. I kept referring to them as "Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies," but quickly realized that it wasn't much of a surprise if the actual surprise was in the name.  The website I snatched this from, Gonna Want Seconds, refers to them as Magic Middle Peanut Butter Cookies. To me this insinuates that they are peanut butter cookies with magic in the middle. Peanut butter is not magical. It is tasty but it holds no magic, it is just smushed up peanuts.

As you can tell from the photos, I failed at the surprise part by not sealing the peanut butter filling adequately. If I could recommend anything, it would be to chill the filling so it is a bit more manageable and easier to wrap the exterior cookie around. Face-savingly I am going to say I did this on purpose to give it a bit of a dino-egg look. Happy Easter!
The sugar crusting is a must if you used a peanut butter that has a bit of saltiness to it (I used Kraft Smooth Peanut Butter and find it rather salty), and even more so if you used salted butter like I did. Thanks much Duncan for the butter share.

All that really matters is that they are delicious and I have already eaten four.

Baked: Meringues

A few notes on making meringues:
- Essentials: cream of tartar, patience, good mixer
- Oven shouldn't be over two hundred farenheit
- Try caster sugar next time, smaller granules will dissolve faster
- Be humble!

Left with nine egg whites from making a failed pie*, I spent the early evening considering the gastrointestinal ramifications of eating a giant albumen omelette. If you have ever asked anyone what to do with a jug of whites they will always reply, "meringue!" Despite working at what was once a fine Italian bakery, I've never cared for meringues (with the exception of those little cookies with crushed hazelnuts!) nor have ever had any inclination to make them. BUT, I do love a challenge and a recipe that calls for simple ingredients.

Thus, equipped with my ten dollar Westinghouse mixer (a housewarming gift for my very first apartment), I mustered all the tenacity I have and started whipping away.
I won't go into great detail as the recipe with all the details can be found on the Ontario Egg Farmer's website which was very helpful, with one caveat. Perhaps it was because I had my oven working overtime all afternoon, busy with baking pie crusts and oatmeal cookies, but I will blame the farmers back East instead: 250 is way too hot for meringues! The sugar caramelized much too quickly because of the excess heat and thus turned my meringues a light brown instead of a nice cloudy white with toasted peaks.

I give myself a seven out of ten for this. A bit higher a grade then I think I deserve, but I'll blame the lack of stiff peaks on the rainy day! I probably shouldn't have fished around in the whites with my bare hands either, but I wasn't sure what kind of effect the little viscous umbilical cord part would have. Plus, umbilical cord-filled meringues sounds pretty gross.

*Oops! There's salt in the sugar jar! Thus making for an unpalatable crust for my lemon ice box pie! BUT! Easiest curd I've ever made! The sneaky trick for non-purists: condensed milk!