The five little things that made my week…
1. Starting my six-day weekend with a paddle at Sand Harbor, home of the bluest water I’ve ever seen.
Quite literally, đồ chua means “sour stuff” — or Vietnamese pickles, in this case. It was a staple in my parents’ house while growing up, and eventually became a staple in my own grown-up house. It’s a very Vietnamese thing and reminds me of all the wonderful home cooking from my childhood. I can eat a whole jar of this sour stuff in one sitting.
What I discovered years ago was that in Vietnam, đồ chua is mostly made with daikon since it’s cheap and commonly grown. Carrots are added just for color. On the flip side, some restaurants in the US (especially those in small towns with less of an Asian population) tend to go a tad heavier on the carrots, which are easier to source.
I like a 50/50 mix of daikon and carrots, and I’ll even throw in non-traditionally colored carrots for fun. Essentially, daikon is a mild white radish — Korean varieties tend to be large and round, while Japanese varieties are long and cylindrical. I’ve seen Chinese varieties both ways at the Asian market, and you’ll be fine with whatever you find. This season I grew Miyashige daikon at home.
This easy recipe will be familiar for many of you who’ve tried đồ chua before. It tastes quite similar to what you’ve had in a down-home Vietnamese restaurant, and that’s what I like most about it. You can’t beat simplicity.
This is one of my favorite times of year… The season that straddles spring and summer, when the days are long and warm and my lemon tree is bursting with bright yellow ornaments. These sunshiny days simply beg for the clink of ice cubes in a mason jar and the cold sip of a fresh homemade lemonade. Preferably outside. Preferably with condensation all over your table, and you don’t even care because you’re in a carefree summer lovin’ state of mind.
I prefer Eureka lemons over Meyer lemons since I like a more acidic lemonade — tart and tangy, just like the ones I used to drink growing up. (Conveniently, I happened to move into a house with a Eureka lemon tree in the backyard.)
When I want something a little different, I’ll sub some basil in place of the rosemary. And when I want to make a spritzer, I’ll make this delicious lemon-basil syrup to keep in the fridge for those carbonated cravings (as you might have guessed, you can turn that into a lemon-rosemary syrup too).
Let’s all raise a mason jar (or a tall glass, as long as it’s icy) and count down to the dog days of summer!
If there’s one thing you should know about me, it’s this: I love to drive. Or rather, my husband loves to drive, and I love to take pictures while leaning out the window.
Road trips have always been a big part of our life — starting with our first date over six years ago, when we decided to do a week-long road trip through the Eastern Sierra together. If you can survive being confined to a car with the same person for a week, wearing the same clothes every day, and traversing over 500 miles through doohickey towns in Central California… well then, it’s totally meant to be.
What we love most about road trips is taking the road less traveled, as cliched as it sounds. But that’s the truth.
I love to garden, and I love to write about it on my blog. But what do I love more than telling other people about my garden? Hearing about other people’s gardens!
Last week, I teamed up with Malibu Compost to give away a prize package that’s designed to get your spring off to a great start. The goodies include their Bu’s Brew Biodynamic Compost Tea, Bu’s Best Biodynamic Compost Tomato Tea, Bu’s Buds Biodynamic Compost Rose Tea, and Stella Natura 2013 Biodynamic Planting Calendar. All of that goodness, all in one package — it’s enough to last at least a few seasons, so you’ll be able to see what a difference it makes!
Judging from everyone’s entries, it sounds like you all have amazing things happening in your gardens this spring and you’ve even inspired me to plant a few more things soon. (I’m so jealous about the 39 varieties of tomatoes that one reader is growing!) And I love the assortment of edibles being planted everywhere from cold and rainy Washington to hot and muggy Florida.
One winner has been drawn by my randomizer, and that winner is…
It’s Saturday. And tomorrow is Sunday — Cinco de Mayo, to be exact. That means you still have all day to collect the ingredients for this fiery cocktail that’s sure to light up your weekend fiesta!
First, we have agave: 100% agave tequila (I prefer the bold, biting flavor of blanco for this recipe) and agave nectar, which adds a touch of sweetness. (If you don’t have agave nectar, you can substitute simple syrup by boiling equal parts sugar and water on the stove until the sugar is dissolved.)
Then we add a jalapeño for kick. And for an even bigger kick, we salt the rims with spice rub. That’s right, it’s getting hot up in here! I like to use a smoked spice rub to complement the punchy-ness and tartness of the grapefruit, the same kind of spice that I rub on my meat. Think ancho chiles, chipotle chilies, paprika, cumin, garlic… something along the lines of smoky, spicy, and slightly sweet. Use a pre-made rub or freestyle your own, but if this is all too weird for you, an old-fashioned salt rim works too.
Then head out to your garden (or the store) and pick a couple of grapefruits and limes to top off what I like to call a gartending concoction — garden bartending, that is.
I guarantee you will be the most popular peep at that party tomorrow. Better stock up.
I’m starting my first series on the blog today, and hopefully I’ll be disciplined enough to keep it up!
Five Things Friday will be a new feature every other Friday that recaps the five little things that made my week. It’ll give you a glimpse into the goings-on in my life… things that don’t need a whole entry to themselves, but are still worthy of sharing because they put a smile on my face.
Things like…
1. The first tomatoes of the season.
