In the Kitchen: Cold Soup for a Hot Day

It seems like everyone around the US is suffering in the same sweltering conditions.  Aarrgh--it is just  TOO HOT.  And humid.  And gross.  And that makes it a great time to plan some quick, no-cooking dinners.  I can't believe that I waited so long to dust off this recipe.  It's piquant, savory, delicious, quick to prepare, and above all COLD.

This recipe was "discovered" by my dad in a dated, 1970's, heart-healthy cookbook.  It's a truly great recipe saddled with an unholy name:  "California Sunshine Soup".  Don't let the name dissuade you...or the ingredient list--there's some weird stuff in there--this recipe has made converts of nearly everyone who has grudgingly sampled it.  It is gazpacho-esque with tofu (yes, I said tofu) and veggies floating in a broth that tastes kind of like french dressing.

California Sunshine Soup

1 quart Clamato Juice
1/2 cup Cucumber, peeled and chopped
1/4 pound pre-cooked Cocktail Shrimp (I use about 36 count size)
1/2 cup Tofu, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (I use firm tofu)
1 small Avocado, cubed
1/3 cup Onion, diced
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 large clove Garlic, minced fine
1/3 teaspoon Tabasco Sauce

Mix all and let mellow in the refrigerator overnight (or for at LEAST 4-5 hours).

Notes:  I usually double the recipe so I can use a whole cucumber, a whole package of tofu, a whole small onion  etc.  I also add 1 or 2 ribs of celery, sliced crosswise into 1/8 inch slices.

I'd thought that this recipe was totally unique until I attended a pot-luck and another guest brought a bowl of her recipe--"Shrimp Bisque"--which was very similar except that the tofu was replaced by cream cheese.  Although this recipe failed to dethrone California Sunshine Soup for a place in my "Daily Rotation" recipe binder, it's also very tasty.  Try one--try both--see which recipe you prefer.

Shrimp Bisque

2 pints Clamato Juice
8 oz. small fresh Shrimp
1/2 cup Cucumber, chopped
1/2 cup Green Onion, sliced
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 teaspoon Sugar
2 dashes Tabasco Sauce
2 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar
2 Tablespoons Dill
1 Avocado, chopped
3 ounces Cream Cheese

Combine all ingredients except avocado and cream cheese.  Chill to blend flavors.  Chop avocado and cream cheese into small squares and add to the bisque 1-2 hours before serving.  Serves 8.

Garden: Fruit!

Well, some fruit now and the PROMISE of more later.  I am not an edibles gardener. I do not like nurturing plants.  But it is my goal to include in the garden anything and everything that will enrich its sensory appeal.  Our garden is SMALL.  Every part of it needs to work and needs to engage us somehow.  To this end, I've accumulated rather a lot of fruiting plants:

My favorite of all might be the "Issai" hardy kiwi.  This is a smaller vine--smaller than the typical, fuzzy kiwis, anyway.  It is said to grow to about 8-12 feet tall and wide.  It is self-fertile and bears when young.  And it does, too!  I planted this vine less than two years ago (I think), and last year it bore about 8-10 fruits.  This year it bloomed copiously and looks to be loaded with developing fruits.  I am super excited about it!  Last year's fruits were so tasty--really rich and sweet with honeyed, perfume-y taste.  They were, hands down, the best, most flavorful, and tastiest garden fruit I've ever sampled.  

Incipient hardy kiwi fruits.

We also have ripening raspberries.  These are from BrazelBerries "Raspberry Shortcake".   This variety was new in the nurseries last year and quickly came under fire from fellow gardeners for being heavily marketed and rather expensive.  But they really are different from other raspberries, and they are rather special.  Most notably, they are a dwarf variety-- they sucker heavily but do not make canes, making them ideal for pots and for growing in smaller gardens or on patios.   My plant seems to want to be about 2 feet tall and wide.  They are also completely thornless.  The plants are self fertile and the berries have good flavor.  We also have a "Fall Gold" raspberry which is my son's favorite (although I think it does not taste as good as does the BrazelBerry).

BrazelBerries "Raspberry Shortcake".

