How To Make Snow Cones At Home

Making snow cones at home is a quintessential summer activity especially when you have kids. If you are planning to do one, but don't have an ice shaver, please check out what I am using and a few other suggestions on this video (#ad)

Outdoor Dining Set for Summer Gatherings

Summer is a great time to have breakfast or dinner in the backyard garden. It’s relaxing and memorable. If you are planning to have one and don’t have an outdoor dining set, the one we have is already off market, but there are endless of other options you can  you choose from. I picked a few suggestions at Amazon (#ad).

Dinner at Home With Some Garden Harvest

A simple and easy to prepare dinner at home with grilled sausages, shrimp, cheese and some backyard harvest - strawberries, kumquats and beetroot.

Video on youTube

The Shops at Sportsmen's Lodge in Studio City

The Shops The Shops at Sportsmen's Lodge is an upscale chic outdoor shopping mall with gourmet restaurants and fabulous boutiques in Studio City, Los Angeles. We were here for a weekend lunch and weekday dinner at Uovo Pasta where they serve fresh pasta handmade from their kitchen in Bologna, Italy. Plus ice cream at Van Leeuwen.

Video on YouTube:

Shredded Pancake with Berries

Pancakes and waffles are some of my favorite breakfast to prepare especially if we have berries in the backyard edible garden that are ready for picking. On this video, I made the Austrian version of the pancake, the shredded version called "kaiserschmarrn" drizzled with syrup, topped with berries and then sprinkled with powdered sugar. 

Video on YouTube...

Making Seafood Paella

Seafood paella is a favorite meal, delicious and doesn't require that much effort, perfect for a leisurely Friday night dinner. The arsenal: chopped onion and sliced garlic, paella rice, diced tomatoes, a pinch of saffron, shrimp, seafood broth, mussels, salt & pepper to taste.

Video on YouTube...

Beef, Potato and Leafy Greens

Cold weather, hot soup, a perfect combo! I used chuck roast and cut it into cubes, russet potatoes diced into almost the same size as the beef, a fresh cracking of black peppercorns, a pinch of salt, beef broth and the leafy greens from the backyard edible garden.

Video on YouTube:

4th of July BBQ

Summer BBQ | 4th of July Lunch | It's time to fire up the grill once again to celebrate 4th of July or America's Independence Day! On the grill - filet mignon, pork and chicken. The sides - freshly harvested tomatoes, lemon and cucumber and sliced watermelon. God bless America... our home sweet home!

Video on YouTube on the link below...

How To Cook Bitter Melon/ Bitter Gourd

Bitter melon is a popular vegetable in Asia, disliked by most children because of the bitter taste, it is packed with nutrients and also used as medicine to treat diabetes, infections, and immune disorders. In this video I harvested bitter melon or bitter gourd, called "ampalaya"in the Philippines, "karela" in India, and cooked them two ways - with mung beans "ginisang mongo" and with eggs/omelet "tortang ampalaya."

On YouTube, link below...

Tags: 

 

bitter melon recipe - how to cook bitter melon - superfood - growing food - organic gardening - gardening in Los Angeles - gardening in zone 9 - gardening in zone 10 - what to plant in Los Angeles - California gardening

What to prepare for Thanksgiving dinner?

What to prepare for Thanksgiving dinner? Turkey of course! Here are some snapshots from last year's Thanksgiving. We roasted turkey and cooked the typical side dishes - green beans, mushroom, potatoes, sweet potatoes and gravy. The herbs were freshly-picked from our small edible backyard garden -  rosemary, sage and thyme. 

Thanksgiving dinner was prepared with help from my little sous-chef.  

Video on YouTube on the link below...

Video on YouTube on the link below...

Celebrating Oktoberfest At Home

Celebrating Oktoberfest or German-themed dinner at home with grocery haul from our favorite German deli - sausages, (Münchener Weisswurst and  Frankfurter Würstchen), sauekraut, marinated beets and beer. We also made pretzels with the pretzel mix we got from World Market.

 

Próst!

 

Shop with Me:

German Pretzzel Mix: https://amzn.to/33Hkwxy

German Bread Dumplings: https://amzn.to/30QkQYR

Bavarian Style Sauerkraut: https://amzn.to/3nCgyOO

Video on YouTube on the link below..

Green Thumb Nursery - Fall and Winter Gardening

A tour at Green Thumb Nursery to check out the plants for fall and winter gardening. We bought some seeds - different varieties of kale, snow peas, carrots, beets, rutabaga, radish and English lavender. As well as some lettuce  (Amanda and freckled) and sugar snap peas seedlings. The lavender seeds will be scattered in the front yard for next season.

 

Walking around the nursery was quite a workout. We started in the seeds section, then went on to the veggies section, the herbs, roses, fruit bearing trees, drought tolerant plants, succulents and the indoor plants. There's also a pumpkin patch and of course, Joshua's favorite section where there's a family of deer.

 

Then, there's another section of the nursery where you can drive-thru so they can load the bags of soil. We got 4 bags.

 Video on YouTube on the link below...

Planting A Fall And Winter Vegetable Garden

Planting a fall and winter garden in October is what I have been looking forward to. Fall is a season of change. The hot summer days are slowly changing to a refreshing chill in the air, as are the leaves on the trees. Then the autumn sun will shine through the golden foliage and very soon the leaves will fall. And down below is our lush vegetable garden filled with salad greens, peas and root vegetables.

