The roses are gone for another year. But, they were more beautiful and more prolific than ever before. The deep red blooms were stunning.
That gorgeous shade of deep dark red fades with each new each day.
Each color has its own beauty.
And, every unique bloom offers beauty to the world.
The Biggest Black Mission Fig In Our Yard
The Figs Are Sprouting Nicely
The other two, not so much…
The 4 Footer
Straining to the left in search of sun, it’s a goofy little tree.
The White Princess Peach
Sadly, the windstorm knocked most of the peaches off the tree about 2 weeks ago.
Some appear to be ripening much faster than others. Another strong wind, knocked at least another 2 dozen peaches off this week. Around 2 dozen peaches remain on the tree. But, the tree appears to be very healthy. So, this might be for the best.
The tiny apricot tree in the back was planted the same day. It bloomed nicely this spring. There were dozens of pretty little blossoms.
Early Girl
Lemon Boy
Both currently have about 4-6 small tomatoes.
Sun Gold Cherries
More Sun Gold Beauties
Unfortunately, the wind has knocked several greet tomatoes off.
Tami G
Juliet Towering Over Tami G
Juliet
New Blossoms On Top
Because of the heavy rain, we’ve already fertilized once. This made them sprout like crazy.
This is the garden today.
The Juliets are the tallest. The Sun Gold Cherries are very close behind and they’re also the most fruitful.
This was about three weeks ago.
Rainbow Blend Cherries From Seed
Given that I started these seeds about two weeks too late, it’s a miracle they’re sprouting so beautifully. The good news? If the squirrels don’t kill them, I’ll have some cherry tomatoes later in the season.
Marble Strips Hand Cut By My Honey
A project in the kitchen has kept us extremely busy this year. But, we’ll be enjoying the fruits of our labor…
…soon.
A simple sandwich can be so satisfying if you take the steps to make it something special. Smoke or roast your own meat. Toast or grill the bread. Make the condiments yourself. And, include some fresh vegetables.
We’ve been experimenting with an oven smoker. They’re so incredibly quick and easy to use.. The flavors seem to be slightly more mild than a real smoker. This is probably due to the quicker cooking times. But, we’re loving it. We’ve smoked a few chickens, too.
Smoked Salmon On Ciabatta
makes 1 sandwich
ciabatta, sliced in half
smoked salmon filet
freshly made mayo
lettuce, shredded
tomatoes, thinly sliced
Vidalia onion, very thinly sliced (Add next time)
fine sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
Grill ciabatta on a lightly buttered griddle. When, the first side turns golden, flip. Spread a very thin layer of mayonnaise on the cut side of the bread. Top with smoked salmon, lettuce, tomato, a sprinkle of sea salt and a light grinding of black pepper.
Gazebo On Marietta Square
Rambling Red Climbing Rose
Gorgeous, healthy, and ridiculously hearty, we can’t kill this rose. It’s perfect for us. We’re guessing the type. But, the hearty, vigorous nature and color of this rose matches the description to a T.
Those horrible beetles are devouring the rose leaves.
Flowering Sage
The sage…
…and oregano are taking over this little bed. The marjoram is buried underneath the sage and the rambling red roses. We’ll probably need to redo this bed next year.
Four Year Old Black Mission Fig
Out of three very healthy black mission fig trees planted, one is thriving. It’s about 7 feet tall and over 5 feet wide. It’s the one out of the three that receives almost all-day sun. The second healthiest is about 4 feet tall and three feet wide (less than 1/4 the size of the healthiest black mission). We believe it gets approximately 3 hours less morning sun. The tiny little one in the shade with about 3 hours of afternoon sun. It’s about 2 feet tall with about 2 dozen leaves. We’ve never seen a ripe fig on this poor little tree. Squirrels may be eating the green figs. And, it doesn’t help that rabbits were eating (and possibly still are) the lower leaves.
Blackberry Blossoms (With Thorns)
Flowering Blackberry Bushes Straining To Reach The Sun
Dozens of blackberries this year, it’ll be interesting to see how many the squirrels allow to ripen. This year we’ve seen more blossoms and unripe blackberries than ever before.
Every raspberry sprout (too small to be a bush) made it through the long cold winter. But, one of the thornless blackberry sprouts (on the hill far right) appears to be gone. The other two thornless blackberries are sprouting. But, they’re very small. And, we haven’t seen any flowers or berries.
The raspberry shares a bed with loads of chocolate mint. Even in the more shaded areas, the chocolate mint seems to be thriving. It’s remaining in the bed, so far.
Rosemary With A Fresh Bed of Compost And Garden Soil In The Back
We’re hoping the blackberries will spread to fill the space.
