Beach Boys
May 25, 2010 Posted by: ERIN
Tomorrow I'm departing for a 10-day trip to the states, so I thought I'd leave you with a little eye-candy while I'm away. I've mentioned that the field station was originally a U.S. Naval Base. Once in a while we get a visitor who was actually stationed here back in the 50s or 60s, and even more rarely one of these veterans brings old photos that he graciously allows me to scan. For obvious reasons, this set is particularly enjoyable.
Just another hard day, roasting weenies at the beach. Who says the military is all work and no play? And I'm sure their all wearing their SPF 45.
It's nice that they let some local kids hang out with them. Not exactly sure what the fella on the right edge is doing, but it seems a little rude and maybe crude. These are sailors after all.
Snorkeling too!
And of course, our resident fisherman. He seems quite pleased to show off his giant lobsters and barracuda. Or maybe he's more interested in showing off his studly physique. Either way ... bravo! Personally, I just can't decide which swimsuit I prefer. Why did the belly-button-covering waist ever go out of style?
UPDATED: Photos courtesy of Vic Meally. Thank you, Mr. Meally!
Start Your Ovens
May 21, 2010 Posted by: ERIN
I've been in a cooking rut lately. Actually, I pretty much haven't been cooking at all. We get a little spoiled when the field station cafeteria is open (no dishes to wash!), and without the daily abundance of veggies from the garden that MUST be used, I've gotten a tad lazy.
In an attempt to jump-start my culinary mojo, I thought I'd share a couple recipes today. Coincidentally, both are from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food website. I'm not normally a huge Martha fan ... I find many of her recipes way too fussy. But Everyday Food is generally more accessible, and these recipes are simple, straightforward, and do not disappoint the tastebuds.
Barbequed Chicken Pizza
Adapted From MarthaStewart.com
Tom and I are homemade pizza fiends. We've even been know to fight over it. This recipe is a delicious way to get away from standard tomato sauce and pesto varieties. I make my own dough, but store-bought works just as well. The proportions are not very exact ... there's always plenty of wiggle room with pizza!
Olive oil, for baking sheet
1 batch homemade pizza dough (or 1 pound store-bought)
1 to 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken (leftover works great!)
1/2 to 1 cup barbeque sauce
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 large zucchini (or yellow squash), halved lengthwise and THINLY sliced
1 small onion (or 6 green onions), halved and THINLY sliced
Coarse salt and ground pepper
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lightly oil a large baking sheet. Stretch your dough to fill the sheet.
In a medium bowl, combine chicken and barbecue sauce. Leaving a 1-inch border, scatter chicken mixture evenly over dough; sprinkle with cheese, then zucchini and onion. Season with salt and pepper.
Bake until crust is golden and cheese is melted, about 20 minutes. Serve immediately.
Roasted Cauliflower
Adapted From MarthaStewart.com
If you've never roasted cauliflower before, you MUST give it a try. Trust me, it's like taking cauliflower to a whole new level. So yummy! The original recipe included capers, but since capers are one of the five foods that I cannot stand, I left them out. They are horrible, you won't miss them.
1 head (about 2 pounds) cauliflower, cut into florets
1 tablespoon olive oil
coarse salt and ground pepper
1 tablespoon butter
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spread florets in a roasting pan or rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil; season with coarse salt and ground pepper. Toss to combine. Roast, tossing once or twice, until cauliflower is golden brown and tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
In a small skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Cook garlic cloves, stirring often, until lightly browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Pour over cauliflower, and toss to coat. Enjoy!
Motorcade
May 15, 2010 Posted by: ERIN
Yesterday the San Sal High School held an assembly to honor several students, including Alexis and her recent spelling success. The event culminated with a parade of sorts. I love the clusters of blue and the giddy, smiling faces.
More Tales from the Garden
May 14, 2010 Posted by: ERIN
This year was another sucessful one in the garden. As always, it feels strange to be wrapping up the growing season now that it is spring, but in a few weeks the sun and heat here will be too intense for the plants. By starting in September, January and February are the most productive time of the year. From there, things start to wind down slowly until now (mid-May). Currently, the last few tomatoes are trickling in, and the green onions and corn are the only things that are still growing strong.
This year's garden included six varieties of tomatoes, three varieties of bell peppers, banana peppers, cayenne peppers, and habanero peppers. There were also strawberries, broccoli, kohlrabi, green onions, arugula, radishes, bush beans, cucumbers, lettuce, green peas, and snow peas. Herbs included basil, parsley, dill, thyme, cilantro, borage, cat nip, and spearmint. And flowers included alyssum, calendula, and many, many marigolds. After less than fruitful attemps at beets and pole beans, I've decided that this was their last year. (Beets just don't work for me and our seaside winds alway do a number on the pole bean trellises.) I'm still waiting for the verdict on the corn.
When the harvest got to be more than we could eat, we shared with our friends and neighbors and sent many pounds of tomatoes to the field station cafeteria. Our freezer is also full of green beans, sweet peppers, cayenne peppers, pesto, snow peas, and stewed tomatoes. And there are jars of sun-dried tomatoes and cayennes on the counter.
As is my typical fashion, I took a whole bunch of photos of the garden early on and then barely took any at all once the ripening and harvesting started. But I think you'll get the idea. Happy growing!
Tales from the Garden
May 8, 2010 Posted by: ERIN
Each year we try to expand our garden a bit more. Since we have virtually no soil on the actual ground, we have to use containers and raised beds. And we have to make our own soil (more on this soon). Last year we put in the bottle beds, which was a great way to reuse glass bottles in a place were recycling is not readily available. This year we decided to make use of another by-product that tends to pile up around here ... conch shells.
Visitors to The Bahamas are allowed to return to the states with one conch shell, and of course they are beautiful and make a great souvenir. So it makes sense that people pick them up on the beach and bring them back to the field station. However, for whatever reason much of the time people also end up leaving the shells behind. Maybe they find a better one or don't have room in their luggage or realize that their shell reeks of dead sealife. But whatever the reason, we get slowly buried under a pile of discarded conch shells.
In an effort to create more bed space and spruce up the pallets of our beloved compost corral, we decided that we should make a raised bed out of conch shells surrounding two sides of the corral. Tom whipped up some concrete and we figured out a way that the shells would more or less fit together to make a wall. Where they didn't quite fit, we just globbed on more concrete!
We've been really pleased with the results. The conch make interesting, attractive building blocks and the compost corral doesn't look quite so desolate anymore. And we got a bunch of new planting space where I've been able to grow arugula, radishes, strawberries, lettuce, and corn.
Of course, we do get the occasional Potcake looking for a shady spot. And here we thought we were going to have to worry about cows in the corn!
Crabbies
May 5, 2010 Posted by: ERIN
In the Bahamas, what I would call a hermit crab is called a solider crab. I actually think 'soldier' is a much better descriptor given that they're almost always found in groups, diligently marching from here to there. Hermits don't do that.
Do you know how long they live? For a soldier crab to go from this...
... to this ...
... takes over ten years! Amazing!! They must go through a lot of shells in ten years. And they can keep on growing to the size of softballs. It's true, I've seen it with my own eyes. Softball-sized solider crabs have REALLY hairy legs that are kind of gross.
My sister, Liz, and I used to have hermit crabs as pets when we were younger. I think she got hers as a 16th or 17th birthday present. (She wanted them! And she wasn't even the one who was the science geek in high school.) I remember that we were instructed to give them "baths" every week. This involved dipping them into a glass of water for a few seconds. I bet these wild, undomesticated solider crabs would scoff at such silliness.