One of the Last Boise Farmer’s Markets of 2009

28 Monday Sep 2009

Posted by Bob and Robin in Bike Cam, Food, Local Farmers Markets, Things To Do

I have been using Microsoft’s Movie Maker and I really don’t think it has kept pace with technology. It is very slow to make the movie after editing it and you are very limited on the available formats. I guess you get what you pay for. I found another video maker/editer called Pinnacle Studuo 12. This is my first attempt at Pinnacle, so let’s see what I did. I am also putting a copy on my FaceBook account.

Enjoy!! Let me know if this is any better. Video taken on the “Tryke Cam” (That’s an adult tricycle with a camera mounted on it).
Update:
OK. So snow is forcast for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week. But, thanks that Boise is in the Banana Belt, so the snow will stay in the mountains where it belongs. Snow level: 5000 feet. So this video may be the last for the Farmer’s Market this year. We’ll see!
Cheers!

More Oktoberfest Recipes

26 Saturday Sep 2009

Posted by Bob and Robin in Celebrations, Food, Food Prep, Party Time

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And continuing with our Oktoberfest theme and recipes from allrecipes.com, here are some more. Enjoy these.

Leeks and potatoes are simmered with a ham bone, then pureed before cream is added to this subtle soup.

German Leek and Potato Soup

Serves: 6
Ingredients:
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup butter
1 cup chopped leeks
8 potatoes, peeled and sliced
6 cups water
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme
1 ham bone
1 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
In a large pot over medium heat, cook onions in butter until translucent. Stir in leeks, potatoes, water, thyme and the ham bone. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer until potatoes are tender, 20 to 30 minutes.

Remove ham bone and puree soup with a blender or food processor. Return to pot, stir in cream, salt and pepper, heat through and serve.

———————–

And here is the Grand Daddy of them all –

Sauerbraten

Serves: 6
Ingredients:
4 pounds rump roast
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup red wine
1 cup red wine vinegar
2 cups water
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup sliced onion
2 bay leaves
10 black peppercorns
1/4 cup white sugar
5 whole cloves

Beef Prep:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons bacon grease

Gravy:
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 cups sour cream

Directions:
Rub the roast with salt and pepper and place in a large non-metal bowl. In a medium saucepan, combine wine, vinegar and 2 cups water and bring to a boil. Stir in garlic, onion, bay leaves, peppercorns, sugar and cloves and pour the marinade over the beef. Cover and refrigerate 12 hours or overnight.

Beef Prep – Remove the meat from the marinade and thoroughly pat dry. Dredge in 1 cup flour (may use more or less if necessary). Heat bacon grease in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Brown roast in drippings on all sides. Pour in half the marinade, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until tender, 3 hours.

Gravy – Remove meat to serving platter. Increase heat to medium-high; mix 2 tablespoons flour with 2 tablespoons water and add to pan, stirring until gravy thickens. Stir in sour cream. Pour sauce over sliced meat.

What to Drink? – Zinfandel or a lager that is on the sweet side.

———————–

Black Forest Cake

Serves: 12
Ingredients:
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1/2 cup kirschwasser
1/2 cup butter
3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 pinch salt
1 teaspoon strong brewed coffee
2 (14 ounce) cans pitted Bing cherries, drained

2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon kirschwasser
1 (1 ounce) square semisweet chocolate

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line the bottoms of two 8 inch round pans with parchment paper circles. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and 1 teaspoon salt. Set aside.

Cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Beat in flour mixture, alternating with buttermilk, until combined. Pour into 2 round 8 inch pans.

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool completely. Remove paper from the cakes. Cut each layer in half, horizontally, making 4 layers total. Sprinkle layers with the 1/2 cup kirshwasser.

In a medium bowl, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add confectioners sugar, pinch of salt, and coffee; beat until smooth. If the consistency is too thick, add a couple teaspoons of cherry juice or milk. Spread first layer of cake with 1/3 of the filling. Top with 1/3 of the cherries. Repeat with the remaining layers.

In a separate bowl, whip the cream to stiff peaks. Beat in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 1 tablespoon kirshwasser. Frost top and sides of cake. Sprinkle with chocolate curls made by using a potato peeler on semisweet baking chocolate.

