A picture post: happy spring

 Okay, so this post will just be a quick blast of photographs. All the fun and adorable things that have been keeping me so very busy in these recent months. So busy, but so happy!! =)

Tulips (c/o Jessica) to welcome spring

Such perfect bud vases, I need to make a serious effort to find some of my own (if for no other reason, then that I stop coveting Jessica's).

Valentine's day mushroom bouquet- What could be more romantic? Is it any wonder that Matthew loves me when I offer him such fabulous gifts :)

But really, why doesn't every card come packaged with such a perfect bow?

Carrot Cake Cupcakes- in anticipation of Easter. Somehow, I don't think there will be any left to offer the Easter bunny when he hops by on Sunday.

Sadly, for the sake of cuteness (but happily for the sake of my sanity), I did not use these tiny baby carrots in the cupcakes. These are so sweet and tender that I couldn't bear to do too much with them, just sauteed them in loads of butter and a sprinkling of fresh mint for the simplest and tastiest preparation.

And, last picture, because it's a little ugly compared to all the pretty little things in the photos above: this is my very first little baby lettuce shoot of the spring. I was so delighted to see it just a couple days after planting the seeds. Now the planter is full of baby lettuces. I really should take another photo to post. I love the freshness of seeing green lettuces growing right outside my front door.

Growing things...again...

I'm attempting to grow things again, but this time I've been a bit more successful than usual. I've discovered that the trick to making things grow is to water the plants more than once every week or two, especially when it's super hot out. It turns out much better for the plants and means I get to actually enjoy the freshness of a living plant, as opposed to my usual dried up old twigs sticking up from the soil.

I was surprised the spinach actually grew up nice and healthy, considering the seed packet was several years past its best by date and the packaging was warped from having gotten wet. Now, I really should pick it before the bugs eat it!

This giant tumble of radish greens is what is left from me thinning about half of what I originally planted. I think there are still too many radish plants in that one tiny pot. They'll never produce anything. Oh well, we did enjoy a good sized bundle of baby radish greens and now that they are too big and tough to eat, I am just enjoying the greenery of them when I walk up to my front door.

I also planted a whole mess of mixed micro greens but they have already grown up to be their delicious full size of about two inches tall and been consumed by a tiny hamster who lives next door.

Growing things is so much fun!!

New Hello Kitty paper punch and a teeny garden update

I recently bought a Hello Kitty paper punch. I've used it once to Hello Kittyify stationary that I used to write a letter to a friend but other than that, I haven't had much chance to use it for anything. I have grand visions of using it to making cute decorations for Valentine's Day; we'll see if I ever get around to such an ambitious project. Also, I am hoping it will work on nori because it would be fun to make a Hello Kitty bento box or to send Matthew to work with Hello Kitty faces on his Onigiri(I'm sure he just can hardly wait).





The bottom of the paper punch has a small door that keeps the little paper bits contained. It makes it easier to collect them to use in decorating.



Also, just open the door to remove any stuck pieces of paper that can clog up the paper punch.



Hello Kitty cut-outs on Hello Kitty Sticky notes. I think it's appropriate and in no way going over board =)



Since the Hello Kitty paper punch doesn't make for the most exciting post, I thought I'd pad it out with an update on my teeny, tiny, sad garden.



The Basil has sprouted up beautifully. I guess the little "water me" spoon is working better than I expected.



The micro greens are not so micro, they have grown too big and must now be referred to as mini greens. As I was waiting for more of them to shoot up, and to therefore be useful in a salad, these little guys got out of hand. Now I suspect they will be very tough.

Maybe my little garden isn't quite as sad as it has been in the past. Of course, most of the seeds did not sprout but I'll just focus on the fact that a few of them did manage to show their shining faces.

summeryness

Fun summer images and themes keep popping up today and, in fact, have been showing their bright little faces all week. Matthew and I took a little trip up the coast last week and I've got lots of fun photos that I'll post from that at a later date, but for now I'll just post a few photos that I took today.


