Cucumber beetroot fig salad

 

Cucumber beetroot fig salad with pig head pate

Came home late for lunch after picking blueberry, so picked 2 cucumbers from the garden, mix with beetroot harvested and cooked yesterday, season with salt and pepper, add pickled fig and drizzle the pickling vinegar on top, serve with some pig head pate, simple and delicious lunch.

Blueberry wine

 

Blueberr

The organic blueberry farm is so beautiful and bountiful that it is hard to resist picking the fruit, in a way not so much for the fruit but for the experience.

So got the idea of picking a few kilos to try to make blueberry wine. 

Blueberry wine

Using the slow press juicer to crush the berries, and add yeast. The juice is quite thick and sugar content quite low at 10 brix only (around 5.5% alcohol). Will need to add some sugar to raise the alcohol to 11 % for safe keeping.

Pork order

Bought 2 orders of delicious pork from the organic farm, this have to last until September when he will next kill a pig. 

Each package contains:

2 packs of 2 pieces of rib chops

2 packs of 2 pieces of neck chops

1 piece of shoulder meat for slow cooking

2 packs of 4 short fat sausages

1 pack of 8 long thin spicy style sausages

3 packs of 2 pieces of blood sausages

1 pack of head pate

Single garlic

I found out that single garlic is grown from garlic seed, not bulbs. In the first year, the seed grow into a round ball without division. It is in the second year of growth that they grow bigger and split into cloves.

Single garlic are good in making black garlic, easier to peel, but only if they are big.

According to information, only Rocambole variety of garlic gives big size bulb. 

 

Rocambole garlic seed

Rocambole garlic shoots

So I ordered the seed and grow them last November, I harvested the bulbs now, the biggest ones are only size of small grapes!!

It is good that after years of growing garlic from bulbs, I learned to grow from seed, but disappointing to find these single garlic so small. May be weather and soil are not good enough. 

Rocambole garlic one year bulbils

I will plant the bigger bulbs this November and collect the seeds next summer, and try the experiment again.

Egg laying chicken

Welcomed 4 chicken to stay with us, they are just 4 months old, beginning to lay eggs.

2 brown ones variety Rhode, 2 grey ones of Limousine, very timid nature, took them forever to come out of the house and to explore the grass field.

Potato Rose de France

Potato Rose de France

Potato Rose de France

A pinkish red skin potato variety, with yellow waxy texture, the flower is actually pretty for this humble veg. 

 

Potato Rose de France

Lamb burger with tomato salsa

Lamb burger with tomato salsa

Prepared these roughly chopped lamb burgers with fennel leaves, seasoned with salt, pepper and cumin powder, to cook on the plancha for alfresco dinner with friends.

The salsa to go with them is semi-dried tomato with basil leaves, water and olive oil, stir and rest for an hour.

Onion bulb and flower

onion flowers

Half of my onions have grown a long stalk with a ball of small white flowers at the top, really very pretty. 

onion flowers

onion flowers

I dug all of the onions out this morning, the soil was very compacted by the heavy rain this year. 

onion harvest

Those that have grown flowers have very under developed bulbs. Looks like a survival tactic to produce seed in bad year. 

onion flowers

Green beans with sesame seed & seaweed

runner and climbing bean

runner and climbing bean

This is the first harvest of climbing and runner beans, already enough for a meal for 2 persons, there will be many more harvest until end of summer. I used sesame seed and seaweed flakes to add texture and aroma.

Green beans with sesame seed & seaweed

1. Dry roast sesame seed and seaweed flakes.

2. Cook garlic slices until golden, add beans, season with salt & pepper, and half a cup of water. Simmer until beans are tender.

3. Sprinkle sesame seed and seaweed flakes on top.

Lamb tomato stir-fry with Vietnamese coriander (laksa leaf)

Vietnamese coriander (laksa leaf)

This Asian herb survived in the green house over winter and is growing big. The flavor is very unique and quite strong, a couple of leaves is enough to flavor a soup. In no time it has out grow my ability to use it in soup, so have to think of a way to use more, a rich flavor dish should work.

