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Just an excuse to share pictures of flowers, really. You must understand, though, that I’d never received a real gift bouquet (because do graduation carnations count? I think not) until I met T five-ish years ago. Goes with the not-dating-much territory, I suppose. And I was far too cautious a child to ever end up in the hospital. I mean, sure, I bought myself a sprig of dendrobium or freesia every so often because I’d walk by the most amazing florist on the way home from classes at UCLA and sometimes couldn’t resist. But there’s something different about being surprised with a full blown bouquet, y’know? So I take copious photos whenever I get one, to make them last longer.
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The red roses are from T and the pinks are from his family.
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Freesias and roses. I love the smell of freesias, but usually have to grow my own.
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These two-toned roses remind me of the ones we used to grow in the front yard of the house I grew up in.
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They smell amazing, too.
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The automatic focus on my new camera is so much better :-)
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I shall definitely have rose bushes when we get a place with a yard.
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Tumbling Tom cherry tomatoes. An autumn batch that had to ripen inside.
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Another of my balcony flower bouquets. I was never lacking in flowers from those nasturtiums.
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In fact, it’s the middle of November and the nasturtiums I planted in May are STILL blooming outside.
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Whirlybird Cream nasturtiums and purple Sugar n’ Spice sweet peas make a cute spring bouquet from the balcony garden.
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A wider view of my background garden at the height of summer.
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A batch of Fanfare hybrid cucumbers from the backyard garden.
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Another cucumber batch.
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Corn pollen.
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Baby corn forming! This was my first time ever growing corn. Another keeper for next year.
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Baby bell peppers. These got eaten by the snails really fast.
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The cherry tomato plants. They did moderately well but probably should have started earlier.
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The cucumber patch. There were only three plants or four plants, I think? Steady supply all summer. Definitely will plant again.
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Bush beans getting overrun by cucumber leaves. They also got eaten up pretty bad by the snails.
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Three basil varieties, red, lemon and Thai. The pests got to them a bit.
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An earlier view of my corn. Will grow more and earlier next year, definitely.
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A full garden shot of later in the season.
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Batch of vine-ripened cherry tomatoes.
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Cutaway view of one of the cucumbers. We were picking them pretty young because they were better for sandwich slices that way.
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Northern Extra Sweet corn. Was awesome. Want tons more.
Did some much needed work on the plants in the apartment this past week. The two backyard gardens thrive on benign neglect, since they have access to plenty of sun and rain, but the ones here need a bit more attention to be at their best.
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My hanging herb garden, before the monthly harvest/grooming session.
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My hanging herb garden, after the monthly harvest/grooming session. You can see out the window again!
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A handful of the old standby, sweet basil.
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A new herb this year — Mexican hyssop. I grew this from seed but am finding it amazingly similar to store bought lemon balm.
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Store-bought lemon balm. Second year planting this. It supposedly overwinters well, so I’m gonna put it out this year.
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Home-seeded peppermint is coming along nicely. Will be overwintering outside as well.
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Home-seeded cilantro! Hard to come by at the market, so glad to have some on hand.
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I had to give Misu a blade of lemongrass to keep her occupied and out of the way while I was tending the herbs.
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All harvested herbs packed and ready for freezer storage.
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The balcony garden, end of July 2011.
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The nasturtiums are going nuts! They should cover the balcony by the end of summer. The yellow flowers are so cheery.
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First time planting sweet peas, so not sure if this is normal. They seem sort of slow, though. Too sunny, maybe?
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Baby leaf salad basket is starting to see the effects of heat. This lasted for a few good weeks of plucking, though.
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Amaryllis bulbs are enjoying the sun! They should have plenty of energy for a winter display of flowers this year.
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These mini bell pepper seedlings were starting to get gangly from sharing the same pot so long.
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So they have all been transplanted into roomier accommodations to be moved to separate gardens.
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The baby strawberries are taking their time. I should probably transplant soon, but they are growing so slow that I’m not too worried.
Apologies for the silence this last month — have been in the midst of wedding planning madness. I took a brief pause yesterday afternoon, however, to wander the forests with a friend and take advantage of the bounteous harvest this year’s warm, wet summer has brought.
My first batch of hand-picked wild Finnish bilberries! They were exceptionally plump and less than a ten minute walk from our apartment! Will definitely be going back in the coming weeks to get more for immediate baking and freezer storage. I’ve always been an opportunistic forager so finding a place to do it so close to home is very exciting. We also came across some nice patches of mushrooms, but I’ve never been a big fungi fan, so gladly let my friend take those all back with her.
