I see Park Seeds, Pinetree Seeds, Jung's and a few others are already carrying the seed. I bought a plant at Walmart that season.
Posted on 10/01/2025 5:23:58 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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I see Park Seeds, Pinetree Seeds, Jung's and a few others are already carrying the seed. I bought a plant at Walmart that season.
Great additions to edible landscape/ornamental garden for those that live in suburbia hell with HOA’s.
Also: “Okra? That’s a Hibiscus plant, HOA Lady!”
Buy seeds and talk about Japanese varieties of veggies and now my ‘For You’ feed on X is full of posts translated from Japanese, presumably from people in Japan.
The Internet makes us all popular...whether we want to be or not! ;)
Mostly sunny the rest of the week ( we had showers last night, including thunder showers!) & highs in the 50’s. It will be very windy all week, gusts 25-35, 40 in the mountains. Being on a knoll, we get higher gusts.
Friday night: widespread frost/freeze. I have decided to let everything go, not covering up. :-( This means I will be able to clean out the raised beds & prep for winter. After 2 weeks or so, I can dig up the dahlia tubers to save. I might bring the porch ferns in overnight so they will last a while longer - the porch will look mighty bare without them.
No frost, no freeze up here yet, though Thursday night is looking good for it. This has to be some kind of record! Yesterday was the first day I had to dig out warmer clothes to wear, so that means cleaning out my closet, today. ;) Highs in the 50’s for the next 10 days. I think I’ll move my Porch Fern to the greenhouse.
This morning we are running yet another vehicle to the mechanic for repair. The ‘Silver Truck’ which is an old Chevy S-10, is stuck in 4-low for some reason. That’s the truck Beau usually uses for raccoon hunting - and the season opened this week. He leaves November 4th for CO to hunt Elk for a week to 10 days. (PLEASE don’t get one! We have a steer and a hog to fill the freezers!)
Company on Friday, but I’ve got the menu planned. Looks like the ‘Bug Invasion’ has abated, so I can do some final vacuuming and get things set to order around here. :)
ITALIAN POTATO SALAD
Ing 4 lge cooked potatoes, peeled/cubed 1 lge sliced sweet onion, 1 c chp bell peppers, 1/4 c EVOO 2 tbs red wine vinegar 1 tbs sherry wine vinegar 1/4 c chp green pickled peppers 1 tsp red pepper flakes s/p, 2 minced gar/cl 1/2 c chp sweet onion 6 slices cooked bacon, fresh chp parsley, basil, oregano
Dressing---mix evoo, red wine and sherry wine vinegar, red pepper flakes, s/p. Stir to emulsify.
Salad--add chopped bell peppers, sweet onion, and green pickled peppers to the bowl with the cooled potatoes. Pour the dressing over the vegetables and gently toss to coat. Allow the potatoes to absorb the dressing for about 5 minutes before proceeding. Add garlic-infused olive oil; gently stir to combine. Sprinkle bacon bits, parsley, basil, and oregano over top.
Bacon note---cook bacon crispy; crumble and hold. Leave grease in pan; sauté basil and oregano 1-2 sec til fragrant. Then, pour residual bacon fat w/ browned bits over salad. Toss to combine. Meld flavors 30 min. Serve Italian potato salad room temp or chilled. Salad keeps refrigerated 3 days.
My dad went elk hunting in CO once & got a huge bull. The rack was one point short of what they call a “royal elk” (7 each side). Dad made insulated plywood boxes & bought a trailer frame to fit the boxes on for bringing the meat home - he had the elk processed, packaged & frozen in CO. He used dry ice & drove straight through so the meat was still frozen when he got home.
To ‘us kids’ it seemed like we were eating elk every meal for years!! At the time, we preferred beef & were really tired of elk.
Nowadays, I would love to have that much elk meat. My brother has given me some ground venison from his successful hunting last fall & I am gradually whittling down the half hog meat from my niece. Mom asked me recently what I would do when I ran out - I figure one of the nieces will have meat I can buy from them since they are homesteading & raising their own meat.
BTW, thanks again for the recipe. It came out very well! I had to modify it slightly (no sesame oil, it turned out), and I added diced tomatoes, similar to that dish I’d eaten a few years ago. I used 1/2 Golden Jubilees (which REALLY cooked down) and 1/2 part of a Mortgage Lifter fruit. The tomato pieces took up a very good flavor. I cut back the Mae Ploy Sweet Chili sauce to ~ 1/3 cup, as I thought I might have added too much pepper. It turned out just fine. The resulting “broth” in the dish (increased from the tomato pieces cooking down) was very good, but next time I’ll add some corn starch, tapioca, or similar to thicken it up a bit.
The fish itself still had a slight (slight) “pond taste” to it. God knows what sort of water the tilapia were raised in. Next time, I’ll try marinating the fillets ahead of time, maybe in club soda, or maybe just marinate “in the pan” with the recipe mix. It also might work to sub half the vinegar with lemon juice, and marinate “in the sauce”.
Alternately, trout season is coming up, and trout fillets might work, esp. if (big if) I can catch any in the 2-3 lb. range. I suspect fillets off largemouth bass, up to 2 lbs. or so, and out of good water, could also work well.