What to Drink? – Port or a good TBA (I’d take the TBA) or a good Riesling Ice Wine

1st Course – German Leek and Potato Soup
2nd Course – Sauerbraten
Dessert – Black Forest Cake

There’s a whole dinner for your Sweetheart during Oktoberfest when you were at the Beer Hall! Cheers!!

Boise Farmer’s Market

26 Saturday Sep 2009

Posted by Bob and Robin in Food, Local Farmers Markets, Things To Do

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The Farmer’s Market will be closed soon. I will miss the fresh produce and guess I will have to go back to that “cardboard” stuff they pass off as “fresh”. Go figure!! Enjoy the video and dream about the produce pictured here this winter.

Cheers!

German Spaetzle

25 Friday Sep 2009

Posted by Bob and Robin in Celebrations, Food Prep, Recipe By: Bob Young, Recipes, Things To Do

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Here is another recipe from allrecipes.com. This one is German Spaetzle.

Traditional German dumplings. You can also mince a few pieces of bacon in a pan, and heat the cooked spaetzle in the bacon drippings-only omit the butter, if preparing recipe with bacon.

German Spaetzle Dumplings

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pinch freshly ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 gallon hot water
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Procedure:
Mix together flour, salt, white pepper, and nutmeg. Beat eggs well, and add alternately with the milk to the dry ingredients. Mix until smooth.

Press dough through spaetzle maker, or a large holed sieve or metal grater.
Drop a few at a time into simmering liquid. Cook 5 to 8 minutes. Drain well.
Saute cooked spaetzle in butter or margarine. Sprinkle chopped fresh parsley on top, and serve.

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Here is a recipe for German Currywurst. Great for football Saturday and a good beer!

Currywurst is a popular ‘fast food’ in Germany. It’s quick and simple and everyone loves it!

German Currywurst

Ingredients:
3 (15 ounce) cans tomato sauce
1 pound kielbasa
2 tablespoons chili sauce
1/2 teaspoon onion salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 pinch paprika
Curry powder to taste

Procedure:
Preheat oven to Broil/Grill.

Pour tomato sauce into a large saucepan, then stir in the chili sauce, onion salt, sugar and pepper. Let simmer over medium heat, occasionally stirring; bring to a gentle boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer another 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, broil/grill kielbasa sausage for 3 to 4 minutes each side, or until cooked through. Slice into pieces 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch thick.

Pour tomato sauce mixture over sausage, then sprinkle all with paprika and curry powder and serve.

Yields: 4 servings

——————

Cheers and enjoy Football Saturday!!

Elderberry Puff Pie

24 Thursday Sep 2009

Posted by Bob and Robin in Dessert, Food Prep, Recipe By: Robin Young, Recipes, Things To Do

≈ 1 Comment

Elderberry Puff Pie before baking. Look at those berries!

Elderberry Puff Pies after baking. YUM-O!

How good do those look?? Here is the recipe.

Elderberry Puff Pie

Source: Robin and Bob Young
Author Notes: Try using huckleberries or blueberries instead of the elderberries. Use your imagination.

Degree of Difficulty: Easy
Oven Temperature: 350°F
Servings: 12

Ingredients:
2½ c Elderberries, fresh
½ c Sugar
1/8 t Salt
2 T Flour
3 T Lemon juice
½ pkg Puff Pastry, cut into 12 squares
12 T Cream cheese
½ c Walnuts, broken
4 T Butter

Procedure:
1. Mix elderberries, sugar, salt and lemon juice. Sprinkle with flour and mix.

2. Using a 12 section muffin pan, or 12 – ½ cup ramekin’s, place 1 square of the puff pastry in each section.

3. Place 1 T cream cheese in the bottom of each section. Fill each section about ¾ full of the elderberry mixture. Place 1 T walnuts on top then 1 tsp of butter.

4. Bake in the oven at 350°F until the pastry is golden brown and the fruit is bubbly. Let cool 10 minutes and serve warm.

Cooking Times:
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Inactive Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour

Cheers! Do enjoy this treat!

