Silvia, I grow sweet potatoes for the greens.

Have you cooked sweet potato greens?

Better than spinach, IMHO.

dcarch

I have a question for Annie in response to your comment on yellow turkey gravy.

What makes your turkey gravy yellow? Or is a descriptive choice of words? I make roast turkey at least once a month. The broth and drippings from the turkey and/or turkey parts (legs & thighs are favs here) make a carmel/light brown colored gravy. Do you season the gravy broth with something that makes it yellow?

Hi Dcarch - I have not used sweet potato greens yet but my friend who is one of the best Asian cooks does. She also uses moringa leaves and green papaya. I am sure they are very nutritious. Whenever she invites me to eat, her food is so delicious! but I must say she takes very long time to cook, I always come home with the best eggrolls lumpia. When I saw the recipe that she gave me, I thought I need time and practice.:)
Another green that I tried when I went to Jamaica was callaloo and I grew it in my garden one summer...

And made a soup

Silvia

Welcome to the CF, Silvia!

Your photos are all wonderful, and your banana tree took me back to my childhood days in Cuba. We, or rather our neighbor, had a few banana trees in his backyard, and my brother and I loved climbing them; not much of a challenge when you consider the trees couldn't have been more than 8-10 ft. tall.

Sol

Teresa, my gravy isn't really yellow, it's more tan, but something about the contrast with the lavender colored sweet potatoes brought out the yellow tone. Because I use locally grown turkeys and the fat is a somewhat different color, even the skin is more yellow, and because I don't cook the roux for too long, the gravy is a light sandy/caramel color with some yellow undertones. I might have a picture, but I think that was before I had a digital camera, Jessica brought me my first one as a gift when she came to visit.

The first bite of purple potato was somewhat unsettling, it's amazing how you expect something to look a certain way. Your brain says "it's the same thing, dummy", but your eyes aren't certain. That purple sweet potato pie that Silvia mentioned would be interesting.

Sol, a 10 foot tree is tall when you're a kid, LOL. I can just see you scampering up a tree like a monkey. (grin)

Silvia, I'll watch for those purple sweet potatoes, I'm due for a trip to that great Asian market in Ann Arbor that Nancy (wizardnm) told me about. The picture looks almost like beets. I grew the white "Nancy Hall" sweet potatoes this year and some orange "Georgia Jets". I've never even seen a purple one, or a purple snap pea either. Thanks, now I have something new to try to grow, Michigan weather limits me somewhat, I haven't had a great deal of luck so far with the white sweet potatoes. Maybe purple would like it better here.

Your other potatoes are beautiful too. I made some red, white and blue potato salad last year for the 4th of July picnic but cooking them leached out some of the color so it wasn't as colorful as I had hoped.

I like the oddly colored vegetables and the grandkids like to grow them. Makayla's school has been teaching her that we should "eat a rainbow every day". Lots of different vegetables make that more interesting. For me too!

Annie

"...it's amazing how you expect something to look a certain way. Your brain says "it's the same thing, dummy", but your eyes aren't certain."

It works both ways. The flavor of vegetables which have a yellow color cast are often described as "buttery". Klondike gold potatoes, for example. I doubt there are any vegetables with a buttery taste until we put butter on them. But we willingly believe our lying eyes.

Jim

Hi Sol - Thank you for your warm welcome and I am happy that I stirred those good memories in you!
Bananas are so versatile and we can even use the leaves for cooking meat, rice, desserts and tamales.:)

Annie - One of the reasons that I garden is that I can grow things that are not even available at stores. Some people collect different things, I collect seeds,lol
In my garden I grow the most unusual and I pick daily something fresh and that is my menu for the day. And I love colors! happy colors everywhere.

Zucchini, eggplant and tomatoes from the garden, my lunch today

and the sweet potato party some time ago...

sweet potato slices

Jim - When friends come to eat at my house, it is always an experience for them, lol. They always ask what is this and what is that? they all like the dishes at the end. And I have to be on my toes because sometimes real chefs come.:)

Silvia

Did I say "Klondike Gold". How embarrassing. Of course I meant Yukon Gold.

