Fungus Fiesta!

Me and My Tropical Disease

2010-09-29T23:26:00.001-07:00

Costa Rica is a very generous country. Not only do I have fantastic photos from my trip there in August...

... I also got a few bonus take home mementoes.

First gift: Water in my ear, from swimming in the warm Pacific. I bought these drops from la farmacia to help with this, but I really have no idea what these are for. They simply had me at "oticas." That means "ear" in Spanish, doesn't it? Maybe I should have brushed up on some Español beforehand, since I speak close to zero. Anyway, this water traveled in my otica all the way back to the US with me, resulting in a trip to my doctor's office.

Second gift: scars on my lower back, from surfing the giants waves of Dominical. Got raked over some rocks while being pushed to shore. Bled through my shirt for the remainder of the day.

Third, yet most exciting gift: contacting a rare tropical disease called Leptospirosis. This disease takes about 25 days to kick in, and is caused by exposure to bacteria found in water that's contaminated by animals. I was trying to jump over a swamp while hiking in Hacienda Baru, but miscalculated the length, resulting in water splashing into my mouth.

One sleepless night, on a brief break from puking in the bathroom, I did some online research and was able to diagnosis myself. Only 100-200 people are reported with this disease in the US per year, so I'm actually quite special.

I brought a check list of my symptoms to another doctor visit, and she could neither confirm nor deny my disease. She didn't know enough about it and had to look up the details herself. So I prescribed myself some antibiotics, which the doctor quickly fill.

Monday was the last day for me to take these antibiotics. But while my rare tropical diseases may be gone, my bragging rights will last a lifetime. Malaria and Dengue Fever are a dime a dozen. How many people do you know that have caught Leptospirosis? I am truly blessed to have been a chosen one.

Eight Years in the Making!

2010-07-05T21:03:00.000-07:00

Ladies and gentlemen... the tremendously odorific Corpse Flower bloomed this past Wednesday, June 30, at the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden! And as promised, it delivered a potent stench as if something was decaying.

The flower was 34" in diameter and sadly closed as quickly as it opened. As of Saturday, July 3rd, this big beauty was already withering up. It'll now be another 8 years or so until it appears again.

The flower is truly an amazing sight. The comparison to the blood drinking plants in Little Shop of Horrors in uncanny. If fact, when I first entered the greenhouse, I thought I saw Rick Moranis sitting beside the flower. After putting on my glasses, it was clearly not Rick Moranis, only a botanical garden volunteer. I found this somewhat disappointing, so I took my glasses back off.

In addition to the flower, I was equally intrigued by the behavior of the crowd coming to visit. One woman was so moved by what she saw that she kept repeating "Oh my God... it's beautiful!" I thought she was going to pass out from over-excitement (and I secretly wanted her to pass out into the flower).

Then there was the fool who felt the need to touch the flower, after being asked not to. Why do people need to touch EVERYTHING? This is why I use Purell religiously, folk! Look with your eyes, not with your hands, please...

And lastly, who can forget the woman who stood right in front of the flower asking question after question, pointing at everything and blocking everyone from being able to take a picture. I have FOUR pictures with her hand in it (exhibit A below). Finally, a man asked her to step aside, and all was good.

The Corpse Flower will now go dormant for 8-10 years, until it blooms again. Until then, sleep tight, my magnificent friend...

There she grows!

2010-06-27T10:49:00.000-07:00

I image most people have their seasonal obsessions... something that comes along every year or so, which then becomes an integrated part of your day. Whether it's watching a new baby panda at the San Diego zoo through their Panda Cam, checking snow levels at Tahoe compulsively during the winter months, or having your life consumed by NCAA basketball during March Madness, I think everyone has their thing. For me, it's watching the Corpse Flower at the UC Botanical Garden grow.

This may sound as exciting as watching paint dry, but it's anything but that! Their latest bud, "Maladora," is expected to bloom around July 1st, and is growing up to 3 inches a day! The botanical garden posts daily updates on it's growth, complete with photos. This flower is so huge and bizarre that it's almost like watching a creature come to life!

Below is a photo that I took last weekend, but their website always has the latest: http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu

You can track Maladora on Facebook as well, of course. While I'm not a heavy facebook user at all, I find myself logging on more these days to find out the latest. Most people's status updates are truly a bore (you had a cup of coffee today? That's great!), but it never is with my corpse flower friend!

The Biggest Little Present

2010-06-09T21:34:00.001-07:00

Is there a better way to say happy birthday than with a 5 foot flower that smells like a decomposing animal? I think not. My dad's birthday was earlier this month and I gave him a Titum Arum, or Corpse Flower, from the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden.

This unique flower is native to the rain forests of Sumatra and blooms approximately every 6-8 years. The flower last only 2-3 days, and produces the smell of rotting meat to attract carcass-eating insects.

According to some websites, only about 5 or so cultivated flowers bloom per year around the world, and these are usually in world-renowned botanical gardens. So as you can imagine, aficionados travel from all over to witness this event.

This plant looks fairly ordinary while young, but someday it's going to attract media and botanist from around the world! What you're seeing in this picture below is a single leaf growing off of a corm. This leaf grows on a stalk that branches into many leaflets, and can reach the size of a tree. Each year, the old leaf dies and a new one grows in its place. Once the corm stores up enough energy, the flower blooms.

The woman at the botanical garden has not heard any success stories of having one of these bloom at someone's home. But if anyone can pull this off, I truly think my dad can. Not only does he have a green thumb, but he has a green house!

Be sure to check back on this blog in 6-8 years for an exciting Titum Arum update. Or better yet, just turn on the news... you're going to hear all about it!

Nuns have more fun!

2010-05-17T22:28:00.000-07:00

I have a special place in my heart for nuns. My childhood memories are filled with both awe and terror of these women. I'd be sitting in my old wooden desk at Christ the King elementary, when an ambulance could be heard passing outside. Sister Mary Richard would instantly stop her math lesson, make us all bow our head and say a silent prayer for the whomever was just in a crash. Oh, the power that Sister Mary Richard had to make everything OK.

And the fear that Sister Ann could instill! I'd quietly slide down the hallway past her in my blue and green plaid uniform, clenching my bible studies book closely to my chest, hoping that she wouldn't notice I had hairspray on my bangs. Because hairspray-wearing 5th graders are vain and, you know, going straight to hell.

So what an unexpected surprise it was to find about 30 of my favorite friends betting on the horses this weekend! Golden Gate Fields was a sea of little black and white ladies, shuffling around with their racing programs. I guess drinking and gambling isn't a sin, but wearing Aqua Net is. I don't get it, but I like it!

I secretly snuck a few pictures as evidence, thinking no one would believe it when I told them nuns are party animals. Here's a table of nuns drinking wine and champagne.

And here are two nuns in line to place their bet. Unfortunately I wasn't able to snap a picture of the nuns outside the bathroom griping about how they got robbed on that last race.

Nuns know how to party. They're like a sorority... tearing up the town, causing mayhem when you turn your head. There was a full buffet bar serving food all day. How much do you want to bet they hit up the pastry section a good 3-4 times...

I wasn't able to grab a photo of all the nuns posing with a jockey after one of the races. It was something you'd see in one of those "Nuns Having Fun" calendars, only this was the real thing.

And I didn't win any money... the nuns were probably using up their prayers on their own bets. But amen, sisters! You certainly made they day more entertaining.

Nothing but Flowers

2010-04-24T09:22:00.000-07:00

Spring has definitely sprung at the Redwood Regional Park in Oakland! From the sun-filled, flat trail that circles the perimeter, to the narrow paths that wind below the redwoods, each turn is bursting with color.

Turns out that the yellow flowers in the first photo are French Broom, an invasive non-native plant that is taking over parts of the park. French Broom displaces native plants and the animals that depend on them. Because of this, there's a volunteer group that meets once a month to remove broom and to plant native grasses.

While I admire the people that give up their weekends to help preserve native species, I do have a question for them. Can they wait until the fall or winter to do this, when the flowers aren't in bloom? I felt like I was following the yellow brick road with the flowers there, on some magical hike to find my car back in the parking lot. And while a rustle in the bushes usually lead to a rabbit or bird hopping out, I was totally open to the idea of having a munchkin join me on my journey.

If I Was Rich - Part 1

2010-04-04T20:52:00.001-07:00

If I won the lottery, I'd build a school in Cambodia to help children there get an education and make a better life for themselves. That sounds like a noble thing to do. THEN, with the money left over from that, I'd buy a little house along the water, right off the Mendocino coast.

A place where guitar playing hippies and artists painting landscapes are my neighbors, and the town village resembles that of New England, with its Victorian-styled buildings. I'd make friends with the locals and drink Boonville beer with them at the Grey Whale Bar, and hear stories of their logging days up in the Humboldt Redwoods.

THEN, after spending the weekend at my weekend get-away house, I'd go back to the Bay Area so I didn't turn into a local. But I'd already be looking forward to my next trip up there.

There's something very calming about this coast. While giant waves crash along the driftwood covered beaches, the air is remarkably still. This area reminds me of Stephen King's book, "Duma Key," about a man who moves into a beach house for a year to rest and recover from a terrible accident. The book is creepy and a bit too long, but I image this is the type of place someone would go to hide from the world. Or go to write a book such as this.

If I still had money left over after buying my little house along the Mendocino coast, I'd also get a little chateau in Paris. But I'll save that story for another day...

If I Was Rich - Part 2

2010-04-04T20:47:00.001-07:00

Some additional Mendocino pics...

Mud cakes and brownies

2010-03-14T20:04:00.000-07:00

The feature article writing class that I was taking through UCLA's extension program has officially come to an end. I'm going miss the assignments that forced me to get out there and explore the world. It's easy to get caught up in your own job or life, and this class has reminded me that the world is full of amazing people and places, most with intriguing stories to share. Sometime you just need a reason to step out of your comfort zone and talk to these people, and discover a place you wouldn't necessarily go to on your own.

My final feature article was on the wildlife rehabilitation program at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum in Walnut Creek. The wildlife rehabilitation manger was was gracious enough to sit with me for an hour answering all of my questions about the services their hospital provides. She then gave me a behind the scenes tour of the animal hospital, which included observing an injured baby hummingbird being hand fed! So cute, and so tiny... I almost snuck it home in my purse like a packet of hot sauce from Taco Bell.

