How to Build A Raised Bed

If you want to start a garden and don't have suitable soil for growing veggies, try building a raised bed for your plants. A decent sized raised bed (8x4 ft) will most likely run you about $200, including buying soil/compost and building materials. If you have access to free compost and/or topsoil then you'll need about 50-75 bucks less. It can be a good investment, and the raised bed more than likely won't need replacing for many a year. In addition to high quality soil, it makes tending to weeds a lot easier too.

Supplies:

2 x 8ft boards
2 x 4ft boards
4 posts (1 ½ ft long)
roughly 26-28 cubic ft of soil
hammer
nails
an extra person to help out
optional: rubber mallet, stakes, and garden twine

Tips:

-Use an untreated wood like cedar, so that nasty chemicals don't seep into your veggies. It's true that the untreated wood rots faster, but you still won't need to replace it for years.
-You can have the folks at the hardware store cut the wood for you, so you don't need a fancy saw.
-The soil you use should be a combination of topsoil and compost. You can also add peat moss or manure to the mix.

1. After you pick a spot for your raised bed, remove any weeds, grass, or debris. Digging with a pick or tilling the area a little to loosen up the soil is helpful for settling in the posts. You can also always use a post-hole digger for extremely hard soil. OR you can use a post with a length the exact width of the board and not worry about the possiblity of shifting. (Also, you'll need to decide whether or not you want your post flushed with the top of the bed, or for it to stick up a little.) As you can see our posts are flushed, and that means no pesky measuring to make sure the tops are the same height.


2. There are two ways to get started. ONE, make your first corner: Nail (or use wood screws) to attach on 4 ft board and one 8 ft board to a post. Now place the start of the structure where you'll want the bed to be permanently. Take a mallet or hammer to pound the post into the ground a little to help stabilize it.

Then, add a new post and begin attaching the rest of the boards. Repeat. Boom— raised bed.

Or TWO, take two posts and attach a 4ft board to them, pound the posts into the dirt in what will be their permanent spot. This works fine if you choose to have longer posts that will stick into the ground. Then attach the longer boards, or one long board and the other completed end (posts plus 4 footer.) Raised bed appears.


3. Before filling your new structure consider putting down a layer of “mulch.” To keep weeds at bay, you can put down a layer of newspaper 3-4 sheets thick before adding the soil/compost. As you're filling the raised bed, it's also a good time to add a fertilizer if you use one. You can find a number of organic fertilizers at your local nursery.

4. Now you're ready to put the plants and seedlings in when they're ready. For extra bonus points you can attach stakes to the side of the bed and make a trellis for vining plants like cucumbers, or for supporting your tomatoes.

project complete, with trellis and stepping stones

Spinach Salad with Fried Egg, Bacon, and Morels

This spinach salad has lots of protein and a homemade raspberry dressing. Dinner salad or brunch item? You decide. Either way, magic.

Raspberry Vinaigrette
tops two salads

3 tsp Raspberry jam
2 tsp very warm water
1 tsp Balsamic vinegar
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp minced shallots
fresh black pepper
pinch of fresh ground cinnamon

Mix the warm water with the jam until it's dissolved. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Use a high quality jam and vinegar for best results. As always, adjust to taste.

Spinach Salad w/Egg, Bacon, and Mushroom
makes two salads

2 ½ to 3 cups fresh baby spinach
8-10 slices thinly sliced sweet onion or shallots
3 slices of bacon
2 eggs
½ cup morel mushrooms, halved
½ cup cremini mushrooms, sliced thick
raspberry vinaigrette (above)

1. Rinse and remove stems from spinach. Dry. Divide into two bowls.

2. Slice the bacon into half strips (so you'll have 6 small pieces) and cook, preferably in a nonstick pan. Remove bacon and let drain on a paper towel. Don't worry, we're using plenty of grease later.

3. Pour bacon grease into a bowl and set aside.

4. Fry the eggs in the bacon grease drippings remaining in the pan, turning up the heat before adding the eggs to make sure the bottoms crisp up. FYI, Better Homes and Gardens calls this style of cooking an egg “frizzled.” I knew that you wanted to know that.

5. Add eggs and bacon to the salad. Add about one or two teaspoons of bacon grease to the pan, add the mushrooms, cook on medium heat for about 2 minutes. Add another tsp of bacon grease, cook another couple of minutes. Add mushrooms to salad, top with onion/shallot and serve immediately with raspberry vinaigrette.

