Tag: cucumber

In the Garden

This is the view out my window these days – orange, smokey skies. Despite that, there is beauty to be found in my flower bed and fig tree and potted plants.

I ordered some herb seeds a couple of months ago and planted them in coconut fiber pony packs. I used three of them, and put them in alphabetical order to spell H O T! Hyssop, oregano (Greek), and tarragon (Mexican). They were all nicely lined up, but then I moved them when I wanted to use the table and now have no idea what is where! But, time to transplant into larger pots.

The Brown Turkey fig tree is in full swing! There are plenty to go around. The local varmints like them, too, but I have a great homemade repellent made of dried chilis, garlic, and mint. I spray the tree every night after sundown (to keep the leaves from burning) and have managed to keep most of my fruit.

Of course, the roses have been happy with the heat, and the fact that I actually water them. A flower mix strewn in May is producing all sorts of flowers (and some weeds). The lemon verbena is in full bloom as well.

I also had a couple of cucumber vines. Originally I thought I had planted lemon cukes, but it turns out they were pickling cukes. They have now gone to cucumber heaven (though I have another one blooming), and the leaves are all that remain.

Life begins the day you start a garden. – Chinese proverb

Concrete Cucumber

For the past year I had a roll of Fuji Superia 200 loaded into my vintage Welta Weltini camera from the 1930s. It works really well, but the fact is I really don’t like the camera all that much. It’s a 35mm camera, a small folder, and an excruciatingly small viewfinder. It does have a built-in focusing “spot” for lack of a better word, but the reality is that the tiny, tiny viewfinder makes it an extremely awkward camera to use, and it is not a pleasant experience. I think I may decide to sell off some of my collection. I doubt I could make a profit on this, but anyway . . .

Here, a cucumber on my patio this summer. Even though its leaves are not the most healthy looking, it has produced, and continues to produce, very tasty cucumbers. I thought I had planted lemon cucumbers, but these are what came up. Awhile back, I just planted every seed I had left, and there you are. I also planted some vining beans in the same pot. Out of all the seeds I stuck in there, planning to thin them after I could discern what plant was which, only two came up! Both were non-lemon cucumbers. I just water it every day, sometimes twice when it is nearing the 100s or high 90s, and the result is we have been enjoying our small patio crop.

The tiny viewfinder caught my knee in the original scan, so I cropped this to make it a square and did some post processing along the way.

Saturday Morning Sides

I’ve been on a Mediterranean food kick of late.

This morning I was in the mood to put together some foods to have on hand over the next few days.  Since I am off work, it makes sense to do something – particularly when I want to do something!  So, I put together a couple of sides, one which we like to have on hand, and another we had in a restaurant the other night.

First side was to make some tzatziki.  This is so easy it’s ridiculous, and really worth the bit of time to make it from scratch, because scratch is always better.

Tzatziki

2 c. Greek yogurt (I used homemade!)
1 large English cucumber
5-7 cloves garlic
1 T. fresh dill
juice of 2 lemons
salt
pepper
olive oil

Grate the cucumber. Place in strainer, mix with about a tsp. of salt. Place where the liquid from the cucumber can drain while you do the rest of the prep. Let the cucumbers sit for about 30 minutes.

Finely mince the garlic – we use a microplane. Juice the lemons. Chop the dill. Stir in the yogurt.

Rinse the cucumbers. Squeeze out as much liquid as you can. If you like, put the cucumbers onto a towel, or paper toweling, and squeeze and press out as much liquid as you can. Turn into yogurt-lemon-garlic-dill mixture. Pour in a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Mix well. Taste. Add salt as you wish, and pepper.

Refrigerate in container. Stir before using.

The next thing I did was throw together a sort of tapenade, mixed up from what I had on hand.

Sun-Dried Tomato, Anchovy, and Olive Tapenade

8 oz. / 1 c. sun-dried tomatoes in oil – use all of it
1 small can of anchovy fillets
2-3 T. capers
20 kalamata olives, pitted (if already pitted, slice them where the seeds might be – you don’t want them messing up your food processor!)
2-3 cloves garlic
1-2 finely chopped cayenne peppers (optional)
2 T. balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste; olive oil to thin to your liking

In a mini-blender, put in tomatoes, anchovies, capers, garlic, olives, peppers, and vinegar. Whir together into a chunky paste. Taste. Add seasoning as you wish, and to thin, you may add some of the oil from the anchovies or a bit of olive oil on the side. Refrigerate for a few hours to meld flavors. Store in closed container for up to a week. Good on crackers or bread or straight out of the jar.

And there you have it – Saturday morning sides when you have nothing better to do!