iPigeon.institute Local Botanical Item Spotlights - Pasadena Pink Peppercorns

 One of Southern California's most well-adapted agricultural crop trees (aside from citrus) is the peppercorn. I come across various peppercorn trees, in my travels about town, but I felt that my most recent encounter, in Pasadena, is situated in a central-enough location, with (somewhat) untended trees, along a highway road, over a bridge, or something like that. My phone, which I'm typing this on, runs location history slowly, so I'm having some trouble recreating the Maps location, for the time being. 

Regardless, the pursuit of fresh peppercorns, whether they be for culinary or fragrance extraction purposes, are a notably invigoratingly-scented botanical product, with a stimulating, warming effect that is well known by herbs and spices enthusiasts. Peppercorns, in my fragrance compositions, for example, are an essential spice note that I commonly employ - I like the effect of pepper oil, in combination with adding vanilla - depending on the mixture, it could act as a base note, or it could be part of a larger floral and spice bouquet, and it blends a seamless texture in to citrus woods, if spices are desired, in a case such as that. 

We all know peppercorns, from the store bought ground or whole peppers, and if you'd ever tried peppercorns in grinders, you'd know the difference, in both culinary and fragrance contexts. 

"Pink" peppercorns, (I'd estimate), procured from a lonely side road pepper tree in Pasadena, CA.

I hadn't studied much on peppercorns, as far as their constituent aroma chemical components, but, I believe that some of the components are a primary building block in TiHKaL molecular compounds, with some of the effects of my volatile and fast-decomposing fragrance compositions tending towards dimethyltryptamine sorts of psychedelia resonance experiences, an effect that was coupled with the compositions broader context in being an anti-inflammatory topically-applied fragrance compound, made with isopropyl alcohol, rather than ethanol, with the skin-permeable effect as my goal for the fragrance compounds. There had also been some light to moderate feelings of drunken euphoria, although this portion required stimulants, in and of their own right, and the fragrance compounds acted as a prodrug, I would suppose, with so much anti-inflammatory effect, from the fragrance spray, that further extents of physical exertion and traveling, around town (which had also been done in Pasadena, by the way), during which times I'd become more particular, in discovering agricultural specialty plants that the city hosts.

A peppercorn-specialty fragrance-affected "Tripping Pigeon," as rendered by Google Labs' ImageFX.

Having fresh peppercorns, as a culinary or fragrance specialty product, is an easy premise to work from, with a maceration of the product, if it is entirely fresh, (the outer shell, as well), it will easily mash in to a pasty peppery oil mixture, which can be employed directly on dishes that call for peppercorns, or, the product can be sieved off, and drained directly in to a hydrosol or a natural fragrance composition, in the works. Having a fresh product is typically a bit more special than using dried product, especially in cases in which some of the volatile compounds are preserved in the raw natural material, until dissolved in solvent, for extraction, or, disturbed, and activated, by maceration, for example.

Update - important!

I taste-tested this particular peppercorn specimen, on a hard boiled egg, yesterday, and I found it to have some strong elements to it, which resembled eucalyptus-type oil, which I'm not really in to, comparatively. Eucalyptus trees have gotten a reputation, around my general aesthetic periphery of annotations spoken upon my travels and activities, of being a urine-processing tree; meaning, essentially, that the plant specimen had adjusted its metabolism to a more primitive purpose, rather than a better agricultural purpose. I suppose that I ought to find some other fresh pepper trees, somewhere, or, perhaps, spend some of the time I have, when I go out to Pasadena, to see if this problematic issue could be resolved, with some care to the tree(s), over time. I just felt that this note was important to make known. 

Some grilled cheese sandwiches today for the pigeons in DTLA and outside my place.

Yesterday's quick roundup of tried-and-true tobacco curing tips and as-of-yet [I've not tried them] notable suggestions for a finer cured tobacco (post-retail, loose leaf, etc.)

Pictured is the tiny batch Gucci container I used to make an aside special try about for my first quick minutes oven aromatics oxalic acids fibrous juicer leftovers: confīte, atop hand-mashed [a bit] grapefruit quarters, reasonably well-medium fine balsamic vinegar in glass; there was cheese, perhaps, in a wetted sock (dirty, worn), some fragrant lip balm, better than petrolatum-based (on the organic side), a noteworthy tone-bearing plastic trinket (beacon, for slight transmission of a theoretical slight amplification of sound and particle wavelengths within a bellows box iOS device box confīte, topped with some slight brown sugar, plain brown sugar.

The Gucci box selection was wrapped with Farmer John's standard 8 pack breakfast sausage wrapper, unwashed. It was an attractive confīte box with my small box AirPods trash find containing the main tobacco store to be infused with the aromatics vinegar oxalic acids sugar confīte, and I had a fine cigar, smoked well enough to be rich, by this time, included in the box. I believe I put some allergy medicine in there; Claritin, for some unknown and fanciful belief of that it would impart a hypoallergenic or perhaps something somewhat useful chemistry BAM! about the reaction. There was pigein guano either inside or outside the box, perhaps in a custard dish ceramic thing, probably moist, or maybe not.

