Don't eat the water hemlock!
Checking back in on the blog....
Listen to what Beth wrote: "Shhh, Meade. People are going to think you're a fictional character. I knew it as soon as I saw that picture of him on a porch, reading the paper. Hey, I have that same man at home!" (Well, maybe Beth just has the same model coin-operated boy....)
What's in that container? Store-bought wild blueberries?
No! Blackberries! We went looking for ripe blackberries...
... and we found what we were looking for.
Posts
78 comments:
"No! Blackberries! We went looking for ripe blackberries..."
Pick a bunch of them, cook them gently for a few minutes with some red wine and a little sugar. Gget some "medallions" of venison (slices of the tenderloin), flour them in seasoned flour, fry them in fat you've rendered out of some bacon for about 5-7 minutes, turning frequently. Remove the medallions to a warm serving dish, spoon the blackberries over them and keep warm. Heat the pan in which you cooked the venison (without washing!) and deglaze with enough hot meat stock to make enough sauce. Boil briskly, stirring until it starts to look concentrated and thicker, then stir in enough crème fraîche to make the sauce nice and rich. Cook for a few more seconds, adjust the seasoning, then pour over the venison & blackberries. Serve with buttered egg noodles cooked with chestnuts, or with small, tender Brussels sprouts and a dark, full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon.
For those who don't have fresh blackberries, you can substitute very high quality blackberry jelly.
looks a lot like downtown Philadelphia
Wait, is Meade wearing shorts?
"looks a lot like downtown Philadelphia"
LOL
@Palladian
1. Is that a *summer* recipe?
2. Re the mystery of shorts. LOL.
"1. Is that a *summer* recipe?"
Well, it's best during the blackberry season which I think ends in late August.
Forgo the noodles and I think it's perfectly good as a summer recipe.
Do thimbleberries grow in Ohio? The only place I can get get good thimbleberry jam seems to be in the Keewenaw Peninsula, in Michigan's U.P.
These guys make a mean thimbleberry jam, and a lot of other good stuff.
As children we walked to a fence across the road and picked blackberries and our Mother boiled them, added sugar and made jam for the morning biscuits. We felt very self sufficient. Then we went to kindergarten and lost the golden days. Now all the Blackberry Jams are store bought. Some good homemade is sold up in the mountains near Dillard, Georgia where we the raft the Chatuge River (Where Deliverance was filmed).
Correct spelling: Chatooga River. The best rafting rivers are all within a 3 hour drive north of Atlanta. If passing thru area, try the Hemlock Inn in Ela N,C. over the Smokie mtns heading south from Gatlingburg.
Tender the hand that holds the bouquet of flowers plucked from the ground;
Out of dark earth, into light sky: both thing shown and symbol confound.
My condolences on the passing of "off-blog Althouse."
Will you be installing a web cam next?
Wait, is Meade wearing shorts?
Notice how nothing has been said about these slipping standards?.....the photo ending just above what would be the hem line...has it all been a hoax?
That first photo; when I look at it all I can think of is Ophelia.
In Ohio, the meadow comes to you.
Clover.
Mention of venison reminded me that the FDA has just prohibited the shipment in interstate commerce of canned Evanger pet foods, such as their ultrapremium "human quality" venison dog food. Apparently their canning process could allow botulism, which affects pets same as it does us. On the face of it, Evanger's could still sell in the home state of Illinois, so don't pick up any for a treat while travelling through.
Wild blackberries are ubiquitous in western Oregon, by the way. Friends who flirted with going back to the land bought a (castrated male) goat to keep the thorny vines from reclaiming their acreage. (Males are much cheaper than milk producing females; castrated males don't smell nearly as rank.)
I'm going to guess that meade is wearing cargo pants, which must thus be acceptable chez Althouse.
That looks more like Queen Anne's Lace to me. Queen Anne's Lace was a boogeyman of my childhood; Mom checked us for ticks and chiggers every time we came near it.
I've spent the last little while in Tennessee cleaning up my mom's neglected blackberry bushes and preparing a new bed she can get to with her walker. Unfortunately for me, she wants them in an area of hard clay where jumping up and down on the spade all day doesn't make a dent. Think 4 inches of new topsoil mixed with well rotted horse manure will work?
Nice terrain. Blackberries and cream gathered from a fine meadow walk. Looks like the start of an excellent Althouse-Meade weekend.
The Prof is wily. That Meade photo was likely 'truncated' - as bait.
Mmmmmm, blackberries, the bestest of the berries after cherries.
Anyhoo, running errands all around today, stop by the library to drop off some movies, and see a bunch of 'A Fine Romances' (the genteel britcom) on display, and check them out because the covers look early, early 80s, which is so different, aesthetically, from the later big hair 80s. Think those ruffle-y blouses and short, sideswept bangs 'falling in eyes'.
