Summer 2016

These Japanese eggplants are roughly the size of hens' eggs. I only put one plant in the garden this year, and it appears to be plenty.

Bacon & Eggs Salad in a Jar

My friend Alicia was doing these mason jar salads years ago. I decided to use up some of my fresh greens to do a make ahead salads using of course bacon and eggs as a theme.

The results were a mixed bag however. Bacon and eggs, yes that worked out, but I think I like my salads fresh. Freshly made. Especially lettuce.

Happy Autumn Garden Pictures

Right around sunset when the first chill of air makes the birds sing shaper and more insistent, I go hunting for photos in the garden. Soon there will frost and with frost dead plants. This is my last hurrah.

I don't know if the little gypsy sunflower made it to seed. Lovely sunny color though. I made it my Facebook profile.

My very late planting of pumpkins seemed to be doing quite well. I spotted a massive gopher mound under it and put pieces of wood under the pumpkins that were developing. So far I've harvested 7 little Jacks and 2 sugar pies.  The others, and there's lots of them, haven't ripen completely.

Red Cabbage, Purple Cabbage

I planted nine, but one had a twin. So I have ten cabbages to harvest and soon. This is the first. Vibrant fellow, isn't he?

Nature is so amazing. Look at how tightly formed that head is.

I made kimchee with this one. Probably have to donate it to The Mister because I made it too spicy.

I'm too old for the Cabbage Patch Doll craze, but I can totally see where it came from.

Good Morning Sunshine!

One of my favorite ways to eat zucchini is sliced into disks and lightly sauté in butter with scrambled eggs. This morning I chopped up some blossoms and sauté them too and finished the plate with a sprinkle of some freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese on top. 

Hairy beast!

Sakana on Foothill Blvd

The best Japanese restaurant in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mtns. Well, I have not tried them all, but I loved this place. The staff was super nice. The lunches were served two-tiered. Don't forget to look at the lower plate (waitstaff says to bento person Ha Ha!) 

Look at the lovely yumminess! 

Cold Somen Noodle Bowl with Homemade Smoked Salmon Sushi

I am fascinated with noodles and these Somen are typically served cold although the hot versions sound yumski too.

This was a lunch for one. Me! The asparagus tips - so tiny, and carrot matchsticks, a whole shiitake, and baby bok choi were steamed al dente.

The noodles were boiled and returned to cold water. They came out pretty good considering how quickly they could have turned to mush.

I had a sauce for dipping, a combo of sesame oil and shoyu and dashi. It was perfect.

This was my first attempt at homemade sushi. 

I went to a favorite restaurant Friday for lunch and got a sushi component where the chef decides. He gave me a smoked salmon one and I loved it!

So I knew I had smoked salmon from Alaska in the cupboard, sooooo

I tried.

Yeah. It is not the greatest picture, and it didn't taste like my Friday lunch, but it was good, and it was good to try.

Are you trying any new dish? Would you like to share your results?

Jan 1st is National Bloody Mary Day!

Bloody Mary

I was perusing the LA Times food section and read a short ode to the Bloody Mary. The author implores his audience not to use the thin watery cheap bottle mix and offers a few suggestions of brands that are much better.

So when I went to the market, I looked for such brands and had no luck.

Well, I'm a "from scratch" kind of person. So here is my version (based on ideas from the article) of The Bloody Mary.

Start with:
5.5 oz Tomato Juice

Add to taste:
Horseradish sauce
Fresh ground black pepper
Worcestershire sauce

Stir in:
1 1/2 shots of vodka

Top with:
Fresh crumbled bacon strip
Juice of 1/4 of a lime

and garnish:
with a celery stick.

Christmas Dinner 2010

I've done this for Christmas dinner a few times now. It works out pretty well because it's so easy and delicious.

Individual Beef Wellingtons with mashed parsnips and pears, and some wonderful Brussels sprouts a la Amanda.

The parsnips and pears were a request, or I might have done mashed potatoes. Lordy I loves mashed taters.

The Brussels sprout recipe was a last minutes steal find from a favorite blogger, Memeopolis.

We had a couple of very nice Syrahs and rain.

Couldn't really ask for a nicer day!

Windrose Market

We went to our favorite market yesterday to get fresh organic fruits and veggies. It was the first time I've been there since Windrose Market has open for business. In the picture above, the foreground is Windrose and the background, that is light and purplish is Nature's Touch, an organic food market and nursery. 

I've always wanted to visit the actual farm when it was just over the river and through the woods from where we used to live, but never did. So I'm glad they decided it was time to come to town. 

They took over a corner of Nature's Touch Market,

 and sell some unusual varieties of heirloom apples and potatoes.

And baby greens. 

Ave (Bloody) Maria

Happy National Tequila Day!

What kind of monster sucks a snail out of his body?

What eats snails? 

He asked in a tone that was worrisome. 

I thought what could be worrisome about something that eats snails. 

Dead snails are a good thing in a garden.

He was concerned though, and I replied,

"Ducks!"

What else?

"Geese!"

What else?

"Some kinds of birds, hmm, I don't know. Why?"

I found a very strange feature, he said.

("Feature" is a term that archaeologist use, btw.)

"So let's look at it, okay?"

We went out to the garden. He was pulling weeds and found this.

From a distance, it looked like dead snail shells. Lots of them! Very Weird!

I reached down and scooped them up.

"Tomatillo skeletons," I said.

"Dozens of them."

Pretty cool!

Kimchee

When I mentioned to The Mister that I was going to make kimchee, he said, "Oh good! more food for me!"

That is because kimchee can be spicy, and I have to be careful with spicy food - lest my stomach might up and leave town.

So I looked at various recipes hoping to find one where I didn't need anything too exotic and found one where many of the items were optional. All I really needed was red pepper, garlic, and ginger.

Here is what I did.

Washed and cut into chunks one head of cabbage, the Napa variety, fresh-picked. Brined overnight in 3/4 cup of salt and one gallon of water. I used a plate to press down to floating cabbage and placed my garlic smasher rock on top of the plate.

This morning I rinsed the soaking cabbage with cold water and drained.

I boiled one tablespoon of rice flour with 3/4 cup of water. Set aside to cool.

Smashed a diced knob of ginger (peel removed) and five cloves of garlic in mortar and pestle.

In large bowl added rice mixture with garlic/ginger paste, one tablespoon of red pepper powder, one tablespoon red pepper flakes, diced carrots, diced radishes, and gave it a good mix, then I added the cabbage. Stir to combine.

Packed in glass jars and top with salt water (one tablespoon per one cup of water).

Now the trick here is to wait. Store in the fridge for one to two (or two to four) weeks depending on the recipe. One recipe said it's ready for immediate consumption.

The Mister tasted it, as did I. He thought it was hot (spicy), but it didn't seem to register that high with me.

We shall see...

Harvest Time

A sampling of my garden's produce.

Hot Peppers