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Thomas Howell

@shadymorels

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Cooking, gardening, foraging, and woodworking. Passionate Taco advocate.
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

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taken in Victoria, British Columbia by @shadymorels

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4

7 months ago

Fun with food photo dump October edition.

1. Many hands make for decimated New Orleans seafood boil.
2. Chanterelle toast with creme fraiche and chili oil
3. Chanterelles in the wild.
4. Dan dan noodles, new obsession
5. Breakfast bun and an adorable beggar
6. Salmon burgers, from badly fileted fish
7. Salmon roe
8. She's a beaut, Clark
9. Halibut paella
10. Coppa pork with guindilla peppers and parm
11. Lox and cream cheese
12. Garden dinner with chef little buddy
13. My favorite lazy lunch, noodles with peanut butter and chili crunch
14. Oriechette
15. Garlic haul this year, almost gone now
16. Alder smoked salmon
17. Lightly grilled veggies and koji
18. Spot prawns
19. Bolognese sauce with gnocchi and rapini
20. Chicken thighs at the edge of the world by @shadymorels

26

6

a year ago

Be prepared for more bee content. Story time.

Back in May, a very very large swarm settled on our backyard plum tree. We called the swarm hotline (it's a thing), and an emergency beekeeper showed up. We caught the swarm, which could barely be contained in the swarm trap. Through the excitement, I asked if I could keep the swarm, and Deanna the beekeeper (now my mentor), was generously keen. The clock was ticking though, as the bees were likely not too happy in the swarm trap due to the sheer size of the colony. I set out to build a hive within 48 hours, less risk the bees re-swarming.

The hive type is called a Layens, made popular by the French beekeeper George de Layens in the 19th century. It's a horizontal hive, so all expansion is sideways instead of shorter boxes that stack. Got the plans, and planned to build ASAP.

Bees reswarmed the next day. Luckily, they resettled in our front yard, but this time 16ft up in our Hawthorne tree. Deanna came back, and through some clever MacGyvering using a long yellow cedar stick and a bucket, we managed to recapture the swarm, and even locate the queen! At this point it was best to move the colony to Deanna's spare hive, and relocate to my hive in the coming weeks.

In about a day and following specific plans, I proceeded to make the Layens 20 frame hive to standard dimensions and specifications. The hive was completed relatively quickly.

But that was too easy, inspired by Edoras and Stave church architecture, I decided I needed to construct a hall worthy of these shield maidens. I sketched out a concept, leaning into dragon scale shingles and horse head gable horns. A fairly involved process for shingle construction ensued, largely to the soundtrack of Howard Shore and Wardruna, which took several days as I needed nearly 200. Needless to say, the roof took about five times as long as the base hive.

Due to the hive re-swarming again at Deanna's place, we had a faster than planned relocation of the colony to their new home.

Fast forward to today, hive established in the Golden Hall, after swarming in this very location nearly six weeks ago. by @shadymorels

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a year ago

by @shadymorels

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4

a year ago

I've been fashioning shingles from yellow cedar 2x6's all day and couldn't be happier. by @shadymorels

9

0

a year ago

Two hours of picking for about a dozen morels, but I'm not complaining. The cool thing about morel picking, is witnessing the ridiculously high colour contrasts that come along with the rebirth of the forest. Morels are just a nice perk to that walk in the woods. by @shadymorels

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1

a year ago

Last night we enjoyed a regenerative food forest farm tour and 100% Kauai ingredient four course meal, followed by many inspiring conversations with the folks at @kauaicommonground. They have a very cool story, where they transformed a barren former sugarcane plantation into a regenerative food system. Over 95% of food is imported in Hawaii, which is unsurprising as it is also sadly true for many islands nations despite being great agricultural regions. After visiting Barbados in 2017 I saw a similar paradox, and at that time learned that it was historically influenced by IMF loans, where historically export crops are dictated as a condition.

Anyway, it was cool to enjoy a hyper local meal of all Kauai products, and to see what they're doing over at Common Ground to reclaim the food systems and culture. I left with some inspiration for my garden back home, and also for tonight's plate.

Seared Ahi with citrus sauce.

Kauai ingredients:
Ahi
Oranges
Charapita peppers (thanks Kalani!)
Ginger
Honey
Scallion
Mac nuts
Cilantro

From elsewhere:
Tiny bit of avocado oil for searing
Tiny bit of salt taken in Kaua'i, Hawaii by @shadymorels

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3

2 years ago

Fun with food photo dump, October edition.

1. Boiled chicken noodle soup with soba noodles and Thai basil
2. Poblano, cheese, and jalisco salsa on @maiiz.nixtamal tortilla
3. Eggs Florentine with a view
4. Cucamelon chili crunch salad
5. Small part of the pepper harvest
6. Tomato and basil pesto with charred chilies
7. Office paneer bahn mi (a regular occurrence on the menu)
8. Chanterelle and potato pizza
9. Oysters with green sauce grilled over wood fire
10. Garden salad by @shadymorels

21

2

2 years ago

Cochinita Pibil Tacos at the end of the road. by @shadymorels

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2 years ago

Fun with food photo dump August edition.

1. Polenta fries with pesto
2. Chicken thigh with hot honey
3. Halibut with chorizo, basil oil, guindilla, and other things
4. Typical bbq scene, this time @plotwines
5. Garlic harvest 2024
6. Potato Taco R&D, I believe I'm onto the next fish taco but more science is needed
7. Off grid corn bread
8. Garlic scape season
9. Gnocchi with onion cream, and garden produce
10. Spot prawn season surf and turf by @shadymorels

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1

2 years ago

Fun with food photo dump

1. Potato crusted oysters with uni mayo and n'duja oil
2. N'duja stuffed Perello olives with shishito
3. Halibut from @juzzybeeland with szechuan chili oil and gai lan
4. Potato gnocchi with onion cream and alpine cheese, and garden chives
5. Charcoal roasted Rockfish with red sauce and coconut cream with slowly sauteed potato, chili oil and chive garnish
6. Braised Chuck with celeriac puree.
7. Stinging nettle goma ae.
8. Chicken thigh with chili and fennel with tomato and asparagus, over lima bean puree.
9. Office tteokbokki, one of many
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#food #tuesdaylunches #charcoal #yyjeats #yyjfoodie #plating #bbq taken in Victoria, British Columbia by @shadymorels

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0

2 years ago

Cured Berkshire pork, apple and shallot, spinach, polenta.

An ode to a good post surf van meal in Tofino several months ago.

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#food #foodporn #tofino #victoriabc #bluestar #yyjeats #yyj #yyjfoodie by @shadymorels

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3 years ago