September 1, 2019 and a 3 day weekend

I do not know when I have so looked forward to a three day weekend. I had a court case in Mason City on Thursday, that I had been working on for 4 years. (Mason City is about 170 miles from Iowa City.) After several hours of testimony, it was done. Well, it was as done as my cases often are. I will have to submit a post trial brief, but that part is easy.
As I drove home all I could think about was taking a few days off.
Many of those thoughts were of what to do in the garden.
So here we are.
A three day weekend.

Cooler weather is here.
I have been wearing a jacket when I go out in the morning to the garden.

What is going on in the garden?
Well yesterday was the day with the first toadlily.
Toad lilies are a fall flower.

I think this next picture was the photograph of the week. This is a wild tradescantia. By wild I mean it is mostly a weed. I had never really taken a close look at it.  It is quite remarkable.

These yellow hibiscus flowers have been blooming on the back driveway.










I have been training this plant to be a standard.
How did the word "standard" come to mean what it does with plants?
It seems like a specially trained plant to be in a shape that does not appear in nature would not be "standard."

I take cuttings from my hibiscus plants. This little one is blooming, at the same time as its parent.




























This is the last lily.
I think it is called Black Beauty. It is blooming a good 2-3 weeks after the last lilium bloomed this year.

















Actually there were a whole bunch of these lilies in the one clump.




















Any guesses? It is a sanseveiria.
It is one of those friend's plants.
We got it from a friend who moved east a long time ago.
Those plants always remind you of the person.

It is also called "Mother in law tongue."
Where do these names come fron.

















It reliably blooms when it gets outside.












Another nice coleus.
I am ready to completely get away from impatiens as a companion plant to my other shade plants.

Impatiens seem to take so much work- watering would seem to be the main thing.

As I think about it impatiens do stay reasonably short.



This is a potted begonia. I am afraid it is nice enough to come inside this winter.
I try not to think about that plant migration yet.



















Enjoy some more color.















I do not remember if I showed this to you. If I had to enter a hosta leaf contest, this would be my entry. It is from a slow growing plant called Confused Angel. I actually bought the plant 15 years ago, mostly for the name.

At a time when the hosta do not look their best, you look for varieties that hold up into the fall.










This cattleya orchid is a day or so from blooming.













The pulmonaria bloom in the spring, but look good all summer into fall.
They can get quite large.












A few weeks ago I showed you some blackberry lilies. They are really a variety of iris.
The seed head is why they are called blackberry lilies.

They really are quite fertile.

I do gather the seed, trying to remember which colors went with which seed.

Julia's recipe

Poached Fish with Chili Oil

Here is the link to all Julia's recipes that have appeared on the blog.
https://mearskitchen.wordpress.com/



Philip reads the New York Times on-line and somehow this means we get recipes every week. Some of them feature broccolini or sumac powder or lots of chickpeas. Or all of the above. But some are very good, and this is one of those. We are eating a fish these days, partly because we like fish and partly because we bought a share in a community supported fishery (CFS) for the summer and so we received about 20 pounds of fish in the past 4 months. Thank goodness we have a big freezer. I made a couple of minor adjustments to this recipe, which serves 4.


The ingredients: 1 lb. or so (maybe a bit more) of white fish (I used cod - more about fish choices below); 1/4 cup olive oil; 4 cloves of thinly sliced garlic (about 2 tablespoons); 1 thinly sliced shallot (a heaping 1/4 cup); 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes; 1 teaspoon fish sauce; 2+ cups of little-ish tomatoes; 1 cup of plain old water; 1 cup of roughly chopped fresh parsley; 1/3 cup finely chopped fresh mint; kosher salt and black pepper.




I started by cleaning and slicing the garlic and shallot. I sliced the shallot into thin half-moons and the garlic into thin slices. I actually bought a shallot, which I usually don't do. I think it's a good choice in this recipe. I heated the olive oil in a big skillet and added the garlic and shallots. I cooked them over medium heat stirring frequently until the garlic and shallot bits were golden brown and crisp. I strained the oil through a fine sieve into a cup and put the crispy bits into a little bowl for later. Next I washed the tomatoes and cut them in quarters. If you use cherry tomatoes (which would be fine), cut them in half.



Then I put 2 tablespoons of the oil back in the skillet and added the red pepper flakes. I heated that up for just a few seconds and then added the tomatoes. I cooked the tomatoes for about 5 minutes until they began to break down. Then I added the fish sauce and the water and stirred - making sure to get any tomato-y bits up off the bottom of the pan. I cooked the mixture (at a simmer - medium heat) for about 5 minutes more.







While the tomatoes were cooking, I sprinkled the fish with salt and pepper (maybe 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper altogether). And I chopped the parsley and the mint.

Next I put the fish on top of the tomatoes, added the herbs, and turned the heat up until I had a simmer again and then turned the heat down to maintain the simmer.







I covered the pan and let it cook for about 7-10 minutes.

The pot on the back of the stove is rice. The skillet next to the fish is red onion to be added to some nice green beans.










When the fish was done (and when it breaks into big flakes, it's done), I gently lifted the fish out of the skillet onto a serving plate and spooned the tomatoes all around. Then I sprinkled the top of the fish with the leftover olive oil (remember the olive oil?) and with the crispy garlic and shallots. It was very good served over a dollop of rice with green beans on the side.

I used cod because the CFS brings me cod. Halibut would work. Thinner mild white fish like sole or tilapia would work but the cooking time would be shorter.

A person might decide not to cook the herbs. But I am not that person. A person might decide to use cilantro instead of parsley but that would lead to rebellion in my household. We grow mint (in pots. Mint is way invasive.), and so we have access to the modest amount of mint called for here. The mint is nice in this dish if you have it. I think some herbage - parsley or cilantro with the contrast of mint or maybe dill - is important.  Enjoy.

Odds and Ends

Part of my garden to do list is finding and planting pansies.
They do so well planted now.
They will think nothing of a frost, lasting until November.
They will actually then overwinter, even in Iowa.
It is the hot weather that will do them in.

There are still many Night Blooming Cereus buds coming. Several should bloom this coming week. There are several places where there are 3-6 buds all together. If they bloom at the same time, which they often do, it should be quite a show in a few weeks.







Enjoy some quiet time.
Philip