Stir-Fried Snow Peas and Carrots; ungrateful birds

When I was a child vegetables were as follows:

• Sweet corn: fresh in summer / canned in winter.
• Green beans: fresh in summer / canned in winter (always French cut)
• Peas: fresh in summer / canned in winter
• Carrots: always fresh.
• Rutabagas: always fresh.
• Navy beans aka Pork & Beans: always canned
• Asparagus: always canned
• Cabbage: always fresh

And that covers the vegetables of my formative years.

I didn’t discover frozen vegetables until I was living on my own.

Cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts soon followed and I’ve been a vegetable lover ever since. I think the only currently popular vegetable that I have not eaten is kale. I’ve never seen it here.

But then – how many of you all have eaten crosne? They are about as big as a little finger….

I almost forgot another childhood favorite – Peas & Carrots…. always canned.

This is my updated version of Peas & Carrots….

Stir-Fried Snow Peas and Carrots

Total time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 carrots, cut into matchsticks
• 4oz (120gr) snow peas, mangetout, trimmed
• 1 medium onion, cut in half, then sliced
• 1 rib celery, sliced
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame seeds

Instructions:

• Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
• Add carrot, celery and onion; stir-fry about 6 – 8 minutes.
• Add snow peas and stir-fry another 2 – 3 minutes.
• Add soy sauce, sesame seeds and stir-fry another minute.
• Vegetables should be crisp – tender.  Serve.

Print Recipe

My mother put browned butter on all of the vegetables…. Unless she creamed them.

Vegetables have been on my mind today.

And birds….

I’m a bit miffed at the birds at the moment.

I fed the birds all winter long and they have repaid my generosity by eating my vegetable seeds.

Yesterday I planted the squashes, winter and summer.

The weather has finally warmed and the forecast is good so I decided it was time.

I planted six kinds of winter squashes and the usual array of summer squashes.

As always, I planted 3 or 4 seeds together in a small area and covered them with potting soil.

The potting soil is black so it makes it easy to see where I’ve planted.

I watered.

This morning, as I was walking the dogs past the potager, I noticed that the potting soil look disturbed.

I put the dogs inside the fence and went for a closer look,

There were 3 or 4 perfect holes in each circle of potting soil… exactly where the seeds should have been.

I carefully moved the top potting soil.

There were no seeds.

I found a few broken seeds and a few empty seeds – just the outer shell with the kernel removed.

Every single seed had been taken: 16 butternut squash seeds, 16 delicata squash seeds, 16 pumpkin seeds…. you get the picture.

There is no point in replanting…. they know where the buffet is located.

I found some small pots in the barn and have planted my few remaining seeds, one per pot, and will keep them inside until they germinate.

I hope that the farmer will plant whatever crop he’s growing soon and take the birds away from my potager.

And I’ll go to the garden store this week and see if there are any seeds left.

I have yet to decide if the birds will be fed next winter or not.