Irish Whiskey 101

If you poured Jameson in your coffee this morning, you're dismissed. The rest of you stick around. It just wouldn't be a proper St. Patty's Day without Irish whiskey—but which one to choose? Here are a few recommendations to help you make that important decision.

Bushmills

This is my favorite Irish whiskey for sipping. It's smooth, mellow, and almost a bit smokey--if you drink scotch you'll probably like this one. Makes a nice little sidecar for a pint of bitter. If you're definitely looking for a sipping whiskey, go for the Bushmills Black Bush for a few bucks more (okay, about $10-15)--it's even more complex and refined.

Jameson

Yea, we all know Jameson. It's good. Solid. There when we need it. When there's no Jameson in the house it just feels wrong. Good for mixing with just a enough kick to shine through. For a step up, give the Jameson 12 year a try—you'll want to sip this one, and maybe break out a cigar.

Powers

Of the whiskeys here, this one is the sweetest. Very smooth, almost a little too sweet for me. (But, since the bottle is almost empty, I must not harbor any hard feelings towards it.) It's been known to hang out beside a pint of Irish stout and be perfectly happy.

Kilbeggan

Well, it's not great, but if someone poured it into a shot glass and left in front of me, I'm not the sort to just pour it out. Weak in character (the whiskey, not me), there's a little something to the aftertaste that doesn't sit right—reminds me of a damp basement. I would label this one as your “emergency whiskey.”

Shepherd's Pie

Here's an alternative to corned beef and cabbage for your St. Patty's Day dinner: Shepherd's Pie. It's kinda Irish and it pairs well with beer. And those are pretty much all the requirement's I have for Saint P dinner. I mean, obviously we're also going to drink some whiskey—goes without saying.

This recipe for Shepherd's Pie came from a recent Food and Wine, which means the following: lots of cream, butter, and other fatty things. I lightened it a little and even added extra veggies for some of the meat it called for. It makes a nice satisfying meal that will provide you with leftovers (serves 8)—and it definitely gets even better the next day. This is a recipe that requires a good bit of prep time and attention, so make sure you have an hour or two to mess around the kitchen. And I think we all know that prep time is just an excuse we don't need to drink more Irish whiskey.

this purple carrot made me think back to season 1 of Dexter, is that wrong?

Shepherd's Pie
adapted from Food and Wine

-Filling-

1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 pound (lean) ground beef
1 pound ground lamb
salt and pepper

2 Tbsp butter
2 cups onion, diced
l cup turnips, cubed
3-4 carrots, cubed (I used rainbow carrots)
2 large celery stalks, diced
2/3 cup green peas (optional)
6 garlic cloves
1 Tbsp fresh thyme
1/2 cup water

3 Tbsp tomato paste
¼ cup all purpose flour
3 cups beef or veggie stock
salt and pepper

-Topping-

about 2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and chunked
4-5 garlic cloves, halved

2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp butter (or olive oil)
1 bay leaf
1 tsp thyme
pinch of nutmeg
1 small rosemary sprig (2-3 inches)
1 tsp kosher salt

1. In a large pot (or cast iron skillet) heat the vegetable oil and cook the lamb and ground beef, stirring to crumble the meat. Season with salt and pepper, transfer to a bowl and set aside.

2. Return the pot to the stove and melt the butter. Add veggies, onion through garlic and sauté for 3-4 minutes. Then add thyme, cooking an additional minute. Add the water, salt and pepper.
Cover and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Retrieve the lamb/beef mixture and drain using a colander if necessary. Add the meat to the vegetables, and stir in the tomato paste until well integrated. Add the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes, then add the stock and bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat (uncovered) for about 10 minutes. The mixture should thicken during this time. Taste and add more salt and pepper if necessary.

4. Remove from heat and transfer into a large casserole dish, or eight 1-½ cup ramekins. Let cool. (I used a large casserole dish plus a couple ramekins to accommodate all of the filling.)

5. In a medium/large sauce pan, add potatoes and cover with water. Cover pot and bring to a boil until potatoes are tender.

6. Meanwhile, in a medium sauce pan add the milk through nutmeg. Bring to a boil, remove from heat and add the rosemary sprig. Let mixture cool while potatoes finish cooking. Then strain to remove solids.

