In the Garden, 12/21/2010

Since I have a (temporarily) gimp foot and since it's been pouring rain here for a few days, it's been a while since I was in the garden. Today there's been a break in the weather and I thought it was time for me to go out and pick peas. 3 1/2 hours later I finally came back inside.

Here's how things like a little "pea-picking" task can go here:

1. I head out to the garden to see how the peas are doing. Upon entering, I see that the giant pecan tree has been prolifically dropping leaves all over the place. I walk along the raised beds pulling leaves out. I make a mental note that I also need to clear the blanket of leaves that are on the ground in the garden.

2. I move on to the peas (at this point I'm still on target). I start clearing out pecan tree leaves from around and in the pea tee-pee and discover that the pea vines have been growing very vigorously. The "outer layers" didn't find anything to grip onto before they got too long and were lying flat. One by one I lifted them up and wound them into the trellis. For one side I had to add a supportive piece of wire fencing since there was nothing left of the tee-pee to support the vines. I then commenced picking the mature (and some overly mature) peas.

3. Setting the baskets aside, I decide to move the two cabbage plants that were in the shade to sunny spots in the other beds.

4. I feed everything in the garden a healthy dose of fish emulsion for nitrogen.

5. Then I decide that there's no time like the present to do something about the leaves so I haul out the leaf vacuum and suck up all the leaves, collecting two 30-gallon cans full of shredded leaves. These will become the bulk of my compost for next year along with the grass clippings (when the lawn starts growing again in the spring) and some alfalfa hay that I've got hanging around here.

6. Finally, 3 1/2 hours later I pick up my baskets of peas and head inside for lunch.


Here's how the garden looks now that the leaves have been cleaned up. There will be more. That pecan tree isn't finished de-leafing.



This is my 3rd year attempting Brussels sprouts. Go, Brussels sprouts, go!



That middle bed contains the overly crowded pea tee-pee, a couple of cabbage plants (that are doing very well), some cilantro, and another set of peas. All together there are three varieties of peas growing.



This Navel orange tree is loaded with soon-to-be ripe oranges. The oranges from this tree will keep us in freshly squeezed orange juice for a while and when they run out...



The oranges on this Valencia orange tree will become ripe. These two trees ensure that we very rarely have to buy orange juice. We did have to invest in a sturdy citrus juicer though.

December 6, 2010 Garden Pics

I was out in the garden for a short time today, looking things over. Here are a few photos that I took:

This is the "overview" shot. The hoops are for frost protection. I have a bunch of old sheets that I drape over the wire supports when I think it's going to drop too cold at night.



This bed is fairly busy. I'm getting peas off the pea trellises. The cabbages look great, as well as the cilantro. I also have some carrots growing in this bed near and amongst the pea tee-pee.



This is my garlic bed. There are 6 varieties in this bed. The lettuce is a welcome companion. That's a cilantro plant tucked in the corner.



This is why I can't spend much time in the garden these days. I had foot surgery last Tuesday. Nothing major... it's the same surgery I had on my right foot last year. It'll heal and be good as new (better!) in no time.

Photos from Thanksgiving 2010

The previous post details our Thanksgiving menu but I forgot that my husband, David, snapped a few photos of the process along the way. Here's what he captured...

This is the pecan pie that I made the night before. I actually took this photo... it's the only one I thought to snap. I also made a pumpkin pie but we didn't get a photo of it. I thought the pecan pie tasted better anyway!



The turkey spent the first 45 minuted of its cooking time on its side with the back towards the fire and the feet towards the back of the oven. It was later turned breast-side up. There's compound butter under the skin on the breasts as you can clearly see.



The big bird is on the oven.



I think this is the same shot with no flash. Enjoy the one you like the best. :-)



Here I am taking the temperature of the thigh. The bird was checked every 30 minutes and the less-done side was positioned towards the fire every time.



Here's the turkey mid-roast.



These drippings were used to make some very rich, dark gravy.



The centerpiece is done!



David did a nice job of setting the table.



Here we are filling up our plates. That's Jerry (David's dad) on the left. Neil is on the right with the gravy boat. Mary's hand is holding the roasted Brussels sprouts.



I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and that you enjoyed these photos!

