Beef Patties with Garlic and Cilantro

Making beef patties with ground beef, bacon, garlic, chopped onions, nutmeg, dried basil & rosemary, butter, some eggs, pepper and lots of fresh cilantro. Lots of bacon, too. Oh, I already said that. Served with asparagus, homemade coleslaw, stewed spinach and mustard.

I made these patties quite large and liked it. How long you work the batter makes a lot of difference – I usually take my time and the texture is amazing. Gave them a real fry on both sides before turning down the heat and covering the pan to let them cook without losing much water. Another cool secret to get them real juicy is put some extra water and fat into the batter – I used unsalted butter in this case, you can use coconut oil. This makes the patties a solid meal that will nourish you for days! I didn’t need so much salt because of the bacon, but a little is required, though – they will be best that way.

In Chile where I live now they tell me that most of the chilean beef products are grassfed (i.e., not fed corn or soy, only grass) – so the ground beef I bought today probably is. Gotta dive deeper into that, only reason grassfed could be the default is if chileans have, well, a lot of grass. All the beef I’ve tried so far, be it filet or ground beef; grilled, roasted or boiled, have been delicious.

Coffee, Butter and Bitcoin

My morning cup of coffee with grassfed butter in Amsterdam. This is such a luxury as there is not one single brand of grassfed butter in Norway (where I was born and still temporarily live). I guess I could find a way to mail order a box of Kerrygold, but places like amazon don’t ship edibles to Norway, and the customs system is a bureaucratic mess of high taxes … *le sigh*. Time to get out … anyway, I’m in Amsterdam for the bitcoin convention this weekend. Never heard of bitcoin? Ok, let me give you a quick introduction! 

Bitcoin allows you to pay with your smartphone instantly, with a few seconds delay, to anywhere on the globe completely without transaction fees. It is safer, faster and cheaper than anything like PayPal, Visa or Mastercard. Visa and Mastercard weren’t designed for the internet. Bitcoin is. Its security is based on cryptography rather than a third party like a bank or credit card company. Let’s not go into the detail, but you had to leave the fastest existing computer working practically eternally to guess the astoundingly large numbers protecting bitcoin.

If desired, bitcoin is anonymous. Bitcoin will make it possible to donate to charity so that 100% of the money will go to those who need it – because the donations happen without all the third parties who always need their share. Crowdfunding will be super easy. Sending money to loved ones in a distant country will be instant and free. WordPress (this web hosting service) actually accepts bitcoin as subscription payment. See bitcoin.org for more information (and a cool introduction video).

So back to the butter: it is both with unbearable delight and frustrated despair that I consume this golden, caffeinated brew. Imagine living in a dark cellar for most of your life – you know there is something called “the sun” up there, and that it is beautiful; yet you’ve never seen it. Then you’re let out for a few hours into dashing sunlight, but knowing it is only for a short time you appreciate it bittersweetly. That’s how I feel eating grassfed butter. See you guys!

Garden Update: First Harvest

Look what I made! This is just a little taste though – there’s more comin’! In here are: spaghetti squash, carrot, fennel, arugula, strawberries and onion (and some nettles also picked in the garden).

I’m saving the exhilaration of my virgin trip with spaghetti squash for later, but today’s gathering resulted in a skillet of damped nettles, fennel (grass & bulb), onion, carrotgrass, arugula with butter, pepper, Himalaya salt and local olive oil from Provence. Served with salmon and baked potatoes, sweet potatoes and onion.

Garden Update: Crops Coming On

Time for an update on my newbie botanical project! Trying to keep track of everything I’ve learned this year proves a challenge. I document some things and trust my memory with others, but … I’ll probably have to make some of the same mistakes again. And that’s ok. I have a lifetime for that.

And boy is this fun! Feelin’ dat dirt on my fingers, like there’s sum connection to mother earth, a greater meaning to it all, yo? No? I’m a huge fan of geometry and the slightly ordered chaos, so I’ve arranged my kitchen garden as a double hexagon – by way of digging down planks of appropriate length and at proper distance so I can reach out from both sides. The plants are somewhat arbitrarily placed in the resulting lanes, but as long as there is some framework it’s easy to maintain. Works like that with most things, really. And of course it looks good.

Earlier this year:

Now:

Vegetables

I’ve exclusively chosen to grow what I would later like to eat. I always keep that in mind when caring for my veggies. Here are some of them:

Fennel.

 

Arugula.

 

Pumpkin. Hoping for a big one.

 

Strawberry.

 

Green squash.

 

Baby leaf salad.

 

Spaghetti squash. I have never eaten it, and can’t wait till they’re ripe. I shall make ALL the pasta sauces!

 

Kale.

Carrot.

More salads: baby leaf, spinach and arugula.

 

Tomatoes. Not cultivated by me.

Herbs

My herbs are mostly perennial. I just love to bring a basket and scissors to collect some thyme, mint and oregano for the stew!

Thymes.

 

Peppermint.

 

Flat leaf parsley.

 

Chives.

Nasturtium Love ❤

Ever since I saw The Hobbit I wanted to recreate a Shire garden. The flowers most notable were nasturtiums and hollyhocks. I ordered several strains of nasturtiums, and they’re doing well! Their flowers are edible too, and give a salad or dessert a beautiful finishing touch. Not exactly Bag End yet – but we’ll get there, we’ll get there.

Garden Update: Summer Salad

Lo and behold; the fruit of my labors! A salad made (almost) entirely out of things either partially or wholly cared for by yours truly. Ah yeah. This is what life’s all about now, isn’t it? Here’s is what I threw in:

• assorted big leaf salad
• assorted baby leaf salad
• arugula
• spinach
• tomatoes
• eggs
• herbs: oregano, thyme, basil, chives, parsley, lovage, mint (four kinds; why would I wanna seem one-sided?)
• edible flowers for garnish

… ok, I don’t have an egg tree. But they are locally farmed, how about that?

First Shipment of Bulletproof Coffee!

I’ve known of Dave Asprey and his Bulletproof Diet for some time, but had yet to try his renowned Upgraded Coffee. For those of you unfamiliar with the product, here’s the story in short:

When younger, Asprey acquired a heightened sensitivity to molds due to living in a damp environment (watch out, this can lead to serious health issues!). Strangely, he noticed he would get the same symptoms – most notably a pressing headache – when drinking coffee. Besides he didn’t quite like the the familiar jitteryness accompanying coffee’s praised psychoactive effects. So he thought: “Is there a way to produce coffee with all the benefits and none of the side effects?” (or something of the sort)

He found that commercial coffees almost always contain toxins produced by fungi, so-called mycotoxins. This is inherent in the way they are processed – the beans are usually placed outside to dry or put in a water tank to ferment; thus allowed to mold. Asprey created a whole new process (veiled in secrecy, of course – one has a trade mark to protect) of drying the beans, leaving the final product completely fungi free. So far he is the only one … which can be profitable.

I had the time to drink a couple of cups before leaving on a vacation, but I gotta say: Wow. There were expectations involved and I am hardly unbiased, but I think I see what the fuzz is about. A mild, smooth taste. No jitters. No crash. Just a clear, sharpened, focused mind. Everywhere I look there is nothing but praise, can it be that it actually works?

Can’t wait to go home and get some more. I ordered a large box plus a bottle of MCT oil (medium chain triglycerides, apparently the ideal saturated fat type popular as a supplement or food additive). The “right” way to drink Bulletproof Coffee is with MCT oil and grassfed butter blended in, and as one who frequently eats coconut oil or butter straight from the jar of course I recommend it.

Stay bulletproof! 😉