Two Rainy Day Improvisations and Garden Musings

Last night was rainy. Again. And cold. The day started out so beautiful, all sunny and warm and full on springlike. I started to work on garden plans now that the soil is finally starting to dry out a smidge and Mr. Seasonality and Roommate D. have begun the project of turning the soil. Still a ways to go since I wouldn't let them disturb my winter crops that are still in the ground. This week I need to use mass amounts of beets, a stray turnip, a few baby carrots and one or two parsnips hidden in the bolting arugula. Potatoes that were overlooked last fall are poking their fuzzy green rosettes out of the earth and I feel actual pain that I'll have to dig them up for the greater good of the spring plantings. At the Cabrillo farmers market on Saturday, we picked up a few seedlings to get us started: some lettuce (which the slugs won't let grow from seed in the garden patch), chervil, a black krim tomato, golden sage (Mr. Seasonality collects sage plants of as many varieties as possible), and new for me are sorrel and a jurassic looking artichoke. Which are tied with asparagus and chard for first place as my favorite veggie. Ok, and zucchini.

So when I woke up today, I decided that the sun meant it was time to weed the back fence where the legumes are going to be direct sown as soon as the soil resembles a marsh just a little less. I whistled my way out there and started yanking on crabgrass and cleavers. And then it started to rain. I went back inside. And the sun came out. Hmm, I thought. I'll try again. Shucked the fuzzy slippers for sneaks and out to the garden. Where it immediately started to rain again. This scene repeated a number of times before I stopped caring about getting wet and cold and just went for it. I'm hoping to get a couple peas in the ground tomorrow, but it could be dumping rain for all I know.

Tonight, warm and quick food was definately necessary after class that I underdressed for. Note to self: if I think I'm being optimistic about spring temperatures, I really need to put aside the flip-flops and opt for the down jacket. I'm discovering that miso is such an ideal food for a busy/lazy grad student; it is almost instant, infinately modifiable, healthy, and best of all, leaves minimal dishes to clean up after. Follow that with a coconut rice pudding eaten in front of a roaring fire and all is truly well in the world.

Improvisational Miso Soup

Miso paste

Boiling water

Really, that's the basic. Just put a spoonful of miso into a bowl, add a couple tablespoons of hot water and mix it until it is smooth, then add enough hot water to make the desired amount of broth. It's really important not to actually boil the miso itself, as that kills off all the beneficial microbes that help your gut. From here, you can add:

Baby spinach greens

Freshly shelled peas

Fresh grated ginger

Chopped scallions

Even rice noodles, which only need to be soaked in boiling water (aka, miso broth!)

For the next step up, start out by making a broth or dashi. To do this, bring some earthy ingredients to a boil that need to actually be cooked, add a little seasoning, some veggies and voila! Broth! Here's what I used:

2 pieces of wakame, broken into small bits

5 shitake mushrooms

1 tsp soy sauce

A dash of ume vinegar

This was brought to a simmer in about 3 cups of water for about 10 minutes, until the shrooms were tender. If I had had it, I would have included ginger. Then I added:

A handful of baby spinach

A few spears of asparagus, broken into bite-sized portions

And simmered until asparagus was done, but still bright green and crunchy, the way asparagus should be. This was stirred into 1 tblsp of miso and thoroughly enjoyed. It served one. Just me.

Improvisational Rice Pudding

This one is dairy, wheat, and sugar-free. And it still manages to be delicious and cozy. This makes 2ish servings. One if you are like me and just can't stop eating it.

Bring to a boil:

1 can of low-fat coconut milk

1/2 cup rice (I've used and enjoyed both basmati and arborio)

Miniscule pinch of saffron (optional)

Handful of golden raisins (optional, but highly recommended)

1 or 2 tblsp nuts, chopped (I like pistachios, but almonds would be tasty too)

Cook at a simmer until milk is mostly absorbed and the rice is done, around 20 minutes. Take the pot off the flame and stir in:

1 tsp rose water

1 tsp ground cardemom

honey to taste

To make it your own, consider substituting part or all of the coconut milk with almond milk; swap out the raisins for chopped dates, currants, dried apricots or figs; almonds, walnuts or even pine nuts for the pistachios. If you don't like rose water, try orange blossom water or vanilla or almond extract. The cardemom is non-negotiable for me, but I'm a cardemom freak. It is also a Chinese herb that warms and wakes up the Spleen and transforms Dampness, so I add it to most of my cooking. See my previous post on Dampness for more info.