A Break From the Garden for "A Commentary on Eating Out"

     Today, it rained, so there was no work in the veggie garden.  Nonetheless, today's blog does deal with food. ;-)    

     From time to time I watch some of these “chef shows” on TV—Chef Gordon Ramsey comes to mind off hand—I do not mean to pick on him, per se--only that he is the most recent I happened to see in a recent episode of the show, “Kitchen Nightmares.”


     For those who have not seen the show, a brief synopsis: he will come to a restaurant that is struggling, identify the problems, work with the owner for a week, and usually turn the place around. This often includes a physical spruce up for improved ambiance.


     Ambiance. Hmmm… well, if the place is clean and pleasant, well-lit enough to see the menu and what I’m eating, that’s fine by me. You cannot eat ambiance, and dim, dark, candlelit caves that require a flashlight to read the menu raise my suspicions as to what they’re trying to hide. I’ve eaten at one place, at least, that was 4-star cuisine with coffee-shop and blue jeans ambiance. The food was great; the décor was irrelevant. But that is not the main point of this article.


     While Chef Ramsey is right on the money with many of the things he spots as problems in the establishments he’s been called in to help, I have a major problem at the finishing end, with most of the food presentation and portions (this applies to many, many ‘high-end’ restaurants, particularly those sporting so-called ‘nouveau cuisine’). If I am spending good money to go out to enjoy a wonderful dinner at a nice restaurant, I expect to be fed. Not only do I want the food to be tasty and of high quality, I want enough to eat!


     If I were to be served one of those artsy-fartsy dishes of 2 or 3 decorative lumps of food presented on a largely empty plate with a backdrop of drizzled sauce, I’d send it back! Who do they think they are serving--anorexic mice??!! When I anticipate a lovely, celebratory meal, I am careful not to eat anything at all within the 4 to 5 hours prior, so that I will be sufficiently hungry to fully appreciate the chef’s efforts. I  also avoid dulling my taste buds or appetite with alcohol, expecting instead to savor a nice wine with the meal.


     I don’t mind spending a good price for quality, but I do not want to get ripped off, either: I want enough to eat. I came for a meal, not an appetizer-teaser.  I do not want to leave the restaurant still hungry so I have to go home and fix a sandwich. How anti-climactic would that be? And, no, I’m no advocate of burger-joint style “super-size/pig size” portions, either. I just want enough to eat to feel nicely satisfied.


     As for that fancy presentation, can’t they find a halfway point between “artful presentation” and “just slopped onto the plate?” Just good food that looks tasty, please. If it’s artwork I want to see, I’ll visit a museum.

     Bon appétit!

Back to the Garden

Today brought very pleasant weather, and it was time to make it officially planting day!  There was still some prep work to do, but it went fairly quickly, and in short order, I discovered that it was too warm in the sun for a sweatshirt.  What a contrast to the last few weeks!

Supplies at the ready?  Check!

Ready, set, TILL!













The official start of Spring is just around the corner, and my mouth is watering for the fresh veggies to come.  Some of them, however, won't be had for some time.  Corn is much slower than anything else we've chosen to plant, and I don't think we'll be enjoying that until well into the summer.  No matter.  All the crops are being planted in 2-week offsets, so there will be fresh coming up until mid-Fall.

The corn, we found, by reading the seed packets, does not get planted as we had originally planned, in a single row against the house.  Rather, it is supposed to be in a square block of plants, 3 seeds to a spot, to be thinned later to a pair of plants.  These plants are to be allowed to grow together for both support and better pollination, and improved pollination is presumably also the reason for planting in the square format.

There--the corn is in the ground, and the position of each set of 3 seeds marked by a flag. Not to worry about the footprints--that is the walkway between rows.  ;-)








The eggplant is also a new crop for us to try, and again, we were surprised to learn by way of research in the Sunset Western Garden Book that it is quite a sizeable plant.  Since the required planting pattern for the corn had edged out the space we had originally planned for the eggplant, we decided to allow the corn its space, and move the eggplant to containers. 