Seeing your tamales, both banana wrapped and corn husk, motivates me to make some.

Those sweet potato slices look very buttery. :-)

Jim

Jim, when I saw Klondike potatoes, didn't sound right but then I thought that you know something that I don't, lol

I grow the amish bush porto rico every season and they are very tasty. The sweet potato slices is a recreation of something similar that I ate long ago and they are easy to cut and eat as a finger food and the guests took them home as a party favors.:)

I made this tamales with the banana leaves, try them, they take long time to prepare but they are worth it.

I was cooking the meat while I had painters in the house and they said "smells heavenly" The real trick is when using fresh banana leaves they have to be softened, and I didn't know how to do that, so I wet them and put them in the microwave for a second and voila!, later I asked my friend how she do it and she said she puts them on a fire quick...you can also use parchment.

Silvia

Here is a link that might be useful: tamales

"...I thought that you know something that I don't..."

Hahahaha! How kind of you!

I notice the recipe you linked calls for lard. Am I correct in thinking it is important to use a high quality lard? Any suggestions?

Jim

How are the sweet potato slices made? Are they sweet or savory?

Late to the party here. I feel a little silly welcoming you, Silvia. It seems like you are already part of the crowd here. I am enjoying your pictures and comments. Maybe you will inspire me to actually cook something. Somebody has to eat all the stuff everyone else cooks. That's my talent. Welcome.

Jim - Where I live right now, I don't have many specialized sources so my choices are limited to what the local stores have to offer. I don't use much lard in my cooking but once in a while for baking or other...My main thing when I go to different markets anywhere is the spices, I try to stack up on all that I can,lol

Jessica - The sweet potato slices are sweet and they can be easily cut for small servings, I made this recipe and I changed the sugar to 3 cups and the vanilla to 3 teaspoons, because I have the vanilla from Costa Rica and is stronger, I baked it in a square pan for easy cutting.

Hi Dedtired - It is never too late to get to know you and thank you for the welcome. I can see that you love to eat,lol that is the best reason to hang in this forum. I will also learn from the wonderful and very experienced posters here. Nothing can beat real experience when making a recipe. I will be posting about my little experiments, my parties and the food at the restaurants that I go. Like you can tell, I also love good food!

Silvia

Here is a link that might be useful: sweet potato slices

Silvia - You are definitely too modest!

Carmen I am so delighted that you are enjoying the hibiscus I brought! This is my favorite tea ever and I drink it a lot. I've got my hubby hooked on it. :-) I had thought to bring this to the party, but as luck would have it for the 3rd, or 4th? year in a row I couldn't make it. *pout*

I just had to stop and show you all Silvia's (SMALL?) garden is truly heart stopping. Here it is this spring.
And this is only a small portion of it. My wildest dreams can only hope that my garden would be like this one day.

Hi Barbie!

What a nice surprise! We missed you at the party but I hope that you can come next spring. It is so nice to have your company and thank you very much for your nice words. You were just so gifted when you wrote on your blog about my humble garden last time that you came...
I will save some Okinawa purple slips potatoes for you in April. There were some sweet potato dishes from gardeners that I gave the slips last time from my bush amish porto rico. I remember that you made muffins from the berries in your garden, they were very tasty!

Silvia

Annie B., I'd like a moment for rebuttal...

Silvia, I'm absolutely craving tamales; aside from chocolate, a Tamal is my favorite food.
Mom always makes Cuban tamales wrapped in fresh corn husks (she uses everything but the silk :), which is traditional to the island.
Banana leaves were mostly used to wrap other foods, such as fish. I have done the latter, but have yet to try wrapping tamales in banana leaves. One day.

Ok, Annie, I confess. As a kid, I was the proverbial monkey. I was loud, swung from banana trees, and pretty much did everything monkeys do, except fling poo.

Although, there were times... :)

Sol

Sol, it seems like we are related,lol. I love chocolate and tamales! Have you tried the Italian chocolates? Oh no, I can never like another chocolate again, I like the most the ones with hazelnuts.