It says on the wiki:"The series involves Laura Dalton, played by Dench, a single, middle-aged translator who is somewhat socially inept. Her sister Helen, played by Penhaligon, and her husband Phil (Richard Warwick) pair her up with Mike Selway (Williams), a shy landscape gardener. The story follows their awkward romance and insecurities. Bad luck seems to follow them everywhere, from the ferry to Calais to an attempted romantic evening watching television."
Don't know why I posted this, but, there you go.
Also, I keep doing this, but, awww.....if you all are not careful, you will make me uncynical.
...has it all been a hoax?
I dont think Althouse would get into a tussle with other bloggers over a hoax.
Unless it's a really good one ;)
The mother hoax, hoax and awe.
No, I dont think so, let the record reflect..
That sounds great, Palladian. Our blackberries are coming in now, so tonight I'm making pork tenderloin with blackberry sauce. Brown sugar, berries, chicken stock. Wish I had some creme fraiche on hand, tho. :)
Oh, wait, it was just the shy landscape gardner, that's all. The rest doesn't seem applicable, at all.
We got a box of blackberry and strawberry jam, homemade, from our cousin in New Jersey last year, right before Gustav. I forgot about it because of the storm, and rediscovered it a month or so ago. Oh, it was good.
That looks more like Queen Anne's Lace to me.
Everything looks like Queen Anne's Lace, except Wild Parsnip, which is yellow.
I remember picking huge blackberries in Charleston, SC, but I was much smaller then (6).
At my grandmother's lake cottage, we used to freeze blueberries before dousing them with milk and a little sugar.
So are we not supposed to wash the venison, or were you talking about the pan afterwards?
There is rain delay in Philly. So, bear with me please.
I have question, when people put their apple pie in the window what's that about?
Is that movie folklore, legend?
when people put their apple pie in the window what's that about?
To cool it from oven temperature. Like putting cakes on a rack.
For some reason I thought it was, I dont know, an American thing?
I think there is a word for that, the way something is done in a particular place, but it escapes me now.
Thanks.
"The Prof is wily. That Meade photo was likely 'truncated' - as bait."
Or out of shame because she can't admit that Meade is wearing shorts and SHE LIKES IT!
By the way, my venison recipe is stolen almost whole cloth from the late, great Jennifer Paterson, who probably stole it almost whole cloth from elsewhere.
Throw in some sex and it's the perfect day!
One spring I bought some little antique bottles. Three were jewel tones... blue, purple and gold, and the other two had the color of original coke bottles. None were more than two inches wide, and the tallest was no more than five inches. The lips of the bottles were less than an inch.
Eventually, I started picking wildflowers along the road on my daily walks, forming little bouquets like the one in your first picture, but cut down to fit my new "vases", which I assume were once apothecary jars.
I fancied myself to be an expert miniaturist wild floral arranger by late fall. (Feel free to place commas as you see fit.)
I wish I could describe the joy something so simple brought to me.
Althouse's photos sure do conjure up some memories for us. Thanks for that, Ann!
OK, now that I got past my own memory, I am off onto others.
Lem, old farmhouses had extremely wide windowsills. Think in the twelve inch range. There was plenty of room for cooling fresh baked pies. In today's world, we would call those sills wasted "living" space.
Palladian, as ever, when you are not calling people names who disagree with you, you provide a well thought out feast for the eyes, and for the mind.
My stomach is telling me to lighten up on you!
"Palladian, as ever, when you are not calling people names who disagree with you, you provide a well thought out feast for the eyes, and for the mind."
I don't call people names solely based on disagreement. Witness my relationship with commenter Beth, with whom I sometimes disagree, but who I would never call names. My name calling (surely you find my caustic retort on a slightly higher level than mere name calling!) is solely the result of another party demonstrating a lack of civility and presenting their ideas in a sarcastic manner. This mode of presentation requires me, as a gentleman, to reply in kind, as we're on the internet and I cannot slap my adversary with a castoreum-scented glove as I could in life.
I also reply to odious ideas and statements, such as the paleo-conservatism of Cedarford, or ricpic's venomous attacks of homosexuals, or downtownlad's sociopathic need to be hateful, in the strongest possible terms because odious ideas need always be answered and countered by strong speech, lest they freely gain currency through the silence of good people.
But when aforesaid personages are commenting on inoffensive subjects in a manner that demonstrates good faith, I am perfectly willing to engage with them in a civil manner. Witness my response to Cedarford in this thread for example.
"My stomach is telling me to lighten up on you!"
