Happy Mothers' Day, all you mothering types.

The dill and chives are still in shock after being transplanted this morning; the parsley just lacks the will to stand up straight. Lazy.

One of these days soon, I'm going to measure everything in my backyard and make a little map. I've got several plots now, and it might be helpful to know where things are. The 'back garden' used to be just the corner of perennials that the last owner planted, but I've expanded it and am putting in herbs and a grape vine. And the pansies.

The main garden is, of course, the big(-ish) vegetable garden. I've got it about half-planted at the moment: radishes, onion sets, carrots (take two -- the first lot of seeds never came up; the soil is too dense), snow peas, broccoli, lettuce, chard, kale, brussels sprouts, and Yukon Gold potatoes. The remaining plants will wait a little longer to go in: bush beans, tomatoes, hot and bell peppers, eggplant.

There's also the 'hose garden', which (logically) is situated right by the spigot, and that's where my zucchini and squash will go. I think I'll go with two zucchini plants again (but be MUCH better about grating and freezing the extras this year) and a butternut. Those plants get pretty big, so just the three alone will probably wind up overgrowing the (approximately) 4' x 6' plot.

The last proper garden is the sun garden, which is just the other side of the back door from the hose garden, but which gets a brutal amount of sunlight from about noon to sundown. It's going to be my flower garden: an assortment of annuals and some of the perennials from the back garden which should be divided.

The LAST last garden is the little area around my compost bin. Loads of garden waste got thrown right BY the bin last fall (I have no idea who would do that. . . ), so the grass is dead. I've got to get a few more bricks to border it in, and then I'm going to plant some Irish moss and maybe a few other shady-time goodies. The corner is overhung by lilacs, so it's one of the only areas of shade in the entire yard.

Whew! My brain still isn't convinced that it won't be below freezing in a few days; this winter was a brutal one It's hard to believe it's over a week into May already!

So I went to Malmborg's today, instead. We're supposed to have below-freezing temperatures tonight, but after that, things should start looking better. I read that pansies can tolerate the occasional frost, so I got a mixture of those, as well as a four-pack of broccoli and the same of Brussels sprouts. The ranunculus was more of an impulse purchase, and I really should have read up on them before I brought the plants home. Anybody have any Midwest-specific tips regarding ranunculus?

I've got two Brandywine seedlings that seem to be doing alright. It seems pretty laughable to only have two, but I didn't plant my seeds in large quantities -- I just don't have the space (where the cats can't get to them). Most of my seedlings have either died or gone to spindle (a phrase which you may pass along), so I've not been very attached to what I'm growing. But I have to say that I'll be disappointed if these guys don't make it. Their leaves aren't very traditional-tomato shaped, are they?

Plants in my kitchen. As a follow-on to my previous post, I have three realizations about myself. Things that I didn't think were true or didn't think I had an opinion on.

1. I'm definitely a cat person. I've mentioned this before, so no big deal -- but I was convinced for years that I liked cats and dogs the same. I was lying to myself!

2. Cookies'n'Creme is my favourite ice cream flavour. I was sure I didn't have a favourite, preferring to love everything (I was also pretty confident that I liked chocolate ice cream over vanilla, but I don't.). But I've got to admit that the C'n'C can't really be beat, and not just as a fall-back flavour.

3. I want flowers and pretty things in my garden. Last year, I was strictly vegetables-and-nothing else. I couldn't be bothered to tend to anything that didn't feed me, and ornaments were out of the question. But I just bought a windchime (after going for a walk and hearing one and realizing that I NEEDED a windchime in my life), and I've even got a hankering for some of the little ceramic toadstools they have at Target. I don't know what's happened to me.

And I'll end with pictures of cats; you can click on the links, if you're so inclined. Here is Booty -- he's got the right idea today. It's cold and overcast, and we should all just wrap up in blankets. And here is Beany, on a sunnier day. She's at the end of her tether, much in the way she often has me at mine.

