Mid Way Report

The Gretel eggplant was serendipity last year but this year it is purposeful. I got the seeds from Johnny's and I did the start from scratch version, my own darling little Gretels. I just noted they were All American winner for 2009 for their performance as a plant. As you can see the blossoms are coming on. Though the eggplant fingers were  really great last year I am already thinking of what else I can do with  them. Anticipation!

The other new plant we are working with this year is the Padron pepper. Those seeds came from Renee's. So far the plant seems to be as easy as most peppers; it is producing lots and lots of little peppers. If you haven't tried this one, it is a must. My neighbor came back from Spain a couple years ago raving about these little beauties served as tapas and we have been looking for the seeds since. They are about the right size, two to four inches long, but I think they need to be a little darker green. I can't wait to try them. 

Because of our strange spring this year (read second winter) we don't have tomatoes yet. We have lots of little green marbles and a few golf balls, so we know they are coming, but nothing so far. The broccoli is about gone now and I have been pulling carrots like crazy, more about them next time. The beans are starting to blossom and the Anaheim peppers will be ready soon. I am about to turn out my potatoes from their containers but I am afraid their size may disappoint. We shall see. The acorn squash is beginning to look like it might just eat the rest of the garden. I have it in a container; I hope it will continue to be happy there.

I looked at the garden calendar and, hard to believe, here in zone 8b it is time to start this all over again. The next few weeks is when we begin our winter gardens. Time to start the broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale and lettuce seeds in flats. I have already started direct sewing beets and more carrots. I will be planting beans, in weekly sequences in hopes to have some for the Thanksgiving table. Weather will decide that.

I am at the last of the glads. Found this little guy on one. He didn't seem to be doing any harm. Any one know his name??

Recipe

This is a no-recipe recipe. As I finished in the garden this morning I was getting pretty hungry. Trying to think what there was in the way of leftovers (none) or grab-and-eat (none), I realized I was going to have to actually fix something. I didn't have much energy left so this is what I did.

I pulled a few carrots, nipped of some very immature carrot fern, cut off some little purple broccoli sprouts and headed for the kitchen. Put on a pot of salted water to boil. Picked up an onion from the bin and sliced off one cheek. Cut that into crescents. Got enough shrimp from the freezer to suffice for my lunch and set them in a bowl. Washed the veggies I brought in and chopped most of the carrot fern.

As soon as the water started to boil I put in some whole wheat linguine. I would be suing Chinese noodles but thy haven't gotten to the whole wheat bit yet. While that was cooking I heated a saute pan with a little flavorless oil  and a little crushed red pepper flakes and added the onion, then the broccoli, cut up, with it's leaves and stalk, some of the carrot frond, minced. Next went in salt and pepper. The shrimp went in.They came deveined but with shell and tail on. Sauteed this until the shrimp started to turn pink. About two minutes before the pasta was finished dropped the carrots, cut into disks, into the boiling water. To the shrimp I added 1/4 cup chicken broth and a little soy sauce and turned up the heat. Drained the pasta and carrots and then added that to the shrimp. Let them heat together in order to get acquainted and then into a bowl topped with a cut up scallion and garnished with a sprig

of carrot frond.

In the spirit or "transparency" as they say, if I were sharing this meal I would have peeled the shrimp first. If I were not taking a photo of this for you, I might not have added the carrot frond garnish, but it was good, and in the future I probably will.

What do you eat direct from your garden?