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Post by Deleted on Jun 26, 2018 12:26:48 GMT
FIGS, FIGS,FIGS,FIGS...!!!!
I didn't trim the tree this year and the tree is huge!!!
I have had to get some neighborhood children to climb it to get to the ones at the top. My folding ladder isn't tall enough without me risking a fall.
Gratefully, they are not ripening all at once.
I'm also harvesting okra like crazy. I should have staggered the planting.
Cantaloupe on the way. A tad late.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 26, 2018 13:38:56 GMT
Cherries are in season here. I need to buy some quickly because I keep watching the price go down... and then all of a sudden the season has finished.
Cantaloupe is also quite cheap, but most of it comes from Morocco or Spain. The French cantaloupe will be slightly later.
(I went to look at the previous page and I was already dithering about buying cherries.... I am hopeless.)
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Post by mickthecactus on Jun 26, 2018 14:15:52 GMT
Figs, okra and cherries. Heaven on a stick.
I have Chard and lettuce so far.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 26, 2018 15:51:02 GMT
I saw soft shell crabs at the Farmer's Market this a.m. but the line was 20 deep so I had to pass.
My luck they would have just run out when it was my turn...
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Post by lagatta on Jun 27, 2018 14:45:50 GMT
Strawberries, and mostly just greens such as chard and spinach, as well as lettuces. Radishes of course. Everything is a bit late this year, after a horrific winter and chilly spring. The weather is very pleasant now; not extremely warm but very sunny, with the occasional shower.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 28, 2018 5:58:47 GMT
Casimira, why do you torment me with these accounts of fig abundance?! One of the greatest luxuries of human existence is to stand beneath a fully laden tree of ripe figs, picking and eating to your heart's content. And okra, fresh okra!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 28, 2018 10:59:14 GMT
Well dear, if you weren't off galavanting across the pond this time of year you could be here parked under that tree and gorge to your heart's content. (P.S. I am making your favorite this weekend, cucidati )
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 28, 2018 13:37:47 GMT
When I was growing up, we had a relatively modest fig tree, but the good thing about that was that it produced just enough so that we didn't get tired of them. Of course, we still had a little competition from the birds.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 28, 2018 16:58:40 GMT
I am making your favorite this weekend, cucidati Aaaaarrrrrrgggghhh! This is Casimira talking about figs & cuccidati. I am the dog. it produced just enough so that we didn't get tired of them As if! I've never ODed on them, although I've tried. I just bought some more of those little flat peaches I love so much. Tomorrow I may dare the cherries. I say dare the cherries because I get so totally crushed with disappointment when they're not good. My airbnb street here in Antwerp is just off "the Chinese street", which is replete with exotica and also fresh produce.
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Post by lagatta on Jun 28, 2018 21:57:47 GMT
You are well located! Are you going to the Netherlands as well? Alas I've just been through Antwerp, which looks like a pleasant small city, and is also a city that is highly walkable and cyclable. I'm sure you'll also find lovely frites, but it is important to eat produce and not only in deep-fried form!
I understand your cherry disappointment. In theory, I love cherries, but they are most often disappointing here.
I'm glad you have a b&b. I really don't like to go out to eat 2 or 3 times a day unless I have to. Treasure little picnics in whichever studio, or outdoors if the weather is fine.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 28, 2018 22:16:22 GMT
LaGatta, I am fritted out already! I had a very spicy and delicious Tibetan soup this evening, made & served by a lovely and cheerful Tibetan woman.
Alas, I'm worried that Antwerp deserves more time than I've programmed for it. I'll be off to Amsterdam on the 1st for a whole month, with the hope of good side trips.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 28, 2018 22:36:41 GMT
T.says we are averaging 10 lbs. a day. Today, I made a fig clafouti (I know, usually made with cherries..) It was divine. I am exploring making a fig liqueur. It's not just my tree gone mad, they are all over the city, even in abandoned lots!!!