I closed the confīte box and turned the oven on, about 300 degrees Fahrenheit, and I used the restroom, or something like that.

[Did I blow meth smoke into it?] This would have been long into the time in which I had swore off smoking meth, but it may have been that literal bit of a set of days for a week, and then no more again, and I broke the glass pipe. I suppose that event happened twice, perhaps over a couple of weeks. Relevant? Hopefully not, I don't encourage smoking meth:definitely, and in general, it's a problem presentable as for a person who uses, of any sort.

Try it without any meth invokved, but for features' sake, it may have happened like that, for this batch. It was enjoyable consumed tobacco.

Within that somewhat reading span of length of time, the oven had a notable presence into the main living room where I was, and it would be so weird if it ventured through the walls and the neighbors could feel it also, so I rushed over and removed the box, placed it under and within a cashmere sweater, [is the cashmere thing truly radiation ionic blam! Insulating the blam! instead? I would say yes, but I have a thing for cashmere sweaters and sweating it out, or staying warm, and it does have a particular sort of insular characteristic. Perhaps ... I dunno. Maybe wool would work, but definitely cashmere.

It looked nice enough to eat: the grapefruit balsamic sweet beets confīte array, but I was [for sure] definitely on meth, to speak of, at all, at the time, and the near blam! expansiveness was an exciting moment. I felt like the tobacco must be infused with so much pigeon trinket sidewalk searching finesse, and some Françoise considerable distinction about it. It didn't disappoint, and the Gucci box portion was particularly resinous and rich, with a slight bit of pork sausage flavor about it.

I had, aside from this, also [prior to everything, first of all], had a popped open coconut of some sort, perhaps something, but it definitely was somewhat going to vinegar-alcohol-ish fermentation at this point, in the same kitchen. Were the coconut electrolytes of the coconut water and fat fermentation thing something... Like I had done something with it prior to that? I dunno. Maybe I just opened it and left it out, and it started going to vinegar.

I cooked French onion soup some time recently prior to this, maybe the night before. There was rotting food in the kitchen.

The suggestions for moving forward, beyond whats been established:

Milk chocolate somewhat characteristic impart to the tobacco, for a less fiery burn.

There was something else, perhaps...

Aside from that, I have less experimental and eccentric air-cured process ionic mineral arrête sort of transhydraulysis stuff, maybe the chocolate concept would be okay cooked in, or sprayed on, or something, and stuff with extracted oils and toying with the adsorbent nature of doing something [somehow], but I'll read up on it at that time. I've been collecting cardboard long tube "flues," and I definitely can't run a smoke house in here, it's a studio apartment, plus I don't smoke inside [nearly always].

People along my walking path have been generous with leaving out tobacco of cigarillo packets, and I tend to desire cigarettes less.

The main concept of the post-retail confīte oven curing thing:

Was that the fine cigar, once smoked down, would impart, and perhaps ad hoc fluff up, and via the aromatics confīte:given the vacuum bellows box concept: suck in the mineral solids of the pigeon guano aside and fluff up a quick oven up fluff of some concept of a tobacco bale curing ammonia somewhat concept, at least just maybe somewhat ammonia something, and then something about the arrangement and suction or moistness, and the tone bearing trinket thing was supposed to easily enough, end up perhaps [maybe not easily, but I thought it might] simply bam up some unscraped nicotine out of what was of the confīte box and tobacco in it, well enough to make it better tobacco.

It was really good tobacco, actually :)

Homesteading pigeon guano as fertilizer for an upcoming cigar tobacco planting and curing cottage industry enterprise for the .institute

I picked up some reading material at the Los Angeles Public Library Central Library Branch; (Google Maps)

Regarding tobacco:

Most of the books there on tobacco cultivation and curing (few in number, yet undoubtedly rich in information), are labeled "R" in the call number, for "Reference," [meaning that they are somewhat valuable and rare titles meant for study and 'reference' explicitly at the library branch where the book is found].

That being said, I had limited spree in diving into my latest iPigeon research and homesteading project: growing a baby pigeon'ed vintage tobacco crop and curing au petít vintägé: a fine cigar tobacco, perhaps years in the making.

There are some lots nearby with empty land, and one of them is definitely a community garden lot. There's a spot on my side of the street that's as of yet gone to weeds and dry hay in between a large home and a church that seems a reasonable aspiration if I talk up the neighbors about it and see what they think. I have a shovel that's been left outside my place here, perhaps it's a serendipitous sign.

