Victoria, BC

Victoria was our last stop on our cruise. : ( When we were on the ship at Glacier Bay, we did a Murder Mystery dinner with A&J and met another couple who was from Victoria. They're familiar with Portland, so they said that even though Victoria is cute and great for wandering around that we could do that in Portland and that we should see The Butchart Gardens. So, we did and stayed for their fireworks display. While the gardens were completely amazing, I think we made the wrong choice. We knew we would be arriving in the late afternoon and that the sun would go down, but we underestimated how quickly that would happen. We didn't get to see all of the gardens, so it was kind of a bummer. What we did see, though, was amazing. And not getting to really see Victoria just means Jeff and I can go up there for a long weekend sometime. : )

The Sunken Garden - it was a limestone quarry on the Butchart's property. Mrs. Butchart didn't care for the eyesore once the quarry had been exhausted, so she prettied it up.

We were given a plant and flower guide, so hopefully I'm identifying these flowers right. If you know I'm wrong about something, let me know and I'll change the captions. : )

Dahlia

A big bunch of flowers that I'm not going to try and identify. I just loved the colors.

Ageratum, Floss Flower

Pretty Landscaping

I don't know what these are, and I'm sad, but my best guess is some sort of zinnia. They were my favorite flowers of the day because they were so cheerful and brightly colored.

Fuchsia

More pretty landscaping.

Agapanthus, Lily of the Nile

Me! On an orca on the Rose Carousel.

Jeff and I on the Rose Carousel.

Jeff rode on Bella, the Butchart's dog. At least that's the story from the kind lady who took our picture. : )

Dahlia

These could be one of several; I can't tell for sure. :-P

Arum, Lords and Ladies

These were in the Japanese Garden, but I'm not sure what they are.

Gladiolus, Acidanthera

Heliotropium, Heliotrope or Cherry Pie plant

Fireworks!

After Victoria, our ship headed back to Seattle. We arrived early the next morning, and decided to hit up SweetIron again on our way out of town for some waffles. Since we started the cruise there with such amazing food (the cruise food couldn't even compare), we decided to end our cruise with such amazing food. : )

Walls-o-Water

You probably saw weird red things around some of my plants in the My Container Garden post from awhile back. They're called Walls-o-Water, Walls-of-Water, or even Tomato Teepees. My tomatoes grew from seeds crazy fast, and desperately needed to go outside. I was worried about them because the nighttime temperatures were still in the low 40s.

So, my Mom told me about these Walls that my Dad had gotten and how they worked really well. I ordered a set of them online that night, and went ahead and transplanted the four strongest plants into their outdoor containers. The Walls showed up about a week after my poor tomatoes had been stuck outside. I only had 3 of them, so I put one around the two strongest tomato plants (the other ones were "backup" in case something went terribly wrong) and one around my peppers.

Last night, Jeff and I moved the Walls to the sad backup tomato plants so we could stake the two that had been in the Walls. They were growing out the top and were doing great. Check out the difference between tomatoes that grew without the Walls, and the ones that did. I'm sold!

No walls.

Walls!

Impressive, right? : )

My Container Garden

It's official! My container garden has taken over our front steps and walkway!

Hanging on the railings are baskets with Snapdragons, Impatiens, & Lobelia. The two planters in the back on each side of the door have peas. The two planters in front on each side of the door have greenbeans that I planted over the weekend.


The white barrel planter closest to the steps is a Better Boy tomato, the one in front is an Early Girl. The rectangle planter in front has jalapeno and cherry peppers. The other two terra cotta planters have backup tomatoes in them (in case I killed the other ones), and the random sad black planter will be explained below. : )


The peas are a variety called Survivor, which means they're supposed to be good for tough conditions. Such as being planted in crowded fashion into containers on the front steps of a north-facing townhome. Unfortunately, I don't know if I'm impressed with them. Obviously, the first set of planters did pretty well. But the planters that I did a couple weeks later didn't sprout many peas. I popped the last of my peas in the ground this past weekend, so cross your fingers that they sprout!


Here's one of my tomatoes hanging out in a spiffy wall-o-water (that's for a later post). They're pretty happy so far!


The planter of peppers also gets a wall-o-water around some of the luckier plants (they didn't all fit). I'm currently clueless as to which ones are which, because I got confused while planting them. And just when I'd figured it out, I rotated the planter so it could get more sun and confused myself again. They'll be a surprise for later this summer. ; )


Here are the window baskets on the railing. Aren't they happy?


Here's my sad planter. I started some Gerber Daisies from seed, which is supposed to be hard to do. They were doing great! I transplanted them outside into my window boxes on the railings when they got big enough and the weather was nice enough. And two days later it hailed and shredded their little leaves. : ( I decided to give up on them, and to replant the window boxes (with the Snapdragons, Impatiens, & Lobelia). But, I planned poorly and had two extra Lobeila. So I decided to stick them in this pot. And then I was sad, because I just couldn't completely give up on my daisies. I decided to stick them in with the Lobelia, too. I hope they end up happy!

Pasta with Pancetta & Tomato Sauce

One of the Amazing Ladies posted this recipe of Giada De Laurentiis' awhile back. It's super easy to make and really yummy. Especially if you have some fresh basil fresh out of your new Aerogarden to use! OK, so we had like two little leaves to use. But I'm sure it made a huge difference!

