Flash, Furkids

New cat tree

Flash received his Xmas gift early this year, to my relief. It was finally time to evict him from my dinette set.

It’s the New Cat Condos Playstation, over 6 feet tall and stable as a rock. I got it on sale on Overstock.com, with free shipping to boot. For the first couple of days, Flash was apprehensive about it. But soon after, he fell in love with it. He loves leaping off and on, up and down the tree…climbing, tearing, rolling, scratching, rubbing and scrambling all over it. Some days, I wish I could be a cat so I can have the wild, crazy fun he’s having.

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Ye Olde Garden

Freeze alert

After deceptively mild weather for the Thanksgiving, it was evident that we were experiencing our last patches of warm weather before the cold front hit this weekend. My holiday shopping weekend was cut short by sudden drops in temperature, and I knew I would have to bring in my plants for the last time this year.

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I missed the opportunity to bring in the eggplant yesterday, so I had to rush it into the bathroom greenhouse to see if it could be rescued. I’m not sure if the fruit will make it. It’s pretty short for what I’m used to in Chinese eggplants.

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Outdoors, the damage from the overnight frosts has manifested into dead/wilted potato and basil plants. The traditional large leaf basils like Red Rubin and Genovese experienced the most damage. The lime, Pesto Perpetuo and Thai basil display browning less so. One of the Thai basil specimens appears to be laughing off the cold; but sooner or later, all the basils will be done.

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The succulent planter seems to be hanging on. Whereas the petunia/caladium planter bowl shows signs of receding.

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I found a surprise greeting me at one of the asters in the blue bed. A few blooms hid at the base of the plant, near the mulch line. I believe this one was Aster novi-belgii Believer.

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Pansies, violas, ornamental kale, petunias, miscellaneous herbs, foxtail ferns, loropetalum, are all still hanging in there. The dusty millers must be enjoying their new location and this cool weather; they have doubled in size since I moved them from the front flower bed. I guess they prefer the protection. I expected the lemon verbena to die back down since it’s considered an annual, but it seems to enduring in the mixed planter box along with the chives, golden oregano, and aster cuttings. (Those are the remaining vincas hanging over from a neighboring planter. And a Red Rubin basil hiding out as well!)

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Dining, Recipes

Best. Turkey. Ever.

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My 2011 Thanksgiving turkey turned out to be a winner. I thought I wanted a fried turkey this year, but ended up throwing this bird onto the Weber grill to smoke for nearly 3 hours. Initially, I started with one bank of coals; but when I saw that temperatures weren’t rising after the first hour, I fired up a second bank in the second hour and that’s when things started cooking. I also included a pan of water in the grill to catch the drippings and keep the turkey moist.

This is a 14.5 pound Jennie-O turkey brined for 20-21 hours. It came off my trusty Weber 22″ grill smoky and succulent; perfect moisture, texture and color. I didn’t have to cover it to achieve that beautiful golden brown–it arrived at that color without drying out. It came off the grill when I determined temps to be in the 150-160 range, estimating that it would rise another 10 degrees when removed from the grill. After cutting into it, we marveled at the tenderness and juiciness of the bird from white meat to dark. It even boasted a smoke ring on the bottom half.

The taste was complex. Under the smokiness we detected all the garlic, pepper, salt, rosemary, and sugar from the brine. What also cut across all those complex flavors were the lemon wedges I stuck into the cavity; the meat nearest the cavity had a light smoky taste accentuated by lemon. Just wonderful.

2011 Turkey Brine recipe:

  • 2 gallons of water
  • 40 cloves of garlic, chopped (if not more)
  • 6-8 sprigs/branches of rosemary, chopped (should come out to handful or quarter cup)
  • 1.5 cups of salt
  • half a cup of brown sugar
  • quarter cup of coarse ground black pepper
  • quarter cup of garlic powder
  • 1 medium lemon or lime, sliced (optional)

I love garlic and rosemary; I chopped enough of both to result in about 1-2 handfuls of each. Meanwhile, I add salt and sugar into a huge stainless steel stockpot (large enough to brine the turkey in). Turn the heat on high, then add 2 gallons of water. I boiled the brine until salt and sugar were dissolved before adding rosemary, garlic, garlic powder and black pepper.  Stir then cover the stockpot, and turned off the heat. Throw in the lemons and let the mixture sit overnight, at least 6-8 hours, to let it steep. Remove the lemons before dunking the turkey into the brine the following morning.