The Pizza Oven Thanksgiving

We've had our pizza oven for nearly 3 years now and were told that you can even cook a turkey in it. So, we decided to try it this year. A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving I got a small (10-pound) Butterball turkey for a test run and invited a few guinea pigs...er... friends over for the test run. I thought that it would also be a good time to try out some of the side dish recipes that were created for the pizza oven by Andrea Mugnaini, the importer of our pizza oven. The test run worked out fabulously... the turkey was amazingly moist and delicious. The side dishes were fabulous. I also got a sense of the time line and felt confident that I could add in the mashed potatoes (I cheated and used a make-ahead recipe) and dressing (though that was never in doubt) and also a pecan pie to the menu.

For the "real" Thanksgiving dinner I ordered a small heritage turkey from Whole Foods. I've been curious about the heritage turkeys for a while and wanted to try one to see if the price tag could be justified. Since we only had 6 folks in attendance for the real Thanksgiving dinner, I only needed a small turkey and when trying a pricey heritage turkey, small is good. Well... the verdict is thus: As it turns out, heritage turkeys are leaner and therefore don't cook up as moist. While it tasted good, it was dryer than the Butterball. So, lesson learned: I'll stick to regular turkeys from now on. It may not necessarily be a Butterball... it may be a "natural, fresh" turkey but it won't be the expensive heritage.

This was our menu:

Thanksgiving Dinner Menu

Oven Roasted Turkey

Rich Dark Gravy

Roasted Cranberries

Cornbread & Sage Dressing

Roasted Yams

Brussels Sprouts with Garlic and Pancetta

Mashed Potatoes

Pumpkin Pie & Brandy Whipped Cream

Pecan Pie & Whiskey Maple Cream Sauce

Every item on the menu spent some time in one way or another in the pizza oven, except for the mashed potatoes and the desserts. The gravy stock was made from turkey necks and backs that roasted in the oven, then simmered in a stock pot with the usual assortment of herbs and vegetables. Plus, the gravy was finished off with drippings from the roasted turkey. The yams and Brussels sprouts were easy to do in the oven, as well as the cranberry sauce and the dressing. My mother-in-law (Mary) brought over some nice cranberry dinner rolls that she baked up for the meal. Everyone should have brought another person because we were overrun with food (so what's new?) and we had enough for a dozen people.

Overall it was a lovely Thanksgiving with some very wonderful people. It was an honor and a pleasure to host it this year.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wow... I have really had nothing to post have I? Things here have been pretty routine. My health has been holding up and I have my full strength and energy back. I really hope it stays this way for a while.

Tomorrow's Thanksgiving and I am hosting a small dinner here at our house. My parents-in-law (Mary and Jerry) are coming as well as Mary's cousin and a friend of ours, Neil. Our plan is to make as much of the meal in the pizza oven as possible. The turkey (naturally) will be cooked in there as well as the cranberry sauce, the yams, the dressing, and the Brussels sprouts. I am doing the pies (yes... call me crazy... 2 pies for 6 people) in the regular oven since that kind of baking can be tricky. We did a test run of the turkey and a couple of the sides a couple of weeks ago and it all came out much better than we dared to dream. Today I have spent most of the day prepping so that tomorrow I can sit around a drink wine while the turkey cooks. Then the last 30 minutes will be a mad dash to finish the side dishes and make the gravy.

My garden is doing great. Almost all of the garlic has come up. I have some lettuce out there, some peas, cabbage, some greens, and cilantro. Also Brussels sprouts... we'll see if I get any this year.

Now I have to get back to the kitchen... a pecan pie is waiting to be made.

Happy Thanksgiving!

MRI Result Today

Last week I had an MRI of my abdomen. This has a limited view of the lungs (just the very bottom of the lungs) and also does not read the intestines very well. For a good image everything has to hold very still and intestines are actually always moving. But, for what it could see, everything is all clear at this time.

The oncologist up at Stanford will run a CT scan in January.

Of course I am thankful for the clear scan and for the times that I'm feeling great, like now. But I want to pass along to you that I've been told (by a couple of oncologists) that the chances for a cure for me right now is 10-12%. Which means that there's a 88-90% chance of it coming back somewhere. Of course, I'd like to beat those odds but it's just something that I have to face. I will cherish the times that I feel great and feel like my old self. That's all I have to say about that at this time.This may not sound positive to you, but I am actually being positive. There's no need to view all of this in a negative light. It's not helpful.

The Fall Garden Continues

The Fall/Winter garden is coming along nicely. Here in the SF Bay Area we can grow something year-round. We might get a frost day or two but no real freezes. I took these photos just a couple of days ago.

This shot is my usual overview of the garden from the front.

