Salsa Competition

A couple of weeks ago at Alden Lane Nursery, we entered a home-grown tomatoe salsa contest.  Since we basically have a salsa garden we used all our veggies... hoping it would garuntee us a win.  So we did a major harvest, chopped all day, Sam cried over our onions, and we didn't even get in the top three!! We were the only ones that did a pico de gilo (not sure how to spell that) , so we think thats what hurt us.  However, when Mike went to pick up the container the women working there said they liked ours the best because it was a pico style! So I guess we learned for next year that we will magic bullet all our veggies!! Or just enter in two styles, so we can please everybody. 

We obviously had tons of veggies... these pictures don't even show all the onions we picked!! Our sink is about a foot deep and it was almost filled to the top!!

The ingredients were:

white onions, green peppers, jalapeno, red peppers, banana peppers, tomatoes, cilantro, lime, lemon, and garlic!! AMAZING!!!

Here is the final product!! We had to make a quart of salsa... so we made twice the amount because we knew we would eat a lot of it before the contest started.  We thought it was really good!!

We Harvested!!!

This is the picture when they were straight from the ground, so they are all a little muddy!!

Finally our fruits (well veggies) of our labor paid off!!! We got tons of veggies today... and there is a ton more! We got carrots, radishes, tomatoes, hot peppers, jalapenos, and onions.  It was an awesome day in the garden (perfect for an anniversary day).  They taste great... and look just as good!!

Here they are after their bath... the carrots we think are two different kinds, but they both taste pretty good!!

Happy Earth Day

As I hope everyone knows, today is Earth Day and in honor of Mother Earth I planted some flowers in our yard.  It was so nice of her to give us good whether on her big day!! WE are planting more and more in our big garden every weekend.  Last weekend we did almost everything... we planted tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, banana peppers, hot peppers, herbs, carrots, radishes, peas, beansl, watermelon, cucumber, and zuchinni!! WE may plant some pumpkins and maybe rip out the tree thats there and plant an avacado tree!! But that will probably be a little bit down the road... can't wait to eat it all!!! We finally got to try some of our strawberries (squirrel issue long gone) and it was super good...I even liked them!!

What's Missing?

My big fat red beautiful strawberry!!!! A freakin squirrel ate it one day before I was ready to pick it!!! So pissed!!! Any suggestions on keeping the squirrels away? I told Mike we should get a dog...

Flea Market Treasures

Recently, Matt, Kim, Mike, my Dad, and I all went to the flea market off of capital in San Jose.  The day started out as kind of a bust, but at least entertaining.  We wondered for about an hour and finally got to the good stuff... Matt and Kim got a framed poster and a giant spoon.  Random but good stuff.  My dad got a mop, so that was how we found him the entire trip (and is now called mop man).  I discovered two hidden treasures, one was a Run TMC framed and matted cards (Run TMC are guys from the Warriors when I was like 6) and a gardening table... AMAZING!!! Gotta love the flea market!!!

  And it was only $25.00!!! Granted it took a while to get in the car, and we could barely fit... but it was definitely worth it!!! I couldn't be happier!!! Now I have a place to put all of my potted plants!!

My Green Thumb

Since I have a lot of time on my hands... I have decided to take up gardening.  Out backyward is huge!!! And divided into two parts.  I have only worked on the front backyard because the back backyard is way more than a one person job... but that will get started this weekend (hopefully).  Anyways I have been planting, digging, plowing, and prooning (sorry don't really know how to spell that word).  Anyways I have been pretty much done something everyday for the last week.  There is still a lot to go, but this is the progress so far...

In those pots we have strawberries, fuisha, and two other kinds of flowers that I can't remember.  In the pots behind them we have our herbs... rosemary, cilantro, and parsley.

I plowed this whole area... it took 3 days!!! But it looks way better!!! It will look even better when the seeds start to grow!! Can't wait!!

To the left is our berries... we have rasberries and blackberries.  This year we probably won't get any, but next year they will hopefully just take over and we can make everyone jam!!! Apparently unemployment has turned me into Suzie Homemaker!! lol