This is the first--I actually planted 2 pots of eggplant.  You will see them in the final photo.

Next up were the radishes, quick growers, and I also opted for the plant pot method for them.  We were surprised to find what we did not notice at the time of purchase:  we have a packet with a mix of radish varieties.  Should prove interesting, as we've never before had any but the 'standard' round red ones about the size of cherry tomatoes or smaller.

This area is too shaded.  It was only potted here, next to the water faucet.  It has been moved out next to the eggplant pots up against my studio.

Finally, I put in the green onions.  They went up past the corn, and in the front row, rather than against the house.  They, too, are fairly quick growers, and the second succession of plantings can be moved, in case I decide to put in more corn later.  We'll have to play it by ear--or eye--or maybe mouth! ;-)

Naturally, nothing is showing up yet, and it looks like the same bare-dirt photos as the last article, with just a few sticks added.  But those sticks are road maps...and just you wait...before long, there will be pix of seedlings to show off!

So, here is the final layout, requiring shots from two angles:

The orange flag between the plant pots is marked 'eggplant' and has an arrow indicating the pots on either side.  The brown pot holds the radishes.

Some Thoughts on the Lighter Side of the Dark Side.

Alrighty, then!  For those of you who know me as the wise-ass and comic, this line of thinking will come as no surprise.  For those of you who do not know me as well, you may be somewhat shocked, or possibly even offended by todays's thoughts.  Not to fear--it's all in fun.

As I sit here on my birthday, at the 'milestone' age of 62 years aboard this Spaceship Earth, the time has come to reflect on various aspects of life.  Gee--now I can apply for Social Security...or not...research needs to be done to determine whether or not I'll do myself a disservice by not waiting until I'm 65.  That investigation is a work in progress.

Many jokes are made around the subject of dying.  I remember George Burns' comment of, "I don't believe in dying--that's been done."  It cracked me up, and he did live a good, long life.  But I was so bummed that he did not, in fact, make it to his 100th birthday.  The celebration party was all planned and in the works.  It was going to be a star-studded worldwide affair, held in London.  As I recall, he passed away just a few months shy of the party.  How unfair!  He was cheated!

Geneaology has been a hobby of mine for a long time.  In learning our roots, it places us in time alongside various historical events, making the study of history much more intriguing than just dry facts in a boring text book.  When we can say, "My great-great grandfather was there ..."  the history comes alive!  In the pursuit of that study, however, and particularly since the ill-timed departure of George Burns, I have noticed a fairly large number of folks dying right on or very near their birthdays.

I object!  I have decicded that I must need to be immortal.  Dying on or near your birthday celebration is just wrong on so many levels.  "Not fair" is just one of them.  Likewise with passing from this plane on or near any major holiday, the birthday of a child or other close relative, or an anniversary.

Given that these events are usually pretty scattered throughout the calendar year, well, dying is just plain inconvenient--at best--at any time of year.  Simply put, there are no good times to die.  Goodness--relatives may have just gone out to buy gifts, and then the person up and dies, and what becomes of the gifts?  They are kept in a drawer as a sad reminder...that happened to me:  I had a special Christmas card picked out for my Dad, and it was put away in a drawer for a year...(I'd found it after the holidays, and had put it away for the following year).  He did not live to see the holidays that year, and I came across the card much later.  I was at once sad and angry.

 However, as Benjamin Franklin put it, ".... in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. "  Or, as my husband puts it, "The funny thing about life is, you don't get out of it alive."

I cry 'foul!'  Just when you are old enough to have gathered the wisdom you need to make a go of things, know what you would do differently given the infamous wishful-thinking line of, "...if I had it all to do over again, knowing what I know now..."..  that is when your body craps out on you, and will not cooperate with your plans...and not many years later,you bid your final farewell.

Perhaps, though, we do get 'another chance.'  The immortal nature of humankind is in the legacy we leave, and, as some believe, maybe we do 'go around again' and get another chance to get it right.  It's a worthy belief, and as valid as any, since none can be scientifically proven. 

