I Mofongo'd

I recently was in Puerto Rico for an academic conference. It was beautiful, warm, green, lush, and economically depressed. While they are a part of the US, they are considered OCONUS (outside the continental US) for per diem reasons. Anywho, they had amazing food. Tacos, burritos, ....that's Mexican hombre. We're talking about afro/spanish/taino food. Plantains are a staple here. Have you ever even had one? They look like monster bananas but are more starchy and potato like than their little yellow cousins. One dish I loved there was "Mofongo." It can be served several different ways, but it always consists of a mashed plantain bowl/mound, meat, and a sauce. Since I returned, I have been experimenting with plantains in order to Mofongo (here used as a verb) myself. Let's Mofongo!

Here are some things you'll need:

Cilantro, garlic, bacon, spices, vinegar, green onions, poblano pepper, and plantains! (not pictured bouillon)

First we need to make a sauce. First roast that garlic in the oven for a while. Mash it up in some chicken broth to get things going.

Then add some onions, chipotle and adobo spices, some of that white wine vinegar, and go ahead and throw in some bacon grease you've been storing in the fridge. When the sauce has simmered for a while, sprinkle in some chopped cilantro and poblano pepper.

Now let's get ready to boil our plantains. On the island they deep fry them and then fry them again. We're skipping that first part. Here are 4 green plantains, 2 of which I have let sit out for two weeks and they have gotten much more yellow and soft.

So I boiled the green ones for 15 minutes or so and the yellow ones for 5. Heres what happened when I took them out.

The peels are splitting off and the plantains have gotten softer. The color difference between the older and younger plantains is obvious. Now chop them up and toss them in a cast iron skillet.

In this skillet you've left a whole bunch of bacon drippings! Oh no! Well, just go ahead and cook the plantains in the bacon fat. We'll survive.

Cook them for 5 minutes...maybe longer. I don't know. Start mashing them eventually. The starch will absorb the fat.

Now toss in green onions and bacon that you've chopped up. Mix it all up. If the mixture seems too dry to make into a mold, add a bit of water and vinegar.

Use your favorite double-old fashioned glass to serve as a negative for your mold. We're almost at mofongo! You want a solid structure to hold all the sauce we'll add.

Next add some roast pork that you've already painstakingly prepared and then crisped in the oven. Put this in the bowl we've created.

Now add the sauce, serve with beans, and toss on some bonus cilantro cuz we can.

This was pretty awesome for my first mofongo. The plantain bowl absorbs the liquid and all of its flavor. The yellowed plantains added a sweetness to this mofongo that I had not experienced in Puerto Rico. I liked it. This is definitely a must add player in my distressed peoples cookbook.

Topsy Turvy Planter

Do those Topsy Turvy planters really work? Has anyone tried them? Why, yes I have.

I received a Topsy Turvy planter as a gift and put it to the test. 

I will mention that I planted a yellow pear tomato in it, so I'm not sure what happens when you plant a big beefy tomato variety in one. 

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here's like 10,000 words:

First night planted. I think your better off planting a small plant in these, since you have to thread the plant though a hole to plant it.

First day planted and already reaching for the sun.

Full disclosure, these are from a couple different plants, including the Topsy Turvy one.

Kumato/Campari Update

Has anyone ever tried to grow a Kumato or Campari tomato from the grocery store? Why, yes.

Back in November of 2015 (check blog post history) we saved some Kumato and Campari tomatoes purchased from the grocery store.

These tomatoes have produced fruit now and the tomatoes resemble the parent. Some camparis were smaller and some bit larger, so they seemed to have more variation. The kumatos all appeared to resemble the kumatos as seen at the store.  Here are the pictures:

Neil Cicierega

I just came across this dude who mashes songs together. It's incredible. Apologies if you've already heard of him. If you haven't heard of him, do yourself a favor and click through more of his stuff. You can also download both mashup albums here and here in beautiful FLAC.

Pokemon?

So, "Pokémon GO" just went live in the U.S. recently and I think I'm going to introduce it to the kids today. They've already stumbled on the whole Pokémon thing already. I showed Eoin the trailer yesterday and I think he's sold.

Basically, it uses the GPS on your Android/iOS device and you walk around to find pokemon in the real world. The concept follows along with one I've liked for a long while. It's sort of like geocaching. Have any of you ever tried that? There used to be this other game where you'd install a bit of dittle app/plugin to your internet browser and it would create an extra layer to all of the web where each individual website and some other what-not was a virtual sort of battlefield where you could lay traps for other players or do some other sort of treasure hunting. I cant't remember, and I never got into it.

this is a short series of tagged, related articles: http://kotaku.com/tag/pokemon-go

Cub scouting with son

Eoin (OH-IN, OH-Wen) is eight years old and will be entering the third grade in the fall. My wife put in the legwork to find a workable spot where we are also in a decent school district. This will be his first year at a public school. We had him attending a private catholic school for his years of kindergarten, first, and second grades. We found the school to be exceptional. The cub scout 'pack' there was also exceptional.


I've gone as far as to figure out where the council boundaries are in this much more major metropolitan area. It doesn't seem like the grade school the kids will be attending has a group of scouts operation out of it, however, we do seem to be free to join on to any one we find. It's just a manner of making the meetings.


I'm excited for the upcoming year. Eoin is going to be a Bear scout, and with that it will bring several neat things:

- He'll work with and be instructed in using a pocket knife. We're going to carve some soap!


- Tying and learning a Hitch Knot, demonstrating it, and explaining it.


- Learn to read a barometer and thermometer and log the readings for a week.


- a variety of outdoor life observation things


- Composting!


- Planting something!


- Making carnival games


- We're going to build a toolbox.


- Go fishing, and get our game oh-so right


- Make a drum, learn about some Native American things, and do-a-little-dance


- Animal Care


- Elementary Physics! Pulleys, Levers, Rube Goldbergs, and a hard to explain popsicle weaving thing where one observes the force carry through the sticks after quickly lifting one end. The whole thing explodes. Popsicle sticks.


- The Fine Art of competitive Marble's playing


- Robotics. We'll also make a cardboard powerglove.
- The Scientific Method


- Make ancient-ey type instruments


-Boating basics

Dustin's Farm Update

Harvest #1