Food & Dining

Saint Patrick’s Day 2023

Our annual celebration of St. Patrick’s Day will consist of a weekend of feasting. Tomorrow, on St. Patrick’s Day proper (Friday), we will be having Irish-American traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage for dinner. On Saturday, the plan is for Irish Pork Stew and on Sunday, Shepherd’s Pie. All of the meals will be prepared in accordance with our current dietary restrictions, i.e. low-sodium and low-carb. (OK — we cheat a teensy bit with some of the faire, but not blatantly.)

Tonight, the corned beef brisket is already in the crock pot and (not connected with the weekend feasting) there is a nine-pound pork shoulder roast in the smoker. The latter is to be shredded and put away in the freezer for future smoked pork delights such as pulled-pork sandwiches, pork enchiladas, etc. The roast was on sale at under a dollar a pound, so we invested in it.

Back to St. Patrick: we have taken to celebrating Irish festivals due to our DNA-certified western European heritage that includes Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales and other north-western Europe roots. The Irish shows up in both of our DNA analyses as well as both of our family tree genealogy traces. So, Irish we are, especially on days like March 17th.

From Biography dot com:

Saint Patrick is Ireland’s patron saint, known for spreading Christianity throughout the country as a missionary during the 5th century.

The man who would come to be known as Saint Patrick was a missionary that helped spread Christianity throughout Ireland during the 5th century. Much remains unknown about his life, including his birth name, but British-born Patrick became a devout Christian during his six-year enslavement in Ireland. He escaped only to return to Ireland later in life as a missionary, combining Irish pagan beliefs with Christian sacrament in his teachings. A religious figure within the Christian and Catholic faiths, he died around 461 AD and later became the patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick is annually honored throughout the world on his feast day, March 17.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Lemon Harvesting Still Underway

Third Harvest Yield — About 150 Lemons — click to enlarge

Here it is almost late January and we’re still getting lemons off of our Lisbon Tree. Damsel and I picked those shown above a couple of days ago and scores more remain to be picked. We will probably get to the remaining fruit early next week.

We have had this tree since about the middle of 2010, and each year, the tree seems to have more yield than the years prior. The first crop consisted of about 40 lemons while this year we’re at an unknown number since we asked our landscape crew to help themselves — they took what I’m sure amounts to two hundred or more. This year, the tree had a truly overwhelming crop. In addition the landscape crew’s haul, we have picked lemons since mid December three times now.

We will finish the job sometime next week and will be pruning back the tree at the same time. The lemons will be distributed as usual to friends, neighbors, charities and our own Limoncello production. According the sales flyers, lemon prices are “on sale” at $0.50 each. Our lemons are slightly larger than those we see in the produce section of the Supermarket. Believe it or not, we do not put any fertilizer or anything in the “orchard” other than daily watering via timed irrigation.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everybody! We’re a bit late posting this since Damsel and I were celebrating with a prime rib dinner this Christmas. This is the first time (in my recollection) that we had a prime and not just a choice rib roast. I cooked the roast on the outdoor grill today (our temperature was about 72° F. today) and had to regulate the temperature so as not to cook the roast unevenly throughout. It was a five pound roast which we bought in November and has been in the freezer until we took it out to thaw yesterday.

The (clickable) image above is of the dinner plate and a “Christmas Cocktail” on our holiday table. The sides were a lettuce wedge with Green Goddess dressing and Brussels Sprouts. All in all, it was delicious and we needed to take a long walk after eating.

We hope that your Christmas Feasting went well and was as enjoyable as ours. Merry Christmas!

From Luke 2:8-11

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

Thanksgiving Day 2022

The Holiday Season is upon us again and we are rapidly getting in the mood to celebrate with all the accompanying festivities. The first order of our holiday festiveness is to celebrate Thanksgiving Day with all the appropriate feasting and borderline gluttony. We are currently preparing the Smoked Breast of Turkey entrée and several side dishes for today’s dinner.

We are thankful on this day for our feast and for the hands that prepared it. We are thankful for those who serve and are on duty on this day. We are thankful for our neighbors, our family and our friends. We are thankful for those who read these words. May the Lord bless and keep them all in His grace.

So, if you’re celebrating and feasting, enjoy! Happy Thanksgiving!

UPDATE: Thanksgiving Day Dinner

Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner comprised of Smoked Turkey Breast, Dressing, Mashed Fauxtatoes, Gravy, Green Beans and Baked Squash. Ice Cream over a Pumpkin Muffin for Dessert.

