I am so excited to have a garden in my back yard! I think I may be a farm girl at heart. :-) I'm growing lots of tomatoes (quite a few heirlooms in the mix). One of my sister's friends gave us little tomato plants-started from seeds!! We asked for six plants and ended up with thirteen! I also planted cucumbers, four types of squash, small pumpkins, zucchini, red and yellow bell peppers, regular and Japanese eggplants as well as a few different herbs. I've already been able to use some of the herbs. Can't wait for the rest!!
And now that I look at these pictures, I'm thinking, "How could I have forgotten I planted sweet potatoes?!" They are growing in a purple soft sided pot from "The Gardener" website. It's amazing to think that most of the work goes on underneath the soil. The only part of the sweet potatoes above the soil line are the leaves.
The cats walked out onto the deck while I was taking pictures but when I tried to take Ah Choo's picture, he refused to look at me and started to go back into the house, lol.
I am still working as a personal chef, as I said in my last post. Amongst the many dishes I made on Tuesday for a personal chef client, were Beef Medallions with Madeira Mushroom Sauce and Hericot Verts along side Brown butter and Scallion Mashed Potatoes. YUM!
And for dessert? Oh, come on, you KNEW there was going to be dessert, didn't you?
Ina Garten's Coconut Cake!
I've attached a link for those of you interested in looking it up.
If you follow me on Facebook, then you know I auditioned or rather interviewed for a new Food Network show. It's a documentary on cooking competitions. There are four competitions (you aren't told what or where) over four weekends, so you aren't giving your life away. In order to be on the "Next Food Network Star" you have to promise at least three months of your life, move to LA and be away from family and friends. That's quite a commitment! I was told I would hear from them in the next week if I was one of the those chosen. We'll see! One of the first people there was a team of competitive cooks. The lead was dressed in a long gown, heels, a tiarra and a white sash pinned with a button that read "I'm just here for the bacon." JSCasting was asking for people with big personalities-they got characters instead! The group also arrived with a shopping cart full of trophies they had won in food competitions. Impressive!
I can't compete with that! But all kidding aside, I just have to wait and see.
More to come!!!