And tamales that is my weakness,lol. I lived in Arizona for a while and all the families there make big batches around Christmas and I am talking hundreds, red chili, green chili, pork, chicken, beef.

Close third in the running are empanadas! I like cheese, meat, my favorite are the dough made of green plantains with cheese inside...

I made this meat empanadas for the sweet potato party.

Silvia

Sol, I knew it. (grin)

As for the slinging of poo, I've seen my share of it flung in my life, figuratively, not literally. :-)

I've missed you, I'm glad to see you back. Now tamales? It's something I've never made because I'm not wild about the texture of the masa, but Elery loves them. Maybe I should give them another try, using Renee's "7 year rule".

Annie

Annie

Silvia - I went back and re-read this entire thread. What a treat it is to have you and your "gang from the Florida forum" here.

Another big welcome! I hope to see all of you posting on a regular basis!

Teresa in Minnesota

Oh, and Silvia, what a beautiful garden!

Annie

Thanks for the recipe. Looks good!

Hi Teresa - We are a big group of gardeners that have the parties and love good food. The main reason for growing edibles is because we can take it to the kitchen and sample new recipes. That is why that this forum is so interesting for me and everyone is very welcoming! I feel like I know you all for some time already...I will be posting and learning at the same time. Great ideas and recipes here!

Hi Annie - Thank you. When I compare my garden to the great ones that I seen, it is very small and non pretentious.:) The big thing with my garden is the production! every inch of space have some sort of edible or herbs. It looks the best in spring, that was the time that some pictures were taking for the Florida Gardening Magazine and they had a little story to go with it. I also volunteer my help in the community gardens in my area and they printed in the local newspaper, they said that I was the "tomato expert" I was shocked! lol

Some of the harvest one day in a past season

{{gwi:84217}}

You are welcome Jessica.

Silvia

Silvia,

Are those lychee fruits at the lower right hand corner? If so I am moving in with you. LOL!

Is that micro eggplant Fairy Tale eggplant? Very delicious and cute variety.

dcarch

Hi Dcarch

You are so funny! And yes those are lychee fruits and my tree is in the front yard and none of my neighbors know that is a fruit and edible. When they see me picking, they said "do you eat that?" and then I let them sample...
I think that is the Fairy eggplant, a couple of years ago I planted about 6 different varieties but in my weather so far the best has been the Orlando eggplant, it is non-stop. I am always looking for friends and neighbors to give away a bag.In the party Doug came with envelopes to give away the Orlando seeds.

Here it is this season after picking a bag full...

At the party the eggplant Madras pickle was very popular made with the eggplant harvest. I just love them roasted in the oven.

Silvia

Hi All....I'm not sure if Silvia is a better gardener or a better cook.....but don't worry....'Damn the waistline'....I'm dedicated to finding the truth ;-)

Those Orlando eggplant re-packaged seeds came from....as Jimster pointed out "those huge Italian garden seed packets." (gourmetseed.com)

What is it with our own USA seed companies and their miserly seed counts ?

Silvia.....OMG, I've been eating your Cinnamon Fig Jam.... mmmmmmmmm! Delicious! I can't imagine the effort to make.... Thank-You Friend....

doug

Here's a link to the FloridaForum and a Silvia Press Clipping:

Here is a link that might be useful: Community Garden

Hi Doug!

Thank you for all your nice words! Having friends like you makes the life fun. I look forward to our get togethers.

The Mayor of the town of Oakland came to the party and her favorite are the Zuni Cafe pickles that I gave her a jar. She said those are the best pickles ever!

I am so glad that you liked the fig jam, my fig tree is a variety that was planted a long time ago by the settlers and I bought a little one for $ 5, now is so productive! The cinnamon fig jam is my favorite, I also made the honey fig, the rum and fig, and the Grand Marnier one.
Mike from the community garden said that the rum one is the best, I bought the rum in Jamaica.

Doug, now that you and Jim mention about the giant seed packages, I thought the same,lol. Did you see all the chicory seeds packets that I put out at the party? they went very fast and some gardeners didn't even know what chicory was and they came to ask me. I couldn't eat all that chicory that Donatella the winery owner sent me in my lifetime.:)

Silvia

Wow, Silvia, that's some eggplant! I get 5 or 6 here from my plants, they grow a couple of feet tall and I think they're productive, nothing like those.

