May 24 2013
1 Comment
adventures, Forest Park, gardening, home is a 1970s apartment

It’s GROWING!

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It’s been a rainy week here in Chicagoland, so gardening has been put on hold…the rain takes care of the watering, but we need to get in soon to pull weeds! BUT, we visited the garden quickly last night before the sun went down and I’m happy to report that WE HAVE PLANTS! And not just weed plants (hmmm…you know what I mean…) we have daikon and watermelon radishes, lettuce and cucumbers peeking out of the ground! Many a high fives were exchanged in the car after this picture was taken. I know we have a lot more growing to do, so don’t think we are getting over-confident around here, but it’s good to see things popping up. Thanks to Mother Nature for all of the good rain to help things along!

We have a busy, busy weekend planned. Tomorrow my parents are bringing my grandma up to see our apartment for the first time! I’ve been trying to clean and get our place into “show mode” and failing miserably. So the rest of my Friday night shall be spent mopping floors and dusting and trying to pretend the guest room looks okay (even though it is the retired furniture graveyard and full of Honor Flight Mail Call stuff!) I haven’t seen my grandmother in so long and we’ve never hosted her in our neighborhood, so I’m really excited to see her and my parents, too! We’re taking them to see our garden and to Portillo’s for an Italian Beef. Then Sunday we both work, then we are going to a potluck BBQ at the community garden and then we are hosting cocktails for our friend Karen’s birthday. And on Monday (Memorial Day here in the US), we both work (boo)…

I’m looking forward to a quiet week next week. Our wedding anniversary is coming up and I still need to finalize my plan for Naoto’s gift. I am wishfully thinking of making something for him…something out of wool or copper. (Those are the traditional gifts for the 7th anniversary.) I’ll keep you posted.

Have a good weekend! I’ll be back Monday

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May 22 2013
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gardening, homemaking

Geranium Troubles

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Do you remember this geranium from last year? Well, it’s back outside again this spring–it’s the tall, skinny, flowerless one right by the gnome above. Last year, it lived with a couple of annuals and an ivy geranium (which, sadly, did not make it through the winter). This year, I planted a couple of fresh new geraniums with it. It looks nice and colorful in the hanging pot. The trouble is, I have another hanging pot filled completely with last year’s geraniums. It looks sad. See?

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It’s just hanging out…not producing any flowers…last year, my old geranium didn’t bloom until August…I don’t want this pot to languish without blooms until then. Is there anything I can do to hurry it along?

It’s too late for this year, but it looks like I should take a different approach to overwintering my growing geranium collection. (I just leave them all in their pots in a north facing window…not much overwintering there!) This article from the Iowa State University Extension Program was informational on the proper way to overwinter geraniums…I’m hoping next year, my plants will be ready for blooming in the spring!

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May 21 2013
1 Comment
gardening, in my library

The Good Earth

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We read The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck for book club this month and I loved it. The book can be summed up with one classic phrase from the late, great Notorious B.I.G.: Mo’ money, mo’ problems.

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In turn-of-the-century China, Wang Lung is a poor farmer who marries a slave, O-Lan, who has working hands and big, unbound feet. But it is because of O-Lan’s work ethic, resourcefulness and working hands and feet that Wang Lung is able to survive droughts and famine to become a rich landowner. Wang Lung does not appreciate this until the end…after he takes another woman (with beautiful, small features and tiny, bound feet), builds a larger house to accommodate his first family, his lover and his mooching relatives, and realizes he has raised spoiled children because they didn’t have to work for everything as he had.

I think Wang Lung is a good man (in spite of the fact that he followed the traditional rich land owner’s path of having a concubine…) who gets caught up in the human desire for more. It takes him awhile to learn the lesson, but I think as he’s struggling to learn it, he just wants everyone around him to be satisfied, even though this often leads to more unrest among the ungrateful members of his family.