That's me, eating my sushi.

1. I really didn't like little kids until I started working at a school-age daycare when I was a senior in high school. I applied because the pay was good, and it wound up being the one of the best jobs I've ever had. If I could go back to working part-time, and the pay didn't matter, I'd definitely go back to before/after school daycare.

2. I had two different majors before I settled on English, when I was already a junior in college. I basically did my entire (course-related) degree in a year and a half. Before that, I was first a computer science major and then a marketing major. The world needs both, but I'm glad I'm neither.

3. I was VERY into horses as a child/teenager, and I made myself promise that I wouldn't forget about my dream to own a horse when I was an adult. I'd still love to make that dream come true someday, though I'm much more realistic about the challenges it would present. I've got a crush on the idea of living on a hobby farm, but I'd be sad to move away from here because. . .

4. I love living in the Twin Cities. When I lived in London, the thought of returning to Minnesota seemed unbearably claustrophobic and uninteresting. But it turns out that it's actually pretty great. Except for the cold bit.

5. When I studied in Edinburgh, I got involved with the Hare Krishna group that meets in town each week. They're a lovely group of people, as were all the devotees I met in London. I hate that so many folks seem to think of them as a weirdy cult, though I can understand why people feel that way. I don't associate myself with any religion these days, but I still have great respect for the Hare Krishnas.

6. Every Saturday (I think it was) when I was growing up, my parents and I would watch Star Trek: The Next Generation and eat pizza. I've just realized that that might be one of my fondest childhood memories.

And that's as much meme as you're getting for now.

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I don't have sushi that often, really. There are only so many kinds of readily available vegetarian sushi, and I certainly never thought to bother making my own. But I was suddenly bit by the bug about a week ago, so I had to try it. And I think I did pretty well, for a first-timer.

I learned two things. First, it's okay to put more 'filling' in than I thought. It looked like quite a lot in the photo above, but it winds up looking pretty compressed when it's all rolled up. Second thing is to use ingredients that have a distinct and fairly strong flavour of their own.

I made two different rolls. One with egg, mushroom, and asparagus; one with carrot, avocado, and green onion. I was more excited about the egg sushi, until I actually ate it and realized I couldn't taste any of those elements. But carrot and avocado have stronger flavours (and pair so well together); it made for a much better combination.

So, tick 'sushi' off the list of things to make in my lifetime -- even though this was the first time of many, I'm sure!

That's the paint on the side of my back step. It was hidden from view for who-knows-how-long, until I cut down the bush that had been alongside it. I pruned it back to just a stump, and then S pulled it out, using a combination of brute force and foolhardiness ('Don't hurt your back!' I told him, to ensure that I would be free of guilt if he did just that.). And a shovel.

I think I'll put my zucchinis in the new space. We've still got a couple-few more weeks before the risk of frost has passed, but it's hard to believe it just at the moment. Yesterday was gorgeous, and today is equally sunny and warm. There was rain in the forecast for today, and I complained to S yesterday that I thought it was only fair that we get two nice days in a row for a change. Somebody was listening, because my wish came true! It may still rain this evening, but I've already squeezed in a walk outside today, so I'll allow it.

Seedling update: The cats have killed my bigger bean sprouts, but I've got several just starting to come up. I'm not convinced that starting beans indoors is necessary, given how quickly they grow and get leggy. But we'll see. My peas were starting to come up, and the cats pulled out all but three of them. They're menaces. Just because cats are carnivores doesn't mean the rest of us can't have some vegetables to eat. Broccoli and kale are spindly, and I'll probably wind up buying plants at the garden center -- maybe I'll sow a row of kale directly outdoors. In a moment. Truthfully, the only seedlings I have any hope in at the moment are my Brandywine tomatoes. I'm keeping them far away from anything cat-shaped.

When I was growing up, I was a pretty picky eater. I'm sure I've mentioned it on more than one occasion, but it's only been in the past few years that my culinary horizons have broadened. In fact, I'm not sure they're even there, anymore. So long as it didn't used to be a critter, pretty much anything sounds tasty.

