All posts tagged: garden

OOOBY BOX WEEK 1 – Review

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Our first week trial run of local CSA company OOOOBY was a success. Every single item from last Tuesday’s CSA box was eaten before the next box was delivered although for a moment it looked like we weren’t going to get through all the fruit. But a solid weekend of fruit eating got us through the lot. I picked up a trick via Youtube on how to prepare kiwifruit and having pieces of ready to eat fruit on a platter made it more enticing. It was so much fun peeling kiwfruit this way, once I started, I couldn’t stop. Last week our CSA box included: Vegetables 1 garlic (self certified organic) 1 red skinned turnip (self certified organic) 6 carrots (conventional sprays) 1 fennel (certified organic) 2 brown onions (certified organic) A couple bunches of silverbeet (certified organic) 6 agria potatoes (certified organic) 1 large bunch of Italian parsley (Certified Organic) Fruit 6 newstead gold apples (conventional sprays) 3 mandarins or naval oranges (BioGro certified) 9 green kiwifruit (certified organic)  Meals for week 1 included: Baked …

Tofu Tuesday: Tofu vs Thyme

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I didn’t witness this, but The Koala reported it back to me and I thought Tofu Tuesday fans would enjoy this too. I had planted a thyme plant in a plastic trough and left it on the edge of the deck about 2 feet up from ground level. Tofu the bunny, with terrible sight due to cataracts in both eyes, still has an excellent sense of smell. The very next day he used another, lower pot as a stepping stone to nibble at the overhanging thyme springs. Then he proceeded to pull the whole plant – and the dirt that goes with the plant – out and on top of his head. He continues eating. Unfazed. Hilarity ensues. I wish there was video or photos.

Make a feijoa preserve

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The first fruit to drop from our feijoa tree went unnoticed by us, but Tofu the bunny sniffed it out and ate half of it before I caught him. Considering Tofu is blind, that is top marks to the  bunny. Tofu loves feijoa and we have to check the backyard daily to clean up all the fallen feijoa or else he will eat more than is good for him. For those outside the loop, feijoa (Pronounced fee-JO-ah) are a guava with a perfumey, tart flavour and a grainy texture similar to pear. The originated in South America and I’m not how they found their way to Auckland, New Zealand, but the feijoa season here is short, intense and adored by many. We count our lucky stars that our rental has a thriving feijoa tree in the backyard. I have fond memories of feijoa season, we would sit around the table, eating feijoa and stacking up the emptied cups as we ate until the towers bent and swayed. In Cantonese, we call them “FEE-jo. To eat a feijoa, …

Letter from the Minister for Food Safety

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The food bill has been something that has been in the news recently both in the US and in NZ. The biggest concern to your average home gardener and foodie was the policing and regulation of growing, sharing and gifting food and seeds. It was one of those things that sounded too ridiculous to be passed. But when you show apathy because something seems too retarded to happen, it could very well happen right under your nose. I recently signed an online petition against the food bill and today I got this letter back this afternoon. Sounds very promising. I’m guessing that those that make a few dollars selling their excess bounty may be concerned, but will anyone bother policing a few bags of tomatoes? What are your concerns on the food bill?

Tofu Tuesday: Green as they come

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I’m glad we got to go the beach last week because it’s been raining ever since. The tomato plants are loving it though and I think the strawberries are pretty happy as the plants are about a metre off the ground so there’s no chance of flooding. I no longer have the willpower to test if my skin problems are being caused by things like strawberries and tomatoes. I gave them all up for a couple of weeks. Mixed results. So now I sneak ripe cherry tomatoes and strawberries one at a time as they ripen. Lucky, not many have ripened yet. Tofu the bunny enjoys playing in the long wet grass even though it gives him a messy undercarriage. Here is Tofu relishing a moment of sunshine in an otherwise grey afternoon. Check out previous Tofu Tuesday posts here.

