The Back 40.

Last year I planted my first garden. I thought that was pretty neat. I had big plans on eating smarter again after spending 5 months eating almost nothing but hospital cafeteria food. So in the middle of June with visions of august meals, I planted three types of tomatoes, green beans, eggplant, cucumbers and summer squash. I didn't know at the time that I would go on to spend the next 4 months eating nothing but a different hospital cafeteria's food. Bummer.

All of the plants grew surprisingly well given my level of neglect. Had I watered them during the dryer weeks of the season we would have had fresh ingredients for a majority of the summer and late into the fall. Every plant grew large and fruitful but was never harvested. Alas, I let a lot of crops die on the vine but all of that dead fruit helped to fertilize the soil in that area. This year I am eagerly anticipating the growing season. I've done more yard work this spring already than I did last year and hope to continue that all year. I can't wait to get the garden really going again. Next weekend the plan is to move my compost pile and turn the garden's soil. Hopefully I'll have enough of my own compost to hit all the areas but I'll probably need to hit Benny's for some fertilizer.

My father has a bunch of tomato plants for me that he grew from seed in the greenhouse. He also has some spinach plants and I'll steal a few of those as well since spinach currently is the base of my lunch every single day at work. I'll definitely go with green beans again since I love eating them and there were tons of them last year. But after that I am not sure what else I'll be growing. I'm open to suggestions. I also have to find a place for my two gooseberry bushes. When I was a kid I used to make myself sick eating gooseberries in my nan's yard and now I have a few bushes of my own from her yard. They're still in buckets as we speak though and I'm not sure where I want them yet. Already got fruit on them though so that's cool. Gooseberries were the crazy special ingredient on a recent episode on Chopped - also cool.

In the year before Karin was pregnant with Liam, she and I had each lost 50 pounds by exercising daily and eating all the right things (fresh, fresh, fresh and unprocessed) while staying away from all the wrong things (fast, processed foods). Then we had a child; and stress dictated diet more than anything else. We're just now getting back on track. We both have been getting to the gym 5 days a week and the snacks in the house right now are limited to fresh fruit and greek yogurt. While last year I was glad I planted even if I didn't end up harvesting, this year I am excited to create meals with my own produce. Right from my own garden.

Ready to call it the best Blizzard of 09.

I used to get a lot of nosebleeds as a kid. Radiator heat, along with a woodburning stove in the house I grew up in, meant dry, dry, dry air. A cast iron kettle of water on top of the woodburning stove aside, any humidifier would have to struggle to keep up in our house and so I knew all the tricks to stopping a noosebleed. I even have a big book of Ripley's Believe It or Not illustrations with a huge blood splatter on page 132 due to an unfortunate nosebleed during some after bedtime reading with my little brother. I should scan that page to show you. Anyway, nosebleeds weren't that big a deal. A bit of rolled up tissue, a pinch to the bridge of your nose and lean forward, or lean back, a wad of bread stuffed between your upper lip and front gums - I knew everything to try. I had it under control.

Liam can't have a nosebleed. Sure his sinuses and air passages can dry out just like anybody else's, but breathing through his neck means the blood has nowhere else to go. This morning Liam scared me more than he has since he got home. His trach tube seemed filled with blood and panic was about to set in. Karin grabbed her phone and I thought she was calling 911 because its what I was about to do but she was calling our pulmonologist's nurse practitioner who has helped us out of all our jams. Its good thing that Mom's cooler head prevailed because it seems that these type of events are very common in the wintertime for trachs. Another one of those things that you don't learn about until it happens. Now I know. I won't make that mistake again. We suctioned him a few times and adjusted his heater and humidifier to compensate for the dryness in the air due to our radiator heat. Liam is none the worse for wear. The whole event was much more traumatic on me than it was on him and when it was all over he simply rolled back onto his side and went back to sleep. Ho-Hum.


I am proud to say that after all that excitement and after shovelling the waist-high snow that drifted onto my driveway, I created the greatest Blizzard meal ever. Sure the ingredients were all made by my Mother-In-Law and so I can't take all the credit. And yes, Karin gave me a few of the ideas that really helped the execution but I was the one in the kitchen so its my dish. The Thanksgiving Casserole. The Turkey Shepherd's Pie. The Blizzard Bake. Yeah, I like that last one.


The Blizzard Bake.
Grease casserole dish with a thin layer of butter and press a layer of leftover stuffing to create the crust. a few tablespoons of reheated Turkey gravy and a thick layer of shredded turkey meat. A few more tablespoons of gravy and layer on some frozen peas. Salt and pepper before topping the whole thing with leftover mashed potatoes. A few tablespoons of melted butter over it all to form a nice crusty top. 400 degree oven for an hour. Delicious.





It may not present as the most beautiful dish in my repertoire but it certainly is the most filling and satisfying on a cold blustery day after spending a few hours shovelling snow.

I feel that I should mention that Karin hates it when I take pictures of our food. She thinks I'm being weird when I won't let her eat until I take a few pictures of the plate. She's the weird one - here's a picture of her dinner in case you were wondering.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post Karin and I have truly been anticipating a day like this for years and we were not disappointed. A full day of quiet togetherness as the snow continued to fall outside. Pajamas stayed on all day and each and every one of us got to take a nap. The coffee was delicious and the Patriots beat The Bills. What's better than that?