Thanksgiving Memories

That day is upon us when Americans hold an historical observance buy eating themselves into a coma. Yes, tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day. In preparation for the opportunities for overindulgence, tonight I'll be having a nice salad for dinner.

But that's not why I'm here today. Today I wanted to share a Thanksgiving memory with you.

Years ago, around the time of Thanksgiving, we were planning to entertain some German nationals at our home. Rather than have a large, fancy spread one week and a large, homey spread the next (or was it the other way 'round?), we decided to have one large, homey, semi-fancy spread. We had a traditional Thanksgiving feast for the Germans.

Originally, I had planned on roasting a small (~8 pound) turkey, so I upgraded to a larger (~14 pound) turkey, baked two pies (instead of one), and added a couple of side dishes. (Turkey, sausage & wild rice dressing, gravy, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, tossed salad, baked potatoes, candied yams, peas, corn, I think I made green bean casserole, apple pie, pumpkin pie, and I don't remember what else, but I'm sure there was more.)

When our visitors arrived, their eyes got really big. After much chattering amongst themselves (most of which I understood, but wasn't ready to interrupt), they turned to us and their representative told us that the other three were convinced that the bird in question was a goose. The rep had tried to explain that it was a turkey, but they weren't buying it.

I turned to the rest and explained, "Nein, das is nicht eine Gans. Es it ein Truthan." (No, that's not a goose. It's a turkey.) Since I was using the right words, they were starting to lean toward believing it, but it took a little more time to explain that Americans (mostly) don't hunt wild turkeys like they do in Germany. We have bred turkeys to be HUGE.

Then they turned their attention to all the other food. They were astounded. We started trying to explain Thanksgiving to them. They mostly understood English (if you spoke slowly using simple language and sentence structure), but when they heard something that didn't fit into their reality, they would turn to the rep to ask for a translation. Then there would be disagreement, the rep must also have misunderstood. Eventually, when needed, I would reiterate in german. Eventually, they would acquiesce, but it didn't mean they "got it." It meant they heard and understood the words.

Then I started pulling more prepared dishes from the fridge and from the ovens. More confusion. We explained: "Man isst, bis man Schmerz hat." (You eat till you are in pain.)

Well, we had a lovely dinner. Lots of chit-chat. Bouncing back and forth between English and German. Eating till we had pain. We all were greatly entertained when we offered tea to our guests. One of the offerings was a tea I had bought in Nevada City: Whale Tea* ("*contains no whale"). Americans have problems with German humor and, apparently, it cuts both ways. (Yes, they tried the Walfisch Tee and enjoyed it.)

After dinner we repaired to the living room (well, I was mostly clearing the table and tidying the kitchen) where we entertained our guests with an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus. It happened to be an episode with a long sketch with Germans mocking the French. And sheep. Our guests had variously loosened their belts, completely unfastened their belts, and unfastened the top button of their pants. They were definitely making themselves at home and it was great!

Then I appeared to ask whether they each wanted pumpkin pie, apple pie, or both. Ice cream, whipped cream, or both. I have to say, they were definitely rolling with the whole thing by then. (Did I mention they had undone their pants?) They went with both and both.  :-)

I'm sure those four went back home with enough stories to tell to last for years.

What to do with Garden Thinnings

Almost three weeks ago I posted that I needed to thin the bok choi. Today I finally got around to it.

In the same post I mentioned that I wasn't sure how I'd use the thinnings, but I think I did a good job of putting them to use.

I cooked a couple of slices of fresh ginger and a clove of crushed garlic in some oil. I added some sliced shitake mushrooms, followed by a few shrimp. I threw in the bok choi and covered the pan to steam a while.

Finally, I added a mix of arrowroot in soy sauce and chicken broth to make a loo, then tossed in some noodles.

It was utterly yummy, if I do say so myself.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day -- 15 November 2009

It's that time again! Here's What's blooming in my yard today:

• Tomato (Yes! They are still blooming, so I can continue to have tomatoes till they freeze!)
• Nasturtiums
• Canna lilies (tho' barely)
• Impatiens
• White "potato" vine
• Geranium (tho' barely)
• Rose (tho' barely)
• Purple Potato Plant
• Vining Plumbago
• plus a variety of weeds :-(

So, the list is quite short this month.

The other news on the gardening front is that the turnip seeds I planted a little over a week ago are sprouting great-guns. The poor cabbage plant that was being devoured by aphids is growing quite nicely now that I've scrubbed it free of aphids. The cabbage plant that only had a few aphids (which I also scrubbed) is looking very lovely, almost decorative, as it fills its planter. The other two cabbages that I transplanted the same day that I sowed the turnip seeds are also progressing well. The four cabbage plants are of nicely graduated sized, so I should have a nicely graduated harvest.  :-)

This Morning's Harvest, Tonight's Dinner

For almost a week I've been noticing that the lettuce has been growing cheek-by-jowl and should be harvested in the name of thinning so the remaining plants can have more room to grow.

I've also been noticing that the beet greens are growing nice and thick again.

So this morning I went out with my harvest baskets and had a grand time filling them, first with beet greens to steam...

and, while I was in the neighborhood, I thinned the scallions to use as chives or green onions.