Monsoon Garden

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The weather in Auckland right now reminds me of monsoon season in Borneo around this time last year. Only this is a bit colder. It’s supposed to be summer. This week we’ve had intense bits of rain followed by intense sun. No one seems to be enjoying it except the garden. I ate my first garden strawberry this week (we planted 2 varieties) and I’m getting excited at the prospect of our tomatoes. They’re a still green at the moment, but you can tell they’re going to be all different. To get more interest out of the 3-drawer filing cabinet planter, we’ve planted 3 tomato plants. Beefsteak  – a deep red, large (one of the largest kinds), uneven shaped tomato. Sweet 100 – a prolific red cherry tomato. Yellow Plum – a bright yellow egg shaped tomato.  

Forage something and cook with it

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There is loads of onion weed in the garden again and a recent post on Alessandra Zecchini’s blog reminded me of the onion weed dumplings I made last year. I’m loving daylight savings time and it’s nice to be able to cook and photograph in natural light after work. I made these potato cakes for a pre-dinner snack but I think it will be easy to find another reason to eat these. I used the bottom 10cm of the plant which is the white/green base. It’s crisp rather than stringy. Thoroughly wash the onion weed and don’t use any that may have been sprayed with yucky chemicals. Otherwise, happy foraging! Onion Weed Potato Cakes Makes 8 Ingredients 2 large potatoes 1 egg, beaten 1/2 cup chopped onion weed 3/4 cup grated cheese salt (garlic salt optional)  black pepper Oil 8 onion weed flowers for garnish  Preparation Preheat oven to 180°C. Peel the potatoes and remove the skin. Continue peeling the potatoes until it gets too hard to grip. Reserve for another use – about a …

Tofu Tuesday: Narrow depth of field

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I haven’t experimented much with live subjects on my new 50mm lens because I’m not quick with manual focus yet. I’m getting better though. I love the narrow depth of field, but it’s the hardest setting to manual focus with. Narrow or shallow depth of field means that only a small area is in focus. The rest is blurred. This is pretty cool for food photography or portraits. Here is a portrait of Tofu hanging out in the narrow depth of field. There is a pretty solid band of focus and the rest (both front and back) are blurred.

Lyttelton lives on

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For Easter we visited Kelvin’s family in Lyttelton, Christchurch. We weren’t prepared for the sights of post-quake Lyttelton. We thought there would be a few shops closed. TV coverage had shown Christchurch CBD cordoned off, but nothing about Lyttelton, so we thought it was ok. Lyttelton fared just as bad. You can’t drive through the main street. It is cordoned off and instead of a few shops closed, it’s a few shops open. 2 shops. The dairy and a restaurant called Fisherman’s Wharf. But Lyttelton lives on and Lyttelton will be rebuilt. As will Christchurch. We went for a walk around Lyttelton on Sunday morning. The community gardens lives on. I spotted some toadstools I spotted under a birch tree by the police station. Some people have mushrooms growing in their damp earthquake damaged homes. These were not that kind. A yellow digger sits on the remains of The Empire Tavern in the heart of Lyttelton. A few of our friend stayed here during our wedding in 2009. The backpackers where the rest of our friends …

We don’t have feijoas coming out our ears.

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Really we don’t. Our tree is giving us a respectable 3 to 6 fruit a day. Totally manageable. This week, I learned that feijoas (pronounced fee-jo-ahs) thrive in our sub tropical climate and also don’t have any natural pests here. Every day, I check the lawn under and gather up any fallen fruit. Although Tofu doesn’t seem to be interested in feijoa this autumn, he could just be trying to trick me into nonchalance. I’ve caught him hoeing into them in other years so I’m not so easily fooled. I’m still squirreling away all the macadamia nuts that are dropping onto our lawn. I haven’t bought a macadamia nut cracker yet so I’m just collecting and collecting. The only way I can get them open right now is using a brick and smashing the nuts on concrete. But it’s not pretty and kind of caveman like to be honest. I hope my neighbours don’t see me smashing bricks and nuts in the backyard…and eating the results. The nuts have a great flavour, but aren’t crunchy. I’ve already …

