Sugar Snap Peas from our Garden
The summer’s bounty greeted us warmly last weekend when we received our first CSA Share. Although smaller than I expected, we still got some good stuff including strawberries, onion, lettuce, kohlrabi, rhubarb, pinto beans, and a calendula plant which we planted in a bigger pot. We picked up the share at the Beaverton Farmers Market but did not buy anything else as everything seemed to have gone up in price. I made some strawberry rhubarb crisp, used some lettuce for noodle soup, and made green curry with the kohlrabi. The curry was really interesting and surprisingly good. We’ve never had kohlrabi before but we experimented and diced some up for the curry. With the addition of sugar snap peas and Thai basil from our garden, it turned out to be one of the best curries that came out of our kitchen. There was no recipe as I used Curry Simple which I highly recommend, by the way. Not the most cost-effective but I make it a point to always keep some in the pantry. There is no picture either as the veggies came out slightly overdone making them less presentable 
Those sugar snap peas from our garden were awesome! I don’t normally like peas but these were delicious. I have to find more recipes to make them.
Do you have any good sugar snap pea recipes to share?
Kish, a friend from Denver came to visit last weekend. We had a great time with food, hiking, and people-watching. He even provided live guitar music during his stay.
Kish made Breakfast Tacos
Mulder got a bath
Kish makes a Tree pose
Marcel on Saddle Mountain
A local friend Vivek on Saddle Mountain
Fresh Romaine Lettuce from our Garden
What a beautiful spring day! We are finally getting some consistently warm and sunny days which means ideal growing conditions for our organic garden. Added this month is a second Square Foot Garden. Marcel thought he could outdo my SFG with a bigger and better set-up. His SFG frame is 8″ high compared to my 6″ frame and a sunnier location. While tomatoes are my favorite, Marcel likes peppers - with 12 varities and growing. In my SFG, the top performers this month are romaine lettuce, spinach, sugar snap peas, and watermelon. Basil and tomato plants are doing well in Marcel’s. Although they are growing fast, the only harvest available right now are herbs and spinach. Soon, some romaine lettuce will be ready, as well as some broccoli.
In case you are wondering, here is a complete list of our plants:
Cannon Beach is one of my favorites on the Oregon Coast. It is clean, still mostly wild, and the town has an old world charm. It could get crowded at times but yesterday was a very nice day. Although a bit hazy, it was sunny and the temperature was 70 degrees. Mulder had a great time too. There were dogs everywhere and for the first time, he played in the water. Most of all, this fun day trip only cost us a quarter tank of gas 
A cluster of sealife on a rock
Mulder incripts his name on the sand
Mussel
Monoliths
Mulder goes swimming
Downtown
The low tide allowed us to walk up to Haystack Rock
My blog turned 1 on May 2nd without me realizing it until now! I had 53 posts which worked out to an average of 1 per week. A great accomplishment in my view
Marbled French Toast
A friend of mine Andes introduced me to this lovely Japanese (?) bread from Uwajimaya. She said it makes great bread for French Toast. I used Alton Brown’s recipe and I thought it was quite tasty The baking at the end sealed the deal. Here’s my simplified version for 2-4 people:
1/2 cup milk
1 large egg
1 tablespoon honey, warmed in microwave for 20 seconds
dash sea salt
4 (1/2-inch) slices day-old marbled bread (left out)
2 tablespoons butter
In a medium size mixing bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, honey, and salt. Pour into a shallow bowl with a flat bottom. I warmed up the honey and milk (no eggs yet) together for 30 seconds to soften the honey.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Dip bread into mixture, allow to soak for 30 seconds on each side, and then remove to a cooling rack that is sitting in a sheet pan, and allow to sit for 1 to 2 minutes.
Over medium-low heat, melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a 10-inch nonstick saute pan. Place 2 slices of bread at a time into the pan and cook until golden brown, approximately 2 to 3 minutes per side. Bake all slices together for 5 minutes in the oven. Serve immediately with maple syrup, whipped cream or fruit.
Thai-Style Noodles
I finally succeeded in making this at home…at least in my own world. It is somewhat Americanized with regular instead of Chinese broccoli. I also simplified the ingredients just enough so that I am satsified with the flavor. My trusty source Thai Table is the best!
Tips: Use a very hot good quality wok (carefully) and work quickly with all the ingredients ready when you start cooking. Of course, fresh noodles are a must as well as chilies. I used dried chili oil and it worked just fine.
Peanut or canola oil
1/2 lb ground chicken
Broccoli
1 lb fresh wide rice noodles
garlic
1 tbsp palm sugar
2 tbsp golden mountain sauce or light soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
Thai chilies or chili oil
1. Mix the last four ingredients to make the sauce.
2. Slice noodles into 3/4″ strips and break up into thin pieces.
3. Heat wok, add oil, then saute garlic.
4. Add chicken, saute until golden brown.
5. Add noodles, stir fry.
6. Add sauce, stri fry.
7. Add broccoli.
If you want the noodles to be firm, add the broccoli first then the noodles. Enjoy!
Presenting my new hobby - Gardening! Last year was the first time I did any serious gardening and I had a blast with just tomatoes, peppers, melons, and a few herbs. This year, Marcel is joining me and we are going full blast - or at least as much as we can cram in our “suburban farm”. It is like building an empire and I am enjoying it very much. For the first time this year, we are starting with some seeds. How wonderful it is to see the sprouts growing into full grown plants!
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Growing Young Plants
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Blueberries, Strawberries, and Lingonberries
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Cilantro
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Oregano
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Raspberries
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Rosemary
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Peas, Carrots, Broccoli, Spinach, Lettuce, and Onions
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Chives
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Young Sprouts
Dear Company,
Most days I like you, some days I don’t - but today I very much like you. I thank you for the honor of being awarded “Employee of the Quarter” among the gazillion hardworking individuals in the company. What can I say? I will work just as hard as I always do but with an even bigger smile this time. I appreciate the check that might just allow me to see my family for the second time this year
Sincerely, Your Hardworking Employee
Not the actual certificate, otherwise you would know where I work.
Manila mangoes are in season right now so I thought I’d make one of my favorite desserts - mango cake but in this case, mango cupcakes.
I made the cupcakes with Trader Joe’s vanilla cake mix then added mango slices in the batter before pouring into the muffin pan. For the frosting - heavy whipping cream, confectioners sugar and puree from half a mango. I did not measure the proportions - just by thickness and consistency.
- These bulbs just sprouted in our front yard.
I was going to post some spring flower pictures from our garden but for some reason they were not coming out right in wordpress. Oh well, here’s one anyway.
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