Lunch Salad

This is a fairly typical Lunch Salad that I make for work.  I decided to weigh it this morning.  LOL!  1.5 Pounds!  That is bigger than I expected.  Cabbage, Celery, Onion, and Tomato...

Luffa Squash, and Winged Beans

With the help of some friends we have figured out that this "Vietnamese" Squash is really a Luffa Squash.  I've got plenty of advise from the Asians at work.  So, now I am picking them accordingly.  You don't want to let them get too big.  If they do get big then let them stay on the vine until they are fully mature for seeds, and the Loofah Fiber which is used like a sponge.  Definitely the weirdest thing I have evar grown.  Also maybe the biggest thing I have evar grown.  It's taking over the whole garden.

It's growing up the Trumpet Vine, and into the Chile Patch.  I was picking Carolina Reapers, and found Luffa Squash growing in the Carolina Reaper Plants.  Also picked a few more Chiles today.  I'm looking to make something a little less hot than the Grim Reaper Sauce.  I bought some Serrano Chiles this week, I guess I was needing to tone the heat down a little.

Pickling Jar Seal

This is an impromptu method I've been using to seal the top of the Pickling Jar.  By Pickling Jar I mean whatever vessel is free at the time I want to make Pickles.  This time the Pickling Jar is a 2 Quart Mason Jar, and the Lid this time is a 1 Cup Ziplock Container filled with water.  A lot of dedicated Pickling Jars have a stone that is  used to submerge the Pickles.  Molds can grow on the top of the Brine, and any Pickles that are sticking out of the Brine will get moldy.  So the method is to keep all the Pickles submerged.  Having a Pickling Stone is nice, but it only fits that one dedicated container.  My kitchen needs to be a lot more flexible so I can adapt to whatever container is at hand presently.  The One Cup Ziplock Container filled with water fill most of the space of the Mason Jar opening.  There is a gap that is large enough to let the CO2 gas bubbles out, but also small enough to prevent the Pickles, and other ingredients from rising to the surface.  This batch of Pickles is Cayenne, Garlic Cucumber Pickles.  Fresh Cayenne from my garden will put some fire in these Pickles.

Dragon Bean

This is the Winged Bean, also called the Four Corner Bean, and the Dragon Bean.  It has "wings"  The feathery extremities of the X shaped cross section resemble wings.  This is the first time I actually have Beans.  This is the second year I've grown them.  The first year I don't think I had enough plants.  This time there are more than enough for successful pollination.

Reaper Sauce

About the only thing I think I can do with them Reapers is make sauce.  They're not producing a lot of Chiles, but its right amount to make a bottle of sauce.  I've started with the Reaper Sauce, and just made another I'm calling Grim Reaper Sauce.  Itz a Halloween thing...

The Reaper Sauce is on the left.  It has Carrot, Onion, Garlic, and San Marzano Tomatoes.  The Grim Reaper Sauce has a larger volume of Carolina Reaper Chiles per ounce.  I omitted the Carrot, used Tomato Sauce instead of whole Tomatoes, then added more Vinegar, no water, and some Clover Honey.  The Grim Reaper Sauce will be Mo Hotta...

Next I'm going to try a Red Savina Habanero Sauce, and a Cayenne Sauce...

Vietnamese Squash

A friend at work gave me some Vietnamese Squash Seeds.  I planted them in the spring, and they were very slow to start.  They made some small Cucumber shaped leaves, and seemed to stagnate for months.  Then in the middle of August these things took off, and got monstrous, took over the entire garden.  They also made a massive amount of fruit.

It is possibly the most prolific plant I have ever grown.I'm not even sure what to do with these things.  My Vietnamese friends make soup with them.  I guess you could also Stir Fry them, or use them in a Squash way like steamed, or roasted.  I'll have to do some experimentation.  LOL!

The leaves of this plant are 8 to 12 inches wide.  It tried to gobble up my Chiles, and even ran up the Trumpet Vine.  Its going Allwhere...  LOL!  I haz to beat it back with a stick...

Reaperz

The Reaperz, they haz arrived...