Tomato

The 3rd tomato of the season; ate the first two without taking a picture.  There’s loads more; still green.

Stick insect

A big one, 12cm [5 in] or thereabouts. 

There was rain yesterday; and the day before; and a drizzle the day prior to that.  Somewhat unheard of for June to 1) have rain; or 2) has 3 consecutive days of rain (might be 4 including today); or 3) have deluges that overflow that water troughs that catch the roof run-off.   On the upside: the vegetable garden will be happy.  On the downside, it rained so hard it knocked a bunch of limes off the tree.

Sunflower

The title pretty much covers it.  That, and I must get myself a new camera/phone.

Barbeque

We don't use charcoal, briquets or gas in the bar-b-q; it consumes, largely, twigs.

Cactus flowers

The flowers suddenly popped out today - after 3 weeks of hot and dry weather.

The Hot Tub

The hot tub. Solar heated water is easy to come by here.

Garlic

Blooming garlic plants.

Artichoke

Artichoke flowering - very small and seriously buggy.

Mystery Flowery Thing

This grows in the desert where I live.  I'm not sure what it is.
I'm almost certain it's not edible,

Tree Weaving

The municipal gardeners came around this week and started braiding the bushes.

This takes some planning. They have to plant the things, keep them alive for a couple of years, pruning them to make a strong base with decent branches coming out it it; and to keep the sidewalk clear.  Then, one year they must let those branches grow longer than usual, pruning out the non-targeted ones.  Finally, this spring (now/winter?), they braid the 3 extra long branches together and convince them to stay vertical – which requires a long piece of rebar.

What happens is that in the next 2 or three years those three weaved-together branches form a solid trunk and you end up with a tree – made out of a bush.

A wild amount of patience is required.

Pork, potato, pesto

It was actually lamb but I like the alliteration so much that I‘ll pretend it’s pork.

Having fried up the chops and mashed up the potato it’s just drizzling pesto over the potato; since it was lamb a bit of mint in the pesto would have been interesting but I decided not to do that (since I had no mint at home).  Pesto on potato is not something I’d run into before; it works really well – and lots healthier than butter I imagine.

Burger : Beef : Home

 

I went through some burger experimentation this summer. Trying burgers everywhere I went.

This one was “all natural pure beef” plus a whack of parsley, salt, pepper and that’s it.   Notable, once I got home, was that the package of ground beef had an ingredients list on it; not a good sign.  It turned out that it was 90% beef, 8% cereals, water, and some natural something or other as a preservative (nitrates, for example,  can be “natural”, right?).   I was not happy. 

This one started out very flat and really bulged in the middle while cooking.  Always a problem but especially severe in this case.   It took forever to cook and was still undercooked in the center. 

Melon Granita : Cantaloupe with Cantaloupe-Ice

It was in August that I made this.   You can see how the sliver of cantaloupe is cleverly sliced along the skin and that the vertical cuts made through the flesh; with the pieces pushed in alternating directions.  You’ve seen this a hundred times at restaurants.   It’s a little bit decorative and very simple.  People seem to like it.

The granita (kind of a lumpy sorbet):

• 1/2 cantaloupe, deseeded
• 1/4 cup fine/superfine sugar (not a lot)
• 2 t lime juice (juice of 1 lime)
• 1/2 t vanilla (liquid)
• a pinch of salt (or less) because salt makes things taste sweeter sometimes (yes, it really does)

1. Blend all the ingredients together; getting some air into the mix won’t hurt (a food processor is fine)
2. Put into a freezer proof container, shallow makes it happen faster as does using metal or glass rather than plastic
3. Mush it around with a fork once in a while (1/2 hour) and scrape the sides of the container
4. Continue until there is no liquid left and you like the texture (3 or 4 hours probably but plan on it taking longer – just in case; it could be a little as 1 hour.  If it is happening fast, check and stir more often)
        It will be fairly granular (see picture)

Done

Caramelized Onions

Before:

After:

These are julienned (sliced) onions (two of them); pan fried slowly in olive oil (I use first cold pressed virgin for almost everything but this does not demand the very best – and I use it somewhat generously, as you can see).  Brown until they’re almost a jam texture. This could take a half hour, easily; probably more. Add 1 t white wine vinegar and some salt to taste at the end. At no point is any sugar used – the vinegar and salt will make it seem to taste sweeter.

Now, looking at the picture, I think these should have gone on a little longer.

There’s also another technique for doing caramelized onions that involves less oil and more water; perhaps it’s healthier. You can look at it somewhere in this other post.

Ensalada : Salad

 
Eat healthy once in a while. Then… add some cheese.  This is an at-home version of a salad that I used to do in a restaurant.

• Mixed salad greens (gourmet style blend)
• 1/2ed cherry tomatoes, cut horizontally (I put the halves face-up to catch the dressing, in the restaurant we put them face down)
• goat cheese (chevre) , slightly microwaved to just melt it a little (several small rounds or one slice of a big round) Cut chevre with a wire-style cheese slicer; there is no other practical way
• whole walnuts (not in the pic because I forgot them)
• reduced balsamic vinegar (take regular balsamic, boil a bottle's worth until reduced 2/3rds, add salt - or buy balsamic glaze [shudder])
• olive oil, virgin, first cold pressed – making sure to drizzle the face-up tomatoes
• a few flakes of Maldon salt

As you can see I was having fun with links.