Garden Stories – Garlic Scapes Adventure
Garlic farmers have to be very patient. You plant one garlic bulb and it magically tranforms into a full head of garlic, but how long does it take? Typically you plant around October 31 Halloween and it will be ready to harvest close to July 4 Independence Day, close to 8 months!
Today as I inspected my garden, I noticed there were garlic scapes already forming. They blend in so well that sometimes they are hard to spot. It’s absolutely essential that you cut the scapes off, so the plant puts its energy into the garlic bulb, the root, and not the scape, the flower.
So I had these beautiful tender scapes, now what? I decided to check for scape recipes online and stumbled across this vegan garlic pesto recipe and decided to try it out. I boiled some fusilli pasta and voila, I had some delicious garlic scapes pesto pasta.
Now I just have to patiently wait as the head of garlic is fully grown, so it can be unearthed to be enjoyed wholeheartedly!
Mobile Without Strings: Now on Droid
I have avoided getting snared into a mobile contract. I used different prepaid plans, and finally settled on Pageplus Cellular, which runs off the Verizon network another words the reception is excellent.
For some time I used a Samsung i760, a Windows mobile phone. Although it was a durable phone the web experience was limited. I was looking for the iphone web experience, but with a physical qwerty keyboard.
I wanted to continue having the flexibility of the Pageplus plans ($29.95 for 1,200 domestic minutes and 3,000 text plus 100 megabytes of data and $39.95 for unlimited minutes and 20 megabytes of data). You can actually switch the plan every month depending on your needs. Another advantage is that there are no additional taxes or fees!
After some research I decided to go with the Motorola Droid which was about $100 on ebay. Surprisingly the newer versions of the Droid had worse reviews on CNET compared to the older Droid.
In addition to the phone, I also purchased an extra battery and charger, and some accessories like a headset, usb charger, rubber case, screen protector, and a Square Trade warranty from ebay.
So far I love the phone–beautiful screen, physical keyboard, super fast web browsing, and great call quality. The battery can run out quickly if the wifi and 3g are on constantly, so the extra battery is good to have.
The 5 megapixel camera is pretty good. Here’s a sample image taken with the camera of the Afro-Colombian mural by Joel Berger on U St. NW in Washington, DC.
Staying Cool…Breezy Point Beach
As the sun beats down and the humidity melts us, we start daydreaming about going to the beach…However, most beaches are several hours drive from DC.
I recently came across Breezy Point Beach in Calvert, Maryland, which is about 45 minutes away. If you decide to swim, it is jellyfish season so watch out…
Bike Power
Inspiring, funny, moving bike films…Catch more at the Bicycle Film Festival
o Inspiring – Bristol Bike Project
o Hilarious – LALO
o Melancholy, Moving – Bicycle/Jitensha
Carnival Portraits: Up Close & Personal
Vodpod videos no longer available.
This year I got to the Caribbean Carnival much later, so I didn’t get good shots of the parade. However, I got there just in time to catch people in the beautiful golden light of the sunset. Many people were still hanging out at Howard University.
Summer Garden >> Garlic, Carrots, Raspberries
Vodpod videos no longer available.
This weekend I harvested garlic and carrots. I planted the garlic October 19, 2009, almost eight months ago! Garlic requires a lot of patience. Two varieties of garlic I got from the farmers market are Music and German White. This garlic had not been treated like most garlic you find in the grocery store. You plant one clove and magically they turn into full heads of garlic!
I planted the carrot seeds on April 4th, so they took about 3 months. Carrots come in all colors, not just orange. I planted several varieties, including yellow and red ones. The key thing about growing carrots is you have to thin them if you want them to grow properly. Thinning carrots requires that you snip off the plants that are too close together.
I munched on a few golden and red raspberries while I was harvesting. They were sweet and delicious. Raspberries are easy to grow.
Tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, eggplant, peppers and watermelon are growing and look promising…
Odunde Festival: Celebrating African Culture
Vodpod videos no longer available.Odunde is the creation of its South Philadelphia founder, Lois Fernandez, who launched the festival after visiting similar celebrations in Africa. The concept originates from the Yoruba people of Nigeria, West Africa, and celebrates the coming of another year for African-Americans and Africanized people around the world.
The annual Odunde Street Festival, held every second Sunday in June, brings a genuine taste of Africa to South Street and one of Philadelphia’s oldest, historically African-American neighborhoods.
The festival begins with a procession to the Schuylkill River, where prayers are offered and blessings bestowed. The procession then returns to 23rd and South Streets for the start of the street festival.
World Cup: Shame on the Game
Shame on The Game – EWOK – mp3 by Creamy Ewok Baggends
The Khulumani Support group is currently undertaking the prosecution of 5 major corporations complicit in supporting the Apartheid Government of South Africa during the struggle. These same companies are current investors in the FIFA World Cup. This track is part of a Hip Hop compilation being released in June 2010 to create awareness around this apparent lack of justice.
FOUL! is the result of seven year’s research into the dark depths of the men controlling the world’s favourite game. It charts the degeneration of FIFA under the leadership of Joao Havelange and Sepp Blatter.
Purify Your Tap Water
During the D.C. Environmental Film Festival I saw a documentary called Poisoned Waters that talked about the quality of D.C. tap water. Not to my surprise, it’s terrible! I was not very happy with the way the pitcher and faucet filters were working either. I decided to look for an alternative because I didn’t want to buy bottled water, which often times is the same quality as tap water and also contributes to plastic waste.
I purchased the 4 gallon Zen Water Filter Purifier through Amazon for $49 and I am so happy with the way the water tastes. I would like to test the water and compare it to the water from the faucet filter I was using and regular tap water to get a more scientific assessment of the quality, but for now I am happy that at least it’s better than what I was drinking before.
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