I agree that the seed packets are "miserly" here. I shake my head when I open a packet and there are 4 or 6 seeds of something in there. I still go to my local feed mill and buy seeds from the bulk jars. It's way cheaper and measured in scoops, not seeds. I don't know why more people don't do that, instead they buy from the seed catalogs and it's the same stuff, only three times as expensive (or more).

I will admit that I do buy some varieties on-line that I can't seem to get anywhere else, but there aren't very many of those. Don't ask me how I killed a bunch of ghost peppers. I guess they aren't meant to grow in Michigan...

Annie

I am always looking for friends and neighbors to give away a bag. Okay, I love eggplant and I'm not too far from you!

Wow, this has been a fun thread to catch up on.

A late (as usual) welcome, Sylvia. My garden is way west and way north of yours. No bananas here, and I'll try not to to be too envious of the giant eggplant (this was a miserable year for my 60 day Asians) But I have huckleberries...there is that...lol.

"----The Mayor of the town of Oakland came to the party ----"

Impressive! At first I thought it was Oakland CA. Then I realized you meant Oakland FL. I was in Lake Mary recently, I could have drop by and join you guys.

Speaking of mayor, I just got this from a friend in LA, he worked with the LA mayor to get this done:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/los-angeles-mayors-office/city-of-los-angeles-institutes-comprehensive-food-procurement-policy/166567283482953

May be you can forward that to your mayor friend.

{{gwi:2067770}}

dcarch

Annie - One of my favorite stores is the feed store in Winter Garden, I get seeds and coastal hay for my garden, very inexpensively. I love the feeling of the old town there, they have pigs, rabbits and others like pets. And as a plus I always hear tidbits from the history of the small town where I live, all the stories that I missed since I don't live here too long. Love to hear from the locals that are native Floridians.

Mustangs, since you live in the area, it will be very nice if you can come to our garden parties. And I will save a bag of eggplant for you. I try to give away different veggies to different people so they don't get tired of cooking the same thing.:)

Hi Katiec, you are never too late to say hi and I am glad that you live close by, I have blackberries in my garden and I made a great tasting jam in the summer, love berries! any kind.:)

Dcarch - Oh no, I would love to have you in my house! next time, let me know and send me an email. You are very welcome to come here anytime.
And I know people always get confused with Oakland, there is another Oakland in South Florida and when I make the parties I have to explain the directions very good so they don't go somewhere else,lol
It is so nice about your friend in LA, he must be so proud of his work to get that done, congrats to him.!

Have a happy Sunday!

Silvia

Silvia, KatieC isn't very close, she's in Idaho! I do have a jar of her huckleberry jam on my table here in Michigan, though, so through the wonder of the internet we're all very close together...

Annie

Good morning Annie!

You are very right, the internet makes us all close. I just notice that our zones don't show up in this forum like in others.
Since I lived in many different places, I am familiar with the areas and what is growing. I always garden since I was a child. That is why I thought huckleberry don't grow near me.:)
If I have to pick a place where I had the very best wild berries would be Oregon, I used to live there a long time ago...

We have very good blueberries in the area

Silvia

Oregon = truffles

dcarch

Dcarch - That is interesting, I didn't know that...I like truffle cheese.

You probably like this market in Florence

I will be cooking all week something tomatoes, they are getting ripe in my garden. In the farmers market Florida corn is in season, they were selling fresh picked 6 ears for $2.

My tomatoes this morning

Silvia

Silvia, a few days ago, I had an avocado, hass type, I was surprised! The pit was very tiny about the size of a large marble. It was mostly all delicious creamy golden/green avocado meat. I have never had an avocado like that. So I saved the seed and I am growing it and see what happens.

If I can get it to sprout I may send it to you, if you want. I can't grow avocado in NY climate.

