Mom's visit....Day 1

To start off the food fest (which I am going to need to seriously start running to combat or diet heavily between Dec. 1 until Christmas....) I picked up my Mom at the airport and we immediately went to Ranch 99. My Mom lives in a small-ish town in Florida and LOVES, LOVES, LOVES going to the Asian market here in San Diego. I spent the last week clearing out the fridge because I knew she would go absolutely crazy and buy out the produce section. Last Thanksgiving when my Mom came to visit, we were days away from moving, and had worked so hard to clear out the pantry and fridge only to have my Mom stock up again! ARGGGGG! This time I let her go nuts. 

We gave my Mom a quick tour of our little garden and Ryle showed her his favorite part... His yummy Bok Choy. Yes, he likes to nibble on it while it's still in the garden. What a NUT!

One of my Mom's favorite things to get is the Peking Duck from Sam Wong's at Ranch 99. She has even been known to buy some and bring it home frozen in a cooler. (Ryle inherited his nuttiness from her!) We had a late lunch of the Peking duck, and despite initial hesitation, Ryle loved the duck.  Gray had no hesitation at all. The boy can eat!

I didn't say he was a neat eater... Yes, he managed to get rice up his nose. And not to be out-done, Ryle demanded a photo. And he actually wasn't goofy about getting his picture taken!!!

Mom made a great stir-fry using an ingredient that I have often seen and have never know what to do with, Chinese Okra. It was delish!!! I can see making it more in the future and maybe even growing some Chinese Okra in the garden next summer. Tomorrow is a trip to the zoo, should be lots of fun. Happy gardening all!

Harvest Monday - November 15, 2010

Harvest Monday is hosted by Daphne's Dandelions and is a great way to share what's coming out of your garden and see what other people are growing in their gardens as well! 

We had a small harvest from the garden this week, but that is because I am vain. My Mom arrives on Wednesday and I don't want to denude the  garden before she flies in. There are greens greens galore there!  Some boy choy, tatsoi, and turnip greens all waiting to come out. I can't wait to see what she cooks up.  I know everyone says this about their Mom, but she is an AMAZING cook. I cook well, but she cooks better.  I will keep the camera ready and make lots of posts about the yummies.

Fairy Tale Eggplant - 7 7/8 oz

Pin Stripe Eggplant 4 1/2 oz

Pimientos de Padrón - 1/2 oz

Fall is not a good time to grow peas or lima beans in this little section of SoCal.  Despite the babying and coddling, my arch nemisis Mr. Buddy is out to get me. The peas are being nibbled to the ground once uncovered and the lima beans are attacked from two fronts!  I nurture and nurture and nurture.... and he/she eat and eats and eats. When I uncover the tender shoots the bunny digs up the seed and nibbles it away and leaves a stalk with no base. Erg.

Sounds like it's time to make a special trip to the nursery to get bunny repellent. Happy shopping -- I meant gardening!

DC Toured, MCM done, what next?

Well, DC was a blast!  I managed to get several full nights sleep, saw the sights (not as thoroughly as I would like, but he, what do you expect with a whirlwind trip?) and ran a marathon. While I missed my boys so much, it was so nice to be free for 4 days!!!! 

Marathon Morning

Mid race photo - we don't look a bit tired do we?

Post race photo at the Iwo Jima Memorial

Grabbing the obligatory photo with some Marines. 

And now I am getting some rest (and feeling guilty for it) and hopefully making sure my achilles heals before the next race! And back into the garden and dealing with critters.