Christmas Season Meals

This Christmas season has been a lazy one. Daughter is home so that is nice but hubby was in Malaysia. It was just the three of us- mother, daughter and son. Just hanging out together, laughing, watching lots of tv and movies and eating what nots. We decided we would make one special dish a day for dinner to celebrate rather than one great feast.

Day after daughter L came home we headed up to Temecula. Her friend J joined up. I made Salmon en Croute up - a dish I just saw being made on that morning by Laura Calder on French Food at Home. It was good.

Rainy garden offerings

Human nature - never satisfied. With only an annual rainfall of 11 inches, San Diegan wish for more rainfall to fill up our reservoir and water our gardens naturally ( and for free). Then the rain comes down, and the frown appears on the foreheads and smiles turn down :(

I am no exception to this. I LOVE even miss the rain but not winter rain because it is cold! When one grows up in the tropics where you can play in the warm rain, winter rain is a big let down. Strolls through the garden lessen. Thankfully, I live in San Diego, when winter days can unexpectedly be sunny and 75F. When that happens, it is time to spend all day in the garden and the kitchen is close.

I was in my garden despite deary weather to harvest the last of my Persimmons. Took a quick look around and snap some pictures of the plants that keep going despite the weather. You can see the drops of rain on the fruits!!

Pomelo ripe for eating. It holds well on the tree

From the look of the leaves, my Pomelo plant is lacking in Iron. Actually, I think all my citrus plants are in need of iron and some trace minerals... more loving care that is for sure.

Satsuma Tangerine almost ready to be enjoyed

The ripening schedule for the Satsuma Tangerines and Pomelos are in line with Chinese New Year. My kumquats are also getting fairly big and getting some color on them.

Kaffir Lime (Limau Perut)

The Kaffir Lime plant is loaded with fruits.

The flavor and the fragrance of the my Kaffir Lime leaves depends on the weather; the hotter the weather the more intense the flavor and fragrance. I am told there are some variety of Kaffir Lime more fragrant and flavorful but the nurseries are pretty general in their labeling so I have not been able to spot different. Hence, I still have only one plant.

A young fig overwintering. 

I neglected to remove the net I had draped over the fig tree to prevent the birds from eating the ripe figs. As a result the fig grew through a hole in the net cutting itself in half, growing over the net. I am going to have to sacrifice the fig. 

Immature Blueberries already on the plant

This particular pot of Blueberry seems to have acclimatized to the climate in my garden. It has flowers, immature fruits and ripening fruits on the same plants a good part of the year. It is almost winter so it should really quite bare but as you can see my breakfast fruit is being formed on the plant. Definitely a candidate for making cuttings.

Autumn Belle - Beautiful Colorful Persimmon

The Persimmon is ripe when the fruit is the same color as the leaves

It has been getting colder and colder each week the past month of November. Even in San Deigo the leaves on deciduous tree had been changing color and finally fallen off. I managed to take some pictures of my favorite deciduous tree- the bearer of yummy persimmons to share. These pictures of the colorful tree were taken on November 15, 2011.

Marsh plants and creatures of the sea

Inlets from the ocean snaking through the marshes

This weekend, a mundane, obligatory trip to the Sweetwater Marsh Wildlife National Refuge and Chula Vista Nature Center, with my son and a couple of his friends, turn out a lot nicer than I imagined. I have to commend the boys for being better behaved, then I expected, in light of our docent who was highly `musical'. Beans was not his friend!

It had been years since I had been to the Nature Center. I was impressed with how much it had expanded and how well it was run. Perhaps, it was the time of year, fall -almost winter ( winter starts December 21st), we had a clear and beautiful sight of the whole marsh and the bay, and the city beyond. The pictures do not do it any justice.

