Spring is Here!

With the arrival of my favorite season, I have decided to start blogging again. This time around, I will be adding another hobby of mine-gardening! At the start of every spring, I spend hours researching, planning and experimenting with our garden because I tend to forget what we experimented with in years past, and so instead of making the same mistakes year after year, I have decided to track what we planted, where we planted everything, and the outcome (can you tell I'm a teacher?). I figure that an online blog will be an easier way to organize everything, compared to random sheets of paper laying around the house, collecting dust.

For our front lawn, we've added an incredibly fragrant Phlox Red Wings (priced @ $13/gallon) by our driveway/in front of the kitchen. Dad and I thought this might be a little pricey, especially after we saw other Phlox (different varieties) in smaller containers, and since Phlox is prone to spreading. However, after sniffing every single variety, I can safely say that our Phlox choice was the most fragrant, and therefore, in my opinion, the best pick. I can't wait to see this grow and spread out over the season/years!

We are also experimenting with planting some Canna (priced @ $5/2 bulbs) as a border for our front entrance. Traditionally, we have planted geraniums here, with mixed success. We'll see how the experiment with Canna goes! If it goes well, it should be a nice way to frame the front door and welcome our guests. =)

Along the front side, we usually plant a row of Impatiens (that's mom's biggest contribution!). While she is visiting relatives, dad and I are taking the opportunity to experiment with some other flowers. Last year, the Impatiens did not do so hot (apparently the weather was a major factor), which has inspired me to shake things up a bit. We bought a Coneflower Ruby Star (priced @$15/gallon) that should go nicely in between our two hedges next to the front entrance. These bloom in the summer through the fall, and so we planted this in front of the tulips that will bloom any day now! We also bought two perennial pansies-a Lavender Shades and a Peach Jump Up. Generally speaking, I'm pretty neutral towards pansies, but the Peach Jump Up caught my eye with its unique and adorable colors. Then I caught a whiff of its fragrance, and it was over. I had to have it! So we bought that and a Lavender Shades to compliment it. These are also in front of some tulips, but will last the entire summer, and hopefully through the years. We also have a Jethro Tull (priced @ $15/gallon) with vibrant yellow flowers for kicks. This will hopefully last through the entire summer and compliment all the red and purple and orange that we've got going on! We also threw in some Sparaxis bulbs (priced @$5/12 bulbs) that were leftover from another section of the garden. These are bulbs that we've never grown, so we're not entirely sure how this will turn out, but here's to experimenting!

Of course, we also have our vegetable garden. I threw out the marker-labels, but have retrieved them from the garbage can (worth it!). We have Uncle Mike's Cherry Red Tomatoes (priced @ $5/6 plants) that will mature in 50-65 days and Marketmore 76 Cucumbers (priced @ $5/4 plants) that will mature in 58-75 days. Tomatoes and cucumbers are incredibly easy to grow and always add a nice add of pop and flavor (not so much the cucumbers) to any summer dish.

We also bought some Dahlias (priced @ $6/2 bulbs) because unfortunately our Dahlias from last year do not seem to be doing well. We bought a deep red and alternated it with an orange. Dad was really into a variation of a plant that we already have-a Columbine Origami Mix (priced @ $15/gallon). This plant loves the shade, so we planted it next to our Bleeding Heart. This should be a pretty nice mix!

I am always looking for some more shade-loving plants because the backyard tends to get neglected a bit, so I bought some Astilbe bulbs (priced @ $7.79/3 bulbs). Bulbs always make me a bit nervous, partly because I don't know whether the bulbs will actually produce a live plant, and partly because I'm never too sure which way is supposed to face up. I planted these in pots first, so that they will be less likely to be neglected. Fingers crossed that all goes well here.

I'm excited for what's to come for our garden 2014! I will be checking back in with updates and hopefully photos of our thriving garden!

Mothers Day 2013 Part 1

Our family has come to a mutual understanding that for major holidays and events (e.g. Christmas, birthdays, Mother's Day, Father's Day, etc.), physical presents are unnecessary...an added bonus, if you will, given by those that are feeling particularly generous. We all agree that the best gift is a delicious meal and some quality time with the family. Whether we have a home-cooked meal or eat out is dependent on the circumstance; sometimes, we do both. Thus was the case for Mother's Day 2013, which we started celebrating on Saturday night. I've been pretty worn out and haven't really cooked recently, and so my gift to my mom (in addition to QT with me) was a meal at Wild Fig, a Mediterranean restaurant that has delicious flatbread, among other things.

We started out with a platter of spreads, which is why I picked this restaurant in the first place-my sister had ordered the tarama spread a few weeks ago and I had been craving it for days.

White bean salad, tarama spread (roe), babaganoush (eggplant) and hummus

Second course-some pide (still have no idea how to pronounce this!). See an explanation of pide below, as extracted from wikipedia:

In Turkey, local pita is called pide which also refers to another pizza-like food made of pide dough topped with different ingredients. Regional variations in the shape, baking technique, and topped materials create distinctive styles for each region. Such pides may include pastırma, sucuk, chicken, chopped or ground beef, kavurma (meat, generally mutton or beef, fried with suet and salt and kept for later use), cheese, potatoes, mushrooms and many other ingredients.

Pide 

Next up, some Iskender kebabs; kebabs are just a must when at a Mediterranean restaurant, in my opinion. This was absolutely delicious. There was some tzatziki sauce, lamb and beef gyro, topped on diced flatbread, with some tomato garlic sauce. Served with rice!

Iskender kebab

A simple salad with calamari. Who doesn't love calamari?

Calamari salad

Wurst in NYC

Winner of the first Vendy Award in 2005, and beating out the renowned Halal Guys on 53rd and 6th, Hallo Berlin offers tourists and natives some tasty German sausages. Located in midtown right off 5th Ave., this food cart was swarming with men in suits (I'm sure it also attracts other people, but such was the case when I arrived). Your Foursquare tips and Yelp reviews will warn you that there is quite a bit of a wait, particularly during rush hour. I arrived at 12:30, thus experiencing this lunch-hour rush (apparently, just because I'm on spring break does not mean that everyone else is too). 35 minutes later, I still wasn't sure what I was going to order-there are so many choices, unless you opt for the dictator special, shown below:

The two specials-the dictator special (no choice of wursts) and the democracy special (choice of 2 wursts)

Despite my extreme indecisiveness when it comes to ordering (unless I've researched the menu in advance), I went with the democracy special, with a currywurst (as advised by my fellow Foursquarers) and knockwurst, accompanied by the works (all toppings-red and white cabbage, sauteed onion), some potato salad, and a meatball on top.

Democracy special

Not exactly the most photogenic meal, but little matter when it tastes DELICIOUS! Halfway through, my stomach, which I'm pretty sure is shrinking despite what you might think when eating with me, told me I was done but I kept going just because...

Particularly now that the weather is quite nice, I recommend eating at the Grand Army Plaza, Manhattan edition on 59th street and 5th. You might want to plan for a stroll in Central Park after to burn off all the calories! 

Be forewarned, you'll have to fight through hordes of business people and tourists stopping and taking pictures in front of Abercrombie and Hollister (which I still don't really get) to hit up this joint.