Some more creations

 

 

 

Poulet en Cocotte Bonne Femme (Casserole-roasted Chicken with Bacon, Onions, and Potatoes). Brendan and I made this a few weeks ago when Brendan and Brandon visited me.

Same as above.

When I used live in Calcutta, there was a restaurant we used to go to called Mocambo. They used to have a Chicken Kiev which was delicious. My mom recently reminded me of this fabulous dish and so I proceeded to make some for myself. It was gorgeous - the way the butter and chicken melted in my mouth! I had it for dinner on the day of and for lunch the day after. Thanks mom for reminding me about it!

For Dad: What is it that I Eat

This post is specifically for my Dad. He wanted to know what I've been eating over summer so here they are. Note that everything is organic. The bread is home-made and the green lettuce is from the garden.

Cream of mushroom soup, lettuce, smoked ham, creamy Havarti cheese in multigrain bread, paired with Chardonay from Château Montelena (2008)

The fish is a Cod marinated in garlic, rosemary, peppers and pan fried in a Madeira reduction. It was delicious! Paired with the same as above.

Green lettuce and pimpernickle bread side. The yellow peppers, broccoli and Bangladeshi Tiger prawns have been grilled. The prawns for marinated in yoghurt, hot pepper mix, a pinch of turmeric, peppers and tandoori masala. Paired with Louisiana amber ale (Abita)

Green lettuce and sweet chardonay as sides with pimpernickel bread. The main dish is Coquilles St. Jacques A La Parisienne (i.e. Scallops and Mushroom in White Wine Sauce). Paired with Pouilly-Fumé (2006).

Grilled shrimps, peppers, broccoli and shiitake mushrooms. Paired with Les Hauts de la Brune (70% Syrah, 20% Grenache and 10% Carignan) Coteaux du Languedoc (2008). (btw: VERY reasonably priced and is spectacular. Just make sure to aerate for a good 1-2 hrs before drinking)

Fruits of Labor

Butternut Squash and Zucchini.

So far I've harvested golden peas, slobolt lettuce, leafy lettuce, butternut squash and golden zucchini. The tomatoes are still growing. No sign of Broccoli yet. The carrots are also growing.

Let there be Vegetables

Before I left for NY (and then UK) I was worried about my plants so I ended up installing an automatic watering system. I didn't really expect the plants to survive but...

What is this!?? Not only do they survive, but they are thriving!!

I was sure that these green lettuce were going to die because I didn't add any water outlet to them.

Carrots are doing well.

By far I was the most surprised by the yellow zucchini plants. Look at the first picture the plant is HUGE!

The golden pea plants look healthy and about to bear fruit.

I was most excited by the beautiful Slobolt lettuce. Time to chop chop.

A look at the first row with golden peas and slobolt lettuce. I was confused about the weed growth in the middle thinking that they were some exotic spinach that I had planted. But they are weed. So they come out.

Look at 3rd column on the left hand side of the garden. Look at how nicely the broccoli are coming along.

Tomatoes ahoy!!! I do need to prune them.

Looks like my garden is doing brilliantly! So hopefully they'll survive my "presence" and bear fruits that I can chomp on. Still have work cut out for me. You'll notice that I didn't show pictures of the butternut squash, they are doing great but I need to prune them and provide supports. The one egg plant that did survive seems to be okay but time will tell I guess. Also need to get next batch of plantings ready to go!

A series of highly influential quotes from books by Terry Pratchett

"If complete and utter chaos was lightning, then he'd be the sort to stand on a hilltop in a thunderstorm wearing wet copper armour and shouting 'All gods are bastards!"
— Terry Pratchett (The Color of Magic)

"She was already learning that if you ignore the rules people will, half the time, quietly rewrite them so that they don't apply to you."
— Terry Pratchett (Equal Rites) 

 

 

"Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it."
— Terry Pratchett (Reaper Man) 

 

"God does not play dice with the universe; He plays an ineffable game of His own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players [i.e. everybody], to being involved in an obscure and complex variant of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time."
— Terry Pratchett (Good Omens) 

 

"It's not worth doing something unless someone, somewhere, would much rather you weren't doing it."
— Terry Pratchett 

 

"Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it saying 'End-of-the-World Switch. PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH', the paint wouldn't even have time to dry."
— Terry Pratchett (Thief of Time)

 

"Albert grunted. "Do you know what happens to lads who ask too many questions?"
Mort thought for a moment.
"No," he said eventually, "what?"
There was silence.
Then Albert straightened up and said, "Damned if I know. Probably they get answers, and serve 'em right."
— Terry Pratchett (Mort) 

 

"If there was anything that depressed him more than his own cynicism, it was that quite often it still wasn't as cynical as real life."
— Terry Pratchett (Guards! Guards!) 

 

 

Vegetation

You can the closest row are tomatoes. Above them are the Golden Zucchini. Row 2 has carrots but hard to see. Row 1 you can see the peas and lettuce.

Column 1 has the egg plants. Column 2 are Butternut squash. Column 3 has broccoli and lettuce.

Another view.

Some Doggy Photos New and Old

Little puppy in our living room.

Little puppy in the small area that connects all the rooms

Not so little puppy in the small area that connects all the rooms

A view from within the garden

Another view. At this point he was playing with a stick.