It's been a week since I last updated, and quite a week it's been! Two BBQ parties, gardening on the balcony planting veggies for the fall, and more - pics below
Starting on Saturday evening, Ian and I attended the gay soccer club's "tops & bottoms" match ... where teams were either shirtless or shorts-less. Needless to say, there were some pretty fabulous outfits out there on the pitch (or lack thereof!). It was really fun and proceeds benefitted the Gay/Lesbian Business Association. Later, I attended a backyard BBQ/recital for the Puget Sound Symphony Orchestra which I have recently auditioned for. At first I was a little reluctant to go, but homemade roasted garlic hummus in hand, I took the bus up to the Greenlake neighborhood where the director was hosting. Long story short, I'm really happy I went ... met a ton of really cool people and realized that although the standards and level of talent in this orchestra are quite high, I am glad the emphasis is on this orchestra being social rather than cutthroat competitive like many others I've played in. Since the group is young professionals or ex-conservatory students, there's a really cool mix of experiences, ages, and ideas.
On Sunday morning, we would have gone to sell a second round of our jams at the farmer's market, however, Molly couldn't make it so we skipped. I spent the afternoon making another big batch of roasted garlic hummus dip for Ian's soccer team (Seattle Stonewall F.C.) BBQ we attended later in the afternoon:
Beautiful, huh? The Halawi dates were delicious ... might be my new favorite date (sorry, medjools!), and the chives garnish was from the garden ... topped off with a dusting of paprika
As we near the end of summer, I like to see the seasonal changes in produce at the markets ...
Got this fresh garden onion from a cute gay couple who sells their backyard vegetable garden produce at a table at the same farmer's market I sell my jams at. Last year they planted their entire backyard with edibles and this is their first harvest ... how rewarding! And look at how fresh the onion is!
Ian found this melon at the farmer's market this past Sunday while I was sleeping in. We had it for breakfast ... it's the CUTEST thing EVER and the size of a grapefruit. Apparently it's called a "chanterelle melon" but I couldn't find anything on Google about it. I guess it's an heirloom variety of melon, and also may be known as a British garden melon?
[UPDATE]: This melon is actually called a "Charentais" melon ... it is grown in southern France and Spain
[UPDATE]: This melon is actually called a "Charentais" melon ... it is grown in southern France and Spain
Hands down the SWEETEST melon I've ever had. You could literally smell the inside of the melon from the outside before even cutting. Tasted like a mixture of papaya and cantaloupe, and also gave me the most interesting tingling on my tongue! I'm saving the seeds to see if I can grow this eventually
I also bought $10 worth of white nectarines at Pike's Place Market today for only $2, as well as quite a few donut peaches (so peachy!), tiny sweet italian plums, and this really interesting mexican mango that I've never seen before (yeah, yeah, I know that's not local but forgive me and allow me to indulge a little). I also grabbed my thai basil and mint for tonight's dinner of vietnamese vegetable summer rolls and peanut sauce - you know, the clear rice paper kind? yeah .. yum
Now for the balcony garden ....
I'll never get tired of looking at how much is growing on such a tiny balcony space
Can you count the tomatoes? They're now flourishing on both the red bush and golden tomato plants! There are over 12 tomatoes so far and more on the way each week
Golden tomatoes starting to grow now, a bit later than the red bush tomato plant
Remember my post about a week or so back where I planted some softneck garlic cloves? A couple have sprouted now
You can see I've been cutting chives for a bunch of meals (this was the garnish on the hummus, too)
Poppy seeds take a long time to sprout, and then seem like they don't get any bigger. I guess I can't rush the flowers...
Plenty of salad greens ready to be eaten. The past week of hot weather, however, has caused them to "bolt" ... a gardening/farming term referring to lettuce plants suddenly creating a flower stalk in the center to prepare seeds in case it dies. I've plucked the flowers off of most of the greens, but left one on to see what happens
Red turban squash plant has been giving me plenty of fresh, delicious squash blossoms ... maybe this will go into tonight's summer rolls?
And now the fall semester of school is back in full swing ... its incredible to me that this is already my last year! Since moving here, I've been doing/learning some pretty cool things and I'm excited about my future here in Seattle and Washington state ... selling homemade jams at the farmer's market, joining the puget sound symphony, watching ian's soccer games, cooking everything from scratch, hiking, riding ferry boats around, walking the city and my gayborhood, meeting some awesome people here, and taking pleasure in the seasonal bounty of nature.
Again, not bad at all ;-)
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