Not so when I was a kid. The vegetables I was willing to eat: cooked broccoli (just the 'leaves' of the trees), corn, raw carrots, green beans from a tin, and lettuce. And potatoes, although I don't count those as a vegetable these days.

So to go along with radishes, a list of garden- and vegetable-related items of interest (to me):

-- The Minneapolis Farmers Market opens next weekend! Local asparagus! Bedding plants! Radishes! Cinnamon buns the size of your face! I can hardly contain myself.

-- Likewise, my local garden center also opens next weekend. It's called Malmborg's, but I always call it Mombi's (like the baddie in Return to Oz) -- surprisingly, googling 'Mombi's garden center' doesn't come up with many useful results.

-- The weather was amazing today. I went outside in shorts and a t-shirt and dug up the extra sod to expand my veggie plot. After all the hard work was done, I planted two rows of French Breakfast radishes and some purple spring onions. I am assured that they can be sown directly this long before the last frost. Oh, boy.

-- Last week, the city garbage service started picking up bags of yard waste. I'd had last autumn's leaf bags sitting out by the garage all winter, since I wasn't sure who would pick them up/where I could bring them, so I eagerly threw them out at the end of my driveway last night. I woke up around 3:00AM this morning, and while I was trying to fall back asleep, my eyes suddenly popped open as I remembered that the bags would be magically gone when I woke up in the morning. It felt exactly like Christmas morning. Except in reverse. And with rotting leaves.

-- I love the internet; there's a blog community for everything! Including gardening, of course. Two of my favourites are Calendula & Concrete and Fast Grow the Weeds.

People are BBQing outside! I have dirt under my fingernails! It's really and truly, finally spring!

I would be SO pleased with my baby beans plants. . . if only they weren't almost a foot tall. Bum. We had almost a week of cloudy skies right after my latest batch of seedlings sprouted, so everything grew taller and taller, apparently trying to go right up past the clouds. I've had to start new seeds for the kale and broccoli, although the tomatoes (Brandywine) seem to still be holding their own. We'll see how these beans do, but I can't really imagine their long stems holding much more weight than they've already got.

The last couple of days have been brilliantly sunny, and I'm almost beginning to remember what it's like to spend time in my backyard. More after the cut...

That? Is decadence. Specifically, it's two layers of devil's food cake, sandwiching a layer of vanilla cheesecake, with ganache between each layer, and frosted with fudgy icing. Ridiculous.

To be completely, brutally honest, I would be happy with just the cheesecake, ganache, and frosting. It turns out I don't need two more layers of cake to be happy. I know! Who'd have thought? I'm even starting to think that my hypothetical Wedding-Cake-Cheesecake-Pie (three separate tiers, obviously, and the only 'dream' I have for a future wedding) might just need to be a Cheesecake-Pie. Although, heck, if I wind up getting married, I might as well go for the triple threat.

Here's a more restrained treat:

I prefer Greek yogurt to non-Greek yogurt, but have you seen the prices? You're lucky to find a single serve cup for under a dollar, and it's well over two bucks at a lot of the supermarkets. This is when it comes in handy having ethnic shops just over the way. Here, a quart of 'authentic Middle Eastern style' yogurt costs less than the regular, bland stuff. Mix in a little jam, and I'm in heaven.

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The photo sort of reminds me of my craft room in London. Maybe it's the combination of cabinets from Ikea and pothos plants.

A few favorite things at the moment:
-- Seedlings (I've started broccoli, kale, an heirloom variety of tomato, yellow bush beans, and lima beans.)
-- Yoga
-- Friendly people in service industries
-- Greek yogurt
-- Rye/Sunflower seed bread
-- Sunshine, or what I can remember of it.

Starting to think about preparing the garden for future planting (in about a month's time). How are the rest of you getting on with gardening/garden planning?

