Dr. Phil's Dreamwidth Journal

Ah, the summer produce of West Michigan...

For several weeks Mrs. Dr. Phil has been buying the asparagus grown a few miles from us. This year's crop has been extraordinary. Most of the stalks have been medium thickness, but they've been as tender as the dainty thin ones. Not a woody one in the bunch. We've had the wonderful chicken with asparagus in tarragon mustard sauce -- twice. And the new small upper oven of the new stove does a fine job of broiling/roasting asparagus. Yum.

Last Wednesday, 3 June 2015, was the start of the weekly Farmer's Market on the campus of Grand Valley State University in Allendale. Somebody is apparently using little tents to grow early tomatoes and so we had two nice ripe local tomatoes. We had BLTs and tomato bisque soup on Saturday for dinner, and the first of the traditional Dr. Phil summer tomato sandwiches (DW) (LJ) for lunch on Sunday. Oh. Yum.

But it's the beginning of June and we're awaiting strawberry season. Looking back through the years, I've seen discussion of local strawberries in this blog back in May. This year, though, well we had a long winter and a cool spring. The last few days I've occasion to head up 68th Avenue towards Coopersville -- and as I've passed through Eastmanville, I've looked for the little white signs for Cook's. Consistently for at least fifteen years, Cook's has had the best local strawberries, about a mile east on Leonard.

Today I headed north on 68th at around 10:09am -- nothing. Then south on 68th around 12:09 and BOOM. Sign. STRAWBERRIES.

There were people all around. Some driving up, some driving away, some working, some young teens out in the fields. Cars everywhere. I asked for two quarts. Did I have a preorder? No. What kind did I want? Huh. We've been going to Cook's for a long time. This time, they had two varieties ready at the same time. One called Jewel and one called Honey Something (all I can think of is Honeycrisp, the "new" apple variety that everyone has gone gaga over the last few years). Which do YOU like better? The woman working the stand -- I like the Honey whatevers. The two boys bringing back baskets of strawberries from the field and logging their loads in the book -- both are really good. Great, so why not one of each? Good choice!


Cook's lovely strawberries. The Jewels are on the left and the darker Honey Somethings on the right. Also one of the wonderful brown eggs Mrs. Dr. Phil has been getting from someone at the GVSU library. With natural light, I can get decent color shots at ISO 1600 on the Nikon D1H and the 24-120mm VR lens is very good at low shutter speeds. Pleased. (Click on photo for larger.)
©2015 Dr. Philip Edward Kaldon (All Rights Reserved)

Also asked Cook's How is the crop? Well... there was some winter damage. So, shorter season? Not necessarily, but the yields per plant are expected to be lower. If you've every grown strawberries, they take a couple of years to settle in -- one of the buyers today was explaining their strawberries are in their first year, so they had to come to Cook's.

Alas, it doesn't sound like I'll get strawberry shortcake tonight. S-i-g-h... But! We'll do a taste off of strawberries and whipped cream, so that's not so bad. (evil-strawberry-grin)

Summer. Is. Here.

Dr. Phil

Posted on Dreamwidth
Crossposted on LiveJournal

81°F

That's the outside temperature right now very early Tuesday morning at 2am. (Of course it's around 72°F inside with the cool, dry AC.) We're supposed to peak around 95°F during the day. Last week we had overnight lows in the uppers 40s and 50s, even a frost warning north of us, and then a warmup all week. By Saturday we were hot and humid. Sunday -- Father's Day -- was actually very pleasant all day, high maybe 83°F.

There were scattered thunderstorms rolling through West Michigan last night and this morning -- we actually got rain both times, heavy at times. Quite a big crack of thunder right overhead around 9am. (grin)

The fields around here look good. Big sprinklers abound. I'll have to shoot the corn down by 84th and M-45 -- it's spectacular and lush -- but this shot was last Wednesday:

The shrubbery fields west of our house. On Saturday they irrigated again, but started too close to the road, so I could see the whole parabolic stream hitting the entire two lanes every time it came around. (Click on photo for larger.)

Last of the Strawberries?

Took a chance to run up to Cook's in Eastmanville again. They were only advertising U-Pick-Em, but I asked if they had two quarts picked to sell and they did. After the gorgeous and wonderful huge strawberries from two weeks ago, I was willing to take the end of the season ones, but what came out were the loveliest color and heavenly scent -- and when we ate them tonight over Arney's Bakery carrot cake, Mrs. Dr. Phil hardly had to add any sugar, they were so sweet.


Eat me! Eat me! (Click on photo for larger.)

