Category Archives: Food

The Vegetable Garden

One of the many weird things about South Florida is Vegetable Gardens. Whereas,  anywhere north of, say Lake City, Florida, tomatoes are planted in late spring and enjoyed all summer. Here it is Halloween. It is just not really normal. The other odd thing is you stop gardening around the summer solstice; sometime around the end of June it becomes too hot to leave the Air Con. The humidity also starts growing the most fantastic mildews and bugs and biblical type events. I have been told it is possible to grow tomatoes year round but you have to put umbrellas over them in the summer. This seems a bit much. Why do that when the grocery store has air conditioning?

Last year I planted tomatoes the week of Christmas, just so I could remember when I had planted them. This year I planted them in January because there had been some cold snaps and I was waiting for the weather to clear. The vegetables are proceeding normally, I have green beans, broccoli and herbs as well. Looking forward to picking some vegetables soon.

I have no fear of a tomatoless life. Worst comes to worst there is always Publix or our local produce purveyor. Our local farm stand has an incredibly reliable source of good Roma Tomatoes, actually ripe and tasty, I eat them year round. There is another vegetable phenomenon that is peculiar to South Florida..there is no summer corn on the cob, but it is here every other season. Winter corn was a discovery I have been enjoying.

I have recently learned how to make fresh pasta. As a result of this we have been eating fresh corn, red onion, spinach, garlic and herbs all sautéed in bacon fat over pasta. OK, it is low sodium Bacon with a little Olive Oil so it won’t stick to the inside of my veins.

This week I bought a Lime tree, Everbearing is what the label said. This brings my fruit tree count to three, a Dwarf Thai Mango and a Meyer’s Lemon are already planted. We have had some lemons and they were great. Eventually I will have to learn how to make Mango Margaritas and use all homegrown fruit. The jury is still out on buying a banana or a Papaya tree. Not sure I would ever be able to eat all those bananas.

Black Eyed Pea Salad

Here’s a easy recipe. It is a great side dish to BBQ or grilled just about anything. While I am a Southerner, traditionally prepared Black Eyed Peas are not my thing. I find them greasy and mushy, especially if they have been cooked for hours on end with pork fat.

( amounts are per person)

1/2 cup frozen Black Eyed Peas

1/4 Red Bell Pepper

1 Tablespoon Chopped Fresh Basil or Dill (I use the Dill Paste), and or Chopped Fresh Chives

Newman’s Own Olive Oil and Vinegar Salad Dressing

Cook the Black Eyed Peas per directions. Chop Red Pepper in 1/2″ dice. Drain peas, add Pepper and HerbsImage.

Mix and dress with Newman’s Own dressing. Salt and Pepper to taste. Leave on the counter for 10 minutes to let flavors meld, then eat or refrigerate and eat later.

Terse Food

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Above is my idea of a great, terse dinner. Mustard Crusted Rack of Lamb with Mashed Potatoes and lightly steamed, buttered Green Beans.

Here on the Treasure Coast I have not found much in the way of terse food. However, there is a lot of coconut fried seafood. Which, really, is the anti-terse. Terse food is fresh, well, but lightly seasoned and usually not fried. I make an exception for potatoes. Otherwise fried food is verboten.

An old friend of mine, an English professor, used terse to describe his writing style. No excessive adjectives, adverbs or fluff. Say what you mean. Or, write what you mean. He later became famous for writing the biography the movie Becoming Jane was based on. That was the genesis of my terse food concept.  For example, Grilled Mahi in a pineapple glaze, great, add coconut and fry – not so great. I am suspicious that Grilled Pineapple Glazed Mahi coated in Coconut and fried is on a menu somewhere around here.

Back to Coconut fried seafood. Why even eat seafood if you are going to do that to it? Maybe it makes disgusting old frozen shrimp palatable? My husband and I dined at a local restaurant well known for its scallops, which I was bound and determined to try. So I did.. after I scraped the coconut off the scallops were pretty good. My husband had butterfat infused tomato based pasta that was almost good, but just too much..butterfat..and we like some butterfat …more anti terse. Perhaps I should mention the last time my cholesterol was taken it was 135.

I am a design person, have been for years. I am not sure what happened, but I ended up in the running to be a restaurant reviewer for our local newspaper. It is a blessing I did not get that gig. The job went to a retired school administrator of some sort who is always right about the restaurants and rarely makes an ugly comment. For you uninitiated non-Southerners, ugly is comparable to surly. I am sure would find myself unable to be so nice.

About

I am a major market girl. Born and raised in Atlanta, GA.

A few years back, my husband and I returned from our annual sojourn to Maui and decided we had to get the heck out of the big city. So, he retired and we relocated to the Treasure Coast.

I had been coming to Southeast Florida on business for 25 years or so and my college roommate lives in Hobe Sound. I had been here, Larry had not.. so, we looked around, he loved it, we bought a house and relocated. Now my satellite radio gets stuck on Margaritaville (I had nothing to do with this – it is karmatic.)

I have practiced Landscape Architecture for almost 30 years and found the dearth of useful information on plants and landscaping for the Treasure Coast in general to be troubling, I knew a lot about what grows here, have learned a lot more and wanted to share the knowledge;  hence the blog. I love plants, fun facts, semi healthy food,wine and dogs. The complete lack of winter and local produce sweeten the deal.  The proximity to the beach sealed the deal.

So long Major Market…