This bed contains a couple of large parsley plants. I just put in some kale, collard greens, mustard greens, celery, and cilantro. That tomato plant is an "Autumn" tomato plant. We'll see...



Hopefully this U-shaped bed will contain a nice variety of garlic later today. Lettuce and garlic get along well so I have some young lettuce plants already in the bed.



This bed holds some very nice lettuce, some peas, cilantro, cabbage, more peas, and some carrots. Very busy bed! The one behind it contains more cabbage and a tomato plant that's still producing, though probably not for much longer.



This shot is from the back of the garden. As you can see, the tomato plants are still going. That bed to the right there will be planted with asparagus this Spring.



These are my baby Brussels sprouts. Some gardening guy here said that you have to start then in September, so I did. It's my 3rd year trying Brussels sprouts and I have yet to have any success with them.



My herb bed is one of my most cherished beds. It is so nice to have such a collection of fresh herbs to pick from. This bed has basil, rosemary, parsley, thyme, oregano, sage, and tarragon. Pretty soon I should harvest some of this and dry it for the winter. I'll also cut back the thyme and rosemary. They will persist through the winter and I'll cut them back to reduce the woody stems inside and allow for some fresh growth next year. Everything in this bed is perennial (except for the basil) and will return next year. The only thing I'm missing here that I'd like to have is chives. I put some in this year but they were an aphid magnet. Next year I'll put some in a separate pot.

Images From This Weekend

This weekend we hosted a small gathering for a group of friends that hadn't gathered for too long. Our plan was to assemble some very simple pizzas and since we haven't used the pizza oven all year we thought it would be good to pre-heat it on Saturday so that the pizza oven floor wouldn't take too long to absorb and retain all the heat that's necessary for nice, crispy pizza crusts. As it turns out, I also harvested a lot of tomatoes the day before and had planned to roast them in the regular oven and then to freeze them for future uses. I decided that since the pizza oven was fired up, it made sense to roast them in there. Instead of roasting for 45 minutes, they were finished in 10 minutes. Here are the images of the tomatoes roasting:

The tomatoes are halved, seeded (seeds strained through a colander to retain the juices), drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with oregano, kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper. Then they were slid into the oven.



Right away they started to sizzle on the bottom of the pan.



Soon after the tops also started to roast due to the extreme heat coming from the flames above.



I did stir them a few times throughout this process.

When they were completely softened, I gave them a big stir, mushing them up a bit, and added back the stained tomato juice which I had boiled and simmered.

When that was finished, I took a taste and we decided that it looked like tomato soup... so I put a few spoonfuls into a cup, added a touch more salt and some milk and had a yummy snack.

Then I cooled them off in an ice bath and when I was prepared to ladle them into quart-size freezer bags it dawned on me that I could puree this into a sauce to use on the pizzas the next day. So, I got out my Kitchen Aid mixer and attached the fruit/vegetable strainer and ran the chunky sauce through. It removed all of the skins and other solids, leaving me with a silky puree. Sorry, when that was happening we were rushing to wrap things up and I didn't take any photos of the finished product. But it was very tasty on the pizzas.


This is Cassie, being very cute. Dave sneaked up on her to take a few photos.



Oops, she sensed an approaching step.



Then she relaxed onto a contented grin.

Doggie Bath Day

Today was bath day for the two furry kids. We last bathed them just over a month ago. And they were starting to smell like it.

We have a pretty good system down. After we get a dog on the table (using a ramp) I start in on the toenails, getting them as short as I can with the Dremmel. While I'm doing that, Dave brushes out his or her coat... removing as much loose undercoat as he can. When the nails are trimmed then we wash them using warm water. Recently we finally piped warm water to the back yard so that the dogs and we would be comfortable during bath time.

After two shampoos, we do a conditioning.

Then a final rinse and the dry with a doggie dryer.

Last: A thorough brushing. And they look fabulous!!

Here are a few photos:


This photo of Dave washing Theo is here just for effect. It's from his bath last time. I didn't take a picture of his bath this time, but it looked just like that.



This is where I just had to run inside to grab the camera. We were finished washing Theo and had him almost dry. Cassie came and tried to climb up on the table too. She really wanted a bath.



Here's the baby girl getting all clean.



She does look sad here but you saw it: She tried to climb up on the table to get her bath!



And here she is, all beautiful, clean, and fluffy!!

That lasted about 60 seconds. As soon as she got off the table, she and Theo started running and chasing each other around the yard, kicking up dust. Oh, well, we tried!