7. Pre-heat oven to 400°.

8. After potatoes are tender, return them along with the garlic to the pan and cook over high heat for a minute or two to dry out the potatoes. In a bowl, blend/mix the potatoes and the milk mixture. Add the tsp of salt.

9. Spread the potato topping over the lamb/beef filling and bake the pie in the upper third of the oven for 20 minutes. You'll probably want a drip pan under the casserole/ramekins. Turn on the broiler and brown the topping for 2-3 minutes (or until it looks good to you). Let the shepherd's pie rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Serve with a hearty Irish stout or an English ale. But just to be festive...let's go with the stout. Go here if you still want that corned beef.

Plant. Grow. Eat.

Believe it or not, the weather is about to improve. If you're one of those people with a foot of snow still sitting on your deck, it's doubtful that you've been planning your summer garden. But if you want to be the first kid on the block with squash and tomatoes, now is the time to start those seeds indoors, especially if you live in a region that doesn't need to thaw out. If you haven't played in the dirt all that much before, and don't know where to start, I've listed a few veggies below, and the best way to get your seedlings started.

Seeds to get you started...

You can get seeds just about anywhere, including your local hardware store and even some grocers. I like to order a lot of my seeds from Johnny's seeds because they have a huge selection, including heirloom and organic seeds. These are pretty safe bets for the novice gardener:

Tomato (Early Girl, Roma)
Zucchini (Romanesco)
Squash (Yellow Crookneck)
Peppers (Jalapeno)
Cucumber (Poinsett, Pickling style)

Planters

You can plant in a variety of containers. I usually start a bunch of seeds with peat pods (Jiffy brand is the kind that pops up in most big stores) that you can pick up at any hardware store like Home Depot or Orchard Supply, and if you save the containers you can refill the pellets later. I also save leftover six pack containers and smaller plastic planters to start seeds in and to transplant more delicate seedlings, like tomatoes, until they're sturdy enough to be planted.

When using containers instead of pellets, make sure you use a potting mix (also sometimes called “soil-less” mix), and not garden dirt. Potting soil is typically much lighter, and (mostly) free of unsavory garden insects and disease goop, so your baby plants will sprout up healthy.

Planting, Growing, Thinning

Making sure the soil/pellet is moist, you'll want to plant about 2-3 seends per planter/pellet. After you plant your seeds, place them near a light source in the house. Keep the soil moist, but not sopping wet. For the peat pellets you only need to water when they start to dry out and turn light brown. For the potting mix, a very light watering every couple of days should do the trick. You may want to use a spray bottle in the early stages to soak the dirt.

After a while (depending on what you planted, but probably about a week) you'll see very small delicate seedlings emerge. You will probably be more excited than one might consider appropriate for the situation, especically if you have a sordid history of killing defenseless houseplants. If you planted them in one of the those little plastic Jiffy greenhouses, take the lid off. In another week or so, you'll start to see more prominent growth, notably the development of “true leaves,” the leaves you might see on an adult plant. You're going to want to start thinning them now; choose the strongest, healthiest seedling and say to it “all your weakling friend must die!” Then remove said company. Thinning creates a strong plant and reduces the chance of the remaining seedling's growth being stunted. If you really have trouble letting go of the weak little wee ones, you can attempt to transplant those other little seedling to another space. (However, they often don't survive the move.) Get your seeds planted now so you'll be caught up! Now! Right now!

Up Next...Introducing Your New Seedlings To the Garden

Chocolate Noms

Tunnock's Wafer Biscuits

I was walking down that aisle of Berkeley Bowl where they house the British food stuffs, Heinz baked beans and so on, when I spotted some familiar packaging. Red and gold and shiny. I stopped, of course, if only to investigate the “shiny” part. It turned out to be a package of Tunnock's Milk Chocolate Coated Caramel Wafer Biscuits, made in Scotland, and until last week I had completely forgotten they existed. In college I took a semester to study in London, and I was addicted to these crunchy, chewy little treats wrapped in foil. How I forgot about them, I'm not sure—they just got misplaced in my memory. Thanks, Berkeley Bowl--you rock.

