Rain!!!

Hallalujah~ We had rain today! Only a little bit but it was the kind you can smell. And there was real live thunder. I hope it gets all hot and muggy just the way Houston is supposed to be midsummer in July. And Ahhhh can you hear the garden. It's happy.
These are kind of random pictures, I had a quiet day - working on some things for etsy and for gifting. Did a little job searching - soooo fun (not)

I pulled this cilantro and basil from my garden and will probably make my go-to tomato jalopeno basil angel hair garlic pasta. I' make it more than anything on the planet except for maybe scrambled egg whites. Chez Melissa.

And this below is my kitchen. Nose right in... I am always curious about other crafty people's living spaces and kitchens, and work areas. So I'm going to post more every week. I like color - can you tell!? I love the way the bar wraps around so that I can watch the living room. It makes me feel like I'm a part of whatever is going on there while I'm cooking - which is a lot!
And this is new, I took down an old picture I was tired up and framed my favorite fabric. It's My Mona Maria.

Garden of Heat

Here's a peak at what s growing in the garden in 105 degree heat with no rain for 60 days straight.

And yet, God is good! I am most excited about these little watermelons! Arent they the cutest? I counted 9 baby ones this morning.

Firsts

These picked this morning.

Ninfa's green Sauce

I just read from Homesick Texan that Houston is the only city that serves up green sauce...can that be? I guess I assumed my whole life that the whole world fed their babies this stuff. So Now I have to go ahead and post the recipe even before I make it so that all ya'll in Dallas or Tempe, Kansas City, Seattle or New York can poke around to find some tomatillos.

Ninfa’s Green Sauce Ingredients:

3 medium-sized green tomatoes, coarsely chopped (you can substitute yellow if you can’t find green ones, but never use red)

4 tomatillos, cleaned and chopped

1 to 2 jalapenos, stemmed and coarsely chopped

3 small garlic cloves

3 medium-sized ripe avocados, peeled, pitted and sliced

4 sprigs cilantro1 tsp. of salt

1 1/2 cups of sour cream

Combine chopped tomatoes, tomatillos, jalapenos and garlic in a saucepan. Bring to a boil (tomatoes provide the liquid), reduce heat and simmer 10 to 15 minutes.Remove from heat and let cool slightly.Place tomato mixture with the avocados, cilantro and salt in food processor or blender and blend until smooth.Pour into a bowl and stir in sour cream.Makes 4 to 5 cups

This recipe is Ninfa's, but I found it on gorgeous Homesick Texan's website. She has awesome Texan faves. I think she lives in NY now, which makes sense...homesick!

Projects on the horizon

I am working sporatically on my dresses. I tend to work naturally in phases from one project to another.
Thing I have my eye on in June:

1. Making a cool rug from old T shirts.
2.Making Ninfa's salsa...this recipe from "Homsick Texan" comes from the Houston Chronicle..a reliable source...And if you arent from Houston, you HAVE to make this. Seriously you dont know what you are missing. I was born and raised on this stuff. I want to make it NOW...but I spent 4 HOURS at the pool for first day of summer vacation today and I'm a little Rose'.
3.Wanting to research how to get involved in either a community garden or in helping others with overflow from my garden. Just the thing to inspire me to rip up the rest of my yard. I'm practical like that. I would love to feed the world!
4.I heard from Organic Magazine about putting a vegetable garden in the FRONT yard, to bring neighbors together...pretty radical notion in my little corner of the BURBS... but one I am considering for next year. Researching Seglia's top edible landscaping ideas from OrganicGardening.com
5. Want a composter, even though the Cowboy thinks they are a pain in the Arsh.
6.Make no kneed bread.
7.Grow black berries and citrus trees next year. And grape vines: do a little experimental wine making.

I would just love to have my own little organic farm and organic herb farm...and add to it vineyard with winery in the hill country. I would loooooove to have my own winery in the hill country...bet I would drink all the wine though!

On the verge

Garden update....

Everything in my backyard garden is either in bloom, about to produce a fruit or squash or is a green tomato!! Grow! You cant rush nature. But I feel like I have been waiting for eons. I still claim that even though I got a late start, this year is my Victory garden. I water every morning and every night since it has been so hot and dry in Houston. Normally we get more rain this time of year. I have been trying to get The Cowboy to tell me what is in his secret ancient fertlizer miracle called Tea Manure.... But he protects that recipe like it's war secrets. He is "tweaking" it now. I told him he could test it on me. He barely waters his garden, the dirt looks like it is hard clay, and the stuff grows like it's from another planet. GIANT zucchini's, GIANT squashes and more peppers than you've ever seen! I'm going to get to the bottom of that recipe....He recently told me to research sea salt.....I dont know if that's a decoy or not. You think???

Fresh from the garden bliss

A must have in my neighborhood on Memorial day is the chips and salsa. I'm trying to will enough tomatos to turn red so as to make it fresh from the garden.

