Apple of my eye

So apparently, we didn't have a summer here in California.  We didn't have a spring either, come to think of it.  We plowed right past the sunny days and languorous nights into rain on the pavement and perpetual dusk,  which I'm okay with because a) I hate the heat, b) yeah right are we over the drought and c) APPLES!  Case in point...

Pretty apples, dappled apples, sunset colored stripey apples.

And maybe my favorite kind of all: free.  

Now, you know how I feel about free produce--spread the love!  Last week, I noticed an apple tree on my block.  Some sort of green, tart cooking apple.  No one was touching it.  Every time I walked by, there were more and more littering the ground.  So, this Sunday, I shimmied up the tree and helped myself.

Then of course there was the debate in my kitchen (pretty much between me and the cat but who's counting) over what to do with these beauties.  Pie or sauce?  Muffins or spice bread?  Some sort of French tart?

What won out was an attempt at jelly that turned out something even better.  Cut up the apples, cores and all, and throw them into a large stockpot.  Cook unit the mixture thickens and looks like porridge.  Scoop into mesh jelly bags and let drip overnight.  Then simmer the juice with honey, sugar, and spices.  Those are real chunks of fresh ginger in there!

Because I cut back on the amount of sugar requested, it didn't thicken as much, and instead produced a glorious, amber, spiced wonder--sweet Johnny Appleseed, it's apple pie syrup!  Pancakes at my house!

 Any ideas for turning this stuff into some sort of pie-themed cocktail are welcome (ahem, Lydia).  I have brandy and I'm not afraid to use it!

Wanderlust: Turkey

What can I say about Turkey?  About Istanbul, that great crossroads of civilization?  Perhaps, you cannot believe it until you are there.  

There is the inexplicable mystery...

the vibrant...

the strange...

 yet familiar.

 

the locals

the conquerors...

and those just passing through.

This is the best part

 This is the best part of the summer garden...when there are things to snack on while you work out in the sun, like fresh green beans,

Hungarian wax peppers

zucchini 

(apparently they're sweet when small and fresh--who knew?)

Sweet Chelsea cherry tomatoes

  

and silver fir tomatoes! 

I am so excited that tomatoes seem to be happy here at my new place.  Last year was a terrible summer for tomatoes and I did not get a single one.  This is just the beginning!

 

Oh, and the cutest thing happened.  I went out to water the other day and found that one of my neighbors put a basil plant amongst all of my plants.  Spectacular!  Community gardening is alive and well in my own backyard!  In my old apartment, I lived there for 5 years and no one bothered to ask my name.  But this, this is real sharing and real community, and it makes me so happy, you don't even know.  

Still to come: eggplant, cucumber, edamame, jalapenos, and more tomatoes, like these green zebras.  Stay tuned!

Come what May

Finally, a summer garden update.  So many sweet little plants!  I am so excited for all the veggie goodness coming our way.

 El Grande jalapenos with pole beans.

I sprouted the pole beans myself in our laundry room.  This prevented birds from digging up ungerminated beans like last year, and also allowed me to share with gardening friends, as I ended up with way more beans than I could plant.  Instead of planting on their own, they've all gone in with my peppers in huge containers, caged with a central pole. 

Hungarian wax pepper, already with a blossom! (Planted here with Anaheim chilies and Blue lake beans.)

 I am giddy at the sight of this CUCUMBER MADNESS!  Growing three different kinds total, seven plants altogether, because sometimes a girl has certain cucumber based desires that must be quenched.  

This was taken after they were first planted.  After seeing them done on the Free Farm, I asked my dad to help me devise some sort of vertical contraption.  It's brilliant--these wire frames fit right inside the troughs.  I have two troughs going for two tiers of cucumber plants all at once!

These are snap peas in with a silver fir tomato.   Despite the bad luck with tomatoes last year, I am determined to try again and planted a total variety in containers: green zebra, a sweet Chelsea cherry tomato, and the silver fir.   Speaking of which...

 ...a welcome sight!  

I am already having visions of the salsa I will be scarfing come summer.

Humbled.

This is the best magnet ever.  Saucy redhead retro girl + garden themed = love.  This already has me scheming for my summer garden.  If only summer would hurry up and get here.  I'm talking to you, March.  Enough already.  We get it--you were going for dark and broody, which I guess would work if I was out on the moors in some irritating mid-century novel, but I don't care for the Bronte sisters nor do I care for you.  Now, let's make with the sunshine!