While it may be easy to do research on a topic online, my advice to everyone would be to get out there and explore the world! Turn off the computer and take that road trip somewhere. Ask real live people questions and hear their stories firsthand.

With that being said, this class was very time consuming. For the past 10 weeks, my weekends have been consumed with interviews and research. My brain is fried and it's now time to relax. My immediate future will consist of the following:

- Catching up on the last two episodes of "Lost"
- Finishing my David Sedaris book
- Sleeping
- Drinking lots of beer on St. Patrick's Day
- Baking caramel brownies so gooey, you have to eat them with a fork (done... see above)
- Eating gooey brownies, ideally while watching Lost

Oyster Mushrooms Gone Wild!

2010-02-20T10:09:00.000-08:00

What would a Fungus Fiesta! blog be, without an occasional fungus update! And what a festive fungus time it's been...

The mushroom growing kit that I received during Christmas has been producing big, bountiful batches of beautiful oyster mushrooms. Large plates full of them!

I've been looking in various stores to see how much oyster mushrooms sell for. Strangely, most places don't sell fresh oyster mushrooms, only dried ones. And the fresh mushrooms that I do see are usually sad, browned little things.

While I'm grateful to have been blessed with such a generous crop, I have to admit, I'm a little mushroomed out. There's a 4-5 day window in which mushrooms reach their peak of perfection and need to be eaten, and I can only eat so many of them. I've greeted a couple of friends with "Hi, I have a surprise for you," which is followed by me handing them a mushroom.

This is, more times than not, followed by "That's the biggest oyster mushroom I've ever seen!"

To which I reply, "Yes... now take it."

I do enjoy eating these, as much as I can. Sauteed up with some olive oil, butter, shallots and garlic, these giant beauties are certainly a party!

Me and my Macaroons

2010-01-18T12:21:00.000-08:00

I've had macaroons on my mind lately... chocolate French macaroons, to be specific.

I recently started taking a UCLA online "Writing the Feature Article" class, which is a part of their journalism certificate program. For our first assignment, we had to write a brief bio, along with what type of reading and writing we're interested in. This made me think back to the month I spent in Paris, and how much I enjoyed writing my "Patisserie du Jour" blog. This also made me think of the macaroons at Laduree in Paris, along the Champs Elysees.

I was feeling kind of sassy this weekend, so I decided to see if I could create these little disks of deliciousness myself. And to my surprise, they came out great!

These were definitely a labor of love... from finding some almond flour/meal for the actual cookie, to painstakingly tracing circles on parchment paper to ensure my cookie tops and bottoms matched. This certainly isn't a quick, throw in the oven kind of thing.

But the results were well worth the effort. My macaroons weren't Laduree good, but certainly a "it's been raining all weekend and I'm stuck inside" good.

Perhaps next winter storm I'll try a batch of macaroons with raspberry buttercream filling!

My Favorite Place - Part 1

2010-01-10T11:28:00.001-08:00

My absolute favorite running trail in the entire Bay Area is Crystal Springs Reservoir, in San Mateo County. My old boss, a fellow runner himself, introduced me to this place 9 years ago, when we both worked on the peninsula. And after my boss sadly had to lay me off, I spent many unemployed days running along this path... thinking, dreaming, and doing a lot of self reflecting.

And here I am, 9 years later, still doing the same. I now have a 45 minute drive to the trail head, but I still feel a sense of complete happiness and peace while I am here. It's hard to explain how a trail could have such a big impact on someone's life, but for me, it somehow has.

The trail runs six miles north and south along the reservoir. The Santa Cruz Coastal Range creates a unique microclimate, all within this short stretch of land. It was once sunny and clear at the southern tip of the trail, and cloudy and drizzling at the northern side. Pockets of clouds often get caught along the mountain side, which makes for dramatic and constantly changing scenery.

I don't know what inspired me to bring my camera this time around. The lighting in these pictures isn't the best because it was dusk. And my camera isn't the best, so it didn't capture the lighting that was there properly. I was going to run three miles out and then back, but something about yesterday left me wanting more... to go that extra mile to see what was there for me behind the next bend. Before I knew it, I had gone 5 miles.

I didn't bring my ipod with me, and was glad I didn't. Frogs were croaking, unidentifiable birds were screeching, and black squirrels were barking so loud at each other that they sounded like monkeys.

Not a lot of people are on the middle section of the trail. Families with kids tend to only make it out the first mile or so. So there are time when I was completely alone, without a single person in sight. But those who do make it out further are usually the runners. More times than not, we give each other a friendly smile, understanding completely what this trail means to us.

I paused to snap a picture of this salamander crossing the path. And before I knew it, three other people had gathered around as well. We all shared what else we had seen here... deer, rabbits, foxes, yes. One guy had seen a coyote, and I added my story about a bobcat.

After everyone left, I was again alone, listening to the sounds, watching the sky grow darker. I suddenly became paranoid that a mountain lion was up in the hillside watching me, so I sprinted back towards my car. But if I did meet my end this way, I'd actually be at peace with it, knowing that I was at a place I loved.

My Favorite Place - Part 2

2010-01-10T11:15:00.001-08:00

Some additional photos of Crystal Springs Reservoir...

Hello 2010!

2009-12-31T10:42:00.001-08:00

Just like millions of other people, it's hard not to spend New Years Eve thinking about this past year and what it's meant to me. I'll leave the sappy messages for Hallmark or the Barbara Walter's "Year in Review" special. But for me personally... is it 2010 yet?

I can't say 2009 was a particularly special or memorable year. There were happy moments peppered throughout... two close friends finally got married, and their joy actually brought me a lot of joy. A trip to Hawaii got me on a surf board for the first time. And after years of trying to make a transition into a new position at work, it finally happened.

And then there were those not so happy moments... friends' parents getting sick, and their hardship brought me a lot of sadness. Other friends have lost their job, which has brought them undeserving stress. And our economy as a whole puts a knot in my stomach.

Overall, I'm ready for this year to be over.

But being the optimist that I am, there is a plus side to '09 being what is was. Sometimes we need these no-so-great years in order to truly appreciate the good ones.

Here's to making 2010 one of them!

Who Scored Big?

2009-12-27T19:41:00.000-08:00

Another Giblin family Christmas has come and gone... another year of opening random presents and hoping that everyone kept the receipts. So who was the big winner this year?

Was it Annie, who received a log to grow mushrooms on? Probably not, since Annie and I receive this every year. It's become a gift giving tradition. Sort of like receiving homemade sugar cookies from that random coworker every holiday season.

Was the big winner my dad, who received a book on how to keep his brain alive? I guess we'll find out in a few years...

Was the winner me? I casually mentioned that I like coffee and ended up getting 5 bags of it. Apparently people mistook the word "like" for "love."

The true winner of the night ended up being Snowbell. The cat got a two story apartment, with a sun roof and movable windows. Just as the sign says, this is 1 Cool Place. But he's on his own come property tax time.

Snowbell also got a beautiful sun hat for his upcoming vacation. He'll be in St. Tropez in April, so he'll look trés élégant upon arrival.

Best Friends Forever

2009-12-13T12:23:00.000-08:00

Snowbell the Wondercat saying hello to Buddy the Squirrel. A friendship based on curiosity more than anything else.

I wonder what would have happened if I had opened the glass door...

And the winner is...

2009-11-27T20:25:00.000-08:00

There have been A LOT of comments left on this blog asking me who won the pumpkin contest. Sorry to keep you all waiting! Keeping a popular site like this up can be a bit overwhelming at times...

So, the official winner of the 2009 pumpkin growing contest is... ME! I declared myself the winner since no one else really cared.

I grew about 10 cinderella pumpkins. They look quite small in this picture, but the largest one is actually about 13" in diameter. Spencer had two pumpkins, but one rotted away before Halloween.

Here's a breakdown of the awards distributed:

#1 Most likely to succeed
#2 Best smile
#3 Most likely to have been fathered by a watermelon
#4 Best dressed
#5 Class clown
#6 Most likely to live in parents' basement
#7 Biggest flirt
#8 Most likely to be made into pie
#9 Most likely to be used as a softball
#10 Best personality (Spencer's pumpkin)

Until next year...

Giblin girls & the Giant Zucchini

2009-11-02T22:54:00.001-08:00

We used to have a huge garden in our backyard growing up, full of tomatoes, pumpkins, corn, you name it. And I remember the excitement as a kid discovering a giant zucchini hidden amongst the leaves.

Here's an old photo of my sisters and me that my dad dug up. I'm on the left, Wendy's in the middle, and Annie on the right.

I have to admit, 25 plus years later, I still think finding one of these monsters is pretty exciting...

The Giant Zucchini

2009-10-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

What do you do with a giant zucchini? Well, why don't you all go grab a cup of coffee, gather around, then I'll tell you.

Got your coffee? Good. There's a chance this story will put you to sleep, but hopefully the caffeine will help with that.

So here we go. Let's see... with a giant zucchini, you can:

Scare small children with it. Olivia refused to pose for a picture with the zucchini. I don't blame her.

Or, you can:

Bring it to your parents house to show it off. I visited my mom, dad and sister and brought the giant zucchini. I made them all guess how much it weighed. My dad was correct with 6 pounds, so I gave him a prize... the zucchini. My dad didn't want it, so he gave it to my mom, who made a soup with it.

Lastly, you can:

Talk about the giant zucchini to people. Brag to your co-workers that you found a 6 pounder in the garden. To which they say, "that's great," and walk away.

Well, the summer garden is coming to an end. The last of the vegetables have been picked, and it's time to start thinking about a winter crop. The only thing left are the pumpkins... the contest winner will be decided this weekend!

Pumpkins Gone Wild!

2009-09-29T14:39:00.001-07:00

It's been three months since my garden was just a patch of dirt. But with the help of Spencer's almost daily watering, my garden has practically taken over the backyard! And by taken over, I mean the tomato and pumpkin plants.

For a while, the zucchini, cucumber, eggplants and onions were visible. And the plants did produce some pretty tasty vegetables:

But now, it is all about tomatoes and pumpkins. Everything else is buried! Onions, are you still there? How about you, eggplants...