It is also not so good, really, that we do not and cannot know the time and manner of our passing.  That knowledge would make planning how to spend our lives so much easier. What to study; what to avoid; how to do the most good; and when to start the early distribution of our life holdings, so the surviving relatives don't get stuck with the onerous task during their greiving process.  It could all be pre-arranged very tidily.

Well.. someone ought to make a law!  We are pretty good at making laws about all sorts of unreasonable things in this country--such as one town making a law that it was illegal for pigeons to fly over their city--why stop at death?  Let's make it illegal to die on your birthday, anniversary, child's birthday, parent's birthday, major holiday, or prior to one's parents!   That should fix the problem!  Yeah!

Let me put on my 'legalese' hat here, and see how that would look.

"Section I.  The party of the first part, hereinafter known as the pre-decedent, shall not by any means, whether natural or contrived, depart this world on, or near their own natal anniversay, nor on that of any blood relative of a first or second generational relationship to the pre-decedent.  Neither shall said pre-decdent depart this plane on or near any major holiday, whether of civic or religious significance, by any means whether natural or contrived."
"Section II.  The pre-decedent, shall, by all means at his or her disposal, attempt to ascertain and schedule their passing at a time not in confilct with any stipulation in Section I. "
"Section III.  At all times, the pre-decedent must pre-arrange, at the time of purchase, for the reasonable and fair distribution of all real goods among his or her surviving relatives, as defined in Section I.  Any goods which will themselves wear out or be fully used to within a reasonable expectation of their designed length of existence shall be summarily excluded from this requirement."
"Section IV.  Upon the death of the pre-decedent, forthwith known as the decedent, if it is decided in a court of probate law that any of these provisions have been violated by the decedent during his or her tenure on the planet, they shall be placed in cryogenic suspension storage until such time as they can be revived and stand trial for their violations."

There!  That should about do it!  And now, I'm going to go enjoy my birthday by not dying!


Cheers!

In Another Garden

Today brought more pleasant weather.  So much to to, but took a small break from the veggie garden side, as it is pretty much as prepped as we need...just a few minor weeds.  All that remains is to stay on top of it, and wait for the rainy season to taper off, so cloudbursts don't wash away newly planted seeds.


So, we turned our focus to some deferred and neglected items in the front yard.  There were dandelions approaching 2 feet tall in the landscape plantings, and they had to go.  My Chrysanthemums are sporting new growth, so all the dead wood from last year had to be cut back.


Whew!  Next,  after I finish taking this breather, I'll be going back out to refill/overflow my backyard fountain to get rid of the accumulated algae that has the water all green.  It is right oustide my bedroom window, and makes a very pleasant type of music to which I can fall asleep, imagining myself out camping by a babbling brook.

The cats also enjoy the fountain, as it is frequented by birds coming to drink or bathe, and they watch out the window, lash their tails, and dream futile kitty dreams of catching one.  It is not to be, as they are not allowed outdoors for their own safety, as well as that of the wild birds.  But, they seem to enjoy watching the world go by out the window.  They are so comfortable being exclusively indoor kitties that they don't much try to head out the door if it is opened. 


The front and back lawns...or, more accurately, front lawn and backyard weed patch, have been mowed, thanks to hubby, so all is neat and tidy looking once again.  Unfortunately, our robo-gopher is still active, so we will have to keep a very close eye on the veggie patch.  So far (knock wood), there has been no evidence of gopher activity in that area.


For those of you in other areas or other countries, a gopher is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as follows:


 "go·pher NOUN:  1.) Any of various short-tailed, burrowing rodents of the family Geomyidae of North America, having fur-lined external cheek pouches. Also called pocket gopher."


 You can see a photo of one here.  They are marginally cute, but horrifically destructive of plant materials of many types.  Someone asked me if it was another name for a woodchuck. No, it is not. Those are much larger. (op.cit.): 


"wood·chuck NOUN:  A common burrowing rodent (Marmota monax) of northern and eastern North America, having a short-legged, heavy-set body and grizzled brownish fur. Also called groundhog,** also called regionally whistle pig."  (Italics are mine.) 