The weather was a little bit warm(for San Diego) today so I made Hiyashi Ramen. This is a Japanese warm weather dish and is one of my all time favorite things to eat. I spent the whole day thinking about how deliciously cool and refreshing dinner would be, and it was exactly that!


The dish usually has cooked egg, cucumber and some sort of pork(ham or chashu) over noodles doused in a soy based sauce. I like to add other things to it like corn and tofu to try to "healthy it up."


One of my favorite additions is tomato. And these were particularly tasty little heirloom tomatoes from Trader Joes.


Finally it's cheap cherry season!! And for the first time in several years I found Rainier cherries for less than five dollars a pound which is the usual price for them in San Diego. These were actually 2 dollars a pound and while lovely and delicious, they might be a bit truck worn, hence the better price.


I mixed in a few of the twice-the-price and twice-the-size Bings that I picked up as well. I hope the rainiers don't feel dowdy next to their much more handsome friends.


Cherry Mug shots. Cute.


Ever the hopeful gardener, I've planted some micro greens and several herbs. Perhaps if we have some sun this summer, unlike last year, my plants will finally grow.


Of course, nothing will grow if I don't water them. Hopefully this funny little flattened spoon will remind me to give them a drink more often than once a week.

Appreciating rural-life

When Matthew and I traveled home for the teensiest, tinsiest visit(only four full days) I spent the entire time just soaking in all the joys of rural life with plants and pets and delicious, home grown treats: Home grown strawberries, lettuce, herbs, zucchini and snow peas. The back yard chickens laying eggs. A little organic dairy farm that produces gorgeous, cream laden milk. A lavender farm grown in full view of Mt. Shasta.



I just took a few photos of it all to remind myself of why I can hardly wait to move back to Oregon.


Onions blossoming



Snow peas in blossom and fully grown. They were delicious.





Peeping through the lattice - my mother-in-law's garden is really thriving.






And though I was extremely disappointed with the photos I took of the hops, I've included a couple for the annual hop update - they are certainly bigger than they were last year and have significantly more hop flowers on them. Maybe there will be enough to do something with next year.

mini strawberries and funny little radish flowers

Bentos aren't the only cute things around here. Today, we went to the Farmer's Market and I bought some outrageously expensive strawberries. Matthew thinks I'm crazy for buying them but they looked just like the magnificent and heavenly little strawberries that we use to bring in to Farmer's Market(the natural grocery store I used to work at, not to be confused with A Farmer's Market) for a couple of short weeks in June. We used to have people sign up for waiting lists and such, just so that they could buy flats of the sweet creatures.



Turns out, these strawberries are very, very good, although not quite as good as the ones I remember from Oregon(but then, as a true Oregonian, I think everything is better in Oregon).



So, now my only question: what do I do with them? Eat them straight? or turn them into something magnificent? my "magnificent something" could turn into a real flop, but eating them just straight seems like a very expensive snack.

In other news, my radish seeds sprouted two very sad little creatures and one incredible, giant radish "tree" that has since flowered. It isn't often that I see such a magnificent radish flower and so, I took a picture.



It really is lovely!




Please Note: I apologize for all the strawberry photos looking the same. As it turns out, the particular strawberry that I selected for photographing was not the best looking strawberry in the basket. It really only had one attractive side, hence, all the photos of the exact same side/angle. Next time I'll make my selections more carefully, and possibly (but not likely) be less lazy about going back inside to find a better specimen. At least he was the tastiest strawberry =)

babiest lettuce

Today, my employer gave me two baby lettuce pots that she bought at the farmer's market. I've been talking non stop about my silly little lettuce grown from seed that I was just sure would die a terrible buggy death, and I guess she just wanted my original baby lettuce* to have the cheerful company of even littler lettuce plants.



Here they are with a mini wheelbarrow, just the right size for tiny lettuce plants.



*Now that I look back at old posts, I realize that I never posted a photo of my lettuce grown from seed. It's lovely and very healthy. I made a salad out of it and it was extremely tender.