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Post by lagatta on Jun 29, 2018 0:47:16 GMT
Perhaps the figgy clafoutis should have its own name. Sounds divine. In season I make a clafoutis with susini, those little dark Italian plums. Bixa, Antwerp is not far from Amsterdam by rail, if you should want to return there. Can you tell us what part of Amsterdam you will be staying in? There is a nasty bit in the dead centre, near the central railway station (the station itself is fine; obviously you have to watch out for pickpockets as everywhere, but I've never seen any problem there). The Netherlands has an excellent railway network and there are many cities, town and other sites that are fine as daytrips. Too bad rikita and family live way east in Berlin! Amsterdam to Cologne is an easy rail journey. If you want to do several museums in Amsterdam, you are better off buying a Museum card. There are no free days at major museums as there are in London or Paris. The Tropenmuseum was one of those rather shameful "Colonial museums" found in imperialist powers, but now it is a very interesting ethnographic museum, in Amsterdam East. www.amsterdam.info/museums/tropenmuseum/www.tropenmuseum.nl/nl www.tropenmuseum.nl/en There is a good multicultural market nearby, Dappermarkt, as well as the offerings on the main streets of the area - Dapperbuurt and Indische buurt. When I went there more often, the Museum Card was valid for a year, but it seems that now this is only the case for Dutch residents, so you have to figure out whether it is worth the money for you. It is not cheap, but neither is museum admission. I confess that pissed me off mightily; no free or discounted days as in other major museum targets. The Dutch did pretty much invent commercial capitalism... www.amsterdam.info/museums/museumkaart/
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Post by casimira on Mar 13, 2020 12:44:09 GMT
Strawberries, all manner of lettuces and other leafy greens, loquats, snow peas...
And, one of the most abundant crawfish seasons in many, many years. (due to a very wet mild winter).
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Post by lagatta on Mar 13, 2020 13:05:23 GMT
Waaaaah! Not much fresh and local here now, except maple syrup.
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 13, 2020 15:43:38 GMT
Nothing much is in season yet in France either except for those of us who consider Europe to be our country, in which case you can consider Spanish strawberries and asparagus to be in season. There are also lots of hothouse items that are good, but unfortunately plenty of them are available year round (tomatoes) which reduces their value to me. I really wish I could eat only real items grown in real dirt outdoors. Dream on...
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Post by lagatta on Mar 14, 2020 0:17:35 GMT
Well, obviously I prefer vegetables and fruit grown in dirt, but will put up with some hothouse ones that aren't bereft of flavour. But stuff in stiff plastic tombs is beyond the pale.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 14, 2020 2:41:25 GMT
one of the most abundant crawfish seasons in many, many years. *quick flash of soul-searing envy*
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Post by casimira on Mar 14, 2020 12:34:45 GMT
It being Lent and all, I did feel a tinge of guilt in posting that Bixa.
Mea culpa
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 14, 2020 16:45:55 GMT
Ego te absolvo.
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Post by lugg on Mar 14, 2020 19:23:18 GMT
One day I hope to taste a proper crawfish ... in the meantime I will share Bixa's envy. Here in the UK re proper seasonal food there is not much to shout about. Roll on April
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 14, 2020 19:40:57 GMT
My local supermarket sells shelled crayfish in tiny containers but with a price that is not tiny at all. (To be honest, though, the price is lower than things like the jars of salmon eggs.)
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 15, 2020 1:13:33 GMT
One day I hope to taste a proper crawfish Well, Lugg, just remember that from the UK you can nip on over to Scandinavia for around £50. Here's the overly tasteful way they do it there: www.dailyscandinavian.com/scandinavian-crayfish/But hey ~ if you can figure out a way to get to Louisiana, I'll get there too & we'll do crawfish the right way!
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Post by lugg on Mar 15, 2020 11:18:34 GMT
Mmmm they look good. Sadly I am not allowed in USA for the time being.
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Post by casimira on Mar 15, 2020 12:35:17 GMT
Y'all come down!!!
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 24, 2020 14:13:09 GMT
On the news they showed that the first crops of hothouse strawberries in southern France are now ready to be picked. But there is nobody to pick them, since the French don't do that, and the borders are closed for the foreign temporary harvesters. So it looks like tonnes of strawberries are going in the compost heap in a week or two.
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Post by Kimby on Mar 24, 2020 14:48:44 GMT
Could they go to U-pick, letting in only a few customers at a time to pick their own berries in a designated part of the plot?
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Mar 24, 2020 15:08:34 GMT
We'll have a similar problem here soon. Salad crops like lettuces are going in the ground now , and by the end of April the first lettuces will be ready for picking. Usually thousands of seasonal workers come over from Eastern Europe...but not this year.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 24, 2020 15:22:45 GMT
That's a good idea, Kimby!
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Post by htmb on Mar 24, 2020 16:00:36 GMT
I saw somewhere....BBC maybe, that unemployed people were currently being encouraged to pick fruit and vegetables in the fields.
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