Lessons I learned from yesterday?
1. My poor knees are obviously not used to extensive exercise — they are still a bit sore from all the crouching involved. This will happily fix itself with repeated use, however.
2. Mosquitos can still get you through thick tights. Will have to switch to jeggings next time and hope that they break their beaks on denim.
3. You can never use too much bug spray, especially when it’s warm and humid and you’re sweating buckets.
Hope everybody out there is enjoying their July as well!
Just a quick pictorial update of what’s been going on in the VK garden. June is the first month here when it’s warm enough to work outside daily and leave seedlings in the ground with no fear of frost. So, this past week and this coming week will pretty much be a gardening frenzy as I try to make up for a late start.
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Wild windflower (Anemone nemorosa) I picked while walking through the woods last week.
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These pretty little things are poisonous and I believe all parts of the plant are toxic.
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But aren’t they pretty? They grow in huge patches in shady woodland and are early to flower.
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They also have a slight musky smell to the leaves, which is why cats might be fascinated by them.
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And this being my cat, she also has to pause and mug for the camera.
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A few days later, my morning walk yielded a lovely bouquet of lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis). They bloom here quite a bit later than in most other parts of the world, since we’re so far north. Early June is the earliest I’ve found them here.
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So pretty and fragrant! As usual, the first bouquet above my desk so I can smell it all day :-)
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That same weekend, we also got a lovely bunch of engagement roses from T’s grandparents (both sides). They smell beautiful, too.
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The weather being ridiculously warm, I tried to find the shadiest place possible to make them last. I need a yard to grow my own!
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Growing my own segues nicely into my current gardening efforts! I’ve been starting my herb seeds inside by the sunny kitchen window.
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And my veggie seeds were started out on the balcony which gets heavier afternoon sun.
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Those hanging boxes contain flowers that I plan to let grow all over the railings.
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I started transplanting some of my herbs to full sun last week. My friend kindly offered backyard space and I’m going to try growing everything in bags this year.
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My backyard veggie/herb garden as it currently stands. That dirt patch is corn. More grow-bags to come.
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And some photos of my friend’s gorgeous yard. She has tons of oriental poppies and hostas along the side yard.
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Oriental poppies (Papaver orientale ‘Olympia’) and columbines (some sort of Aquilegia) in the yard.
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Wildly verdant side garden of herbs and veggies.
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The side flower garden a few days later, with tons of flowers open because of the heat.
Continued from my last set of food diary pictures, a week ago.
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They’re like Cheetos… but not!
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I couldn’t tell the difference between French butter and the kind I’m used to, but these were definitely tasty.
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Another quality lunch from our dear Moonlight Cafe. Dependably questionable, that place was. This is supposed a steak pie, if you were wondering. Yes, I ordered it mostly out of curiosity and to see what I would get.
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I might be guilty of buying an entire package of fried chicken just so I could have the four drumsticks.
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Some lovely blackberry vinegar that Jam brought back from a food festival.
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“Crayfish are known by a few different names – crawfish and crawdads are just two. All we know is this small, succulent freshwater crustacean tastes fantastic balanced with fresh peppery rocket and creamy lemon mayo.”
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The girls ordered pizza by the meter. It was indeed a large pizza.
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During my layover in Sweden, I decided the best way to say “welcome back to the Nordic countries” was with a bit of lax.
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Okay, I lied — there’s one sweet thing in this set. Who doesn’t love a good carrot cake? This came from _Street Food_, Top Chef Masters winner Marcus-Samuelsson’s chain, btw. Couldn’t just walk past!
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Pheasant and pâté — two great tastes that taste great together!
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Also, really pretty presentation.
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There was an entire shelf full of different varieties and flavors of hummus. Nom.
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This reminds me — really must buy some chickpeas and start making my own blends.
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“Scottish Shellfish select only the finest quality mussels, exclusively rope-grown in the clear, pure waters around Scotland’s beautiful coastline and islands. Our grit-free mussels come direct from the grower and are renowned for their succulent flavour…” Everything’s better in Scotland, apparently.
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Didn’t have time to go to the farmers’ market and pick up fresh shellfish due to my extended work hours, but these pre-cooked mussels in garlic butter were pretty darn good.
