Hopefully, This Will End in Delicious Noms

 My garden is finally, properly getting sorted.  I'm a little bit behind this year (and as a result, there will be no potatoes *sad face*).   On the upside, getting anything done other than cutting the grass is a huge amount of progress over last year, where we barely even did that.

I thought I might give you a little tour today.  I'm going to apologize for photo quality in advance as there were issues related to a tiny human being strapped to my front.

This,clearly, is the front of our home.  I put up 2 hanging baskets of yellow begonias, and 2 planters of petunias.  The petunias are a lovely purpley-red colour, with white edges.

The little flower bed in the front came with purple irises and dark pink peonies.  Last year, we added an English lavender, a pink columbine and a variegated hosta.  This year, I also stuck in a gerber daisy, but it hasn't really bloomed yet.

From left to right: lavender (the gerber daisy is behind), irises, peonies, columbine (back), hosta (front)

The backyard still needs quite a bit of work, but we're making progress.  The previous owners had filled all the flowerbeds with daylilies, irises and lots of hostas.  The only interesting plants were the lilac bush, rhubarb, horseradish and grapes.

You can just make out the horseradish & rhubarb in the lower right corner.  The fancy-pants BBQ is in the lower left!

You can see in the above photo that we put in a raised veggie bed (and surrounded it with pots) at the end of the yard.  This was the one that was my delayed shipment!  It is a neat modular system where you can leave hook them together to make a larger unit, or stack them to make it deeper.  We used two 4'x4'x6" units and stacked them to make it one foot deep for the veggies.

 

 

In the main bed, I'm growing long cayenne peppers, Black Krim tomatoes, golden cherry tomatoes, an Italian heirloom variety of sweet pepper, easter egg radishes, french breakfast radishes, little finger carrots, chioggia beets and two kinds of bush beans - a snap bean and a yellow wax variety.

In the pots all around, I've got cilantro, dill, spearmint, chocolate mint and a lettuce mix.

 

I'm very excited to see how this vegetable bed turns out!  If the planter works well, I might get another one next year so I can plant more things!

 

However, this is not the only food we've put in!  We ripped out the flower bed along the north fence and put in ever-bearing strawberries.  I love strawberries.  They just went in this morning, so hopefully they do well there.

 

Further along the same fence, under the cedar trees, I've put in two highbush blueberries.  This is the bit I'm very excited about!

 







I know they don't look like much now, but eventually these babies should get up to 1.5 meters tall!


Have you planted anything this season? How is it coming along?  If you have any suggestions for the flowerbed we have on the south fence, let me know!  So far, I've only managed to get some chives and some thyme in it - otherwise, it is all hostas and daylilies.  Yuck!


Busy Like a Bee

Like many others, I am in the "What the deuce? How is it already June?!" party.  This had left me feeling pretty behind in all the things that I'm hoping to accomplish before winter decides to show its face again.  I think I might be overcompensating a little bit though.

Yesterday, after everyone was up & fed, here's what got accomplished:

• went to the library to return books, pay overdue fees and pick-up holds
• went to partner's bank
• went to my bank
• went to the farmer's market and bought some plants (wooo! heirloom tomatoes, peppers, beans and radishes!) and fancy local honey
• stopped at the fancy coffee shop and got an Iced Nutella Latte
• stopped at the corner store on the way home that also sells plants and bought a bunch of herbs and a cayenne pepper to plant
• had lunch with the inlaws
• took the baby on a playdate to the park
• got rained out at the park, so took the babies to the gelato place and ate delicious tiramisu flavoured gelato (in hindsight, the super-sugar & caffeinated gelato might not have been the best choice of flavours to share with the one-year-old)
• filled the raised planter box and pots with soil and planted all the greenery I bought in the morning
• washed the baby's laundry
• washed my laundry
• watched Mirror, Mirror (it wasn't bad)
• and all of this was in addition to the usual stuff one does on a non-work day, like make & eat lunch & dinner, use the bathroom, check your email, etc.

No wonder I felt tired today!  I think I might need to cut it back a bit, or I'm going to wear myself out before July.
Although when I think of everything that's still on the list, like painting the kitchen, planting strawberries, finishing up some knitting projects . . . how long do I have until winter again?

Finally, Gardening! Woo!

The weather here, right up until recently, was seriously inconsistent.  It would be really warm for two days, then the temperature would drop and it would rain/hail/generally suck for a few days.
That is basically par for the course for spring in this part of Canada.

Last summer was our first summer in this house, and we didn't do diddly with the backyard.  At one point, you  may have considered looking for lost civilizations in there.  However, toward the end of last summer, we finally got it cleaned up thanks to some help from some family, and we've managed to stay on top of it for the most part.

This has allowed me to actually start to plan out what i want to do back there.  I've ordered two 4'x4' raised planter bed thingys from a major retailer in anticipation of getting started this long weekend, but I have been thwarted!  They were supposed to be here by the 19th at the latest, but nothing has happened since my order confirmation.
I've spoken to some very nice people on the phone, who also have no idea what is going on in their warehouse.

