Ye Olde Garden

One month later

The winter garden is finally shuttering up the show. The annual holdouts such as the angelonia and the ornamental peppers have given up their last seasonal colors. The man and I had done some diligent pruning and clean up of the front beds, such as shearing back the gaura, removing dead coleus and cutting back the salvias, including the Victoria Blues. I had planted some violas and ornamental cabbages/kale in the gardenia bed, which have been blanketed by fall debris. Too bad we didn’t have a way to compost all the autumn leaves; that’s a project for next year, hopefully. 

The purple garden has been cleaned of the dried out ornamental peppers. I’ve also removed as much of the bicolor salvia as I could. Here’s to hoping that my reseeding efforts will bear fruit in the spring. I’ve sprinkled as much of the seeds closer to the side of the house, where it’s been a challenge to grow anything. The only plant that’s managed to endure in the damp ground that killed off a lavender and a rosemary is the citronella plant  (Orange Fizz) which has soared to a whopping 3 feet high. Time will tell if it can survive the frost. Future plans: rearrange lorapetalum and purple salvias in a straight line, plant Picasso and Devils Wine callas.

I’ve gone ahead and planted the blueberry dianthus in the blue bed, after uprooting and repotting the plumbago and applying a generous layer of mulch. I’ve also taken some rooted bits of Wood’s Blue aster and replanted them. I finished off the bed with plantings of violas. It is perhaps the only color left…the oxalis top growth are turning an unflattering shade of brown.

I am happy to see that the herb garden is thriving, thanks to departure of the basil plants. The rosemary is enjoying good circulation, full sun and perhaps has grown more in the last few weeks than it has all summer. The oreganos, thyme and pineapple mint are sprawling happily…too happily in fact, since I’ve had to shear back the mint. I am hoping to clone the Hot & Spicy Oregano in the opposite corner of the bed, so that I can have a second specimen. The man and I have decided on two priorities for this herb garden in 2011: 1) plant only basil in this bed, and 2) purchase some fencing to keep the pups out. We might just pot up the pepper plants or set them up in a separate bed.

I’ve removed some of the Flame Callas from the courtyard flower bed. The bed is looking rather bare, especially with the annual azaleas dying off. I plan on moving the daylilies in this bed as well as transplanting the rest of the callas out. I hope to get some more red and white dianthus to completely border the bed. Some more of those chocolate ajuga might produce a red, white, and blue border in the spring. The question is: what shrubbery to plant for next year?

Shade garden: more ferns, caladiums and nandinas perhaps. I definitely want to look into variegated liriope as an option. I hope the hakonechloa come back.

Speaking of which, those dwarf mondo grasses bordering our gravel extension are doing quite well. I hope they will grow hardy in time for next summer’s drought and heat.

Dining

Blade shopping

We have a serious lack of good knives in our kitchen. While I possess a somewhat decent Chinese cleaver, I am still searching for the perfect santoku. With the holidays already here, I am aware that certain pieces of cutlery are missing from my collection.

For carving, I would like to find a decent electric knife, hopefully in a stainless steel or black finish. It’s an essential tool especially for carving turkeys and rib roasts. I’ve found a Hamilton Beach Classic Electric Knife with Case – Chrome (74275) available for sale at Target, which looks like it fits the bill.

I’m still shopping around for a santoku knife. Recently some conversations on Chowhound led me to discover a couple of sites for shopping fine santokus and other kitchen blade essentials: Sur La Table (which also has 2 locations in Dallas and Plano) and Japan Blades. At one point I had eyes only for the Shun knives, but there appears to be a world of Japanese knife makers to choose from. And the vast variety and utility of these Japanese knives have made me aware that no cook should be without a santoku, gyuto and a nakiri. (And how about converting those petty knives into steak knives?)

Even Henckels has their own line Japanese cutlery, called Miyabi. I found these while shopping for knife block sets…which would be an excellent value given that we are in dire need of some good steak knives.

If I had to settle, I found a decently priced, functional block set that I’m interested in purchasing made by J.A. Henckels International. While the International arm isn’t as revered as the German arm of Henckels (Zwilling), I believe the Forged Synergy 13-piece Knife Block set will satisfy any temporary needs for a kitchen knife set. It retails for around $140.