But that's fine with me, since my only goal in life is to win the pumpkin growing contest. In fact, I'm amazed at how well Spencer has been taking care of my plants during the week considering we're rivals. On more than one occasion I've caught him stepping on my vines, trying to sabotage me I'm sure, and for a while I was convinced that he purposely put the gopher in my garden. (How convenient... it just happens to stay out of his, only 5 feet away.)

But I now realize that Spencer is just a good friend... and a lousy competitor!

We still have one full month left in the contest, so things will be heating up within the next couple of weeks. And at this point, the winner is still up in the air.

Here's just one of my 20 pumpkins that will be entered into the contest. Notice the PERFECT shape of my cinderella pumpkin.

Spencer is relying more on size and uniqueness to win big (see below). He has two pumpkins going strong, both turning a deep, dark orange. But will his pumpkins' personality be enough to beat my pumpkins' beauty? Stay tuned!

What's in my garden??

2009-08-29T15:36:00.000-07:00

Some creature lives in my garden and I don't like it. There's now a huge hole by the base of my pumpkin plants, exposing the roots. If this thing causes me to lose the pumpkin growing contest, it's not going to live to see the light of day... trust me!

As I mentioned before, I thought this creature was either a mole or a vole. But I ran into Spencer's neighbor last weekend and he told me it's a gopher. And apparently gophers have ruined his plants in the past.

Either way, I'm glad it's not a mole because moles are UGLY:

I'm kind of sad it's not a vole, because voles are CUTE:

If the gopher turns out to be this guy, I'm going to FREAK OUT:

But if the gopher is this, I might be OK with it:

UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens

2009-08-22T13:40:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago, I was searching everywhere for a plot available in a local community garden. I didn't have any luck, so my friends graciously gave me a little spot in their backyard for the summer.

But during my initial search, I started thinking about different ways to get my gardening fix in. And that's when I decided to become a volunteer at the UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens.

With recent budget cuts, this garden depends more and more on volunteers to do the work that UC employees used to do. They currently have 200 volunteers working there, and are always looking for more.

Most of the juicy volunteer jobs take place during the week, since everyone is supervised by UC employees. But since I work Mon-Fri, I've been helping out with their propagation program on the weekends. This basically involves taking care of the plants that are being grown for their shop. I'd love to learn more about what a horticulturist and curator do, but for now, it's propagation for me.

One of the perks to this volunteer gig is having access to the whole garden. On my first weekend there, I caught the mighty Corpse Flower in bloom. This plant flowers every few years and lasts only a couple of days. While in bloom, it reeks of decaying flesh, which attracts insects for pollination. This plant is still indigenous only to the tropical forests of Sumatra.

Many botanical gardens throughout the world have these flowers, but it's still rare to see one in bloom. In fact, some enthusiasts travel from around the country to catch this. So image how awesome it was for me to be standing there alone in the greenhouse with this thing. And yes, it did smell!

I'll probably stick with volunteering here through summer and fall, when the propagation program needs the most help. And by that point, I'm sure I will have found some new hobby to become obsessed with...

Garden Update

2009-08-04T22:20:00.000-07:00

It's been a little over a month since I planted my garden and things are progressing quite nicely! I have some tomatoes and cucumbers growing, and it looks like my corn, eggplant and onions will be coming in shortly.

I've been reading this terrific book called "The Sustainable Vegetable Garden." It's only about 100 pages long with a lot of illustrations, and it explains how to maximize crop yields from minimal amounts of land, or "biointensive gardening."

People tend to plant their vegetables in rows. But with the biointensive method, if you plant particular vegetables close to each other, you can have four times the productivity in one-quarter the area!

I won't bore you with the details about how biointensive gardening is done. I'm sure there are more important things to do with your life, such as watching "America's Got Talent." But I have to say that this book has really helped me understand how things grow.

Spencer's garden has turned into a vegetable jungle! All of his plants are coming along incredibly well and he has several tiny pumpkins starting to form.

And I have a new friend living below my corn. I think it's either a vole or a mole. I hope it's a vole because the pictures I've seen of them online are cute and snugly. Moles on the other hand - dear lord! Go ahead and google "mole".... I dare you! They sort of look like a sea manatee with deadly fangs!

Harley Farms Goat Dairy

2009-07-25T11:49:00.000-07:00

Half Moon Bay hosted their annual "Tour Des Fleurs" event last weekend, where local nurseries, greenhouses, wineries and farms give tours to the public . Many of these places are closed to the general population, so this is a chance to get a behind-the-scenes peek at these spots.

Jamie and I were excited to go, but unfortunately tickets were sold out. But instead of canceling plans, we decided to just go and see if we could get in to a few places that were a part of the event. We called this the "Tour Des Jamie and Mo." And our trip was well worth it!

One of the best finds of the day was Harley Farms Goat Dairy, located in the hills of Pescadero. Cute little Alpine goats frolic in the sun, then provide rich milk to the farmers daily. Incredibly fresh, hand-made cheese is made right on site.

These goats are the cutest things ever, unlike those large white creepy goats with the weird eyes. These baby Alpines are the size of a small dog and have really cool color patterns.

Here's Jamie admiring the goats, wondering if there's enough room in her apartment for one.

Harley Farms also has a large tasting room, where you are free to sample all of their wonderful goat cheese, which includes cheese with dried fruit, nuts, or herbs, ricotta, or their award winning feta.

A BBQ was going full swing when we arrived. Three bucks would get you a pork and goat cheese sandwich, with arugula and a "special marinade." For five bucks, Jamie and I got the "potato goat balls," pictured below. The teen-aged boys working the BBQ thought it was funny that the word "cheese" wasn't a part of the name. Ah, to be stuck working at your dad's farm for the summer...

There's a large hay loft upstairs above the dairy, with sweeping views of the entire farm. An old wooden table and 20 handcrafted chairs fills most of the room. Apparently this place offers a seasonal farm dinner, which includes a tour of the farm, a cheese making demo, followed by a 5 course farm meal in the loft (limited to 20 people). This costs $125 per person, but if it's as good as the cheese I sampled, it's well worth it!

My Victory Garden!

2009-07-06T22:57:00.000-07:00

Ladies and gentlemen, introducing... my victory garden! After weeks of searching, I finally have a place to grow some vegetables, thanks to my friends Spencer and Joyce. And that, folks, is victory!

Since I don't have a yard, I've been looking all over the Berkeley area for a community garden plot. But here's what I found: one without water available, one without soil, another with abandoned furniture and broken windows, one without a gate and with homeless people and giant rats in it, and one in such a crappy neighborhood that I'd feel uncomfortable with my back towards the street.

I love the idea of a community garden for all sorts of reasons, and there are some nice ones out there. Unfortunately those have long waiting lists (some up to 4 years!) or you have to be a resident of that particular city.

So my friends were kind enough to give me some space in their backyard for the summer. I had to lug 14 bags of compost up the hill to get the soil ready, but it was actually quite a bit of fun.

I sprouted some corn at home, with the hopes of it taking off a little quicker once outside. Notice how there isn't any corn in the far left row. That's because I had a traumatic fan accident on a hot day last week. I bumped into the fan, which fell onto my corn and chopped them in half. That was a sad, sad day...

I'm also growing some victory herbs: oregano, spearmint and basil.

Spencer has a pretty nice garden of his own going. While I have strawberries, cucumbers, tomatoes, corn and peppers growing in mine, he has most of these also, and then some. But my vegetables are going to be bigger and better than his. In fact I'm so confident about this that I've officially challenged him to a Pumpkin-Off. Whoever grows the best pumpkin by Halloween wins! And what they win, I don't know... maybe a giant pumpkin.

Hopefully I'll have plenty of fun updates to post along the way.

Yard Friends

2009-06-13T20:04:00.000-07:00

For quite some time now, I've been hearing about all the animals that live in my parent's backyard... opossums, raccoons, and even ducks once. But recently, my mom has been telling me about this squirrel and blue jay that she and my dad have become friends with. Oh, and this squirrel and blue jay "are friends" themselves.

Hearing this had me both concerned and intrigued. My mom can be a bit, um, eccentric. But I figure as long as she doesn't befriend a unicorn and leprechaun, it's ok.

My parent's have named the squirrel "Little Buddy" and the bird "Mr. Jay." And apparently whenever my dad sits at the kitchen table, Little Buddy (or LB as I like to call him), puts his paws on the glass and looks at the door knob, signally that he wants a peanut.

But if he doesn't grab the peanut quick enough, Mr. Jay hops up and takes it.

AND... sometimes LB and Mr. Jay both sit on the deck together, waiting for a peanut.

My parent's asked me to house sit for them a few weeks ago, while they were in LA visiting family. They actually asked me to feed the squirrel and the jay. And to water the sweet pea seedling that my mom was growing in the side yard.

Sunday morning rolls around, and sure enough, LB and Mr. Jay show up together. So I gave them both a treat.

But here's where the story gets ugly... when I went to water the seedlings in the side yard, half the sweet peas had been dug up. I found two peanuts buried in the dirt.

I'm sorry, but true friends don't bury peanuts in other friend's plants.

Hopland is a Hoppin' - Part 1

2009-05-11T22:43:00.001-07:00

Last weekend, my friend Vicki and I headed out to the Annual Boonville Beer Festival, located in the Anderson Valley in Mendocino County. Even though it was raining in Berkeley, we were optimistic that the rain would stop by the time we got there. After all, the festival was 120 miles north of us and a good 2 1/2 hour drive.

Well, it didn't stop. So we decided to continue driving up the scenic 101, looking for an Indian casino. We love beer, but we love gambling even more.

We accidently missed the casino, so we just continued up north for fun. And that's when we came across the small town of Hopland.

And it just happened to be their bi-annual wine festival.

For $35, you could purchase a two-day pass and walk around town tasting all of the merlots, pinots and chardonnanys produced by the surrounding vineyards. And each winery offered plenty of tempting appetizers and desserts.

We didn't purchase the two-day pass since there was only 2 hours left for that day, and we actually didn't need to. Hopland has the nicest people around! We were welcomed into one winery where the owners happily gave us plenty of samples.