**a la "Punxatawney Phil"   ;-)  Photo of one here.  I do not think we have woodchucks/groundhogs in our part of the country, but I cannot swear to that...I simply have never seen one, or heard of anyone else seeing one locally.


Back to the fountain--the current issue will be to try and keep it free of falling almond blossoms, as it sits right beneath one of the almond trees on the property.  They are very old, and were here when we bought the house.  Ironically, we have all these almond crops and neither of us particularly care for almonds.  Nor to we know the first thing about their harvest and drying or roasting.  So, it is a bounty for the squirrels and birds, and they are welcome to them.  We enjoy watching them scamper about in the trees.


However, keeping the fountain clear of debris is an endless task.  It feels as if "The Borg" are in charge.  I hear their phrase, "Resistance is futile," echoing in my head on a daily basis all spring, summer and fall.  I have worn out 2 fish nets so far, and the 3rd one has been patched together with cable ties.  The fine mesh is best for scooping out debris, as much of it is very small.  The fish net even succeeds in grabbing some of the algae.

There---this is much better:

And see--more almond blossom petals have already fallen in!

The last photo shows the 'back 40' and one of the other almond trees, as well as our 'view.'  It isn't very impressive.  In fact, it makes me angry every time I see it.  There used to be an abandoned orchard back there, and it housed rabbits, raccoons, skunks, (well, ok we don't much miss the skunks), all kinds of birds, and was much more pleasant to look at.  Then, along came an outfit that wanted to build homes, and they bulldozed the orchard, added many feet of fill dirt to 'store' on the site...and then the bottom fell out of the housing market, the deal fell through, they backed out, and we are left with this unsightly scene, and the animals are all gone.

Eventually, we want to plant a row of trees along the back as something better to look at, but, we cannot at the moment--as we do not yet have city sewer service, and the area is right behind the septic tank.  Besides, there are no funds to buy trees now, anyway.  Sigh.

And that is it for today--posted quite late in the evening, due to a series of things, starting with an accident involving a glass of iced tea and my keyboard just when I was about to upload these photos. 

 By the time that was cleaned up and the keyboard dried out, {computer is ok...keyboard has a minor issue--I cannot type a capital 'c.'  Nothing happpens at all..spot stays empty waiting for input.  :-(  },  it was dinnertime, and then, time to watch the closing ceremonies for the Olympics.  (I don't know why I watch that stuff, when I know it's going to make me cry!) 

So, here I am, getting my Sunday post up on Sun-night.

This was, obviously, a bit of a digression from my vegetable garden...but still, dealt (mostly) with gardening, so it's all good, right?  ;-)

Cheers.....

Ah, Sunshine!

Well, today finally brought some much-awaited sun and pleasant temperatures.  Perfect for working out-of-doors.  I took the opportunity to clean out the piles of leaves from the dead-limb removal project.  My goodness, those were good-sized piles of leaves, considering the tree in question has small leaves!  The rest of the branches, I just moved over to another part of the yard, where they will sit for 2 weeks until it is again "green week" on the trash pickup day. 

The leaves, well, I confess--we were 'naughty,' and dumped them into the normal trash. I know, I know... mulch, compost, etc. I've tried composting in the past. I just don't have the energy to keep up with it. It seems to be (for me, anyway) much more labor-intensive than the proponents would have you believe.

Note to self: grab and put on gloves prior to starting such a project, to avoid getting zapped with fiberglass splinters from mean, nasty old rake!

                                                                                      

This is what is left of the former "patio" area from the pool days. I plan to clean it up and leave it, as a place to 'sit and think for a spell' while watching the garden grow. This particular end of the area gets full-on sun only between high noon and about 3 p.m., otherwise, it is more in the shade. Further away from this end, though, it gets sunlight most of the day from mid-morning until almost sunset all summer long. Perfect for crops!   On each end of the long axis of this area are the 2 sprinkler heads that will water the garden.  They don't show up in this photo, however, as one is behind the camera position, and the other is a bit buried in dirt.