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I really hate 'April Fool's Day', although at least it gives you warning for all the unkind possibilities. Call me a killjoy (actually, don't, thanks), but I just don't see why playing tricks or telling lies is fun/funny. But then, I seem to have issues with trust, particularly when it comes to monkeys, parrots, and dolphins -- which is why I've steered well clear of them today!

Anyway, I've got a couple of photos that aren't related to April. First up is my second batch of red lentil soup:

I left mine slightly thicker than in that recipe link, and I love how the lentils just fall apart and lend the whole thing some real substance. This time around, I made it with carrots and kale (replacing the green beans and spinach), but any number of combinations would work. The spice mixture + red lentils + crushed tomatoes = soup magic.

I've been keeping myself busy in non-money-spending ways, including quite a bit of furniture moving. I get this from my mom: just when a house starts to feel comfortable and lived-in, you look around and think, 'Hmmm, what would that [sofa/bed/table] look like over there?' This time, I moved my bedroom furniture into the middle room and the guest bed and desk into the back room. I should have taken some photos today, since the sun has been shining, but I didn't. Ah well.

Here are the cats, enjoying the view from the guest bed's new location (and, er, sleeping):

I've been keeping the cats out of both bedrooms because A) I discovered that THEY are the reason I used to wake up in the middle of the night with an urgent need to scratch the inside of my head. I'm not usually allergic to cats, but cat hair on pillows = not good -- who knew? And B) What's better to a cat than throwing up on the only rug in the house? Throwing up on a freshly washed quilt! Ew.

So they're only allowed a few hours of monitored guest bed lounging per day. See how it makes them so peaceful and happy to be together? Actually, they're almost always very good friends, as I've said before. But sometimes you've got two cats and only one box, and what happens then? Attack! She goes right for the face!

I sense that April is going to be good. Despite the six inches of snow that fell yesterday. It's practically all gone now, so the good things can start a-happenin'! I'll just sit here and wait.

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Want to know how to woo me? Say, 'Just pick out two that you want, and we'll split them.' Because, really, how are you supposed to decide on ONE? A bit later, I brought out the Veganomicon and got started on our vegan mac'n'cheese. It was S's idea -- I just did all the work.

The recipe uses a nutritional yeast 'cheese-y' sauce, mixed together with crumbled tofu and cooked noodles, and the whole thing gets baked in the oven. It was pretty amazing, although not exactly cheese-flavoured. It reminded me more of frozen mac'n'cheese than genuine homemade (or even Kraft). Thumbs up, all the way.

For Easter, my mom and I made pot pies. Well, I say 'we'. This time, it was my idea, but she did all the work. We used this recipe to a certain extent.

We made the full crust recipe, but halved everything else, because we wanted to make three pies that had both a bottom crust and a top crust. In place of the chicken and stock, we used Quorn Tenders and Imagine's No-Chicken broth. Other filling ingredients included carrots, peas, mushroom, lima beans, and potatoes. So good! The crust was really incredible, but the whole thing was exactly as I hoped it would be.

Dessert was something else wrapped in dough:

Apple dumplings! Yay. I do love chocolate-y, peanut-butter-y desserts, but lately I've preferred my sweet things to be tempered with the presence of fruit. Even when it's something as heavy and gooey as a dumpling, the apple just seems to be a bit of relief. Which you need, when you try to eat this AND a pot pie in the same day.

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I'm so excited about this Easter weekend. I shall list the reasons why: a four day weekend, chocolate, food, family, FOOD, and also -- almost forgot! -- food. Things I plan to eat in the next few days include (but are by no means limited to, oh no, no, no!): vegan mac'n'cheese, a donut, vegetarian 'chicken' pot pie, an apple dumpling and a lot of cereal. (A bowl of cereal is The Perfect Food. So satisfying to eat, AND it keeps you hydrated!)

