melbas jammin

I am posting from Barb's account while she puts her feet up for a while.
(Yep, I wore her out.) And she was mean. I asked what I could do and
she set me up with a huge bag of green beans to snap the ends off.

I've been in Minneapolis visiting the Schallers since Wednesday and in
the words of someone we all know, "It's GOOD to be me." (Said person
would follow up with "It ****s to be you" but as a well-mannered only
child, that never occurred to me.)

Thursday we went to Inglebretsen's Scandinavian shop, lunch at Maria's
Cafe (where we both punted and ordered delicious wild rice pancakes
because the kitchen reported "The avocados aren't ripe enough." when we
ordered avocado/creamcheese/onion sandwiches. We were happy to have had
that warning, and the pancakes were divine.

We stopped next door at the Northland Native American Products store for
wild rice and had the added benefit of selection and cooking advice from
the pros.

Trader Joe's was next where we each BI (bad influenced) the other about
products to try. A small fortune later and we were on our way to
something more bucolic.

We drove around Lake Harriet where I was impressed by the gorgeous old
houses facing the lake. We stopped and walked through the rose garden
and Ma Schaller took some stunning photos of roses and yours truly. :-)
We then walked over to the Peace Garden which was a very lush area.

Yesterday we drove to Stillwater, the oldest town in MN, on the La
Croix River across from Wisconsin. What a great town for browsing, full
of antique shops, galleries, and the nicest kitchen shop I have ever
been to. The people were incredibly friendly and not (I think) just
because Barb was handing out jam left and right.

We had lunch at Marx, splitting a white pizza and linguini with pork
tenderloin in a sauce of coconut milk, cilantro, and lots of spices.

Today's tip began early (and it was FREEZING!) to the incredible Mpls
farmer's market. Holy cripes! Every vegetable I've ever seen plus many
I'd never heard of. Many Asian greens. Sweet potato leaves. Lots of
eggplant in shapes and colors I've never seen, Yummy cheese and
sausages and pastry. Fantastic flowers, both cut and potted, Herbs of
every description. The Olive Man was there. Apples, plums, peaches....
It was sensory overload.

So was breakfast at Al's in Dinkytown. There was a log wait so B kept
the waiting public happy with crackers and a jar of her nectarine jam
she just happened to have in t he car. What hoot!

Tonight we are meeting for dinner with some current and former ng folks.

Note: If Melba invites you to Minnysoda, don't think twice. You'll
laugh more than you have in years and have the time of your life,
gar-on-teed!

gloria p
who wishes she lived closer, except for the beans....

henriette kress

Is that Ipomoea batatas? If so, what do you do with the leaves?

Thanks!
Henriette

--
Henriette Kress, AHG Helsinki, Finland
Henriette's herbal homepage: http://www.henriettesherbal.com

melbas jammin

I don't know, Henriette. We were told to cook them like spinach. We
didn't buy any.
--
-Barb, Mother Superior, HOSSSPoJ
Dinner at Yummy! 9-15-2007 Pictures included.

the joneses

I'm so jealous. Our Farmers' Market is 20 miles away and a grand total of 30
stalls. On a good day. Henriette: I planted an ordinary orange sweet potato,
are the leaves edible? I'll try anything once.
Edrena

kathi jones

;-(...wish we could grow sweet potato here.....

Kathi

puester

No. As far as I know Ipomoea is the decorative plant/vine.
These were about the shape and size of lilac leaves, fairly far apart on
stiff stems. It seemed to be the Asian vendors who had them for sale.

Be careful because some potato elements are dangerous to eat.

gloria p

You can.
"Slip" them in the house 5 or 6 weeks before your last spring frost.
Plant them out after all danger of frost is past. You will not get
supermarket sized tubers but, you will get some and sweet potato
leaves and shoots are a good source of vitamins A, C, and B2
(Riboflavin),as well as an excellent source of lutein.
Or, if you don't bother planting them out, they make a decent looking
(if somewhat rambling) house plant.

Ross.

kathi jones

cool. Thanks Ross, I didn't know that. Now to find a source for sweet
potato 'seeds'....that part should be easy

Kathi

Your source for 'seeds' is a local farmer's market or the organic
produce section of the grocery store. Non-organic sweet potatoes may
be harder to slip because many of them are sprayed with a chemical to
keep them from sprouting.
One sweet potato will probably give you more slips than you can use.
Check out this site:
http://tinyurl.com/35oqkg
And, this one shouldn't be too hard to track down as it's right in
your own back (or front) yard.
http://tinyurl.com/ypng5o

Have fun.

Ross.

deb dowding

Sandhill Preservation Center - http://www.sandhillpreservation.com sells started
sweet potato slips. Some are recommended for northern gardens. I have
never purchased sweet potatoes from them, but have purchased seeds and had
good luck.

Not affiliated with them in any way, I just remember seeing them in their
catalog.

Debbie