Interestingly enough, this went well with a side = baked potato with butter and just a bit of Tony’s “Original” Creole seasoning on it, and a side of cut green beans. :-)
It may be that most any dish with meat in it benefits from a bit of quality sweet chili sauce in / on it. Hahahaha!
Thx for the recipe review....chuckle.
Try adding the sesame oil......get the toasted sesame oil
Despite its name it is a good Asian ing——
just a soupcon adds a blockbuster flavor ......and heat.
Toasted Sesame Oil Noodles
Easy, made in less than 15 min. Incredibly savory w/ a terrific punch of toasted sesame oil flavor.
Ingredients 32 oz thin spaghetti 5 oz green onions, chopped 1 cup soy sauce ½ cup toasted sesame oil ¾ cup margarine 4 cloves minced garlic ¼ tsp onion powder ¼ tsp black pepper Sesame seeds (for topping)
Directions Cook spaghetti as per package. In skillet, add soy sauce, sesame oil, margarine, minced garlic, onion powder, pepper. Stir on low 5 min. Add chp green onions; heat 2-3 min. Add drained noodles. Stir/coat well. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Oops-——failed to notice, noodle recipe calls for 1/2 c toasted sesame oil.
I would not use that much-—t/s/o has a distinctive pronounced flavor.
So 1/2 cup is much too much.
I’d probably use less soy sauce too. The amount in many recipes is too strong for me if I’m eating a large serving of something. Plus, once served, I can always sprinkle a little on after a trial-a-bite. :-)
I’d probably use less soy sauce too. The amount in many recipes is too strong for me if I’m
eating a large serving. Plus, once served, I can always sprinkle a little on after a trial-a-bite.
.
Good catch on the soy sauce——too salty for me.
.
Apple cobbler is in the oven!
My hospitalized cousin told us about another orchard, different from the one we’ve been going to. Mom & I went for a drive over the mountain & visited around noon today. It was a beautiful drive - leaves on the mountain are at peak color.
The orchard we visited is my cup of tea compared to the other one, which is more commercialized. This is a mom & pop sort of place. They have a shack/shed as ‘headquarters’ (cash register, jellies, Apple cider, produce) & the apples are outside in large bins. The bins are grouped by variety & marked - you pick out your own. All the apples are priced the same, so you can mix. We bought a bushel for $38. I got 3 peck bags of Staymens & mom got a peck bag of ‘eating’ apples. The folks running the place were super friendly. The weekends are very busy they said, but being midweek, people still were coming, but like 2 at a time so no bumping elbows with a crowd.
I promised the cousin some apple cobbler if we went & got apples this week. Her eyes lit up at the thought- she said all she gets for dessert is jello or maybe some pudding.
I will be canning cinnamon apples later this week!
WHITE CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY CHEESECAKE / 12 servings
Ing---CRUST: 1 1/4 c ground shortbread cookie crumbs 1/4 c ground almonds 2 tbl sugar 1/8 tsp almond extract 3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted FILLING: 6 oz. white chocolate (preferably imported), finely chopped 3 (8 oz.) pkg cream cheese, room temp. 1/2 lb. Neufchatel cheese, room temp. 5 lg. eggs, room temp. 3/4 c. sugar 3 tbl flour 1 tsp. vanilla 1/4 tsp. almond extract GLAZE: 7 tbsp. whipping cream 8 oz white chocolate, finely chopped 1/4 c raspberry jam, melted and strained Garnishes: Toasted sliced almonds Fresh raspberries Sauce 12 oz bag frozen unsweetened raspberries, thawed, pureed & strained
CRUST Blend butter to bind 1st 4 ing. Press in 10" springform bottom. Bake 350 deg 10 min. Cool.
FILLING: Melt chocolate in double boiler over simmering water, stirring smooth. Cool to lukewarm. Elec/mixer cheeses smooth. Blend in eggs singly. Mix in sugar, flour, vanilla and almond extract. Stir 1 cup into lukewarm white chocolate; mix into remaining filling in bowl. Pour filling over crust. Bake firm around edges but still moves slightly in center when pan is shaken, about 40 min. Transfer to rack and cool completely. Cover and fridge overnight.
GLAZE: Bring cream to simmer over low heat. Add chocolate; stir smooth.
Spoon glaze over top of cheesecake. W/ spatula, spread glaze slightly over edge. Refrigerate to set glaze. Brush jam around sides of cheesecake. Press almonds onto sides, covering completely. (Can be prepared 2 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate.) Arrange raspberries and chocolate curls in center. Serve with raspberry sauce.
All you bakers are making me want to bake something. It has to be small and no so sweet. Found my shortbread recipe and its on deck for the next day or two. And I’ll have to cut it in half.
“I will be canning cinnamon apples later this week!”
Oh, Yum! The reason I planted a Brandywine Crab Apple at my other farm was for making candied Crab Apples. I am still on the lookout for another Brandywine Crab! They are few and far between up by me.
The most AWESOME Pumpkin Patch that I’ve loved to go to for the past five years is closing. Older couple - time to retire. :(
I have until the end of the month to get there - and I’m gonna! :)
Guess I’ll just have to grow my faves at home until I can no longer drag a huge pumpkin in from the field without assistance, LOL!
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