My garden in the Fall 2012

More snapshots  - this time from the Fall 2012, of my San Diego garden. 5 years ago!!!

My life has been a non-stop whirlwind of activities and events since the school year began. Hence, the lapse in blog postings......I thought I start by showing what has been happening in my garden.

My original pandanus plant from Well Sweep Farm in New Jersey!! See the baby pandanus plants at its base. I remember the owner of the nursery telling how subceptible the pandanus was to the cold.They had at one resorted to buying back plants from their customers to restart/ strengthen their stock of pandanus. I had this pandanus plant for over 10 years, taking it inside during the winter and letting it enjoy sunny warm days outside.This plant and its babies would survive until 2014 when it succumbed to an irrigation accident. We had gone away for a trip and my irrigation had failed..... Unfortunately, it was a scorching summer. No amount of watering could revive my beloved pandan.

Black Jack Fig has been a staple of my San Diego garden for many years. To me, it is one of the most delicious of the figs.

Dragon fruit flowering! This did not happen too often!

 Dragon Fruit

Turmeric is flower

Figs

Sunny winter day in the garden 2016

Remembering that I started this blog way back when, partly to keep a journal of my gardening efforts, I decided to post draft posts lingering on my dashboard. It was nice to note that I did try to post more often in 2016, and did, even if it did not make it to be being publish. Snapshots 📷 from the Temecula garden in December 2016.


December 4, 2016

A sunny 🌞 winter day in the garden.

Tuscan Kale continues to grow in the cooler weather, but now the damp weather is encouraging a white flies infestation. Will try to cut off affected leaves and trim plant to see if I can save the plant. Otherwise, time to pull out the kale plant.

Is it May already?

May 7, 2017

So, does it count if your last blog post was dated January 8, 2017 and you were blogging about an event in December, 2016??? I thought for sure, I had not posted in 2017. 😂😂 It is almost moot point as I found somehow the video link to the Persimmon bag unwrapping is broken. Will have to fix that before I publish this post.

So what has been happening? A lot, yet not .... since winter came and put the garden to sleep. We had been, and continue to clean out our San Diego garden; purging and selecting what to retain, what to transplant to Temecula garden. 

I had been busy saying a soft goodbye to my San Diego garden even as I started transferring my gardening efforts to my Temecula garden. Moving potted plants one by one to the new garden. Taking cuttings, re-taking cuttings again and again, as the cuttings fail to root. Where were my green fingers when I needed them?? I am known as the person who could go to a restaurant and bring home a sprig of garnish and viola! behold a new plant or two. When I need to bring part of San Diego garden with me, nothing seems to root. Or, if it roots, I get a little help from a mischievous red poodle puppy, who is big into chewing anything in site, especially from my garden. Lol!! Lucky she is such a cutie.

Will be posting more regularly soon...I hope. Meanwhile, I will complete the various draft postings lingering on the back end and publish them.

The reveal of packaged beauties

December 3, 2016

I have waiting for some time now to put up this video. Each year, cutting down the bagged persimmons and opening the bags is like a Gardener's Christmas/ Birthday for me. I realized that I had never videod the event. Here's a little clip so everyone can share in my joy!

Paper Bag Tree - Giant Fuyu Persimmon

August 28, 2016

It is SO SURREAL! I cannot believe that this will be the last season I will be harvesting Persimmon from my beloved Giant Fuyu Persimmon tree - The Autumn Queen of my San Diego orchard. The tree is too established; almost 17 years old, and too big to be transplanted. Regretfully, so far, air layering has failed to produce any viable plants. I am just going to have to buy plant one or two of the Giant Fuyu Persimmon for Temecula garden.

The sight of bird eaten Persimmons finally kicked me into action. Each time I decided I was going into the garden to wrap the ripening Fuyu Persimmon, I mentally kicked myself because I had made yet another trip to the grocery store without buying the needed paper lunch bags!!! Finally, I had to make my third and specific trip to buy the necessary lunch bags.

Jujube Harvest

August 29, 2016

I am crunching on a sweet juicy crunchy fresh Jujube (Ziziphus Jujuba) as I am writing this post. It reminds me of a fresh apple just smaller. Jujube is a fast growing tree and quick to start producing fruit. I would say the only downside are the thorns. You have to be careful harvesting the fruits. Wait...the other downside is the birds love them as much as I do.

