patio garden

So if anyone was wondering, as my dad was, how I have tomatoes, strawberries, 10 heads of lettuce, flowers, and herbs all on my patio, here is is picture of my patio showing all but the gardenia on the far right that didn't make it in the picture. I still have plenty of room for my mini bbq and a small table and 2 chair which do not exisit at this time, but may in the future. It's going to be a yummy summer of fresh herbs and veggies!

zucchini bread

What better that an excuse to bake than my trip to Seattle so I won't be empty handed for my gracious hosts. And if my memory serves me when Frank and Kristin were visiting San Diego I had zucchini bread made then and they gobbled it right up! I had all the ingredients so I was ready to go for making my favorite "bread". With almost as much sugar as flour it is more like a cake but calling it bread makes me feel less guilty having it for breakfast (which is when I usually have this yummy treat), ahh who are we kidding, I had birthday cake for breakfast almost every day until that cake was gone, I could care less what we classify this treat as!

Zucchini Bread:

Preheat oven to 325 deg Ferh.

3 eggs

1 Cup canola oil

2 Cups sugar

2 Cups grated zucchini

1 tsp vanilla

3 Cups flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

3 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1/2 Cup sliced almonds or other nut (optional)

With all ingredients ready mix all dry ingredients (excluding the sugar) together using a whisk to "sift" them together.

In another bowl, beat eggs until light. Add oil, sugar, vanilla and grated zucchini. Mix lightly but well.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. If adding nuts now is the time. I use sliced almonds and scrunch them in my hands to break them to smaller pieces.

Mix well.

Using a non-stick cooking spray prepare 2 bread pans. Bake at 325 deg F for 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool out of pans on a wire rack.

Optional: After bread is out of oven and pan and cooled till just warm, drizzle warm bread with lemon glaze (powdered sugar and fresh lemon juice, enough of each for amount and desired consistency). The lemon complements the zucchini bread wonderfully!

I cannot wait to get to Seattle TODAY to dig into this sweet treat (and see dear friends and sweet babes)! Pictures and stories to follow when I return early next week!

first harvest

Last night I harvested my first head of lettuce to have in a salad for dinner. As you can see from the first picture the leaves were still small but with 10 heads of lettuce growing I though I better get eating. The leaves were tender and extremely fresh. After ripping off the roots, washing, and drying, I put the leaves in with some spinach and cut cherry tomatoes. It was a very enjoyable salad.

This salad made me have a strong appreciation for food, which I didn't know I was lacking before until now. We've all heard the saying (or some variation of), "You must clear your plate, there are starving children in Africa who would love to eat that!". Growing my own food has made me realize the physical energy, natural resources, and human energy that goes into making food. Having access to fresh food is such a blessing that I know I over see far of too often. Each time I go to water my plants I now try to remind myself off all the watering and work others have done to produce most of the food I consume and I am thankful!

pen pals

In August of 2001 I traveled to Vietnam and the last leg of the trip took the group to Cat Ba Island. We took a ferry back to the main land where our tall, pale bodies stood out like sore thumbs in the jam packed ferry full of locals. We must have gotten there a little late cause we were all scattered around the ferry finding any seat we could find. I sat next to a Vietnamese woman who spoke a little English. We "chatted" but mostly drew pictures in my journal to communicate back and forth about differences of American and Vietnamese culture/ life. At the end we exchanged addresses.

After coming home I sent her a picture of our meeting on that ferry and a letter. Recently I recieved a letter from her with that picture (her way of making sure I remembered who she was). She said she had tried to send me a few letters over the years but that I never responded. Unfortunately I never recieved those letters but I did get this one and remembered her and our meeting very well. I gave her my email address in case she had access to email thinking that it may be a more efficient and convienent way to communicate. I got my first email from her with pictures of her 2 children, a boy and a girl. I've never had a true pen pal but I would say I do now!

how does my garden grow?

Here is the latest of what is going on in my patio organic garden thanks to the warm, sunny weather San Diego has been having.

 The lettuce and tomato plant are getting larger by the day.

More and more juicy, red strawberries are growing each week, and the herbs that were started from seeds are finally starting to come out of their stunted growth and are inching upward.

I cannot wait till I can finally use the herbs in my cooking!

a very happy birthday to me!

May 10th was my 26th birthday! I was actually excited to turn a year older this year as opposed to last year when I felt great trepidation in turning 25. Today started with my mom calling to wake me up to wish me a happy birthday (well she probably didn't plan on waking me but there are not many days I'm awake at 9am!). After facing the fact that I should get up and get my day started, Pati and I went to Solana Beach and walked around the shops in the "design district". At the end of the shops we grabbed sandwiches and headed to La Jolla Shores to soak up some sun on the beach!