The tomatoes are doing beautifully. Every purchased plant has multiple green tomatoes. And, the rainbow cherries are sprouting very well. We believe over 90 % of the seeds sprouted. They appear to be very healthy. But, the squirrels trample through the beds. So, we can’t be sure of the exact percentage. It’ll be interesting to see how many survive the daily trampling.
The Cajun Belle peppers are extremely healthy… so far. Last year, the squirrels devoured the sweet peppers. So, this will be interesting to see.
The only thing struggling due to the late frost appears to be the basil. Every plant is alive. But, they are growing at random rates. Some are more slow growing than others.
Take Grilled Burgers & Buns
Garnish With Cukes, Radishes, Queso, Cilantro…
Scallions & Onions
I chose to top my burger with a slice of grilled Vidalia onion, a thin slice of tomato, cilantro leaves and freshly crumbled queso fresco.
The cheese lover covered his burger in thin slices. Then, he sprinkled the top of his burger (medium rare) and cheese with a mix of chili powders.
Creamy pimento cheese tastes just fine. But, if you grate a portion of the cheese and stir it in at the end. You’ll notice a richer cheese flavor with each bite of shaved cheese.
Cave aged white cheddar gives this simple snack incredible depth of character.
Pimento Cheese
makes 1 bowl
4-5 oz. cave aged white cheddar, grated
4-5 oz. extra sharp cheddar (Tillamook or your own favorite)
4 oz cream cheese
1-3 Tablespoons sour cream
1 roasted red pepper
4 hot red cherry peppers, pickled (seeds and stem removed)
splash or two of Tabasco (or, use your favorite hot sauce)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, coarsely ground
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
Grate white cheddar. Set aside. In a powerful food processor, add extra sharp cheddar, cream cheese, sour cream, roasted red pepper, cherry peppers, Tabasco, black pepper, and salt. Process until smooth and cream. Add white cheddar. Pulse to combine. Spoon into bowl. Devour immediately or let chill overnight for an even richer flavor.
Serve with crackers, apple slices and toast.
(Or, spread a little bit on bread for an incredible grilled cheese sandwich.)
This dish is so simple to make, yet it’s rich with flavor. If you’re starting with raw potatoes this will add a couple minutes time to a traditional veggie scramble. But, you could easily make use of leftover boiled red potatoes or a leftover baked potato. Or, omit the potato entirely. It’s my non-traditional addition to this dish. But, I do think the potatoes are a nice way to add a few carbs without making toast or adding naan.
Anda Bhurji
serves 2
3 small red potatoes (my addition), well-washed and diced
1 onion, diced or sliced
2 teaspoons ghee
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 red jalapeño, minced (or 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
1/4 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
5 eggs, scrambled with a splash of water
1 -2 Tablespoons cilantro, minced
Additions:
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1 roma tomato, diced
cilantro leaves, to garnish
Melt ghee in a large frying pan. Add diced potatoes and onion. Sauté until edges are golden brown. Add garlic, jalapeño, pepper, garam masala, turmeric, and fine sea salt. Sauté for another minute. Add beaten eggs and scramble. Cook eggs to a fluffy, creamy state of doneness.
“You don’t just pick up your fork and dig into a brown salad. You have to play around with it for a little while.”
Have you ever seen Neil Simon’s classic play Barefoot In The Park? That’s exactly where this sandwich takes me. I’ve been playing around with the idea of making this sandwich ever since I’d seen it on Joy The Baker’s blog. That idea played over in my mind again and again. But, I just couldn’t bring myself to put those strange ingredients together.
Then, the mood to take action finally hit me.
Peanut Butter & Pickle Sandwich
makes 2
La Calavera Bakery Cranberry Walnut Levain
Peanut butter (Skippy Honey Super Chunk peanut butter, above)
pickle chips or slices
honey, optional
Slice cranberry walnut bread thinly. Toast lightly. Spread with chunky peanut butter. Then, top with a couple pickle chips.
It was unique enough to crave two days in a row. This time I added a generous drizzle of honey.
Oddly, this made it even better. The blend of flavors are so shockingly weird… But, it really is a good sandwich. Hmm, maybe good isn’t the right word. It’s a very interesting sandwich. My taste buds were confused, yet intrigued.
Famous Dave’s Sweet & Spicy Pickle Chips
This was a pleasantly mild choice. Touched with sweetness and a little bit of spice, it works great in this odd little sandwich.
Peanut Butter & Co. Mighty Maple
Favorite Peanut Butter… EVER!
I didn’t want to waste my precious Mighty Maple peanut butter. So, I experimented with a jar of Skippy Honey Nut Super Chunk (Another favorite, but, it’s a lot easier to find).
