Spider killing a bee

I haven't written a damn thing in a couple weeks. My combined email inboxes now contain over 1500 messages. My friends on Facebook wonder what happened to me...

It's spring time here and I have been spending all of my spare time (and then some) in the garden. The urgency is particularly great with the Hillside Gardens tour just one week away (I was interviewed for the local newspaper yesterday - nice.)

While I still have a lot to say, a lot to write, and a lot to cook, spending time outside definitely has advantages over sitting at my desk. Amongst many, many things, I get to see the natural (and naturalesque) world more deeply when I spend my time in the garden. Yesterday I was outside talking to my friend Andy (who is also my landscaper.) I saw a bee sitting on my white lilac but not moving. It was so odd, it was completely immobile, so I went closer to check it out. I realized that it was in the jaws of an almost perfectly camoulflaged spider. Wow! (Note that I cropped the image and increased the contrast in Photoshop to make the spider more visible.)

Creepy but beautiful, and fully part of the natural world. I like the ant peeking out from behind a flower petal just to the upper left of the scene.


Postscript 5/4/11:  Found this on Wikipedia. I think it is Misumena vatia. Apparently this spider can change color at will!

Garden Tour

The water feature in my garden.

photo (c) Acorn Landscaping

Busy, busy, busy.

It's spring here in California, and when California springs, it doesn't kid around. I've completely lost count of the number of hours I have spent in the garden over the last two weeks. Weeding, pruning, fertilizing (organic), spraying (Safer Soap, etc.) Then there's "The Farm" - turning the soil, tilling and cultivating, pulling old carrots and planting new ones, planting corn, tomatoes, peppers, cantaloupe, cucumbers, zucchini, patty pan squash, herbs... Then there's the spring harvests - crazy amounts of chard and fava beans. On top of that I have to do something with all that food.

Busy, busy, busy.

Spring in the garden is always a busy time, but this year it is doubly so because my garden will be featured in the Hillside Gardeners of Montclair garden tour, May 1. This is a wonderful tour of gardens in Oakland's Montclair district that raises funds for various horticultural educational projects. I'm very pleased and honored to have my garden on the tour. However, it is an extra challenge because I want to time things so that by May 1 my garden looks perfect, but I also want it to look untouched. Perfect but effortless. No easy feat.

As if that weren't enough, I noticed that the Hillside Gardener's of Montclair didn't have a web site (tsk, tsk.) To my surprise, HillsideGardeners.com was available! So, I registered it and created a web site for them.

Busy, busy, busy!

Online Bake Sale for Japan (conclusion)

Congratulations to The Tomato Tart and all the many chef/bloggers who made this happen.  Wow!

The Uncarved Block Waffle

The Uncarved Block Waffle

Aka The "Andrew Needs Adult Supervision in the Kitchen Waffle"

Finally, The Uncarved Block Waffle! It's not an easy waffle to make, but for the official waffle of The Uncarved Block, why should it be? It is fluffy inside, crispy outside, and sweet with a multi-layered flavor. It is a profound waffle. (Not at all modest, am I?)

Wet Ingredients:

• 1 whole egg
• 1 13.5oz can of coconut milk (As with so many products, Chaokoh has downsized their coconut milk instead of increasing the price.)
• 2 Tbs unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tsp Tahitian vanilla
• 1/8 cup Malibu coconut rum
• 1 cup fresh, ripe sweet mango, medium dice
• 1 cup cooked white rice (preferably Jasmin)

Dry Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup rice flour (NOT glutenous rice flower)
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp sugar (heaping)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch salt

Method:
Preheat waffle iron (the first step in all waffle recipes, doesn't this go without saying?)

Whisk the egg, coconut milk, vanilla, butter and rum together in one bowl (note: the butter should be melted but not hot). Then gently add the mango and rice. Sift together the dry ingredients in another bowl, making sure they are thoroughly combined. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, stirring until fully combined into a thin batter, but without beating up the mango too badly. Note that there aren't many glutens present, so you don't have to worry too much about overworking the batter.

The last instruction in most waffle recipes is "Make waffles according to waffle iron manufacturer's instructions," or some such. However, for this recipe do NOT necessarily follow the the manufacturer's instructions.

I recently got a fancy schmancy new waffle iron that purports to tell you when your waffle is ready (the Chef's Choice M840.)  I don't know how it decides when the waffle is done. Perhaps it thinks it is done when the heating element returns to a certain temp after being cooled by the batter? Maybe it is just a timer? I don't know. But, in any case, this is a very moist dough and the mango and rice are full of water. The Chef's Choice instructions say that you should not watch for the steaming to slow or stop as with old fashioned waffle irons, but rather to open the iron and remove the waffle when the buzzer sounds regardless of steam. With this recipe, if you follow those instructions, you get a waffle that comes out beautifully crisp, but 10 seconds later it is a soggy noodle.

My best results come from setting the M840 at #4 (out of 5) darkness, and letting it go through two whole cycles before removing the waffle. Also, placing the waffles on a cold plate causes instant condensation and sogginess. Resting them first on paper towels cured this problem.  If you have an "old fashioned" waffle iron that requires you to pay attention, wait for the steam to dissipate as usual but be prepared for it to take a relatively long time.

Serve with fresh fruit (preferably more mango,) or powdered sugar, or both. Maple syrup is definitely not recommended.

Notes:

• The rice must be cooked, but need not be freshly cooked. Last night's left overs are fine.
• This can result in a very thick batter depending on a lot of factors like weather, water content of the flour and the rice, etc. Add water to thin the batter down as needed.
• If your waffle iron has a temperature adjustment, you may find better results at a lower temperature than usual (and longer time) to allow the center of the waffle to cook thoroughly.
• I like Tahitian vanilla for this recipe. It has a sweet cherry-like tone that I find goes nicely with coconut. If you don't have Tahitian, Madagascar will do.
• Don't use glutinous rice flour, it is just too gloppy.

The Uncarved Block Adult Root Beer Float

Why have I developed this wild craving for root beer floats? I've no idea. If you figure it out, please let me know.

Here then is the official Uncarved Block Adult Root Beer Float (tm)

Ingredients:

1 bottle Virgil's Root Beer (or equivalent boutique root beer or homemade)
1 scoop homemade coconut sorbet (see below)
1 jigger Malibu coconut rum (or equivalent), more or less to taste
1 bendable straw.

Method:

Add Malibu and a few ounces of root beer to a tall glass and mix (mixing destroys the carbination in the soda, so we "sacrifice" a few ounces to help the mix.)
Place a scoup of coconut sorbet in the glass. Top with root beer. Note that with any root beer float, the root beer will foam up quite a lot, so add slowly, and as a precaution do this in the sink or on a towel.

Insert a bendable straw (this is vital!) Enjoy.

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For my coconut sorbet I start with Ming's Perfectly Simple Coconut Sorbet from Food.com, but there are two things I don't like about this recipe. Most important I feel like there is much too much shredded coconut. I also find it too sweet. Nonetheless, it could hardly be easier. So, check that out and note my comments on that page.