Is it just me? Does time feel like it is moving astronomically fast? The month of May is coming to a close and summer is fast approaching. I feel as though I’ve barely had time to breathe. One of the things I’ve been actively working on, is to be in deep reflection at the end of each week and month. In our case here, I’ll share monthly what I consumed — that is food, drink and media, at least those things that were memorable or interesting.

Ramps: I managed to get some ramps before their season was up, I definitely cut it real close though. I always make the customary pickled ramp bulbs, dehydrate some leaves and freeze some whole. In addition to all that this year, I also made ramp confit which has been extremely delicious.

Violets: I’m letting the violets sit longer in the vinegar. I’ll remove them at some point to salt and dehydrate them and then think up fun ways to eat them.

Chile Crisp: I decided to make chili crisp one morning or in my case chile crisp because I had some morita chiles lying about. Let’s just say I’m already down to a few spoonfuls because it was so good. The smoky nature of this pepper and the addition of brown sugar pair really well. I’ll definitely be making this one AGAIN.

I attended a lunch with a small group at one of the local restaurants in my town. The truth is I have only ever been there once before. The problem when you are accustomed to cooking and eating well, is that not anything will do. I ordered a steak sandwich because I thought to myself, that sounds lovely. Imagine my dismay when it arrived and it was literally “steak” in white bread. And the most upsetting part was that the ratio of steak to bread was off. There was literally nothing else in the sandwich, no arugula, aioli of some kind. I ate one half to be polite, took the rest home and doctored it accordingly, adding a passion fruit mayonnaise, some field garlic and ginger sauce (a play on ginger scallion sauce), and then it was a bit more palatable. I think I was right the first time around, I will not be returning.

And speaking of bread, my sourdough progress has been good. I’ve kept my starter refrigerated and feed as required which has also meant baking weekly. I’m still in the process of finding recipes that I like and perfecting them so that I can add those to my repertoire. The challenges so far has been rising times because our kitchen runs cold and consistent oven temperatures.

Given the current economy of eggs, it has been nice to get a consistent supply from one of the neighbors. We get gorgeous eggs and support our neighbor, a win-win for community. Speaking of eggs, I have been thinking about getting duck eggs to experiment with from a local farm.

Speaking of foraging, I remember asking my professor once about whether things could still be considered wild depending on the level of human intervention. I think about this often enough that I tried my hand at “gardening” some things — really, pulling them from the wild and attempting to keep them alive. You’ll be pleased to know they are doing well, with the exception of the potted wild strawberry plant, I’ve learned it prefers to grow hydroponically.

Here’s to a more productive June!!!