Food Blogs (313)

I'm a picky eater. I know what I like and I know what I dislike.
If I had to make a list, Tofu would be near the top of the list of foods to avoid.
It's made from bean curd. I have no problem with that but it looks like Plaster of Paris.
I've never eaten plaster but I'd wager plaster and Tofu have a similar taste.


I took a lesson from someone who cooks Tofu very often and I'm getting it a few times a week now.

First things first: Tofu is spongy and packed in water. Rinse it several times and squeeze out the excess water.

Pan fry it with something else, meat or fish preferred and it will absorb the flavor of whatever it's cooked with!

Take fresh ginger and slice it in 1/8" (3mm) strips. Fry that with the Tofu and meat. It adds an amazing flavor to the meal.

I normally try to eat healthy. It has been feeling good lately to save all my veggie matter to take to the community garden, then it dawned on me to use some of it in my own yard around veggies I'm trying to grow. Makes great compost.

Well this morning after running around doing my chores I stopped at a First Watch restaurant (noted for healthy menus) Bear in mind healthy does not mean low calorie so I have to watch that. I ordered a chia power bowl. I did not know that there was something called Chia Pudding made from chia seeds but that is what I had mixed with granola and fruit. Oh my goodness it was to die for. I came home to immediately google Chia Pudding Recipes and you can just blow me out of the water. Chia, coconut milk, vanilla, honey, soak overnight and in the morning you have Chia pudding. Many other recipes but I got so damn wet I had to come here and shout it out.

Eating Chia and flax seeds I've done for years but I didn't know Chia seeds swelled up sort of like tapioca. OMG I love it. My brother gave up sweets almost a year ago for diabetes, I will make this for him and use stevia instead of honey and he will be able to indulge without guilt or sugar. I'm so happy

And folks being happy is where it is at, I tell you.

Of course watch me make this recipe and it bombs, ha ha.

I saw a recent advertisement for Jim Beam bourbon
that states "There's no I in bourbon".



For some odd reason, I had to laugh.

While alphabetically correct, there can be a lot of "I" associated with drinking bourbon.
Such as;

I will have another.

Oh man, I am drunk.

I shouldn't have drank so much.

I don't feel too good.

I think I'm going to puke.

I love you, Mr. Toilet.

I see the room spinning.

I am NOT drunk osssifer.

I know it is 4 am, but I just wanted to call and see how you are doing.

I don't remember what happened last night.

Add your own, if you like.

Summer is here and it's watermelon season. If you like watermelon but you have trouble cutting it into pieces, an way to easily do this is to try my curved watermelon knife.
I have 2 of them. One curved for left-handed and one curved for right-handed.

As temperatures soar here, I find myself diligently watering the front and back gardens morning and night. The one downfall of having all those huge shrubs removed - now I need to water my flowers and plants, and weed the garden.

The overgrown shrubs that were here never needed any such care, but then, they looked overgrown and uncared for, too. Even with majorly trimming them back last year, they couldn't be trimmed back far enough. So now I have lovely rose bushes and other flowers, that require watering, and the beds need to be weeded at least once a week.

While in the back garden, where I've planted a half-assed vegetable garden, I noted that one of the three zucchini plants Mom started for me has a small zucchini on it. W00t! I love zucchini and frequently use it in place of cucumber, as I'm not so fond of it. Also, zoodles are one of my favourite dishes.

I call it my half-assed garden as I got started really late, and only planted two tomato plants and 3 zucchini plants. I had thought of planting green beans (or maybe yellow, as I really love those), but as the bushes were pulled out late and the weather turned cold and wet, I didn't get around to it in time. And I just wasn't into it.

Next year, I'll start earlier, get a bunch of top soil, and plant some salad fixings. At my farm up north, I had a tremendous veggie garden, and despite the heat, grew amazing lettuce. It was awesome to go out and pick the lettuce, tomatoes, green onion, radishes, etc and be able to have a home-grown salad every day. Maybe next year I'll get my act together.

One of my tomato plants this year has a tomato that should be ready to pick tomorrow. I probably could have picked it today, but thought I'd give it one more day. Yay! My first homegrown tomato of the year. My mouth is already watering anticipating it's warm juiciness, fresh off the vine.

