by angela@diggingbliss | Aug 23, 2006 | Uncategorized
I want to apologize for not garden blogging much since my return from Mendo. I’ve been busy getting my teenager ready for back-to-school and trying to fit in as many bike rides as possible before the rainy season kicks in.
When I said I needed to “catch up in the garden” in a previous post, you should have read that as, “My garden looks like total crap right now and so does my house.” They do, but I’m trying not to stress about it. I’m having too much fun embracing this new fad called “diet and exercise” and have gone on some fantastic bike rides lately. I’m feeling better about my increased stamina and about getting rid of some of the junk in my trunk after just a few rides! Who knew moderately intense exercise actually had some benefits? I will inevitably fall back into my old, evil ways, but I feel I should ride this cresting wave until it falls.
The timing is actually ok because there’s a lull in the garden. Summer’s not quite over and we still have plenty of time to do flower & veggie Fall/Winter planting. In fact, I’ll bet nurseries aren’t very well stocked with cool-season plants yet.
I do have some gorgeous, unplanted plants sitting on my patio from some recent visits to Bushnell’s and Windmill. I feel bad for making them sit in their cans, but I think I’ll have them planted by the end of the week. And I’ll have caught up on deadheading and pruning. And my house will be cleaner. And little fairies will leave chocolate hearts on my pillow while dancing a little fairy jig. I guess they’re Irish fairies. Or faeries. Or ferries. Or ferrets. It’s a wonder why I’m always behind in my domestic duties… 😉
By the way, I’m going to start bringing a camera on bike rides. A camera that takes video. Ooh, I can’t wait to share the beauty. Must first figure out a way to attach the camera to my bike helmet. Has somebody invented a head lamp-type strap that holds digital cameras on your head so you can film video clips while riding? Please let me know if you’ve seen something like this. There’s always duct tape, but I’m looking for something a little more elegant and less painful.
by angela@diggingbliss | Aug 23, 2006 | Uncategorized
Many people are ending up on my blog lately via a quest for salsa and other delicious solutions for too many tomatoes, so I thought I’d link to this timely Sacramento Bee article by Gwen Schoen — Bee Food Writer.
“It’s tomato time– Everywhere you look, slices of heaven fresh from the vine”
Tomato tasting events are rapidly approaching. Check out a few on my Sacramento Gardening Events Calendar. Some of these events will offer salsa workshops, heirloom tomato seeds, canning demos, cooking demos, recipe contests, and more.
Don’t forget about the big Tomato Challenge at Raley’s, Saturday, September 9. There’s a $5,000 1st prize! Imagine how many presents you could buy me for $5,000…
by angela@diggingbliss | Aug 21, 2006 | Uncategorized
I will add to this list over time. Send in your nominations! Thanks to Amy Stewart and Garden Rant for jump-starting this discussion. I’m going to add nonfiction and songs to the list. Garden songs? Sure, why not?
ANGELA’S RATINGS
***** Loved it so much that it passes the desert island test.
**** Really liked it. Would have been perfect, if only…
*** It was pretty good, but maybe that was the wine talking.
** Well, that pretty much sucked.
* Complete vomit.
FICTION
In the Garden Trilogy – COMPLETE – Blue Dahlia / Black Rose / Red Lily
by Nora Roberts ****
The Stone Diaries
by Carol Shields
Rose’s Garden by Carrie Brown
The Lost Garden by Helen Humphreys
Quite a Year For Plums, by Bailey White
Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
The Submerged Cathedral by Charlotte Wood
NONFICTION (ESSAYS)
From the Ground Up:… by Amy Stewart *****
Henry Mitchell’s books
Cultivating Delight by Diane Ackerman
Gardening in Eden by Arthur T. Vanderbilt
Slug Tossing by Meg DesCamp
Growing Seasons by Annie Spiegelman
Paths of Desire by Dominique Browning
The $64 Tomato by William Alexander
Gardening from the Heart:… by Carol Olwell ****
MOVIES
Saving Grace *****
Greenfingers ***
Enchanted April
The Secret Garden (1993 movie adaptation)
Calendar Girls **
Ladies in Lavender ***
The Real Dirt on Farmer John
Minority Report****
Harry Potter****
Little Shop of Horrors
Grown-Ups (Mike Leigh, 2004)
Harrison’s Flowers
TELEVISION
Rosemary and Thyme (PBS)
Good Neighbors (BBC)
SONGS
I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Lynn Anderson
Octopus’s Garden by the Beatles
The Secret Garden by Barry White ****
Secret Garden by Bruce Springsteen ***
In the Garden of Eden by Iron Butterfly
Atomic Garden by Bad Religion
A Wednesday in Your Garden by The Guess Who
You Don’t Bring Me Flowers by Neil Diamond
House of Flowers by House of Flowers
by angela@diggingbliss | Aug 17, 2006 | Uncategorized
Amy Stewart’s List
Thanks for the recommendations in your latest blog post, Amy! I love discovering new books through others. What a treat to see the favorites of one of my favorite authors.
Amy’s book, From the Ground Up: The Story of a First Garden
is a must for the non-fiction gardening book (i.e. gardening essays) list. Is anybody working on that?
I want to add the following guilty pleasures– Nora Roberts’ garden trilogy. Ladies, there’s a hunky yet sensitive plant propagator and a hunky landscape designer, neither of whom are gay or married… and it all takes place at the family nursery, on the grounds of the family mansion. Haunted, of course.
As Amy also mentioned, a “favorite gardening movies” list is in the works as well:
— Saving Grace (one of my favorites too)
— Greenfingers
— ???
by angela@diggingbliss | Aug 14, 2006 | Uncategorized
My cup runneth over with tomatoes and yellow zucchini.
Tomato Recipes:
All Recipes
Epicurious
Food TV
Cooking Light
California Tomato Commission
Yellow Zucchini Recipes
Epicurious
Food TV
Cooking Light
This evening I discovered a ginormous yellow zucchini in the backyard. Since I’m still following Weight Watchers, I thought, “Cool… free Points!” since zucchini has a W.W. Points value of 0. I don’t normally wing it in the kitchen, but because I was ravenous after a long bike ride and it was past my normal dinner time, I grabbed a can of corn from the cupboard, a pound of lean ground turkey from the fridge and some parmesan cheese to add a sprinkling of wickedness.
While the turkey was browning, I added sea salt, cracked pepper and garlic powder and diced the zucchini, adding it to the seasoned turkey. I next added the can of corn, with liquid. Cooked it all, stirring occasionally until the zucchini looked tender and the liquid evaporated. I added enough shredded parmesan cheese to bring the total W.W. value to 30. My portion was 1/3 of the total, or 10 Points.
My son said it looked a little bit like dog food but tasted good… and that he’d always wanted to try dog food.