Lemon Harvest Coming Soon

The Lemon Tree with HUNDREDS of Lemons needing to be picked

Our Lemon tree (which is a “Lisbon” lemon variety) is nearing that time of year when we need to start harvesting the fruit. This year, the lemon crop appears to be much larger than in previous years (we have had this tree since 2012) and we may have to invest several days harvesting an estimated one thousand lemons. Last year, we filled the wheelbarrow twice with an estimated total of 600 lemons. There are many more than that on the tree now.

As we begin the lemon picking, we will be doing the usual thing with them, that is, giving them away to neighbors, the food bank, the senior center and anyone else that we can convince to take a bag home. Of course, we will reserve some for our annual Limoncello production.

We still have a little time before any frosty weather happens; the forecast for Thanksgiving week should be highs in the low 70’s and lows well above freezing. That’s still cool enough to layer up on the clothing, but will be OK for this variety of frost-tolerant lemons for the time being.

Our plan for Thanksgiving dinner is going to be similar to the past couple of years when we had a Keto-friendly menu featuring some of Damsel’s homemade goodies. We’re looking forward to the dinner, but more on that in a later post.

Samhain Celtic Cross-Quarter Feast

Samhain is the cross-quarter day that marks the halfway point between Autumnal Equinox and Winter Solstice. The day was traditionally considered to be the “end of summer” by ancient ancestors in northwestern Europe and the British Isles. Samhain is observed worldwide by Wiccan and Pagan cultures*.

Damsel and I both have had our DNA tested by two of the popular on-line Genealogy entities and their conclusions are that we both have significant branches in our family trees that trace back to the areas where this holiday and other cross-quarter events were and are celebrated. We have traces of DNA from other parts of the world, but our European ancestry is very much in the majority.

So, since it is a feast, then feast we shall. Our “feast” consisted of traditional corned beef and cabbage with turnips, brussels sprouts and carrots. “Traditional” in the case of this meal means that it traces back to our Irish American ancestors; the dish would have been pork, potatoes and soda bread with trimmings back in the old country. I read that pork was too expensive for poor immigrants and that corned brisket filled the entrée role. We choose turnips rather than potatoes because of the lower carbohydrate count. I don’t notice the difference.

So, wherever you are and whatever your traditions, we hope you enjoyed the weekend and maybe got to feast a bit.

Image excerpt above taken from the Archaeoastronomy website.

* Disclaimer — we are neither Wiccan nor Pagan but celebrate the feast because of our heritage. Of course, we celebrate Christian events as well when they come up.

Mid-Week Run for Staples

When we have to travel down to the west valley for supplies, one of the perks is that we pass through a scenic section of the Arizona Desert. The (clickable) image (courtesy Damsel) shows the desert between US 60 near Morristown, AZ and a craggy peak up in the mountains to the northeast that I call “Castle Hot Springs Peak,” so named (by me) for the nearby historic resort. I have no idea what the actual name of the peak might be, but then my moniker is suitable enough for our purposes here.

We embarked on the shopping venture today to stock up on certain staples needed for our fall and winter seasons. Note that trips to the valley involve more and more traffic the closer we get to the holiday season due to the influx of part-year residents (a.k.a. Snowbirds). So, before the big rush, we wanted to get some things that we can’t usually get in our little town’s stores.

We had a list of items to procure which we were mostly able to obtain at the large warehouse chain store (starts with W and ends with T). We also scored some bonus items including Keto Culture Hot Dog and Hamburger Buns. Since Damsel and I started our diets in late 2018, we haven’t been able to have a decent hot dog or hamburger on a bun until today. I can honestly say that after eating a couple of those beef franks with mustard and relish that I was not able to tell the difference between the 1 net carb buns and the old 20 plus carb buns.

We also found a nice 5 pound boneless Prime Rib Roast (at $12/lb) which is now in our freezer with the intention of having it for Christmas Dinner. It has been a long time since we’ve had prime rib and we’re eagerly anticipating enjoying it when the time arrives.

Damsel also picked up a few sundries and other items that we don’t usually see in town. We can order some of the stuff on-line, but there is the factor of holding items and inspecting them before buying that is satisfying.

So, we’re done with trips down to the west valley until after the new year unless something really urgent comes up. Meanwhile, we’re cozy in our little abode with the provisions we need for the season.