Tomorrow, very early, like maybe at 4:30am, I'm going out for my bike ride before it gets to darn hot. Today, the only time I went outside was to return library books and pick up some fresh fruit at the market. That's the only down-side of living here - all the wonderful fruit is ready at the same time. Blueberries, peaches, raspberries, strawberries, nectarines, plums, cherries, apricots - all ripe and ready right now. I love all those fruits, but simply can't eat that much in a week.

Yellow beans are a favourite vegetable of mine, and I picked some up today and then was given some fresh beans from my neighbour's garden as he's grown too many. I absolutely love this friendly neighbourhood and great community. What a difference from my previous abode.

So now I have enough food to last me into next week and I just hope I can get motivated to cook it, as right now, with it being as hot as it is, I don't feel like eating, never mind cooking.

Mmm mmmmm! I don't know about anywhere else, but corn on the cob is a 'thing' here. Every year, we wait impatiently for those first ears of corn to ripen. The first corn on the cob of the season hit the outdoor kiosks this past week and is it ever good! I always frequent one family's kiosks as they only sell Jubilee corn on the cob, the absolute best and sweetest.

Even when I was a little girl, Dad & Mom would load all five of us kids up in the station wagon and head out to the valley (where I live now) to buy Jubilee corn. Sure, I've had other corn, peaches and cream, which is very prevalent here, but it doesn't compare to the Jubilee. The route I take for my bike ride is full of cornfields now, although I think much of it is 'cow' corn - completely different from the Jubilee, although I think the cows enjoy theirs as much as I enjoy mine.

I used to strip the husks off the corn and boil it like my Mom used to, but found barbecuing it in it's husk far more flavourful. That first mouthful of corn tonight, I'm sure my tastebuds were having an o*gasm. Juicy, super sweet, firm but not tough. There's absolutely nothing like it.

It looks like the vegetable du jour will be corn on the cob until we can't get it anymore (September), and I'm sick of it (I don't think there is such a thing). Tonight's dinner, bbq'd ribs and corn on the cob. Now that's a meal!

I have a mango tree in my back yard that is older than me.

Every year we get lots of tasty mangoes, so many that I have to give most away.
The tree was damaged when the last (big) hurricane came through around 10 years ago.
A section snapped off that I would estimate was 15% but that didn't affect the amount of mangoes we get, which is upwards of 350 every season.
This variety goes from green to yellow. If you eat one then, it has an apple-like flavor.
To get the fruit that early, we have a long aluminum pole with a looped wire on the end. One pull and the mango drops to the ground. When they change color to reddish orange the flavor completely changes and becomes sweet like honey.

This season beat all previous seasons and I'm not sure why. Perhaps we had more rain than normal, but estimates were over 500 mangoes this year!

When I get up in the morning, I go out with some grocery bags and usually fill 2 of them.
In the evening, we check again and often find enough to fill another bag.

I'm not sure why but my neighbors have mango trees but they aren't the same as mine. Different color and flavor, also their trees aren't as tall as mine.

The last of the mangoes fell a few weeks ago and it's the end of mango season at my place.


Thanks for reading my blog!

Thanks to a great suggestion from Molly I watched several you tube videos on how to make cheese. It looked so simple. I ran to the store and got some goat's milk for goat cheese which my Daddy loves.

I thought I followed the video but my batch did not curdle like it was supposed to. If it did I would have taken the curds out (which is the cheese) and the rest of the liquid is the whey which I would have thrown away. HOWEVER, I learned the whey if very healthy and can be used in smoothies, soups or throw on plants for fertilizer as it is full of nutrients. I love learning stuff like that.

Well my first batch total failure except I made some liquid for the compost patch and I will save some for some chicken broth. I'm guessing I didn't let the milk get hot enough.

I have to take go pickup Mom for an errand in a little bit so I will stop and buy more milk then try again later.

It seems like I have to fail my first try everytime I try something new. pfffft

Do you like painting your fingernails?

A friend texted me a recipe not long ago and I wasted half a day scouring the shops for an ovenproof fish. By the time I realised it was a mistake I had lost my appetite.

It's a good job I think the world of the friend in question.