Despite a little wind, lying on the beach was quite wonderful for this early in the beach season! Pati and I dug right into our sandwiches but as Pati went to take her second bite a fiesty, ballsy I may add, Seagull swooped in from behind and grabbed Pati's entire sandwich from her hands. He didn't even drop any part of the sandwich as he flew away. How dare take food from a pregnant woman. The seagull and his friends then started to hover over us and hang around our towels waiting for another opportunity to get more food, but lucky for us we didn't give them another opportunity and were able to split the rest of my sandwich.

The seagull himself!

After we were sunned out, we headed home to get ready for dinner. For dinner Pati, Natalie, Stephanie, and myself went to Jakes in Del Mar. We all enjoyed a beautiful sunset over crashing waves, fresh seafood dinners, and a yummy strawberry shortcake cake!

Thank you to all those who helped make my birthday as special as it was whether it was spending time with me, calling, sending a card (or gift!), texting me or sending a facebook message! I love you all amd am happy to have you in my life!

to-mAy-to, to-ma-to

Homemade Tomato Sauce

24 oz. can of diced tomatoes

1 TBS olive oil

2-3 cloves of fresh garlic (chopped)

3 freah basil leaves (chopped)

1 teaspoon chopped fresh oreganos leaves (from my garden!!!)

1 Tablespoon sugar

Mirepoix (mixture of chopped white onion, carrots, and celery), 2/3 of the container from Trader Joe's, if chopped yourself, about 3/4 C of each vegetable

Salt and Pepper to taste

Start with the olive oil and Mirepoix. Let saute on medium heat until vegetables soft and cooked down a little. Then add the chopped garlic, let saute a few more minutes.

Next add the tomatoes, basil, oregano and sugar and let cook down for about 30 minutes on a very low simmer. Salt and pepper to taste.

Let cool a few minutes and put in blender. Blend until just blended and either use immediately or place in a glass container and refridgerate until needed. Can also be placed in the freezer and thawed in the refridgerator when needed. For a meat sauce, brown some sausage or groud meet and add to the sauce.

I cannot wait to have mine with the fresh made garlic and basil linguine pasta I got from the farmers market!

lilacs

I

L O V E

L I L A C S

grow garden grow...

This Spring having a place to put a mini organic garden on my patio was very exciting for me! Around March at this first taste of warmth I started by purchasing seeds, soil, planter, some plants and a few flowers. The first set of pictures is what my garden looked like after 3-4 weeks after the seeds had started to sprout.

Lettuce, Basil, Cilantro, Italian Parsley, Chives, and Arugula Seedlings

Cherry Tomatos

Sage, Oregano and Rosemary

Strawberries

After the seedlings started to slow their growth as they reached maximum capacity in their first planters I decided it was ready to transplant them to their larger planter. This group of pictures is a few more weeks into the planting process.

Herb seedlings

Lettuce

From left to right after transplantation is: Basil, Chives, Parsley, Rosemary, Cilantro, Oregano, Sage

Tomatos

Strawberries

More pictures to come on the recent changes in the garden.

PS I have enjoyed 4 strawberries already from the plants and they are very juicy, red, and sweet.

seattle bound

So I am very exited, yesterday booked my flight to Seattle. I cannot wait to see Kristin, Frank and Miss Haley Ann. Last I saw her she was 2 months old

and now she will be almost 6 months! Another friend Sarah from U of A recently had a baby boy, Brayden, and I have yet to meet him. I cannot wait to see them as well. I have never been to Seattle and am looking forward very much to exploring Pikes Place Market, the space neddle, the original Starbucks, and Seattle Grace Hospital (oh wait that one just exisits in Grey's Anatomy world) just to name a few!

baby boy, we love you!

Pati's baby shower was a great success! Fun seemed to be had by all, yummy food was inhaled and Pati got just about all she needs for when Isaiah arrives! All the hard work and preperations was well worth all the complements on everything and how happy and thankful Pati was!

The food table!

Gumball guessing game. The winner came within 2 gumballs of the actual count!

Spot for people to write their advice to the mom-to-be!

Homemade flag garland using baby patterened scrapbook paper.

Onie's backyard were the party went down.

Natalie and Cerina helping get ready! Thanks guys!

The mom-to-be enjoying her lunch!

Soosan, Natalie, Pati, Steph, Karen, Stephanie, and little Sarah enjoying food.

Darling Dane! What a ham!

Soosan guessing how big Pati's belly is with yarn.

Presents!

Thanks to all who were able to come, to those who sent gifts, and to those who worked so the rest of us could be there!