Home cookin', a lesson in produce, and new plants (yay!!) .. .but DAMN it's HOT today

Over 92 degrees way up here in Seattle? No fan or A/C? Ouch! Well, actually I've been fanning myself with my incredibly masculine japanese silk fan hahaha ;-)

Still, we've been keeping the windows and balcony doors WIDE open all day and all night. Monday should bring it back down to the 70s. I did not leave Arizona and Hawaii for more hot weather! I miss my rain.

Anyhow, first up today ... I'm getting better at cooking on the fly with whatever we have at home. When I first started cooking, I planned so much - what to get at the store, what order to throw things into the pan, etc. Now, it's coming much more naturally. Check out yesterday's lunch with stuff we had in our fridge (and the leftover poppyseed bread I made):

Before: Mixed salad greens, mushrooms, zucchini, tomatos, and onions

After: Here's my fancy menu description ... poppyseed crostini with balsamic spicy salad greens and peppered summer vegetables with egg. hahaha. It was actually pretty delicious. Congrats to me!

Moving on - today's produce lesson. It surprised me when I first shopped at our local community-owned co-op market to see garlic that had a purple-ish color to it. I was always used to the white kind. For a comparison:

See what I'm talking about? The garlic on the left has purple "veins". Anyhow, after reading my produce book I learned that there are two main kinds of garlic you see at markets. You may be more familiar with the variety on the right side (all white) which is called softneck garlic. The variety on the left is called hardneck garlic. True to their names, the "neck" portion that sticks up at the top where the leaves have been cut off can either be hard or soft. The purple tinted "hardneck" garlic has a very hard "stem" between all the cloves and I think has a stronger flavor than the softneck variety and it's easier to peel the cloves apart. I've seen both around here, but the hardneck is more common at our local market - maybe it grows well around here?

The cute, tiny local neighborhood garden shop today posted on their blog that they were having 20% outdoor plants so I decided to stop by. They no longer had strawberries, but i was able to score a yellow zucchini plant and a mini turban squash plant for super cheap! Here's a quick garden update - everything is growing so quickly since it's been sunny and warm the last couple days:

Bright and sunny - and pretty hot today! Plants must be enjoying it

New guy #1: Mini turban squash - I've never heard of it, but after doing a little research they look really cool and I look forward to cooking with them

This mini turban squash plant's blossom (yellow bulb in the picture) should eventually turn into ...

this cool thing! My plant will grow smaller versions (hence the name "mini") but they look delicious and so interesting

Yellow zucchini plant with a blossom ready to go. Zucchini soon?

Many more yellow zucchini on their way

Oregano is now incredibly bushy since I clipped some for pasta sauce. Like I said, clipping herbs like basil and oregano actually makes them even bigger and sturdy

Garlic chives (left), salad greens (center), and regular chives (right). Time to thin out the weaker salad greens and transplant them deeper.

More tomato flowers! So I counted this morning, and so far this early in the season I expect a minimum of 30 tomatoes (15 flowers on each plant as of now, so knock on wood). Pretty cool huh? Just $5 for a tomato plant from the farmer's market that will give me at least 15 tomatoes - and that's just this first set.

So just out of curiosity, a couple days ago I wanted to experiment and see if the poppy seeds that I used to bake into my bread were able to sprout ... and they did! Now I can throw them in the pot and have beautiful poppy flowers.

Did I mention that the mini red turban squash plant and the yellow zucchini plants together were only a total of $4? The owner had them outside on sale for 20% off since they're getting salad greens and herbs tomorrow and need to clear some space, and since I'm a shareholder of our neighborhood co-op market, I got an additional 10% off. Score!! Buying the zucchini and squash alone at the market would be more than $4, and I'll have many more. See ... edibles gardening really pays off!

So it's been like in the 90s now for a couple days and it's pretty hot since I walk everywhere. Walking by Cal Anderson park from the market, lots of kids (and adults) were cooling off in the fountain and wading pools, splashing around and climbing the volcano. I love seeing people use public spaces. It's a beautiful sight:

Since it's so hot tonight I was going to make pasta sauce to go with some fresh egg pasta, but I'm thinking something cold will be much better. Probably soba with edamame, green onion, and sesame oil - call it an Asian noodle salad, I guess.

And finally, I leave you with a shot near the public library where I was so diligently studying last evening (haha) :

Silly hipsters .. then again I guess this is Capitol Hill.

Time to continue fanning myself and drink some of that coconut water I bought.

Peace