I have worms

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No, not the itchy bum kind. Not the metres long kind growing in my belly so that I can eat the world without the increasing waistline. I’ve got Tiger worms and Blue worms. They are composting worms. I’m going to tend these worms to in return for their “liquid gold” poo juice (or some call it worm wee). From the Wormsrus Worm Bin ad: Great starter worm bin complete with worms , bedding and instructions. Collector base with tap for worm tea. 2 food trays. Bedding. 250gms compost worms including Tiger worms and Blue Worms. Easy set up. Great price. Full after sales service for life with the worm experts , 15 years in the industry. I received the package on Thursday, but didn’t have time to set it up. I hoped that the worms would be ok in their box for another day. Wouldn’t it be awful if I killed our new friends before they even got here? Well, after a Friday afternoon beer, I set this the bin up and I must say, …

Scallopini in the house

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I planted a zucchini seed from the packet on the right before we left New Zealand and our friend Lum had been tending to it while we were away. The tiny seedling I left two months ago is now a huge beast that takes up most of the planter. Turns out it wasn’t the sausage shaped zucchini I thought it would be. These flower petal shaped things baffled me. The frog and buddha didn’t know either so I had to ask The Googe what they might be. The Googe said they were Scallopini Squash. What do you cook when you haven’t really cooked in 2 months? We never ate salmon while traveling. Something about eating NZ salmon in a foreign country just doesn’t sit right with me. So salmon was definitely on the cards. I roasted the larger of the scallopini squash in a bit of oil, garlic and fresh rosemary. Paired with some potato mash and the salmon that I’d been missing, made for a simple but slightly fancy first dinner for some jetlagged …

Stunted growth or death by rabbit

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I have 3 brussels sprouts plants that are all the same age. 1 is over a metre high – a goliath living happily dwelling a deep planter. The other 2 struggle in pots and measure about 20cm. I think it is glaringly obvious that brussels sprouts need deep soil. There is no more space in the planter, so what to do? Make or buy another planter and spend another fortune filling it? Plant into the ground and pray that Tofu the rabbit ignores them? If they stay in pots, they’d never get any bigger and we would never be able to get a harvest. If I plant them into the ground, and Tofu ate them, then at least someone will be able enjoy them. So I’ve planted these into the ground. The smallest one has already been eaten. The others have been left alone so far. Perhaps the smallest one smelled the sweetest? Fingers crossed now that these two plants will reach full size (before becoming rabbit food). Russell the Goliath. The slackers.

First fava harvest!

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Our fava beans or broadbeans are finally ready for a small harvest. I knew that the first thing I wanted to cook with these would be something simple and delicately flavoured to compliment beans. A creamy prawn and rice concoction was just the ticket. I wrote this recipe down first, then cooked it and made a couple of adjustments. With the price of frozen prawns these days, I consider this dish to be suitable for a gourmet pauper. Fava pods bursting with potential. Shelled and waiting to be blanched. Not much meat from those pods. A sexy close up… Creamy Rice with Fava and Prawn Serves 2 Ingredients 1 cup shelled fresh fava (broadbeans) 1 cup whole shelled prawns or prawn meat, defrosted 4 garlic cloves 1/2 cup cream 1 and 1/2 cups long grain rice 1/3 cup white wine 1 cup chicken stock Butter Salt Black pepper 1 lemon Handful of fresh herbs, chopped Preparation Quickly fry the prawns in a little butter until just done. Remove from heat and set aside. Cook the …

Onion Weed Dumplings

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Maybe you have a ton of onion weed in your backyard like we do. It’s chive smell can be experienced every time we or a neighbour mows the lawn. Onion weed is actually quite pretty with it’s fairyland looking flowers. It’s hard to imagine that it is so offensive to some people (being a noxious weed and all). If you are unsure, don’t eat it. Otherwise, happy foraging! Tofu the bunny doesn’t pay onion weed any attention. Since our neighbour mentioned they eat onion weed in dumplings, I’ve been dying to try it out. So here’s a recipe I fudged together. Enjoy! Onion Weed Dumplings Makes about 50 dumplings Ingredients 500 grams (1 pound) pork mince 10 leaves onion weed 7 onion weed flower tops (about 5 flowers each) 12 dried shitaake mushrooms 1 tablespoon black vinegar Salt 2 tablespoons soy sauce 1 teaspoon chili seasoning 1 teaspoon minced ginger 1 teaspoon sesame oil 1 cup of water 1 packet of dumpling wrappers Preparation Soak the mushrooms in 1 cup of hot water for a 5 minutes. …