I'm actually a wonderful, warm, fascinating person to those who would seek to relate to me in a civil manner. I make an excellent dinner companion.
I also make an excellent dinner. Today I'm making a tomato and herb salad in aspic. I'll post a picture later perhaps.
Sorry for writing in that style. I was listening to Haydn while I typed and it always has that effect on me.
I got a flat of strawberries at the local farm. They are so intense and sweet. Small ripe berries. The kids want bowls of them tonight. With whip cream.
Yum.
SEVEN minutes for a venison medallion?!?!? Are you making pot roast? Unless they are three inches thick five minutes is pushing it. If the bacon fat is just below the smoke point, the medallions are a good inch, and the dish you are resting them on is warm, 90 seconds a side is the way to go.
P.S. Other than that the recipe is great - though I'm a big fan of venison and dried cherries in the winter.
I'd rather have mine thoroughly cooked. You don't know where that deer has been.
Anne,
Why do you have to flaunt your happiness so brazenly?
My daily morning walk takes me down the SW Bike path, and I am eagerly watching the slow ripening of the blackcaps here. Two+ weeks away, I think.
The good news: Strawberry season is here in WI!
When I was a kid we used to go down to the end of the street to pick wild blackberries. We thought it was great, but Mom would spend the rest of the day pulling ticks out of us.
Funny photo of Meade. A Blackberry in one hand, and a carton of black berries in the other.
I've noticed an interesting change in some of my long-term friends. the ones who obsessed (during college) about where to get the best weed now obsess about where to get the best fruit and vegetables.
Another ten years and it'll be all about the best prunes.
"Another ten years and it'll be all about the best prunes."
Prunes?
In ten years it'll be all about where to get a half-loaf of stale bread, a wrinkled turnip, and a pint of "vodka" (that tastes suspiciously of dime-store eau de cologne) to wash it down with, Comrade.
Sy, how else does one flaunt?
And according to Sy, Ann is brazenly taunting us with her happiness.
Personally? I have to agree. And I LOVE it.
If Sy(sop) has a better plan?
I am all eyes and fingers....
Re: the Hemlock. I'm surprised you didn't mention Socrates. And the danger isn't just in eating it. It's like poison ivy. Even touching it can cause awful blistering (hope Meade warned you). The blisters do go away, though the scars are evident for months. Yes, months.
I'm so struck by how similar these photos are to my parents farm in Butler County. The climate and the folliage, it's just exactly what I grew up with. I'd never heard it called water hemlock, though, and I grew up in a family of horticulturalists. We always just called it poison hemlock.
I miss living so close to the land.
You're in Detroit?
"brazenly taunting us with her happiness"
Just spreading the love.
I hope you people are remembering to kiss in public!
You must remember this.
Sigh.
A kiss is just a kiss
A sigh is just a sigh....
And...
It's SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE!
SEVEN minutes for a venison medallion?!?!?
Yep, cook it just long enough to knock the wind of out of it. Backstraps are best cooked in real butter in a pan with salt and pepper and eaten like a savage with your fingers. Or if grilling marinate in montreal steak seasoning.
Ann,
I am not trying to be rude. It was just an offhand way of stating the obvious. Judging from your posts, you seem blissfully happy of late and that's a good thing.
So go ahead,
rub our noses in peach roses
take it slow in a meadow
like a beacon light in the night
your happiness surely guide us
Okay, time to quit. This post is cornier than Iowa. ROFL.
I feel safe in saying that Iowa's corn is not ROFL...rolling on floor laughing.
More likely Iowaians? (odd word alert) are counting their kernels.
Just spreading the love... But the doll — the doll — was too much.
Que Sera Sera
A record of the delightful piece they're going to play this evening
Ladies and gentlemen
Your attention please!
And now the moment we've been waiting for is here
I have something to tell you
Que sera, sera
Que sera, sera
Que sera, sera
Que sera, sera
Whatever will be
The future's not our
I believe in the future
I don't believe in miracles
Can it be true: it must be true! No doubt!
Another room in the Obama Museum.
Wait Till You See Him.
Wait till you see him
See how he looks
Wait till you hear him laugh.
Painters of paintings
Writers of books
Never could tell the half.
Wait till you feel
The warmth of his glance,
Pensive and sweet and wise.
All of it lovely
All of it thrilling
I'll never be willing to free him.
When you see him
You won't believe your eyes
You won't believe your eyes.
... and we found what we were looking for.
Midnight at the oasis .
Midnight at the oasis
Send your camel to bed
Shadows paintin' our faces
Traces of romance in our heads
Heaven's holdin' a half-moon
Shinin' just for us
Let's slip off to a sand dune, real soon
And kick up a little dust
Come on, Cactus is our friend
He'll point out the way
Come on, till the evenin' ends
Till the evenin' ends
You don't have to answer
There's no need to speak
I'll be your belly dancer, prancer
And you can be my sheik.