If you are out this way, Cook's is begging people to come out and pick their fields -- they can't pick all of them. And with my bad leg, I'm not going to. But a mile east of 68th Avenue and Leonard just north of Allendale (or south of I-96 Exit 16) there's wonderful pickings to be had.

Mrs. Dr. Phil was out last week in Texas at a conference, so Sunday & Monday we worked our way through some Mediterranean/Middle Eastern take-out from La Pita, which just opened in Allendale -- at least there's some good news in the local restaurant scene.


We got lots of dishes to try and I can't even remember what all we ordered -- but it was all quite good.

Dr. Phil

Ah, Sigh

Last night we had fresh strawberry shortcakes for dessert. Bisquick shortcakes, local strawberries, etc. There is nothing finer.

The local strawberries have been coming in for about ten days or so. There was one stand across from a gas station near K-zoo last week, but no way was I going to try to drag them around that long. No, we try to hold out for Cooks about a mile east of Eastmanville on Leonard. Really fine strawberries, lovely smelling, big, ripe, juicy -- the woman working there said that they were just about prime yesterday, so I got 3 quarts instead of 2. $10.50. Absolutely worth it.


Some families were at Cooks picking their own. Small children are perfect for strawberry picking. Old middle-aged men who can't bend over and have a bad leg? Perfect for shooting pictures out of the side windows of vehicles -- whatever did we do before power windows? (grin) (Click on photo for larger.)

Talked with an older gentleman there as well, he says that his are so good because he doesn't spray much. The woman was saying that many of the others around town were much smaller.

Did I take pictures of the strawberries? Or our strawberry shortcake before devouring last night? Nope.

As for my LJ icon with the Red Haven peaches, that may be the closest we get to any peaches this year. The guy at Cooks was saying that he'd heard from the extension agent that there were no peaches in West Michigan after that cold frost a couple of weeks ago. And that Georgia didn't get cold enough this winter for the trees to set, so their peaches are slim to none as well. We'll see.

But I'm not expecting much for Michigan peaches and apples this year. Best remind myself of how spectacular they were last year... As for fruit from the grocery store, the find of the year has to be the purple velvet apricots. Oh my gosh -- most apricots I buy are unsatisfying and mealy. These had this lovely purplish fuzzy skin and prime apricot interior juiciness -- best apricots I've had in years. They are one of a number of different kinds of apricots crossed with other varieties. I believe these are apricot and plum.

Dr. Phil

Alas, No More

I'd hoped to get one more round of tomatoes from our Potter's farmstand. Yesterday as I drove off to Holland on an errand, I passed by Potter's and the signboards still said TOMATOES. But today, despite the lovely autumn sunshine, following a below freezing night, the TOMATOES sign was down and all they had was apples and squash and a few peppers and such.

It's not that the other things aren't good, but one of my favorite things to have in the summer is a tomato sandwich -- and with me on sabbatical, it was practical to have tomato sandwiches several times a week. Yum!

The Dr. Phil Tomato Sandwich

I know I've rhapsodized about tomato sandwiches before, but I guess I've never gotten around to posting about, though I've meant to. The other day I was looking for another photo from the Sony from two years ago and came across this picture:

Dr. Phil's Tomato Sandwich

Bread
Cheese (Velveeta, Sharp Cheddar, American or other yellow cheese, 
                or Swiss)
Peanut Butter (smooth or chunky)
Thick slice of tomato (or two if the bread is large enough)
Salt to taste
Ketchup 
Mayonnaise (optional)

What is amusing about this 2009 picture was that we'd just discovered the Kraft mayo with olive oil -- really nice stuff. Alas, we don't use mayo all that often and around here, we can't even get a bottle this small anymore, which would be a waste because it doesn't have an enormously long shelf life. So we don't.

I'm sure the food critics out there will have plenty to say. Velveeta? Sure you can use "real cheese", but I eat a processed cheese food stuff slice sandwich every day -- and have since I was a little kid. I like it. Ketchup? It adds a little sweetness and some moisture against the peanut butter. Don't want ketchup? Don't add it. If you're making a tomato sandwich, it's YOUR tomato sandwich, not mine. (grin)

Look, the real taste here is the tomato versus the peanut butter. For many years we bought Reese's peanut butter, but then the local stores stopped carrying it. So we did Skippy again for a while. My mom uses Jif. Lately we've found a really nice Planter's peanut butter -- and a Skippy All-Natural. Grind your own if you like. For my taste, despite the salt in the peanut butter (and the ketchup for that matter), I still need the salt on the tomato slice, too. Again, your mileage will vary.

Anyway, the real tale here is that I had my last tomato sandwich of 2011 on Wednesday or Thursday this week. Alas.

