Chestnut, pumpkin, beets, and rocoto...

Tried planting chestnut for the first time last year...

The strain we chose is called 'Porotan'...

Don't ask me why it is called such a name, but they are supposed to be easy to peel...

We could manage only one fruit... yes, only one, weighing a great 35 grams... ;=)

 

Actually, there were four fruits forming...

They eventually dropped off before they could fully mature...

Our butter scotch pumpkin did not do as well this year...

Yes, we could harvest only one fruit...

Compared to 6 fruits last season... 

Wonder why, really... 

Beets... just harvested a bunch of them, and was quite amused to see one of them taking on the shape of the bottle gourd...  

Rocoto peppers... yes, from seeds given to me by a former student from Peru...

Their color combination on the insides are really fascinating to observe...

I plan to ask my sweeto haato to preserve them in vinegar...

Harvesting on a hot August weekend in 2011

Our tomatoes are doing pretty well this year...

And for reasons quite unclear to me, the crows did not come for them this time...

When I am working in the potager, I love to pop these goodies into my mouth, just like that...

We had jalapenos before, from seedlings bought locally...

These are from seeds bought from LA last March...

They seem to be more spicy that those we had before...

Bought two seedlings of sweet peppers (shishito) in April...

Why not, as they were on sale...

They are very productive, giving us lots of pods almost every day...

The bell peppers are really tiny this time...

Guess they need more fertilizers...

I really like to eat moroheya... 

Am so happy that we have a big bush of moroheyas this year...

Apparently, their seeds are poisonous... no?

Seriously tried to grow Japanese mountain yam this year...Tried two species: the nagaimo (long type) and the jinenjo (wild mountain type)...Harvested some today...Wooh, had to dig and dig... deep... Yet, could not reach the bottom of some of them, especially the long type...Anyway my sweeto haato made this dish, mixing the moroheya and the yam...The taste was very smooth and very good...

Had tried to grow winged beans thrice with seeds brought from Malaysia...

Each time they began to flower, the cold came in and they perished...

This time, bought some seeds from an online shop...

And imagine how happy we are to see the flowers...

We are starting to chew on the beans now...  

Long beans have been a regular feature in our potager for years...

Unlike the wing beans, the seeds which I brought from my village in Malaysia, adapted very well to the climate here...

Still, the beans are rather skinny...

Along with long beans, Chinese chives are also a regular feature in our potager...

I put them in the perennial plot together with asparagus and black eye susans...

We just cut and cut while they grow and grow...

Tonight, my missus make one of my favorite dishes...

Pancake, Korean style aka chijimi, with ingredients being Chinese chives, jalapenos, dried shrimps...

Those jalapenos... they have a nice flagrance and they are not overly spicy...

Taken with grounded black sesame and vinegar sauce, wooh, the chijimi is heavenly...

Rocoto peppers for 'Seed Week'...

An international student from Peru was too gracious to bring four rocoto peppers for me...

The fruits don't look as fresh as they should be...

Why, for they were hand-carried (smuggled?) all the way from the shores of Lake Titicaca, 3811 meters above sea level (higher than Mt. Fuji) and from approximately the opposite side of the globe from Japan... 

Sliced them open, and woah, seeds are black...

As opposed to the white seeds in the 'regular' bell peppers...

This specimen is the one on the left-most in the top photo...

The second fruit from the left...

Seeds are less black but the flesh, charateristically thick and luscious...
According to wikipedia, the rocoto scores between 50,000 to 250,000 on the Scoville scale, which is quite comparable to the fiery habanero...

The only yellow fruit from the bunch...

Seeds were covered with protective cobweb-like material...

Hmmm, why so different from the other three?

The right-most specimen...
The rocoto has been cultivated in Peru and Bolivia for thousands of years, apparently...
Leaves are supposedly hairly and the rocoto is said to be more resistant to cooler climates than other peppers...
Furthermore, they can grow up to 4 meters over a span of up to 15 years... uwaaaahh...
I read that it is quite difficult to grow rocoto, and I plan to try out the seeds this coming spring season... fingers crossed...

My partner Y stir-fried them very lightly, mixing them with some regular green peppers...
As expected, they did taste quite hot...

The Peruvian student cooked this traditional dish in one of the big cooking events here...
The red ones are rocoto, while the green ones are normal peppers...

He boiled the rocotos to remove the hotness before stuffing in the meat...

The peppers are now ready for the oven...
The taste was very good... urmmm...
As expected, the dish was wiped out within seconds after it was served...

See Malay-Kadazan Girl for more stuff on seeds...

Potager frosted...

Went out to the potager to harvest some rocket and mini radish for breakfast...
Almost let out a scream upon seeing the plants 'frozen'...
The carrots, chard, radish, lettuce, onions, fava beans, snap peas, parsnip... ouch!
Wanted to pour water on them to melt away the ice...
But was stopped by my missus... you will only make it worse.... let nature take its way and wait for the sun to warm them up, she said...
Went off for a function and came back in the afternoon to check...
She was right... the plants had recovered... ahh...
Now I am wondering if I should cover my plots with some protective plastic...

We use green peppers to make 'pizza toast' for breakfast almost everyday...
But we need more 'kick', so next season, I shall be planting more Jalapenos instead...
We grew habaneros once, but ooh, no way we could enjoy that fiery stuff...

We have water lily and lotus in our pond...
The water lily flowers every year but not the lotus...
Perhaps I should add some cowdung into the lotus pot...