A Few Garden Pics

OK, so I found a couple of things to take pictures of. I have a fairly large pepper harvest coming up. This pepper is called "Sweet Chocolate" and was free seed that was sent to me when I placed an order with Baker Creek. This is the first ripe one that I've pulled off the plant and I haven't tasted it yet.


Here's what the other side of it looks like. I have a LOT of these peppers on my plants so if anyone local would like some let me know. Right now most of them are still green (and I'm sure they are great green) but eventually will ripen to this beautiful brown color.


This next photo is of the jalapeno plants. There are so many peppers on these plants. It's time to start making poppers and have a party!

Let me know if you need some fresh peppers.

Just Truckin' Along

There's been nothing going on here... I planted some stuff in the garden but it's too early to take pics. Then it got hot for a few days (the garden is a fall/cool weather garden) so time will tell if I ever have anything to take pictures of.

My wonderful cousin Nadine came for a short visit last weekend. To me she's like another sister. She and I met when I was 17 and she was 16 and we instantly hit it off. I wish she lived closer so that we could see each other more often than every 5 years or so. My husband thinks she and I should get away together each year to hang out. I'd like to see about doing The Amazing Race with her. We get along so great and when I'm not recovering from something I have a ton of energy, and I know that she does too. When she stayed with me for a few days in New York City a few years back we were unstoppable.

That's all the randomness I can pull out of my head for now.

I'll try to live a more exciting life. Oh, who am I kidding.

Starting the 2010 Fall Garden

I am lucky to live in an area where something can be growing year round. Well, maybe I'm unlucky because I don't have any good excuse to take a break. But, let's assume that I wouldn't want to take a break and that I'm lucky to be able to plant year round. :-D

Dave and I filled the newest bed with soil yesterday, and now we (or I) just have to prepare the other beds to receive plants. Right now the soil has settled and luckily we still have a small pile of new soil to put into them. The planting will start very, very soon.

Here are a few vegetable starts that I bought yesterday:

Those are (6) red cabbage, (6) green cabbage, (6) sugar snap peas, and (6) lettuce. Also yesterday I started seeds indoors for (2) celery plants, (2) collard green plants, (2) mustard green plants, two additional kinds of leaf lettuce (2 each), and three kinds of spinach (2 each). I will also direct seed some carrots, beets, another 2 kinds of peas. Finally, a few days ago I also direct seeded Brussels sprouts, 3 plants. That's what the next photo is of. Hopefully in a few weeks I"ll be able to show you some nice, healthy plants.

Below is basically an overview of the garden today. There are some parsley and basil in the near foreground. Then a row of 2 different kinds of eggplants. In the background are the tired tomato plants. They certainly gave me a bounty this year.


The eggplant plants look great but there aren't any eggplants on them. The temperatures have been cool and I didn't do a great job of shaking the plants to help them pollinate. Since I had them under a tunnel all summer long (for bug protection) that's what I was supposed to do since there was no wind or insects to do the job. I went ahead and uncovered them so that they can get some wind and full sun. These guys need heat to do their thing and I think the season will run out on them before anything great happens.


Soon (this week hopefully) I will harvest all of the basil for a big batch of pesto which I will portion and freeze. This will carry us through until next summer, easily.

This is an interesting tomato. Now, why would part of it still be so green?


Near future plans: Next month I will plant a bunch of garlic and it will be harvested next July. Also, we will put in an asparagus bed this coming spring. I already ordered all of the crowns.

Is it OK to let our dog chew on a stick?

Canning Tomatoes

Not much has been going on lately. I've just been busy everyday doing random things. Like picking tomatoes. I even tried canning them for the first time.

(Question: Why is it called "canning" when we use jars? Shouldn't it be called "jarring"?)

The first time canning went OK but I learned a few things. First: go ahead and really squish the tomatoes in the jar. They can handle it, and more air will be removed. Second: I should have hot-packed them. Raw-packing them allowed them to retain a lot of their air. (Do you see a theme here?) Third: I processed jars of different sizes and took out the pint jars at the allotted times while the quart jars were left in the hot water bath for a few more minutes. There's a reason you are supposed to hang the jar rack on the edge of the pot for 5 minutes. When you remove the jar directly from the water to the counter-top, the sudden pressure change causes the liquid to push out of the jars, leaving a large air space in the top of the jar when things cool down. This causes no problem as long as the lid seals properly but any tomatoes that are above the liquid level could change colors. However, this is not going to be a problem for me since I made the first two mistakes. There is plenty of extra room in the jars for the tomatoes to float in.