After a few tastes, we ended up at the Mendocino Brewing Company and ordered the Red Tail sampler. So there we were, at a wine festival, drinking the same beer that we would have had at the beer festival. Minus the rain.

On the way back to the car, we took a peak inside the Hopland Inn, the only hotel in town. We were welcomed by a big fire place surrounded by book shelves and comfy sofas. Vicki opened a bag of cheetos and offered some to the woman who was sitting on the sofa next to us. She was there with her two grown kids, all from Oakland. They said this festival takes places twice a year... in May and in October. They book a room in this hotel every time and make a weekend out of it.

The Hopland Wine Festival is definitely worth coming back for. There's nothing more exciting than discovering something new by a strange twist of luck.

Hopland is a Hoppin' - Part 2

2009-05-11T22:24:00.001-07:00

And what would any town in Mendocino county be without it's own hydroponic store!

Right when you walk into the shop, there's an aerogarden sitting up front - dusty and probably untouched for years. But the real action was around the corner...

Giant black bottles lined the shelves of the back room, with somewhat vague labels on them. I asked the man what the bottle with the sunshine and a smiley face does. He said it makes things grow faster. I asked him what the bottle with the rainbow with smiley face does. He said it makes things bloom bigger.

There wasn't a lot of info on the labels, but then who needs words when there's rainbows and sunshines and unicorns. And the disco ball on the ceiling above sure made the room sparkly!

On the way out, the man showed us the growing room. All sorts of interesting plants, such as a coffee tree, where being grown with artificial light. He even had a pumpkin plant, which produced pumpkins! I told him my situation and he insists that I didn't have enough light. He also mentioned that pumpkin flowers are asexual, so it doesn't matter if they're female or male. Hmmm...

Pumpkin Roots

2009-05-11T22:17:00.000-07:00

Just for you, Hydroponica - a picture of my pumpkin plant's roots.

This was very easy to clean up... it all came out in one big clump. And it actually didn't fill up the entire base of the aerogarden, which make me think root space wasn't an issue. Most probably lack of adequate light.

Chocolate pumpkins would be nice

2009-04-18T09:19:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, I dismantled my pumpkin experiment. It was hard to tell how many vines this plant produced because it was twisting around my table top and chair. But after taking everything apart, it turns out that there was only one main vine, which was 17 feet long! This photo shows the single vine that grew.

Here's the conclusion of my experiment:

1. You can not grow pumpkins inside your apartment, unless you possibly have two plants growing so they can pollinate each other.

2. There were about 50 big golden flowers that opened up over the course of two months. But apparently a male and a female flower never bloomed at the same time.

3. I do not want to grow pumpkin plants in my apartment again.

On a different note, this past weekend was Easter. I was at the grocery store and saw all sorts of fun Easter candies, including a chocolate cross. This was nice. I went to Catholic school for 9 years and clearly remember Jesus dying on a chocolate cross and hatching out of a Cadbury creme egg two days later.

While I was buying all this candy, the woman at the register asked me if the treats were for the kids at home. I said yes. I didn't feel it was necessary to tell her that the "kids" are actually my sisters in their 30's.

Since I had the chocolate cross, I decided to build Calvary mountain out of a pile of chocolate cupcakes. The pastel colored vanilla cupcakes below the mountain represent spring and rebirth. My sister trying to take a bite out of the cross represents her love for chocolate.

Here are a couple of additional pics, which include more chocolate. And a cute cat, Snowbell, sleeping in the sun.

My homeless friend

2009-03-29T08:08:00.001-07:00

There are a handful of homeless people that hang out in my neighborhood. I've seen the same faces around over the years, and I sort of feel like I know them.

There's the aggressive man in front of Gordo's who chases you around with his cup saying "ma'am... ma'am" until you're out of earshot. I once was coming back from a jog and told him I didn't have any change. He replied "I don't want change, I want dollars!"

In front of Trattoria La Siciliana is where a large woman, who brings her own folding chair to sit on, asks for money. She tends to yell angrily at people as they walk by, so I try to avoid her.

And there's "The Mumbler," who's face I haven't actually seen up close. I just hear him at odd hours of the night on the street below my window, mumbling really loud as he goes on his way.

But there's one homeless man that I've grown strangely attached to. He's a bit of an older guy and his mental state seems to vary whenever I see him.

When he is coherent, he's a very nice, gracious person. He always says, "Excuse me, would you happen to have any change?" I usually give him a couple of bucks, to which he replies, "oh, thank you. Thank you very much."

He's so polite that I actually get excited when I see him so I can give him some money.

But sadly, there are days when he's not all there. I just walked back from the coffee shop at the corner and he was sitting on the bench out front, staring straight ahead with zoned out eyes. He didn't have his cup in his hand and didn't say a word. People were standing right in front of him and he doesn't even flinch. He's in his own little world.

I've also caught him talking to himself on a handful of occasions, which makes me all the more sad that he's ended up on the street. Another mentally ill person not getting adequate help.

Last weekend, I saw him across the street in front of the new Psychic Reading shop that just opened (just what the neighborhood needs) and snapped a quick photo. And some dark rain clouds were rolling in... below is a pic I took when I got back home.

I hope this guy has a shelter or some place warm where he can sleep at night.

Nothing but Flowers - Part 1

2009-03-15T13:01:00.001-07:00

Sometimes it's the simple things in life that bring me the most joy... a nice chunk of fromage with a warm baguette, a chocolate chip muffin with a frothy latte.

But topping my list would be growing plants. Plants are like friends, except they don't talk. And they can't see movies with you or grab a beer after work.

But they all have different personalities, their likes and dislikes. Plants can be happy and healthy, or sick and not doing that well. They're certainly entertaining. And just like a good friendship, if I take care of them, they thank me with flowers, fruit, or just natural green beauty.

Every year, I look forward to the annual San Francisco Orchid Expo, which took place March 5th. I've been going to the opening night gala with the same friends for about 5 years now. And every year, our routine goes something like this...

Enter the expo, head straight to the appetizer table and fill up on cheese, meatballs, and finger sandwiches. Meander over to the wine sampling tables, grab a glass of vino, and head on over to look at the prize winning flowers.

I am always amazed by the wide variety of orchids I see... from the bright yellow Cheirophorum hanging from a little patch of moss on a tree branch, to the Cym "Kristian" with it's majestic mauve flowers cascading over the moss filled pot.

I'd like to do a little more research on how exactly orchids are judged. Many first place orchids are slightly flawed. Several have browned or broken leaves, but have big, bursting flowers that look to perfect to be real. And sometimes it's the opposite... beautiful, shiny leaves, and slightly withered or broken flowers wins a first place.

I'm very intrigued by this mysterious world of orchids...

Nothing but Flowers - Part 2

2009-03-15T12:20:00.001-07:00

We typically spend the last hour and a half of the expo in the "for sale" section, where we have the daunting task of picking out which orchid(s) to take home. This is always the most stressful (and fun!) part of the show.

So every year, we all separate at this point and spend some time alone, cruising the aisles, trying to find that perfect addition to join the collection back home.

I fell in love with a tiny Dendrobium Cuthbertson, a prickly leaved plant, with two red trumpet-like flowers that dominate the pot. This little plant was no bigger than my fist, and cost $30. But I didn't care. I wanted it. So I asked the man inside the booth for some more info on how to care for it.

"Oh. That's a really hard orchid to grow," he said. "It's very sensitive to light, temperature and water."

I looked down at the little plant in my hand. I still wanted it. This plant is from New Guinea and the flowers last up to 9 months.

"This plant needs to be watered 2-3 times a week, and needs proper air flow," he continued.

I looked down at the little plant. I already knew exactly where it was going to go back home.

"This is a really unique type of orchid and a lot of people don't have success with them. If you don't have a southern facing window, this isn't the right plant for you," he added, never once budging to ring my sale up.

I was denied the orchid. I sadly put the little guy down. Half the battle is finding that plant that calls to you. But I appreciate his honestly.

I ended up getting a Masdevallia from him for about half the price. The cheerful, bright orange flowers are a nice addition to my plant family. But I'm still thinking about those big bursting red trumpets.

Maybe next year...

No pumpkins, no clowns

2009-02-26T22:16:00.000-08:00

My pumpkin party was suppose to be this past Sunday, Feb. 22. But there was one slight problem. I didn't have any pumpkins.

It's looking like my experiment is a failure.

My plant currently has about 8 flowers in bloom, and about 9 buds about to bloom. This is the highest number of flowers that it's had so far. But they all appear to be small male flowers. Not a single one has a bulge at the base, indicating it's female.

I'll most likely dismantle my pumpkin experiment within the next week or so. But before I do so, I'm going to measure how long the vines are. They currently twist around my kitchen chair about three times. I'm guessing 8' 4".

If the actual length is 8" 4' or under, I'm going to bake a chocolate cake.

If it's 8" 4' or over... I'm open to suggestions.

And then there were none

2009-02-03T22:06:00.000-08:00

Twelve big golden flowers have come and gone, leaving me behind with... nothing. By this time, I should've had a nice grapefruit-sized sugar pie pumpkin or two. But instead, I have about 10 feet of pumpkin vine wrapping around my kitchen table and not much else (other than an earful of "that looks weird" comments from friends).

The flowers have bloomed 2-3 at a time, and each time, I carefully take a little pollen from each flowers and pollinate the others with it. But after a day or two, the flowers simply fall off. I'm guessing that perhaps all of these have been males flowers. And as we all know from health class in 6th grade, that's not how it works. (By the way, reproduction was taught to me by a nun in a small Catholic school. Thinking about this class still brings me nightmares).

Anyway, I was going to buy a pumpkin and go so far as to glue it to the vine, just so I could still have my pumpkin party on Feb. 22. But pumpkins are out of season. I was going to find another type of vegetable, like a cucumber, and pretend that the seeds must have been mixed up and that this is what my plant grew. But that'd just be stupid.

It looks like there may be a few more flowers left on the vine. I'll give my plant one more month to produce some result before I end my experiment. And hopefully I'll get a male and female flower to bloom at the same time, and not miss each other like two passing ships in the night.

Pumpkin Flowers!