Pear -Cardamom Walnut Scones

August 20, 2016 

The fridge and freezer cleanout continues. I have been trying to cook our way out of my pantry, freezer and cupboard so that we will have limited supplies when we move. I spied a few blocks of Pulgra butter in my freezer and a couple of ripe pears in the fridge. Perfect for the Cardamon Pear Scones I had earmarked to make from Baking with Less Sugar book. I had to make do with pecans as I had yet to replenish my walnut supply after giving the bag to my sister.

Our very own Produce Box

August 10, 2016

Quite a beautiful Produce Box this week from the my garden, even if I say so myself! Swiss Chard, Burgundy Okra, Tomatoes and Blood Oranges from my Temecula garden.

Better Than Flour Blueberry Bran Muffin

June 7, 2016

I have always thought of or rather tried not think of bran muffins, associating them with the dry tasteless cardboard muffin "healthy" people eat. Well.... what can I say, I am now one of those people trying to be healthy. I made the Blueberry Bran Muffins from the Baking with Less Sugar. Much to my delight, I would eat them any day. I have to confess being very partial to blueberries so the Blueberry Bran Muffins were an absolute treat. So full of blueberries, it provided a fresh sweetness and moistness to the muffins and a certain childlike enjoyment when one had to lick the purple juices when finishing the last bits of the muffin.

Traditional Mexican Stew - Birria

May 15, 2016

Living in San Diego I am surrounded by delicious Mexican Food so Mexican Food cookbook is not something I am normally attracted to. So far I had only been tempted by Rick Bayless "More Everyday Mexican" and "Fiesta at Rick's." However, while browsing the cookbook table in Costco "Claudia's Cocina, a taste of Mexico" by Claudia Sandoval, winner of MasterChef Season 8 called out to me. Discovering that she was a local from National City/ La Mesa sealed the deal. 

I am so very glad I bought the book. I choose for my first recipe to try, Traditional Mexican Stew- Birria from the book. It allowed me to work with various types of beautiful chiles I see at local Mexican grocery stores, that I have always wondered about. Relatively easy to make despite the longer ingredient list. The results?? Two Big Thumbs UP from family. I have made it twice already and thinking it might be time to make it again!

Mysterious Cardamom

July 31, 2016

Are these green cardamom pods? Have not been able to find pictures of fresh cardamom at this stage that look like these. What variety of cardamom are these. The mystery continues. Stay posted for updates as I get confirmation. I will dry these cardamom pods and let you know. I transplanted what I remembered as either the Green or Black Cardamon plants that I had purchased from Walter Anderson Nursery, into the ground of my Temecula garden about almost 3 years ago. This past May, the plant started flowering. Long buds rose from leaf stalk, ending the sword like sheath that enclosed the flowers to be.  

Better Than Flour Banana Bread

June 16,2016

This is a keeper for sure!! Delicious, comforting and all banana bread-y. I did not miss the sugar; in fact felt that the banana flavour was more pronounced. I suspect the same could be said of my family because of how fast the banana bread were devoured. I must say, they tend to favor the minis baked in the brownie bite pans. So easy to swing by the kitchen and pop a tasty mosel (almost without anybody the wiser.)

Baking with Less Sugar

June 2016

While on a recent trip to New York I came across Joanne Chang book BAKING WITH LESS SUGAR. It is exactly what I had been looking for. Both sides of our family have a history of diabetes. We have been eating healthier and leading a more active lifestyle. I had been cooking lower carbohydrate and less sugar meals for my family for awhile now. But, sometimes you crave a little something, not necessary sweet but with a great mouthfeel to end the meal or as a pick me up.

Faced with the shelves full of Cookbooks that I have to cull for the move, I was trigger shy of buying yet another book. Luckily, I was able to borrow the ebook version of it from our local library. Joanne Chang of Boston's Flour Bakery, is of the Sticky Buns Throwdown with Bobby Flay fame. She beat the Master Chef.

My first try was the Blueberry Bran Muffins. The recipe looked so promising I purposely went out to buy the wheat bran.  2 1/2 cups of blueberries provided moisture, sweetness and drama! You peel of the muffin wrapper and are greeted deep purple promise of deliciousness. It is buttery and delicious. Yum!