S and I are planning our day tomorrow around the creation of the Mac Daddy mac'n'cheese recipe from the Veganomicon. The recipe has had great reviews around the blogosphere, so we're pretty excited. There may have been some LOLCats-speak involved when we were discussing the macaroni, and I swear it wasn't even on my part. S is lactose intolerant, and I almost never eat pasta, so it'll be an exciting day for us both.

But I'll admit that I'm (by leaps and bounds and entire marathons) the bigger food geek. And I'm preparing for all out geekery.

Like I've said before, I'm no foodie in the sense that I'm not really interested in 'gourmet' cuisine -- when I eat out, I want food that I either would make at home (but can't be bothered to for that meal) or that I WISH I could make at home (anything fried, amazing curries, etc, etc). So these are my tops:

The Seward Cafe -- This is the epitome of 'food I would make at home, but I want to eat out.' Beans and rice, tempeh scrambles, vegan biscuits and gravy, great big breakfast plates with hashbrowns, eggs, and veggies. . . I didn't even realize there were several extra pages of menu until the last time I was there. A whole host of sandwiches and lunch meals I never knew about!
Also like. . . Hard Times Cafe, though I've not actually been there yet. They recently reopened after an extended absence, so I'm looking forward to trying THEIR vegan biscuits and gravy.

The Triple Rock Social Club -- Okay, I've only had food here once (it's a bar/restaurant/venue), but I dream about going back. S and I shared a (Minneapolis-style) Po' Boy with vegan sausage, vegan nacho cheese, and BBQ (and fried potatoes and onions, on a HUGE white bun), and the one plate was more food than we could split. They also do vegan nachos, vegan mac'n'cheese, and loads of veggie options. The only downside is that there aren't very many tables, and you have to eat your amazing veggie food in a bar. But it's worth it.
Also like... Pizza Luce, which is a more traditional restaurant with several branches in the Twin Cities. I love their hoagies. I love their pizzas too. I've had their mock Muffeleta and mock sausage hoagie, and I'm looking forward to someday trying the pesto turkey and chicken dijon hoagies (vegetarian versions, of course). My pizza of choice is the Lil' Gracie, with either the Rinotta or soy cheese.

Nala Pak -- This is one of my perennial favourites (it used to be Udupi), north of Minneapolis, on Central. I don't like ordering off their menu since they changed ownership, but the buffet (for lunch every day, with BIGGER buffets on the weekends and holidays) is pretty much my idea of heaven. I always eat a painful amount of food, so I don't go very often anymore. Besides all of their fantastic curries and breads, etc, I love (LOVE) their homemade chocolate cherry ice cream. If they happen to be serving that AND gulab jamun, I'll just given in and spend the rest of the day in a food coma.
Other Indian and Nepali favourites... Namaste Cafe -- The best chai in the Twin Cities. I prefer this place for lunch rather than dinner. The Vegetarian -- I always get the Punjabi Thali for dinner. It's sooo much food that is sooo good! Everest on Grand -- A great lunch buffet here. Their steamed veggie momos are delicious.

French Meadow -- This is a good place if I have to go out with somebody who maybe isn't into spicy food (or who wouldn't be into the self-serve atmosphere of The Seward). They have a great menu, full of interesting veggie options. S and I went here late one night, just for cake and wine, and we still talk about it. French Meadow have a big stand at the Lyndale farmers' market in the summer, plus they seem to have taken over the MSP airport, which I find a little bit creepy (and -- wholly crap! -- expensive).
Also like... The Birchwood Cafe has some fun options, including a vegan Caesar salad, and their cakes are tops as well. I think of Both the Birchwood and French Meadow as being good sandwich places, although they obviously have loads of other choices. The Birchwood has a cinnamon/caramel roll which we dubbed 'The Sticky Fist of Sweetness' (if I remember correctly), and it's generally great for tasty breakfasts.

Okay, I could definitely go on and make this list a million miles long, but I'll stop here. Possibly to return in future installments. I really like to eat, after all.

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