The BLT Factor

But ten days ago we ended up with a bunch of lovely tomatoes, and also had the rest of a package of Smithfield bacon. So what could be more fun for a dinner than B-L-Ts?

Now for many of you, the mere mention of bacon makes you go crazy. Frankly, neither one of us believes the current foodie mantra that "bacon makes everything taste better". Mainly I prefer bacon as, well, bacon. Preferably sitting next to a lovely stack of pancakes, smothered in maple syrup. (Ah, WindyCon and breakfast via the Harry Caray's Steakhouse... coming up on November 11-13 -- you going to be there?) A good club sandwich or BLT will do, though, because the bacon can stay crispy and whole, rather than get lost in the mush.


The Parts


Dr. Phil's B-L-T. Note the new Hellman's container which can make ribbons of mayo, rather than blobs. It works, sort of, but can get messy and leaves the cap messy. The jury is still out as to whether this is an improvement to either the regular squeeze bottle or a jar-and-a-knife.

After I shot those, Mrs. Dr. Phil piped up and asked, "What about mine?" So here's Mrs. Dr. Phil's B-L-T:


Note the fresh dill on the right side -- and I think there was some spicy mustard under the lettuce on the left side. Also the soup was a Campbell's Select squash soup, I believe. Needed salt -- two words I never thought I'd need to say with a Campbell's Soup product. (double-word-score-grin)

Needless to say, the sliced tomato season of 2011 was a complete success. We won't be trying to duplicate this with the sad and hard and tasteless tomatoes of winter. Some things are best not to speak of.

Dr. Phil

Posted on Dreamwidth
Crossposted on LiveJournal

73°F -- Sunny -- Clear -- Breezes Diminishing to Calm

A friend "accused" me of gloating about the Red Haven peaches yesterday. Which isn't true -- see the comments. (wry grin) So I'm not gloating when I report how lovely the weather is today. Things like this have to be recorded -- I was just reviewing last winter's blizzard reports last night, after all, so there is some serious perspective here. Also I finished today two courses of tetracycline, which amongst antibiotics is annoying because of the requirement to stay out of the sun.

The weather will pop back up to the 80s and humid thunderstorms by midweek, but meanwhile we'll have another day of this tomorrow. As opposed to Greensboro NC, where my mother reports that it was 92°F in late afternoon, only by dint of clouds rolling in to block the sun. The humidity down there makes breathing resemble drowning -- ugh.

With it cooling now that the sun has set, the crickets are cricking at a sedate pace, slower than the other day. A few minutes ago a tiny bird landed on the railing of our rear deck, looked at us through the screened door and gave us what-for for a moment without any real venom. Even the road traffic has dropped off.

And Mrs. Dr. Phil pulled out another extraordinary rhubarb-peach-blueberry crisp -- this one more blueberry (local frozen) and less peach than the last one, but all good. And another extraordinary Red Haven for lunch. And a tomato sandwich. Yum summer.

Just a nice evening to sit and relax. Cubbies playing in Wrigley on ESPN versus their arch rival Cards.

Nice.

Dr. Phil

It's Been A Schizophrenic Weekend

Sunday was the actual Fourth of July. But of course there is the pressure for a weekend holiday to be observed on a Monday, so Independence Day (Observed) is the fifth. So the question becomes -- when do you have a parade, if you're going to have a parade? Sunday -- it's the actual 4th, but some of the local jurisdictions don't want to intrude on church. Monday -- it's the official day off, but a lot of people want to make that a play day. Saturday -- it's available, but it's a big consumer shopping day, so no one wants to hurt local businesses.

Compounding the schizophrenia has been the weather. Two weeks ago was hot, humid and full of dangerous summer storms, including even some small tornados. Last week, though, was dry, blue skies, light breezes and highs in the 70s and occasionally the low 80s. Friday got up to 86°F, Saturday was 88°F and Sunday at least 92°F. Sunday was also the return of the humidity and Monday will begin a return to some rain.

So given the expected crowded roads for people getting away, plus all those doing staycations at home or in the area, I suppose we can forgive those who started bugging out of work on Thursday or Friday -- both of those days had reduced traffic volumes for commuting in the Grand Rapids area, enough to be commented upon by the news people.

Gas Prices: Meh

I'd previously thought that 4th of July gas prices would be around $3.50.9/gal, but in mid-May they were saying not much more than $3/gal by mid-summer. Well, local regular gas this weekend has been $2.82.9/gal. My current theory is that the oil companies are all treading lightly while the BP oil well disaster in the Gulf is still unresolved.

Picnic!