As a final prep project, the bush seen below, Miss Podocarpus Gracilior, will need to be trimmed and tidied up quite a bit, as the bottom limbs are dragging the ground.  Not good for the plant.  Although, I often wonder about that kind of statement.  Mother Nature certainly does not go around with clippers 'tidying' up her plants...they remain rather wild and rag-a-muffin looking.  ;-)

Behind this Podocarpus, you can see the fence-staining project--halted when we ran out of stain and had no funds to get more.  Can not believe the price of that stuff these days!!  Oh, well, it's on the inside--not the "show" side, so no worries.

Oh, boy, oh boy!  Now, to determine the exact time to plant!  Coming, soon, I'm sure, as March is only a few days away.  Perhaps I shall spend my birthday installing my vegetable garden.  (Weather permitting, of course!)

More to come.....

More Weather Delays!

Well, wouldn't you know!  Just because I'm all ready to go, geared up and excited to start my new veggie garden, the weather keeps halting my progress.

It poured rain again all day yesterday, and today is off and on.  The sun is trying-- but I need it to try harder!  Today, I was working alone on the ceramics bisque orders, cleaning the green ware.  Because of being alone, I worked 2 hours extra than normal.  Oh, well.  It is getting done, and I will probably have to work on that some more later on.

Meanwhile, just for a spark of visual interest, here are the seed packets I have ready and waiting:

They are on the kitchen island, within a one-step grabbing distance of the back door.  We bought them while grocery shopping.  I was mildly surprised to find seeds at the grocery store, and even more surprised  (and pleased!) when a perusal of my receipt showed vegetable seeds to be food-stamps eligible.  Good to know.  Every little bit helps in these days of financial struggles.

I also need to go grocery shopping again...(seems like we just did that--the day we bought our seeds!)..but all of that is also taking time from my garden project. There are just not enough hours in the day, especially for me, a very decidedly non-morning person. No matter how hard I try, I just cannot seem to get it together and accomplish anything useful much before noon.  Work or putter around on things until midnight or after?  Sure.  No problem!  That means the gardening will have to come first, and everything else (indoor tasks) relegated to later in the day, when and where artificial light is avaialble.

More to come....

Sunday in the Garden

Well,
   Actually, not. This is an update of sorts, only to report that I was stalled by the weather.  It poured rain today, so I was unable to be outside chopping up dead branches.

  Ok, call me a wimp, if you must, but I only have 1 pair of tennis shoes that fit, and no rainboots.  It's not sandal weather yet, so that was not a viable option.

  Oh, sure...I guess I could have brought the branches indoors, and chopped them up in the living room.  NOT!  So, I wait upon the pleasure of Mom Nature for the next dry day.

  Meanwhile, I can explain the very 'beachy' appearance of the area in yesterday's photos.  The area actually was a 'beach' of sorts a couple of summers in a row.  It does get hot here, and we have one of those 10-foot-across by 3-foot-deep pools that can be set up seasonally.  There was a lot of construction-grade clean sand sitting in a huge pile in the yard.  This was leftover from the process of building our shop back in 2004; someone, it seems, (not mentioning any names...), calculated incorrectly how much we'd need for the stucco.

  Since we have an annual BBQ around the 4th of July each year, we decided to cover up the existing dirt with the excess sand, making a 'beach' in the pool area.  It worked well, as it did not adhere to the kids' feet as much as the 'normal' dirt underneath.  Our dirt here is a sandy soil, but is much, much finer, and very much 'dirt colored.'  This makes a mess if tracked into the pool. With an astro-turf mat, a foot bath pan, and the clean coarse sand, the pool stayed nice and clean.

  Not so much the house, though.  The normal sandy dirt is so fine that it blows in through the very tiniest of crevices, and keeping the house dusted is a losing battle.  Therefore, I will probably have to till in some soil amendments such as peat to prepare for the garden.  Between that and the coarse sand, it should be a very nice growing medium.

   And that's all I was able to do today--make further plans. 

Meanwhile, for your further reading entertainment, you might want to check out my other blogs, featured in the right-hand sidebar. 

Cheers!