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O-Lan is now one of my favorite literary characters. She is such a strong woman who accepts her path in life and makes the most of it. She is so resourceful, stretching small luxuries out so they could be enjoyed longer, conserving even when they are rich enough to be wasteful. In spite of Wang Lung taking a second woman in the home, O-Lan remains devoted to her family, true to her role and wife and mother, but also draws her boundaries clearly. I cannot imagine living at a time when working class women were considered slaves from birth, expected to care for her husband and his family in addition to working in the fields and bearing children alone.

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I loved reading this book in the spring as we were starting our garden since so much of the book is centered around the earth and farming. I borrowed an old copy from the library (I think this copy was published in the 1947, the original book was published in 1931) and I am so glad I did because throughout the book, there were wonderful illustrations. I loved seeing Howard Willard’s interpretations of the story (as seen throughout this post).

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Have you read The Good Earth or any other books by Pearl Buck? I own her book A Portrait of a Marriage and I’m thinking I need to pull it off the shelf. Are there any other good summer reads I should add to my list?

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May 20 2013
3 Comments
cocktails, gardening

Cocktail Perfected: The Goliath

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Thanks to a timely tweet by North Shore Distillery, I think I’ve found the summer cocktail of 2013. The Goliath is served at The Tiny Lounge in Chicago (note to Naoto: I want to go here) and Refinery 29 shared the recipe last week. It was the perfect storm of ingredients for me, because I happened to have everything on hand Thursday night for a little impromptu happy hour on the balcony. It’s summer in a glass–lime, cucumber, herb-y Chartreuse and gin… so refreshing on a sunny afternoon! Naoto loves this cocktail, which is a little surprising since he hates Chartreuse (crazy!), and we are both excited to drink a few more of these this summer with our very own, community garden grown Japanese cucumbers!

The Goliath

2 oz gin (We used North Shore No. 6 because that’s what we have, but No. 11 is better!)

1 oz freshly squeezed lime juice

1/2 oz simple syrup

1/4 oz Green Chartreuse

5 slices of cucumber, + a few slices for garnish

Soda (optional…I liked it better without)

Add all ingredients (except the soda) to a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake vigorously to break up the cucumber. Strain into a glass with ice. Top with soda (we had it both ways, I prefer it without the soda) and garnish with cucumber. Enjoy on your balcony after you’ve tended to the garden.

 

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May 17 2013
4 Comments
adventures, Forest Park, gardening

The Garden is Planted

IMG_2116Yesterday afternoon Naoto and I popped over to the garden and planted MOST of our garden. It was the perfect day for planting–warm, sunny and quiet in the garden. It was nice to be there with Naoto…and not just because he did some of the heavy lifting! We both quickly realized that this whole gardening hobby could be a lot of fun this summer–and probably could be pretty rewarding as long as we actually grow something!

IMG_2114We pulled weeds and added a little bit more mulch to our plot before we got started. Then, Naoto dug holes for me and I planted our three tomato plants (two Big Boys and one Brandywine) and our pepper plant in the south end of our plot. Then, while Naoto weeded around our garden plot (the man was a weeding maniac!), I planted our Japanese cucumber and our luffa seeds in the North part of the garden. (Yes, we are going to try to grow our own loofah sponges…a totally weird experiment that I just couldn’t resist!) Our watermelon is going in this neighborhood, too, I just forgot the seeds at home. Then, in the center of the garden, we planted our daikon, watermelon radishes, lettuce, golden beets, limas and peas. There is still quite a bit of real estate left on our plot…I’m thinking more tomatoes. Or green beans. Or tomatoes. Definitely tomatoes. Oh, and we dug up the chive (thanks to Danielle and my dad for knowing what the big ol’ mystery plant is!) and it is now living happily (?) in a pot on our balcony.

IMG_2115At the end, Naoto gave our garden a hearty rain shower. I’m looking forward to going back later this afternoon to check on things…and I’m trying to remain an optimist that things will actually grow!

Have a good weekend! I’ll be back next week with a tasty, Naoto-approved somen recipe, my new favorite summer cocktail recipe and hopefully a peek at the balcony garden!