Ye Olde Garden

Fall blues

My last two plant purchases about a month ago involved two asters, a Days Aster and a mum-like button-headed aster that I still haven’t identified (possibly an annual type). All three asters in the blue bed have subsequently dropped their blooms, and as of this week look very scraggly. I suspect lack of watering and poor soil may have killed the aster centered in the bed; meanwhile the Days aster has retained its green foliage, perhaps because it has remained in the shadow of the angelonias still blooming rampantly in the bed. I also had to trim back the Wood’s Blue aster next to the fence since most of its foliage browned, leaving behind basal leaves.

I must mention that the scabiosa are long gone, as well as the white plumbago that must have died during the summer drought. Any traces of the phlox and dianthus planted in this bed have also disappeared, as well as the catmint that were huge disappointments. The surviving inhabitants of the blue bed include the two Oertel yarrows, the 2 clusters of Serena Whites and Blues (still blooming heavily now in mid-November), 2 Oxalis triangularis which have endured all summer, the imperial dark blue plumbago and the Wood’s Blue aster.

I have contemplated moving the Felicia daisy from its plant stand to take up central residence in the bed. I’m also considering moving my Tropical Breeze purple/white verbena also to the same bed in hopes that it will survive through the cold months with some proper mulching.

I do miss putting bulbs into the ground this time of year; I dream of the early perennial bloomers such as muscari and irises and lately have been serious considering purchasing some bulbs to drop into the blue bed. The bed of course will need amending before I proceed with this plan…luckily, I have a large bag of Miracle-Gro garden soil just waiting to be used. As soon as the weather becomes a bit milder, I plan on taking a shovel to the bed and dig out some good spots.

Reminder to self: take plumbago cuttings, bring the Diana blueberry dianthus indoors.

Dining, Reviews

Spicy lunching

Royal Sichuan

400 N Greenville Ave Ste 6
Richardson, TX 75081

I’m a fan of Sichuan cooking, having spent many a hot, sweaty mealtime hanging out at the Sichuanese on Coit Rd and Little Sichuan on Legacy in Plano. When I heard of Royal Sichuan’s opening, it went on my list of places to try.

My man and I finally made our way across town to dine there for a late lunch. At 2pm on a Saturday the place still seemed busy, all booths were occupied, as we were led to our table. The dining room was narrow, but not cramped, appointed in soothing shades of sage and tan, decorated with calm landscapes and warm woodwork. The place was comfortable and inviting, and I saw myself coming back here for this reason alone.

Our hostesses (it seemed we were beset by two or three at them at once) took our order and we were left pondering the surprises that lay in store for us.

As a starter we tried Chung’s dumplings, which came out hot and steaming along with the lamb with cumin we ordered. As we dug into the dumplings, the eggplant in garlic sauce arrived, followed by the Chongqing chicken and steamed rice. Like most authentic places, pacing of the different courses is non-existent; for this visit, we were starved and weren’t in the mood to wait for the next course.

The dumplings were slippery yet tasty, though I expected more heat and sweetness from the chili oil they swam in. Lamb and cumin had the typical flavor I’ve come to expect of this dish, except Royal Sichuan’s version was heavily garnished with cilantro–which tamed the strong flavors. The eggplant provided a perfect counterpoint to the lamb, neutral and soothing to the palate. Being both garlic fans, my companion and I heartily approved of this dish. The chicken dish was our adventurous gamble; a fiery golden mound of battered chicken arrived at our table, smothered in red chilis and green onions. The chicken had a dry salty-peppery seasoning which supplied a different texture from our previous dishes. I also enjoyed the red chilis which lent a papery texture to the dish; though my man abstained from it for the very same reason. Of course it took only one bite of the tiny sichuan peppers (huajiao?) garnishing this dish to induce a mouth-tingling explosion that is hard to erase. But the Chongqing chicken was addicting, so we carefully picked out the pepper flowers as we snarfed down the rest of the dish.

We skipped soft drinks and went with water this round; luckily our servers were extremely attentive and refilled our glasses. The damage came to nearly $40 total, and for that price, the experience at Royal Sichuan was well worth it. We’ll visit again to sample more of their menu.

Rating by epicureasian: 4.0 stars
****