We have two varieties of grapes:  Himrod and Interlaken.  Their primary use is as screening on the fence between our house and our neighbor's, but fruit is a welcome bonus, right?  Himrod was planted first and, this year, will be allowed to ripen a few bunches of grapes.  Interlaken seems to be a more vigorous vine, but was just planted last year so I have to remove all of the fruit in order to direct the plant's energy into growing a strong framework.  I   just learned from Monty Don (Gardeners' World) that I should remove the fruit for up to six years (!) to strengthen the vine.  That seems excessive, in my opinion.  I want fruit.  Now.  At least a little bit of fruit. My plan has been to shape the plant's trunk during the first year, to select and develop arms during the second year, and then to allow the plant to set a few bunches of fruit the following year.   Every year after that, I'll prune down the previous year's growth to two buds and let the vine produce a bunch of grapes on each new shoot.   That means no fruit for the first two years (and I might be starting with a two-year old plant from the nursery) then very limited fruit set the next year.  So, if I think about it that way, I'd only be allowing moderate fruit set in the fifth year.  Maybe Monty was not so far off the mark after all...

Baby grapes (I hope) on "Himrod".

There's a single, lonely blueberry planted adjacent to the grapes.  I know that berry set would be improved if I had additional bushes, but the other two plants got some sort of blight and I removed them.  I have hesitated to replant in the same area, but may do so next year.  Even with just the one plant, berry-set is abundant.  We only graze on the fruit for the novelty of doing so--generating a big harvest is unnecessary.  The fruit from one bush might be enough for us.

Blueberry--I think it's "Top Hat", a very low, dwarf variety that bears heavily.

Strawberries creep around underneath the shrubs throughout the raised bed.  The berry-set this year has been incredible and I have no idea why.  The berries are a huge favorite with my son and his friends and also with the birds and bugs and whatnot.  We also have the little Fraises des bois (Alpine Strawberries) which are, I think, much tastier.  Those are self seeding rampantly throughout the gravel of the patio area.  Do they come true from seed?  Anyone know?

Too  many berries!

And, last but not least, we have apples on the columnar apple trees--yes, those goofy, over-tall things really do set fruit.  These two (located in the front garden) are "North Pole" variety.  The one in the back garden is "Golden Sentinel".  North Pole has set sparingly during previous years, but is just loaded with fruit this year.  Golden Sentinel fruited abundantly as a new, baby plant last year and has set fruit heavily again this year.  Overall, I get the sense that Golden Sentinel will be a more vigorous grower.  

Apples on the "North Pole" columnar apple.

And that's the wrap on the fruit that's growing in my garden.  Apples, kiwis, strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries--not a bad selection for someone who "doesn't grow edibles".  The columnar apples are a show-stopper (not exactly for the right reason) but we enjoy all of the fruiting plants--observing the blooms, watching the activity of the pollinators, anticipating the fruit as it ripens, and, finally, grazing on ripe, sun-warmed fruit picked right from the plant. Yum.

Garden Visit: Head's-Up, Peter!

Today, I stopped by "That Place on 85th" to snap some photos to share with my friend Peter who blogs at The Outlaw Gardener.  For some reason, I think he'd like this shop.

Metal flowers abound!

The real name of the store is Home & Garden Art LLC, but I bet that more people know it as "Hey...yeah, I know that place!"  It's located on NW 85th Street in Seattle--not far from Swanson's Nursery.

Eighty-fifth is a pretty busy street--a major cross-town arterial--but you're not going to bypass this shop without noticing it:  The flock of ten foot tall reclaimed metal chickens will see to that.  And the chicken welcoming committee is just the beginning.  This shop is so crammed full of fun, color, and whimsy that a visit would put a smile on the face of even the grumpiest customer.

Lotsa chickens...

Tell me that you can't find a place in your garden for a metal chicken... 

...or a flying pig...or a dog...or a goat...or a really festive bottle tree...

But I don't want to give the impression that it was all whimsical, animal-themed items.  No--they've got all kinds of stuff.  There was a lot of typography (both decorative, painted metal signs and the three-dimentional letters and phrases that we've all seen somewhere)...and an assortment of furniture...

...and LOTS of gates and arbors and trellises...

Metal trellises representing a variety of more traditional themes. Aren't those bird stakes kind of sweet?

More trellises and gates.  There was a lot to choose from--these two pictures
represent only about half of the available styles.

...rain chains...

...and hardware...

...and concrete statuary...and decorative tiles...and art glass garden stakes...and there were also some clean-lined and modern metal pieces, although those were definitely in the minority.  They buy some items and make others so, if you can't find exactly what you're looking for, you could probably talk them into making or modifying a piece so that it is just right.  

And if you didn't find what you were looking for, maybe you should just buy a mariachi band's worth of metal frogs.  (They are, seriously, better than the real thing.  I mean, have you ever seen those poor taxidermy frog musicians that you can buy in Tijuana?!  Trust me...if your taste runs to mariachi frogs, just get the metal ones.  They've got them here!)  

Frog mariachi band.

My apologies for the cell phone snaps--initially, I'd only planned to take reference photos, but the experience proved to be too much fun to not share!

