Category Archives: Uncategorized

Pumpkins!

Brightly colored trees!

Falling leaves.

These large leaves are Paulowina tree leaves, also known as Empress Tree because of the purple trumpet flowers in the spring and very fast growth with large leaves. I cut them to the ground about every other year to keep them under control and they will shoot back up to 20 feet in one season.

Mums

Everyone piling into one bed to keep warm!

I can’t watch another minute of election coverage! Lets see what’s in the kitchen.

Hmm. White wine reduction sauce. Onions. Garlic. Spices. How about French onion soup or more like an “Indian Onion Soup”?

1) Begin with sweating the onions in oil. I love that phrase but basically you are just sauteing or softening them. About 15 minutes.

2) Add the white wine reduction sauce. A half cup of water and stir to incorporate and cook for about 25 minutes. I also added turmeric, ground cumin, a green cardamom pod, and a dash of ground red pepper.

3) I had to taste test it with some French loaf. It was so yummy. The white wine reduction sauce was almost as flavourful as Marsala. The spices added some extra flair.

4) Ladle into bowls. Top with a slice of French bread. Sprinkle some shredded cheese on top. I also sliced the last cherry tomato from the garden and placed it on top!

5) Place the bowl under the broiler to melt the cheese. Serve with torn bread on the side to sop up that wonderful broth!

Ahhh. I think I will avoid all election coverage and just watch some gardening or nature programs. Check in with me in the morning after I find out the results. I might be moving to Canada or Israel where they are more progressive with healthcare and social issues!

🙂

Temperatures have been in the 40s the past few mornings. This makes it very difficult to get out of bed except to run downstairs and let Gus out just long enough to do his business.

By noon, it’s warmed up to the 60s so I took the opportunity to clean out the vegetable beds and seed them with arugula or rocket.

Arugula is a cool season green with a spicy bite! What I don’t eat will be dug in as a green manure.

The first step is to rake the beds from all four sides. I rake the top couple inches loose and pull the soil toward the side I am working from. I do this from all four sides.

I then removed any large roots and stems. There were also two maple seedlings so they were potted up and moved to the nursery.

The soil was raked level. In the Spring I will add fresh compost and leaf mulch to improve the soil’s drainage and nutrients. I am lucky that the previous owner of the house for 40 years was a gardener and had really improved the clay soil.

I then seeded the beds heavily with the arugula.

There were a few green tomatoes and jalapeños to harvest. All the plant material went to the compost pile.

I don’t usually like perfumy soaps but I am on my last bar of Nekkid Girl lavender soap and I love it. It smells so good! I purchased about 5 bars of different botanical soaps from Miranda and I have enjoyed them all.

Ahhhh! Now off to Cup-A-Joe for an iced mocha double latte!