Oktoberfest Recipe – Schnitzel

24 Thursday Sep 2009

Posted by Bob and Robin in Beer and Ale, Food, Food Prep, Main Dish, Party Time, Recipes

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Here is an Oktoberfest Recipe from All Recipes. Have fun with these!!

Schnitzel is the German word for cutlet, usually describing meat that is dipped in egg, breaded and fried. Wiener Schnitzel is a veal cutlet prepared in this manner. Translation of the name: ‘Wiener’ this word comes from the word ‘Wien’, which is the Austrian city called Vienna. ‘Schnitzel’ means basically meat in a crust…Serve the schnitzels with salad, ketchup and French fries.

Wiener Schnitzel

Ingredients:
2 pounds veal
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste
4 cups bread crumbs
1/8 cup oil for frying

Procedure:
Cut the veal into steaks, about as thick as your finger. Dredge in flour.

In a shallow dish, beat the eggs with 1 tablespoon oil, salt and pepper. Coat the veal with egg mixture, then with bread crumbs.

Heat 1/4 cup oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Fry veal until golden brown, about 5 minutes on each side.

What to Drink: Riesling or a good Lager

PREP TIME – 20 Min
COOK TIME – 15 Min
READY IN – 35 Min

Serves: 8

So there you go for today! How about German Spaetzle Dumplings for tomorrow! Cheers.

Oktoberfest6 2009 Part 1

23 Wednesday Sep 2009

Posted by Bob and Robin in Beer and Ale, Food, Food Trivia, Party Time, Recipes

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October is just around the corner. What a fun month: Oktoberfest and Halloween! I think for the next couple of days I will post some good, celebratory German Oktoberfest information and recipes. This information will come from allrecipes.com. Here’s the first installment. Enjoy.

Oktoberfest

As if you need an excuse to break out a fine German beer, Oktoberfest is here!Celebrate with a strong, malty lager and Bavarian favorites such as pretzels, sausages, and schnitzels. Officially, this year’s festival ends October 4. Unofficially, though, you can join the party anytime.

And from Frances Crouter, we get –

Raise a stein to Bavaria, cheer the oom-pah band and celebrate Oktoberfest!

What began in 1810 as a regional celebration of the marriage of Prince Ludwig has evolved into one of the largest festivals in the world. Hungry, thirsty hordes of merrymakers descend upon Munich, Bavaria’s capital. Tents capable of seating 100,000 people offer beer from six local breweries–carried by more than 1600 strong-armed waitresses–and serve southern German specialties. The 2009 festival runs from September 19th to October 4th. If you can’t make it to Munich this year, cook up a small fest of your own.

And Bret Kimbrough adds,

Beer is almost as old as civilization itself. The ancient Egyptians left beer in the tombs of Pharaohs to ensure a happy afterlife, and barley has been cultivated for thousands of years for the purpose of brewing beer.

The Code of Hammurabi, the oldest known system of written laws, contains statutes governing the sale and brewing of beer in Mesopotamia. Those ancient brews were murky, dark, heavily spiced concoctions few of us would recognize as beer today. Fortunately, considerable energy has been devoted over the past few millennia to refining and codifying the beer brewing process.

Lagers: Clearly Refined

When most people hear the word “lager,” their thoughts immediately turn to the mass-produced stuff that comes in cans at the grocery store. While most of these are lagers, they only represent one jewel in the lager crown.
The word lager actually comes from the German word lagern, which means “to store.” Lagers are subjected to long fermentation and aging periods in order to produce a brew of exceptional clarity and refinement. (As the German saying goes, “Iss, was gar ist, trink, was klar ist, und sprich, was wahr ist:” Eat what is well cooked, drink what is clear, and speak what is true.) A true lager takes at least 30 days to prepare.
Serving Suggestion: try a clean, elegant pilsner as an aperitif–the beer’s bitterness is good for stimulating the appetite.

