Bed #3, the farthest one to the left, is now planted. I've installed the additional hardware and art on the chicken coop. Progress is slow.

Oh boy, it’s raining today. We get so little rain here in coastal southern California, that it’s cause to celebrate. I have some containers set out to collect rain from the roof because I STILL don’t have my rain barrel hooked up to the gutter’s downspout. I’m an incredible procrastinator, and the older I get, the slower I go.

Cauliflower will be ready to pick very soon.

I harvested kale yesterday to go into a nice dish of sauteed kale with 1/3 C pecans, 1/4 C orange-flavored cranberries and a splash of raspberry vinegar. Earlier in the week, I picked 3 bok choy and 3 bell peppers to go into a turkey stir-fry.

I planted this kale in the fall of 2007, and it's still growing. It flowered last summer. I collected seeds, cut the flower stalks, and it continues to produce nice kale leaves.

Here’s the harvest for this week:

7 oz. kale, Scotch blue curled

14 oz. bell peppers (3)

1 oz baby bok choy (3)

I grow baby bok choy in 15" shallow terra cotta bowls. I harvest the first ones as tiny babies, leaving a few to get larger.

If you harvested anything this week, visit Daphne’s Dandelions and post your harvest on Mr. Linky.

In southern California, it’s also planting season for cool weather vegetables. This week I planted Kailaan and Komatsuna Japanese greens. Both are new plants for me, but the seed is old. Not sure if they’ll sprout or not. Last week, I planted parsley and German white icicle radishes. The week before that I planted raised bed #3 with onions, snow peas, lettuce, spinach and cauliflower.

I planted the seeds for this savoy cabbage last January. The plants stayed tiny all summer and didn't start to really grow and head up until fall. They should be ready to harvest in a few more weeks.

So this was not really a Fridge Challenge. I had most of the ingredients already and when I was in the shops t’other day they had some sirloin on special so I popped it in my basket without a real thought of what I was going to do with it. I have made this recipe a thousand times and Saturday lunch is a good time to have it.

You can tailor your crunch in this salad to your favourites. It works well as a winter salad as you have a great meaty kick with a spicy/tangy dressing. I love using sirloin for this when you want to make a 15 minute lunch/dinner, but you can marinate the meat overnight if you make a bit of extra dressing and use some rump or even slow cook some onglet or use a bavette steak instead. If you are hard pressed to get any of these cuts pop over and see Jack. The options really are endless, I have swapped out the beef for , Tuna and Duck before and just adjusted mix of the dressing a little and the colours in the salad.

I always cook by eye as well as by taste and touch. Things have to be pretty. Especially with salads, making them more interesting and tastier always ends up being a by product of me trying to make them look less green and boring!

Recipe

1 untrimmed Sirloin Steak 300g

6-7 Radishes

6-7 Sugar Snap Peas

4-5 Spring Onions

1 Small Carrot

1 Stick Celery

Half a Yellow Pepper

1 Big Red Chilli

Some Mint Leaves

An Handful of Pomgranate Seeds

An Handful of Coriander Leaves

An Handful of Leaves (I love Mizuna, Baby Spinach and Oak Leaf in Winter)

An Inch of Peeled Ginger

Juice of 1 and a half Limes

1tsp toasted Sesame Seeds

Sesame Oil

Soy Sauce

Method

Season the steak with some sesame oil and soy sauce – about a teaspoon of each should do. Leave to one side.

Take the chilli and with some tongs turn it in the flames of your hob until the skin is black and charred all over – pop it in a bowl and cover the bowl with cling film. Leave it for about 10 minutes and it will steam itself a little and the skin will fall off easily under a running tap.

Peel the carrot and the string off the celery stick and continue to use the peeler to shave them into strips. Pop in a large bowl.

Thinly slice the radish, yellow pepper, sugar snaps, all but one of the spring onions, 3/4 of the coriander, half the chilli (without seeds) and mint. Add to bowl. Add the salad leaves and Pomegranate.