The buds of spring fade too quickly.
Garden Additions Planted From Seed:
2 big patches of curly endive
(empty patches to be filled in with Farmer’s Market Mesclun Blend)
1 patch dill
1 small patch Caribbean Red Habanero
1 small patch jalapeño
about 8 basil seeds
The purchased tomato plants are doing beautifully.
They’ve all grown several inches. All the tomato plants look very healthy, except one. The tomato plant on the end was very dry when we made our purchase. We immediately brought the poor little plant home and watered it very generously. The plant appears to be healthy. But, it’s just not growing like the others.
Botanical Interests Cherry Tomato Rainbow Blend
After picking out all of the natural colored seeds and carefully planting them, I found the Botanical Interests website and found a list of the color coding. The color coding is as follows:
Natural Seed Color = Super Snow White
Blue = brown cherries
(It says brown cherry. But, last time, mine resembled black plums.)
Yellow = Gold Nugget
Orange = Sundrop
Red = Sweetie
Green = Green Grape
Bicolor = Pink & White
I thought the natural seeds would be brown or black plums. Oh well, it looks like I’ll have a small half row of Super Snow Whites instead. (If they sprout, that is.) In the spaces where the Super Snow Whites don’t sprout, I plan to plant the rest of the green seeds. Also, the last two blue seeds were planted.
Look at all those seeds left! That’s after at least two years of plantings. If they sprout this year, I might try and save the remainder for next year. One 15 inch scrap of bamboo makes a lovely planting stick, too.
Two Cajun Bell Plants & One Sweet Mint
Yesterday, we planted our first batch of tomato plants. Then, about 3 hours later it started drizzling… Then, it started raining… and it’s still raining. Now, all we can do is sit back and watch it rain… and rain… and rain some more. Currently, the only areas in our back yard that aren’t flooded are the raised beds.
So far…
Tomatoes
1 Early Girl
2 Lemon Boy
3 Sun Gold
3 Tami G
3 Juliet
Rainbow Cherry Blend (from seed)
Veggies
2 Cajun Bell
2 green onion
Herbs
6 Basil
1 Large Pot Cilantro (from seed)
1 sweet mint
1 (hopefully) big patch of Chinese chives (from seed)
Two of the Tami G Plants and Three Juliets
The Tami G plants are quite leggy. And, the Juliets are stockier and very health looking. But, last year, the Tami G plants outproduced the Juliets. So, we’ll see what happens this year.
(If they don’t all float away, that is.)
One of the Lemon Boy plants already has flowers and buds.
One row of tomatoes and the trellis gets installed.
The apricot was the first sign of life with its small white blossoms. The white princess and dwarf elberta quickly followed. While the white princess appears to be thriving, the dwarf elberta appears to have suffered greatly from this long, cold winter. Most of the bottom branches look withered and they aren’t flowering at all. The only signs of life appear to be stocky branches on top. Time will surely tell this story.
Rhubarb and strawberries are two early beauties to enjoy. So, here’s a cocktail or two to try. Adjust the sugar depending on the sweetness of your berries.
Strawberry Basil Cocktail
makes 2
1 cup strawberries, washed and trimmed
1 sprig basil, use only the leaves
juice of 1/2 a lemon
2 -3 Tablespoons sugar
4 ice cubes
2 ounces vodka
2 ounces gin
splash of club soda
Fill two tall cocktail glasses with ice to the halfway point. Pour one ounce of vodka and gin into each glass. Set aside. In a powerful blender, liquify strawberries, basil leaves, lemon juice and ice cubes. Add sugar to taste. Strain, if desired. For a more rustic cocktail, simply divide liquified strawberries between the two glasses. Stir gently to combine. Add a splash of club soda to each glass. Garnish with lemon twist or a skewered strawberry, if you like.
—
or
—
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Cocktail
makes 2
1 cup strawberries, washed, trimmed and quartered
1 stalk rhubarb, washed and cut in half
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
juice of one lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
ice, as needed
In a small sauce pan, add strawberries. Dice bottom half of the rhubarb stalk and add to sauce pan. Reserve the tender top half for the garnish. Place over moderate heat and add cinnamon, lemon juice and a 1/4 cup water. Simmer gently for about 10 minutes. Add vanilla extract and simmer for another minute or two. Let cool. When cool, add strawberry mixture to a powerful blender. Liquify. Add ice. For a chilled cocktail, add four or five cubes to chill liquid. For a frozen cocktail add ice until thick and frosty. Cut tender rhubarb piece in half. Dip cut edge in sugar. Divide cocktail between two tall glasses. Garnish with sugared rhubarb stalk.
Cheers!
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