Honey Barbeque Sauce

Friday, 31 August 2012

Life As We Knew It By Susan Beth Pfeffer

Gr 6-8-Pfeffer tones down the terror, but otherwise crafts a frighteningly plausible account of the local effects of a near-future worldwide catastrophe. The prospect of an asteroid hitting the Moon is just a mildly interesting news item to Pennsylvania teenager Miranda, for whom a date for the prom and the personality changes in her born-again friend, Megan, are more immediate concerns. Her priorities undergo a radical change, however, when that collision shifts the Moon into a closer orbit, causing violent earthquakes, massive tsunamis, millions of deaths, and an upsurge in volcanism. Thanks to frantic preparations by her quick-thinking mother, Miranda's family is in better shape than many as utilities and public services break down in stages, wild storms bring extremes of temperature, and outbreaks of disease turn the hospital into a dead zone. In Miranda's day-by-day journal entries, however, Pfeffer keeps nearly all of the death and explicit violence offstage, focusing instead on the stresses of spending months huddled in increasingly confined quarters, watching supplies dwindle, and wondering whether there will be any future to make the effort worthwhile. The author provides a glimmer of hope at the end, but readers will still be left stunned and thoughtful.-John Peters, New York Public Library

Life As We Knew It By Susan Beth Pfeffer

Thursday, 30 August 2012

Pepper Identification

Pimenta de Cheiro, grown by John Moore in Melbourne, Austraila. This is one of the two main culinary chiles used in Brazil.

The name pimenta de cheiro means (roughly) "scented chile", and it is used as much for its taste as for its heat. It is also called "pimenta arriba saia", which refers to the women raising their skirts to fan their faces because of the heat of the food. It is, I believe, C. chinense, and looks very much like habanero, from the photos I have seen of habaneros. Pimenta de Cheiro is larger [than a habanero plant] with even darker green leaves which are smooth rather than crinkled like the others. Itis actually quite a handsome plant with its deep green foliage and rich orange fruit.

Pimenta de cheiro is used whole in a small number of casserole/stew type dishes, such as Sarapatel, sometimes called the Brazilian haggis, made from offal, blood, pimenta de cheiro and a few other things.

Pepper Identification

Tellicherry Peppercorns

No other spice has had the historical impact of black pepper. The role black pepper has played in forming nations and influencing the development of relations between the East, West, and Middle East can still be felt today. Long before the time of the Pharaohs, black pepper was the spice of choice for those who could afford it. There is something about the exotic yet familiar flavor of black pepper that makes it the perfect seasoning for most any food. Now that modern production and transportation methods have made pepper affordable enough for all to enjoy, it is more popular than ever, outselling all other spices, and consumption continues to rise. Malabar peppercorns are regarded as having the finest flavor of the mass-produced varieties. A step above Malabar is Tellicherry - a larger and more mature peppercorn, possessing a more developed flavor. Special Extra Bold® Indian Black Peppercorns are the world's best—only ten pounds out of every ton of Tellicherry pepper makes the special grade

Tellicherry Peppercorns

peppercorn plant

Peppercorn plant

I ordered some peppercorn seeds from Reimer a few weeks back. They're cheap enough that if I never get them to grow, I won't feel cheated. Anyway, I don't know exactly what I expected when they arrived... I've seen peppercorns (unground pepper) before, and I realized they were (at least partially) the seed itself. The seeds look pretty much like any other peppercorn, though hopefully more viable.

I planted 4 for now, I've got them in plastic yogurt cups, a quarter inch deep in good black soil (I believe it was a 50/50 mix of some cheap potting soil and Moo-nure from Home Depot). I keep them moist, using a spray bottle, the soil never gets dry but it does drain well. So far, it's been over two weeks and not even a hint of germination.

Does anyone have any advice? Am I just being impatient?

Supposing I do get them to grow, I was thinking of putting them in a 1 gallon plastic planter (about 9" dia, 12" deep) and using one of the round wire cages as a trellis. The one I have for this is roughly 40" tall... will this be tall enough? I had thought that would be plenty for my snap peas, but they needed more, and I end up repeating the same mistake with every vining plant I try to grow.

Peppercorn plant