2009-01-06T20:58:00.000-08:00

What a week it's been for my gardening experiment! It's looks like I may actually be able to pull this off... I'm going to grow pumpkins in my apartment, without any natural sun or soil! Can I put something like this on a resume?

Over the weekend, three big flowers buds formed. And this morning, the flowers had completely opened. I'm suppose to pollinate the "female" flowers with the "males," but I still can't really differentiate them yet. The females are suppose to have a bulge at the base of the flower, so I'm thinking these are all males.

(Hydroponica, your tips from Nov. 28 were incredibly helpful! Your description of how these flowers would grow was spot on. You wouldn't happen to be an indoor pumpkin farmer, would you?)

Anyway, I'm going to give my flowers a couple more days and then I may just have a pollination party. It may be male/male, female/female, who knows! Hopefully I'll get one female/male combo and this will be the start of a lovely baby pumpkin!

I took a bite out of crime!

2008-12-27T11:48:00.001-08:00

It was a small bite, but a tasty one!

I was home watching TV last night when I heard a kid yelling outside my front window. I looked out and saw two kids, one of which was spray painting something on the sidewalk right behind my car. I was going to yell at them, but then I didn't want them doing something to my Jetta.

After spray painting the sidewalk, one kid tagged a "No Parking" sign, and then they both causally walked away. That's when I decided to call Berkeley's "non-emergency" police number to report it. I gave the woman who answered the phone a full description of the boys... mid to late teens, white, wearing black, heading south towards Rockridge.

I almost felt guilty for bothering the police with such a trivial thing. After all, earlier this week a man killed himself right in front of some cops that were responding to a noise complaint in an apartment complex half a mile from my house. Upon further investigation of his suicide, the police found the body of his son in a wall on the first floor of the building. So I image that the Berkeley PD has bigger fish to fry.

But sure enough, I got a call from an officer 15 minutes later. They were holding two "suspects" that matched my description and they wanted me to visually identify them. I said sure, as long as they can't see me.

A cop came and picked me up, and I sat in the back seat as we drove to where the kids were being held. Two other cop cars were already there with their lights flashing. And sure enough, it was the same punk-ass kids, acting as cocky as can be. At one point I heard one kid say "I plead the 5th." The cop responded, "Do you even know what that means?!"

I positively identified the perpetrators and they were cuffed and taken away. Apparently the cop saw the kids acting suspicious when he drove by. When he stopped to talk to them, he found a can of spray paint thrown on the lawn that they were standing in front of. And one kid had spray paint on his hands. Opps.

Two cop cars came back to my apartment to get a written statement from me. Then a huge white "Crime Scene Unit" van pulled up to take photos of the graffiti. It all looked very dramatic... just like a scene from CSI, but a G-Rated version.

Slow night for the Berkeley PD? I think so. Exciting night for me? Of course! Did you know that the back seat of a police car has hard plastic seats and bars on the side windows?

Anyway, it beat watching a re-run of Frasier on TV, or watching my pumpkin plant grow. Speaking of which, my plant is getting huge. The flower buds have gotten a little bigger, but no bloom yet!

Baby Buds!

2008-12-17T11:33:00.000-08:00

Just a quick pumpkin update...

I was out of town all last week, but was pleased to see how well my pumpkin plant was doing upon returning. A couple of the leaves had gotten so big that they actually got burnt by the light bulbs above. So I've carefully repositioned the plant so that it's not growing straight up.

And several flower buds have popped up! This is SO exciting! Yep, so so exciting...

Who's on Oprah today?

Canneles de Oh-No!

2008-12-06T11:26:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was last week, so I decided to make something a little different than your typical pumpkin or apple pie for dessert... I went for the Canneles de Bordeaux! As I mentioned in a previous post, these French treats are a speciality of Bordeaux, where nuns were said to have created these more than 200 years ago using the flour they salvaged from the holds of sailing ships anchored in the Port de la Lune.

Let me just sum up my experience making this dessert like this: I will never, ever bake these again! And here's why:

1. It took quite a bit of time to hunt down the special mold require for this dessert. And it wasn't easy to find beeswax (one of the key ingredients for this) either.

2. Baking with beeswax is a mess. I had to throw away the brush that I used to to coat the inside of the mold with the wax/butter mixture. It was impossible to wash the beeswax out.

3. Baking with beeswax is incredibly smokey! Smoke was coming out of the vents in my oven while this was baking, and my fire alarm went off twice.

4. I burnt my hand when the melted wax spilled from the mold as I took it out of the oven. And the wax just sticks to you, like a leech from the Bach Ma Jungle in Vietnam. It's hard to get off.

5. They tasted horrible. The top photo is of my Canneles, and the two pics below it are of a Cannele that I picked up at a French Bakery in SF. OK, so mine doesn't look like the store bought one... all that matters is how it tastes, right? Well, let me tell you, mine taste like wax and charcoal. The one from SF didn't.

All I can say is that I have nothing but respect for those nuns in the Bordeaux region of France. Not only are they always fashionable in their sleek black and grey outfits, but they are amazing bakers. Rock on, sistas!

On a slightly different note, my pumpkin plant is doing well! I thinned the three plants that I sprouted down to one, and this one is growing like crazy. I'll have more updates on this little guy soon...

And... they're off!

2008-11-23T22:55:00.000-08:00

It's been 8 days since I planted my pumpkin seeds and I am blown away at how quickly these things have grown! I left for work one day and there wasn't any signs of growth quite yet. I came home that night and found that not only had the seeds sprouted, but they were literally lifting the plastic caps up off the ground!

I'm a little nervous at how quickly and strong these things are growing. If they grew this much in one week, what are they going to look like in one month?? But there's no going back now... I've already booked the clown for my Feb. 22nd pumpkin party, and I don't want to let my friends down.

I'm going to thin these plants back to just one, to make sure there's enough room for it to grow. I'm not exactly sure how much "enough room" is, but I'm hoping the correct answer is the size of a small, round, kitchen table. If not, I'm in trouble...

Goodbye herbs, hello pumpkins!

2008-11-15T10:31:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since my last post, but that is going to change! I have exciting news for all of you... I'm growing pumpkins in my aerogarden!

My herbs had gotten out of control. The Italian parsley and basil had pretty much taken over the entire garden. No matter how much I used them, they'd quickly grow back. I just couldn't get rid of them!

But no more - I chopped my herb garden down and used half of it in a corn chowder I made. And now it's time for bigger and better things.

I took apart the seed pods to a tomato garden kit, placed a single pumpkin seed in each pod, and reassembled the container in which the seed is held. My goal is to get 3 seeds to successfully sprout. I'll then thin them down to a single plant, only keeping the strongest one. Hopefully this way there will be enough room in the aerogarden water chamber for the roots.

These "Sugar Pie" pumpkins should grow to the size of a large grapefruit. And their sweet, fine grained texture are perfect for baking. The pumpkins should sprout in 5-10 days and should be completely grown in 100 days.

If all goes according to plan, these pumpkins will be done on Feb. 22nd, 2009. That's exactly 100 days from the day they were planted. I'm then going to bake these pumpkins into something spectacular and have a party!

More to come soon...

Chuck - Part 2

2008-09-28T20:44:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned in a previous post that my 73 year old neighbor Chuck may be one of the coolest neighbors that I've ever had. He's an ex ultra-marathoner who spends his free time fixing things up around the apartment building. But he did something the other day that I find both fascinating, yet disturbing...

I came home late Wednesday night to find a handwritten note binder-clipped to a piece of cardboard, sitting on top of the mailboxes. It read:

CanoScan LiDE 90 in Dumpster. I retrieved. Fixed glass. Downloaded for Mac 05 10.4.9 the driver and MP Navigator. Scanned a document and several photos, seems to work fine. Owner can (re)claim Chuck #16

When I first saw this, I got a pang of excitement within me. Wow! I'm living next door to the professor from Gilligan's Island... he can fix anything! I bet he repaired the glass on this CanoScan with two coconut shells and some bamboo.

But then my excitement slowly started to turn to disgust. Professor Chuck dug this CanoScan out of the DUMPSTER.

I'm a total germophobe, so I don't mess around with things like dumpsters. Yes, you may have saved a piece of electronic equipment, but is it really worth catching Typhoid over?

Here are the top 5 things that I have a fear of touching or being around:

1. DUMPSTERS
2. Door handles in public bathrooms
3. The bottom of shoes
4. Dead animals on the street
5. That pen that you sign your credit card charge with in grocery stores.

Why was Chuck digging around the dumpster? There's a recycling bin right next to it, so he can't be looking for cans. Maybe he was just being nosey? Whatever the case may be, I don't like it.

But now here's the real question... what do I do with the pair of worn out black wedged heels that I have with the broken straps? How do I throw them away? I don't want to come home late one night and find Chunk prancing down the hallway wearing them...

Apparently I am weird

2008-09-06T00:03:00.001-07:00

I was in Bed Bath & Beyond the other night looking at the various seed kits they sell for Areogardens. I've been growing some Italian herbs for the past month, which are doing quite well, but for my next batch of plants, I'd like to grow something a little more unique than Parsley, Garlic Chives, or Genovese Basil.

I was looking through the various seed kits and picked one up for a Salad Deluxe. The picture of lush baby greens on the cover caught my eye. But as I was reading the box, a scrawny little kid with a Batman t-shirt came up to me and stood by my side. I'm guessing he couldn't have been more than six.

"What is that?" the kid bravely asked. I told him that these are seeds to grow lettuce.

"Hmm," he replied.

He continued to stand by my side and then asked, "Do you have a garden?" I told him that I have a garden, but that it's inside my house. With these seeds, I can grow lettuce in my kitchen.

"Hmm," he mumbled again.

He continued to stand by my side, looking straight at me. I, on the other hand, continued to read the back of the box.

I began to think that maybe this kid was really interested in my mysterious indoor kitchen garden, and perhaps he was thinking of another fantastic question to ask me. But I decided to surprise him with another fun fact first, before he had the chance. I was going to tell him that my lettuce garden can grow without soil!

I turned and looked at him, and before I could get a single word out, he looked straight at me and said "You're weird" and ran off.

