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!

Home Fries

That's right, kids, it's potato time.  First harvest of 2011 (other than some collard greens here and there), which is pretty exciting.  I am clearly outfitted for the occasion.

Back in November, Jenn was on hand for potato planting--three different kinds and it's time to harvest the first.  Turns out to be this awesome purple German heirloom that Patt gave me!

Head over heels.

That's the stuff!

They look red in the picture, but the color is more a magenta-purple.  Not sure yet if flesh is creamy or purple as well.  Only one way to be sure...

 

Breakfast for dinner, anyone?  I'm suddenly in the mood for a frittata with cheddar and leek, and of course, these gorgeous potatoes.

Or maybe I'll have one fitted to a cocktail ring and wear it while sipping gibsons in my foyer.  

Nah.  Frittata it is.