Beyond Blonde

Lagers include hoppy, floral Pilsners, malty helles (blonde) bocks, refreshing Dortmunders and silky Bavarian-style lagers. There are also darker offerings like schwarzbier, dunkels, and the darker bocks. While it is hard to generalize about such a diverse race of beer, all of these brews do have certain things in common: they are all fermented with lager yeast, Saccharomyces uvarum. This yeast likes to work within a range of about 35-50 degrees F and tends to yield a beer of clean, very approachable flavor. Far from being bland, this straightforward fermentation profile allows the ingredients in a beer to really shine through and let the flavors of malt, hops and the native water’s character excite the senses.
Suggested Pairing: Bock beers go well with German-style sausages.

Bacon Wrapped Bratwurst

INGREDIENTS
4 bratwurst
3 (12 ounce) cans light beer
5 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
6 slices bacon, cut in half

DIRECTIONS
Poke bratwurst several times with a small fork, and place into a saucepan with the beer. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium, and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove the bratwurst from the beer, and allow to cool to room temperature.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and place a wire rack on top.
Toss the brown sugar and cayenne pepper together in a large bowl and set aside. Cut each bratwurst into three pieces, wrap each piece with half strip of bacon, and secure with a toothpick. Toss the bratwurst with the cayenne mixture to coat, then place onto the prepared baking sheet.
Bake in preheated oven until the bacon is brown and crisp, 25 to 35 minutes.

Cheers and Enjoy! More tomorrow!!!

Idaho Style "Old Peoples Dinner"

23 Wednesday Sep 2009

Posted by Bob and Robin in Classic Sauces, Food, Food Prep, Photos By: Bob Young, Recipe By: Bob Young, Recipes, Things To Do

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Yes, there really is an Idaho Style Old Peoples Dinner! Chicken? Yes, but sauteed and with an Elderberry Sauce. Potatoes? Yes, but smashed and with garlic, not whipped smooth enough to sip through a straw and smooth enough so one may, if so desired, “gum masticate” them. Gravy? Can’t have smashed potatoes without gravy, and chicken gravy at that. Peas? You bet!! And just think, it’s not even Sunday afternoon. But the real clincher to this dinner is the Elderberry Sauce. Sweet yet tart. Smooth yet “chunky”. And fresh elderberries at that. Serve with a 2008 Dahlia Series Indian Creek Winery Pinot Gris. Here’s the recipe. Enjoy!

Elderberry Sauce

5 c Elderberries, de-stamed and fresh
4 whole Cloves
1/2 c Sugar
1/2 c Plum Vodka (Koenig)

Add everything except the sugar to a 4 quart pot. Heat the berries over a low flame until the juices begin to run. Add the sugar and cook the combination until the liquid boils and the crystals dissolve. Use an immersible blender (Motor Boat) and lightly break the berries up – you want some texture. Pour the hot mixture into hot, sterilized jars and let seal. Enjoy with pork, chicken or turkey. Cheers!

Wapiti Meadows Ranch

22 Tuesday Sep 2009

Posted by Bob and Robin in Party Time, Photos By: Bob Young, Recipes, Things To Do

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On 17 September through 20 September, Robin and I took some time to celebrate her birthday, celebrate her recovery from surgery and leave the TV, radio, computer and telephone in Boise while we traveled north. It was an awesome time at Wapiti Meadows Ranch – see the sidebar for a link. Diana and Barry Bryant are gracious hosts and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. However, due to the destruction of the habitat and environment for the elk in a 650000 acres fire in 2007 and the introduction of Canis lupius canadensis (Canadian wolf), the elk were heard but not seen. Too bad. I was there in 1994 and the elk were extremely plentiful. (I found a cache of 15 biface ceremonial blades dated at between 6000 and 8000 years). Here are some photos of the trip. Do enjoy!

Cheers!

Wild Elderberry Jam

21 Monday Sep 2009

Posted by Bob and Robin in Food Prep, Recipes, Side Dishes, Things To Do

≈ 1 Comment

It’s that time of year, folks!! In some of the mountain areas, there has already been frost and that makes the elderberries sweet!! Robin and I returned from 4 days at Wapiti Meadow Ranch (see the link in the sidebar) up near Yellowpine and on the way back to Boise, we went from Yellowpine to McCall through some really awesome scenery and mountains (I will put some photos on here later). But the elderberries are out and ready to be picked. And that we did!! Here is a recipe link for Wild Elderberry Jam. Enjoy!!