Gardening Grief

You remember how we built vertical supports covered with garden trellis so our many tomatoes and squash plants could vine?

Here's what's left of that.

It survived through the peas, but I think that was because the peas were so early in the season.  The netting just rotted.  If something named garden trellis can't last through a season, what will?  The website has this description of it: 

"Give your vine crops (peas, pole beans, cucumbers) and flowers (morning glories, sweet peas, nasturtiums) the space they need to thrive! Soft, unobtrusive netting made of nylon with 60-lb breaking strength, it can support very heavy crops. The 7 inch reach-thru mesh makes harvesting easy. An essential product for every gardener, this knotless netting prevents tangling and comes with an Unconditional Lifetime Guarantee. 5 ft x 60 ft. Supports not included."

I was upset enough that I called the company and they credited me for the purchase.  I wanted to ask them if they'd also come out and help me stake all my plants and mourn the tomato plants that were broken when I tried to put them in cages, but I did not.  Customer service reps don't get paid enough to deal with bad attitudes; I know that.

In other news, squash plants do not belong in a square foot garden.

This is what was left after I pulled out all the garden trellis and tried to haul the squash off of the other plants.  One squash had tendrils wrapped around a pepper plant, squeezing the life out of it.  I've just tried to manhandle them as much as possible (without breaking them) so most of the plant is growing out the back of the garden.  If my backyard is taken over by squash, so be it.

THEN I took a good look at my tomatoes.  Horror.

I stood, stunned, and stared at them.  The carnage was too high to blame it on a rabbit.  What could have done such a terrible thing?

Then I found it.

Dear lord, a tomato worm.  Following the example of my uncle, I put the bastard on top of our bird feeder, called out, "Anybody need protein?" and walked away.

I saw him snickering at me from the ground later.  I had horrible visions of him trekking his way back to the garden, so I checked again this morning but saw no sign of him.  Maybe I should have thrown him into the composter.  He would have lots of food until he died from the heat.   Maybe I just should have squished him.

I may not be cut out for gardening.

Recipe #26*: Banana-Oatmeal Bread

I had two bananas that were destined for one of two places: the compost bin or banana bread.  I decided feeding myself was a much more desirable option than feeding the microbes.

I started with this Weight Watcher recipe and substituted 1/4 cup. Splenda brown sugar for the 1/2 cup regular brown sugar called for, 3 T. applesauce for the canola oil, 2 eggs for the 1 large egg + 2 egg whites, and two bananas instead of three.  You may choose to believe these changes were based on sound culinary reasons.  If you are successful, you either have a very optimistic nature or you're just new around here.

Tampering notwithstanding, the bread is good. 

I was worried that the oats would be too chewy in the final product, but now I realize that, of course, oatmeal cooks and therefore won't be chewy after it's spent 50 minutes in a 350 degree oven.  I'm slow, but I do eventually catch on.

The oats are clearly visible in the finished product (those are oats you see, not bits of flour as I first feared), but I don't taste them at all.  I don't mind oats, but I do like that this banana bread has the added fiber of oats without tasting like anything other than banana bread.** 

I shall not lie. Immediately after taking that picture, I slapped some butter (albeit fake, light, only-sort-of resembles butter) on that slice and inhaled it.

I may very well do the same thing again before I go to bed... and maybe again tomorrow morning.  In fact, Andrew's on the phone with someone, so maybe I should just go ahead and eat the slice I cut for him--you know, so it doesn't get... hard.  Yeah, hard.

*I don't know what to make of the fact that I made a new recipe so quickly after finishing my New Year's resolution.  I think I'll choose to ignore it.  Probably a blip.  I really expected this to turn into a full-fledged knitting blog with the occasional theological rant--you know, 'cause that would captivate a significant percentage of the human race.

**I also like typing the word "banana."  Banana. Banana.  Bananananana. 

Recipe #25: Chocolate-Blueberry Cake and Resolution Wrap Up

My mom is staying with us this week while she attends a workshop in the Big City, and I've been pretending like I cook even though she knows that I really don't.

Monday we had Zucchini Grinders and edamame, Tuesday we went to a new Mexican restaurant that was horribly salty, and yesterday we had Deep Dish Pizza and a new dessert--my recipe #25.

This is Fat Free Vegan's Chocolate-Blueberry Cake.  We had a tiny bit of blueberry-pomegranate ice cream left in the freezer, so we had that alongside it.  The cake is not very sweet and has a dense texture due to the whole wheat flour and flax seed.  It's also under 3 points in the Weight Watchers world, which is awesome.  I believe I've decided that I like it, and I'll like it even better when it's served with more vanilla frozen yogurt or low-fat ice cream.

I also like that it now looks like Pac-Man.

That's it.  I've met my New Year's Resolution of making 25 new recipes in 2010.  Thanks for hanging out with me while I did it.

Recipe #1: Baked Apples - Not very good, but I have another baked apple recipe I like, so it's not devastating either.

Recipe #2: Butternut Squash Soup - Delicious and worth repeating, especially since I get to use the immersion blender.

Recipe #3: Vegetable Stock - I'm not convinced that vegetable stock needs to be this complicated.  I may try another version from the same cookbook that doesn't have roasted vegetables.  If I do use this one again, I want to better use the veggies leftover from the stock. 