Clear out some space for the stockpot brine and refrigerate for 20-21 hours. This brine may result in a salty turkey for some, so I suggest trying 16-18 hours brine time, or reduce salt measurement to 1 cup.

Ye Olde Garden

Pre-Thanksgiving look at the garden

It’s that time of the year. Almost every year that I cook for the holidays, I make sure to use ingredients in my garden, even if it is only one sprig of rosemary. But since it’s been 10 days since my last post, I thought it time to do a little inspection.

The Shu ornamental pepper continues to hang on for dear life. Peppers are perennial in zones 9 and beyond, but here in my garden, it’s going to be a challenge to keep them alive in the ground during winter. My potted peppers have been sitting outside since this past weekend when we saw temps reach the high 70s. We’re back down to the high 30s to mid-40s during the evenings, but we will continue to reach the 70s in the daytime for the Thanksgiving holiday.

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All the garlic have emerged and are looking tall.

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The sage seems to appreciate the cooler weather; I used some sage leaves from this specimen for my turkey brine last night.

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Those appear to be larkspur seedlings surrounding one of the irises. Unfortunately, the man sprinkled it heavily on one side not realizing I only had one pack of Shades of Blue Larkspur (Consolida ambigua). I may have to purchase another pack.

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Finally, a good macro picture of the Oertel’s Rose yarrow blooms!

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I love the white-mottled Snow-n-Summer asiatic jasmine foliage; emerging leaves are a beautiful shade of pastel pink.

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 The Autumn Monarch azalea is our only fall-blooming azalea this year. It received a fair amount of protection from the neighboring Hot Lips salvia this year, unlike the other azaleas on the opposite end of the bed.

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A lone vinca has grown in the lee of an azalea. I had already pulled out its neighbors, but kept this one to see how it would fare. The petunias also appear unstoppable. Even with this crazy weather, they are continuously putting on new growth.

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My eggplant doesn’t appear to put on much growth in the last 10 days; though the plant is leaning farther due to its weight. It still feels way to hard to the touch.

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Valentine dianthus…what a beauty. All the dianthus in the garden favor this cool climate; most are putting on several buds if not blooming.

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A surprise on the camellia: this bud has swelled to 5 times the size as other buds.

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Lemon thyme: I plan on cutting several sprigs of this to insert into my turkey. The other herbs of course are looking fabulous. The Thai basil looks amazing with its flowery spires; I just dread how many seedlings I’ll get out of it. The Red Rubin basil also loves this cool weather. I am curious to see if they will endure into next year.

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Bites and Finds, Dining

Reacquainted with a fave pearl: boba

I grew up with Filipino desserts that featured tapioca pearls known as sago. I’ve had them in hot drinks (sago at gulaman), cold drinks (halo-halo), and soups. This last preparation is generally known as ginataang halo halo, a coconut cream-based hot dessert featuring plantains, taro, yams, jackfruit, bilo-bilo (sticky rice balls) and tapioca pearls. (There is a variation of dessert ginataan known as ginataang mais, but possesses the texture of rice pudding and lacks the tapioca pearls.)

The Filipino dessert of which I have the fondest memories is taho, a hot drink made with liquefied sugar, soft tofu and tapioca pearls. It’s probably the only preparation of tofu I’d ever consume without hesitation–as long as the tofu has absorbed the sweetness fully. However, I have consumed taho with the tofu withheld upon request, and it is ultimately preferable to the tofu/sago mixture. 

Nowadays, tapioca pearls have become part of a mainstream drink sensation known as boba tea, which originated in Taiwan. Of course, the main ingredients is the boba (tapioca pearls or bubbles) and milk tea. I’ve never been a fan of tea, so I steered clear of the lactose variation. Luckily, boba drinks expanded to include juices, smoothies and slushes. So I’ve been partaking regularly of these versions with the boba thrown in. Since my preference generally steers towards mango, I’ve been trying all sorts of combinations: mango pineapple, mango strawberry, mango banana or just plain mango. I’ve even had lychee slush with boba–and may have to ask for mango lychee one of these days.

The tapioca pearls vary in texture from dense and chewy to soft and gummy. A version of boba known as pop boba contains a flavored center in a normally chewy tapioca shell. Other popular addons include jelly (or nata de coco), flan and of course chopped fresh fruit. Of course, like halo-halo, the more addons the better! This passing familiarity with Filipino desserts is what keeps me hooked on boba drinks, and I’m glad they’ve taken hold here in the U.S.