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.

Spaghetti Carbonara with Crab and Meyer Lemon

It was an ordinary Thursday evening until  I get an email. The email was titled "L found a pin for you." L being my daughter. I had a sneaky feeling I knew what it was. The night before daughter L had come across a recipe she wanted me to try to make. It makes use of the numerous Meyer Lemon that are strewn across my kitchen counters. L LOVES Spaghetti Carbonara; to have it combined with Crab and Meyer Lemon was near perfection to her. She also loves Crab. She calls before leaving the office to ask what I needed to make the dish. LOL. The confidence of one well love. Ha, ha. 

I am happy to report that the dish was a huge success! Everyone gobbled it up and practically licked the pan clean. A few grumbles that someone had taken too much, leaving others without any seconds. It was declared a keeper!!