Fried Zucchini Flowers

So, I decided to try out the whole zucchini flower thing. I checked online for some recipes on the whole deep frying thing and how to do it. I decided on a simple egg/flour/water/garlic salt batter, but didn't have a lot of time. I just threw some flour in a bowl then added egg and water (this isn't the best way to do it in case you were wondering). I think it will be better next time and just add flour bit by bit to make a much lighter batter. Also, I think it needs some more flavor, but I'm not sure on seasoning since it was over-powered by the batter. Anywhoo, I went and harvested some of the flowers. I did a mixture of the female and male to see which was better.

The female are on the left with the baby zucchini. Obviously, the male are on the right. They have no zucchini. I chose flowers that were still pretty tight. I did cringe when cutting off the baby zucchini, but told myself the other 20 that are growing right now will probably be enough. I then washed then very well and did get one ant that was not happy. He's dead now. Drowning.

After washing, I sliced them all in half and removed the reproductive organs (spayed and neutered the flowers if you will).

Here's the ovaries and penises. Heh. That's funny.

A little oil goes a long way in a wok. Here's the battered females frying up. The females take quite a bit longer than the males. Heh. Just like people. Anyway, these are cooking in med-high oil, but I turned it down because it was too hot.

Yummy! I love deep fried stuff.

Finished product. Definately it's better to let them get golden crispy. Those were the best. Paul thought they'd be better with a little spicy horseradish dip, so we'l try that next time. I think a much lighter batter would also help.

Single finished product. I have to say it was delicious and I'm definately going to be doing this again!

Belinda

Oh...look, more garden nonsense

Here's some updated photos of the garden after I cleaned out as much of the grass as I could stand. It took two days, but I did make a decent dent in it. Stupid grass anyway. Thought you'd enjoy some pics of the pretty flowers that are popping up everywhere. Flowers are good because flowers=veggies, hehe.

Tomatoes! No clue if they're Roma or cherry yet. It's kind of exciting this way. I should just mystery plant everything for some fun in my life. My sad...sad life.


Overview of the massiveness. I've decided that I should never look at the entire garden but just keep myself limited to small blocks of it. It's overwhelming the amount of work that needs to be done otherwise.


Do you see the little itty bitty cucumbers at the base of the flowers? Awww...so damn cute. Grow bitches, grow.


Cantaloupe. I've never been successful in growing this, so hopefully these flowers are a good sign that I might get some. Once again, my ignorance is stunning.


Portofino squash. I just harvested three from here, but it's already accommodating me and making some more. See below for the update, but in case you're lazy, here's a tip. Not yellow squash. Ahhh, the things I learn from the Internet (or in this case, just looking at what the hell I actually bought).


Up close of the flower. The zucchini flowers are supposed to be edible and delicious. I haven't ventured that yet. Maybe this year will be my year to be brave.


Zucchini (plainol ' green stuff). There's so many flowers in the jungle that I can't quite get my head around how many zucchini I might get. I was checking over the leaves and did see signs of squash bugs, but they must camouflaging themselves well. There were three or four leaves with the eggs that I destroyed, but no bugs. Go figure. It's like a mini-miracle.

Well, that's it for the garden. Paul and I had a nice anniversary. We went down to the Plaza and had lunch then walked (and walked) around the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum. This is one of those places that although we've lived here for numerous years, we haven't yet visited. It was pretty awesome for free! We were there for several hours, but didn't even get to the outside sculpture parkthingee or the third floor, so we plan on trying to go back. We have a CarMax picnic in a couple of hours, so I'm going to lay down for a bit and try to de -compress after working so hard in the garden. I'm still trying to get over this stupid cold and need sleep. Have a great Sunday!!

Belinda

I'm an idiot

I checked online because the internet is the source of all information (and probably evil). I'm a nob. I ordered these portofino squash (see posts below) and thought they were the yellow squash. Apparently all those hallucinogens are working because they look like this (per gurneys.com where I bought them) when ripe and ready to eat.



Hmmm....yep, I'm an idiot.

Belinda

Time flies...

My husband and I are celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary on the 20th (technically today). Not to get all mushy, but these 10 years flew by! Here's to another 10 and then another 10, then another 10...you get the idea! Thanks for the last fabulous 10 years and all the love and support you give me every day (and the insults, keeps me grounded).

Love you pookie!

For all the garden-o-philes

Yeah, it's a jungle out there. Here's some pictures of the "garden." We're not sure what to call it as it's gotten crazy out of control. I need to spend some quality time dealing with all the stupid grass that keeps popping up.

Here's a nice overview of the wilderness that is the garden. We just enjoyed another rain so the zucchini are feeling awfully droopy. But you can see how very large they are. They are also way too close together, but I can't tear them out. I figure the damn things will choke out the weak ones and only the strong will survive. I'm not sure why, but right now all I hear in my head is that stupid "Eye of the Tiger" song. Must be all the Nyquil I've been drinking lately (super nasty cold).