Recipe #4: Black Bean Soup - Very good, although Andrew isn't a huge fan of any form of bean soup and it's a lot of work for soup for one.

Recipe #5: Sweet Potato Salad with Apple and Avocado - A lot of work for the final product.  I also remember getting very tired of these leftovers.

Recipe #6: Mexican Flavored Edamame - Delicious.  I've made it again a few times, including on Monday night.

Recipe #7: Twice Baked Apples with Cinammon-Yogurt Vanilla Sauce - Also delicious, and I spent most of last winter microwaving apples to eat with yogurt and cinnamon.  Super easy and fast.

Recipe #8: Quinoa and Parsnip Rosti - Impressive looking, and kind of fun.  I would like to try it again with the modifications I noted.*

Recipe #9: Oven Roasted Potatoes - A waste of time, at least in this form.  Oven roasted potatoes sound delicious, but I'm obviously missing something(s) when I make them.

Recipe #10: Rice and Peas - Yummy and easy.  I need to do more with rice in my life.  I fear it a bit because it's high in Weight Watcher points, but I think that is an unreasonable fear.  I have a stir fry recipe I recently printed that I'd like to try.  Also learned in this recipe: Butter, even fake butter, is delicious.

Recipe #11: Grilled Pears with Honey - In which I learn that All Fruit Can Be Grilled.

Recipe #12: Santa Fe Salad with Chili Lime Dressing - Very good and worth repeating.  I would like to find a way to keep this salad from getting soggy though.

Recipe #13: Steamed Artichoke - Something I'd wanted to try for a long time, but was very disappointing in its result.  Again, I feel there are vital pieces of information I'm missing... unless artichokes just aren't very tasty.

Recipe #14: "Sausage," Peppers and Onions - Huh, I'm glad I'm doing this wrap up.  I'd completely forgotten this dish.  It was good.  I should start saving my money now so someday I can afford to go back to Whole Foods and buy this fake sausage again.

Recipe #15: Curried Tempeh Salad - A recipe I would eat again, although I'll have to find more friends to eat it with me since Andrew hates mayo.

Recipe #16: Acorn Squash and Black Bean Casserole - This was very good, but made way too much.  I wonder if it freezes.... More importantly, I wonder if I'd actually take it out of the freezer and eat it if I froze the leftovers.  I don't have a particularly good track record with that.

Recipe #17: Whole Wheat Pasta with Portobellos and Peppers - This one gets a shrug and an "eh."

Recipe #18: Veggie Lasagna - Very good, and I made it again on Sunday.  I roasted the veggies this time, and that worked well.  It still takes a long time to put this together, but it's good and pretty healthy.

Recipe #19: Grilled Fruit with Rich Chocolate Sauce - Delicious.  I believe all chocolate pudding should have instant coffee thrown in.  I bought stuff to make that again this week, actually, but my bananas are too ripe and may need to become banana bread.

Recipe #20: No Knead Bread - This must be the week of repeat cooking, because I also made this again this week.  It's not good.  There.  I said it.  Hear that, online cooking community?!  IT'S NOT GOOD.

Wow, I feel better.

Recipe #21: Chimichangas - Disappointing

Recipe #22: Deep Dish Pizza - Have eaten it at least twice since this I first made this just over a month ago.  Want to eat it twice a day, every day, for the rest of my life.

Recipe #23: Kale Chips - Puzzling.  I have more kale in the fridge, so I may remake this.  It's. so. strange.

Recipe #24: Mexicali Chop Salad - The only reason I wouldn't be eating pizza is because I would want to eat this salad dressing.  Delicious.

Recipe #25: See above.

I was a biology minor, so I know my way around an experiment.  My highly technical evaluation of this project is as follows:

*I see the appeal of the blog for personal record keeping.  

Wordless Wednesday

Courtesy of Stephen Sondheim

This post is brought to you courtesy of Stephen Sondheim's genius.  Enjoy these lyrics from the song "Move On" from his musical Sunday in the Park with George.  This is a conversation between Dot and her great-grandson, George, who is an artist.  (Dot is deceased, but that's beside the point.  It's musical theater, people.  Normal rules do not apply.)


Are you working on something new?


No.

That is not like you, George.


I have nothing to say.

You have many things--


Well, nothing that's not been said.

Said by you, though, George.


I do not know where to go.

And nor did I.


I want to make things that count, things that will be new.

I did what I had to do.


What am I to do?

Move on.  Stop worrying where you're going.  Move on.  If you can know where you're going, you've gone.  Just keep moving on.


I chose and my world was shaken.  So what?  The choice may have been mistaken; the choosing was not.  You have to move on.


                                    
Buy the movie or CD here.  It's brilliant.

I'm not exactly sure why this is swirling around my head today.  Yes, I adore Stephen Sondheim's work.  Yes, I know most of the lyrics to this show.  No, it's not particularly unusual for Broadway tunes to be rattling around in my mind.  I suspect, however, it goes deeper than that.

I think it has something to do with the fact that I live an awful lot of my life inside my head.  Sometimes I need to be reminded just to keep moving and stop thinking so much.  The choice may have been mistaken; the choosing was not.

Dear Sir or Madam,

I do hope you are enjoying the garlic chives I have planted for your enjoyment.  There is spearmint in the front flowerbed if you find you need to cleanse your palette.

If you find yourself in need of anything else, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Your Servant,

Bonnie

Wordless Wednesday