Parsnip, part two...

Eliza suggested that I could 'get some dual usage' out of the post on parsnips by sending it to her 'How to find great plants' carnival..

Well, happy as I am to be asked, I don't think I can make the deadline this time...
Anyway, am putting up some new shots of the root...

The neighbor we gave a parsnip to is a painter...

Each time we give her something (mimosa, beans, etc.), she draws them...

And then, comes the 'thank you' postcard with the drawing on it... 

Each weekend, I harvest one parsnip...

This one, harvested last weekend, weighed about 450 grams...

Was quite intrigued with all the little roots around the main root...

My wifey Y boiled the parsnip until it was soft...

Salad it was, mixed with squid, red peppers, avocado, lettuce, vinegar, and black pepper...

Today was freezing cold, at least according to my standards...

Still, out into the potager I went...

And woah, a 'mini monster' weighing at about 680 grams...

This time, yours truly cleaned and chopped up the root...

Under the supervision of my missus of course...

We then boiled it for about 40 minutes...

We take the 'soup' too, and it tasted sweet...

The above dish is a mixture of pickled red turnips, broccoli, avocado, roman lettuce, and parsnip graced with a concotion of miso, vinegar, garlic, and sesame seed... 

Rocoto peppers for 'Seed Week'...

An international student from Peru was too gracious to bring four rocoto peppers for me...

The fruits don't look as fresh as they should be...

Why, for they were hand-carried (smuggled?) all the way from the shores of Lake Titicaca, 3811 meters above sea level (higher than Mt. Fuji) and from approximately the opposite side of the globe from Japan... 

Sliced them open, and woah, seeds are black...

As opposed to the white seeds in the 'regular' bell peppers...

This specimen is the one on the left-most in the top photo...

The second fruit from the left...

Seeds are less black but the flesh, charateristically thick and luscious...
According to wikipedia, the rocoto scores between 50,000 to 250,000 on the Scoville scale, which is quite comparable to the fiery habanero...

The only yellow fruit from the bunch...

Seeds were covered with protective cobweb-like material...

Hmmm, why so different from the other three?

The right-most specimen...
The rocoto has been cultivated in Peru and Bolivia for thousands of years, apparently...
Leaves are supposedly hairly and the rocoto is said to be more resistant to cooler climates than other peppers...
Furthermore, they can grow up to 4 meters over a span of up to 15 years... uwaaaahh...
I read that it is quite difficult to grow rocoto, and I plan to try out the seeds this coming spring season... fingers crossed...

My partner Y stir-fried them very lightly, mixing them with some regular green peppers...
As expected, they did taste quite hot...

The Peruvian student cooked this traditional dish in one of the big cooking events here...
The red ones are rocoto, while the green ones are normal peppers...

He boiled the rocotos to remove the hotness before stuffing in the meat...

The peppers are now ready for the oven...
The taste was very good... urmmm...
As expected, the dish was wiped out within seconds after it was served...

See Malay-Kadazan Girl for more stuff on seeds...

Japanese plum flowers, winter roses

Autumn Belle asked about the plum flowers...
We have two white plum trees, and one red...
The whites are flowering now... 

One of the them gives us good fruits every year...

And wine is what we make them out to be...

As a starter for many a dinner time, it is plum wine... 

My partner Y is into flowers...
Roses are one of her favorites
This so-called 'King Rose' keeps us company throughout the winter...

We saw this cutie growing amongst the pathwalk bushes in one of our walks in the hills...
We took a branch and my partner managed to propogate it successfully...

I'd like to name this pretty one 'Princess Pink'...

It's flowers are about just 2 centimeters across...

And it flowers almost throughout the year...
Being from the hills, this little plant is very hardy...
The petals somewhat remind me of mickey mouse, no?

'Assignments' for the coming season...

No photos for this post...

Am contemplating on doing a lot of things this coming spring...
1. Pumpkin: failed miserably last season. The only fruit I got was a fist-sized tiny pumpkin,.. inedible of course...
2. Zucchini: as above, failed badly in 2010... planted a Toscany, a green, and a yellow... but all died or fared poorly... next spring, shall buy a packet of seeds to plant all over...
3. Four-angled beans: had been trying to plant this bean for the last three years with seeds brought from Malaysia, but just as they began to flower, the cold came and killed them... arrggh... this year, I am buying the seeds from Japan... let's see what happens...
4. Cekur: a very fragrant herb found in my family plot in Malaysia... like the four angled beans, had been trying for the last two years without success... but am not giving up as yet...
5. Yes, I am planning to grow more rose geraniums here and there in the potager... I just love the smell when their leaves are rubbed on... this cutie may just win my vote as my most favorite plant...
6. And should I say, trap the racoon that I suspect had robbed me of my sweet potatoes... shall be attending a course soon to get a licence to do the trapping... am quite excited with this prospect...
7. Make the potager more pleasant looking? Hmmm... am not so much of a garden designer but shall try and see what I can do...

For more stuff on 'assignments', see fer...

Parsnip harvest...

The parsnips are ready for harvest...
I bought the seeds from Cairns last year...
This 'three-legged' one weighed 255 grams...
The first two that I harvested a few days ago weighed about 200 grams...

This vegetable is called 'shiro-ninjin' (literally, white carrot) in Japan...
Supermarkets here do not sell them, so it is somewhat a novelty veggie...
We gave one parsnip to a neighbor and they were quite excited to try it out...
I read that parsnips become sweeter after they experience a frost or two...
We had it with chicken broth and indeed, they do taste quite sweet...
Hmm, may I say that it has a taste and texture between the potato and the sweet potato?

Talking of (kind) neighbors, I was pruning the hedge this afternoon when one came a-calling with a two ton truckload full of logs...
Was pleasantly surprised that he offered to give us these logs (as firewood) for our soon-to-be-installed wood stove...