H-O-T!!

Ugh! Summer has arrived in St. Louis! We have had over 100 degree heat indices the last 2 days. I think it's supposed to stay this way all weekend. We will be attending a wedding tomorrow so I'm going to have to go out early and give everything a good soaking. I didn't get a chance to water tonight but when I walked around the beds, nothing looked wilted and in need of water. I suspect that the good dousing we got earlier in the week means I still have enough water in the beds to make it through tonight - but I'm not going to risk making it through tomorrow! :)

I now have 2 green bean plants growing up a stake! Here I thought I would grow them up my corn stalks but the corn is a much slower grower than the green beans. For the future I will have to plant corn first and then green beans maybe 2-3 weeks later. I'm disappointed with my corn. Only 5 seeds sprouted out of 8. I'm a bit concerned they may not pollinate properly as they are a bit spread out because of the poor sprouting. All of my sunflowers are coming in nicely except some rabbit got into the garden again and ate the top off of one of them! We'll see if that one survives. I'll be surprised if it does. Needless to say, I whipped out the Bobex again tonight and sprayed around the perimeter of each bed.

I harvested the last cabbage head this evening. It's a doozy! Can't wait to cook it up! I should try a different cabbage recipe. As much as I love Madhur Jaffrey's cabbage and fennel seed recipe, they say variety is the spice of life. And, it's not like I won't be without that tasty recipe because I made it with the first head I harvested. I will put the recipe below.

I think my snow peas are done. There are definitely no more flowers and I harvested only a handful of distorted ones this evening. Still tasty but the distortion usually means the end. I'll try to get those plants pulled out of the bed before I leave for the wedding because they are smothering a perennial I had planted but thought died. I think it's a nice Bachelor's Button plant. They get a really pretty eery white formation where the flower will pop out. Very cool!

Tonight I also pulled all of the onions out of the ground. My fear is that they would rot if I left them in the ground even though the leaves are still quite green. I have not had any luck with onions (them and cucumbers will be the death of me!). The first year I got all green and some pretty flowers but no bulbs. I discovered I gave them too much nitrogen. The past 2 years I got nice bulbs but they always rotted near the neck or, when I'd leave them out to dry, they would get sunscald. This year I had several that had big, thick, hollow stalks on them so when I bent the leaves over, these broke. I don't know what that means! When I cut one down, I discovered that the onion part was growing on the inside of the stalk! So, I pulled everything out - I have some really nice bulbs! - and spread them out on the hood of my car. Haha! I have a fan blowing on them now to help dry things out and I've posted for help on the Organic Gardening forum. Hopefully someone will be able to tell me if I can dry these and store them or if I'll have to eat them right away...and, if I can dry them, how to do it properly so the neck doesn't rot before they are completely dry! I know I'll be leaving these in the garage all weekend with the fan blowing on them. I'll either have to hang them in the morning or come up with a quick drying rack.

OK, here's Madhur Jaffrey's Stir Fried Green Cabbage with Fennel Seeds. It's my favorite way to cook cabbage. The recipe comes from her Quick and Easy Indian Cooking cookbook (I highly recommend this for your cookbook collection). I love the taste of all the spices along with the sweet taste of the carmelized onions. Yum!! The comments before the ingredients list are hers. Oh! One hint about cooking Indian - lots of spices are added to the mix in quick succession. What I do is stage my spices. So, I read the recipe instructions and see which spices are being added to the mix together. Then, I pre-measure everything and put in a small bowl. That way when I need to add them, all I have to do is dump them into the mix. If you don't do that, you'll end up burning the spices.


Stir-Fried Green Cabbage with Fennel Seeds (Bhuni bandh gobi)

The cabbage and onions get nicely browned here and taste gloriously of fennel. You could easily serve this with Western-style sausages, ham, pork chops, or any kind of roast pork meat, or with roast lamb or even duck or venison. [Missy's note - I like serving this with grilled tilapia]

Ingredients

1.5 pounds green cabbage (half a large head)
1/4 cup vegetable oil [Missy's note - I usually cut this in half or less; I use canola]
3/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
1 medium-large onion (7 ounces), peeled and cut, lengthwise, into fine half rings
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper [Missy's note - I usually omit. Even 1/8 tsp is too spicy for me]
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon store-bought garam masala [Missy's note - For the St. Louis metro area I have only found this at Dierberg's (expensive!) or at Indian food specialty shops (cheap!). I buy all of my spices at Indian specialty shops because the prices are much more reasonable.]

Remove the course outer leaves of the cabbage. If you have a cabbage half, cut it in half again, lengthwise, and then core the sections. Now cut each section, lengthwise, into very fine, long shreds. A bread knife is ideal for this. (You could also use a food processor.)

Put the oil in a wide, preferably nonstick pan, and set over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, put in the cumin, fennel, and sesame seeds. As soon as the seeds begin to pop, put in the onion. Stir and fry for 3 to 4 minutes or until the onion has browned a bit. Put in the cabbage. Stir and fry for about 6 minutes or until the cabbage too has browned somewhat. Now put in the salt and cayenne. Turn down the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring now and then, for another 7 to 8 minutes or until the onions appear carmelized and soft. Add the lemon juice and garam masala. Stir to mix. Serves 4.