It's a Can-O-Rama Weekend!

As part of the Canvolution this weekend,
Canning Across America encourages people to can can can!


We made "refrigerator" pickles & pepperoncinis.
They are sitting in our "pantry" for a few days
before they move to the fridge.

Fresh Tomato Goodness

Heirloom Tomatoes and Frizzled Peppers
with Sweet Corn–Marjoram Vinegarette
recipe from Chef's on the Farm

This recipe is a great way to use up your abundance
of tomatoes, corn and peppers during this time of year.

The peppers, tomatoes, marjoram and garlic
all came straight from our garden!

Whimsy & Wonder on the New Moon

Lullaby Moon XI

The evening began on 1st & Bell St.
We walked south along First Avenue,
and those dressed in white joined in the march.
The Seattle Art Museum
is where the nights revels officially began.
After a few dances,
we began a game of follow the leader.
We frolicked,
around the block and into Benaroya Hall.
We danced along the sidewalks, streets and alleys.
They stopped for tea party at the bottom of the stairs.
A long evening of follow the leader,
following: horses, clocks, rabbits, owls, and suits.
In the very end they waved goodbye,
in front of Pike Place Market.

It was a wonderfully surreal evening.

New Moon Merriment on First Ave.

Lullaby Moon XI

Thursday, August 20, 2009
Twilight revels begin at 7:45 pm downtown Seattle.
Come find us along First Avenue!
Please wear white and join our evening celebration!
Those with early bedtimes are welcome to attend any part of the festivities.

Lullaby Moon XI is envisioned and created by Lucia Neare, with choreography by Guy Caridi, Olivier Wevers, Mark Haim, Karn Junkinsmith, and Jenna Bean Veatch, and technical direction by David Verkade.

Lullaby Moon is a year-long invitation to Seattle to explore a world of dream. A celebration of the night sky, the series of performance events brings bedtime whimsy and wonder to parks and other public spaces throughout the city, enlivening and enlightening the dark time of each month. Performances take place on each new moon for an entire lunar year beginning in October 2008. Lullaby Moon is supported by 4Culture's Site Specific Performance Network, the Mayor's Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, Seattle Parks and Recreation, and the generosity of private donors.

My ketchup is better than yours Heinz!

Utilizing every chance to incorporate fresh local tomatoes into a recipe, homemade ketchup just can't be passed up. Making homemade ketchup is a summer requirement, especially with the abundance of fresh local tomatoes at the local farmer's markets or your own garden. Tomatoes are one of summer's gems that must be enjoyed to the fullest. Because once fall comes, there won't be anything close to the amazing in-season tomato taste!


It's always exciting to use ingredients straight from your own garden. For this recipe the tomatoes, onion, garlic, and cayenne pepper were sourced from our very own garden and the vinegar was locally sourced from Rockridge Orchards & Cidery in Enumclaw, Washington.


Classic American Ketchup
Metropolitan Home Magazine

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp. sunflower oil
• ½ cup finely chopped onion
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 1½ tsp. dry mustard
• ¾ tsp. salt
• 2 lbs. ripe tomatoes (about 4 medium), peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1 tbsp. tomato paste
• ¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• ¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
• ¼ tsp. mace
• ¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp. ground allspice
• 1½ tbsp. maple syrup
• ¼ cup cider vinegar

Directions

In a medium nonreactive saucepan, heat canola oil and add onion, garlic, dry mustard and salt. Cook for about 10 minutes, until softened.

Add tomatoes, tomato paste and spices. Cook for about 20 minutes over medium heat, stirring often to prevent scorching. Gently break down tomatoes with the back of a wooden spoon while cooking.

Add maple syrup and cider vinegar and continue to cook, stirring for another 10 minutes, until mixture has a thick sauce consistency.

Purée using an immersion blender or cool briefly before puréeing in a standard blender. Pour into a jar and cool completely before covering and refrigerating. Ketchup will keep, covered and refrigerated, for about a month. Makes 1 pint and can easily be multiplied.

Sun Breaks...