Take the ginger, remaining coriander, the last spring onion, other half of the chilli (with or without seeds depending on your tolerance) and a little of the lime juice and pound in a pestle and mortar or in a mini blender type thingy, until smooth.

In a bowl add the paste to the rest of the lime juice, 3tbs soy sauce, 3tbs sesame oil  and bring it all together with a whisk.

Pop the steak on until medium rare – obviously if you like it more or less cooked then that is your choice. (If you don’t know the timings of how to cook your steak have a look at Delia, if you are having a look at Delia I will know from my tracking page…) Trim the fat and slice thinly.

Dress the Salad and arrange on a plate, pop your steak on top and a tsp of the dressing. Sprinkle over a few sesame seeds.

Veggie pizza with kale, mushroom, yellow pepper, tomato, garlic and mozzarella, Chef Dave.

Kale and radish green salad with radish, yellow peppers, sprouts, mushrooms, tomato and lemon tahini dressing.  Chef Toni

Rice with seasonings

Egg omelet with asparagus

Spaghetti Bolognese

Radish

Stir fry beef

Nimono

Orange

Egg omelet : beat eggs and pour into skillet, while it is cooking, add boiled asparagus across the middle of the eggs, then roll it up

Spaghetti Bolognese : chop onion, celery, carrot very finely. stir fry ground beef with vegetables and add tomato paste, white wine, salt, pepper, worcestershire  sauce. when it is cooked, add basil, oregano, paprika powder, rosemary and cook for a while.  boil pasta and drain, add olive oil a bit(for not stick each pasta). mix pasta and sauce.

Stir fry beef : cut beef thinner, fry on the pan and add Japanese soy sauce and sugar and sake.

Nimono : boil Shiitake dashi and Katsuo dashi, put satoimo(taro potato), renkon(lotus root), takenoko(bamboo shoot) and carrot. (vegetabled are already pre-cooked)  add Japanese soy sauce and Mirin

This is Today’s Obento!

Chestnuts and sweet potato rice

Egg with spinach

Kabocya

Sausage

Chicken nuggets

Radish

Fried potato with Kanikama

Apple

Egg with spinach : boil spinach. fry egg on the pan and add drained spinach(after boiling), add salt and pepper

Fried potato with Kanikama : cut thin strips potato and kanikama. stir fry that with sesame oil, add parsley, pepper and Japanese dried dashi powder

This is Today’s Obento!

Rice with seasoniings

Boiled egg

Zucchini

Fried shrimp with broccoli

Cabbage hamburger

Radish

Apple

Fried shrimp with broccoli : boil shrimp and broccoli, and then fry with olive oil, add salt and pepper and basil

Cabbage hamburger : chop cabbage finely, mix with ground beef, egg and salt. fry on the pan with olive oil both side. when it is cooked, add ketchup and Japanese worcestershire sauce

This is Today’s Obento!

Red Radish Dip

Sounds a little strange but worth trying.  So easy and yet so good.  Even if you don’t like radishes!

16 ounces of cream cheese

1 bag or 16 ounces of radishes trimmed cleaned

3 cloves of garlic

1-2 teaspoons of fresh or from bottle lemon juice

Put radishes in a food processor and blend till there are only very small pieces.  Add the remaining ingredients and process until creamy.  Serve with Crackers or Ruffles.

One day every semester the IDS Opinion page pretends we’re The Onion and produces a fake news page. Because we’re original, we call it The Radish.

IU Freshman and eternal vampire Derrick Hardy was rejected last night when he attempted to seduce mortal sophomore Ashley Smith. Hardy was surprised at the response, having assumed his vampirism to lead to instant action. “I re-enrolled in college specifically to hook up with undergrads. I’m immortal. Why else would I spend thousands of dollars in tuition? I have seven doctorates now.”