Giuseppe Alberti Strega Candy

One of my favorite foodie spots in SF is Miette's Confiserie in Hayes Valley—they sell Miette's macarons and cupcakes, but also a vast assortment of strange candy, fancy (and sometimes expensive) chocolate bars, and just about every variety of licorice you can find. On the table in the window where you walk in, they have sundry small sweet bites, usually pretty cheap, and always changing. Sometimes Italian amaretti, sometimes chocolate caramels—every couple of months there's something new in the selection. A few weeks ago I found a confection made with the liqueur Strega—and it was very tasty indeed. A layered treat the bottom is a nut croquant (French for “crisp”) with a chocolate covering and a hint of the herbal liqueur.

449 Octavia Street

San Francisco, CA 94101

And yea, looks like they're going to stay!

Savory Bread Pudding with Sausage and Red Pepper

Typically when I have bunch of random food in the fridge that needs to be used up, it gets tossed in a risotto. It's an easy one-pot method to make miscellaneous meat, cheese, and veggies disappear. Then last week I found myself with a fridge of leftover salad fixings, cheese bits, and an unopened package of chicken sausages that never made it to the grill (rained out), and lots of leftover bread that had gone stale. The new one-pot method, I decided, would be a bread pudding. And unlike risotto, bread pudding needs no tending while it cooks. So while it's baking you have almost an hour of free time to do really important things, like make cocktails or set Lost to record.

Savory Bread Pudding w/Chicken Sausage, Red Pepper, and Mozzarella

2-3 chicken/turkey sausage links (such as Aidells), sliced thin
1 cup chopped onion or shallot
1/3 cup red bell pepper, chopped
2 cups milk
1 cup egg substitute,
or 4 large eggs, beaten well
1 tsp hot sauce
2/3 cup mozzarella, cubed
1/3 cup Parmesan or similar, grated
½ cup parsley, finely chopped
salt and pepper
8-9 cups crusty white bread (preferably stale), torn into pieces

Pre-heat oven to 350º

1. Saute sausage, onion, and red pepper until sausage is lightly brown and veggies are tender. Set aside. *If you're using a sausage that hasn't been pre-cooked (i.e., not “ready to eat”) then add the meat first-- after the sausage is brown and crumbly, add the onion and peppers.

2. Combine ingredients milk through salt and pepper in a large bowl. Whisk to mix.

3. Stir in sausage mixture, then add bread. Mix gently. Let stand about 10 minutes, stirring again after 5 minutes.

4. Pour mixture into a large, greased casserole dish. Bake at 350º for 45 minutes. Let stand 5 five minutes before serving.

Good to know: The more dry and stale your bread is, the more suitable it will be for a bread pudding—more milk will be absorbed, giving the dish a better consistency. Sourdough is my favorite.

Asian Style Turkey Burgers w/ Wasabi Mayo

Okay, after a long break due to computer issues, Alpha Cook is back in business. For this simple recipe you don't need a grill; the burger patties are too wet for grilling, so you'll want to pan fry them. To make it as healthy as possible, ask the butcher for ground turkey breast, instead of mixed or dark meat.

Wasabi Mayo/Sandwich Spread

There are two ways to do this, depending on your preferences. You can take about 6-8oz of (light) mayo, and whisk it with 1-2 tsps of prepared wasabi* OR you can use about 4-5 oz of mayo and blend it with a few Tbsp of sour cream for a thicker, slightly less fattening alternative. I usually prefer to add the sour cream.

*I typically buy prepared wasabi in a tube that you can find in most grocery stores, near the Asian food stuffs. As an alternative you can use powdered wasabi, but the mayo mixture will need to sit for a few hours for the flavor to really take hold, and usually the texture is not quite as smooth.

Asian Style Turkey Burgers

1 pound ground turkey breast
1 egg, beaten
1-2 tsp Hoisin Sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp Nori Furikake* (I used JFC brand)
1-2 tsp veggie or sunflower oil

Mix the meat and all other ingredients well, until the egg is completely integrated. Let the mixture set for a few minutes. Form the meat into four patties. Meanwhile, heat a large (preferably nonstick) skillet, adding the oil so that it covers as much surface area on the pan as possible.

Add the burger patties and cook for 4-5 minutes on each side. They should have a nice golden brown outside when you're done. Serve with lettuce, onion, and wasabi mayo. A little sliced radish is also a nice touch.

*For more information on this tasty ingredient (Furikake) and another way to use it, go here.