Cucumbers. The picture is rotated totally the incorrect way, but I didn't notice it until after I'd already posted it. So, deal.


I made Paul stand in the middle for perspective purposes. He whined like a mucho biatch. But then did it and even gave me a smile. Hehe. Wuss.


Portofino (yellow squash). I have four of them growing, but don't have a clue if I'm supposed to harvest them. Here's the thing though. They are green. They're supposed to be yellow to eat them. I wonder if they turn yellow and then I harvest? Or if I harvest and then they turn yellow? Why can't this be easier?


Here's the tomatoes with their super awesome support bamboo things. Florida weave baby. I weaved and then I woved and then I weaved some more. Then the tomatoes were happy and supported. I'm a nerd.


Check out the corn! Sweet. It's sweet corn. I'm not sure where the "knee high by the 4th of July" nonsense came from, but these guys didn't get that memo. Paul is totally loving being Vanna for the garden. He was making me giggle.


Here's the other side of the zucchini. They are so perky and fabulous. And so far, not really many squash bugs. I did have to pluck out a couple of the little bastards, but I killed them and they never got to send the smoke signals to the other bugs. Haha! Sweet revenge!


Umm....so where's my damn Brussels sprouts? I want some. I hate these stupid plants. 90 days until germination is too long. I think these should be the most expensive vegetables on the planet because it takes more patience than I have to grow these evil, stupid plants.


See above for the broccoli and cabbage. I feel the same way about the Brussels sprouts as the broccoli and cabbage. Although these guys aren't really supposed to take as long as the bloody sprout things. So, I probably just won't get any broccoli or cabbage. They should have been in the ground forever ago and I couldn't because Max decimated my plants. Curse you, Max.


The strawberries are out of control. I have to get in there and massacre the daughter plants. I finally did some research and found out that I should have been cutting them up. Aw well, I can't be perfect.

Love,
B

Lots of pictures!

Here's the promised pics of lots of stuff. Brooklyn's birthday was last Tuesday and her Mom and Dad threw a little party. She only wanted spaghetti for supper instead of going out and then she opened presents (Macy got a little something too) and then ice cream cake. We had fun and then in July, the family is heading up to Nebraska for a combined party for Brooklyn and Macy.






I headed up to Nebraska this past weekend for the big finale for the Wesleyan course I've been helping out with. Art and Nicole took me out to the new house site. They were really booking it for a while, but all the rain has slowed things down a little bit. It looks like it will be nice!




Amber is supposed to be due in 4 more weeks, but I'm not sure how much longer her belly will be able to hold out!


Awww...Natalia was hamming it for me. Okay, not really, I was more "ninja" photo-ing her.

Here's the drive back from Nebraska. Ashley was taking pics while we were moving. I think she did pretty good. There's tons of flooding and more rain on the way.


That's the pics I promised and some bonuses (woohoo). The garden is really exploding and I can't believe how HUGE things are. We're growing some zucchini already that's making my mouth water just thinking about it. Tomatoes are starting to flower up and there's strawberries coming too. I'll try to take some pics of it when I get out there tomorrow. I spent Sunday evening clearing out some of that damn grass and getting the tomato supports up. They seem to be working really well so far (for all that one day they've been up). I can't think of anything else right now. Have a great night!

Love,
Belinda

Random

Here's a little update on the lives at the Potters (brace yourself). First, here's a photo of the new outdoor rug we purchased at Target. It was slightly obscenely expensive but does look nice and makes the back porch kinda cozy. The "mystery plant" was one we received from Paul's work years ago when his mom passed away. We have no idea what the hell it is. Every winter, it gets all crazy and drops every single leaf. This year it was the worst and I was pretty sure those three sticks that were in the pot weren't going to come back. Color me surprised. It looks even better than before. The other plant is our beautiful lime tree that gets all crazy huge in the summer and then slows WAY down in the winter. No limes yet, but I'm eternally hopeful.

We had some friends over this weekend and a drunken Paul got the camera out to take photos. Pretty fun evening. We just hung out and ate and drank and then played a new Trivial Pursuit. I only did okay because my partner was Brenda. Brenda (sitting next to me, all crazy happy) has tons of useless information in her head. There's so much useless stuff in there, it's amazing she can function on any level at all.


Garden update!! Check these out!









I harvested the remainder of the lettuce and it's sitting in the fridge. Nothing else to harvest yet, but I'm hoping soon!

I attended my great-niece's little B-day celebration tonight and got some really cute pics that I will post some of someday. She's five now and I can't hardly believe it! Brooklyn has confused herself with a 13-year-old girl and is pretty hilarious. When she was telling me what she wanted for her birthday (a Bratz doll that you can put makeup on), she also let me know that Wal-Mart had plenty of them. Mommy had already gotten it for her, but it was cracking me up. Anyway, hopefully soon I'll remember to put those pics up, but this weekend I am heading up to Nebraska so most likely will forget completely. Nothing else going on that is worth blogging about right now, so there's your exciting update!

Belinda