My Purple Potato plants started dying back about a month ago, but I just left them be… until today when I saw this video on YouTube of a man in Sparks, NV harvesting his Potatoes… and I was inspired to harvest mine.
My Mom and I dug up the plants and were really pleased to see the amount of Potatoes we got. I really wasn’t expecting so much.
I love Kale Chips and made a batch yesterday. I didn’t have much Lemons, so I used some freshly squeezed Kalamasi juice which worked as well.
I had a lot of stems left and I didn’t want to waste them, so I sliced them thinly, boiled them until tender, then sauteed it in Olive Oil with Red Onions, Garlic and some Sesame Oil. It turned out pretty good…
I was surfing the web and discovered another Kale recipe that I would love to try called Massaged Kale Salad. It’s made by Aarti Sequeira (winner of last year’s Food Network Star). Click the link below to watch a video of her make the salad.
Went to a couple nurseries and big-box home improvement stores looking for 1/4 inch drip irrigation tubing with emitters spaced 6 inches apart. I didn’t find any but got a couple of plants.
I got the following from Mid City Nursery:
– Celery 
6 cell-pack (I’ve never grown Celery, except for the Asian Leaf types)
– Red Russian Kale 6 cell-pack
– Tree Collard 4 inch pot with 2 plants which I later divided into two pots 
– Coleus ‘Dark Star’
– Coleus ‘Big Chief’
I also bought a bag of Bonsai Mix which I will try making some String Balls planters with.
As I putting things away in the patio, I found a box that contained Gladiolus, Dahlia and Asiatic Lily bulb/tuber/corms that my brother bought at clearance a month or two ago. They were not in good condition, but I thought I would go ahead and plant them just incase I can save them.
The plants included:
– Asiatic Lily ‘Stargazer’
– Dahlia ‘Heat Wave’
– Gladiolus ‘Wigs Sensation’
– Gladiolus ‘Pastel Mixed’
I recently purchased five new seed packets from Kitazawa Seed Co., which is where I got my Bok Choy ‘Joi Choi’ seeds that I have been planting for about 8 years now. They include:
– Bok Choy ‘Golden Yellow’ a bright yellowish-green Bok Choy
– Bok Choy ‘Purple Choi’ a dark purple leaf Bok Choy
– Chard ‘Umaina’ a Japanese Chard that I think is similar to the Swiss Chard ‘Green’ I have been buying
– Usui edible Pea shoots
– Kabocha ‘Sweet Mama’ a Japanese Pumpkin/Winter Squash that has a bush-like growth habit (like Zucchini)
Today, I sowed the three leaf veggies: Bok Choi ‘Golden Yellow’ , Bok Choy ‘Purple Choi’ and Chard ‘Umaina’ . I hope they turn out as well like my plantings of Joi Choi Bok Choy.
Quite a few people have been asking me how to make this dish that I make that is kinda like a casserole, but thas sushi ingredients. I don’t know what it’s called, but I call it my Sushi Casserole.
I quickly wrote the recipe below so I can give it to a some friends and relatives. I’ll have to find photos I have taken and add them to this post to illustrate the steps. For now, I added some links to photos I found online… I hope the recipe below makes sense…
Ingredients:
Make the Sushi Rice:
First, cook 3 cups of Sushi Rice. When I don’t have sushi rice, I just mix together 1½ cups regular Rice (Jasmine or Calrose) and 1½ cups Sweet Rice (the sticky short grain kind).
While the rice is cooking, mix about 1/4 cup Seasoned Vinegar (this is the kind I use) and 1/4 cup Sugar. Heat it up in the microwave for about 15 seconds or until the sugar dissolves. Once the rice is cooked, mix the sweetened vinegar to the rice and mix well.
Flatten the rice onto the bottom of 2 to 3 qt. Glass Casserole Dish (our’s looks like this) and cool.
Make the Crab Topping:
Take a package of Imitation Crab Meat Flakes (I usually use the one that looks like this). Mash it up with some Mayonnaise until you get the consistency of a crab salad. I’m not sure exactly how much mayonnaise to add, I just put a little bit at a time until the mixture feels right.
Assembly:
Once the rice in the glass casserole dish is completely cooled down, top it with the imitation crab salad mixture. Flatten, then sprinkle a generous amount of Seto Fumi Furikake (Seasoned Dried Bonito and Egg Mix) (this is the kind we use) to completely cover the whole dish.
You will also need some Nori (Seaweed) Strips. I like to use the seasoned ones like the Yamamotoyama Teriyaki Nori Seaweed that comes in a jar. They even have hot and spicy ones. If you can’t find these, you can use regular Nori sheets and cut them into 1½ x 4 inch strips.
How to Eat:
To eat, scoop out about a tablespoon or so of the Sushi Mix (make sure to get all the layers), place it in the middle of the Nori Strip and fold the Nori around the mixture. Dip in Soy Sauce and Wasabi if you like and enjoy.
If you happen to make this dish and like it, please send a photo of it to me. Also Facebook Like it, Tweet or Google Plus it below.
Wow! It’s August already… According to the Common Ground Planting Calendar (which I’m trying to follow more closely) it’s time to:
Sow directly:
Vegetables: Beets, carrots, garlic, parsnips, peas, spinach and New Zealand spinach
Flowers: California poppy, nasturtiums, sweet peas, sweet alyssum
In flats:
Vegetables: Brassicas including brussels sprouts, celery, leeks, lettuce, onions
Flowers: calendula, marigolds, pansy, stock
Transplant (from previously sown flats):
Vegetables: Leaf lettuce
Flowers: violas
Hmm, I wonder if I can implement a Green Curtain in front of my room window…
Source: lushe.com.au via Joel on Pinterest
I finally drew up a plan for a quilt I had been thinking about for a while now using the Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton Dusty 5″ Charm Pack Fabric Squares that I got from the East Bay Modern Quilt Guild Meeting back in February.
At the East Bay Modern Quilt Guild March meeting, Kristen showed her quilt (that I really loved) using the charm pack. I wanted to sew something similar… Later at the same meeting Sharona talked about an organization called Quilts4Japan that was collecting quilts for the people affected by the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear plant breakdown. That sparked an idea.
My plan is to make a quilt that alludes to the flag of Japan and donate the quilt to Quilts4Japan. I’ll separate the red/reddish squares from the charm pack and sew them (similar to Kristen’s design) with a dark cream background. I’ll use these to form the “red” circle. I’ll then use the remaining squares and sew them with a lighter cream color to create the “white” background.
For the actual quilting (stitching), I was thinking of a large sakura or cherry blossom (which always reminds me of Japan) design. I’ll also quilt wavy lines emanating from the center circle. You can see this as the dotted white lines in the photo above.