I've got to work on homesteading my seller's positioning to pitch the idea to the relevant parties, and I've just yesterday finally fixed my General Relief social welfare benefit money of $221 per month that I receive. I'm planning on making a trip out to a

<<[somewhere]; (a place around greater Los Angeles that retails a fine strain of cigar-leaf tobacco)>> 

1. gardening shop so I can purchase seeds. 
2. Whole Foods [undecided, as to "about which one... (?)]. Does the implicit worth of the general periphery and locality of the source of stocked retail ionic minerals play into the as-purchased consumer's worth and value commodity's gain in ionic mineral content?

I've got some celebrant commodity and some dilemma in my homesteading and self-initiative civic care of the local pigeon flock: I've located the roosting de facto (Google Maps) of the local sitting herd pride of pigeons: localized to my couple-of-blocks-proximity. 

•  I've spotted several dead pigeons recently around the local area. I tried to take some in to preserve them; I found that doing so invites a bevy of unheralded concerns and heaps of responsibility: properly caring for the deceased, and preserving a specimen for taxidermic interest. It's a novel and interest-aside pursuit of where-energies-investigative-research and development claims-investments ought currently be attributable, best practices of a .institute homesteading ad hoc development arc in mind. Perhaps some other time. ([Future link to:] expand on the subject).
• I hopped the fence onto state property (mea culpa [attr.]) and gathered 4 plastic grocery bags of pigeon guano and shallow underlying dirt. Subsequently, I underwent an acute onslaught of parasitic interest in me, perhaps of significance in delimiting the bounds and extents for within [maintaining par relevance: bounds-pigeons-pertains]: perhaps an insight into how and why so many pigeons are turning up dead locally, so commonly, recently. 

• I surmised that the pigeon guano (droppings) were a multi-foray crisis to the birds, and to the local area, in general (in human toll). It turns out that pigeon guano has some special considerations, as might any raw material resource / fertilizer-from-scratch. Hordes of mosquitos hounded me for days, and the pestilence definitely put me under as goes for an as-if-anything: so au jour and about town take on conquering the day for several days this past week. Luckily I had my cache of pharma-curative products and luxe accoutrements of toiletries, etc. from the post-year-end USC student apartment dumpster dive foray of a week or two ago (link). The crux of the situation is that the droppings were plentiful, they're rich in mineral raw materials-resource, and it's a science-bounds-it-is <<it-all>> such that the material merits realized and implemented safe handling and storage procedures. ([Link: recipe - home project try-out of an {aromatics: electrolytics-sugars: oxalic acid: plant-and-animal fats: balsamic (wine alcohol, grape must) vinegar: pigeon guano: and salts} slight au jour quant aux données à prendre d'hommes parisienne bonnes des oeuvríer sur les faut cuisinaire provençale:

From Google Translate:
- as to the data to be taken from Parisian men good to work on the needs of Provençal cooking

• : une cōnfīte

I'll work on fleshing out the unpublished article-blog content shortly.

• More on the uses and cautions involved in working with pigeon guano, at homesteadingtoday.com forums. 

A truly iPigeon Favorite: caramelized candied French Onion Soup

I've made it a common destination for my new apartment home cooking nights to do the classic French dish: French Onion Soup, to the nines. It's simple enough for the making; and it suits practically all conceivable tastebuds to come.

The general context is that making French onion soup is somewhat similar to making burnt onion soup, but you'll be disappointed if you don't baby the process and look over the creation of this luxe delicacy.

The ingredients:

Red Onions
Butter
Balsamic Vinegar

Thyme
Oregano
Salt
White Pepper (ground)

Bread
Mozzarella Cheese



First skin and chop the onions into perhaps 1 inch or so squares. The onions are going to be the meat of the meal, so they shouldn't be chopped too small. Given that the dish is squarely onions, and therefore a vegetarian dish, it's slightly deceptive in how rich and filling the soup actually turns out to be, once it's done. The caramelization process puts a lot of heat through the onions, and the process of cooking them properly is a labor of love. You'll need to steam the onions, saute them, stir them, and lightly burnish them with the caramelized balsamic vinegar, all things at once. Don't leave the pot or pan sitting by itself for very long, and you can vary the temperature within reason; we're cooking with butter, so remember, don't turn the heat up to high at all, or for very long, if at all.

You'll definitely know when you've got caramelized French onions for soup in your pot. Feel free to taste the onions as you go so as to see just how candied and caramelized they are; surely the rich aromas of the cooking utensils have aroused your taste buds and stirred your belly into hungry mode. It will take perhaps 45 minutes to an hour to properly caramelize onions. It's worthwhile to use perhaps 5 onions to start, and to have several bowls of French onion soup at your disposal. The onions do well, also, in chili and beans. I like them by  themselves, somewhat as candy, as well. They're a versatile treat.

Traditional French onion soup is served with bread, butter, and cheese atop the bowl of soup; it's a rich and flavorful treat that delights the senses. I used bread and butter with cheese, aside, by the slice, for dipping, in this instance. Just as well. Don't forget the seasonings! Throw them in in the last minutes of cooking so that they're not used up by the time the dish gets served.