My own garden is in full swing and growing rapidly. It seems to me that things are off to a slow start but then I have to keep in mind that the growing season starts much later here in the more northern latitudes and I have been caring for most of these plants since the end of February. But, I have already harvested a great deal of arugula and herbs. I'm just hoping I have enough herbs to cook with when all my vegetables are ready for harvest.
I split my garden into two sections. I'm growing all of my herbs and leafy greens in pots along with a few varieties of tomatoes on my side porch. The excellent soil and ample sunlight has caused these plants to do very well and to grow faster than the plants that are in the garden in the front yard. I actually like growing plants in pots more. It seems like a more efficient use of spaces, I can move the pots around to get ideal sunlight, and it seems to be a lot less work. The garden plot in my front yard is mainly a clay pit. The soil isn't ideal but somehow the plants have grown. Nature man, can't argue with it. So, enjoy these first photos of my garden. There will be more to come. If you have any questions about gardening of any kind leave some responses.
I'll be writing a lot more about my garden (as well as the Towson University Urban Farm) in the coming weeks. Until then...
Take care of yourself and each other...
First flower blooms on my tomatoes!
The mint is taking over...as it is known to do.
My potted tomato plants and the infamous pink watering jug
Some lemon balm and cinnamon basil
A pot of basil, chives, dill, and rosemary
Broccoli!
These are one variety of beans I'm growing. I decided to use the chain link fence as a trellis system
A sweet Antigua pepper plant. One of 5 pepper varieties I'm growing.
Some kale and a different variety of beans in the background
This is the second part of the beer brewing Tasty Tuesday posts. If you remember from last time I'm brewing an American Pale Ale. I let the beer ferment in the primary fermenter for nearly 2 weeks. I usually only keep beer in the primary for 1 week at the most but I have been short on time and I was also curious to see how a longer fermentation time would affect the beer.
When I removed the lid to the primary fermenter I got the aroma of a healthy dose of hops. This is going to be one hoppy beer! I know a lot of you don't like hoppy beers and to that all I can say is, "that's a shame". Now, I had to filter the beer and siphon it into my secondary fermentation tank, a glass carboy. This should stay in the carboy for another 2 weeks and then after that, IT'S BOTTLING TIME! As always, I'll keep you posted.
This is what the beer looked like when I opened the primary fermenter lid. You can see some remnants of hops on the side of the tank.
Siphoning away on my dining room table.
The newly filtered beer in the secondary fermentation tank.
Here is a blog post I recently wrote for the Towson University Urban Farm. Members of the farm and myself volunteered at the local Ronald McDonald House last weekend. Give it a read and leave comments.
For this week's Tasty Tuesday post I wanted to do something a little different. I enjoy posting new recipes and that will continue but this week I wanted to write about another transition in my life. Needless to say, this post took a lot longer to write than my usual posts so I apologize for being a day late. Over the past year or so I noticed that I had been slowly transitioning to a meat free diet. It was unintentional at first, mainly due to the fact that poor graduate students can't afford choice cuts of beef, pork, fish, or poultry and are usually left eating the cheap pressboard style lunch meats found in your local grocery store next to the Lunchables (barf). When I finally realized that I had gone a few weeks and then a few months without eating meat I started thinking, "Can I go even longer with no meat?
When I began pondering a meat free lifestyle I was neck deep in training for my half-marathon. Along with running I was also lifting weights at the gym three days a week and I never felt better in all my life. I was happier, more energetic, and I had lost nearly 20 pounds that had been hanging on me since the end of high school. Of course I attributed most of that to the increased exercise but anyone who exercises regularly knows that DIET IS EVERYTHING! I began doing a little research into the vegetarian lifestyle and looking through my recipe index for the vegetarian recipes I already had. Then, I just thought....let's do this.
I've come to find out that my particular journey into vegetarianism wasn't typical. Most vegetarians have a meat free diet based on ethics and believe that it is no longer necessary to slaughter any animal in the name of human nutrition. While I certainly believe in the ethical treatment of all animals (including humans) I wasn't motivated by ethics. I still recognize animals as being sources of food and the slaughter of animals for consumption didn't particularly bother me. However, what did bother me was the way we slaughter animals for food in the United States and this is the crux of my story.
