We had a humungous storm last night and the garden is quite saturated. However, the good news is that I had not planted the vegetable plants I got yesterday so they weren't swamped. The weather has been somewhat unpredictable recently. Yesterday was cool - stayed overcast and 12C all day until, late in the evening, it shot up a couple of degrees. This morning early it was already 17C and now (late afternoon) it's 24C but feels like 29C with the humidity resulting from all the rain. Tomorrow's forecast calls for 30C!
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| Swiss Chard |
The last spot in my tiny vegetable garden is now filled with 4 eggplant and 8 Swiss Chard plants. I love Swiss Chard, especially as I can just take a few leaves at a time and it keeps on growing. My last batch lasted well into the fall so I'm hoping for a good crop this year. It's an excellent substitute for lettuce and spinach. Eggplants are a new crop for me so we'll see how they come along.
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| Eggplants |
Woke up to rain this morning so knew that tennis was off. Phoned to find out how James was - seemingly he threw up a few times after leaving me yesterday - but he is still sick and staying home with Dad today. I had picked up an afternoon job so spent the morning quietly at home, puttering around, nothing too strenuous but catching up on housework.
The job this afternoon was an easy one, rotating around several classrooms to give teachers release time. One period consisted of only 2 students who were getting reading remediation - right up my street!
On the way home I dropped by the Garden Centre and picked up some more vegetable plants as I realized I still had room for a few more things. I will get them in tomorrow, with James' help, if he is well enough by then. Dinner tonight is still leftovers - some rice from the paella and two chicken thighs I cooked up in sofrito with a garnish of onions and mushrooms. It was very tasty yesterday and should be even better today. I will cook some brussel sprouts as well for something green. It is still dull but the rain has stopped. The temperature never budged all day, a decidedly inclement 12C. Hope it warms up tomorrow.
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| Potatoes - Day 1 |
I'm trying something new this year: container potatoes. These come in the form of wizened up potatoes from last year that have started to sprout "eyes". I did as instructed and cut each potato into 2 or 3 chunks, each with a couple of sprouts, and planted them in layers in a container with drainage holes. I used "Black Earth" from No Frills as the growing medium and will carefully document their progress over the summer.
A major problem was where to keep the container as I am a bit tight for space in my back yard. They do, however, need a sunny spot so I settled on the area behind the house which, although it doesn't get sun all day, should get enough late afternoon sun to keep them happy. Time will tell! I will have to keep reminding myself to water them regularly as that's an area of my garden I rarely visit and tend to neglect. One thing's for sure, the container is too heavy to move now that it's filled so they will have to stay there for this summer.
I found a new product at the supermarket today - a jar of sofrito. It was described as a Spanish style condiment. On a whim I decided to buy it as I seemed to remember having a recipe that called for it. I was right, the paella recipe I got at a cooking demonstration required half a cup of it. So, tonight I embarked on an experiment: to create my own version of paella, minus the chicken, shrimp, clams and mussels!
It turned out well and as I had defrosted a salmon fillet, broiled that to make a delicious meal. Tomorrow I will toss in a few shrimp and, if there's any left on Monday, I will cook up some chicken thighs and add them to the leftovers. The only problem was that paella requires a particular kind of rice - Bomba - which I didn't have. I substituted Arborio rice, the type used for risotto, but the recipe stressed strongly not to stir the paella or the starch would be released from the rice. So my version turned out to be more of a risotto with Spanish flavours. I was even able to use some saffron that I had brought back from Morocco a couple of years ago.
Today I also cooked up a batch of pickled beetroot - so easy and inexpensive and it will last me for a month or two.
Cook beets until tender, remove ends and skin. Slice 1/4 inch thick and pack into pint jars, add 1 tbsp. sugar and 1/2 tsp. salt to each jar. Mix cider vinegar and water in the ratio of 2 parts vinegar to 1 part water, enough to cover the sliced beets. Boil together for 1 minute. Fill jars and seal. Keep in refrigerator.
