Plums

Picked the plums off of ONE of my trees.  Lots and lots of plums.  All three trees are plum trees.  Who knew?!?  They are just different varieties.  So no apricots.  Or cherries.

Fruit Question

I've thought that this was a cherry tree for the last 3 years.  Am I wrong?

It grows like a cherry tree, has leaves like a cherry tree and bark like a cherry tree, but these are some BIG cherries!

This is the first year that it has had any fruit.

My finger for size comparison.

Next tree.  This is a plum tree.  It has had plums before, so I KNOW that is is a plum tree.

One of the 3 currant trees that I planted last year.  They are growing HUGE!

Finally apples on the apple trees.  Well, on one of the trees.  The other 2 still don't have any fruit on them. 

And that beautiful apricot tree with all the blooms?  Zero fruit.  Last year I had a few apricots even with all the fruit drop after the late freeze.  BUT I remembered to prune last year.  Next year.....

Apricot

The apricot tree is in bloom!  I think I might get some fruit this year, if the weather stays warm.  Last year it was warm too early and then we had a late frost that dropped all the tiny apricots.  Being the lazy gardener that I am, I didn't manage to prune any of my fruit trees.  I got the cherry tree half done, but didn't even touch the other ones.  There are a lot of crossed branches, so hopefully I can do a little green summer pruning after the fruit (fingers crossed for fruit)!!!

Pike's Market: Savor Seattle Tour Part 2

Pike's Market - Savor Seattle Tour cont.

Amazing selection of pastas. We bought a few and sampled some chocolate linguine. Hmmm? Very different.
Mom and me by a flower stall.

Flowers!

I wanted to buy them all!

Yum!

Look at the size of these shrimp!

We stopped for a break at the Crumpet Shop and had many, many cups of tea, a crumpet with butter and honey and plenty of people watching.

Mural at the Crumpet Shop.

Mom buying some fruits and vegetables from Frank's Market.

We bought some smoked fish here.

Mom and me resting and drinking some more Market Spice tea with our new Market Spice bags.

Mom and Dad.

After all that food what could be better than a nice piece of gum?

Preferably not ABC gum!

Mom and Dad.

Dad and me.

Chickens! Yay!

This shop had all kinds of eggs - duck, quail, goose and chickens.

These are a few of the delicious things we bought (and ate!).

This butter was so, so good. We bought 2 tubs (in 6 days) and ate every bit.

Black velvet plums. So sweet!

A little collage.

Challenge: Can you make a meal from the above ingredients?

Sea beans. These were awesome. Just don't microwave them. They have sea salt ('cause they're from the sea) and the salt sparks in the micro.

Rainer cherries. Really amazing eaten on the beach.

Kumquats. My new favorite food. You want to kill yourself while you're eating them, because they are sour, but then they are sweet and ahhhhh delish and you want to eat another one. And another one and another one.....

Mangoes.

Mom making dinner. Yum!

Morels in sage butter. So, so good. Like vegetarian bacon fat. Crispy, chewy and salty.

Dad and me enjoying our sage butter morels.

Market Spice 'um spices? Tea and nice little tea bags and yeah spices too.

Bread, cheese and tomatoes.

Ah, dinner view!

Fruit Blossoms

The fruit trees are in bloom and covered with blossoms!

So far there are just apricot and plum blossoms, but the cherry is almost blooming and the apple trees will be right behind her.

I don't know why, but I think of the trees as girls.

I suppose, because they have fluffy blossoms and make fruit.

Pine trees and oaks, maples, ect. are boy trees......in my opinion.

Above apricot blossoms.

Below plum blossoms.

Last year I had 1 apricot and 4 plums.

I hope there will be more fruit this year.

Pear Chutney

My mother and I love Indian food.

It probably has something to do with the fact that my great-great grandmother was (supposedly) from India.

She married my Scottish great-great grandfather and emigrated to New Zealand.

However, I have seen pictures of her and she looks, ummm..... very British.

That's Ok.

We still love Indian food.

It's the complexity of flavors that I love.

The layering of sweet, sour, salt and probably some of that umami (or whatever).

The buttery feeling of the sauce and the spices, oh the spices!!

Yum!

Ok, so here is a recipe for Pear Chutney.

My mother and I had a chutney taste off last week.

She won with her tomato based chutney, but I still like mine.

Her flavors were just more mature and melded better.

Some day, I too will make perfect chutney!

Pear Chutney

1 cup chopped onion, 2 dried chilies, 2 Tbs candied ginger chopped.

Sauteed in 2 Tbs olive oil for about 5 min. until onion is golden/translucent.

1 cup finely chopped green chile - about 2 or 3 chilies

1 cup raisins

1/2 cup fruit juice

1 clove garlic minced

2 tsp salt

4 Tbs mustard seeds

1/2 tsp curry powder
Saute for a few minutes.

Add 5 cups vinegar and 4 quarts chopped pears - about 20 med. peeled/cored pears.

Simmer until thick.

This can take up to 3 hours,

so be prepared.

Thick pear chutney.

Ladle hot chutney into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.

Remove air bubbles.

Adjust 2 piece caps.

Process 10 mins. in a boiling water canner.

Yummy!

Good with a sharp white cheese on

toasted bread.