Big Heads

I'm not getting a big head about my garden. That's not what I'm referring to, but I am pretty proud of it this year. Even with my healthy respect for weeds, I'm doing pretty well at keeping them at bay and I'm starting to see some of the fruits of my labour. Yay!

This is what I picked last night to augment our supper - chives, basil, parsley and swiss chard. Mmm, swiss chard. I had blocked this vegetable out of my mind for years and was re-introduced to its yumminess last year.


And this is what became of the greenery.


By the fall, I hope that I'll have my own tomatoes to make the pasta sauce as well, but I always run out of the canned tomatoes sometime during the winter. And it would be nice if the peppers and cucumbers were my own as well, but the cucumbers are not progressing much beyond their second set of leaves and I didn't grow any peppers.

The swiss chard looks much like the mushy green stuff I'd blocked out from my childhood, but it tastes much better. Instead of boiling it or creaming it, I saute it with olive oil, roasted garlic, and always a crunchy nut. This time it was toasted almonds.

And look! I love this early brocoli. They are doing really well this year with not a sign of the white cabbage moths that I'm scared of dealing with. Last year I didn't have any bugs either, but I also didn't have this size. This is the big head I was referring to in the title.

I don't have small hands, I'll have you know. Seinfeld would call them "man hands". You people in BC are probably thinking "Big deal - we've been eating from our gardens for months". But this is Edmonton where we are still getting the occasional overnight frost warnings.

Anyway, this is supper tonight and I'm looking forward to it.