Meat is a commodity in this country. Marketers have done an incredible job of making Americans think that you need meat at every meal. "Beef, it's what's for dinner! Bom Bom Bom". "Pork, The Other White Meat" And now the new slogan, "Pork, Be Inspired"! Because of this and many other factors, demand for meat has sky rocketed and subsequently the way meat was produced had to change also. Meat (especially beef) is the product of enormous feed lots all over the country that hold thousands upon thousands of animals at any given moment. These feed lots are a major source of pollution to both water and air and are partly responsible for the destruction of forests and loss of biodiversity. Additionally, with so many individuals in such a confined space, disease is rampant!
Get this, according to the Food and Drug Administration 80% of the antibiotics sold in the United States go to factory farm animals. That's 28 MILLION POUNDS of drugs! Under confined conditions factory farmed cattle, pork, poultry, and fish are susceptible to a number of diseases and are kept in pens containing their own feces as well as the feces of other animals. The antibiotics are then pumped into factory farmed animals to keep them alive long enough to be slaughtered and then end up on the dinner table. So it is quite probable that the meat purchased in grocery stores is diseased to some extent. Hungry yet? There's more!
According to an April 2011 report in the Journal of Clinical Infectious Diseases, 47% of meat products purchased at several grocery store chains around the country were infected with antibiotic resistant Staphylococcus aureus. This is the same bacteria that causes Staph infections and is responsible for more deaths in the United States than HIV. How does bacteria found in meat become resistant to antibiotics? Through overuse of antibiotics in the factory farming system. Liberal use of antibiotics used on animals will certainly kill most strains of bacteria but not all and thus antibiotic resistant strains will become more numerous and researchers will have to develop stronger antibiotics....to continue using on farm animals. It is literally an arms race. Now, it is true that cooking the meat properly will kill the bacteria but honestly why would you want to eat something that has the potential to cause skin infections if you handle it?
So, this leads to the main reason for my switch to a vegetarian diet. Over the years I have been very selective about where I spend my money and to what companies and organizations I give money to. If a company or organization is operating in a way I don't like I just don't shop there or use their products. I don't agree with the way meat is being produced in this country. Therefore, I won't give my money to companies that continue to operate this way. Plain and simple. The food system is broken and I really believe something catastrophic is going to have to happen in order for large scale farming practices to change. According to the CDC food born diseases are responsible for 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths in the United States every year. What more is it going to take? 10,000 deaths?
I can't argue with how much better I feel. That's reason enough for me. I don't miss meat and in case you're wondering (and I know you are) I get all my protein from eating fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains, nuts, and seeds. I'm not going to criticize those individuals who choose to still eat meat. This is my own personal argument. Honestly, if I had access to meat produced in a manner that I saw fit I might eat it and enjoy it (in moderation of course). But, as for now, this poor grad student will go to the farmer's market, look upon the organic, free range, antibiotic free, locally grown/harvested, beef, poultry, pork, and fish and admire the farmer for producing food the way it should be. BRING ON THE VEGETABLES!
Take care of yourself and each other...
P.S. if you want to see a very good reason why I won't give my money to companies that run factory farms see the video below.
I'm proud to report that in the 2 short months I've been writing "A Beer with Brad" I have had visitors from 6 of the 7 continents! It was official about a week ago but I've only got around to reporting it. I'll admit that most of the visits came from my very good friends who live internationally (thank you very much guys) but I'm not quite sure how visitors in Asia, Africa, and South America found my blog but, "Welcome!". I hope you found something useful or at the very least interesting.
I've mentioned before that even though this blog is called "A Beer with Brad" there is very little beer talk. I've had a few beer posts here and there but it was never the main subject. When I started the blog I was trying to think of a name and I may have been drinking a beer at the time so I settled on the current title with no intention of making this a blog about beer or about anything in particular really.
I'm a beer fanatic at heart and have been for quite a while. In the past I was surrounded by other like minded individuals who loved visiting breweries, festivals, talking beer, and collecting those hard to find bottles. I stay in contact with those people but I haven't found a similar group in Baltimore and with all the graduate student duties I may not have the time anyway.
But, in the meantime, I wanted to include my weekend beer brewing adventure as this week's Tasty Tuesday blog post. I've been brewing my own beer for a few years now and lately I've used it as a tool to get others interested in brewing and craft brews in general. This post will be a little different than most Tasty Tuesday posts. I'm not going to include a recipe but I will instead tell you where to go if you are interested in brewing your own. It's a hobby I really enjoy and I know you will too!
