What Lori has to say about the kitchen!

November 30, 2011

The Ground to Griddle is so much fun!  I try to come as much as I can.  We cook different foods all the time and I am expanding my culinary repertoire and continually getting inspired.  We do field trips and gather cranberries, rosehips, pick apples, nettles and then bring them back and turn them into jam or jelly or spanakopita – everything!  We made a really tasty jelly we called CCR.  (cranberry, crab-apple and rosehips)

We make cookies and pies and can things; the works!

I have a three year old and childcare is provided while I cook.  The best part is that we get to eat it all for lunch and take some home for dinner!  It helps so much to have some dinner made on every other Tuesday due to our busy schedules.  Last week’s “Tex Mex” was so good and my family loved it.  We’ll be making that dish at home!

What's Going Down at the Kitchen!

Well, we’ve had a very busy fall here at the kitchen.  The week after our berry picking trip we picked crab apples from the trees around Smithers.  It didn’t take long for our group to gather a whole lot of crab apples!  We have an amazing steam juicer at the kitchen which has seen a lot of action this fall.  You can throw whole, clean crab apples into it and set it on the stove and within an hour the crabs are juiced and the juice can either be made into jelly immediately or frozen to make jelly at a later date.  We’ve chosen to freeze the crab apple juice and make jelly later in the year.

Preparations are under way for creating Digital Stories of the kitchen participants.  We are fortunate to be able to partner with Northwest Community College on this and will be using the computer lab so everyone can create their story.  If you haven’t heard of a Digital Story then I suggest you check out this great website http://www.storycenter.org/.  Digital Stories are a great way for people to share their voice and their lives in a meaningful way.  As our Digital Stories are made we plan to add them to this blog.  So keep tuned! 

Let's Get Harvesting!

Well, here it is another season begun at the Ground2Griddle Kitchen!  We had our first planning day on September 13^th and decided right away we needed to get in some berry picking and other harvesting before the snow flies.  Our first excursion was to pick the highbush cranberry.  Last year we picked a little late in the season but this year we managed to pick about 4 ice cream pails in a couple of hours!  That cold, wet summer we had here was good for something I guess.  Other wild berries in our area did not do so well.  The much-loved huckleberry was few and far between this summer so I’m grateful for the bounty of cranberries out there.   

Next week we will do some harvesting of locally grown crabapples.  The Town of Smithers has generously allowed us to harvest them off community trees and we’ll be making some delicious jelly as well as, canned, spiced crabapples from a recipe of one of our kitchen members.  Local apples are also on the agenda and a session with two cider presses to make our own apple cider.  It is going to be an exciting day!  Let’s hope the weather picks up!

Writing Out Loud

The following are submissions by Ground to Griddle kitchen participants.  Every week kitchen participants take part in a writing program called “Writing Out Loud”.  As a group, we pick a theme and write without stop for a short amount of time.  The idea is to write and let our thoughts stream out. Emphasis is on the act of writing itself rather than correcting our grammar and spelling. We then read our work aloud and discuss the ideas and thoughts that surface. Themed writing exercises are the spark for some amazing self-reflective dialogue and provide insight into how we are shaped by our culture and the world around us.

Spring

 By Simon

Spring is the most wonderful time of year.  It is a time of renewal.  Everything seems to start happening all at once.  The Robins come back, the geese are honking in their migration north, the leaves start to come out and all our thoughts are of getting out and doing things outdoors.  I like gardening, fishing, hiking, canoeing, and biking.  I keep thinking about the return of the salmon.  Being a member of the bear clan of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, my favourite past time is fishing and processing it.

Spring                  

By Dana                                                                                                                                               

We are waiting for spring to come. It is here but I don’t feel it. It is cold and still snows some times. Some of the flowers are popping up, the grass is green, the birds are singing. It is nice to walk now but you have to watch for the bears. Kids are playing outside more.                                                                                   

Spring Fever!

Well, it seems only appropriate to have a blog about a Northern affliction that affects many in March and April and sometimes even May here in the North.  SPRING FEVER!

 All places and foods tropical seem to be on the mind. 

Unfortunately, in a climate where local winter foods feature primarily cabbage and potatoes, it is necessary to draw on the tastes of last year’s summer bounty through the food we canned.  Right now is when those jars of homemade tomato/peach salsa or strawberry jam really hit the spot!

 In many parts of our valley it is still a long haul ‘til we see the first grass or crocuses of spring.   I encourage those who suffer from this annual affliction to prepare.  A summer’s work of storing, canning and preserving food can help end the winter doldrums or at the very least give us the strength to carry on until the warmth of the sun returns. 

It is bound to be cheaper and more realistic for many than an annual trip to the tropics and if you set the right mood through inventive home decor and maybe even a costume or two you can,create the feeling of that tropical vacation.

Try grilling a burger topped with a grilled canned peach while reclining under a tropical house plant sporting that toy store grass skirt and voila!  Hawaii at home!

And, if you’re really daring how about that coconut bra!