Here is my VERY simple from the garden, tried and true and beloved Texas salsa recipe...gulf coast style. Use fresh whenever possible.

Melo's Gulf Coast Salsa

two or three tomatos

two fresh jalopenos

a few sprigs of cilantro

LOTS of lime to taste, I use two, sometimes three (this is key)

one onion

one or two ( I usually add just one) clove garlic

I put all my ingrediants in a little cuisine art mini chopper I bought from Walgreens ( too easy!)

Or you can chop everything up very finely for more of a pico

For flair I sometimes add a mango (which I am going to do for this Memorial day weekend.) Just make sure to add enough jalopeno to offset the sweetness of the mang0.

I will post Frank the Tank's margarita recipe this Sunday. It's perfect. As well as his colorado mojito with fresh mint magic. oh I can taste it now!

FYI Frank the Tank is my boyfriend and in his college days he bartended. Trust me this boy knows his way around the tequila. Even if he is a Colorado boy. And a cuban. ( mojito, mojito, mojito)

I also plan to serve up some guacamole, bacon wrapped jalopeno with cream cheese stuffed inside, grilled chicken quarters, chili lime corn on the cobb, and home made ice cream and brownies for desert.

Here is my challenge:

( Melo GIVEAWAY) I need a recipe for the chicken ( I bought four leg quarters "great for the grill") and I also need some kind of potato cheesy side dish that my son will eat. Please leave any suggestions in the comments section. I will be drawing a winner this Sunday! This prize is one of my ultra cute grocery bag dispensers that I sew from my label Choclate Tamales. Lord knows some of ya'll have grocery bags tucked all kinds of places...mmhmmmm. You know who you are.. so help me out and melo out!

Good luck!

Make Your own seed shaker

I am going to try this seed spreader from Organic Gardening.
"Tops with 1/4-inch holes are perfect for small to medium-size round seeds such as poppies, radishes, onions and members of the cabbage family. "

BATs

BATs
Originally uploaded by africankelli

As my little tomato plants grow....I am visualizing what to do with them.
This BAT (Bacon avocado tomato) treat from Africankeli looks refreshing!

Giant Pumpkin

One day this Giant pumpkin is going to be giant!

I used this organic sed starter mix/soil to start my seeds this year. Worked out really well. I recommend it. All my seedlings had good strong roots.

Explanation - yes those are foamy angel wings marking my seeds. I didnt have any labels so I got CREATIVE. Yes I am thank you. I found a project for making angels in the craft closet and look at all the wings! I kind of think the angels will bless my little garden. Actually it got really windy and they blew away. oops. But I got smart and labeled the starter thingys with black sharpy. So seeeeee if the single mommy in the burbs of Texas can start a garden and feed the world (my fantasy) from her backyard you can too! What are you waiting for!! Even if all your perfect neighbors think you are nuts for ripping up MORE grass. They'll thank you when it's time to harvest.

Do you see this GIANT pumpkin??? Do you really think it will be giant one day??? I have to know. That is why I planted these seeds and now I have FOUR giant pumpkin vines growing in my backyard in the suburbs of Texas. SUBURBS. Yes my perfect neighbors think I'm crazy. TO quote " you rippin up more grass"? "That's good grass.." NOT compared to the possibility of giant pumpkin, and my fantasies of seeing it be bigger than my 7 years old boy, Do you see? It's bigger than this boy on the seed packet! Ok truth be told, I dont really believe in giant pumpkins, I've never seen one for real. But...I'm that way. I have to really KNOW if I can grow this pumpkin to giant. What a halloween it's going to be if I have four giant pumpkins come fall. People will come for miles around to see what the single mom in the suburbs has done next.

This is the real life story of a cumcumber's birth. For the past two years I have had one 100 sq ft plot for growing veggies in my backyard. While I loved my garden and reaped the benefits of tomoatos and peppers and squash and green beans, I really didnt have TIME for my garden. Have you ever had one of those times in your life where you literally were on the rat race??? My job intown was so stressful at one point, I remember coming home at dusk and just sitting in the middle of my garden crying.

Since then, I've slowly gotten myself out of the rat race, and have realized the importance to the whole person of carving out space for the things I love. I am creative and this is what fuels me. Lately , I have been obsessed with gardening - I dug up another 100 sq ft plot this season for my viney friends...the pumpkin, watermelon and cukes that always end up trying to choke my peppers and tomatos ( they are very competitive).

So now they have their own place. I even bought this nylon treliss for 3 bones at home depot so that he cucumbers can grow up and leave room for their melon friends.

I am particularly proud of growing from seeds this year. One thing I'll do differently next year is start earlier. Patience darlin, patience. They take a while to grow. And not everything made it. But I do have quite a nice little crop growing. Did I mention the spaghetti squash did amazingly well from seed? Hardy little guys. I bought them on a whim but here they are two rows growing!