I hope it gets sorted soon because I have vegetables I need to plant!

In the meantime, I've made due by planting some herbs in one of the existing beds which is currently full of hostas & daylillies.  I put in some chives, creeping thyme, and oregano.  In addition, I've got some pots going - one of rosemary & one of greek oregano.

On the upside, at least the front of the house looks nice.  There are purple petunias, yellow begonias and an orange gerber in addition to the peonies, lavender and pink columbine.

I hope those of you who garden managed to get some of your season started this long weekend, because I certainly did not get nearly as much done as I'd hoped!

Presented Without Context: The Shark Song

There was a boy
(hold up one finger and bounce it along to the tune)
Da na nuh na, Da na na na na

And a girl
(hold up the other finger and bounce it along too)
Da na nuh na, Da na na na na

And a lake
(make wavy lake motions with your arms)
Da na nuh na, Da na na na na

And so they swam
(pretend you're swimming!)
Da na nuh na, Da na na na na

And they swam
(keep swimming!)
Da na nuh na, Da na na na na

But. There. Were. SHARKS!
(using your entire arms, clap your hands in front of you like your arms are the shark's jaws)
Da na nuh na, Da na na na na

Papa Sharks!
(keep clapping, but do the da na nas in a papa shark voice)
Da na nuh na, Da na na na na

Mama Sharks!
(bring your elbows together and clap using only the lower part of your arms while using a mama shark voice)
Da na nuh na, Da na na na na

Baby Sharks!
(put your wrists together and clap only your hands, singing in a high baby shark voice)
Da na nuh na, Da na na na na

Grampa Sharks!
(fold your fingers under because grampa sharks have no teeth.  Use a deep, rough grampa voice)
Da na nuh na, Da na na na na

Inbred Sharks!
(flop your hands around like a fish on land.  Say whatever seems most inbred for the da na nas)
Da na nuh na, Da na na na na

So, they swam faster . . .
(swimming arms again, but speed everything up!)
Da na nuh na, Da na na na na

They swam faster!
(go faster, there are sharks!)
Da na nuh na, Da na na na na

But there were SHARKS!
(get your shark arms out again and start clapping)
Da na nuh na, Da na na na na

Papa Sharks!
(keep clapping, but do the da na nas in a papa shark voice)
Da na nuh na, Da na na na na

Mama Sharks!
(bring your elbows together and clap using only the lower part of your arms while using a mama shark voice)
Da na nuh na, Da na na na na

Baby Sharks!
(put your wrists together and clap only your hands, singing in a high baby shark voice)
Da na nuh na, Da na na na na

Grampa Sharks!
(fold your fingers under because grampa sharks have no teeth. Use a deep, rough grampa voice)
Da na nuh na, Da na na na na

Inbred Sharks!
(flop your hands around like a fish on land. Say whatever seems most inbred for the da na nas)
Da na nuh na, Da na na na na

(this next part is sung slowly, while swaying your body back & forth)
Now all was red . . .
Da na nuh na, Da na na na na
All was dead
Da na nuh na, Da na na na na

Except the sharks!
(start your shark clapping!)
Da na nuh na, Da na na na na

Papa Sharks!
(keep clapping, but do the da na nas in a papa shark voice)
Da na nuh na, Da na na na na

Mama Sharks!
(bring your elbows together and clap using only the lower part of your arms while using a mama shark voice)
Da na nuh na, Da na na na na

Baby Sharks!
(put your wrists together and clap only your hands, singing in a high baby shark voice)
Da na nuh na, Da na na na na

Grampa Sharks!
(fold your fingers under because grampa sharks have no teeth. Use a deep, rough grampa voice)
Da na nuh na, Da na na na na

Inbred Sharks!
(flop your hands around like a fish on land. Say whatever seems most inbred for the da na nas)
Da na nuh na, Da na na na na

Branded Balls *Not Those Kind!

WARNING:  I'm going to say the word ball or balls a lot in this post.  Not in a dirty manner, but if you are like me, you'll giggle anyway.  Balls.

Some things that I was vaguely aware of before having a child have come closer into focus for me over the past year and a bit.

One of those things is the ever-present corporate culture in North America.  It made me annoyed before the baby, and it makes me more annoyed now, since I've discovered that there are virtually no controls on advertising to children.  Things that other people see as cute seems overwhelming to me.  It is almost like marketing departments are cowhands, wanting to brand new calves with their ranchers mark as soon as possible.*

Don't get me wrong, sometimes I think knowing a company's product and preferring it over another is fine.  Some companies make pants that fit me better than others.  However, as much as that corporation would like it, I don't want to advertise that fact to the world by having their name or logo across the butt of said pants.
I feel the same about children's wear.  A one-year old does not need a company's logo across the front of their sweat-shirt or on their diapered butt.  They can't even read!  Other companies get around the lack of literacy by putting character likenesses on *everything*.