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Croissants that were prepared in France, then shipped over and baked in the UK. It’s still trippy sometimes to think about how close together the countries are over here.
Is it weird that I like taking random pictures of food? Because I totally do. Partly to share with T but also so I can remember whether nor not I should get something again at a later date. And sometimes just because it’s an item that makes me happy… or sad… or scared.
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Mochi with green tea filling from Japan Centre on Piccadilly.
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One of the better green tea fillings I’ve had. Creamy and not at all bitter without being oversweetened.
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Green tea custard dorayaki! I love these little pancake sandwiches but have never had any fillings other than the standard red adzuki bean paste.
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Cream cheese and red bean dorayaki. I think I slightly preferred this over the green tea one.
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The Clotted Cream Fudge yogurt was exceptionally nice.
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Various creatively flavored yogurts from Waitrose that made me happy. Malaysian Coconut, with some mango.
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Waitrose lemon curd yogurt.
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Waitrose hazelnut yogurt.
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Royal Trifle at Waitrose, made to celebrate the wedding.
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Marked down Easter candy that we couldn’t pass up at the supermarket.
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“This trifle is made extra special by the addition of Marc de Champagne, saffron and rose petals.”
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£13.99 for the Royal Trifle. They didn’t even mark it down after the wedding, much to our disappointment.
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Giant chocolate egg, marshmallows, gummies, and hard candies!
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Syrup sponge puddings. Because sometimes you just want straight up sugar shock.
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I gnawed on the giant chocolate egg for the first half of the shoot :-)
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English butterscotch yogurt, which I’m sure T would have liked.
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Fiona Sciotti gourmet chocolates in a bunch of pretty flavors.
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Jen got these from a food festival last week.
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Willamette raspberry sorbet. Once again, the raspberry varieties elude me but I like variety in my sorbets.
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Scottish Raspberry yogurt. Couldn’t tell how they were different from regular raspberries, but it was nice.
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Sicilian lemon sorbet. A bit tarter than I expected, but great for warm days.
Anybody who has been around me for the past several months has probably heard me bemoan at some point or another the scarcity of shellfish in our vicinity. There’s nothing fresh and alive, most certainly — which has made it difficult to continue with my “Food That Moves” column for the foreseeable future. However, more frozen options have been appearing over the past few years, so we’re not entirely high and dry. The frozen mussels are pretty decent, frozen squid is readily available for calamari-makers, and lately there have been beautiful raw frozen tiger shrimp showing up that have made me very happy. And in fall of last year, I even started seeing these guys popping up:
Wee frozen cooked lobsters from Canada! Given, they are what I call “buffet sized” — meaning they’re the sort that you typically find at seafood buffets that advertise lobster. You know, the ones where they give you a ticket and everybody’s only allowed to claim one lobster dish, which is comprised of a teeny tiny tail and loads of sauce? Still, it’s an improvement over no lobster! At 8€ ($11.64, currently) a pop for 10.6oz. of lobster, it’s not something that we’ll probably get on a regular basis. Remember the live 7-pounder I got at the Asian store for about $30? Oh, Cali. For a special treat, however, it’s perfectly adequate.
Popping the bug out of the bag to defrost in the sink. It looks so sad, all bricked up in ice like something found on an archaeological dig.
Mr. Lobster, defrosted and rinsed. I’ve had jumbo prawns bigger than this little baby, back at home. I didn’t even need any heavy tools to open him up. Just bare hands, a fork, and a pair of kitchen scissors.
Wee bits of meat — tail and two claws only, since the legs were too tiny to get in. Heated them up with a bit of butter, then chopped up the pieces and put them into a sushi roll with some avocado. There was just enough meat to make one fat roll, sliced thinly to serve two. Pictures next time, when my rolls don’t look quite as messy  The meat actually held up very well! It tasted sweet and lobstery, didn’t really suffer from the trip over at all. Good freezing technology on fishing boats these days!
Here is another canned delight from Sweden that brought I back from our trip this past December. Given, this one came straight from the grocery store’s prepared foods aisle and not from a gourmet food boutique. The first picture is slightly misleading, since I mixed a bowl of rice into the can o’ stuff. That disk-shaped lump of white matter on the spoon should be a clue, though.
If it helps, here’s what the stuff looks like in the can, prior to being served. Any clearer?
Alright, then. If you’re still stumped, click to go behind the cut…
Continue reading Mystery Meat: Secret’s in the sås.
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