It would be amazing if this is a mutation of avocado with very tiny seed.

dcarch

Dcarch, I had a lot of different avocados, one that grows in a temperate climate in a town around the Andes is very small but such a good taste! Another that I tried you can eat the skin. The one you ate sounds very good! Avocados can grow as a houseplants, it is very nice of you to think about me for maybe your seedling if it sprouts...
When in season at my garden, I would like to send you some to try. My brothers that live around your area, always get a box, they shipped so well. I also send my red limes for them to make guacamole, I like them best with a good bread like a sandwich, maybe some pickled red onions.

A meal from my garden, avocado, eggplants, tomatoes,red lime and some herbs.

Silvia

"It would be amazing if this is a mutation of avocado with very tiny seed."

This seems likely. If so, it would be very valuable. Avocados are mainly propagated commercially by cloning. It is worth trying to grow that seed.

Jim

On the other hand, clones are very unlikely to be mutated.

Hmm....

Jim

Jim, you are thinking too much, lol. My Brogdon avocado is a mix of two different avocados. Tom from the Florida forum grew some seedlings from my avocados, it is going to be interesting what the gardeners who got the seedlings get and when. My garden is about 5 years old and it was only grass when we moved here, the avocado is probably the most productive fruit tree that I have, after that is the loquat (Japanese plum).

I like this combination, shrimp and avocado with a corn tortilla

One bunch that I used in cooking and fresh

And the same plant has one bunch and it flowered again this week.

Silvia

"Jim, you are thinking too much, lol."

You nailed me! Guilty, as charged. :-)

This thread is getting kind of long, isn't it? It's been a good one, with lots of your photos and interesting topics. Now it's time to branch out.

Jim

I feel like I've been on vacation after reading this thread. I hope Silvia and friends stick around and contribute many more lengthy threads!

Teresa who is looking forward to more posts by Silvia and the new Florida peeps.

P.S. Mustangs - you live close - visit soon and we want pictures!

Hi Teresa! Just because you are being so nice, I am telling you my soon to be future posting. On Saturday, I am making a dinner party for friends. The way I do all my parties is prepare every day a little bit, the day of the event I don't do a thing but get myself ready and few fresh details. So far appetizer, soup and salad are done. Few side dishes will be done soon. Originally, I was thinking to make gazpacho from the tomatoes from the garden but I changed to a hot roasted tomato soup, I am glad that I did, it tasted so good! For dessert, I am thinking something Meyer lemon, my tree is getting heavy with fruit...
And when I go to a new restaurant, I will take you and the cooking forum to have that experience in another post! I have some interesting reservations coming up:) Hope to meet Mustangs when she has a chance to be in my area.

Silvia

Teresa, "---I feel like I've been on vacation after reading this thread. ---"

I know. I have re-read this post a few times.

Especially the garden pictures. I feel the plants in Silvia�s garden are all sentient, and they are all saying," We like it here very much!"

dcarch

"Jim, you are thinking too much, lol."

You nailed me! Guilty, as charged. :-)

This thread is getting kind of long, isn't it? It's been a good one, with lots of your photos and interesting topics. Now it's time to branch out.

Jim

There I go again; double posting. How do I do that????

Jim

And two hours apart.......hmmmmmmmmmm - how did you do that?

I think it has something to do with quantum mechanics or string theory, neither of which I understand.

Jim

Welcome Silvia! So very glad you joined us. Welcome to your fellow Florida friends too. Geez, a girl is gone for a couple of weeks and you guys fill a thread with all these great pics and food. It took me a couple of days to get through it but I thoroughly enjoyed all the posts. Thanks for sharing your world with us Silvia and I look forward to getting to know you.

Coconut

Jim - reading is optional in the forums, you don't have to open up this thread if you don't want to.

Hi Coconut! I am so glad that you are back and thank you for your warm welcome! I look forward to get to know you and do more posts about what I cook and new experiences that are fun, it is all about sharing a passion for cooking and new friends are the best way to enrich our lives.
Tonight I am preparing a dinner for friends and I am looking at the last details, everything is pretty much done but the BBQ that will be done after they arrive...I will have a few glasses of wine and be merry but not before everything is set up and I take the pictures to share with all of you.

Silvia