Happy Father's Day

By request, "Elvis" cupcakes (banana cake with peanut butter frosting) from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Witness the extent of my cake decorating skills- piling high with frosting.

Before and After in the garden

Female blossom



Lemon squash



Little baby peppers


Emerald Giant Peppers



First little Dib Daub cucumber

All from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Next year: plant everything earlier, like months earlier. I was sitting around this year, waiting for the last frost that never was. Now I'm fondling fetal cucumbers while everyone else is drowning in them. Oh to have enough food to share, or preserve, or even to make a decent meal with.

Bloomers

These bloomers are pretty cute and I believe flattering, despite my inability to take a flattering picture while wearing them. I decided not to purchase anything new for this project to justify my fabric hoarding, so they are 100% linen and cocoa colored, like I imagine Martha Washington wore. Colonial sexy! Extra retro!

Free Pattern here. And although my epitaph will be "Free patterns aren't worth the money they're worth", I gambled and won on this one.

Potato Harvest

About 2 lb of Red LaSoda potatoes, grown from about 2 lb of seed potatoes. Here's too breaking even, and trying again next year!

The secret to home-made hummus

Once, I was buying pre-made hummus at the store, and a lady came up to me, saying "Don't buy that, it's so easy to make your own!" And I was all like, "You don't know me!" I felt personally insulted she couldn't tell that I was totally DIY, and simply chose not to make my own hummus anymore because it never turned out very well. Too chunky, too dry, and no manner of added oil or liquid could make it right. I shamefully bought my hummus and resumed trying every so often to make some that was any good.

I have since discovered the secret- skin the beans! This time I cooked my own overnight in the crockpot so they were super-soft, and then popped each little chickpea out of it's skin before processing it, adding olive oil, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, and some bean water to moisten. The result- smooth, creamy, delicious. It took me about half an hour to skin 3 cups of beans.

Around the garden

I had this ladder sitting around (picked up from the street on bulky trash day) and found myself in need of support for some beans that seemed to be growing about a foot a day. Done!




I swear I only planted basil seeds from one seed packet in this planter. Somehow I have three different varieties of basil (including purple) and a cucumber, seen here making a break for it off of the deck.




Cucumber tendrils.

Another year or so later

While this blog has been gathering dust and cobwebs, I have had a move, a baby, a career change, and a drastic drop in craftiness. I have decided to start things up again (again) to share a magical food combo, which will also maybe get the ball rolling here.

Pesto and Pineapple- Truly a perfect combination of salty, savory and sweet, originally dreamed up as a pizza topping but since expanded to chocolate and now kebabs. More of an idea than a recipe, this one.

Pesto and Pineapple Kebabs

* Fresh Pineapple Chunks
* Marinated firm Tofu (I like to marinate in a soy sauce blend for color)
* Red Pepper slices
* Onion slices
* Prepared basil pesto (ours was frozen from last year's bonkers basil surplus)

Alternate food on skewers, and place on a medium-hot grill. Spread pesto over kebabs- it will drip through and catch on fire, which I think is necessary for flavorful vegetarian grilling. Grill until the first side is slightly charred and repeat on the other side.