Tea With The Dames, lavash for lunch, sunflowers

I don't post often about food, since cooking for one is not that interesting to me, but I discovered Lavash recently, a flatbread, just bought it on a whim. It seems to stay fresh longer than a loaf of bread, about a week. I cover it with grated cheese, tomatoes from my garden, taco sauce, put it in the microwave for 20 seconds, and then roll it up and eat it. Yum. Nice with olives and an avocado on the side. The traditional way to enjoy lavash is to spread it with cream cheese and add things like sliced ham and lettuce before rolling it up.

Above is a native penstemon, which is purple with undercurrent of blue. There are 4 different purple native penstemon, some with a white throat. My five plants are all purple and bees and butterflies and people like them.
After a decade of dropping cable and not watching much TV I have discovered the delights of streaming channels. I subscribe to Hulu and recently watched the documentary Tea with the Dames. Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Joan Plowright and Eileen Atkins (she is Aunt Ruth in Doc Martin which I am watching). I found it delightful as the four actresses shared laughs and career highlights and family and husband moments. Some of the laughs are bawdy. Other Hulu favorite shows for me are Blackish, New Tricks and Elementary.

Below is another photo of the penstemon with some of my new bottle bush plants on the left. I had 11 bottle brush planted on both sides of my driveway and they are the kind that only grow to 3 or 4 feet tall, which is what I wanted. Many bottle brush grow to 6 or 8 or even 10 feet tall and all are gorgeous when covered with their red flowers.

And my neighbors faithfully plant many sunflowers from seed each year and the flowers are blooming now.

I thank their perseverance because last year they barely had any plants survive an onslaught by squirrels and birds as the squirrels dug up the seeds and birds ate the seedlings. Last year they kept planting more seeds and even put netting over the planting area to little avail. This year the sunflowers are back and didn't bloom til September and they are very welcome.

Swiss chard recipe

light through swiss chard
Originally uploaded by greenhem
Do you like Swiss chard?
I grow the Rainbow Swiss chard, which has stems that are red or yellow or white, since it is so pretty.
Last night I cooked it in my favorite way. First I cut off the thickest stems and sauted the stems in olive oil with plenty of chopped garlic.
I put the rest of the chard in a pot with a steamer tray and an inch or two of water, and steamed it covered until cooked, about 10 minutes.
Drain the chard and toss it with the olive oil, cooked stems and garlic and you have a delicious side dish.
How do you prepare chard at your house?

joi choi

joi choi
Originally uploaded by Zoe52

In early spring I planted Joi Choi and Japanese Red Mustard; and six weeks later the leaves are huge and healthy, and their strong flavor repells the snails.
Joi Choi must be in the Bok Choi family.

My husband creates a delicious dish with these wonderful leaves. Pick a lot because they cook down. In a skillet heat olive oil, chopped garlic, Joi Choi, Japanese Red Mustard, and if you have them, add in red cabbage and onion.
Cook a few minutes on the stovetop.
They have a strong edgy flavor, and are yummy as a side dish with steak and potatoes or anything else you want.