Culinary Curiosities

Between the garden and our local farmers’ market, we’ve eaten some tasty oddities. Among my favorites is a corn cob with a conjoined twin, of sorts.

Imagine my surprise...

The unformed ear shows the silk still attached to the forming kernels. I’d forgotten that’s where all those tassels originate. Sorry for the poor focus, which I didn’t recognize before now.

Besides my rotten focus, I broke the
tiny cob, adding insult to injury.

An interesting watermelon surprised me by tasting better icy cold. It was so refreshing that I may buy another tomorrow if they’re still available. ~fingers crossed~ The excess number of seeds was a minor and manageable nuisance.

Yum...

Our gong boa peppers are rather fun. Some of the fruits twist and turn. I’ve been drying them for later use, along with some of the even spicier ‘hot burrito’ variety.

Pretty cool, I think...

Do you have access to an open air market? Can you see the light webbing at left in the middle of the chili’s curl? That would provide fine shelter for a tiny animal, wouldn’t it?

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Hide and Seek – & – An Early Christmasy Surprise

Our vegetable plants continue to produce without any serious pest problems, I’m happy to say. Ripe peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes are easier to spot than cucumbers. Sometimes they elude my notice long past peak canning size. When he saw the one pictured, my husband joked that the rest must have cheered it on.

The one that almost got away...

Another fun thing about gardening is odd but tasty imperfections. The hot burrito chilies are fully ripe when orange but I couldn’t resist picking this one.

I think a Christmas elf lost a shoe...

Have you heard cucumbers called ‘pickles in training’? What’s your favorite vegetable?

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What's in a Name?

Like many people owned by animals, we have used numerous nicknames for our kitties. Jezebel took a while to name in the first place, and I'm unsure as to how we decided or why we started calling her Jeze-boo-bunny-bear. Now however, because I'm once again treating her left eye and ear twice a day for some itching and irritation, I came up with yet another moniker based on "Star Trek: The Next Generation". Well, it's more of an extension. Heh...

In the classic science fiction show, a space-going, hive-minded 'race' headed toward earth to assimilate humanity. Our intrepid Enterprise crew intercepted but found their usual weaponry failing, as these adaptive cyborgs managed to defeat increasing phaser impulse levels. The story made for an excellent cliffhanger ending one season and opening the next.

Cats tend to adapt in a similar way. Treating wily Jezzy requires constant varying approaches. This morning I put down her food as usual, then snapped her up and whisked her to the couch before she ate. I'll probably regret that tomorrow. ~sigh~ We shall see. I have to say she's very sweet, never biting and only scratching me by accident during escape attempts.

Imagine this sweet, sleepy kitty
leading me on a stop-and-go
chase around the house.

 
Is Jeze-boo-bunny-bear-borg too much? Should I drop the 'bear'? And why, do you suppose, is she easier to nab in the evenings?

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Hot and Bothered

Today I harvested the first of our ‘hot burrito’ peppers. We also picked a few eggplants, several treasured Roma tomatoes, and still more cucumbers. But these new-to-us chilies have been long awaited.

Since we sampled a fresh gong bao pepper with all its tag’s heat warnings and didn’t suffer overmuch, I thought nothing of slicing up one of these chubby orange beauties. Wow, what a shock! Over an hour after digesting half in a few bites, my lungs are still a bit congested and my throat irritated. At least my nose quit running (see * in notes below). And that’s after removing the seeds, which brings me to some things we need to remember.

Notes:
1. Wear plastic gloves to handle ‘hot burrito’ fruits in future.
2. Do not confuse them for sweet snacking peppers of similar size.
3. * Flimsy facial tissues do not protect nasal cavities from capsaicin. Heh... Another lesson learned.

Sweet ones (right) have a lobed end.
The hot burrito tips are pointed &
rated between 3000 - 6000.

On another note, thank you to all my silly blog’s faithful followers. Your kind words and clever tips are much appreciated. I adore you all and plan to look up an eggplant lasagna recipe as well as freezing unused fresh onion in future. ~grin~ Stay safe and sane, my friends.

