Fruit Fly Fix

Organic, effective, inexpensive: Cider Vinegar.

Fresh produce and warm, humid summer air means fruit flies.  Since we've begun composting, I've dreaded them.  I read an article that mentioned using cider or red wine vinegar in a small bowl with a dot of dish soap to control flies of all kinds.  The sweet vinegar lures the flies even more than fruit sugars and the soap breaks the surface tension, so they land to eat and drown.  

I've been keeping a small bowl on the kitchen window sill near the compost bin.  I was fairly sure this was helping immensely this summer since we hadn't had a fruit fly problem....but without a problem in the first place it's hard to be sure.  Luckily (?) upon returning from vacation, we realized that we'd neglected to take out our kitchen trash.  We had hordes of fruit flies in the kitchen.  I set out two bowls immediately and, by the next morning, there were almost no fruit flies anywhere.  Today is Wednesday and I can say for sure that this is a terrifically effective technique for controlling flies.

Now, each year in the first or second week of August we seem to be inundated with buzzy, slow-moving flies.  So slow, in fact, that I can suck them off windows with my Dustbuster.  They only seem to be around for a week or two, but they are incredibly annoying (and, honestly, kind of gross).  Will Cider Vinegar save the day?  Here's to hoping!

Braised Cukes: Adventures in Slimedom

Well, I'm not a Top Chef.  I'm not even a Middle Chef.  I'm a pretty good home cook, even on the fly, and can make food that is tasty for adults and possibly children, depending on their mood-of-the-day.

Tonight, I tried something new....Braised Cucumbers  which is apparently from Julia Child's cookbook, which I must admit, I do not own. But I have the internet, right?

My husband challenged me: did I have time to do this before he left for his night shift?  I followed the directions precisely.  It smelled wonderful.  We were both excited to taste. And  then, slippery...greasy...slimey cucumber.  I was devastated.  I'd put on an apron over my nightgown, for God's sakes!!  My poor husband was disappointed too.  He'd hoped for the best, and hoped I could deliver.

Now that I had the stove fired up, something very primal wasn't going to let me allow my dear husband to leave without something fresh and tasty for his supper later.  So I crushed up and tore up (yes, ripped and tore!) a few cloves of garlic.  Didn't I say primal?

Indeed, my man must be fed. I tossed that garlic in the pan with the leftover cucumber-braise butter and, while it started to simmer, sliced up the squashes and zucchini I harvested this morning while I was battling/squishing squash bugs.  Oh yes, I am now a bug-squisher, though I do wear gardening gloves to do it.  I think this makes me a wimp-ass, but my mother begs to differ and is just glad that I am not resorting to pesticides.

At any rate, once the garlic starts to smell really, really good, it's time to add any fresh farm veggies you have in the fridge.  Mine was that squash and zucchini, which I browned for a few minutes before adding a hefty splash of chicken stock and covering the pan for a few minutes.  Let this simmer, covered, for about as long as it takes to uncork and pour a glass of wine and have a nice sip or two. This is the perfect time to remember that sweet corn from Avalon Acres and take about 30 seconds to slice it right off the cob.  Toss that in with some halved cherry tomatoes and some torn basil leaves and you've got a tremendous side dish (or main dish with some rice/quinoa).

So, obviously, an amazing dish.  Alll grown/picked today or within a day or so (for the corn).  

Here's what I have learned from my adventures in Slimedom: Don't be afraid to try something new...but be prepared to improvise!!

Recipe after...

Weekly Fridge Pic - June 29, 2010

We are swimming in fresh, tasty vegetables.  Cucumbers, squash, corn, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes....I am determined to put some of this in the freezer to enjoy a taste of summer six months from now.

But for this week, lots of vegetable dishes: red potato salad with bacon (in the bowl there), roasted red pepper hummus with peppers and fresh tomatoes, cucumber salad, pasta salad, hot dogs with mac-n-cheese and cold green beans for my son's Birthday Dinner.  Sitting on top of that quinoa/brown rice is a flank steak that we'll have for fajitas tomorrow with all that fresh organic corn.   

Also on the agenda: batch #2 of homemade yogurt, this time with whole milk.

By the way, Alice Waters' Summer Squash Soup with yogurt and mint is wonderful.  Maria at Gastronomical Three has posted the recipe so I won't bother to type it out again.  

I also made my first-ever, totally-from-scratch cake.