I never realized how many endangered species of birds and plants call the Sweetwater Marsh Wildlife Refuge home. Gunpowder Point on the marsh is only known native US population of Palmer's Frankenia (Frankenia Palmeri Wats). Cuttings from the 2 surviving colony is being propagated.  It was interesting to learn about halophytes like the endangered Saltmarsh Bird's Beak (cordylanthus maritimus) also found on the marsh. I was impressed at how the Nature Center was breeding and returning back to the wild the light footed clapper bird, which was almost extinct. More than 300 birds have been released into the wild todate. Such great work done so close to home and I was unaware until duty called.

The Saltmarsh Bird's Beak - extra salt is excreted out making it look like the plant is sprinkled with sugar

You know what else I was unaware of? I knew that there had been a gunpowder factory on the site during WWI . What I did not know is they were processing kelp at the site to produce acetone and potash key components of gunpowder. Imagine that kelp!

Nabisco Best Recipe Cheesecake

My cheesecake with the raspberry sauce is probably the most requested dessert of me. I tell everyone, they can just make it. It is not any secret recipe. The recipe is on the back of the Nabisco Honey Maid Graham Cracker Crumb box. Really!! That is the recipe I use, nothing special. The trick to set out the 3 packages of Philadelphia cream cheese ( must be Philadelphia brand of cream cheese), eggs and sour cream out on the counter to come to room temperature. It makes blending easier and the mixture will not have pockets of cold ingredients. If there is anything I could caution, do not overbeat. A springform pan is essential. Most times, I follow the recipe on the Nabisco Honey Maid Graham Cracker Crumbs box to the letter. This Thanksgiving, I baked it in a water bath. If I would observe, the cheesecake was creamier. However, you can easily dispense with the cumbersome water bath process and produce a really good cheesecake. I normally do :)

The Sour Cream Raspberry sauce is my own concoction. I am not a fan of pie fillings, preferring fresh fruit. I decided all this simple but delicious cheesecake needed was a luscious sauce. Using the remaining sour cream and frozen raspberry from the freezer, my famous sour cream raspberry sauce was born. It is also very good on vanilla ice cream. It has been known as liquid crack!!

For the Love of Turkey

This Thanksgivings I had a reunion with my nemesis, the Turkey. Oh Turkey, how I ..........you! This bird is my nemesis not because I ever failed in cooking it, so maybe nemesis is not the correct word but the antagonistic feeling I have towards it, makes me declare it a nemesis.

My son requested the roasted turkey for Thanksgiving declaring it "the best lean protein around". In a weak attempt to get out of roasting a turkey, I said as long as we find a small turkey, I would do so. Normally, all we see are huge birds. However, we were at Barons in Temecula- they had not one but 2 small turkey of about 10 lbs each!! Admittedly, a small part of me, deep down, was happy to find the small bird. One's perspective changes when a child leaves for college.You try to make occasions like Thanksgiving they way they want. Dear daughter is home for Thanksgiving. It is the little things... When I look at my son, I see that he will be leaving us for college soon, albiet 2 years time. The departure seems more imminent and real because of `losing' my daughter to college. We were joined in our celebration by A, a dear friend/honoree son of the family, 1st year college returnee, pre-gaming Thanksgiving with us! Nice!

Front Succulent Garden

On any one day, I do not visit my whole garden... in fact in any one week, I do not visit my whole garden. With a busy work schedule, most days, I enter and exit the house through the garage. This means the  part of the garden I view the most, is my back yard which is visible through the sliding glass door of the family room and through the windows of the kitchen. I go out through those glass doors to feed and play with my dog, Frasier. I putter around the backyard the most, gathering blueberries and strawberries for my cereal. Depending what is fruiting or ready for harvest, that is the section of the garden I would visit. Otherwise, I almost never go to my front yard, unless the door bell rings! This more often then not, means the UPS man is here with a package. Or the tutor is here for my son.

The good thing is I kept the the front yard mainly as a succulent yard, which needs minimal work. It looks good- or at least, not terrible, even with the neglect I have subjected it to. Today, the UPS man brought me into the front yard. Looks like it is time I give this part of my garden some tender loving care.