Did you know the Scoville scale estimates the heat level of hot peppers? Would you guess a United States pharmacist formulated the test in 1912?

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Twisted, Rotten, Warped, and Just Plain Silly

These days we try to stay positive and look forward to harvesting our various peppers, both hot and sweet. The spicy gong bao is loaded with green fruit. I can hardly wait for them to turn red. Check out this curly one...

Gong Bao Gone Wild!

With our prolific miniature roma tomatoes I mixed up salsa including home-grown jalapeño, plus store-bought onion and cilantro. Sad to say, one white onion in our pantry went bad. I've never seen anything quite like this centralized mildew. We decided not to take chances and bought another.

Would you have tried to use this onion?

Another vegetable oddity came in the form of a harvested eggplant wedged between stems. We have never eaten so much of this stuff. It's tasty breaded and fried Italian style or baked and seared with a white Japanese miso based marinade.

Reminds me of a slug sporting an old
'emo' hairstyle from this angle...

Can't you just imagine a face peering
out from within those 'bangs'?

Last but not least we have Jezebel. I ran for my camera after my husband entered the bathroom and saw this...

"What? I'm saving you from
the evil shower."

She did relinquish the space after I brought out some treats. She moved to the corner, oddly, right beside my camera case.

"Fine. You can have the bathroom."

Do you like eggplant? What about pickles? We have plenty of both. Heh...

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Good News Times Two (!) - err... Three Now

On Saturday I checked online and discovered that the YMCA is open again, even the natatoriums. However, clubs outside my specific region are closed to me, which means I cannot swim where I've been going for the last few years.

Oh, well. I only switched because my local Y scheduled too many group classes, kids' lessons, and team practices. Some weekends they closed the pool entirely to members for swim meets. When four of us lap swimmers were forced to share a single lane, enough was enough.

In an ironic twist, members must now reserve a time slot, so I'll practically have the place to myself tomorrow morning (I just reserved a spot moments ago). Also, this Greater Dayton club is in Warren County where Ohioans are not obligated to wear a mask unlike folks visiting Montgomery County, though I probably will.

Later on Saturday I received a voice mail message from our health insurance provider. That ridiculous bill for an out-of-network ER doctor will be reimbursed - with interest! We are so happy. That was quite a chunk of money.

Last but not least, we received a long overdue rainfall last night. It might not have been enough to end the drought but was better than nothing. I all but danced through the storm retrieving items that might have otherwise have blown away (we almost always see high winds here).

Any good news in your part of the world? Are you required to wear a face mask in public?

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He's Back!

Though eight years older than me, my husband shares a lot of my interests and experiences. A perfect example is the comedy of Gary Larson's 'Far Side'.

On his website Mr. Larson admits he dreaded the act of drawing (!), hence his 1995 retirement. Thank heaven making people gives him pleasure.

And hurray for digital drawing tools inspiring his comeback. Not all his jokes make sense to me. But sometimes I just burst out laughing.

Are you familiar with his work? Can you imagine returning to something after two-and-a-half decades on hiatus?

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Final Destination

After reading the kind comments on my last post, I found Pradeep Nair's triggering a funny memory. He essentially noted that weather forecasting is an inexact science. Truer words could not be said.

GPS guidance can be inaccurate, as well. My husband and I learned that fact in the early 2000's on our way to an out-of-state Marilyn Manson concert.

An early handheld device led us a hundred or so miles, whereupon its guidance ended in the expected city. Dumbfounded, I parked the car not in front of our downtown hotel but outside some old cemetery gates.

"You have reached your destination," the mechanical voice cheerfully announced.

"Yeah. Our final destination," my husband stated, naming the horror movie franchise which kicked off mere months before. We still chuckle about it today.

I hope you enjoyed this silly tale. There are a few more surrealistic little anecdotes I'd like to share.

Do you think other hotel patrons experienced this? Would this have made you nervous?

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