Chop chop!


Look at me, I'm talking to a month.  I may have lost it.

 But in the spirit of not losing my mind, and since I'm stuck inside, I might as well whip up something tasty.  I loved this.  I'm so into things that go with rice right now.  Dinner is jasmine rice with turmeric and peas and fried tofu (I finally got it to taste like it does in Chinese restaurants!  Secret ingredient: corn starch).  Oh, how good would broccoli be with this?  Yum.  The greens are fresh baby joi choy leaves, so small and tender they didn't need cooking.  The stupid neighborhood deer came and nearly cleaned me out.  All my beautiful little bok choy plants cropped clean off.  So I guess it's now or never.  They're not really full grown but I better taste them now while I can.


Remind me to plant heaps of hot peppers which the deer do not like.

Speaking of awesome, check out the ceramic pot I found at Goodwill for $1.50!  Thanks, Mom, for the little succulents to go in it!  I think I may finally be getting the hang of succulents.  Previously, jade was the only succulent that did well for me.  Now I have a variety going.  Succulents keep me humble.  I realize I can't fuss over them too much and I can't always win.  I do like the idea that they can grow anywhere and be easily shared with friends.  This pair makes me smile.

Other things that make me smile?  Oh, I've got dozens.

Ooh baby

Thanks to everyone who participated in the cheesecake taste test of last week because those little bad boys were a huge hit at Jasmine & Rodney's baby shower!  

The suggestion of crust was a good one.  Trader Joe's ginger cookies were a perfect fit.

This time I whipped the batter with a hand mixer.  The result: silky smooth.

Sign of a good party dessert?  No utensils required and none left over!  I'd say we have a winner.

Stay tuned for more frozen yogurt shenanigans coming later this week!

Ode to Salt

Pablo Neruda wrote that in salt, "we taste infinitude."  I wholeheartedly agree.  Leave it to a Chilean poet to come up with such a sexy way to say that salt is the missing link.  The tiniest pinch makes even the simplest of foods taste right.  This is the reason I never liked candy.  Sugary sweets have no fireworks--just a mild rah with no sis-boom-bah.  It's not that I don't like dessert; it's that I don't like tasting sweet without substance or depth, without salt.  Consider the following minglings of sweet and salt.  Ponder, if you will: Oatmeal cookies.  Green apples with a chunk of cheddar.  Anything involving almond pastry or peanut butter.  Even watermelon slices taste better with a little sprinkle.

Can't decide if you feel salty or sweet?  Oh, who we fooling--join me when I stand and say I refuse to choose!  To emphasize, how about dark chocolate-covered pretzels, chopped up and ready to go in the first batch of homemade frozen yogurt!

Voila!  Allow me to introduce the fabulously smooth treat that spoiled my dinner.  Chocolate fro-yo with sea salt and chocolate covered pretzel chunks.  Oh yeah, it's over.  I surrender.  All resistance is futile. 

Hey, yogurt has calcium!  I'm just looking out for my, er, bone structure.  Yeah, that's the one.

Sufficient Grounds

I work with a Trinidadian woman who has the most amazing gift with plants.  Her squash are the biggest, her chilies the spiciest, and I'm pretty sure she was responsible for the monstrous heirloom tomato that went on this pizza.  One of her secrets?  She mixes coffee grounds in with her soil.  Apparently my Grandpa Sid did the same thing in the Bronx.  The way I see it?  Two garden experts close to my heart can't be wrong.  I had to try it immediately!

The folks at Dana Street generously offered to keep my bucket under their counter for a day and fill it up for me.  I could barely carry it home. And the smell--fantastic!

I added a scoop here and a sprinkle there, but the first real experiment with the coffee method will be with these joi choy plants.  Joi choy is some sort of delicious bok choy hybrid.  This flat came from another coworker, the same one who introduced me to mizuna, amongst other garden goodies.

Oh, I have big plans for this.  Let's just say it involves potsticker soup with lots of ginger!

I'm also trying the coffee grounds with some ornamental Thai chili plants.

So cute.  So innocent.  A little early for chilies but they can keep each other company.

I'm so pleased I've been able to keep up a diverse container garden in a new environment and in a season that's not always the most gentle.  In the last 6 months, I've grown and learned to cook plants I didn't even know existed.  Everything looks great!  Look at Miz Liz Lemon go back there!

Spring visitors always welcome!