Hope autumns eternal

Itty bitty baby bananas emerging from the flower. I hope the feral bats and feral monkeys don't eat my bananas. That would be bad.

I hope my papayas ripen before the winter storms kick in. That would be bad.

Italian trombone squash is making some interesting shapes. I should eat these now before the skin gets tough. That would be bad.

I should probably harvest some persimmons before the feral squirrels eat them all like they did last year. That would be bad.

Preston has discovered the giant water dish in the backyard. He won't go back to drinking from his water bowl. The vet says that's not all that bad.

Fruitful events

Wintermelon sorbet. The graininess of the ice crystals... sigh... disappointing. This flavor may be better in gelato form so the milk fat and egg custard help smooth it out. Next time. Next time.

Tuna, artichokes, and bean crostini. A spoonful of capers, splashes of olive oil and red wine vinegar. Another lazy man concoction. Aside from the toasted bread and chopped red onions, everything came out of a can or jar. 5 minutes, tops.

Banana plant finally flowering! Bananas hopefully soon. Giant tarantulas not as welcome.

Today's harvest. Herbage and tomatoes. Not produce self sufficient this summer, perhaps next year.

Home made spaghetti-O's. The crostini may be from a can, but tonight's pasta is made with backyard basil and tomatoes. Go figure.

6 years of living in this house, and this is the first time I used the bathtub. Now I'm good for another 6 more years.

Laying it on thick

Sunchoke gratin. Late spring and summer produce are about to show up at the markets. Fall and winter items must be cleared out of the refrigerator to make room for the new seasons.

Carrot apple ginger soup. With a smidgen of cilantro. The idea is to take advantage of pectin locked away in unpeeled apples to help give the soup an unctuous texture without muddling up the plant flavors with dairy or gelatinous meat broths. The texture turned out great, but I'm not really sure I can credit the apples. I didn't make a batch without the apples to compare. And pectin's jelling effect probably doesn't do much at warm soup temperatures. Tastes good though, so no matter. These would be great with some toasted pumpkin seeds sprinkled on top, but I didn't want to wash another pan.

Roasted orange beets and garlic- possibly for a salad later in the week, or some sort of marinade or sauce. Orange beets don't stain fingers and cutting boards and clothes and walls and napkins and dog noses like the more common red beets. I think orange ones are also slightly milder and more subtle in flavor, but that may be psychological. I'm easily swayed by pretty colors.

Today's bounty from the Super H Mart includes items such as Ca Ca flavored glazed chip snacks. Assorted shaped and filled mochi. Traditional Chen Pee plum candies, and coffee drinks named "Let's Be Bitter." In addition to being swayed by pretty colors, I am easily tempted by entertainingly named things. I will also be conducting comparison tests on cans of coconut milk.

And I couldn't resist trying the little crabs at the giant kimchee bar. Cute little itty bitty crabs! I'm such a sucker for little kawaii things.

A sucker for things like mini-me bananas. These mini bananas sliced and served with melon baller scooped ice cream would make great banana split sundaes for toddlers and dieters. I would top it with a tiny swedish lingonberry instead of a full sized maraschino cherry.

Sambal grilled corn. And Davy sauced ribs. Sometimes, there's nothing better on a weekend than grilled corn and a frosty beer. I had forgotten how good grilled corn can be. We will aim to grill more corn this summer. The pork ribs were so tender that it fell apart like pulled pork. Messy and delicious. This batch of Kentucky Davy Bourbon sauce included dried mangos and oregano. Now that I've realized bbq sauces are incredibly easy to make, there's really no reason to buy sauces and marinades that include xanthum gum and lecithin.

Baker's dozen eggs

My new favorite way of preparing eggs. Plunk eggs into a 185 degree oven for about an hour. Foolproof perfectly gooey eggs. And my own bread to sop up all the eggy-ness.

And for lunch, my version of bacon sammiches that Meredith and Bruce made when I visited the other day. My raddichio was braised in chicken broth.

And the beginnings of both a lemon meringue pie and a key lime pie. Pie! Pie!



And banana bread and what will be a chocolate hazelnut mascarpone cheesecake.

And the kitchen madness doesn't stop there. Josh and the Flip are coming over for game night. So we have pesto pizza.

And salame pizza. It's been a busy cooking day.

And garlic and herb pizza. And we're still not done cooking.

And proscuitto pizza. The wiimotes may need a bit of de-greasing by the end of the night.

Southern hospitality

The holidays would not be the holidays without tamales. We celebrate with tomatillo green chile and chicken tamales. Home made, save the corn masa powder from a bag. 69 cents per 5 lb bag, branded in Spanish, but proudly grown in the USA.



And for those of us with Guatemalan tendencies, red chile and pork tamales wrapped in banana leaves. Exactly like how my imaginary Guatemalan grandma made them.



And an over-baked anise scented flan. I really gotta do something about that over-achieving oven.



Hannah likes chicken. Hannah already exhibits Central American affinities through her love of Dora the Explorer.

Winter trash

Windstorms blew by.
Gold fish still alive.
One day he will die,
When cat takes a dive.



Banana Elvis bread. I'm making this for the Ackley's. Inspired by Elvis's favorite fried peanut butter and banana sandwich, this is banana bread with reeses peanut butter cups crumbled in.



I especially like the inflatable baby Jesus.