Squashed

Last year's harvest from the garden included a number of acorn squash.  I had picked them up at the nursery on a whim really and set them in a part of the garden that hadn't been given the same care and preparation as the raised beds but they thrived.  The resulting crop of squash looked like little green pumpkins and I set them in a paper bag in the house at the end of the season waiting to figure out what to do with them.  Fast forward about 5 months and you would think that they had reduced to a pudding in the bag but other than a single fatality and a small blemish on another, the rest where as stiff as the day they had been picked.  The time in the bag had sapped the green into orange but apparently they are a type of 'winter' squash which have harder skins and are expected to last through the winter in root cellars which I can say they would appear to be able to do. 

I decided that before the rest where to go bad I was going to cook them.  I decided on a standby preparation I had learned to love while on a mission in the Philippines.  Ginataan more or less means to cook something in coconut milk.  For a savory dish like this one I started with diced onions, tiny diced garlic and since I didn't have fresh ginger, a very healthy dose of ginger powder sauteed in a wok to turn the garlic gold and the onions clear.  I made a big change to the normal dish by dumping in some raw sunflower seeds for added protein and some crunch.  Two cans of coconut milk were added which is the only thing that I could say was measured in this whole shebang.  When using the canned stuff it is important to make sure you get all of the solids and liquids in the can.  For authenticity I added fish sauce and bagoong but for the less adventurous salt and pepper would do fine.  To this 'sauce' I added the cubed sqaush and let it simmer for awhile.  I like to let it cook until the squash is soft enough to cut through with a wooden spoon and little effort.  The flesh of the squash also starts to turn translucent at this stage so you can tell either way.

While best served on rice, bread of any kind can serve as a counterpoint.  I would only change two things.  I find I don't like the process of getting the skin off of acorn squash and would probably plant/use butternut in the future.  I also found that the sunflowers seeds, while tasty in the dish, did not result in the added flavor and texture I was hoping for perhaps because of their small size.  I might try peanuts or cashews next time.

Alas for Humanity

We have a local organization called Unity Gardens whose primary focus is planting and tending garden patches in the city through donation and volunteerism.  The produce from these gardens is free for the picking with the hope that with the availability of fresh produce, the diet of many impoverished or underemployed families will improve.  As a side project they also hold gardening classes or clinics for the public in coordination with Purdue (the Indiana land grant college) extension office's Master Gardener program.  Over the winter, they have held these classes in office space set aside for them in the local food bank.  My daughter and I have been attending the Jr. Master Gardener classes on Saturdays and have really enjoyed the experience.  The younger kiddies have been coming for the last couple of sessions and seem to also enjoy it.  We have learned about how plants grow, bees and other pollinators, herbs and most recently voted for our favorite vegetable in a vigorous democratic process in which candidate representatives vied for our vote with delectable treats featuring their vegetable of choice.  It ended up in a tie between corn and carrots. 
This recent experience was, however, marred for me.  As the class is open to the public, one would think that a vast cross section of the populace would be in attendance.  This is not what I have observed to be the case.  The class is generally attended by the children of people already interested and experienced in gardening.  This is not all bad really as the kids are engaged and feel a connection to the topics as they relate to home experiences in their own gardens.  This is put into sharp contrast when the occasional more 'urban' youth are in class.  As a example, in the great vegetable debate a young man was brought to class sucking on a ring-pop like an oversize pacifier by what I am guessing was an assigned big-brother or mentor of some kind.  Hope of sparking a love of gardening and good nutrition where quickly dashed as the boy loudly pronounced all vegetable candidates set before him as 'Nasty' and just as loudly demanded more of the sweeter dishes (Carrot cake and Carmel popcorn).  Aside from displaying the disappointing problems with an instant-gratification / entitlement society, it makes me lament for the future of young men like this one who have come to expect that at least once a week a 'buddy' will come by to take him on a trip somewhere and give him ring-pops and other treats he wants so long as he makes his needs clear.  Assuredly it is asking to much to expect a life change from a single two hour class, but is it asking to much for a healthy amount of respect or at least attentiveness when seeing something new.  It must be a struggle to find that fine line between developing a trusting mentor-ship in which the kid feels safe and cared for and enabling destructive behaviors.
In comparison, I recall struggling with my own kids over trying new things.  We were taking a cruise in the Caribbean and as is usual on a cruise, the evening meals were part dinner show and part unending avalanche of food.  One could order to their hearts content from selections of choice cuts of beef, tender pork, lobster and so on.  I placed a requirement on my kids that they try one new thing every night on the cruise.  While this was meet with some grumbling, they did all comply.  This did not always end in a sudden realization of how tasty buttered lobster is, at least they can say they tried it.  The biggest difference between them and the ring-pop sucker was that even in my kids complaints there was an expectation and understanding that they would eventually do as asked.  This is not a ringing endorsement of the superiority of my kids or parenting style because, frankly, they don't always mind or immediately comply without complaint.  Over the years however, they have been given boundaries and held to task even amidst complaint and this, I think, has made all the difference.

Food Abstraction

Sometimes I like to experiment.  My lovely wife asked if I could take on the preparation of diner this evening and without a specific mandate I was left to ponder what to do while staring at the pantry.  My eyes fell on a half used bag of egg noodles and some dried tomatoes from our garden and the game was on.  I pulled out about 6 cloves of garlic and diced them to be sauteed in oil and when browned added in some fresh sweet peppers and the aforementioned tomatoes.  The plan was to approach this as a sort of pasta and I cooked the noodles while the 'sauce' was going.  Turns out some of what I thought was dried tomatoes turned out to be dried peppers which added some surprise heat.  Because of all the dried goods the sauce was looking a bit stiff so I added some of the pasta water (the additional starch in the water adds texture and flavor).  I added in some cubed acorn squash and caned diced tomatoes to round it off and put the drained noodles in the sauce pan to allow the flavor to cook in.  On the side I warmed up some green beans canned by my mother and added some dill.  I am pretty sure that these combinations had not yet been done and was pleasantly pleased with the results.  I just need a name for it now.