I've been busy since last week's meditation, as has Mother Nature. Spring is continuing apace.
There are quite a few bright spots in the garden. Most plants are beginning to leaf out or set buds. It doesn't appear that I have lost much to the cold, but most of my plants are cold hardy for this planting zone, which should allow for minimum temperatures of zero or below. Of course it didn't help that nothing was dormant and that the temperature dropped from 70 to zero, but I grew up in Texas, even if my plants didn't. I tend to get far more bent out of shape over the things humans do to each other than I do over Natures upsets.
Still, how can one's heart not be lifted by new blossoms?
Last week I told you that I had bought a brisket with the intention of making corned beef. I have set two big chunks of brisket to cure, about 10 pounds total, which should last me a while. Although I did not make corned beef when I was struggling with health issues, I am happy to have another batch in process. I am running another comparison, following up on my results from the last time I made corned beef, and I will inform you of the results. I am basically using the same marinade on both, but varying the time of the cure, as a refinement of those previous results. To my taste, corned beef is all about the cure. I haven't yet found a commercially available, grocery store corned beef I find acceptable, and I have been less than impressed with cures that marinade for less than 5 days (the minimum I see recommend in recipes. Hopefully this is the beginning of a process for maintaining a household staple. I can freeze part of the beef, and use it regularly, not just in March. I've always considered corned beef a year-round thing, not a Saint Patrick's Day thing, anyway, perhaps that is the Jewish deli influence in my life, just as I find the seasonal corned beef and cabbage dinner to be the least interesting thing to do with a corned beef. (Remember it is all about the cure for me). In fact I've had more than a fair number of "corned beef and cabbage" dinners where the beef is barely cured, and could just as well be a New England Boiled Dinner, something I grew up eating. Anyway, look for results in a week or two.
The garden is behind where it was at this time in 2020 (the last time I made corned beef also) but I am not worried about that. What gets done will get done. I am happy to have increasing energy, to work on things as I can, and make the best of it. I am also happy that my energies and my mental wanderings are more forward-looking than reactive, that there is hope.
I cleaned out the freezer and the pantry this week as well, and found 4 chicken carcasses, 4 pounds of chicken backs and necks, and several gallons of leek/celery/onion/vegetable trimmings for stock. I've been out of chicken stock for a while as well, so out came the 16 quart stock pot and a batch of chicken stock was made. The stock is in the refrigerator now, where it has been chilling so I can separate off the layer of fat, which will be reserved for cooking. I will be canning the remaining stock later today. I think I have between 9 and 10 quarts to be canned. I've already used one quart to make some soup from a bit of cabbage and lettuce that had been hanging around the fridge a little too long.
In fact, leftover lettuce or vegetable soup is another one of my favorite things. My mug of soup and I are about to go sit on the deck and absorb the sunshine. Here's to glorious days filled with hope. Believe me, it is there if you look for it.