Scratch will be taking a small break from our monthly full moon dinners. We thank everyone who has made the dinners a possibility. We'll continue to share peeks into our scratch interests, whether it be updates from our garden or delicious homemade adventures in the kitchen. Please stay tuned, we'll be back soon! Love, us.

we ♥ peppers

Anaheim Peppers & Long Thin Cayenne Peppers are just some of the peppers in our garden that are enjoying this record-breaking Seattle summer heat! We'll be using the Anaheim Peppers for Enchiladas tonight.

That's quite a bunch!

Today was the day to start diggin up our onions. We're still working on finding a place to store our bounty, so only about a third of the onions were dug up.


Walla Walla Onions

Digging for gold, and finding potatoes!

Nick dug up the first potato plant of the season this morning. It was exciting to watch him find the hidden treasures beneath the soil.

There's plenty more potatoes to come...

A World of Wonder on the night of the New Moon

Celebrating the new moon can be just as fun, especially while attending the Lullaby Moon in Seattle.

"Lullaby Moon is a year-long invitation to Seattle to explore a world of dream. A celebration of the night sky, the series of performance events brings bedtime whimsy and wonder to parks and other public spaces throughout the city, enlivening and enlightening the dark time of each month."

On the evening of July 22nd, many people gathered on the kite hill in Gas Works Park to welcome the new moon.


There's only a couple Lullaby Performance left, don't miss out, it will sure be a treat!

August's Full Sturgeon Moon

The full moon in August is most commonly known as the Sturgeon Full Moon. It is the time when this large fish of the Great Lakes and other major bodies of water is most readily caught.

Sturgeons are one of the oldest families of bony fish in existence, which first appeared in the fossil record approximately 200 million years ago. Therefore they are the most ancient of the ray-finned fishes. In their existence as a species they have undergone remarkably little morphological change, indicating that their evolution has been exceptionally slow and earning them informal status as living fossils. This is explained in part by the long inter-generation time, tolerance for wide ranges of temperature and salinity, lack of predators due to size, and the abundance of prey items when bottom-feeding.

Besides the Sturgeon Moon it is also called the Fish Moon, because most rivers and lakes are filled with schools of fish. A few tribes knew it as the Full Red Moon because the moon rises looking reddish through sultry haze or the Lightning Moon or the Grain Moon.

Our first red Tomato!!

We picked one of our first red tomatoes today! Pretty exciting moment. This variety is a heirloom tomato called 'black'.

Today was also the day we harvested our garlic. We got seven nice sized bulbs, which we hung up to dry in our kitchen.

July's Raspberry Full Moon Menu

JULY'S FULL MOON NAMES:
Full Buck Moon
Full Thunder Moon
Full Blood Moon
Full Ripe Corn Moon
Full Grain Moon
Full Raspberry Moon

Cocktails & Hors d’oeuvres:
Mixed Berry Muddle
Grilled Peaches with Feta

First Course:
Baby Lettuce Salad
Champagne Vinaigrette & Hazelnuts

Second Course:
Heirloom Tomatoes
with Shell Pea Vinaigrette

Main Course:
Lamb Burger on house made Bun
Oil & Vinegar Potato Salad

Dessert:
Lemon Cheesecake Squares
topped with Fresh Berries

As always, most of the ingredients were sourced locally.

hops, potatoes, romaine...

Our very own garden is soaking up the summer rays and rains and indeed flourishing!


(above): The hops has almost reached the top of the building it's climbing, always reaching for the sky.


(above): The potato plants have started to flower, which means the plants are starting to produce potatoes!

All in all, our garden is doing great. So far, most of our tomato plants have produced green tomatoes, the rest of which have numerous flowers. Our Romaine lettuce is ready to turned into ceasar salads. And the rest of the beds are still going strong: onions, beans, pumpkins, and peppers of all sorts.

July's Buck Moon

Summer is officially upon us. The next full moon is referred to as the Full Buck Moon, the time when buck deer sprout velvety new antlers.

This full moon is also known as the Full Thunder Moon, because thunderstorms are more frequent during the month at hand. It has also been called the Full Blood Moon, for sometimes as the moon rises, it appears reddish through any sultry haze.

