Where Have I Been?

Well around mostly! I had stuff to do around the house reducing my blogging time!

I had to install a new clothes line. The old one was broken when a big tree branch fell on it a couple of weeks ago. I procrastinated but I still wanted to dry my laundry outside until winter. I also had to fix the toilet that was leaking....yeah I know....But It was easy as pie! A new gasket did the trick!

I had more hours at the postal counter of unjoy....I went to Kingston Ontario for the weekend! For my
B-Day asked me what I wanted : A gift or a roadtrip? I said ROADTRIP! But I got both! I'm such a lucky girl! I got some U.S. mad monies for my upcoming vacation and a roadtrip! YIIIIIPPPPPEEEE!

And it's harvest time around here....

I was just in the veggie garden. I found some cute lemon cukes!

And sweet string beans

A ton of cherry tomatoes!

Do you remember the tower of beans? Well it's full of big pods! Here, I'm drying them a bit before I can remove the 'skins'.

Here are the beans drying. I'll be able to enjoy some this winter!

More on my road trip later this week!

Do you remember?

Do you remember the tomoto plant I saved from the garbage? Here it is...with 2 beautiful, nearly ripe tomatoes!

I'm so glad I saved it. I can't wait to dig in! With fresh basil and some bocconcini....Lip Smacking!

Second pic is the edamame (soy bean). I feel in love with edamame after eating some at a sushi place.

Last year the seed was sold out. I was lucky to get some this year. I get most of my seeds from www.westcoastseeds.com

I know it's far from my home (It's in BC!) but it's one of the rare places where they sell organic and unusual veggie seeds and so far so good I haven't had any problems with the seeds.

Soy is strange..The plant doesn't flower! And for the time being the pods are flat...to be continued.

Uncle Ben's....That was not a good idea,ok? I got this pouch of Uncle Ben's Bistro Express as a free sample. I love free food...not this one!

Roasted chicken and wild rice...pppppllllleeeaaassseee!

In the entire pouch i had 4 pieces of chicken! it tasted ok.

The rice was overcooked. It's supposed to be a complete meal (with veggies). It had shredded carrot in it. That's it. The taste was nothing to write home about....Am I spoiled?Probably since I cook most everything from scratch, but I would do the same when I was working.

I know it's being marketed for busy people but they could do better, I'm sure! So that is a 2 thumbs down!

Last but not least a pic of the super delicious supper I cooked last night....Grilled Japanese Steak Salad.

Very easy and fast. Here's the link http://food.chatelaine.com/Recipes/View/Grilled-Japanese-steak-salad

If you have a favorite teriyaki sauce by all means use it. I made sauce from scratch following this recipe. http://www.recipezaar.com/Teriyaki-Sauce-55859

I'm sure it would be amazing on chicken, pork chops,tofu.....And it makes enough that you can keep it in the fridge to use in other recipes

I gotta hop on my super bike (I named her Alice) to do the grocery shopping....I got big plans for the weekend....

Firsts

After weeks and what seems like months waiting (remember the tree guy?) I'm starting to see the first veggies!

That is sooooo cool! The squash is a mystery vegetable: during the winter I just throw my veggie cuttings directly in the garden and I have surprises the next summer! I think it's an acorn.

Even if I start my plants from seed, I always cheat and buy a couple of tomato plants, this is a pink one. I didn't want to buy any this year because I had a lot of tomato seedlings. Unfortunatly I broke 2 when I transplanted them, the stem just snapped (Bummer!).

I'm also starting to haevest ground cherries. I have a secret ground cherry fantasy. I want to have enough so I can make jam...Not going to happen this year!

I am by no means a really serious gardner, I do this for fun and if I can get veggies out of it, then I'm sooo proud of myself. But for now I try to weed a little bit everyday...I can't do it all at one I will go BONKERS!

'til next time....:)

Adventures in scavenging....

I had to mail something this morning and while walking to the mailbox I remembered that it was big garbage pickup today....Oh my! The possibilities!

While reading my blog you might have noticed that I get really excited over small stuff....Nothing makes me happier than a big pile'0'garbage....And I keep having the recurrant fantasy that I will find mint Pyrex in the garbage! Not all loony tunes are locked up let me tell you that!

Well today with my enveloppe in hand I spied a wall of rejected furniture, old carpets and this adorable wicker chair!!! I had to move an old mattress and shelving units to get at it....Ok, ok the seat has a couple of holes, but I'm thinking...garden ornement with a plant on it....

After I freed the chair, I saw a big bunch of plastic plants...but wait just one minute! It's not just plastic crap, it's a big tomato plant, with small tomatoes in it! Well I just had to bring that home as well!

Who throws away a tomato plant???

I believe scavenging is genetic...Dad would bring furniture he'd found in alleys, Mom would recycle fabric until it died. When my Dad would have a hole in a sweater, well presto changeo, Mom would recut it, sew it back and it would become a dress for me...She would take white thights and dye them to match...I had a lot of brown and khaki outfits when I was small!!!