Some pretty treats from the Topanga farmer's market. I just had to stage a photo! 
Baby scallions and pea tendrils, yum!
Showing posts with label topanga. Show all posts
Showing posts with label topanga. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Spoiled Rotten
Some pretty treats from the Topanga farmer's market. I just had to stage a photo! Baby scallions and pea tendrils, yum!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
A Topanga Storm
Sunday we had our first real storm here in Topanga. I've always loved storms, especially since I was raised in the city and most southern California storms posed little threat to my city life. Sure, neighbors' trees have fallen, but that's about the worst I've seen and it never happened to anyone I actually knew so it was far from my reality.
When a storm is coming I've always looked forward to it. I love the pounding rain, gnashing cold winds and the rare burst of lightning we get in Los Angeles. This past weekend was the first time I experienced a real storm in a home that could actually be effected by the flash flooding and crashing trees. This is also the first serious storm I've been through as a parent.
When a storm is coming I've always looked forward to it. I love the pounding rain, gnashing cold winds and the rare burst of lightning we get in Los Angeles. This past weekend was the first time I experienced a real storm in a home that could actually be effected by the flash flooding and crashing trees. This is also the first serious storm I've been through as a parent.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
In the Garden
I've been working hard out in the garden the past couple weeks. We built the first raised bed with cinder blocks thinking it'd be a cheap way to go and it came with the added benefit of being able to plant in the holes of the blocks themselves. We didn't really think about the fact that each cinder block weighs over 25 stinkin' pounds.
The bean took a picture of me gardening.
The bean took a picture of me gardening.Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Little Pieces of Where I Live
Here are some little tidbits of our new home...
This is the side of our house, you can see the boys play room. Ignore the messy yard and the ugly baby gate, the baby gate is there is attempt to keep monkey #2 out from under the house!
Our stump!
Never-ending supply of rosemary!!
Our heavenly bamboo Aiden likes to try to eat the berries off of.
Our seasonal creek! It runs long the left side of our house and actually runs along the other side of us, as well.
The wood pile!
I'm a sucker for moss and our house has a lot of it!
The more out-going of our two kitties, Iris.
Blossoms on one of the flowering plum trees in front of our house, so gorgeous!
This is the side of our house, you can see the boys play room. Ignore the messy yard and the ugly baby gate, the baby gate is there is attempt to keep monkey #2 out from under the house!
Our stump!
Never-ending supply of rosemary!!
Our heavenly bamboo Aiden likes to try to eat the berries off of.
Our seasonal creek! It runs long the left side of our house and actually runs along the other side of us, as well.
The wood pile!
I'm a sucker for moss and our house has a lot of it!
The more out-going of our two kitties, Iris.
Blossoms on one of the flowering plum trees in front of our house, so gorgeous!
It's been a while!
So much has changed since I last posted! I've been a busy girl. In November we moved to a gorgeous new home in Topanga. We are so happy and busy here! My kids are now 3.5 and 1.5 years old and keep me on my toes. We also adopted 2 beautiful new cats to combat the mice we inherited with the house. They've done a mediocre job at best, but we love them anyway.
In the yard of our new home we have a persimmon tree, several pomegranate trees and a plum tree. I look forward to plum season and I hope to be able to can several jars of plum jam. We have a huge grassy yard that is fully fenced in (not something super common in Topanga). We've been hard at work clearing spots for planting veggies and flowers. Unfortunately our yard has horrible drainage. We are in the lower canyon and surrounded by the creek on both sides. I planted some peas in the ground and have been battling both the birds stealing the sprouts and monkey #2 trampling them. I planted some wild flower seeds in another spot, but I think the birds got most of them.
We are currently building our first raised bed. It's about 4.5' by 8' or something like that. We used cinder blocks, but man are those suckers heavy! We put two layers of chicken wire in the bottom to prevent the gophers from stealing our veggies and then a layer of straw, followed by a layer of composted horse poop from our neighbor (I LOVE living in Topanga!!!) and then the most divine smelling organic soil/compost combo we purchased from a dirt place. We just got our dirt delivery yesterday and the best I could do, while battling whiny and trouble-making monkeys, was 3 wheelbarrow loads. I have a lot more to do today to get the bed full so I can start planting! I have loads of seeds for carrots, onions, green onions, spinach, arugula and much more. I can't wait to get it all planted!