 

Disclaimer: As much as it looks like Naoto was the only one working, I promise that is only because I was the only one taking pictures and my work went undocumented. 

 

 

 

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May 15 2013
2 Comments
gardening, homemaking

The Garden Awaits

DSC_0013It has been such a weird spring around here. There have been days where temperatures were creeping towards 90, and then the next day, I’m pulling out my winter coat again. Typically in the Midwest, you can put your tomato plants in the ground by Mother’s Day (Sunday). We had plans to plant our garden on Saturday after the Community Garden meeting, but there was a frost warning on Sunday night, so we put planting on hold. Sure, we could have put our seeds in the ground and then waited to put the tomato and pepper plants in, but we kind of want to do it all at once. Naoto is off from Trader Joe’s the rest of the week, so hopefully we can squeeze in a little garden time one of the evenings this week.

Last weekend with my parents, I chose three tomato plants, one pepper plant and a bunch of seeds for the garden (pictured above along with some from my pen pal Danielle). Everything is pretty straightforward except the vining plants, which will need a little trellis to grow up into. The trellis will need to be a weekend project in the coming weeks. Ahhh…projects like this make me realize how little we know about gardening…but that’s the fun of this project, right? (Right?!) Naoto is very excited for the daikon radishes and I’m most looking forward to our tomato varieties, the golden beets and the lima beans…I love limas!

Today I am working on repotting some flowers I bought yesterday. Now that we are spending more time out there, I want to make sure it’s not a giant mess of outdoor furniture and empty pots (which it is now). Off to work!

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May 10 2013
1 Comment
gardening, homemaking, in my library

Reading, Rain and Rally

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Yesterday I had grand plans to get the house all cleaned up for the weekend, and it only sort of happened. I tidied a bit and fretted about but didn’t get all of my projects accomplished. It threatened to rain all day, making it the perfect day to stay indoors and get stuff done. It turns out it didn’t rain until the late, late afternoon. And when it started, it was a light mist, so I went out side and sat on the wicker couch and read my book for a bit. I’m reading The Good Earth for book group. We picked it because it’s spring–time for gardening and working with the earth–and it’s a really intriguing look at Chinese farm life in the turn of the century. We read a lot of books about rich white people in our book group , so this is a nice departure from the usual reads. (I should explain this more in a post dedicated to book group…)

Today, I am sweeping and mopping and sorting mail (or maybe just sorting mail). Our next Honor Flight is Tuesday, so there is a lot to do today and tonight to get everything ready. Naoto has been in Connecticut since yesterday and he comes home tonight, too. As much as Presley and I enjoyed having the bed to ourselves last night (SNORE-FREE SLEEP!) we are both looking forward to having him home and getting to hang out tomorrow. We’re going to a Food Truck Rally, then to our community garden orientation and after that, we are planting our garden! I can’t wait!

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May 08 2013
10 Comments
adventures, gardening, summer manifesto

Getting Started…

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I headed over to the garden plot this afternoon to tackle the weed situation in our plot. As you can tell from above, things were pretty weedy…but our plot wasn’t the worst one, so that made me feel a little bit better as I kneeled down and started pulling. Most of the weeds came out relatively easily, but several of them were really rooted. I have callouses on my hands from all the tugging. I kept thinking, as I was bending over, the drivers sitting at the light on Harlem must see me like one of those “old lady butts” that used to be popular garden decorations. (Do you remember those? No? Maybe it was a regional thing? If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s an example of one.)

IMG_2003I found this tiny, soft carrot during the weed pulling.

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IMG_2007After weeding, I started hauling mulch to our plot. The community garden had a huge mulch delivery that we are all welcome to use. I hauled five buckets to our plot, which was dirty work, thanks to a mulch avalanche onto my feet and the fact that I was doing everything with my tiny garden spade instead of a proper shovel.