I've never been called weird before. Some things that I do may come off as a little strange or unusual, but overall, I feel pretty confident that I am not weird.

There are plenty of people in this world that are truly weird. For example, Michael Jackson is weird. So is Phil Spector. Siegfried and Roy are weird, and so are the magical lions and tigers that live in their Secret Garden. If that little kid had made that comment to any one of them, they probably would have responded with, "well, yeah."

I ended up not buying any seed kits at Bed Bath & Beyond after all. I just couldn't get excited about growing green beans, snow peas, or cherry tomatoes. Instead, I'm going to order some empty pods so I can put my own seeds in there. And I'm going to try growing pumpkins, cucumbers, or even summer squash in my apartment. If I'm going to be called weird, I might as well do something that is, well, weird.

Paris, Berkeley Style

2008-08-17T21:37:00.000-07:00

The past couple of weeks have been depressing here in Berkeley. This time last year, I was in Paris for the entire month of August. Cut to August this year: I'm stuck behind my desk working too many hours, with no vacation in site until the end of our project, which is October.

Since I'm clearly not going to be traveling to Paris anytime soon, I decided to bring Paris to me! I've been listening to this CD of Parisian cafe music that I picked up at Target for $15.99 while I was there shopping for paper towels and windex. And yes, those accordions, mandolins and violins really make me feel like I'm on a cobblestone street of gay Par-ee, even if I am just at home cleaning my bathroom.

I was also looking for some French pastry recipes on the Food Network website and decided to make "Canneles de Bordeaux" because: 1). I had one from a boulangerie in SF a couple of weekends ago and it was delicious, and 2). According to the website, these little treats are a specialty of Bordeaux, where nuns were said to have created them more than 200 years ago using the flour they salvaged from the holds of sailing ships anchored in the Port de la Lune. And I love nuns.

Anyway, there aren't a lot of "easy" French pastries to make. I think that's what makes them so special... they're all little works of art.

After looking everywhere for a canneles mold, I was finally able to find some on-line. But I'd also need cooking beeswax, another key item needed for this. And I looked EVERYWHERE for this also, without any luck.

I finally found some that's sold by weight at Whole Foods, but would you believe that out of the 60 jars of spices and herbs that they sell, the only one that they were sold out of was beeswax. And the woman who works there said that they're the only Whole Foods in the area that sell it and their next shipment "may come" in a few weeks.

I decided to check one last place before giving up on this project: my local farmer's market. No luck there either, but did stumble upon something equally as cool... a pretzel croissant! It's super buttery and salty, and the lye used in pretzels gives it that brown, crisp coat that locks the softness inside. The man who sold it to me also mentioned something about baking soda, but I was too eager to eat my croissant so I didn't hear what he said.

Anyway, I took my pretzel croissant home, turned on my Parisian cafe music from Target, and for a good part of the morning pretended like I was in Paris... Berkeley style.

(Top image, the canneles that I'll make - someday!)

Gilroy Garlic Festival (Cont)

2008-07-29T13:59:00.000-07:00

A few more pics for ya...

Gilroy Garlic Festival

2008-07-29T13:43:00.001-07:00

This weekend was Gilroy's annual Garlic Festival, which has been taking place the last weekend of July for the past 30 years. I've been hearing about this thing for years now, but for one reason or another, I've never been able to make it. So I was excited to finally check it out!

The festival was exactly how you'd imagine it... sort of like a county fair, out in the middle of nowhere, with lots of stands selling really garlicy stuff. There was live music, rides for kids, and the occasional over-spirited individual wearing a garlic shaped hat or outfit. There was even a "Miss Gilroy Garlic" pageant, which fortunately we missed.

As we drove down Highway 101 towards Gilroy, we could smell the garlic from miles away. And this smell was generated by all of the following items being cooked up:

Corn on the cob with garlic butter, garlic sausage, garlic crawfish, garlic steak tacos, gator tails and deep fried frog legs with garlic, garlic artichoke hearts, garlic eggrolls, garlic mashed potatoes, garlic bread, and of course, their world famous garlic fries.

Some of the more unique items there included garlic jelly, garlic chocolate, and garlic chocolate peanut butter cups, which unfortunately were all sold out by the time we got to the booth. But we did manage to get some free samples of garlic ice cream that were being handed out.

For those of you thinking of going to the festival next year, here are some tips for you...

1). Get there early! We got there at 10:45AM and had no trouble with parking or with lines. When we left at 2:00PM, the place was packed and traffic was totally backed up on the 101.

2). Bring water! It's hot and dusty out there.

3). Remember, just because you order a basket of garlic fries, doesn't mean you have to eat the whole basket of them.

4). Stay away from the man giving out free garlic with instructions on how to grow it. I'll spare you the details, but just trust me on this.

5). Bring cash... and breath mints.

Until next year...

That peach is how much?!

2008-07-21T21:22:00.000-07:00

It's the phone call that every woman dreads... the call from her favorite hairdresser announcing that she's moving and that you'll have to find someone new. Katie, my hair person for the past three years, said that she can no longer afford to live in the Bay Area and is moving back to Atlanta. But luckily she was able to squeeze me in for one last appointment, which is why I was in San Francisco last Saturday.

After a tearful goodbye with Katie (well, tearful on her end at least) I walked over to the farmers' market at the Ferry Building which takes place every Saturday morning. And I was absolutely shocked at how much everything costs!

One place was selling peaches for $3.90 a pound! Another place, avocados for $2.00 each. And I saw braids of garlic being sold for $25 a piece! Who buys these things? Apparently the tourists that were swarming the place do. Sure, they get a beautiful view of the bay while walking around, but what local would actually buy their produce here? (Hopefully you can see the prices in these photos, which I quickly snuck with my cell phone).

I guess I'm a bit jaded having just paid $1.50/pound for super juicy peaches from Brentwood two weekends ago. But really, these prices are down right ridiculous. I don't think I'll be heading out to this particular farmers' market anytime soon, at least not for the produce.

The one thing, though, that will keep me swinging by when I'm in the area is the $5 cheese sandwich from Acme Bread. This sandwich is so simple, yet so incredibly tasty. It has Mt. Tam cheese (Cowgirl Creamery's Triple Creme), sweet fruit jam, arugula, black pepper, and that's it.

On my walk back home from the Bart station, I stopped in Yasai, my local organic produce place, and found much better prices... $1.69/pound for peaches and nectarines and .99/pound for plums. Now that's more like it!

I wonder if my hairdresser did her produce shopping at the Ferry Building farmers' market. If so, I can totally understand how she can't afford to live in SF anymore...

Peaches! Part 2

2008-07-12T10:51:00.001-07:00

Blogger only lets you load up to 5 photos per post. I wanted to share a couple more, so here you go... Part 2.

In additional to all of the fantastic fruits that Brentwood has to offer, they also have a great variety of other farm fresh items as well. The Farmer's Daughter was also selling white sweet corn, vine ripe tomatoes, green beans, and various nuts, local honey and olive oil.

Vicki and I picked up a handful of avocados and whipped up a batch of super fresh guacamole, which we managed to polish off in about 10 minutes.

Sometime soon, I'd like to check out a place called Shelly's Garden, which specializes in culinary herbs. Apparently they grow 40+ types of common and unique edible herb varieties.

I'd also like to check out Brentwood's weekly Farmer's Market, which takes place every Saturday from 8:00-12:00PM.

Farmer's Market
http://www.pcfma.com/marketdetail.php?market_id=25

Peaches!

2008-07-12T10:20:00.001-07:00

You know summertime is in full swing when you see apricots, cherries and nectarines galore at the grocery stores. But last weekend, I relived an old childhood summertime activity and went to the orchards in Brentwood and picked all of these fabulous fruits myself.

Brentwood is only about 45 minutes away from Berkeley, so it makes for a great 1/2 day trip. My friend Vicki and I headed out mid-morning Saturday and cruised down Highway 4, looking for an orchard that would strike our fancy. The farms and fruit stands line the double-laned highway just like the wineries up in Napa. There's a great on-line map that outlines exactly where each place is. So if you miss one, fear not. There's most likely another one right around the corner. http://www.harvest4you.com/

We ended up at a place called "The Farmer's Daughter," which was pretty much run by a handful of kids no older than 15 years old. We were each handed a bucket and told to pick whatever fruit we want. The cost is $1.50 per pound. Oh, and to try not to eat the fruit until we pay for it (this was coming from a girl who was, well, eating a peach. She followed this with, "sorry, I really like peaches.")

So we grabbed our bucket, headed out into the empty orchard and... ate a Clingstone peach. Even though we were given a sample by the girl at the counter, there's something about a warm, juicy, sun-kissed peach that we just couldn't resist.

Our picking adventures also included white nectarines, pluots and plums. We passed on the cherries since out buckets were full and we were starting to feel ill from eating too many peaches. But we did manage to polish off a few more after getting home. We baked a few up in some puff pastry with a little brown sugar and butter - which was truly fabulous!

I went to Safeway this morning to buy some coffee creamer and swung by the peaches in the produce section. No Safeway employee would need to tell me not to eat any before paying. Believe me, those pale, sad little things looked so far from appealing.

(These pics were all taken with cell phones, so they're a tad on the light side...)

Chuck

2008-06-29T17:14:00.000-07:00

My neighbor Chuck lives down the hallway from me, on the opposite side of Ravi. And Chuck may just be the coolest neighbor that I've ever had.

He's 73 years old, lives alone, and whenever I run into him, he's fixing something on the building or trying to invent a new way to make something work better.

During the terrible heat wave that we had last weekend, Chuck was in the hallway trying to figure out a way to funnel the cool air from the first floor up to his unit on the third floor, which was roasting inside. Some of his ideas seem a little far-fetched and ridiculous, but that's what makes me admire Chuck all the more. Instead of just moping around and complaining about something, he tries to come up with a solution to fix it.

Today I was coming back from a jog, and I passed Chuck downstairs by the mailboxes (fixing the hinge on the mailbox, of course), and we started talking about running. Chuck and I have had good conversations about running in the past... he once caught me picking up my "Runner's World" magazine from the mailbox, and that's where I learned that he was a runner, too. But I didn't know the extend to which he ran. I learned today that he has done several endurance runs years ago, which are 100 miles long!