It symbolizes a time of harvesting and enjoyment of crops of the season. To some this is the Blessing Moon. It is known as the Hay Moon or the Meadow Moon because the meadows are at their greatest point of growth in this month, and it is time for hay cutting. Some call it the Grass Cutter Moon.

It seems as though this is the month of many moon names, since it's also known as: Ripe Corn Moon, Raspberry Moon, Herb Moon, Grain Moon and Red Berries Moon.

It's definitely a plentiful time of year!

What Makes Scratch Scratch?

The ultimate goal is to make everything from scratch and by hand. Right now this includes the breads, pastries,.... and almost everything. We are striving to push this further, by making our own cheeses, beverages, and cured meats.

Also, we try to source as many ingredients from our modest garden. Last dinner, this included all of the herbs and spinach.

"What is exciting to me, in creating a final product, is the process that goes into it. To fully exploit this process, I feel I must start with the most basic ingredients I can." – Nick

June's Strawberry Full Moon Menu

JUNE'S FULL MOON NAMES:
Full Strawberry Moon
Full Honey Moon
Full Hot Moon
Full Rose Moon
Full Mead Moon

Cocktails & Hors d’oeuvres:
Strawberry Rhubarb Sangria
Fava Bean Crostini

First Course:
Farro Spinach Salad
with Strawberries and Feta

Second Course:
Rustic Vichyssoise
with Chive Blossoms

Main Course:
Quail and Baby Carrots
with a Honey Dijon Sauce

Dessert:
Strawberry Shortcake
with Buttermilk Biscuits

June's Full Moon

June's Full Moon is most commonly named the Strawberry Moon. May flowers have begun producing fruit, the first of which is the wonderfully sweet strawberry.

These flowers have also brought fresh honey; giving this moon the names Honey Moon and Mead Moon. The sun rises higher as summer approaches signifying the Hot Moon.

Mozzarella!

This was our first attempt at making homemade mozzarella. We used whole milk from Golden Glen Creamery. (pictured is Nick stretching the mozzarella in its final stages) The final product topped our pizza, along with fresh basil from our garden. For the pizza dough, we incorporated the leftover whey from the mozzarella. Soon we'll be producing homemade cheeses for the dinners.

It was delicious!

Staffing Up

If you came to May's dinner you know that it was a packed house. I brought in some outside help to assist me in the kitchen. I worked with Dante at PCC's deli. I hope we can keep numbers up so I can keep Dante helping in the kitchen. If next month's turn out is on par I may need more than just one extra set of hands in the kitchen. Right now I'm thinking Scratch needs a dish washer that knows enough to help with some prep. We don't pay anything but there are a few perks. I have high hopes for a great turn out in June so RSVP soon, so I can start the planning.

The Big Cheese

We love the people we get our cheese from. Many of the cheeses we purchase come from Estrella Family Creamery and occasionally Mt. Townsend Creamery. We will continue to pick up the great products they have to offer. But, this week we received what is to be the start of Scratch's cheese making operations. We would like to create many of the cheeses served at the dinners. The rennet and salt and cultures came mail order last Monday. In the coming weeks we plan on experimenting with some basics, i.e. mozzarella, ricotta, fromage blanc...

We are very excited to gain great knowledge on the art of creating great cheese. Also we would like to recruit a hobbyist cheese maker to come on board and take over to head Scratch's cheese program. So if you know anyone who has experience or has a passion for cheese send them this way. I hope by the next full moon everyone will be able to sample the fruits of our labors.

May's Full Flower Moon Menu

MAY'S FULL MOON NAMES:
Full Flower Moon
Full Corn Planting Moon
Full Milk Moon
Full Hare Moon

Cocktails/ Hors d’oeuvres:
Hibiscus Mojito
Fresh Cheese Platter
served with house made crackers,
Mt. Townsend Fromage Blanc
Estrella’s Brewleggio

First Course:
Ceasar-esque salad with spring greens and
edible flowers topped with house made croutons

Second Course:
Cheesy Parmesan Polenta with asparagus, and morel mushrooms

Main Course:
Rabbit Ravioli in a consommé broth

Dessert:
Lavender short bread cookies
with a rhubarb granita