Lem? It seems to be just you and me.
So can you support Soto My Air?
Penny for your thoughts? Soto My Air?
NOW shames Letterman .
The Politics of Dancing .
We got the message
I heard it on the airwaves
The politicians
Are now dj's
The broadcast was spreading
Station to station
Like an infection
Across the nation
Though you know you can't stop it
When they start to play
You're gonna get out the way
The politics of dancing
The politics of ooh feeling good
The politics of moving, aha
If this message's understood
The politics of dancing
The politics of ooh feeling good
The politics of moving, aha
If this message's understood
We're under pressure
Yes we're counting on you
Like what you say
Is what you do
It's in the papers
It's on your tv news
Oh, the application
Is just a point of view
Well you know you can't stop it
When they start to play
You're gonna get out the way
The politics of dancing
The politics of ooh feeling good
The politics of moving, aha
If this message's understood.
So can you support Soto My Air?
I want to hear what she has to say first.
Ah! Sy(sop)
A pleasure to engage you in conversation. If it is possible?
I want to know how OHIO can have blackberries when here in the lovely mountains of NC they are not ready yet!
Speaking of lovely -- I have a daughter who is going to be married next month and sometimes she and her sweetie can hardly see though or around the stars in their eyes. Althouse-Meade remind me of them so much -- Even the mature do love in a lovely way.
Hope we hear from KentuckyLiz later today.
Good night Penny and Lem.
Penny,
I don't know what you have in mind. It's kind of hard to have a conversation via a blog.
JAL,
I know what you mean. This evening, I was walking the trail next to my house and blackberry bushes are still white with flowers! What are they burying in the meadows of Ohio?
Listen to what Beth wrote: "Shhh, Meade. People are going to think you're a fictional character. I knew it as soon as I saw that picture of him on a porch, reading the paper. Hey, I have that same man at home!"
Voices Carry.
In the dark, I like to read his mind
But Im frightened of the things I might find
Oh, there must be something hes thinking of
To tear him away
When I tell him that Im falling in love
Why does he say
Hush hush keep it down now voices carry
Hush hush keep it down now voices carry
I try so hard not to get upset
Because I know all the trouble Ill get
Oh, he tells me tears are something to hide
And something to fear
And I try so hard to keep it inside
So no one can hear
Hush hush keep it down now voices carry
Hush hush keep it down now voices carry
Hush hush keep it down now voices carry.
I have a feeling Lorne Michaels wishes Letterman had ONE clue about what it's like to have a name like Lorne.
Forlorn, or for Lorne?
I agree sy(sop)...something is hard.
I hope you people are remembering to kiss in public!
"P.D.A. (We Just Don't Care)"
Let's go to the park
I wanna kiss you underneath the stars
Maybe we'll go too far
We just don't care,
We just don't care,
We just don't care.
You know I love you when you're loving me
Sometimes it's better when it's publicly
I'm not ashamed, I don't care who sees
Us hugging & kissing our love exhibition all
We'll rendezvous out on the fire escape
I'd like to set off an alarm today
The love emergency don't make me wait
Just follow I'll lead you
I urgently need you
Let's go to the park
I wanna kiss you underneath the stars
Maybe we'll go too far
We just don't care
We just don't care
We just don't
Let's make love, let's go somewhere they might discover us
Let's get lost in lust
We just don't care,
We just don't care,
We just don't care.
My NDA with the CIA conflicts with PDA.
Yoko Ono on Twitter.
She's Strange.
Straaaannnnggeee....
Ow, fine lady
Ow
I like the way she walks
I like the way she talks
she turns me on with a special concern
now I'm a different guy
and I don't compare to many
but next to her I'm plain ordinary
Not many can see the light blue aura
that surrounds the girl wherever in the world
she's a 9, a 10 a 25th
she's bittersweet and .....
She's strange
and I like it
She's strange
Just the way she is
Strange
Walking down the avenue
She's strange
Always doing something new
She's the kind of person everybody knows
She reeks distinction from head to toe
She's my twilight zone, my Al Capone
She's my rolling stones and my Ava Perone.
Rolling stones...
Night, Lem and Sy.
Sweet dreams.
intwresting health notes to gather
ann age 58
lunula observarions in this photo and the one with her line drawings a couple months ago. revealing info
Meagre yield this morning in backyard scythe cutting gatherings, owing to comparative dryness.
rhhardin
do you speak in poetic code and are you titus in a different mode?
What's that black thing on Meade's neck?
Patty Griffin Making Pies (suggested by Maggie's Farm)
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