I told Chuck that I think he's nuts, but that I have nothing but the utmost respect and admiration for him having accomplished that. There's such a small sliver of people in the world that can say they've done that, and that's something he should truly be proud of. And that's when Chuck gave me a pep talk, as to how I can do it, too!

He said that running a race like that it 80% psychological, and that as long as there's not something physically wrong with you, that you can mentally train for it. When you run a marathon, you run at a pace that's suitable for 26.2 miles. When you do an endurance run, you run at a pace appropriate for conserving your energy, and then you just get into the mental zone. And as crazy as it sounds, talking runner to runner, I totally understood what he meant.

Chuck then said that the one thing in life that has always made him happy, more than any woman, job, or vacation, has been running. And I agree... while other things in life are up one minute and down the next, the one dependable constant that has always brought me joy has been running.

Chuck doesn't run much anymore these days... he now suffers from constant fatigue syndrome that has crept upon him with age. But just talking about his past memories of running certainly brought a smile to his face and an excitement to his eyes. And those memories he'll always have.

I don't plan on training for a 100 mile endurance run... not today, not ever. I think I'm too sane for that. But it's nice to know that in Chuck's eyes I could.

(PS: On a totally different note, here's a chili pepper update. Half of my Red Fires and Purple Super Hots are starting to turn red, which equals HOT HOT HOT. I think I'll wait for them to all turn red and have a huge chili pepper fiesta! Stay tuned...)

Someday...

2008-06-08T14:16:00.000-07:00

Ahh, another beautiful Sunday morning... I was woken up by birds singing, the warm sun shining through my window, and the smell of my neighbor's pot seeping in under my front door.

Ravi's usually a courteous neighbor and opens the main hallway door before lighting up. But this morning, the door was closed so all of his pot smoke got stuck inside. But hey, it was only 9:00AM - he was probably still in his Iron Man pajamas and didn't want the neighbors to see him this way. Totally understandable...

It's days like this that I wish I had a real garden in a real backyard. It's great that you can grow mushrooms on a log or herbs galore with hydroponics indoors, but an outdoor garden is also a nice place to escape. A place where you can watch the bees pollinate your chili pepper flowers instead of doing it by hand. A place where your tomatoes and cucumbers can grow free and wild, instead of being pruned back so that the leaves don't burn on the artificial light bulbs above.

I was visiting my parent's house the other day and love seeing all of the things that they're growing in their garden (pictures below). Someday I hope to have a nice little place to escape to just like this.

But in the meantime, it's indoor growing for me. I'm kind of curious to see if I could grow weed in my aerogarden. After all, this is the same sort of set up that people use to grow it in warehouses. I could probably get a few seeds from Ravi next door, and could then sell the weed back to him that I grow. Sounds like a win/win situation to me.

(Bonus pic of the day - some chocolate and white chocolate covered strawberries that I made yesterday. Why am I including these? Because 1). They're pretty, and 2). I ate four of them four lunch and now feel ill.)

Mysterious Purple Super Hots

2008-05-24T23:23:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since my last post, and that's thanks to work, more work, and a couple of weekends out of town. But I'm happy to report that my chili peppers are doing great, despite my lack of attention to them. In fact, it's almost as if they've rewarded me for leaving them alone.

I was pruning the plants the other day and discovered two big Red Fires hiding in the back (top pick).

And my Purple Super Hots are starting to turn red, which means they are now ripe... and HOT.

According to my research, capsaicin is the oil in chili peppers that makes them hot, and its concentration is measured in Scoville units. These units increase as a pepper ripens and can range anywhere from 0 in a bell pepper to a fiery 300,000 in a habenero pepper.

Currently, my unripe Red Fires are at 40,000, but will increase to 50,000 when they ripen and turn red.

My Purple Super Hots are at 140,000 and will be 160,000 when they turn red!

But what's most intriguing to me is the fact that I can't find any additional info about Super Purple Hots anywhere! I'd love to know where they grow best naturally and more importantly, what exactly do I do with them.

I've tried all sorts of internet searches, but all I find are links pointing me to areogarden sites. Is this pepper some sort of bizarre areogarden thing, when it only grows off hydroponics??

I've even gone so far as to look for them at Whole Foods, Andronico's and the Farmers Market, but haven't had any luck.

My search will continue, and hopefully I'll have some answers for my next post...

Love 'em and leave 'em

2008-04-22T07:44:00.000-07:00

Boy, it's sure been an exciting week for us here in the Giblin apartment. And by "us" I mean me and my shiitake log...

As I mentioned in my previous post, I soaked the log overnight to thoroughly rehydrate it down to the core. And I was completely amazed by the results this produced. Five big, perfectly shaped mushrooms immediately popped up over the course of three days! And a couple of smaller ones appeared shortly thereafter.

So before I cooked these beauties up with some fettuccine and cream sauce, I made a spore print with two of the smaller mushroom caps. Don't ask me why, because I don't know. Maybe it was curiosity, maybe it was boredom...

Years ago, I did something like this for a science faire experiment where I tested whether you could tell if a mushroom was poisonous or not by the spore pattern that the gills produced. I don't remember what exactly my conclusion was, but based on the fact that I haven't died yet, I guess you could say that this is an example of a non-poisonous gill print.

ANYWAY...

After my art project and tasty meal, my poor little log looked so sad and naked. The fun was over, so I kicked him to the curb - literally. It now lives in the bushes behind my apartment complex where I park my car.

Do I feel bad about dumping this shiitake garden after it's been so good to me this past week? Not really. Because goodbye mushrooms, hello purple peppers!

Return of the Shiitakes

2008-04-11T18:12:00.000-07:00

I've received several e-mails from my readers asking me what's happened to my shiitake log. And I'm sorry I haven't been able to respond to all the comments that you've posted on this site. Sometimes the popularity of my blog is just a little overwhelming...

Anyway, as I mentioned a couple of posts ago, my shittake log needed to be rehydrated. No matter how much I spritzed the outside of the log, the core had pretty much dried up. And when this happens, the instructions say to submerge it overnight in a cold water bath. But the log is pretty much made of compressed sawdust that is inoculated with shiitake spawn. So to soak this thing, image trying to keep a big chunk of styrofoam held underwater overnight. I'm telling you, it's not as easy as you'd think.

After about 15 minutes of trying all sorts of methods, I finally figured something out! It may look strange, but the first photo shows what worked.

And all of my work paid off. After soaking the log for a day, it immediately started to shoot off several new shiitakes (photo #2)

On a different note, my pepper plants are full of flowers! I'm still hand pollinating them every other day, and still waiting for some pepper to pop up.

And the bonus pic for today... my double dark chocolate tart I made the other night. Image a nice little sliver of that with a dollop of whip cream on top. Why am I including it? Because it was SO good that I just wanted to show it off.

The Circle of Life

2008-04-02T23:26:00.000-07:00

My portabella garden hasn't produced a mushroom for several weeks now. I tried to restart the growth process once again, but I wasn't having any luck. So I decided it was time for my garden to retire.

I hate to waste a good box of mycelium by just dumping it in the trash. So instead, I found a spot in the side yard to my apartment and emptied it there. The soil there seemed pretty moist and doesn't receive any direct sunlight, so I hope someday some portabellas pop up there!

Just think about what a treat that'd be for my hippie vegan neighbors (the ones with the bumper sticker that reads "Friends don't let friends drink milk"). I can see it now... they're carrying all of their paper and plastic recyclables to the bins out back - and surprise! It's like mother nature rewarded them for being good people. And then they can have their own fungus fiesta!

On a different note, I hand pollinated my pepper plants this week, which involved me holding the main stem for each individual plant and shaking it for 10 seconds. This step is necessary in order for the flowers to actually produce peppers. And luckily there are a lot of flowers, which should equal lots of peppers!

And todays bonus...

I've had a can of pumpkin puree in my cupboard that I wanted to use, so I went to my local farmers' market this weekend and bought some fresh sage, onion and garlic. If you saute those and combine it all with some bread crumbs, egg, salt and pepper, you've got mini pumpkin sage balls. And add some tobasco green pepper dipping sauce, and you've got a splendid treat!

Shrek's right ear...

2008-03-24T21:03:00.000-07:00

was delicious! Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful in documenting how it unfolds. I so desperately wanted to show you (all one of you reading this) just how amazing it is to watch a shiitake open up. But I was out of town this past weekend and missed a few key moments.

So the bad news is that you'll just have to use your imagination as to what the photos between numbers 2 and 3 look like. The good news is that again, a big, super fresh shiitake was waiting for me when I got home. AND I won $130 at blackjack in Tahoe, so it was worth it!

I'm also happy to report that my pepper plants are doing very well. In fact, my Purple Super Hots are starting to flower!

So what's coming up in next week's post? The submerging of my log into water for rehydration and pepper plant hand-pollination. Good stuff you won't want to miss!

The bad news is...

2008-03-16T20:46:00.000-07:00

that there was a point in the middle of the week where my mushroom log looked like Shrek's head. I don't like it when the log grows into weird shapes like that. It freaks me out.

But the good news is that by the end of the week, Shrek's nose and left ear (third pic down) had turned into big, beautiful shiitakes! They were a perfect mushroom shape with pure white gills underneath. I wish I could have captured in a photo how incredibly fresh these were... you just don't see them like this in any grocery store or market.

So this weekend, I made fettuccine with shiitake and cream sauce, which came out really well. I threw a little olive oil, garlic, shallot, salt and pepper into a pan, along with the mushrooms, and that was pretty much it. Well, and some cream of course.

I've also noticed something really interesting about how a shiitake grows. They start out looking like a ball at the end of a stick, but the ball is actually folded in on itself from the side. Then, the ball slowly starts to unfold as it grows. Other mushrooms open up sort of like an umbrella, but these are different.

I'm documenting how Shrek's right ear is unfolding, so hopefully I'll be able to show in photos next week what exactly I'm talking about.

Basil gone wild!

2008-03-09T21:56:00.000-07:00

My basil plants were out of control! I kept clipping little bit and pieces for various things here and there, but as long as they were standing in water and still close to the artificial sunlight from my Aerogarden, they just kept growing and growing. But they shall grow no more, because they are now in my stomach.

