Fragments From Floyd: October Morning

I snuck out yesterday morning while I was supposed to have my nose to the grindstone here and took one picture, uploaded and worked with it, and got it ready to post before I left for school. I couldn't help it: the light was just too tempting--a golden glowing October moment for the scrapbook of days, perhaps especially so since I would be leaving it behind for a day inside buildings among ten thousand milling students. Then, I left the house without posting this picture, so here 'tis.

The mums in this picture were crippled at birth this year, first delayed by the prolonged drought of summer, then only just blossomed out when they were pummelled by the wind and hard rains earlier in the week. They always get leggy and lodge over too soon, hanging forlornly over the edge of the rock wall. Usually, this happens after a week of countless bees visitors, and wasps and hairy tachinid flies that come to nectar and pollen. The Monarchs are frequent visitors, too, passing through. The mums look so rangy now, perhaps I'll put them out of their misery later today, if there's any resilience left in my bones after raking leaves. I don't think we've ever had so many leaves to come down all at once, and I'm wishing we had children left at home to enjoy them (meaning, rake them, get them out of the gutters, carry them to the garden, and such.)

Speaking of the garden: I quite forgot what all I'd planted in the fall greens category this year. I was merrily harvesting the tops of whatever was growing in the wide beds, when I notice some large bulges appearing above ground at the base of some of the tall greens. Duh. They were turnip greens, and what we have is a couple of bushels of turnips growing in the 20 foot long bed. Great! Now, if I just could make myself get excited about eating them. My revulsion stems not so much from the taste as from the childhood memories of a houseful of turnip-flavored air that would gag a maggot. My recollection of that fetid odour is that it was like the smell of a home permanent in a room full of dirty socks. But I'm willing to give them another chance, especially as how they have managed to survive the drought, the deer, the moles and the various beetles and caterpillars of summer. Maybe, if I hold my nose...

Comments

Beautiful light in that photo. Thanks for sharing. On the subject of smelling stuff while cooking, I usually put my electric roasting pan or crock pot out on the patio to cook such things. One Xmas I made roasted garlic, about 20 pints, in the kitchen the week before Xmas. Almost peeled the paint off of the walls. Ever since then, almost everything goes outside on the patio to cook if it's in the roaster or crock pot. Doesn't smell up the house which I seem to have become more sensitive too over the past few years.

Posted by: Kim | October 15, 2005 9:59 AM

Beautiful, once again, Fred. From my humble perspective, the light, the colors, the landscape in your area of the world is just simply more brilliant, more colorful, and more interesting than anywhere else we have traveled. It does my heart good to see what's going on up there in the mountains. On the subject of chopping up all those gorgeous globes of turnips and stewing them for future dinners, if you boil a pot of water with cloves and cinnamon, or allspice whilst cooking those pungent boogars, the good smell will eat up all the bad. By the by, down here in LA, we sprinkle on a little sugar to those green tops and the roots, and on the plate liberally dash on the hot pepper sauce, or our table staple, Tabasco.

Posted by: Anne | October 15, 2005 11:01 AM

Yep, I echo that last comment .... beautiful light and great framing on that shot .....

Steve.

Posted by: Steve | October 15, 2005 2:43 PM

Fred said "gag a maggot!"

One of my most favs from my colorful language repertoire!

Mucho gorgeous picture, BTW.

Posted by: Cowtown Pattie | October 15, 2005 5:10 PM

Firstly, an old wives trick from my Gran: add a teaspoon of sugar to the water if you're boiling them and that unpleasant smell will practically disappear. A few sprigs of fresh parsley does the same thing for cabbage..and never cook them in aluminum.

Have you ever had Clear Turnip and Beef Soup? Turnips, like all root veggies, are Korean staples. This is from a Korean cookbook produced by the Kadena AFB Officer's Wives Club in 1968:

1/2lb lean beef flank steak
1 cup cut-up turnip
1 scallion
1 garlic clove
4 cups beef stock
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp salt

Slice the beef into 3/8" wide strips. Peel the turnips, cut it into qaurters, then slice thinly across the grain. Cut the scallion into 2-inch lengths and mince the garlic.

Bring the stock to a boil. Add the beef and bring to a boil a second time. Skim off the froth and add the turnip, scallion, garlic, soy sauce and salt. Lower the flame and simmer for 30 minutes.

Serves 4 but I always double it.

Variations: For a rich turnip soup, heat 1 tablespoon sesame oil in a heavy-bottomed pot and brown the meat. Add the turnip, scallion and garlic. Add the soy sauce and salt, then the stock. Bring the soup to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes.

We like them both.

Or here's one from a French cooking class note book, I've made for almost 30 years and it is sooo good, real winter comfort food:

1 lb small white boiling onions or shallots, peeled
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 lb peeled baby white turnips or quartered large (you want the turnip pieces the same size as the onion/shallots)
3/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

Place the onions and olive oil in a heavy flameproof casserole, preferably enameled cast iron, large enough to hold the onions in a single layer.

Cook over moderately high heat, rolling the onions over occasionally, until they are lightly browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the turnips, season with the salt and pepper, and toss gently to mix with the onions and coat with the oil. Reduce the heat to moderately low, cover the pan tightly, and cook, stirring once or twice, until the onions are golden and all the vegetables are quite tender, about 25 minutes. Serves 8 (not at our house!)

This is an excellent side dish with pan-roasted chicken thighs or honey-baked turkey legs. I've been known to add half a bottle of Guinness to the pot before turning the heat down. ;^)

Posted by: BJ | October 15, 2005 7:26 PM

Nice pic, Fred! The smell of the woods in fall and first spring always reminds me of turnips and -yes- dirty socks. I hate to admit that I like it. It's the smell of decay and rebirth, and some icky soup, but it's homey.

Posted by: Trix | October 15, 2005 8:18 PM

If the turnips withstood all those hardships, the least you can do is eat them. I live the idea of cooking them outside to avoid the stench. My dad should have done that with the ramps he used to eat every year!

Posted by: kenju | October 16, 2005 8:11 AM

If the turnips withstood all those hardships, the least you can do is eat them. I love the idea of cooking them outside to avoid the stench. My dad should have done that with the ramps he used to eat every year!

I guess I'm weird, but I love to smell them cooking! Probably brings back the memories of my childhood! Turnip greens was one of my Dad's favorites too! He ate lots and lots of them. He lived to be 88!! Nothing better with cornbread and onions!!

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Fragments From Floyd

Personal journal of Fred First from a remote valley in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia

October Morning

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