Indoor Plant Projects Workshop

This morning I was fortunate enough to catch Evergreen Brick Works' Indoor Plant Projects workshop. Waking up early on a Saturday morning is not one of my strong points, but I was motivated enough by the promise of learning new indoor growing ideas to will myself out of bed and brave the stinging cold trek up to the Brick Works.

The workshop focused on two ways to grow plants indoors in a small space: green walls and terrariums. Even though the plants demonstrated were of the tropical, carnivorous, fern and moss variety, the same tools and techniques can be applied to edibles. Think herbs and lettuces. Keep in mind that edibles need a fair amount of sun to grow.

Green walls can be constructed a variety of ways. You could build a series of shelves or webbing to hold the plant containers vertically, or affix the containers directly to a wall, bookshelf, etc. For those who aren't DIY-inclined, a couple of great alternatives are Woolly Pockets or a plastic, modular wall planter kit. Evergreen purchased a few of the latter for us to try out.

I must admit, the kit is quite simple but brilliant. It's a hard plastic tray with slanted plant slots. A water tray with tiny holes fits into the top, and the water drizzles through channels down the tray. Another water tray sits at the bottom to collect excess moisture.

We threw in a few handfuls of regular potting mix into the slots, and stuffed the plants in. A bit of coir can be added on top to hold back any soil that wants to fall out once the kit is mounted on the wall.













The Evergreen staff also showed us a few of their own impressive vertical grow projects, including a series of hanging window edibles in upcycled pop bottles, an industrial planter made from an old electrical box, and sprouts growing from custom-made plastic tubes.




Next, we learned to construct a terrarium, which is basically a small enclosed ecosystem. Drainage rocks, potting mix, and maybe a little coir or Spanish moss is layered into a glass jar. Plants are planted, and about 1/4 cup of water is poured in. A cork or plexiglas stopper is fitted to seal the jar airtight. You can even turn the terrarium into a lamp stand by topping it with a lamp head. The lamp add-on serves as an additional source of light for the plants, not to mention changing the whole set-up to a wicked cool light fixture.





















The terrarium project really got me excited... it reminded me of Holly Handmade's crafted mushroom terrariums. I left the workshop feeling inspired, with crafty terrarium ideas stewing in my nog.

Chicken Soup for the Vegetarian Soul

As most of you know, I'll be travelling for a year starting in March. I definitely want to keep in touch with everyone at home, but Facebook is too evil, and a new blog is too much work. After some thinking, I've decided that I will try to put up a quarterly local food-related post on this site. No promises though. :)

I should warn you, though, that my allegiance to the Vegetarian Faith will be put on hold during my travels. When I first committed myself a few years back, I had already decided that travelling outside Canada/US would be an exception. Part of me feels really guilty about this, because it makes me one of those “convenient vegetarian” types. But I can’t imagine turning away the chance to try all sorts of new meaty foods in their country of origin. I guess I’ll just have to live with the guilt.

Debate aside, I’ll need to prepare for this sudden assault on my gastrointestinal system prior to departure. This will be achieved by integrating meat into my diet slowly and methodically (read: very INconveniently) for 6 weeks. Departure date = March 2. Therefore, meat-eating date = January 19.

My first step as a reborn omnivore is chicken broth. I chose this because it’s easily digestible, achieving the ‘slow' part of the re-integration. Plus I really enjoy making broth from scratch; I feel like it's Slow Food at its most basic. And... it also just so happens I saved the leftover meat/bones from a holiday roast chicken left at my place, which was earmarked for the trash. Perfect. Armed with a recipe from the French Laundry Cookbook, I was on my way.

After one tedious hour of "skimming off impurities", I was left with a semi-clear, caramel coloured broth. After straining, adding back the carrots and meat bits, and reducing for another hour, I would say this handsome looking liquid could become a great chicken noodle soup. Or maybe a base for a squash soup using the frozen butternut I saved up from August. Thank you, dear chicken, for giving your life to nourish mine.

Kimchi 2000

Happy new year! I drew up a new header for the ol' bloggidy boo. Like? On paper it looked pretty cool and clean, but after scanning and uploading to the website, it looks kind of scrappy in comparison. Oh well, maybe I just need to break it in a little.

So I hear that Korean food is predicted to be a food trend for 2011. I don't know much about trends, but I do know that Korean food is damn good. At least, the Korean food that's on offer in this city. That is, bibimbap, tofu stew, japchae, and pork bone soup, kalbi and bulgogi for meat eaters.

Kimchi, of course, is the one of the most Korean well-known (side) dishes. For me, buying kimchi in Toronto can be hit-and-miss, until one of my work friends clued me into Kimchi Canada Farm. Their kimchi is not only the best that I've ever tasted, but its also locally grown and made in the nearby town of Newmarket. Yippeee!

A 3 litre tub of cabbage kimchi from Kimchi Canada Farm will set you back only $11, and will last you weeks. Kimchi is also said to have many health benefits, including improving digestive health. You can even use the leftover liquid and make kimchi martinis at your next cocktail party. Sounds questionable at best, but I heard first-hand that it's mm-mm-good.

So eat your kimchi with pride, you trendsetter. Just don't breathe on me after you do.