skip to main |
skip to sidebar
The chill of January has set in and along comes the rain... more on that later.
EGGPLANTS - more of a summer veggie but my plants never quite waved the white flag. Lots of worm compost (also known as worm castings) has helped these Japanese eggplants and Rosa bianca eggplants thrive. The warm Southern Cal weather didn't hurt either!
The eggplants tasted pretty good for being off season. The skins were a bit tough and needed peeling but all were thrown into a ratatouille and presto it momentarily felt like summer again. Also note the fresh basil!!! Terrific touch and burst of freshness on this chilly winter day.
This is why I love Southern California... my favorite veggie fresh from the garden in the middle of January.
Hello =D
Its been a year since my last entry I figured that I should get thing silly blog going again. What inspired this blog initially was a desire to share my thoughts and parts of the my life with the world. Things have definitely been chaotic since last year, but today was a "lazy" day and I was once again reminded of how blessed I am. I work an 8-5, 5 days of week which doesn't leave much time for my favorite hobbies so today's holiday was used to its fullest.
The baking began at 11:30pm last night. Started a batch of french baguettes using a King Author flour recipe... with credit to James who found the recipe.
Early this afternoon I started the dough for focaccia from Chef Batali's Molto Italiano. It didn't rise as much as it should have... probably because its cold in my house but it still came out tasty. Note to self - fresh parm reg., scallions, and salt make excellent focaccia toppings.
Next came the french baguettes! So the starter bubbled and doubled in size overnight and was then added to more of flour, yeast, water, salt. I used 10-11 oz of warm water ... which resulted in a very sticky dough. I'll have to make it again to see if the stickiness is a result of water or if its just the way the dough it.
Thanks to the focaccia baking in the oven, the french breads puffed up nicely!!! Don't use olive oil on these things!!! One of the bottoms was scorched because the smoking point of olive oil is lower than other oils. Next time, greased pan with just regular canola...
In between the bread makings I made pumpkin/acon squash soup pictured up top. Very simple and easy made in my new Le creuset dutch oven (thanks to David).
The bread, soup and a fresh salad from the garden made an excellent meal... and a huge load of dishes!
I also noticed that my extra virgin olive oil from costco doesn't make the best dipping oil... and I still have another sugar pumpkin to deal with... so lots more to write about in the future.
Hopefully more posts will follow on the garden and worm composting!
This past weekend, a few friends and I packed up and headed to the mountains for some camping. After a mere 2 hours of planning in the wee hours of the morning, we decided on Buckhorn campground in the Angeles National Forest, about a hour away from Los Angeles... perfect vacation from the busy city.
After some good Vietnamese pho we left the urban chaos for some wild scenery and...BEARS! So everyone thought I was crazy, and maybe I was...but I was convinced that we were in BEAR territory and had reason to worry... it even warns as the first thing on the campground description on the Angeles National Forest website "Be Aware of Bear Activity" in BOLD! So, although it might have been a little much that I didn't sleep the first night, my concerns weren't totally off...Luckily, no bears were to be seen. *PHEW*
The first night we put up our tents, built a fire and roasted marshmallows! Yum! We also had a few beverages =) J. had this awesome set of dishes where you folded the pastic into a cup, bowl, or plate - but when it is not in use it lays flat! Handy!
Day #2 After waking up late =X (remember I didn't sleep for fear of the bears?) we ate lunch and then set out on a hike! Armed with a very simple, broad, and generally uninformative map we set off to see the Pacific Crest Trail via the Burkhart Trail. 
The going in the beginning was easy, we were energetic, excited and eager to hike DOWN the mountain.
When we got to the Pacific Crest Trail... it was just a dirt trail and generally not exciting...so we decided to hike further to the waterfalls...sorry don't remember the name.
Getting to those falls was a wee bit shady...it involved some slipper and muddy climbs down on some not so reliable ropes. In the end, it was worth it!
Dumb and dumber decided to climb to the top of the falls...good thing they have health insurance...psh grad students... Oh so smart... But dumb to climb back down the falls when they could have just gone up a bit further from the top of the falls to meet us on the trail...
We had to hurry back UP the darn mountain as it was getting dark... YES we were sore the next day.
This was JYu wearing the space blanket he stole from me. I used it because it was so flipping windy and cold INSIDE the tent. He was cold in the morning and I took the pic from the view from my tent... High fashion?? maybe not...
All in all a fun trip!
So people always ask me what I do everyday... the following is one experiment that occupies a very small amount of time each day...
I suppose I should preface with some info - my papa would not let me make a traditional compost pile... so I went rogue and took things into my own hands! I started a worm compost bin... where the worms, bacteria, fungi, and a lot of other little critters break down the food and make it into awesome fertilizer. More of worm composting (vermicomposting) later... for now the pumpkin reigns!
Day 1 - October 31, 2008
It began as a two-faced carved pumpkin
Day 2 - November 1, 2008 - It lost a face and went into the worm bin!
Day 5 - November 4, 2008 - do you see the mold fuzz?
Day 6 - November 5, 2008 - now you do!
Day 8 - November 7, 2008
Day 9 - November 8, 2008 - the black fuzzy stuff is mold - YUCK!
Day 12 - November 12, 2008 - Too bad you can't see how much it flattened out in the picture!
I often forget to take pictures...but hopefully I will remember often enough to post pictures that show the real degradation process! I don't want the whole thing to fall apart so I haven't turned it over to see if the wormies have started chowing down. The end goal is to have it all become wonderful nutrient rich worm POOP (a.k.a. fertilizer!)
Welcome! I've created this blog as a way to document the green things that happen around me; mainly my small garden, making my house in suburban Los Angeles greener, and the random happenings of life. I hope you enjoy reading... or the pictures.
