Ms. Zygo, the Christmas Cactus

Last summer, I neglected to bring Ms. Zygo outside to have her share of beach air and sunny days. I thought the spot where she is sitting right now is good enough since it's slightly indirectly under my wee kitchen's skylight. Little did I know that she was none too happy about that. So last Christmas, she sat stoically on the same spot and never gave me one bloom. Not one bloom! Christmas flew by and Ms. Christmas cactus, so pissed, slept through the season. Today in February, she finally blooms but ONE flower as if to remind me she needs to go out when it's warm enough for her to bask in the sun.

I've learned my lesson well.

Ms. Zygo and her lone flower

Flower Inspector

When Zachary was a toddler, I called him the FLOWER INSPECTOR

Aaarrrgghhh...and he  squeezed my allium!!!!

If you can't beat them, EAT them!

 Some summers ago, I visited a friend in Hyde Park New York. She's the kind of person who sees a lint on her living room carpet five feet away, and must get up to pick it up. That's a preface to my saying that her backyard is well mowed and her vegetable and herb garden is well managed. Funny her mint stood in clusters and were sort of braided so they did not look wild. She is a neato, all right except that she could not get a handle on this particular weed that I happen to be very fond of. In my little garden, this weed is treated like royalty. I anticipate it's return every year and I replant them in pots. While both of us looked at the weeds that are growing back, after she pulled them out,  she asked me for advise about what she should do about it, and here's what I said, "If you can't beat it, then EAT it!!!"

"What do you mean?" she said. So I started to explain that she could make a salad out of it or simply steam it and eat it plain or put it in her stews. She was aghast...then she shrugged and thought I'm pulling her leg. Then I told her the truth, for what she and I thought is a worthless weed is in fact a powerhouse of nutrients topped with Omega-3. It is in fact the lowly purslane. Growing up in the Philippines, I used to see this weed by the roadside, or in between plants waiting to be pulled out, not knowing what healthful food it is until one day browsing through the farmer's market along 116th street station by Columbia University, I saw clumps of them for not so cheap dollars. I asked the vendor it's name and what I can do with it. Coming home, I googled purslane and there I saw the light. I was a convert. I knew I had to convince my friend too. My words were not enough for her for when you know purslane all your life as a pesky weed, you can't just chop 'em off and make salad out of them.So I printed information about them with accompanying pictures of course. The next time I visited her, her vegetable garden were littered with purslane plant,  top chopped off. She could not get enough salad out of them.

Henry David Thoreau had this to say about the lowly purslane:

                 "I have made a satisfactory dinner off a dish of purslane which I gathered
                  and boiled. Yet men have come to such a pass that they frequently starve,
                  not from want of  necessaries, but for want o luxuries."

Purslane

Some purslane growing  with basil and rosemary

What can I get you for "Pasalubong?"

My husband went to NorthHampton, Mass. one weekend  for what reason I do not remember anymore. Before coming home he called and asked what pasalubong I might be interested to have. (In the  Philippines, family members who go someplace bring a pasalubong to the family upon coming home). Pasalubongs are any thing the giver thinks the receivers will enjoy...food, trinkets, shoes, souvenirs, etc. I asked for a hibiscus plant that blooms flowers bigger than my mOOnface. Steve happily obliged and  went to a nursery to search for my red Lord Baltimore. This plant has given me much enjoyment  on many fiery summers.

Hibiscus



Thus it has become a habit of mine to remind my husband not to buy me a bunch of cut flowers that will inevitably wilt and end up in the garbage. I now prefer plants instead of bouquets. (Talk about practicality over romanticism...phhhtt..) Down below is another supposedly bunch of flowers. This too is much anticipated every summer to blossom in all its  pink glory.

Alugbati

Simply steamed---that's how I want to eat my alugbati, but I don't see it here in the US so  I brought a few stems to Long Beach and planted them in pots. Alas, alugbatis love lots of sunshine and water and it is now Fall. I have the pots sitting by my window but I can tell they are not getting a lot of sun. Although they have new shoots, the stems are not turning deep purple as they should. If they should make it through the winter and to springtime, I shall bring them out in the sunshine.

I think this is also called malavar spinach. I might have to trim this growing shoot. I cannot imagine how long this will be by springtime if I don't trim them.

My Pot Garden Yields a Bounty

As early as the end of June, I got this bountiful harvest from my pot garden.

My favorite basil went to my rustic tomato-basil capellini, the parsley metamorphosed into chimichurri, the lettuce of course, eaten as a salad, the spinach, simply steamed, mint leaves enrolled themselves to tea, oregano laid back and chose itself to dry for future use, cilantro joined tomatoes for a hot salsa, and sage, sauteed in butter as an appetizer---oh, the joys of growing and consuming herbs!

Peonies

I am torn between keeping my peonies in their bush or cutting them for my little dinner table. They are simply beautiful and delicate. I am enchanted by them. They have a faint smell that makes one sniff for more of the scent. I wish the blooms would stay longer or they'd bloom some more. I remember when I had an apendectomy in 2000, my sister Jenny visited me and brought a round vase packed with white peonies. At that time Steve  brought his guitar and played  during the visit---an elderly woman who waas my roommate  was charmed and thoroughly enjoyed the vsit.