Ingredients:

• 6 ounces pancetta, diced
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
• Pinch dried crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 (28-ounce) can tomato puree
• 1 pound pasta (linquine or spaghetti work well)
  
• 1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano

Instructions:

Saute pancetta in olive oil until golden brown (about 8 minutes). Add onion and saute until tender (about 5 minutes). Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and saute for about 30 seconds. Stir in the tomato puree and simmer uncovered over medium-low heat for about 15 minutes. Season the sauce with salt, to taste.

Cook the pasta while the sauce is simmering. Toss the pasta with the sauce and cheese. Serve!

Obviously you can play around with this recipe quite a bit. We've used tomato sauce instead of puree because that's what we had. You could use bacon or prosciutto. We threw in some fresh basil; you could also throw in some Italian seasonings. We've also considered adding roasted garlic which would probably be amazing.

Want to see pictures of my Aerogarden? :)

They're growing like crazy!

And also, because Mom has asked here's a picture of our new baker's wine rack.

I love the little baskets at the top. They're perfect for my K-cups for my new Keurig (more on my love for that little guy another day). The teas are on the left and the coffee is on the right. I love it.

And because I remembered to take a picture of it, here's a piece of the plant I stole from my Uncle J over Thanksgiving. It used to be about half an inch tall. I just plopped it in dirt and it's growing like crazy (unlike the big piece I stole from him that decided it was going to die this week :( ).


We think it's some sort of corn plant. We don't know much more than that, except that corn plants are potentially toxic to cats. They don't bother this little guy yet. Maybe that's because they were enthralled by the big one that's dying? Anyway, we keep shut the plants up when we're not home and they're not allowed unsupervised visitation with the plants so it's cool for now.

Delayed Secret Santa and More Herbs

So I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but I belong to a pets message board that has a ton of Amazing Ladies on it. This year, one of them decided that instead of doing the normal Secret Santa that we usually do that it might be fun to do a donation Secret Santa instead. Meaning we would draw people but instead of sending their pets presents, we would send the presents as a donation to an animal shelter in our person's name and send the person a card to let the know how awesome they are and what they had donated in their name.

We decided to donate to Best Friends Animal Society. There are a lot of bully breed fans on the board (myself included). This is the incredible rescue group that took in the dogs from the world's scummiest-scumbag-lowlife-jerkface-probable son of the devil who should be strung up by his toenails and Chinese water tortured-stupidhead-twatwaffle-creep-not a real person person (michael vick who doesn't even deserve capital letters in his name!). They healed their bodies and hearts and placed them into wonderful forever homes.

Now that I'm over ranting over said dirtface jerkwad (OK, maybe not quite) I can show you the amazing bonus presents my Secret Santa sent Summit and Mitzie.


Christmas stockings for the little monstas! Aren't they so stinkin' cute?! And she even made a white one for Summit and a black and white one for Mitzie. I almost cried when I saw them because it was so sweet. She also put in some pawbreakers and fun little mice to bat around. The cats were so happy. I got the best Secret Santa ever this year!

And also, when I woke up this morning my dill had sprouted. And when I got home it was all standing up and super cute! So here's a picture of the dill that was feeling left out. Look how tall and proud it looks! In fact, it might be taller than all of the others.


My chives are looking much better, too. They were tall enough today I could pull away some of the mold? fuzzies? blanket? surrounding them. There are some little black things on them at the top. Pieces of the seed . . . shell? Whatever it's called that it grows in and stuff. Maybe I'll learn this in Biology soon and I'll be able to update with the proper term. They're looking pretty cute, though!

One of my favorite Christmas presents this year

was an aerogarden. I've been wanting one since I first saw them and now we have space for one! Sort of, anyway. A spacesaver 6 version.

Mom and Dad got it for me and then shipped it back here so I wouldn't have to haul it home on the train (which ended up being a plane instead because I decided to be brave and fly).

Jeff and I "planted" our little Italian Herb garden on the 30th, and now we have lots of little sprouty plants!

Here's the thyme at however many days old it was yesterday when I took the picture.


Here the thyme is from the side. Does the label make it look fat? It's been concerned about that, though I keep reassuring it that it's adorable and perfect.


Here's the basil. It was the first one to sprout.


And the oregano. Don't ask how long it took for these guys to actually sprout. I didn't keep track aside from squealing in delight as I checked them each morning and breaking Jeff's eardrum when I informed him we had new baby plants. Look how itty bitty it is!


And how stinkin' cute is this mint?! Isn't it precious?!

I didn't know my dill was doing anything until I looked at the picture on the computer. It looks like it might be popping up any day now.


And if anyone can tell me what's going on with my chives I'd appreciate it! The poor guys look fuzzy. Is that mold? A blanket to keep it warm? What am I supposed to do? Daddy? Daaaadddy! Halp!


They look bigger and better today, but I'm still a bit scared something's wrong with the lil' guys.


Now how am I supposed to start whacking these guys apart and eating them once they're full grown? I've raised them from babies! Reassure they won't mind being nommed on.