Tuesday, November 17, 2009

The Color of Good Eats

I don't know whether or not to apologize to those of you who are dealing with snow and freezes. My current biggest scourge is winter weeds. . . the garden is chugging along nicely.

A favorite lunch for me these days is either rice or another grain, like quinoa, with a steamed rosette of tat soi on top, dressed with a drop or two of sesame oil, fish sauce, and soy sauce. So yummy. . . and those rosettes are really beautiful.


In just a day or two, we should be able to make our own Meyer lemon salad dressing. The little tree is loaded with lemons, ironically enough on low branches that I plan to hack off once they're harvested. It's time for this wee tree to stand off the ground.

Granny, this one's for you.


Despite woeful neglect, the fall bearing "Fall Gold" rasperries are blooming right on schedule. They're a pretty golden color also. I need to weed them, rub off the little caterpillars that want to eat them, and get them up on their wires. Last season's bearing canes should probably be cut off, too. Wonder if that will get done?


Even without fruit, the teensy persimmon tree is providing a harvest of sorts -- I can look out from my computer, where I'm grading less-than-beautiful student prose, and see exquisitely lovely leaves. Maybe next year there will be fruit.

Dinner tonight was full of homegrown goodness -- butternut squash ravioli, kale with garlic, homemade (but not homegrown) bread, homemade/homegrown pesto sauce on
homemade noodles, and homemade with foraged apples applesauce. All we need now is a wheat field and a cow. . .

I hope all of you are enjoying something from your gardens.

17 comments:

Mr. H. said...

Lemons, rosette of tat soi, and raspberries...pure torture. Even my weeds are faltering.:) We do still have some pretty nice salad greens though. Your dinner sounds absolutely fabulous especially with all of the homemades and homegrowns.

Unknown said...

Oh how I miss my growing garden already. Thanks for sharing your bounty.

Annie*s Granny said...

Alas, I'll probably have to celebrate my joy of lemons vicariously through you and Thomas.

Your meal sounds delicious (I had Marie Calendar frozen pot pies). But I planted some of your kale seeds yesterday!

Ribbit said...

Hmmmm...wheat field and cow...you really don't need that house, do you? All it's doing is taking up space. ;)

kitsapFG said...

Beautiful fall garden production! Not only does the menu sound delicious - it sounds full of real nourishment.

Heiko said...

Your climate must still be a bit better than ours, or else I have just not planted out enough to be ready at this time. We're having a bit of a blib apart from the olives, which won't be ready to eat for some time.

Our persimmon tree however is heavily laden, only trouble is I'm not that keen on the fruit... I turn some into "I can't believe it's not mango chutney" chutney and use some in sweet and sour recipes, but at least our variety is not nice raw. In fact our tree is so heavy with fruit, that it's practically self-pruning!

Michelle said...

Love your illuminated tat soi.

The meyer lemon glut is about to start here. I've noticed the wood rats have been pruning my tree to add to their nests. At least they haven't started to nibble on the fruit yet.

I had one of your favorite vegetables last night - kale! It was delicious braised with some garlic (homegrown), chicken stock, a sprinkle of dried chile flakes (homegrown) and sherry vinegar.

Looks like we're going to get some rain to help our weeds...

Stefaneener said...

Thanks, Michelle -- it really is a treat.

Mr. H., I'm not really sorry. There are reasons we live where we do. I do feel slightly bad about gloating.

GrafixMuse, I'll share this way any time. I wish you all could come and help me weed!

Granny, I'll cross fingers for the kale. It's so yummy here.

kistaspFG, the kids yummed it up, even with the wonky ravioli. I've got to get some more semolina.

Heiko, we're a classic Mediterranean climate, with the bay providing a lot of moderation. I'm walking distance to our edge of the bay. Any lull is due to my lackadaisical planting. Sounds like you have the kind of persimmon we call Fuyu, the kind that doesn't have to ripen to mush to eat? If so, Denise is always cutting them into salads where I think they're tasty sweet tomatoes at first. I've seen recipes for mushy persimmon bars and cookies, but I don't like the Hachiyas. I think our tree might need more sun.

Michelle, thank you. I worked hard for that shot. I keep trying to use them as hats, broaches, etc. They're so pretty! I haven't had any rat incursions into the lemon tree -- yipes. Kale and garlic, such a good match. Maybe I'll make kale soup tonight. And batten down the hatches, although it's nice and clear today!

Kristin said...

Yum! Yes, please describe more meals that you cook with all that homegrown food. It sounds scrumptious.

Stefaneener said...

Oh, Ribbit, I forgot to say, I like the way you think!

Kristin, you know everything I do already. It gets boring writing, "greens and garlic; garlic and greens, oh, squash ravioli. . ."

I have to think of something to take to the potluck tomorrow! Squash risotto?

Daphne Gould said...

Oh how pretty. You can come over and make homemade squash ravioli for me. I have a hand crank pasta maker (roller?) and forms for ravioli, but haven't made them in years. Right now I've been rationing food from the garden because soon it will just be storage food. We had a lovely frost today, but luckily not another freeze.

Ribbit said...

So tell me more about Denise's sun project!

Jackie said...

Lovely tat soi! I put some pac choy in a couple weeks ago...maybe it will size up soon. I hear ya about the wheat field and cow :)

Dan said...

Hi, I have an award for you on my blog. I enjoying reading your posts and thanks for blogging! No need to participate in the awards if you don't want to. =)

ps. Love that tatsoi, its so good!

Stefaneener said...

Daphne, I would love to. I just bought some rice flour, which Patricia seems to think is my big problem (I'm starting to think it's too-thin pasta plus too-wet filling) so if I get it down I'll make you some.

Ribbit, Denise has to tell about that. It's so cool, though, I'm thinking of copying it at points.

Jackie, I've become a real greens fan. Never would have believed it. The pak choi is great in stir fries, even if it doesn't mature, I guess. You could call it gourmet baby pak choi.

Dan, thank you!!

flacaknits said...

We having started by having tomatoes that sustain us on an almost daily basis. Now, how long before we did up the broccoli?

Thomas said...

That's one amazing tatsoi! I wish mine would grow to that size...you must not have slugs in your garden!

Yes, the weather is getting pretty cold here in New England...we will have to garden vicariously through our CA blogger friends.