I always buy my ingredients and recipe kits from Northern Brewer but there are so many great sites and businesses out there. I like the selection and prices at Northern Brewer but I've used other companies as well. Brewing takes an initial investment of brewing equipment (which you can also find at Northern Brewer) but it more than pays for itself. You can easily make 50 bottles of beer for about 0.30 to 0.50 cents a bottle. Not too bad. Got any beer brewing stories? What's your favorite beers?
This weekend I brewed an American Pale Ale. I'm guessing it will be similar to a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale with a similar amount of hops. Summer is coming fast so I wanted a light beer that could be enjoyed in the hot weather. The brewing process is simple enough but it takes time. This beer will take about 6 weeks before it is ready to drink but other recipes could require much longer times. The beer is currently in the primary fermenter and will remain there for the rest of the week. I'll keep you posted on the progress. In the meantime, enjoy these pictures from this weekend.
I always recommend bringing friends over to help
Keep stirring the malt!
The beer is in the primary fermenter...we'll see how it turns out!
This is me! I crossed the finish line last week at the 2011 Lead Strong Half-Marathon in 2 hours and 8 minutes. I know I stated before that I was finished blogging about this but pictures taken by the event organizers were just released and this was one of many. I was feeling very triumphant at this point (as well as relieved).
After giving myself a week to rest (actually I took a week to catch up on some things) I went out for my first run this evening. The run was a short 3 miles but I could definitely tell that I had taken some time off and I got reacquainted with an old friend, the pain in my left ankle. I don't know why it's just the one ankle. I've been blaming the running shoes for a while now...and they will continue to be blamed. Until then, I will be running through it and hopefully on to my next adventure. But what is the next adventure?
The Baltimore marathon is in October but unfortunately I can't afford the registration fee. Plus, with a time of 2 hours 8 minutes during a half-marathon am I ready for a full marathon? I don't know really. With this ankle pain I'm definitely not. In the mean time, I'll be hitting the gym much more often and I'll keep my eyes open for slightly shorter and less costly events.
So this has been on the "to do" list for quite a while. I have consulted a lot of Youtube videos, DIY blogs, and cheese monger websites to find an easy and inexpensive way to make your own soft cheese but with each new site came a new method and each site claimed their method was the best. So, I sort of cobbled together a lot of different instructions into an easy to follow recipe and I hit on a winning formula.
I made one of my favorite dishes, Palak Paneer, for a pot luck this last Sunday and I need a soft farmers cheese for the recipe. This, and the high cost of paneer cheese at the Indian market, was all the motivation I needed to finally try and make this style of cheese. The only thing you need for this recipe is a half-gallon of whole milk, 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, and some cheese cloth. That's it! No rennet tablets or aging. I actually had a roll of cheese cloth in my cabinet that I bought in order to brew a batch of beer with a couple of years ago. If you need cheese cloth you can find it at most grocery stores.
The version I make in this recipe is a plain cheese with no additional flavors. It will be very easy to modify the recipe to add your own fresh herbs if you choose to go that route. I may even try it again add some chives from my garden. So try it out this weekend. I think you'll be surprised. Enjoy!
1 half-gallon of pasteurized whole milk (ultra-pasteurized will not work).
Length of cheese cloth (folded in half longways) about 2.5 feet will be enough.
3 tablespoons of lemon juice (lime juice may work as well).
Pour the half-gallon of whole milk into a large heavy bottom pot at medium heat.
Bring the heat up very slowly, stirring the milk the entire time (a rubber spatula works great for this). It is important not to scorch the milk!
Once the milk begins to slightly boil (after about 15 minutes) add 3 tablespoons of lemon juice and reduce the heat to medium low. Continue cooking for an additional 5 minutes. At this point you should see the curds separating from the whey.
Turn off the heat and let cool for an additional 5 minutes
Line a strainer with cheese cloth, poor curds and whey into the cheese cloth, and let drain.
You should at this point have a nice pile of cheese curds. Tie the bag in a knot (about 2 inches above the ball of curds) and let drain over the sink for about 30 minutes. I tied my cheese cloth to the faucet.
Gently squeeze any excess liquid from the cheese cloth, unwrap the cheese, wrap again in plastic wrap, and allow it to cool in the refrigerator for about 2 hours.
Half-gallon of milk in the pot on medium heat.
Slowly increase the heat until it starts to boil. Remember to stir!
Once the lemon juice has been added you should see curds floating to the top.
You can't see me before the wedding!
Pour the curds into your cheese cloth and let drain for 30 minutes.
Wrap the cheese in plastic wrap and let chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
