Slugs, slugs, slugs, slugs

A couple Sundays ago, I came home from the Farmers’ Market with a tub of butter (grass fed, ridiculously expensive butter), a tray of Hood Strawberries, and some organic bok choy.  I don’t make bok choy often, but the offerings were dark green and crisp.

I marinated some flank steak in fresh ginger, garlic, soy, Murin (this Asian rice wine that sits in my cupboard just begging for a reason to be used), soy sauce, honey, and a dash or three of sriracha.  As the grill for my steak was heating up, I pulled the bok choy out of the fridge to wash.

Oh, hello!  What a slimy mollusk surprise.  This slug is kind of cute, right?  It had eaten a few holes in the bok choy, but nothing too terrible.  So, I took the little sucker outside – as far away from my vegetable garden as possible – and went back to quadruple washing my greens.

Look! My little slug buddy brought a friend.  This one is undeniably cute, but outside it went as well.  Far, far away from my precious vegetables, across the street and in a dry dirt patch it rests.

After giving the leaves a thorough washing, I cooked up the delicious greens (recipe below).  And for the next few weeks, I don’t give my cute friends any more thought.

Erik and I join my family at Shasta Lake.

Oh, we have loads of fun at the cabin.  Never any chores, we just sit around, enjoying the lake… OK, maybe we dig up a few sewer lines now and then.  But, all in all, I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else in the world.

The entire time we are gone, it rains.  No big deal, right? At least nature was watering my garden.  What I didn’t think about was what it was going to do to my little friends and their magical multiplying abilities.  The ones in my garden don’t look quite so cute. They ate through an entire basil starter (jerks) and slimed up my lettuces.

I know a couple of ways to get rid of slugs, but I chose the old get ‘em drunk and drown ‘em method. For some reason, it seems more civilized.  Salting slugs feels a little sinister, like a villain pouring acid on a superhero, but giving my prey the option to find a container of beer, drink, fall in and drown just feels like survival of the fittest. If you are so dumb, slugs, that you die in a bowl of beer, I don’t really feel bad for you.

Unfortunately, after two days there is only one slug in the beer and five sliming around being gross. Ugh. I give you slugs two more days and then you might as well call me The Joker.

(Ginger Bok Choy Recipe)

1 T vegetable oil
1 t freshly grated ginger
1 t minced garlic
1/4 cup water
3 cups of chopped bok choy
soy sauce to taste

Place vegetable oil, ginger, and garlic in a cold pan and turn on medium high heat. Once the garlic starts to brown and become fragrant, toss in the bok choy and the water. Cover, and cook for three minutes. Once cooked to your liking, toss in some soy sauce to taste. I used about a half teaspoon.