Garden: Sign of the Times

The shade sail is UP!

Front entry with shade sail and lawn renovation project.

The sail is not super-visible from this angle, as it shades the small patio behind the fence.  (See it in the reflection?)  It helps to keep the house cool by shading our big windows from the morning sun, but it also helps to keep window glare from burning the vine maple.*

Happy sunny day, people!

*That reminds me--I should buy some anti-dessicant for use on the same tree.  Poor thing, it needs all the help it can get.  I'd no idea the sun glare would be so vicious.

Garden: A Tale of Two Seeds

One night recently (in the middle of the night!), it came to me in a flash of clarity that the plant I need in my front garden bed is Epilobium angustifolium "album" or the white form of fireweed.

My front garden features plants that have (generally) one of three shapes:  dense, mounded plants that come from a tight crown (like Sedum "Autumn Joy", hardy geraniums, Amsonia "Blue Ice" and even some of the grasses and Allium "Summer Beauty"); then there are the tall verticals, my favorite of which is the Digitalis parviflora; and, finally, the weavers, creepers, and ground covers which are supposed to knit it all together and to provide a light and airy counterpoint to the rather solid mounds of foliage.  It is within this group that I have had the most difficulty in choosing the right plants.  I tend to choose annuals for this and, in the past, I've used Ammi magus, Ammi visnaga, Euphorbia "Diamond Frost" and various other things.  While there have been some successes, I have not yet come up with a combination that really hits the target.  

I devoted much time during the winter to solving this dilemma--surfing the internet and paging through seed catalogs.  As a result, I ended up with TONS of seeds--too many seeds, too many varieties, and just too many half-baked ideas.  So I decided to back away from the seed stash and think things through.  I knew that I wanted, maybe, just three varieties of filler plants--one taller, one shorter, and one as an accent.  I already had Nigella "African Bride" in mind as a shorter filler and a really dark purple/black breadseed poppy as an accent plant.  What, then, would be a suitable taller plant with ethereal white flowers--preferably spikes instead of umbels (because I already have a lot of umbels)?  And that's when I decided that I needed the Epilobium 'Album" to complete the picture.  I found seed at Plant World Seeds  and ordered it (two packages plus a third one free with purchase) and in a week or so I had yet another three packages of seeds to add to the collection.  Ironic, isn't it, that my solution to having too many varieties and too much seed was to buy more seeds?!

Tiny, tiny Epilobium seed.

Wow.  Those seeds were really tiny.  I had to use a dampened metal skewer to lift small groups of them into the planting pellets.  I have no idea how many seeds were included in the package, but I struggled to plant-up 20 individual grow pellets.  I sprinkled a second package of seeds into a milk carton "greenhouse" and I put those in a somewhat protected area outside.  And then I waited.  I pretty much ignored the seeds in the milk carton.  But I showered love on the seeds in the grow pellets--I misted them lightly with spring water,  monitored and adjusted the heat of their grow mat, and pushed them around the dining table to make the most of the available sunlight.  

So... I expect that you know how this turns out.  The seeds in the grow pellets sprouted a couple of days before those that were planted in the milk carton, but since then they have struggled and dwindled.  The seeds in the milk carton have thrived.  In each case, five seeds sprouted.  I thought it was a bit weird that the germination rate was that consistent (more than likely a coincidence), but it was also low--I read online somewhere that germination rate is about 1/5-6 and I have to believe that there were more than 25-30 seeds per packet. 

April 19th -- Here is the one of the first sprouts from the planting pellet group.  This was several weeks after planting and it was still so tiny that I had to use the macro lens to photograph it.  I've got my doubts about the paternity of this one--I think a white-flowered form would be pale green in all parts.  At first, I thought the red might be due to sunburn or to some other cultivation issue, but I now suspect that it might be a rogue plant due to open pollination.

Baby Epilobium angustifolium "album" (?) in a grow pellet on April 19th.

Grow pellet group on May 13th.  Only the one red seedling and one tiny green plant remain.

Milk carton group on May 13th.  Five healthy babies.  Time to pot them on, I think.  They grew pretty dramatically during the 2-3 warm days we had recently.

Tiny seeds equals tiny plants--I guess that's just common sense.  But I can't get over how tiny these plants still are eight weeks or so after sowing.  I'd hoped to see flowers this year, but now I just hope that I'll be able to find the plants themselves after planting out! 

The Epilobiums will go in the bare areas towards the bottom right of the photo--
mixing with the lilies.

The wide view shows our grass-renovation effort in progress.  Fingers crossed, the Epilobiums will go in the area to the far left and the Nigella and whatnot will go in amongst the sedums and Pennisetum "Hameln".