IMG_2009After two hours of weeding and hauling, I had this to enjoy:

IMG_2010There is a plant in the corner (garlic maybe?) that I didn’t weed out. I’m not sure what it is and I know I don’t want to keep it, but it’s so big that I think I’ll need a shovel to get it out (instead of my tiny gardening spade). Naoto and I will be back at the garden this weekend to take care of the mystery plant. We’ll plant our seeds and tomato and pepper plants then, too. I am really excited! I’m looking forward to more afternoons of dirty feet and dirty hands this summer!

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May 07 2013
2 Comments
adventures, gardening, Those Were the Days

Sweet Tooth

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This past weekend, I met up with my parents for some garden shopping. We met in our usual spot, Peru, Illinois, which is kind of a halfway point for us. (It’s a bit of a longer drive for me, but it’s worth it because that area has great thrift stores!) We usually go to the same ol’ places but since I was on the hunt for tomato and pepper plants for my garden, they took me to Rural King–”America’s Farm & Home Store”. I did get some plants and some seeds here (more on that later) but I fell in love with the store for other reasons.

Reason #1: the free popcorn and coffee. When you walk in the Rural King door, you are welcomed by the scent of freshly popped popcorn and a pot of coffee. Isn’t that so sweet and old-fashioned? My mom and I helped ourselves to some popcorn while we poked around the candy aisles.

Reason #2: the vintage candy selection! Where else can you get seeds for your garden, parts for your tractor, food for your chickens AND old-timey gum and sweets?! I could have bought one of everything, but I decided to narrow it down to a few things (mainly because I didn’t want my candy bill to out-do my garden bill…so embarrassing…)

Here’s a rundown of my choices:

Chuckles, a sugar coated jelly candy introduced in 1921. (There is an interesting review of the Chuckles flavors here.) I am familiar with Chuckles, but I can’t remember ever tasting them, so I’m looking forward to breaking the package open this week.

Teaberry gum, my faaaavorite gum of all time. It was introduced in 1900 was popular in the 60s. (Has it been on Mad Men?) If you’ve never tried it, I think you should–it’s sweet and has a slight wintergreen flavor…it’s hard to pinpoint…it’s not super minty, it’s just wonderful. And I love the packaging and all of its vintage pink goodness. I found the commercial below and I may have spent a good amount of time this morning perfecting my Teaberry shuffle…

Clove gum is another old gum…there’s not much to say about it except that it’s reeeally clove-y. It’s not bad, but I think one pack would have been enough to walk down memory lane.

Beemans gum is from the 19th century. I’d forgotten what it tasted like. For some reason, I was thinking honey (BEEman…turns out he’s the inventor of the gum and not a bee) but it’s a nice light mint flavor…different than Teaberry, but almost as good!

And finally, Sky Bar. I’d never seen this one before and I am most excited to try it. It’s made up of four sections with four different fillings: caramel, vanilla, peanut and fudge. According to the Necco website, the Sky Bar is still the only candy bar to offer four different flavors. I had a very healthy lunch today (involving roasted cauliflower) so I doubt this candy bar makes it through the afternoon.

I think my favorite part of the old-timey candies is that their packaging is usually the original design…no one felt the need to update it to keep up with the “cool kids”. It’s charming and tasty and while I’m eating it, I just can’t help but think (in an old granny voice): They don’t make things like they used to.

 

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May 06 2013
3 Comments
Forest Park, gardening, homemaking, snail mail, what's for dinner

Scenes from the Balcony

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Last week spring hit…hard. One could argue that summer hit because we had temperatures in the 80s and I got a little sunburn from enjoying breakfast on the balcony. (I need to be more careful!) For two whole days, I did nothing but sit outside and write letters, read gardening books, eat breakfast, lunch & dinner and enjoy the fresh blooms on the trees. It felt good to soak up some Vitamin D and breathe in the spring air.  This week, it’s supposed to be warm and sunny again. But this week, instead of sitting around dreaming about gardening, I will be weeding out the garden plot, finalizing the planting plan. And that sounds just right to me.

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