Baking with Less Sugar

June 2016

While on a recent trip to New York I came across Joanne Chang book BAKING WITH LESS SUGAR. It is exactly what I had been looking for. Both sides of our family have a history of diabetes. We have been eating healthier and leading a more active lifestyle. I had been cooking lower carbohydrate and less sugar meals for my family for awhile now. But, sometimes you crave a little something, not necessary sweet but with a great mouthfeel to end the meal or as a pick me up.

Faced with the shelves full of Cookbooks that I have to cull for the move, I was trigger shy of buying yet another book. Luckily, I was able to borrow the ebook version of it from our local library. Joanne Chang of Boston's Flour Bakery, is of the Sticky Buns Throwdown with Bobby Flay fame. She beat the Master Chef.

My first try was the Blueberry Bran Muffins. The recipe looked so promising I purposely went out to buy the wheat bran.  2 1/2 cups of blueberries provided moisture, sweetness and drama! You peel of the muffin wrapper and are greeted deep purple promise of deliciousness. It is buttery and delicious. Yum!

Pared Down Garden

June 2016

The garden is looking quite bare. You can see right through to the back of garden to Pomelo and Kumquat trees.

The banana grove has been removed. I miss those gorgeous banana leaves swagging in the wind. In all the years I never put up window dressing on the windows. The Banana leaves from the outside provides all the window dressing I ever needed.

How Do You Move a Garden?

May, 2016
The past couple of months and weeks has been strange and uneasy for me. I had been purging and packing our offices for the office move. If that is not unsettling enough, I had also started the same purging and packing on our own San Diego home. But my most ambivalent feeling might be regarding my garden. Over the years, we have grown our San Diego garden in the style of the lush tropical garden we grew up with. The San Diego weather has allowed us to grow tropical fruits like bananas, mangoes, Sapote Ciku, longan as well as figs, persimmons, and citrus like pomelos and kumquats. In anticipation of our move and sale of the house, we had started clearing out and tidying our San Diego garden. Not everyone appreciate the "Jungle Look" we favored. 

The plan is after we tidy up the garden, we can plant a more acceptable palate of plants to prospective buyers.

The little Mango Tree that could........

September 28, 2015

The weather has been horrid of late. Hot, Hot, Hotter!! Humidity also at at all time high. I have been hiding; moving from air conditioned office to air conditioned home. Finally, this week the weather let up. Yipee!! 

Yesterday, I ventured out to the garden and noticed many of the mangoes were pretty yellow. I discovered a number of my mangoes had ripen and fallen to the ground under the little tree. Luckily, it must have been recent as the fruits were still juicy and without any damage. Yummy! I decided to pluck a few more of the yellow mangoes to indulge. 

Manila Mangoes 2015

August 3, 2015

Nothing like counting your Mangoes before...before they become full size! This year the Mango tree was full of flowers and many fruits set this season.

April 2015

Mushroom Smothered Pork Chop

August 4, 2015

A week ago, just as we were pulled into our driveway, a salesman from Meat Delivery company waylaid us. Daughter was hesitant but I was ready to have another source for steaks. Plus, the fridge had been bare since our mini vacation 2 weeks ago.... and I was too busy/ lazy to go shopping. Long story short, I bought some goodies from him. I got a selection of beef tenderloin, jumbo prawns, Ahi Tuna, Kobe Burgers and Boned in Pork Chop. The latter was the inspiration for tonight's dinner. 

I have been trying to recreate this  Pork Chop with a mushroom sauce that Helen Headke, my sister-in-law's mother used to serve us. Even my sister-in-law has lost the recipe. It has been so long since I had the dish, I don't remember exactly how it taste, only remembering how good it tasted. She used to serve it alongside with her Pasta Primavera. BH who also loves Helen's pork chop asked if this was her recipe. This is first version to the  Pork Chop and the mushroom BH has said he likes!! This is a tribute to Helen Haedke.

Sauteed Swiss Chard

August 4, 2015

So excited!! I had harvested the very beautiful Bright Light Swiss Chard. Tonight, I got to cook them very simply with olive oil, garlic, salt and a squeeze of lemon. Delicious. I served them with the Mushroom Smothered Pork Chops.