Hardy played everything by the book, specifically the Stephanie Meyer series. Despite recreating the exact habits and activities of erotic-fantasy character Edward Cullen, Hardy has had little luck winning over mortal women. Smith woke up in her room two nights ago to find Hardy standing in the corner, staring intently at her. “He was just standing there like some reject mannequin and when I asked him what the hell he was doing in my room, he looked like he was about to throw up. Then he threw up.”

Hardy expressed a severe devotion to Ashley. Not one of love and care but a barely controllable, never-ending desire to eat her. Upon realizing Derrick’s intentions, Smith instantly rejected the idea. “Look, there are a lot of bonuses to dating a 17-year old with a personality from the 1920s; the idea they have of women as second class citizens, they sparkle in the sunlight like a survivor from a glitter factory explosion, and he’ll likely kill me in a blood rage if we ever have sex.  But Derrick’s not that good looking. If you can take the personality of a serial killer but place him in a model’s body, we have a deal.”

As Hardy slinked home through the shadows he reflected on his strategy. “I was reading up on this Nosferatu fellow. Might look into that.”

Kimchi Bloody Mary - Photography by Jessica Boucher

Just when you finally got used to crazy ingredients like chile peppers and wasabi in your cocktails, I’m going to throw you a curve ball:  kimchi cockails!

Kimchi is a Korean side dish – usually pickled and fermented Napa cabbage, but I’m told that there are as many kimchi recipes as there are Koreans. In other words, the vegetable can differ, and so can the pickling liquid and technique. But considering the recent spate of nifty books on pickling, not to mention the recent International Pickle Day, which had a fair kimchi representation, and the simple pleasures of the Pickleback cocktail, it seems time to put new meaning behind the words “Let’s Get Pickled.”

So we’re talking kimchi cocktails today, folks. If you’d like something easy to make, I recommend the Spicy Kimchi Bloody Mary, which uses a new product called Mother-In-Law’s Kimchi – one of the kimchis on show at the International Pickle Festival. But if you’re feeling more ambitious, may I suggest…

Gin Kimchi - Photography by Sara Remington

 The Gin Kimchi

 I first heard about this drink two years ago, when Scott Beattie, then of Cyrus, presented drinks from his gorgeous ”Artisanal Cocktails” book at Tales of the Cocktail. It’s beautiful, complicated, and features pickled ginger and daikon (a Japanese radish) – but no cabbage.

1 1/2 oz. Sarticious gin

3/4 oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 oz. Ginger-Shiso syrup (recipe follows)

8 pieces Pickled Ginger (recipe follows)

8 pieces Pickled Daikon (recipe follows)

5 small shiso leaves, cut into chiffonade

3/4 oz. Bundaberg or Cock’n Bull ginger beer

Combine the gin, juice, and syrup in a mixing glass and give it a stir. Add the pickled vegetables, the shiso, and enough ice to fill the mixing glass. Cover and shake a few times. Add the ginger beer, and pour it into a stemmed water glass or a tall collins glass to serve.

To make Ginger-Shiso Syrup (makes 1 cup)

1 cup simple syrup, chilled

2 drops essential oil of ginger

2 drops essential oil of galangal

1 drop essential oil of perilla (shiso)

Combine the simple syrup and essential oils in an airtight container. Cover and shake well to mix the oils into the syrup. Keeps for about 2 weeks, refrigerated.

To make Asian Pickling Liquid (for Ginger & Daikon – makes 1 2/3 cups)

1 cup rice wine vinegar

1/3 cup mirin

1/3 cup filtered sake

1/2 cup sugar

Combine the rice wine vinegar, mirin, and sake in a stainless steel saucepan over high heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, add the sugar, and stir until it dissolves. Allow the liquid to cool before pouring into an airtight container.

Pickling shorthand: The daikon and ginger each are sliced thinly and (in separate batches) marinated in pickling liquid, which is brought to a boil, poured over the vegetables, and then allowed to cool. A red beet is added to the ginger to create that pretty deep pink color. 

The full recipe is about 3 pages long…not exactly blog friendly. But if you aspire to make the cocktail and want more detail than I’ve provided, I encourage you to buy the book. You’ll want to try the five-spice Waverly Place Echo cocktail anyway, trust me!

