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One Local Summer, Week 4

OK, so this week’s farmer’s market score: blueberries, spring onions, corn, red potatoes, tomato, cucumber, yellow squash, Colby cheese with jalapeno, Cheddar cheese with horseradish, and- finally!- some local meat (chicken, frozen, so will have to save for next week’s meal). The chicken put me over budget a bit, the total was somewhere around 35 dollars.

Produce from the same sources as the first three weeks, all from within about 50 miles.

The chicken from Whimsical Farms, 19.22 miles; the cheese from Eve’s Cheese in Worton MD, 51.47 miles.

Also, ta-da!, had to showcase the very very pretty bag of salad greens.

I have no idea what that flower is or how I am to eat it, but it is lovely. It reminds me of the Dr Seuss brugmansia I left behind at our old house.

A cute little yellow squash was hidden in the middle. Double prizes!

I made a quiche! And corn and potato salad on the side (the potato salad from last week was such a hit it was re-enacted for tonight’s dinner by special request).

The crust followed this recipe; why is it so hard to find recipes for pie crusts that don’t involve shortening? I just don’t do shortening. The butter kept melting in the heat but the crust was fine; not wonderfully flaky, maybe, but still crunchy and good.

I riffed from the Quiche Lorraine recipe from The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook . Basically, I followed the ratios for eggs, milk, and cream, and then guerilla gourmet’d the rest. All ingredients local except the flour.

I used both of the cheeses from today’s market as well as two of the spring onions. I was worried the quiche was going to be overpowering because the jalapeno colby is seriously hot ( I am a heat wimp, by the way, or as I like to call it, a supertaster).

But, everything mellowed in the bake and it was supremely tasty. As in, if I happen across a quiche competition in the next 24 hours, I will submit a slice of my delicious quiche. And I will win. And I will accept my quiche trophy with humble gratitude and quirky charm.

I am loving this cooking with fresh ingredients, it’s like I suddenly became a better cook! But truly, I owe it all to Eve’s Cheese.

I also like the Iron Chef aspect of the thing: what can I cook, with the ingredients available to me, that will please the judges? And not break the budget?

Hey, help a girl out! I would love to know some good pie crust recipes and tried-and-true tips and tricks for flaky goodness! (That don’t use shortening!)

June 30, 2008
Maverick Elton, Backyard Naturalist (by Maverick)
Interesting Facts About Hummingbirds
- Hummingbirds are the only birds that can hover in one spot and fly backwards and fly sideways.
- Their wings beat up to 80 times a second and they can fly as fast as 65 mph.
- They are as long as a baseball card.
- They love to fight.
- Their wings make a humming sound.
- They make squeaky noises but do not sing.
- Their nest is made from spider webs and plant parts. It is less than an inch across.
- They love the color red. So if you want hummingbirds you should have a red feeder. If you wear red they will check you out and if you hold a red flower in your hand they might try to drink from it.
- Your feeder should be one part sugar to four parts water. You should change the feeder water once every three days so it doesn’t get mold.
- They have a very long forked tongue and they can lap up nectar 13 times a second.
- These pictures are of Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds, these are the only kinds of hummingbirds in this area.
- In Central and South America there are more than 300 kinds of hummingbirds.
- The male Ruby-Throated Hummingbird’s throat looks black unless it is in the sun, then it looks orange-red. The female has a white throat.
I like the hummingbirds. It is fun to watch them chase each other.

Do you have hummingbird questions?