Wednesday, June 24, 2009

I love snap peas


It is such an easy thing- the snap pea. I had a great harvest last year and was nervous this year would not be as successful... But the peas seem to be taking to the pots pretty well- thank you, bacteria. Makes me want to do some pea planting right now instead of beans.
Honestly, I love green beans. Green beans are great and I eat them with a lot of meals, and straight from the garden last year. The thing is ... meh. The garden green beans seem to be just as good as the farmer's market beans, and the grocery store beans! They handle some amount of transit well, and are not particularly delicate, This year as my space is Very Limited, I'm considering no beans besides snaps- is this crazy? I hope not.

May 2009


May is Bike To Work Month! I joined a team and biked to work every day in May (I bike everyday to work anyways, it is the best way to begin and end a day in my opinion, even if it is raining. Snowing....well, that is a day for staying home and making snowmen). This required some bike love as more folks were on the Burke Gilman and I was embarrassed... after a long winter my chain was almost rusty (the shame) and squeaky (I never thought I would let this happen!) and the drive train was full of gunk. The beginning of the month called for some bike love- a decommissioned tooth brush and 'simple green' bike degreaser was helpful to remove the grit and gross, then a nice rinse and dry, then an application of some sort of goo to the chain (ran out of bike chain lube briefly and resorted to lamp oil- tried not to create a spark or the bike would have become a giant flame-mobile- then later rinsed and put on some real lube) and the bike was set to go. And the month went by so fast- all of a sudden there were less folks on the road and I realized it was June. Sigh.
Also, fenugreek. I have been convinced that fenugreek is the missing ingredient in my swedish/german/english/whitegirl-can't-cook-nothing-but-meatballs-curries for some time. I've tried to create Indian dishes in the past two years but have never made a great curry, even using fenugreek seeds and all the usual spices. Except this one curry I soaked up using trader joes naan which had green fenugreek in it and imparted a taste I had been looking for all along.
To quote wikipedia:
"The name fenugreek or foenum-graecum is from Latin for "Greek hay". The Marathi name is Methya (मेथ्या). The Kannada name is mentya. The Tamil name for it is "Vendayam" (வெந்தயம்). The Telugu name for it is Menthulu. In Punjabi, Urdu and Hindi it is called methi (Urdu: میتھی). In Farsi it is Shambalîleh (شنبليله), and in Arabic its name is Hilbeh (حلبة). The plant's similarity to wild clover has likely spawned its Swedish name, "bockhornsklöver", literally meaning 'ram's horn clover'. "
So, I started fenugreek from seeds found where most bulk herbs can be bought (PCC and Whole Foods in Seattle). On the first attempt, these guys totally went for it, growing fast and well. They are seeds for spicing, not for growing, so I guess they haven't been roasted or mistreated in too many ways- or they are like Pacific Northwest pinecones and need heat from a fire to start germination... either way, they are growing well! What will happen when they see Seattle cool nights and warmish-to-hot days? We shall see...

April 2009


In April, the seeds continued to grow under lights in the closet. I tried to transfer them to the kitchen but was shot down, apparently not everyone is OK with soil and water in various puddles near food prep areas. Ho hum. My plants are destined to be closeted until they are old enough to be out in the world! Favorite blog / sex advice / pod-caster Dan Savage would have some things to say 'bout this!