Lamb tomato stir-fry with Vietnamese coriander (laksa leaf)

1. Cut lamb into strips, season with cumin seed, salt and pepper, cut cucumber into thin slices.

2. Stir fry lamb until nearly cooked, add semi-dried tomatoes, mixes well.

3. Add cucumber slices and Vietnamese coriander and stir for a few seconds until cucumber soften.

Tuna 2 ways

tuna in preserving jars before slow cooking

Last autumn I slow cooked some freshly caught tuna in preserving jars, they are being stored in the freezer. It is great to use them in summer as a cold dish.

tuna in lemon juice and kaffir lime leaves

1. Simply drizzle lemon juice and finely cut kaffir lime leaves on tuna, giving a fresh flavor and nice aroma.

tuna with pickled fig and coriander salad

2. Prepare a green salad, using dry figs pickled in cider vinegar, salt and olive oil as dressing, serve tuna on top with coriander leaves.

Garlic harvest

Garlic harvest

With the nonstop rain in spring and a heavy downpour a week ago, I thought all the garlic bulbs will be rotten. Luckily, only a few bad ones, and 1/3 of the bulbs have opened up but still good. Most are of big size, great for turning into black garlic. 

drying garlic

making black garlic

Mix berry season

Mix berries

I am surprised that when this spring has not been hot, and with a lot of rain, the berries are doing fine. Especially gooseberry, both white and red ones are already sweet and soft, obviously they enjoy the cooler weather!

Start to collect a small bowl of straw-rasp-blue-goose-berries everyday.

"Vivo Bare Foot" hiking boots

 "Vivo Bare Foot" hiking boots

I am very happy to have purchased this pair of boots for hiking in Iceland, from the only store in London. Super light, water proof, with thin, flexible, non-slip and durable sole, they are great for balancing on rocky paths, up and down sandy slopes, on muddy trails and through boggy fields.

On top, with hiking nearly everyday, my legs do not feel tired, my back do not ache, I am converted, truly belief that we should wear thin, flat, soft sole shoes.

Iceland - cooking in camping car

Simple and fast is the key. Generally the meals consist of fish or lamb, with a bowl of thick vegetable rice soup, this is a good way to warm up, to drink more fluid in cold weather.

lamb & mushroom on thick veg rice soup

To start, boil 2 bowls of water with a handful of rice or quinoa, then start to cut up vegetables, the type that is good for storage and easy to clean, like carrot, cauliflower, cabbage, khol rabi, mushroom, sweet potato etc, add to boiling rice soup, season with salt, pepper and ginger.

While simmering the veg rice soup, prepare to sear meat/fish, or to steam boil fish in a cm of water, or cut up meat and mushroom, season with salt and pepper and stir-fried to cook, serve with or on top of thick veg rice soup.

Northwest Iceland - trout

lake near Blonduos

On the return trip back to the airport, stopped at a lake near Blonduos, caught a trout. 

trout

poached trout

In 2 weeks we have seen, hiked and fished the western and northern half of Iceland, the rest of the country has to wait until the next travel. 

road view

road view

Northeast Iceland - hike 16 - Vesturdalur

esturdalur

Near Asbyrgir is this basalt rock formation dotted along the river. 

Vesturdalur

A good 3 hours walk up and down the rocky hills to admire the beauty of natural sculptures. 

Vesturdalur basalt rock

Vesturdalur basalt rock

  

Vesturdalur basalt rock

The hike ends at Red hill, a smooth sided volcanic cone formed by fine volcanic rocks. 

Vesturdalur red volcanic hill

The lava here is rich in iron, oxidized in exposure to air and turn from black to red. 

Vesturdalur red volcanic hill

Vesturdalur red volcanic stones

Northeast Iceland - hike 15 - Asbyrgi gorge

Asbyrgi gorge

North of Dettifoss is this unique gorge, with near vertical walls and flat tops, that form a giant U shape surrounding a straight sided rectangular rock island. 

Asbyrgi gorge

It is hard to describe the 'wow' feeling looking at the near perfect linear vertical and horizontal lines of this natural formation. 

Asbyrgi gorge island

The hour long hike started by walking across the bottom of the gorge, unique in being a flat plain, with lush vegetation, quite rare to see such diversity of green plants in Iceland. 

climb up Asbyrgi gorge

Followed by climbing up the near straight wall, via stairs and rocks with the help of ropes to get to the top, which turns out to be not that difficult. 

view from top of Asbyrgi gorge

The top is also full of herbs and low bushes, very easy walk along the length of the gorge to admire the view. 

view from Asbyrgi gorge