Next time I'll know to hot-pack them, pack them in tight, and don't remove them from the heat too quickly. Actually next time I'll "jar" them using a pressure canner. The processing time will be 10 minutes rather than 40 and I won't have to use lemon juice in the jars. Yesterday my brand new super-cool pressure canner arrived (we got it for "free" using credit card reward points) and now I'll just have to wait a few days for more tomatoes to ripen.

8/16/2010 Stanford Oncologist Follow-up

Today David and I met with Dr. Fisher, the G.I. Oncologist at Stanford University Hospital. We expected to hear nothing new today. And for the most part, we didn't. Firstly, he summarized the working theory that has driven the Tumor Board's decisions thus far. They are banking on the possibility that the tumor cells that were growing in this recent lymph node were "left behind" cells from the original surgery 2 & 1/2 years ago. These cells may have escaped the same time the cells that traveled to my liver previously escaped, and have just been hanging around while unfortunately surviving 2 rounds of chemotherapy. If this is the case, then there's a possibility that they have removed the remaining stragglers and this *could* be the end of things. We are looking on the bright side of things here, which is the right thing to do.

He also repeated that he does not see any reason to resume chemotherapy at this time. He'd rather save those bullets for when and if they may have more benefit. If this surgery has, in fact, removed anything remaining then there's no reason to subject me to poison. And if there are any roaming cells, well, let's face it, 2 round of chemotherapy haven't eradicated them so why should a third. So, we are going to hold tight for now and keep an eye on things. It may be that in the future, chemotherapy may be used to shrink future tumors and so we'll save it for times like that.

So, for now, no chemo and no radiation.

He also then said he'd like to rescan me in January and then in June (if the January scan is clear.) I have to admit that rescanning in 5 months feels strange but I guess that also gives me through the holidays to take it easy. Also, my recurrences have not come back all that quickly after each surgery. The first one was 10 months after the first surgery. This past recurrence was 17 months after the second surgery. (Let's not muddle things with the fact that the first one came back 3 months after chemotherapy ended.)

I will be discussing these recommendations with our original oncologist to see if she's comfortable with this plan. She can always order interim scans if she feels that I can benefit from greater frequency.

8/9/2010 Surgeon Follow-up

Dave and I rushed to get to our 10:30 appointment on time. Then sat around for nearly 2 hours. But that's beside the point. The real news is that my CT scan looks good. There's nothing on it that shouldn't be there. Also he said that the Tumor Board is not recommending chemotherapy or radiation at this time since all indications are clear. This is just what I wanted him to say. :-)

I have to wait a couple of weeks before I can do any exercise without lifting or impact. So, in a couple of weeks aerobic type exercises should be OK like elliptical trainer or bicycle. A month after that it should be safe to do things with more impact, like jogging.

He told me that the oncologist on the Board (Dr. Fisher) wanted me to follow up with him at this time so I will go see him next week, on Monday. I'm not sure what he can tell me that I don't already know but I will find out next week. After that I will likely make an appointment with the local oncologist who will manage my follow up scans. I'll know more next week.

Mutant Pumpkins

Last year I grew an heirloom variety of pumpkin called Winter Luxury Pie Pumpkin. It's a very nice, small pumpkin that makes wonderful pumpkin pies. I thought I was being smart when I saved some seeds from one of the pumpkins for this year. What I didn't know is that squashes (pumpkin is a squash) and melons cross-pollinate very easily and create some crazy stuff. I realized this today when I posted a couple of pictures on a gardening forum that I frequent.

Here's what a young Winter Luxury Pie Pumpkin is supposed to look like (this photo is from last year):

Here are two of the weirdos that I have growing on what are supposed to be Winter Luxury Pie Pumpkin vines:



I posted that I'm confused because these two "pumpkins" are on two different plants and they don't look anything like Winter Luxury Pie Pumpkins, nor do they look like each other. I got a reply back that these look like they are crossed with other things. The yellow one perhaps got crossed with a yellow crookneck squash. I was growing that last year. As for the green one, I think it got crossed with something the neighbor grew. I remember last year he brought over a very large green squash - he told us the variety but I don't remember it now - and I bet the same bees visited his plants on the same day they visited my pumpkin plant.

Now, the question is this: How will they taste? And how will I know when they are ripe? I can probably tell by the stem that they are ripe. But as for taste: Will they be like a sweet squash?