Summer vegetables & meals

Well the garden is not growing as well as last year. The successes are the green beans, cucumbers, some of the tomato plants, one large eggplant and crookneck squash. Of the 4 squash plants only one has been producing much to my chagrin.
But I should complain as we have had the best bruschetta using the tomatoes and basil from the garden. Ah! the taste of summer.

Another taste of summer is this salad. I couldn't resist adding the anchovies. The salad along with sour dough French bread and a glass of red wine is a feast incomparable.

We traveled to Tamales Bay Oyster Company recently to have a fun day at the bay picknicking with friends who also love oysters!!! I tried to upload a video of our day but will need another lesson at Apple. I did upload this video to youtube though after much editing.

My girlfriend and I ate the raw oysters as fast as the fellows could shuck them. But mainly we sauteed them. A salad and French bread completed our meal. On the way home we stopped at the Marin French Cheese Company (Rouge et Noir brand) An artery clogger of a day but delightful! I posted the web adddress of the video. My video is very amateurish - don't laugh!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfmiW7QG3i8

Front Yard Gardening 2010

We had a rainy & cold April and May and because of the rain I don't think the bees were able to polinate the persimmon flowers. So the persimmon tree has been dropping a lot of fruit which makes me wonder if we will have any persimmons to dry this year. Also I couldn't plant the garden until later than usual because my farmer friends said the ground was still too cold. So here are pictures of my late garden.
With extreme pleasure I go out and tend the garden in the early morning. I think my talking to the plants encourages them to grow. Or maybe they keep me smiling at their green and vibrant beauty.
I haven't shown you pictures of the Japanese eggplants because they got planted really late this year. They are still small. Last year my friends gifted me with good starts and we had abundant eggplants late into the Fall.
Since this is all front yard gardening in areas where the sun shines on the plants all day, I couldn't plant everything I wanted to. I didn't show my herb garden but I have already made one batch of pesto that we ate on tagliarini.

Long time between postings

We have been spending a lot of time cheering our grandkids on in track and it has been fun. Now we are arriving at the end of baseball season cheering on a team that only lost one game this season. (The last game too) Also, we have gone to a lot of band & Blues Band concerts. So enjoyable!
Besides the events we are working through our garage to square it away. Read on. Today is an overcast one and one of us is in the garage reading through Great grandpa's box of memorabilia. Grandpa corresponded with so many people and he saved most of the letters. I'm going to pass on some special letters that our children wrote. More later.

Pineapple Upside-down cake

In February we spent 10 days mainly in Maui, Hawaii and ate some incredible food. One of the memorable meals was eaten at Hailemaile General Store which is one of the best restaurants on the island. Their pineapple upside-down cake was so delicious that I took a picture of it and decided to come home and try my hand at it.

After a couple of tries, I made this one with fresh pineapple using a modified recipe from Bittman's How to Cook Everything. I had used a cast iron skillet for the first two but I should have used a bigger skillet because the cake part was too high and you got the taste of the cake and not of the brown sugar and pineapple.
The cake in the picture was baked in a round cake pan. I buttered two pans, poured a melted stick of butter into each pan, sprinkled 1 cup of brown sugar over the melted butter in each pan. Then I added the fresh pineapple until it covered the pan.Then I put the pans in a 350 degree F. oven while I prepared the cake batter.

I better list ingredients:
2- 8 in. round cake pans
16 Tblsps. butter (2 sticks)
2 cups of brown sugar
one fresh pineapple, cut in thick slices about 1/2 inches, enough to fill the 2 pans.
Or 1 can of sliced pineapple
Cake batter ingredients:
4 Tblsps. melted butter for cake batter
1 cup buttermilk or sour milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt

Combine and beat the melted butter, buttermilk or sour milk - (I used sour milk) eggs and granulated sugar until mixed. Measure out the flour, baking soda and salt in another bowl and gradually add to the liquid mixture until it looks mixed.

Try to divide the mixture over the two pans you've pulled from the oven. You may have to spread it to cover the pineapple. Put in the 350 degree F. oven for about 20 minutes. Because the pineapple sugar mixture is hot, it bakes a little faster. Also the thinness of the pans compared to the cast iron skillet makes it bake faster. Keep an eye on the cakes -

Write me if I haven't been clear enough. I made the cakes with canned pineapple and fresh pineapple. We liked it both ways. By putting the pineapple/brown sugar mixture in pans in the oven while I mixed the batter, the cake cooked evenly. I do that now with all my fruit cobblers.

I used both buttermilk and sour milk. Couldn't tell the difference. I had sour milk but in the past I have made sour milk by adding 1/2 tsp. vinegar to 1 cup of fresh milk.

Well, not having a lot of luck managing this blog. But if you wonder what I've been doing, I've been doing lots of things with grand-kids or let's say watching them participate in concerts, track meets and Japanese school graduation days.
Also, The Albuquerque grandkids came in and today we went to San Francisco to be real tourists. Last night was a family gathering at a restaurant and then Vic's Ice Cream parlor to celebrate a son's birthday. We take off tomorrow to visit a famous aquarium and castle so I'll post more next week. Ciao!

Thoughts on Hawaii

We spent a lovely 10 days viewing whales from our 2nd floor balcony. You'd think we would have slept in, but most days found us on the balcony at 6:00 a.m. having our coffee and looking through the binoculars at the whales and the people who were having a morning swim. The day before we left we went on an early morning boat ride with the Whale Foundation and saw a competition of whales. Never thought whales bellowed at one another. The following photos didn't show as much as I wanted. I think I need lessons in picture taking with my new camera. CLICK ON EACH PICTURE TO GET A BIGGER VERSION.

We also explored the Upcountry of Maui - Gail our hostess and guide knows this island very well.
Ate strawberry papaya, ripe star fruit and apple bananas every day. Also bought fish from Suda's market on the days we ate at home. It was a lovely restful vacation.
A special sidetrip to the big island to visit friends in Kamuela was the icing on the cake. We were in Paniolo country and my picture taking doesn't do it justice. So I'll just post some highlights.


These ladies greeted us at the Kona Airport. The weather felt much more humid and warm than Maui. We enjoyed the open kiosks of the airport.


The stories of the cowboys of Hawaii came alive when I saw the statue of the famous cowboy of the Parker Ranch with the brands of the island below him. This statue is in a prominent park in Kamuela.
Just had to share some of the flora. There are so many flowers.
Visited a lavender farm that had all kinds of plants & statues on the farm.

More later on the food aspect of our vacation....

One minute speech for Fri. night Japanese class

一分スピーチは落とし物について話します

去年のクリスマスの時、　アーニーは図書館でけいたいを落としました。けいたいを落としたことをしらなかったです。けいたいを拾った女性は私達を電話しました。私はしめいと住所と電話番ごを質問しましたでも女性は私の住所と電話番ごを質問していました。拾った女性は家にけいたいを持ってきてくれました。一割のお礼があげました。アーニーと女性がうれしかったです。

Well, and so it goes. Still write like a pre-schooler but that's where I am.