It's a summer holiday, so once one has been solemn and respectful, it's time to eat. For us, the weekend has become a celebration of all things tube meat. (grin) Friday and Saturday we had some new Aidele's garlic and gruyere cheese sausages, with some potato salad Mrs. Dr. Phil threw together with some odds things we had on hand. Sunday we had "picnic" -- consisting of all sorts of things that had come on Friday in a Zingerman's deli gift box and things we had in the pantry. Liverwurst, a herb encrusted sausage, another salty sausage like a moist jerky, three cheeses, three kinds of olives, some tiny sour pickles, a tin of smoked mussels, and a lightly toasted hard bread. And Monday we have some natural casing hot dogs and German wieners from the local excellent Allendale Meat Market which we'll have with some baked beans. Yum.

Oh, and after a good several weeks of outstandingly lovely local strawberries, the strawberries are now gone from the local farm stands, but Mrs. Dr. Phil came back on Saturday with blueberries, raspberries, dark cherries and apricots -- all local West Michigan. Not a dud in the batch.

In observance of the day, Sunday's dessert was red, white & blue -- blueberry crisp topped with whipped cream and fresh raspberries. Yum. We like summer here.

A Minor Upgrade To This LiveJournal Blog

Since I have been adding LJ tags to all current entries for quite a while, and slowly doing retrospective updates of older entries, I've added a link over on the left side of my LJ page for jumping to the list of all my LJ tags. Frankly, I don't care if y'all make use of it -- tags are making it easier for me to find previous posts on things. (selfish grin) But, knock yourself out if you want to peruse older entries or look up reviews and things.

Back To Writing

Now if you excuse me, I have to dive back into a new short story I started this morning. These poor characters are going to find themselves shortly way out of their league. (evil writer's grin)

Dr. Phil

One Year Ago

08.08.08 -- 8 August 2008 -- this was the start of the Beijing Olympics. Thank goodness this isn't an Olympic year. I don't have time to sit and watch Olympics 24-7 this year. (grin)

And This Year Summer Arrived Today

Cold and rainy all morning. Still only 64°F at noon. But while the sun didn't really come out, the heat of the day turned all the wet into mug. While it peaked in the 80s, it was still 74°F after midnight with more thunderstorms. We're expecting 90s, the first in a long time, for Sunday and Monday.

On The Other Hand

The first of the West Michigan peaches have arrived. Friday I bought some Flaming Furies. They smell and taste wonderful, and totally look like lovely peaches, though they aren't freestones. Our beloved Red Havens are coming -- Potter's Farms says they are coming along quite well. We also bought some tomatoes. They're actually from Northern Indiana, the first "foreign" tomatoes the Potter's have had to buy in a long time. But the local tomatoes, while plentiful and good looking, are still green. Perhaps the 90s will fix that last problem. (grin)

And an early report says that Michigan should expect a bumper apple crop this year. That's nice, but let us enjoy weeks and weeks of peaches first.

Oh, and today was the start of tomato sandwich season. Mmmm...

OAS Project

Due Date: Thursday 20 August 2009

Dr. Phil

June Rolls Along

Last night for dinner we had some of the last batch of fresh picked asparagus -- West Michigan is a pretty big asparagus producer and there's a large farm just down the road from us at 68th and Warner which now sells to the public. And we also had the first of the fresh strawberries. They're from South Haven, I think. The weather's been such that I think it'll still be a week or two before the immediately local strawberries start breaking out.

But oh my there is such a difference between store bought asparagus and truly fresh. Even the thicker stalks are still tender and not woody at all. Asparagus looks pretty funny -- what they are cutting are the shoots coming out of the ground, so the early fields have all these spiky things. They have these weird wide carts with awnings which slowly move along allowing several workers at a time to work on multiple rows. The fernlike asparagus plants don't emerge until after the harvest -- asparagus is one of those things which runs for a couple years, then you plow it over, plant something else for a while. For a while my father had a small asparagus bed in his garden, which is why I knew what I was looking at when we first ran across this operation.

And you hardly have to be told about what a real fresh strawberry is like. We just ate a couple as is. I suspect the shortcake part will be added this weekend.

Other Seasonal Products

As I was paying for gas this morning -- all three grades finally below three bucks a gallon for the first time in a couple of weeks -- and was amused to see a big display for Adams chewing gum. Beemans. Blackjack. Clove. I bought a couple packs of Beemans, and I'm sure that Mrs. Dr. Phil will figure out there's Clove gum available. They always seem to push it here in West Michigan at the beginning of the summer.

The weather is still cool. We've had hardly any days in the 80s, though perhaps things might start heating up next week. We'll see.

Dr. Phil