Then I moved over to the lettuce and pulled several very young heading-type lettuce plants, a couple of loose-leaf lettuce plants, and plucked a few loose-leaf leaves.

Then I popped over to the row of carrots and thinned out a few more. Lastly, I stopped by the cherry tomato bush to pluck a half-dozen tomatoes for my salad.

All-in-all, quite a nice harvest!

Pretty soon I'll be harvesting spinach, too!

Shoreline Sunday Bird Hike

It's been a long-dang time since I've hiked out at Shoreline (Mountain View) and Palo Alto Baylands. To be specific, I haven't been out there with my camera since March 7th earlier this year.

It's getting to be awfully late into the fall and I was afraid I had missed the migration of the American White Pelicans. As it turns out, I seem to have missed the bulk of the migration, but not the whole thing. These are the guys I went to see.

The rest of their friends were out in the slough or gliding in on approach.

The American Avocets were out doing a little Synchronized Swimming.

This Brown Pelican decided that what was good enough for the white pelicans was good enough for him!

On the other side of the levee, the Black-Crowned Night Herons were staring at me with the possessed, evil, red eye.

This solitary avocet apparently had something to say.

As did this Black-Necked Stilt.

These guys didn't want to get involved.

All-in-all, it was a lovely morning. I leave you with the following sentiment:
Bottoms Up!

Fall Lettuce

In my last post I mentioned that I really needed to thin the heirloom heading-type lettuce. The two reasons for this are that more seeds sprouted with the transplants from the 6-packs and I, like an addle-pated dolt, actually planted even more seeds in the planter at the same time. *sigh*

Well, I thinned the lettuce.

I thinned the green planter on the left. It's hard to tell unless you flip back and forth between the two photos (this and the one from the last post), but this should give you an idea of how much lettuce I removed.

There's plenty there for a good-sized salad, tossed with a few cherry tomatoes from the garden and a few goodies from the store. But I used a bunch of it (and some of my cherry tomatoes) in tacos that night.  Yummy!

Winter Vegetable Garden Progress

If you're still needing some inspiration to plant a winter vegetable garden, today's your day. I'm so excited by the progress I'm seeing in the seeds I started and seedlings I transplanted that I took some pictures this morning.

Back on September 17, I sowed two kinds of lettuce seeds in 6-packs and had some interesting germination issues. On October 10th I transplanted the lettuce into planting tubs and thoroughly thinned the seedlings. I have done a little more thinning since then, but I need to do some more.  Here's what they look like today.

The lettuce on the left is the heirloom "heading" type lettuce. When I sat down to transplant these, I also (quite mistakenly) added more seed to the planter. Oy! I really-really need to thin a lot of these seedlings so the remaining ones can get more nutrients and really get going. While the goal with heading-type lettuce is the formation of the head to harvest, that doesn't keep us from harvesting and dining on the seedlings that we thin out.

The lettuce on the right is the heirloom loose-leaf lettuce. I did not go insane and plant more seeds. I actually thinned the existing seedlings even more. As you can see, they are quite happy. Like the head lettuce, we can harvest and dine on the seedlings we thin out. But, unlike the heading lettuce, we can start harvesting the outer leaves of the loose leaf lettuce as we go. I'll be having home-grown salads very soon, between the quickly growing loose-leaf lettuce and the over abundance of heading seedlings.

Back on October 12, I directed-seeded some Jewel-Toned Beets (Red, Gold & Candystripe). They don't look all that exciting right now, but the tub was rife with weeds that I pulled the other day. Still, they're growing pretty well.

These beets are supposed to be grown for their roots, unlike the beets I've been growing all summer primarily for the greens. (Those roots are OK, but nothing to write home about.) Still, I may end up harvesting some greens from these beets as they get bigger and more lush, but not too much 'cause I don't want to rob the roots of their nutrient source.

Also on October 12, I planted one pot each of two different kinds of spinach. One of the two is merely doing OK. This one is doing quite nicely.

Like the beets and lettuce, this pot was chock-full of weeds that I pulled the other day. Despite the weeds, they seem to be putting on a burst of growth, especially since I pulled the weeds.

On October 11, I direct-seeded both Super Sugar-Snap Peas and Bok Choi in a recycled recycle bin. The bok choi veritably leapt from the soil while the peas took their sweet time to get around to sprouting. I have thinned the bok choi two or three times and have thinned the peas once.

As you may have already guessed, the bok choi needs to be thinned yet again. Maybe a couple more times. I've never tried it, but I suspect that I can use the thinnings in salad or in a stir-fry or in soup or any number of other things. Anyone with suggestions is free to share!

Also on October 12, I transplanted a couple of cabbage seedlings. The cabbage has not been suffering from weeds, but it has been suffering from aphids. I've gone out a few times with a spray bottle of soapy water and a hose to try to kill/control the little buggers, but they keep coming back. The plants are growing great guns, but the aphids are a problem.

As you can see, some of the outer leaves are becoming peppered with holes. But this damage shouldn't hold the plant back much at all. I just need to stay on top of the problem and hope the aphid season passes soon.

So, those of you in Silicon Valley and other places that still have a little bit of a growing season left, now is the time to start planting those winter veggies!