something's eating my beans

The garden is going full force. I never know what to say when people ask me what I'm growing. It's sort of like when people ask me what kind of food I cook. I'm not sure they are really prepared for the answer. I could start listing plants and that might go on for a few minutes. I really like plants and am not sure that I want to hear the whole list. The other option is what I usually go with, which is to say, "Um... lots of stuff... herbs, flowers, tomatoes..." By this point, they usually lose interest.

I finally remembered to bring my camera out to the garden last week. Looking at this picture has confirmed that some sort of animal is eating my bean plants. Since that picture was taken, at least two green bean seedlings have fallen over and one is losing its first set of leaves. I'm not sure if it will survive, but it is looking kind of sad. Then again, one of my kohlrabi plants got mowed down to the point that there were no visible plant parts above the dirt, and it came back and looks like it will be productive.

Sometimes it's hard not to have garden envy. My tomato plants are doing ok, maybe even great if you consider that last year, none of the tomatoes that I started from seed made it to fruit or even flower. This year, I have enough tomato plants that I have started giving the extra seedlings away. I start to feeling pretty good about the state of my tomato plants, but then I glance over at my neighbor's plants, which look like towering behemoths in comparison. Their leaves are probably about the size of my hand and their stems look like sapling trunks. Are those plants on steroids?? Meanwhile, I'm trying to remember to fertilize on a regular basis. Oh well.

In other news, I planted some basil (spicy Greek and lemon) and asparagus peas a few days ago, I think on Sunday. They haven't sprouted yet and I'm starting to get impatient, so I just started some more spicy Greek basil and large leaf Italian basil. I think basil might be like black tank tops... you can never have too many. Hahaha.

grilled pineapple

About a week ago, I became obsessed with sorbet recipes. It was almost 100 degrees and I had to sit outside for over two hours. Fortunately, I was under an umbrella, but I think I had some mild form of heat stroke. Even after the temperatures had cooled down to about 70 and I took a shower, I still felt hot. The next day, I decided to look up about two thousand sorbet recipes on the internet, so I could make popsicles. Someone a little more goal-oriented might have gone to the store to buy actual popsicles instead of the supplies to make popsicles, but if that was me, we probably would not have this blog.

While I was browsing through recipes, I found one for grilled pineapple and some kind of sorbet. I got so excited about that one that I told a friend about this exciting recipe and took some time to calm back down, but for some reason, I ended up making a layered blackberry and honeydew popsicle. However, the idea of grilled pineapple stayed with me and when I was invited to a barbecue a couple of days later, I knew what I would bring.

Here is a sort of approximation of what I did:

1. Cut top and bottom off of pineapple. Cut off rind lengthwise, trying to get all the little spiny eye parts.
   
2. Cut pineapple in half lengthwise. Attempt to core each half, but only succeed with one half. Slice into half-moons or quarter-moons, as the case may be. Place in bowl.
3. Squeeze half a lime over the pineapple pieces and add about 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Mix with hands. Add a tiny bit of cinnamon, maybe 1/4 teaspoon.
4. Put bowl of seasoned pineapple on the table at the barbecue. Forget to tell people that it's for grilled and become slightly alarmed when it's your turn to grill and you discover that people have eaten about half the pineapple
5. Put pineapple pieces on a piece of foil on the grill. Sprinkle more brown sugar over the top. Eventually move the pineapple so that they are directly on the grill. This adds gridlines and seems to brown them a little faster. Cook for about 10 minutes, turning them to brown both sides.

The grilled pineapple was sweet, hot and carmelized, with only a hint of cinnamon for interest. I'm not sure the lime was noticeable, but it probably kept it from being too sweet.

I have another pineapple in the refrigerator. Additional flavors that I might try next time include: pepper, honey, rum and mint (not all at the same time). I think pineapple has made it onto my favorite fruits list.