Phil got an email from the Crop Systems Extension Educator (multi-county region) asking what he had growing!  (The field is along the highway.)  So Phil pulled 2 and brought them in for pictures.  Just what I have been waiting for!!

The bigger one was in the row where the manure was knifed in.    It is probably 2 1/2″ in diameter!

The bigger one appears to have been in the ground 8+”.   Even though the smaller one seems to not be doing as much good, it has put out a long taproot.   The taproot seems to be a good 8″ as well.

So both the smaller plants and the larger plants appear to be doing really well in their job!  We have had a very mild November (yeah!!) so they are still green and alive.  It is funny to see the bright green field.   (The radishes will die off with two 17′ days.)

Both the big tuber and the long taproot will aid in reducing soil compaction and the radish itself is storing up nitrogen to be released in the spring when the new crop needs it.   It is obvious the bigger radish soaked up lots of nutrients from the manure he applied prior to planting!

My other posts on radishes are:

1. Radishes! Aug 15
2. Raising Radishes Aug 25
3. Radish Update Sept 28

It’s really rare here to make it to Thanksgiving day without a half dozen hard freezes, but this year we’d only had a couple of frosts up to November 26.  Hence, when I saw the outdoor temperature plummeting to 36 degrees Fahrenheit before 6:00 p.m., I was resigned to the inevitable.  Thankful for our turkey feast and donning an LED headlamp, I headed outside to find the two last Japanese eggplants that I had hoped would get a little bigger.  I found them by lifting the branches on the plants, feeling for the extra weight, since the headlamp provided little help on the dark purple-ebony skin of the veggies.  I added these last eggplants to a basket of last red peter peppers I’d picked earlier and then set about my primary task in preparing for the freeze.

I have three surprise summer squash plants with baby squash on them.  I could not resist trying to save them.  I covered them with an old dropcloth and a trash bag.  We have at least a dozen volunteer cilantro plants.  Over them I raked leaves.  Next came the big garden, where I checked that plastic I had laid out a few nights ago was still in place and adjusted its fit.  I made sure that my veggie tunnels were in place too.  Finally, I put the glass tops back on my homemade cold frames.  My plants were put to bed for a cold night.

I dreamed that it got down to 21 degrees F.  I also dreamed that I had not protected my herbs.  The first, thank goodness, was just a dream, because I really had forgotten to cover the herbs next to the house.  No problem; the proximity protected most of them this one night, despite the 26 degree F temperature.  And my protective measures took care of the rest.  Today I pulled half a dozen radishes from my cold frame.  I present these blessings of winter together with the blessings of summer.  (Yes, those long hot pink things are radishes, not carrots!)

Do you keep your gardening growing in the winter?  I’d love to hear about it!  Do you have questions about winter gardening?  I’ll try to answer them.  It gets down below zero degrees Fahrenheit here, but we still keep things growing, all without the addition of heat.  It’s a truly sustainable form of winter gardening that will work for a big swath of the world.

The Bens EP [2003] <- Download

The Bens foi um projeto paralelo relâmpago que reuniu os xarás Ben Kweller, Ben Lee e Ben Folds. A banda gravou um EP homônimo em 2003, que teve suas 3.500 cópias vendidas durante os nove shows que fizeram juntos na The Bens Rock Over Australia Tour. Sem medo de soar pop, a sonoridade das quatro faixas corresponde às expectativas de uma parceria entre os Bens: baladas ao violão, arranjos de piano, algumas guitarras, refrões grudentos e backing vocals entrosados.

Just Pretend
 Stop!

There is something so earthly, about growing good things in the garden.
You plant, you water, you pick out the weeds, you do what you can to promote good growth.
Often, you are rewarded.
…..

A radish, you grow in five weeks, and it responds gratefully to your efforts … good dirt, water, freedom from weeds, trust and confidence in the natural order of nature — given good circumstances, a radish will be produced.

