Last Saturday the three of us decided to visit our (Sandy-flooded out)  home in Long Beach and do some cleaning in our very small yard. The contractor who put up our walls left a lot of  wood pieces that he should have taken with him after his job was done.  So while Steve gathered the remnants, I puttered around in my wee garden and looked (desperately looked) for my perennials. The three big potted fig trees give me no clue at all if they made it or not. Not even one little bump of a bud. Although I am now rooting their cuttings in the water and the twigs are showing signs of life, except for the violette de bordeaux that got submerged in the combination of sea and bay water.

I am hoping big hopes for my pink and white decentera (bleeding heart) and (as big as my moonface) Lord Baltimore hibiscus, hydrangeas and 3 English roses...and more. So far I lost my pine tree out  back  and the  blue spruce in front of the house. I have a feeling my beech tree is still trying to make it.

 Meantime, while my  three potted fig trees are not showing any signs of  life, the cuttings I made from there are promising something.

Black Mission twigs are rooting and leafing out

Hardy Chicago budding and starting to root

Tiger Panache rooting

 Families on our street are very slowly trickling back to their houses. We hope to get settled back in June.
We miss our house and we are looking forward to moving back in. Storm Sandy really did a number on us. But we are all right, and still very blessed.

Blooming Walls

Ahhh...SPRINGtime!!! The season that makes me giddy with anticipation. I welcome it with floral pictures I have taken in the  past....here goes!     FLOWERS on WALLS......

Bougainvilla climbing on this beautiful house by the beach.
My sister RUTH loves  bougainvillas. She calls them BOOMBELS.

Like I said this house  stands by the beach fronting the Meditteranean Sea.
 I took this picture in 2010  at Roquebrune, South of France.

Beautiful morning glory basking in the sun...



My sweetheart Steve pushing the stroller that carried my other sweetheart Zachary
as we  explored  St. Tropez, France.

My sister BETH poses against the  wall of  climbing wisteria....Nashville, Indiana





Here, we were looking for a family-friendly beach in St. Tropez...you know where
every one wears legit bathing suits...:-)



Now this apartment building so wrapped in wisteria is in downtown New York...
I took this picture while Steve and I explored on foot in 2005...two years before Zachary came along.

Not flowers but fruit---bunches of grapes  grace the trellis of someone's yard in St. Tropez, France

Now these are  hanging roots in my friend Alex's  seventeeneightyfour.blogspot.com garden

Thus ends my warm welcome to SPRING. May we all enjoy beautiful, edible and ornamental  garden this year.

Fig Cuttings

I finally got the courage to prune my potted figs.

So last night I googled "rooting fig cuttings"

Ahh but there are many ways.

I'll just go the easiest way. Rooting them in water. Wish me well.

Katuray (Sesbania Grandiflora)

The thing with funerals is that it brings many relatives whom you have not seen for ages--- aunts, uncles, and cousins. Then you meet new faces of nephews and nieces you would otherwise not see if not for the wake. So it is a bittersweet reunion brought together by a death in the family. Updates of what's going on with our lives, reminiscences of the past were shared, gifts were exchanged, and laughter pealed.

Of the many gifts exchanged and offered, the lowly bag of the beautiful and humble katuray flowers were my favorite as well as the bag of sampaloc. I have not seen katuray in a long time...and in fact I forgot how katuray flowers taste. So we talked about what to do with them (steamed for salad or sauteed with butter and garlic).

fresh katuray flowers

steamed katuray flowers dipped in vinegar and anchovy sauce vinaigrette

Katuray blooms  from Corkwood tree also called Scarlett Wisteria tree and Vegetable Hummingbird tree are edible and come in different shades of white or red. They are said to belong to the legume family (Fabacea). The roots and the leaves of this katuray tree are also used for medicinal purposes. The flowers are excellent source of calcium, traces of iron and vitamin B. They are also considered as  cancer inhibitor. 

I was happy to rediscover this floral salad. It has some crunch and a  little bitterness to it. Katuray flowers are fun to eat. I hope to have more of this in the future.

Same Beans

On days when my job brings me to Richmond Hill, I browse through the West Indies vegetable stores on my lunchbreak.I keep my eyes peeled for greens or any item that are not familiar to me. I also look for indigenous items that I might know from home. I would hope to see my favorite winged bean that I grew up eating stewed or  steamed. And so today I came across a kind of bean that I have never seen before. So gorgeous waiting in the box to be bought for $2.99 a pound. My heart thumped as I felt with my fingers its flatness and width and contours. I sniffed it's bean smell and my mouth easily watered. I was reminded of steamed veggies  that we ate with grilled fish, both dipped in liquid sauces that accompany our meals. Funny, it's labeled "Same Beans".  I don't get it. Same is it's name?
I scooped up a pound worth of the flat beans and asked the lady behind the register how they cook it. She said they slice them in pieces and cook them with their curry dish. I shall cook them tonight, but simply sauteed in garlic and ginger and miso.  It will be the side dish to baked chicken drumsticks and brown rice.  Finding this beautiful flat beans to me, is a serendipitous thrill.

As long as my hand  half as wide.

 

The Makings of a Peach-Habanero Hot Sauce

Habaneros

Add Peaches

                                                              Add Lime

                                                                 Add Onion

                                                               and Vinegar

then SALT to your  taste.

Voila! Peach-Habanero
Hot Sauce!YEEOOOWWW!!!!

I went out for a walk this morning and here's what I saw on one of my neighbor's (down the block) fence. Clusters of grapes that looked to me like Concord grapes. I reached out for one and popped it in my mouth. Yep, sweet ashen blue concord grapes.

I looked down and saw overripe fallen grapes scattered on the cement floor.

I realized these grapes are being ignored. Perhaps the owner is tired of them. My heart went pitter-patter. 

this is the outside part of the fence. There are more clusters of grapes on the other (inner) side

oh my foraging heart wants to help myself to my neighbor's grapevine............................perhaps, I'll just plant my own next spring....sigh...