Friday, February 05, 2010

Jack Frost and Tomatillos

We're still in the middle of cold winter here, with lots of snow and solidly frozen lakes. I'd be willing to ship a parcel of nice clean snow to Vancouver for those Olympic events on the snow-deficient Cypress mountain. If you read this VANOC, just let me know. I think it's a little odd that a city with blooming daffodils at the time of the winter Olympics is hosting this event.
Currently, it's only -10 C here, with similar temperatures forecasted for the rest of the week. This might be "too warm" for the big dog sled race scheduled to start on Feb 10. Last week, we had some cooler temperatures, creating these patterns on the inside of our bedroom windows at sunrise:

Yesterday, I went to the local grocery store and found some tomatillos in the produce section. I had never seen them there before, so I bought them, purely for the novelty of having them. I don't recall the price listed on the sign, but I think it was more than what I paid for them. After getting home, I realized that the chekout girl never asked me about the tomatillos. Our local supermarket cashiers have difficulty telling pears from potatoes, so they usually ask what is in the produce bag. This girl obviously felt certain in her belief that these were Brussels sprouts, charging me $4.38/kg ($1.98/lb), as recorded on the receipt. Thus, I got my bag of tomatillos for 77 cents, which is probably a pretty good deal. Now I've got to find a recipe!
My "Brussels sprouts":

15 comments:

Philosophical Karen said...

Oh, wow! I never get a good deal like that at the grocery store. You can bet if I found tomatilloes they'd be in a clear box with a barcode, or every single one would have a sticker on it with a numbered code for the cash register. By the way, those look like the most delicious "Brussels sprouts" I have ever seen. :)

Kate/High Altitude Gardening said...

Congrats on the screaming deal. :)

I'm curious to see what you use them for. They're very popular around here but I've never tried them.

RURAL said...

What a deal, yes those Brussel's sprouts are going to make a great green salsa.

Yes please send snow. I totally agree with you, whose great idea was it to host the Olympics when the average snowfall around here is not even up to our ankles. I think they based it on last year. We were walloped.

BTW, Whistler is full of snow.

Jen

Meredith said...

Your "Brussels sprouts" look delicious -- and what a deal!

Tomatillos are fabulous in salsa, by the way. You can even make an entirely green salsa using no tomatoes, and lots of cilantro... yum. I'm actually hoping to grow my own tomatillos this summer for the first time. I even have seed for a variety that is *purple*. I think it'd be cool to have purple salsa; don't you?

That photograph of the ice crystals framing the blurred dawn is just pure beauty. :)

Amy said...

I love your photo of the window with the frost. :) very pretty.

Melanie J Watts said...

Excellent deal, like Meredith I'm too thinking you should make salsa.

Northern Beauty Seeker said...

Great deal! What a nice treat.

Love the window photo...to see that in the morning would make me want to jump up! :)

Sheryl at Providence North said...

I like your blog.

Great find! Can you save the seed from these and grow your own? I want to grow some this year for salsa. Haven't got the seed yet. Maybe I will look in the grocery store to see if they have any tomitillos I can buy for the seed.

lisa said...

That first shot is beautiful! I'm not sure what to do with tomatillos...all I can think of is salsa.

Lisa Carroll-Lee said...

Hi there! Just found your blog and love it. Funny about tomatillos. Those are part of my native cuisine and I love them. I'll be back to read often!

upinak said...

Tomatilloes are great in anything mexican food wise. They are like a bitter sweet tomato.

If I were you, I would try to keep a couple seeds and grow them as they actually do grow fairly well here in the "North".

BTW I live in Alaska and have a huge garden.. but I am green with envy on your atrium!

Best wishes and I love you blog. :)

Gardenista said...

I'd never have considered growing my own tomatillos from the seeds, but maybe I could try that. I see the store stocked some more of them, so they must be in season somewhere! I made a Mexican style soup with some of them, including sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and jalapeƱos, but may try a salsa next. Mmmm, tasty!

Sigrun said...

Beautiful ice crystals. Count-down till spring.

Kristi said...

They are great for Salsa verde, check out Rick Bayless's site for recipes.

kate smudges said...

I have only seen tomatillos in a grocery store once here. For the past two summers, I have grown them in my front garden. The local garden centre sells them so I haven't started them from seed. I'm not sure they would have sufficient time to set fruit before our first frosts.