A radish will be pulled from the earth, and find itself, along with a little bit of salt, in someone’s mouth – grateful for the immense privilege of being grown, as well as for the gastronomical gratitude of its eater.

Compare this to the task of growing people.

A radish will not pull itself from the earth, before its time, run across the world and complain that your gardening sucks.

I was feeling kind of awkward about being 2 months behind on my blog, but I’m starting to like remembering and writing about meals that invoke late summer/early fall for me as we continue to slosh through rain and strong winds here in the Northwest. Besides, this may come in handy as I’ll still have plenty of material to blog about through the winter when I don’t have my CSA share to inspire me.

It’s no secret how much I love avocado. I love how the light, jade green color instantly makes any dish pretty; I love its smooth, creamy texture; and as is the case with most food fats, I love its light, buttery flavor. The idea for this dish came from noticing how avocado plays a prominent role in both sushi and in Latin dishes and so I wanted to try making my own fusion dish, using avocado as the bridge.

I took ahi tuna steaks and seasoned them with a mix of chili powder and Asian five spice powder and seared them in a hot cast iron skillet. The idea was to sandwich slices of avocado between slices of tuna so you get a bit of both with every bite. I added radishes for a contrast in color and to add a crisp texture, but also because I thought that this could be an additional nod to Latin cuisines since radishes are frequently available at any good taco truck/bar. Finally, to add some acid and to keep that avocado green, I drizzled the tuna and avocado with a mix of soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, lime juice and sesame oil. I liked the mix of chili and spice flavors, but I think this would have been better if I hadn’t overcooked the fish. I like a good, raw center, particularly when it comes to ahi tuna. So I’ve attempted to adjust the time for cooking in my notes below.

• 2 4oz tuna steaks
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp Asian five spice powder
• 1 tsp Montreal steak seasoning
• 1 avocado, sliced thinly
• 1 tbsp Tamari soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp rice wine vinegar
• juice of half a lime
• 3-4 radishes, sliced into thin rounds
• chives, chopped

Bring your tuna steaks up to room temperature, making sure to wrap them in paper towels to dry them off. Heat a cast iron skillet or grill pan over medium high heat. Mix the steak seasoning, chili powder and five spice powder together then sprinkle liberally over both sides of the tuna steaks. Add a little oil to the pan, enough to lightly coat the bottom. Cook the tuna steaks for 2 minutes on each side to just sear them and leave a good pink center. If you’re not so into the raw fish, you can cook them longer for about 3-4 minutes on each side depending on the thickness of the cut.

Let the tuna steaks rest off heat for a few minutes then slice into 1/2 inch thick slices. Sandwich slices of avocado between the tuna pieces. Mix together the soy sauce, lime juice, rice vinegar, and sesame oil then drizzle over the tuna and avocado. Top with radish slices and a sprinkle of chives. I bet this would actually be even better on a bed of salad greens, using the sauce as a dressing!

CSA Count: 2 (although the number goes up for the whole meal as I served this with the pattypans)

Radishes, chives

I spent the afternoon at the hospital today. My staples finally have come out, the x-ray of my hip looks good, and all other indicators point to a solid recovery. Dr. F was quite pleased with the way I’m doing at the moment (3 weeks post hip decompression surgery). I promised him that I’d make him some of my famous chewy gingersnaps when I see him in December. I find out if the surgery worked at that point (but I’m confident that it did). He mentioned that I’d be doubling over in pain had it not worked, and since that hasn’t happened, I know it worked. I feel incredibly optimistic about the outcome of my surgical experience this year.

Now all I need to wait for is my pelvic ultrasound to find out if my elongated periods are a result of fibrois. It’d be nice if they could solve every medical issue I have at once, but I guess December is just around the corner.

I got my wheelchair back on Friday and last night I finally had the opportunity to cook. I roasted radishes and yams. I know that a lot of people look at a beautiful bunch of radishes and wonder what to do with them, but roasting them takes away a bit of the bite and the strong, spicy aftertaste. Indulging in a roasted radish is alomst to biting into a flavorfully roasted potato, the only difference is that this is so much less work. A little salt, pepper, toss in a bit of extra virgin olive oil and throw the lot in the oven.

