Recently I spent the morning working with my pot plants just out the back door. I had sad tomato plants that needed to be potted up before I lost them, and a cucumber similarly needing potting. Soon enough I was spending the morning working with plants, repotting, weeding, tidying, even a little painting, and all the time I was with my family and friends! A storm was looming, due around lunch time, so I knew that my time was limited, but planned to work until driven indoors.
I spent time with my late mum via the beautiful yellow gerbera that she had given me eight years ago, and the lavender that I had dug from her garden after she passed, there’s even a juvenile lavender now growing in a large pot, home to a small mandarin tree.
Gary was out with me, weeding, and held up an old paint tin asking what I wanted to do with it… It was actually the pot for an agave that my sister, Jan, had given me when we spent Christmas with her a few years ago – I said leave it, I like the tin! But as I worked, decided to brighten the tin up a little – so quickly removed the plant, climbed up to the paint shelf, a quick “what colour should I use?” grabbed the can, some paper, a couple of sprays, and when done, repotted and repositioned, where it says “look at me!”.
Large as life is the stunning hydrangea “Sundae Fraise” , a gift from my sister, Sonnie. Our mum fell in love with this plant when she saw it in her English magazines. When she first showed us we thought she was mistaken, calling it a hydrangea, in the images it looked like a pink lilac! We all subsequently fell in love with the plant, and waited for it to become available in Australia. Earlier last year, Sonnie surprised us with a plant each, and after nurturing our little sticks, little shoots emerged, they grew into one or two little branches, and then there it was, the showing of a flower! We were amazed that it would flower when the plant had such small beginnings. We’ve all had flowers, the cluster of flowers is huge, and now there are new shoots emerging – of course we have been sharing shots from each other’s gardens. I will need to find its forever home in the garden this year, as it is much more suited to the garden than as a potted plant.
Also from Sonnie, geraniums, that I had grown from cuttings, sent me searching through my collection of pots and objets d’art to find their new homes. A curry leaf tree, a gift from Sonnie, with precious memories of dear friends, Esther and Malcolm, sadly Malcolm is no longer with us, but visits with Esther, who is in her 90’s, are so precious and enlightening.
There’s a gardenia that I’d grown from cutting, I always think of Gary’s mum when I look at it, she loved gardenias and was always striking new plants from cuttings – often there would be a full row of little glasses or jars lining her windowsill, each vessel hosting little cuttings at various stage of their new lives.
Then there’s the pot of horseradish. I smile when I look at that, thinking of the groans from friend, Toni, who was presented with a huge bed of horseradish when they purchased their beautiful home nearby. For those who don’t know, trying to eliminate horseradish from the garden is not for the fainthearted! Sitting nearby, in a tub, are three chillies, the middle one that I had purchased, but the ones either side were gifted from another dear friend, Monica, early last year – no challenge! I had to overwinter them, from five or six, two survived – sticks with a wee indication of green in a couple of places. I didn’t hold out much hope for them to come to anything, but I was wrong, they’ve almost caught up to the one that I purchased, so I guess that there will be more chilli sauce and dehydrated chilli this year, but I believe a few may find their way into a delicious bowl of one of favourite Thai soups, Tom Yam Goong, as well!
- 500 ml chicken stock
- 20 g shallots peeled & sliced
- 20 g galangal chopped
- 20 g lemongrass bashed
- 20 g small hot chilies whole
- 4 kaffir lime leaves
- Fresh lime juice
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp palm sugar
- 6 green prawns - tiger if you can get them
- 20 g straw mushrooms cut into halves
- 1 spring onion - green part only finely shredded on the angle
- 6 snow peas - cut into julienne
- To garnish
- 2 Kaffir lime leaves cut into fine chifonade
- Fresh coriander leaves
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Peel & devein the prawns. Set aside
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Gently sautee the galangal, shallots, lemongrass & chillies to release their flavours.
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Cover with chicken stock and add the kaffir lime leaves. Simmer gently for 10 minutes.
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Strain the broth, discard the solids and return the broth to a clean saucepan.
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Season the broth with the fish sauce and palm sugar and adjust the flavour with the lime juice.
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Return the pan to the heat and bring the broth to a simmer, add the prawns and straw mushrooms and simmer gently for a few minutes, until the prawns are just cooked.
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Divide the snow peas and spring onion between two serving bowls, top with the the prawns and straw mushrooms and pour over the broth.
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Divide evenly between two serving bowls
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Sprinkle with kaffir lime leaf chiffonade and coriander leaves to garnish.
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Serve hot.
- You may substitute diced chicken for the prawns, the dish is then called Tom Yam Gai.
- I like to add some fresh seasonal vegetables when I can.
Gary drilled holes in a bread crock that no longer had a lid, it is now home to a geranium and some succulents from my mum’s garden. The skies darkened, the thunder was growing louder and the rains slowly arrived. It was time to go indoors.
After lunch I set to making a tomato tart with the first tomatoes from the garden – two amish paste and couple of black cherry, barely enough, but thought I could make it work. Tomato tart or Tomato Galette (Galette aux tomates) are made every year when the tomatoes are in season and from our garden – we love it.
Pastry was rolled out, I didn’t have enough cheese, but I did have a little chévre, and a jar of moutarde au basilic (basil mustard) gifted to me by my beautiful friend, Véronique, when she visited from France last year, so spread the mustard into the base of the tart shell, arranged the tomates and chévre, sprinkled with salt flakes and a fresh grinding of black pepper. Baked in a hot oven, it was a delicious way to welcome in the beginning of tomato season, and perfect for our evening meal.
My day with family and friends was finished, mother nature had watered the garden and it was time to relax a little…
Until next time…
Happy gardening and,
Bon appétit!
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