Potatomania

Last year our friend Sue was obsessed with potatoes. She planted 40 varieties, which she documented to discover which type gave the best yield and which were best for which purposes. After Farmdoc's surgery she gave us a gift of around a dozen varieties with instructions that we were to note how each type did. We planted them as instructed but we haven't dug any up yet, so we haven't had to formally present our report.

This year she had recovered from her obsession: she planted only 35 varieties!

Sue is an adventurous cook so when she and Craig invited us for lunch at their house on the side of a mountain we expected to eat potatoes.

And we were not disappointed.

There was chicken and salad, but they took a back seat to  a potato feast, which included Spanish omelette made with King Edwards, smashed Nicolas,

 Boiled Salad Rose and Pink Eye:

 Baked Toolangi Delight:

And wedges of Spunta and Up to Date :

The piece de resistance, however, had to be the dessert. Mashed Kestrel mixed with blueberries and dipped in dark chocolate together with mashed Saphire mixed with coconut and vanilla and dipped in white chocolate!

How about you? What type of spud do you like best? And what's your favourite method of cooking them?

Late last year Sue planted 40 types of tomatoes. It's a bit early to see the results of that experiment but right now there is lush growth in the sprawling vegetable garden beds that Craig dug and fenced. We're looking forward to a tomato feast now.

One Computer Two

Farmdoc's computer died last week. It was five years old - about quarter of a century in computer years. Fortunately he'd learned from a false alarm about 18 months ago, so he'd backed up just about everything. But still there are ongoing problems, in part because things have changed so much in the computer world over the last five years.

Yesterday our friend Craig, who in a previous life was an IT guy, turned up to save the day, armed with equipment, know-how, sympathy, and a box of assorted home grown potatoes. Each variety came in its own labelled brown paper bag -  

Spunta, Seymour Gold, Innovator, Royal Blue, Kipfler, King Edward, Salad Rose

and that special variety - Unsure what these are.

Farmdoc and I adore potatoes - cooked any way you can think of - but more than its value as comfort food, we appreciate the gift as a comforting gesture. I can't wait to bake, mash, chip and cube. Have I left anything out? What's your favourite way of cooking spuds?

Thanks, Craig and Sue, vegetable gardeners extraordinaire. We're glad you won the battle with your property's hungry wildlife population.