Stuff and Now

Here are pictures from my future garden (aka French Laundry's garden) mentioned before.

What is Yacon? Is it pronounced like bacon?
The roots are the featured food. Did you know peanuts do not come from trees?

I wish I could grow strawberries that I got to each before the birds and insects get to them.

Yum! Peppers! Last week I threw a chilli together in the slow cooker but misread the recipe- "1 or 2 canned chipotle peppers" was misinterpreted as "1 or 2 cans of chipotle peppers." Spicy mistake!

My favorite garden presence had to be the chickens. They were so fluffy and had funny tufts of feathers on their feet, like they were prepping for winter and already wearing their feather booties.

Other than that....

Congrats to the SF Giants who won the world series last night!

My brother challenged me to a duel... in weight loss. 

I'm not quite sure how to go about losing weight because I've never had to deal with this issue. Growing up I was always encouraged to gain weight. I suppose things change as you age.

The dream garden

A few months ago I ventured into the realm of gardening with a now half-dead peonies named Alex and now a few sprouting tomato sprouts. My old housemate successfully planted a large potful of basil that is now sagging from the weight of its giant-and-still-growing leaves, incredibly convenient for the occasional omelet and Italian dish. One day I hope to eat from my own garden. A trip for ingredients to make dinner would consist of a few steps into the yard with a pair of shears.

A few weeks ago I visited a home in San Jose to purchase some plant pots from a Craigslist posting. Just to give you an idea about the seller... I inquired if he had a compost bin for sale and he responded that he had just sold six and was now only down to one. Excuse me... when will you be selling your house? His garden boasted several fruit trees that looked ready for picking, a vegetable garden area (he decided not to plant this year), Hawaiian ginger (I've never seen ginger outside a grocery store before!), and plant hanging fragrant limes used for Thai curry. Oh how I admired his garden. I couldn't stop telling everyone about it and envisioning it as my dream backyard.

But then this past weekend, my brother took us to the French Laundry garden. Thomas Keller's garden has definitely taken the dream to new heights.

Snapped with my phone. 

I'll post more pictures later. 

Sprouts for free!

I almost purchased earthworms for my housemate's birthday.

She recently informed me a family of earthworms were shopping the neighborhood and have moved into our compost bin, their own choice.

I almost purchased a pack of green onion seeds for her.

Little did I know you could toss the bottoms, that I normally chop and discard, into some water and you get new scallions.

In a world God created to provide for everyone without favoritism and at the cost of equally free, I wonder why I bother spending so much.