Hoo-wee – the temperature here fell about 30 degrees overnight. Thank you, Earl.
It’s been a very busy week at Chez Siberia – it’s that time of the year, with the garden just cranking out like the devil and our trying to keep up.
And…cue sfx of the teletype machine – to the news!!

OK, kitchen wombats: Clean up your act. “The small study from California’s Los Angeles County found that only 61 percent of home kitchens would get an A or B if put through the rigors of a restaurant inspection. At least 14 percent would fail — not even getting a C.” How many households do the ‘leave the food on the counter, clean it up or pick at it later’ thing? Don’t want to know.
Dirty Kitchen

You knew it; this proves it. “..a study led by Washington State University Regents professor of soil science John Reganold, is one of the most comprehensive, persuasive studies yet to show the nutritional and environmental benefits of organic farming. Its findings only apply to strawberries — but they do point the way to the kind of research that can, and should, be done with other crops as well… The results are pretty convincing: organic strawberries are healthier, tastier, and better for the soil than conventional strawberries.” Organic vs Conventional

Took 25 years, but Bayer finally folded. Aldicarb is gone.
Aldicarb banned

Pine Mouth? Nope. “Fake” Chinese Pine Nuts. Seeds from pines, yes. Seeds from pines that are usually used as human food? No. Chinese Pine Nuts Fake . . .

Salmonella, Salmonella, Salmonella..now you’re sick (sung to the tune of Boola-boola):
Bakersfield restaurant
WI Salmonella
Egg co. lawsuits

September is National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month: Considering the number of kids in this country who spent the summer without school breakfasts or lunches, I’m wondering how the taskforce is going to handle this one.Obama September Proclamation

Food security an issue now that Russia has extended their 12 month ban on exporting grains. “On Thursday, widespread riots in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, left 280 injured and 7 dead after protesters took to the streets to oppose a decision by government to raise the price of bread by 30%. The government of Mozambique has found itself increasingly unable to subsidise the price of bread in the country following the spiraling price of wheat on global markets.” Food Security Concerns

Local local (not just local) news: My elder daughter presented us with a half a bushel of pears this week, which we divided up into thirds: drying, freezing and eating. This morning, I realized that we were not eating as fast as we should and was presented with the suggestion to make a ‘pear crisp’ – here you go:
Greased baking pan

Peel and chunk, slice, etc. pears (even if they are a little bit hard, this will work) into the pan

Dust with ½ tsp of powdered ginger

If the pan is not at least half full of fruit, peel and cut up whatever apples you have to fill it out. Good choices are Northern Spys, Empires, other firm, crunchy, cooking apples (Macs are not really good with this; they get mushy)

If you put apples in, sprinkle about 1 tsp of cinnamon on it. If the fruit is not particularly sweet (like if you use Spys), then add ¼ – 1/3 cup of sugar (depending on how sweet you like this sort of thing)

Set your oven to 375 degrees F

Crisp topping: Mix up in a separate bowl–
1 c. of flour (if you want to give it some oomph, add ¼ c. of wheat germ if you’ve got it)
1 c. of brown sugar
1 T. cinnamon
Cut up one stick of butter or margarine and using a pastry blender, combine until you get small crumbs.
Add 1 C of oatmeal (we like thick cut, but whatever you’ve got)
Sprinkle over the fruit and shake the pan a little bit to settle
Bake for 45 min until bubbly.

If you want to add some protein to this (besides drinking a glass of milk with it), you can add to the topping when you mix it:
½ cup of dried milk
1/3 cup of hemp protein powder
¼ cup of soy flour

Enjoy.
(and for my rabid fans, you know the drill — for more of me, Aunt Toby’s Kitchen and Wombat Service Station)