This weekend I took both my regular and purple basil and made it all into this terrific pesto, which went really well on some cheese tortellini. I'm sad that my purple basil is now gone - it was such a pretty little plant to look at. But basil can't live forever. So I thanked him for the memories and then threw him into the food processor.

On the mushroom front, my log is now producing a handful of shiitakes, but they're all in some pretty strange shapes. I checked out the mushrooms over at Far West Fungi in the Ferry Building Marketplace this weekend, and their shiitakes were in strange shapes as well.

So as long as my mushrooms don't grow out into the shape of a giant hand or something, I think I'm fine.

Dinner for one

2008-03-01T10:48:00.000-08:00

Well, the Fungus Fiesta has come and gone, but the mold in my mushroom garden lives on...

As you can see, only two big portabellas have grown out of the five that were popping up. I have no idea why this garden is producing only 2-3 mushrooms at a time. But on the plus side, at least I get to eat a couple of super fresh portabellas weekly!

My shiitake log is beginning to sprout little mushroom nubs. And I'm optimistic that more will be showing up soon.

On the pepper front, my Super Hot, Mini Jalapeno and Red Fire have all sprouted and are doing well. And they're all suppose to produce peppers around the same time. I smell a Cinco de Mayo Pepper Party in the works!

Success!

2008-02-24T10:40:00.000-08:00

My experiment seems to have worked! Mixing the compost around a little bit and giving it a good dose of water immediately produced results. I've battled so much unwanted mold in my life, be it in my bathroom or recently in my office at work, that for once, this is a welcomed sight!

I left the garden alone for a couple of days and when I checked it this morning, several new mushrooms had started to pop up. And many more are right below the surface.

And my replacement shiitake mushroom log arrived this weekend, which is already showing signs of growth!

Unfortunately there won't be any mushrooms for the fungus fiesta tonight. And the only mold we'll be eating will be in the blue cheese on the spinach and walnut salad. But I've come up with a couple of other dishes, which will hopefully be just as tasty. This includes mini pumpkin-sage balls with a green pepper dipping sauce, homemade pizza with fontina and goat cheese, and cranberry-orange trifle for dessert.

I have a bottle of Paul Drouet champagne (hand-carried by me back from Paris) chilling in the fridge... hopefully Ratatouille will win the oscar and there will be reason to celebrate!

(Bottom pic - the trifle I made for Christmas. Just a wanted to post something other than pictures of mold to get you excited about tonight!)

And then there were none...

2008-02-19T12:24:00.001-08:00

Well, my magical mystery box has done it again. The three mushrooms in my garden grew to about 6" across. But unfortunately, there's only a small window of time in which mushrooms are at the peak of perfection. And that window is only a couple of days long, so I had to pick them. And now there are none.

I've very disappointed in my mushroom garden. I called the company that it was ordered from about a week ago to ask what was going on, and they offered three times to express mail me a new garden (or log - my choice!). I called them this morning and a new log is on it's way!

But in the meantime, I'm trying a little experiment... I took a mini gardening rake and mixed the soil in the box up a bit, and gave it a good dose of water. Part of the fun of things like this is trying to make something that doesn't work, work.

Once these little buttons start to form, they grow super fast - literally overnight. So hopefully I'll have some updates to report shortly.

On a slightly different note, my Purple Super Hot peppers have popped right up! And my mini Jalapenos are starting to sprout as well.

AND... I cut off a piece of the purple basil from my last batch of herbs and threw it in some water. It's now sprouting roots and continues to grow. I think it's happy as long as it stays close to the artificial sunlight coming from the Aerogarden. Just another one of my experiments, I suppose.

So... what's going to be for dinner Sunday night? A Fungus Fiesta sans the fungus? To be continued...

And then there were three...

2008-02-15T14:04:00.000-08:00

Well, my mushroom garden keeps getting stranger and stranger. As you can see from my last post, there were five portabellas that had sprouted. But somehow, the five have turned into three! I have no idea what's going on here. I no longer think that I got a bum batch of mold, or even a mutant batch. I think my garden may actually be possessed.

Anyway, the bad news is that I'm not going to have enough mushrooms for a Fungus Fiesta on Feb. 24th. The good news is that the writer's strike is finally over and that the Academy Awards will be televised. So mushrooms or no mushrooms, I'm still inviting you all over for some sort of fiesta. Perhaps a few more will pop up within the next couple of days. Perhaps I'll just buy some and pretend like I grew them.

I'm going to practice making this fantastic yellow split pea and potato soup that my mom made a few weeks ago. I'll test it out this weekend and let you know how it turns out. If all goes well, how about a soup, salad and homemade bread fiesta instead.

I'm also including some bonus pics, since my mushroom ones are so boring. I've just planted some mini jalapeno, red fire and purple super hot peppers in my Aerogarden, which I'm really excited about. And my basil just loves living in water. Who needs soil? Soil is for losers.

Strange, but cool... I guess

2008-02-11T18:43:00.000-08:00

I've had plenty of mushroom logs and gardens in the past. It's almost become a Giblin family joke at Christmas time... the annual giving of the mushroom log every Dec. 25th. But I've never had mushroom results like this before...

Instead of growing 10-15 little portabellas, my garden appears to be growing between 2-5 HUGE ones at a time instead.

I had to pick the two enormous ones from last week because they wouldn't last until the 24th. I wish I had had something to weigh them with before eating them. The stalk on the big one was almost 3" across. I've never felt a mushroom that heavy before!

Anyway, just this weekend five new ones sprouted up. And there are plenty of pin-heads forming all around as well. I'm hoping these actually turn into something this time. Keep your fingers crossed!

Holy Mother of Mushrooms!!

2008-02-04T19:25:00.000-08:00

Things have been pretty busy here so I haven't really been checking in on the mushrooms as diligently as I should be. But 2 days ago, I took a peek at our little fungus friends and was completely blown away by what I saw...

At this point, there should be about 10-15 little buttons popping up, just as the picture in the last post shows. Instead, there were only 2 ENORMOUS mushrooms! One measured almost 7 inches in diameter.

Wow!

I have absolutely no idea what happened. It appears that I didn't get a bum batch of mold, I got a mutant batch of mold!

But fear not... I have faith that more fungi will be coming soon. And I promise to check on these little guys a little more regularly.

(First photo - a quarter next to the mushroom, for scale)

And... ACTION!

2008-01-28T18:48:00.000-08:00

They're here... they're finally here! I was beginning to wonder if maybe I got a bum batch of mold. I don't remember my mushrooms ever taking this long to sprout, but then again, I was never trying to plan a dinner party around them.

Anyway, yesterday I came home and was excited to see that they're finally starting to grow. So far, there are two big ones popping up, and a bunch of little buttons just below the surface.

I'm going to update my Evite and shoot for the Fungus Fiesta to take place on Sunday, February 24th. That's the same night as the Academy Awards, so we'll just double up on the fun.

(If for some reason the writer's strike prevents the Oscars from being aired, or if my mushrooms are not done by them, I give up. I'm officially canceling my Fungus Fiesta forever and will meet you all at Bill McNally's for an irish coffee instead...)

Misting the Mold

2008-01-15T13:29:00.000-08:00

I moved the mushroom garden into Stage 2 of production this morning... the mist the mold stage.

I opened the box up and there was a very light layer of grey mold covering the surface of the compost. Apparently the trick was to move the garden into a warmer spot to encourage mold growth.

So I cut the plastic back, misted the surface with a little water, and covered the box with a plastic tent. I'm now suppose to move the box into a cooler place (approx. 55 degrees) and sprits it every other day until little "pin heads" appear.

I'm telling you, that's when the fun really begins... I can't wait. Stay tuned for pin head updates!

More mold needed!

2008-01-13T21:22:00.000-08:00

It's officially been 7 full days since starting my Portabella Mushroom Garden. According to the instructions, I'm suppose to inspect the growing surface to see if grey mold has started to appear in one or more spots. If so, I need to cut back the plastic and start misting the surface until "pin heads" appear.

A few tiny mold spots have surfaced, but I'm going to give it another day or two for more to appear before moving onto the next stage. It's been a bit chilly in my apartment, and the compost is suppose to stay in a warm area (70-75 degrees). I think the cold temp has slowed the growth down a little, so I moved the garden closer to the heater and helpfully that'll do the trick.

I should have a better idea if we're still on schedule for a Fungus Fiesta on Feb. 3rd by the end of this week!

I'm also including some pics of my aerogarden herbs, which are out of control! I finally harvested some and made a tasty walnut herb dip with the dill, parsley, basil, and mint.

A sneak-peek

2008-01-09T18:23:00.000-08:00

After setting up my mushroom garden, I'm suppose to cover the soil back up with plastic, close the box, and let it sit in a dark, cool place for 7 days while the mycelium starts to cultivate.

I know it's been only 3 days, but this morning, I just had to take a peek! I wanted to know how our dinner was coming along.

So I carefully opened the box, pulled back the plastic, and saw...

NOTHING!

That's because it takes 7 days for things to really get started - and it's only been three.

Maybe I'll sneak another little peek in a day or two. After all, we are suppose to move into the next stage of cultivation on Sunday, Jan. 13th... the cutting back the plastic/spritzing the mold phase. Can't wait!

Mushrooms in a box

2008-01-06T19:03:00.000-08:00

Mushrooms are fun... they're fun to hunt, fun to smoke, and most of all, fun to eat!

And in a few weeks, I'm inviting you all to come forage for portabellas right here in my apartment. You won't have to look too far for these beauties because they'll all be growing in the Gourmet Portabella Mushroom Garden that I was given for Christmas. But if you want to pretend you're a real mushroom hunter, I can hide a few for you.

We'll be cooking up these bad-boys afterwards, so if you have any great portabella recipes you'd like to try, forward it my way so I can grab the ingredients. (My aerogarden is exploding with fresh herbs right now, so I'm sure I'll have plenty of those for this as well).

Anyway, today I officially started the garden. I've added the moist casing material to the compost and in 7 days, the mushroom mycelium should start to grow. And in approximately three weeks, there should be a box full of mushrooms.

I'll update this blog every couple of days with photos showing the progression of your upcoming dinner!