*Get off my lawn portion of the rant:* When I was a little kid, which was not forever ago, you could get licensed lunchboxes and backpacks, superhero underoos, and a character shirt if you were lucky enough to visit a themepark.  When I hit my teen years, characters and logos started appearing on more things.
Now, you can't swing your arm without hitting something that is either logo'd or that has a licensed character printed on it, especially if it is aimed at kids.

This rant came about because I wanted to get my child a bouncy ball.  Just a plain old rubber bouncy ball.  It is one of those staple toys that I think every kid should have.

The first issue I had is that regular old rubber balls, for bouncing, that are not a sport specific ball, are really hard to find.  I'm assuming this is because marketing departments have yet to find a way to market them as 'educational' and put some sort of computer in them.  If you don't believe me, go to the Toys R Us website and search for 'ball.'  When I searched today, it pulled up 82 items and none of them were a plain old rubber ball.

I haven't had a lot of luck with other retailers either.

Imagine my surprise when I was picking up supplies from the drugstore yesterday and they had rubber balls, in a size perfect for toddlers, in their seasonal section!  For only two dollars!

Unfortunately, every single ball had a lisenced character on it.  They were also clearly intended to be gendered.  You had your choice of the very pink Barbie ball, the also very pink Hello Kitty ball, the Disney Cars ball (blue & red with only male characters on it) or the Pixar Toy Story ball (blue & green with only Buzz Lightyear & Woody on it).

At this point, I gave up and the baby in my stroller picked the Hello Kitty ball.  She knows a good deal when she sees one.  At least Hello Kitty is not terribly prevalent in North American advertising.

At this point, my kid isn't able to identify common characters.  That day is not far off judging from other kids we know.  And I don't know how capable I am of navigating a world where there is a cartoon character at every corner who wants to sell her things.

Sometimes, a toy ball just needs to be a ball and not a marketing ploy.

*I'm not going to make any excuses for this pun.  I'm not sorry.

Cooking with Fire!

Our new BBQ arrived today! 

The delivery guys showed up right as I was getting home.  They made nice with the baby, brought the BBQ into the backyard for me, got it all set-up and gave a quick demo.

We got a Broil King Crown 20.  It is purty - see?

Bonus: Broil King is a Canadian company, which still manufactures in Canada!  Hooray for supporting the local economy, and for buying a product where I should fairly easily be able to get replacement parts!

After the new grill was all set up, it was time to make dinner!  Partner went on a quick trip to the Portuguese butcher shop around the corner from our home and got himself some steak.  While he was out, I soaked some skewers and chopped & marinated some veggies and then made a salad to accompany our dinner.  We also made roasted red peppers and grilled pineapple rings.

Everything was super-tasty and my belly is very, very full.

Here's the breakdown on the non-steak items:

Roasted Red Peppers:
Wash peppers and leave whole.
Brush with oil and grill until the skins have got blackened grill marks (or longer, depending on how tender you want it).
Put the cooked peppers in a paper bag and fold down (this will allow the peppers to steam themselves, thus loosening the skins for easy removal).  Alternately, you can throw them in a bowl of ice water.
Once cool enough to handle, remove the core, peel and eat!

Veggie Skewers:
The first thing you need to do is soak your wooden skewers in water so that they don't catch fire on the grill.
For today's skewers we used mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant, onion and cherry tomatoes since that was what we had on hand.
I chopped them so they were all a similar size, and then put them in a bowl.
I made a quick marinade out of olive oil, red wine vinegar, rosemary, thyme, dill and garlic powder and poured it over the veggies.
We let them soak up the marinade for a bit and then put them on the sticks (much like deep-frying, putting food on sticks somehow makes it tastier). 
Cook until you get grill marks (10 minutes or so).

Grilled Pineapple:
We used a pre-cored pineapple from the grocery store.
Cut into rings, sprinkle with cinnamon, grill (turning once) until it has grill-marks on both sides (5-10 minutes).

The pineapple is my favourite.  We used to do it in the oven occasionally, under the broiler, but doing it over an open flame is tastier.

I'm thinking that next time, we should do portebello mushroom burgers. 

Do you have any favourite BBQ recipes for me to test out on our new grill?

We're Getting a Barbeque!

Partner's birthday is in the summer.  Last year, I did not get him a very good present.  I had a 4 month old baby at that point, and there was no freaking way I was going to the mall.  Finding time to order something good online was a little bit hard to accomplish in between naps at that point as well.

Since I'm now back at work, and the baby is a little bit older, I figured I needed to get partner a good present to make up for last year.  The recent change in weather inspired me as well.

I did a whole bunch of internet research, and have ordered a Broil King Crown 20 barbeque grill!

Seeing as how our current barbeque is a camping stove, this is very exciting.  Partner is already planning on getting himself some steaks, and I'm thinking of ways to make tasty vegetarian things to cook on the new grill when it arrives.

If you have any suggestions or links for tasty vegetarian barbeque recipes, feel free to share them!