You can find the raised beds in here Size 4 ft x 4 ft - https://amzn.to/3kTslGa Size 4 ft x 8 ft - https://amzn.to/30mbNil Size 2 ft x 4 ft - https://amzn.to/3ifUhSP

Please click here to watch the video on YouTube

How To Make Latte Art At Home

Yes, you can make a beautiful latte art at home without an espresso machine. 

It's Fall/Autumn and I would like to level up our coffee so I bought a milk frother and stencils. Here's what I made. If you would like to see the video, it's on YouTube on the link below.

And here's the milk frother HadinEEon Milk Frother I used and the 72 coffee stencils

YouTube link

Homegrown Tomatoes & Homemade French Baguette

It is a happy moment when bread comes out of the oven crusty on the outside and soft inside. Yes, I made 4 loaves of French baguette and harvested some colorful and juicy tomatoes and basil to make bruschetta. I also baked salmon and topped them with lemon slices, tomatoes and lemon verbena from the garden. Also on the dinner table were figs from the backyard garden. 

So in love with an enameled cast iron skillet, if you are also looking into getting one, check this out Enameled Cast Iron Skillet

Video of how I prepared our dinner from harvesting in the garden to making baguette and cooking the salmon is on YouTube on the link below. 

Please click the link below for the YouTube or you can also search for Backyard Edible Garden in Los Angeles.

Tags: backyard edible garden, garden to table, growing food, homegrown, homemade, easy recipes, healthy recipes, stay home, working mom, how to make baguette, DIY, baking at home

Fall Gardening, Decorating and Cooking

I love Autumn, it's my favorite season next to Spring -- the cool crisp weather, the colorful foliage and pumpkin patch.  

We welcome Autumn by decorating our house with some pumpkins, fall foliage and some fall-scented candles. The trees in our backyard are also changing colors and I whipped up a quintessential Autumn recipe.. chili which happens to be one of Joshua's favorites.

Top 10 Fall and Winter Vegetables To Plant In The Backyard Garden

If you are new to gardening, most likely one of your questions would be what vegetables to plant during fall and winter. And here's my top 10 list of cold-loving veggies that thrive very well here in California. The video down below will also give you an idea of how we set-up our garden, what plants are planted together and what we do with our harvest.

1) Lettuce (varieties: Romaine, Amanda and Frecked)

2) Peas (sugar snap peas and snow peas)

3) Swiss Chard (peppermint chard is my favorite)

4) Kale

5) Bokchoy, Tatsoi and Joi choi

6) Spinach

7) Beetroot or Beet (chioggia beets are my favorite)

8) Radish

9) Collard Greens

10) Broccoli, Broccolini and Broccoli Rabe

Other cold-loving crops: parsnip, kohlrabi, cabbage, carrots, garlic and onion

If you would like to use a raised bed which I highly recommend, you can check this out Raised Garden Bed

Some new gardeners are also wondering which soil to use, here's what was recommended by our nursery and what we have been using since 

Organic Plant Garden Potting Soil Mix 

As for the gardening tools to start with, this 6 Piece Stainless Steel Heavy Duty Garden Tools Set would be perfect for all your gardening needs.

Below is the link to a video I posted on YouTube with clips of our garden and the Top 10 Fall and Winter veggies that we grow.

Chicken with Lavender & Lemon - The Best Chicken Recipe

I smell Provence on our doorsteps! Yes, we are growing lavender. We have three bushes and we just added two more.

 

Last night's dinner was a recipe from Provence in South of France, using the lavender I picked from the garden and air dried in the kitchen.

 

Organic chicken drumsticks marinated in homegrown lavender and, thyme with lemon zest, juice of a lemon, olive oil and a pinch of salt.

 

On to a 375-degree pre-heated oven for an hour.

Voila! Dinner is ready -- chicken with lavender & lemon, or in French... poulet au citron et lavande!

I have been cooking on a cast iron skillet almost every day! Love how the meals turn out and how they look. If you are in search of a cast iron skillet that is of good quality that doesn't cost that much money, check this out Enameled Cast Iron Skillet I prefer enameled because they look pretty in photos.

 

Video is on YouTube... please click on the link below...

Lemon Verbena Tea & Making Cinnamon Rolls On A Calm Morning That Feels Like Autumn | Morning Routine

A cup of tea helps calm the mind. We're kicking off the day with a lemon verbena and lemon infused tea and a delicious cinnamon roll.

The lemon verbena were freshly picked from the herb garden.

So in love with this tea infuser! You can check this out from this link tea infuser

If you are interested in watching the entire video of how I picked the lemon verbena from our backyard edible garden and how I made a pot of tea, then please click on the link below.

making cinnamon rolls

homegrown tea

lemon verbena

homegrown and homemade

Filipino Garden To Table Sunday Lunch - Tortang Talong, Bitter Melon Omelet, Salted Eggs and Shrimp

A taste of home with some harvest from our backyard edible garden - eggplant, bitter melon. lemon and tomatoes.

 

On the table...

- Eggplant Omelet ( Tortang Talong )

- Bitter melon with sliced onion, tomatoes and egg

- Shrimp in lemon garlic butter sauce

- Salted egg salad with garden tomatoes

Video is posted on YouTube on the link below.