Yesterday I harvested the last of the fava beans (a.k.a., broad beans). This task reminded me of something: that I haven’t posted a recipe where said legume is the main ingredient.
I’ve long been inspired by an appetizer, foul moukala, that we had at a Lebanese restaurant, Al Waha — all the way in Bayswater, London. [...]
Tag Archives: garden
Sautéed fava beans with shallots
Monday, 8 June 2009
Farewell to Spring
Friday, 29 May 2009
Fine, three articles in a row on garden plants. And over a month since my last post — I’ve been busy with starting the multifarious, multistep process of starting our big remodeling project, a.k.a., the Replacement of the Ugly Backroom and Kitchen et al. So it goes.
Nevertheless, the spring wildflowers are coming to an end [...]
More wildflowers in the yard
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
I continue to be amazed by the wildflowers in our garden. I had low hopes, since the last time we tried wildflower mixes — which was, oh, six to eight years ago in the front yard and parking strip — all we got were Calpops. Those are nice of course, but they’re rather short-lived, and [...]
March showers bring April flowers
Thursday, 2 April 2009
Some say it’s April showers that get the flowers going, but here in sunny, rainfall-challenged California, things pop out about a month (or more) earlier. Even though March had its typical paucity of precipitation, the single hailstorm — complete with rain and wind — had occurred right at the peak of apricot blossoms. (Indeed, I [...]
Young Scrub Jays in the garden
Sunday, 31 August 2008
We have a scrawny fig tree that bears fruit annually, but we rarely get more than a taste. I’ve often suspected birds as the culprits.
WENK. Wenk wenk wenk!
Now I have proof: young Western Scrub Jay bossing over backyard fig tree! Okay, only indirect proof, since none of the pictures actually showed the bird’s beak snorfing [...]
Tomato sauce, or, food mill capitulation
Sunday, 17 August 2008
The tomatoes came later than usual this year(1), with the peak happening starting last week, and probably not lasting for much longer. Less heat this season, I think, especially since the beefsteak-type Big Rainbows(2) have yet to get beyond the green stage.
Nonetheless, we still have plenty of tomatoes to keep us company. Making sauce comes [...]
Summer in the garden
Friday, 20 June 2008
Here’s a garden update as of this year’s summer solstice. Presently on my mind are the apricots: not as many as last year, although not as paltry as 2006. However small the crop, they shall be imminently pickable.
For the botanically inclined, I submit vegetable porn involving burgundy and green filet beans. Basically haricots verts / [...]
Hot bird action
Friday, 28 March 2008
Unfortunately, the title of this entry is quite literal: Last week a hawk died in our neighborhood. As the poor thing expired, it managed to take out a transformer and blow a power line —rendering our block powerless until dinnertime. It had (the remains of) a squirrel, so one theory was that as the squirrel [...]
Neighborhood bird watching list
Monday, 3 March 2008
I know I’ll continue my habit of writing lists on bits of paper, but I thought it’d be useful to maintain an online list of the birds I’ve seen in our neighborhood. I’ve limited this to visitors to our yards and the nearby park.
“Birders, are ye?” Well, I prefer the term bird watching, mainly because [...]
Birds in Winter (and a squirrel)
Tuesday, 19 February 2008
In autumn and winter the birds arrive from the north to keep us company. This typically means a lot of White-crowned and Golden-crowned Sparrows around the yard, but my flagship migrator is the Yellow-rumped Warbler. Or, as Simon and I call them, Yellow-butts. For their 2007 arrival, I first noticed them on the (easily remembered) [...]