I think it’s safe to say that anyone who tries these beauties roasted will fall in love.

Roasted radish:

Pre-heat the oven to 450 F
half a bunch of radishes
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil to coat the radishes

Directions:

Be careful not to over roast because doing so will result in a very horribly bitter tasting radish. Gently combine the radish, salt, pepper, and olive oil in a mixing bowl. Once all the radishes are evenly coated transfer them to a baking dish (I used a cookie sheet). Bake at 450 F for 10 minutes and then reduce heat to 375 for the last 10 minutes. Allow radishes to cool in the oven, with the door slightly ajar.

This is what I call a punjabi clit. I chopped up some left over chicken from the night before and added pommegranite seeds, a bit of my special herb mixture and ta-da! I let the chicken and pommegranite get to know each other in the fridge for about an hour before continuing. I washed a lettuce leaf to act as the “skin” for my roll. I spooned in a heathy serving of the chicken and the rolled the leaf so it looked like a wrap/springroll. Try it… I think pommegranites are one of the most under rated fruits out there. They get a bad rap because they’re difficult to peal and enjoy, but seriously, look at it as opening a present on christmas morning and it’ll change the way you think about pommegranites.

Enjoy

The first successful harvest of our fall plants, we ate these radishes last night in a radish/cucumber salad with our friends.  Feels great to eat food you grew!  Next up: sugar snap peas pods are ready to harvest, more radishes, then carrots, then maybe some beets, lettuces and brussell sprouts (we’ll see how long we go freeze-free…we’re three weeks overdue right now, but no freeze expected in next seven days!).

Josh made us a quick Asian stir fry…

Bok Choy, Shiitakes, Carrots, Daikon Radish, Garlic, Green Onion

Cabbage

First He cooked the mushrooms in a bit of sesame oil and tamari.  Then he cooked the cabbage, garlic, onion, carrot, and radish in sesame oil, tamari, rice vinegar, and ume plum vinegar.  The bok choy was cooked lightly last.  We enjoyed this with some rice from a near by Mediterranean shop, as we were out of rice to cook ourselves.

bok choy and shrooms

Dinner!

Lego is so fun because I can pretend that they are living-thing. Sometimes me and Ali put our baby dolls and name the place ‘Lego Land‘ because there is a lot of Lego.

Ali also made WALL-E.

Ali's Lego WALL-E

Some of the animals and people are:

1. Sira
2. Petrete
3. Radish
4. Elly
5. Mycola
6. Ginger
7. Apple Pie
8. Troy Traise
9. Ella
10. Onam
11. Papa Ginger
12. Aak
13. Diego
14. Vrence
15. Mike
16. Peter James
17. Fiorin
18. Florina
19. Deorex
20. Mank

I love playing Lego very, very much!

In Singapore, our local carrot cakes are much harder, and is plain, you can find some dried shrimps in your cake if you are lucky. This is gotta be some rare stuff in SIngapore! Hong Kong carrot cakes are special as it ismuch softer, uses premium ingredients in the making, and is usually topped with sauces. I remember eating a similar one at Sunshine Plaza, and it was advertised as the only Hong Kong style carrot cake and it cost $5 for a pathetic slice. Honestly, if i ever get to sell this, they can forget about being the “only one”, and taste wise, i and my entire family swear that mine is wayyyy better!!! =DD

That’s most prolly because i was generous in my ingredients, and i used a secret soup base instead of plain water as opposed to what everyone does. I actually have no idea how i made this all by myself, with no recipe nor help. Everything was done by intuition and i am extremely proud of myself. Imagine, radish, chinese sausage, scallops, dried shrimps being steamed to perfection in a secret soup base, topped with home-made suace, this is what you get!!!

Another way of eating this would be with sambal chilli..