Yesterday was quite a day. Monkey #2 was troublesome as always, finding a very intricate escape route that took him all the way around our house, through our wood pile and past the creek bed (yikes) and was on his way up our driveway to the street when I found him. It's incredible how fast they can move! Later in the day he tried to pick up a bee and was stung. It's the first time either of my kids have been stung and I felt very unprepared first aid-wise. He's a trooper and was back to his normal mischievous self in no time flat. Shortly after the bee sting incident I found a hummingbird trapped in the boys toy room, otherwise known as the "glass room". Half the room is windows from the top to bottom, including the ceiling, so you can imagine the poor bird's confusion. It took forever to get the tiny bird to go low enough to go out the window I had removed the screen from. I wish I'd gotten some pictures, it was quite an intimate look at a hummingbird!
I've still been cooking, but not as much as I'd like and I have rarely remembered to take pictures. I have 2 unfinished posts, one on a great goat cheese and sorrel quiche and the other on roasted veggies...One of these days!
Last Friday I got the most incredible salad bag from the Vital Zuman stand at the farmer's market. I don't often buy stuff from them as their prices can be a bit steep, but I just couldn't help buying this funky bag of greens and edible blossoms. I wish they had included a little sheet explaining what each green was and which parts of the greens were ideal for eating raw. I just winged it and discarded any stems that seemed a bit tough for eating. I used all the funky greens in my salad, as well as the blossoms. It also came with a baby garlic, which I thinly sliced and a baby beet, which I microplaned. It was dressed simply with hazelnut oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar, salt and fresh ground pepper. I served it with a huge chunk of filet mignon we got at Henry's. It was so good!
In the yard of our new home we have a persimmon tree, several pomegranate trees and a plum tree. I look forward to plum season and I hope to be able to can several jars of plum jam. We have a huge grassy yard that is fully fenced in (not something super common in Topanga). We've been hard at work clearing spots for planting veggies and flowers. Unfortunately our yard has horrible drainage. We are in the lower canyon and surrounded by the creek on both sides. I planted some peas in the ground and have been battling both the birds stealing the sprouts and monkey #2 trampling them. I planted some wild flower seeds in another spot, but I think the birds got most of them.
We are currently building our first raised bed. It's about 4.5' by 8' or something like that. We used cinder blocks, but man are those suckers heavy! We put two layers of chicken wire in the bottom to prevent the gophers from stealing our veggies and then a layer of straw, followed by a layer of composted horse poop from our neighbor (I LOVE living in Topanga!!!) and then the most divine smelling organic soil/compost combo we purchased from a dirt place. We just got our dirt delivery yesterday and the best I could do, while battling whiny and trouble-making monkeys, was 3 wheelbarrow loads. I have a lot more to do today to get the bed full so I can start planting! I have loads of seeds for carrots, onions, green onions, spinach, arugula and much more. I can't wait to get it all planted!
Yesterday was quite a day. Monkey #2 was troublesome as always, finding a very intricate escape route that took him all the way around our house, through our wood pile and past the creek bed (yikes) and was on his way up our driveway to the street when I found him. It's incredible how fast they can move! Later in the day he tried to pick up a bee and was stung. It's the first time either of my kids have been stung and I felt very unprepared first aid-wise. He's a trooper and was back to his normal mischievous self in no time flat. Shortly after the bee sting incident I found a hummingbird trapped in the boys toy room, otherwise known as the "glass room". Half the room is windows from the top to bottom, including the ceiling, so you can imagine the poor bird's confusion. It took forever to get the tiny bird to go low enough to go out the window I had removed the screen from. I wish I'd gotten some pictures, it was quite an intimate look at a hummingbird!
I've still been cooking, but not as much as I'd like and I have rarely remembered to take pictures. I have 2 unfinished posts, one on a great goat cheese and sorrel quiche and the other on roasted veggies...One of these days!
Last Friday I got the most incredible salad bag from the Vital Zuman stand at the farmer's market. I don't often buy stuff from them as their prices can be a bit steep, but I just couldn't help buying this funky bag of greens and edible blossoms. I wish they had included a little sheet explaining what each green was and which parts of the greens were ideal for eating raw. I just winged it and discarded any stems that seemed a bit tough for eating. I used all the funky greens in my salad, as well as the blossoms. It also came with a baby garlic, which I thinly sliced and a baby beet, which I microplaned. It was dressed simply with hazelnut oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar, salt and fresh ground pepper. I served it with a huge chunk of filet mignon we got at Henry's. It was so good!
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