Hi.  Hello.  Hey!

I hope your weekend is going swimmingly.

I just wanted to take a moment and introduce you to my tomatoes, Lucy and Ethel.

I’d also like to answer a few questions.

Yes, I’ve named my first two tomatoes after Lucy Ricardo and Ethel Mertz from I Love Lucy.

Yes, I love that show.

Yes, I seem to have become abnormally attached to my tomatoes.  No, I don’t feel bad about that.

Also, this is happening.  I better start thinking of more names… and quick.

Are you gardening?

There are a few reasons why you should read this post.

1.  I’m no gardener, but with a team of friends and experts, I might have just created a successful one pot garden… you can too!

2.  While this post may not be filled with butter and sugar, it is still a nice distraction from work, right!?

3.  I’m drinking wine and I’ve got a mild degree of writers block.  I’m bound to get a little punchy and make you laugh at some point.  Yes?

This year’s Spring garden… ok, my first Spring garden ever… was inspired by two things: my undying adoration of summer tomatoes and my utter annoyance at the high price of said tomatoes.

So here we are, talking tomatoes. Not just any tomatoes, but peak of the season summer tomatoes.  Besides my gradual fake tanning lotion, they might just be the best thing about the summer months.

The truth is, there’s a reason that this blog isn’t called Joy the Gardener.  I kill just about everything I put in dirt.  It’s a classic case of over enthusiasm and waaaaay too much water.  I over water and kill my plants, a fact that is sad but true.

This Spring I’ve got help.  My Mom happens to be an amazing gardener… she also happens to be retired, which leaves her plenty of time for nursery trips to counsel me on which fertilizer is best and why.  Then there’s my darling friend Rachael.  She’s blonde, beautiful, hilarious, and is oh-so-generous with the crap ton of knowledge she has about growing tomatoes.  With these two on my team, my garden can’t fail!  Now I just need someone to keep the watering can away from me.

If I can grow a tomato garden on the tiny balcony of my Los Angeles apartment, you can too.  Here’s the skinny:

I headed out to the nursery with my Mom.  It turns out… there are a TON of plants at a nursery… most of them being green.  It might have been hard for me to find what I needed, had it not been for my Mom.  It’s not that things are hard to find, it’s just that I’m not tremendously plant literate.

I had a very specific  One Pot Garden list.  If you want to play along, here’s what you’ll need

1 tomato plant  (Mine is a black cherry tomato plant.. thanks Rachael!)

1 basil plant

1 marjoram plant

1 parsley plant

1 nasturtium plant

1 giant bag of  Dr. Earth Organic Potting Soil

1 small bag of organic vegetable fertilizer of some sort.  I used GroBetter All-Purpose Organic Fertilizer.

I stake to tie your tomato plant to as it grows

1 giant pot and saucer.  Mine is about 15-inches tall and with a 15-inch diameter.  I used a plastic pot because it’s much lighter and it helps keep the moisture in the soil.

Here’s what I did:

Fill the pot about two thirds full with the potting soil.  Sprinkle with organic fertilizer as directed on the bag.  Water just to moisten the soil.  Fertilizer isn’t one of those things that you want to touch with your hands.  It’s just not a good idea.  Grab some gloves or use a scooper.

Arrange the plants in the pot, still in their plastic containers, just so you can see where everything will go.

Remove the plants from their tiny plastic containers and gently loosen the bottom of the soil, loosening their roots.  Set in place on top of the potting soil and fertilizer.  Using a large cup for scooping, place more potting soil around the plants.  Sprinkling with just a bit more fertilizer as you go.  Firmly press the potting soil and plants into the pot and add more potting soil.  You won’t fill the pot to the brim with potting soil.  Fill the pot with soil until you’re about three inches from the brim.  Water generously and set in a sunny spot.

Set the stake to the side and use it when the tomato plant starts to get too talk to grow up on its own.

Fun facts:

Tomatoes like loads of sunlight.  Don’t be afraid to put your new garden in a spot that gets at least seven hours of direct sunlight.  Your plants will love it.

Check to see if your pot needs watering by sticking your finger into the soil.  The soil should be moist and cool.  If it feels a little dry, water away… otherwise, just leave it be.

Why put all those plants in one pot!?  It turns out that all those plants work together like a team.  Whether its keeping pests away, or replenishing the soil with nutrients, all the plants in that one pot are extremely happy.  And!  Nastrutium flowers are edible.  They’re a a great, peppery addition to a salad!

Having a little garden is unbelievably satisfying.  I sit on my otherwise uninviting balcony sometimes just to watch my plants grow.  Now my balcony is like a bonus room.   I also run my fingers through the leaves of my growing tomato plant to get that fresh tomato smell on my hands.  Yes, dorky but true.

Even if you live in a tiny apartment, as long as you have a space with loads of sunlight, you can have a coy little one pot garden!  It’s true!  It makes life better! Let’s do this together!

More tomato posts and garden updates to come.

Dear Spring,

You’re a great season.  In fact, you’re my favorite season of all.  Something about the orange blossoms dotting my neighborhood, and the barely warm evening sun just makes me want to squeeze you with gratitude.

Great job with all the tulips.  Excellent work with all the sweet peas.  Don’t even get me started on the asparagus…. wow!

There’s just a few things I thought you might consider… just in the interest of being the best season ever, and kicking every other season right in the backside.

First, your color palette.  Have you ever considered switching it up?  All the pastels remind me of bad baby shower party games.  Plus, you’re edgier than that Spring.  Show those other seasons what’s what.  Have you considered a fresh neon palate?  It might work wonders for your image.

Second,  can you please work on making purple the new grey this season?

Lastly,  every year when you come to town, I end up in the candy aisle at the grocery store buying giant bags of chocolate egg-shaped candies.  After I’ve mistakenly make these chocolate goodies a meal, I’m forced the throw the remainder in the trash and pour dish soap on them, keeping myself from sleep-eating them in the middle of the night.  While this may seem like more of a personal issue, your attention to this matter would still be much appreciated.

Also Spring, I made you meringues.

Stay Sweet,

Joy the Baker

Meringues are a super easy way to show Spring that you’re glad it’s come to town… or you could write Spring a letter like I did.

With only three egg whites, a bit of granulated sugar and some flavoring, you’ll be able to make a sheet full of three different types of tiny meringues:  chocolate, vanilla and raspberry. All you’ll need now is some small, clear gift bags, some pretty ribbon and you’ll have precious Easter gifts on lock-down.  Sweet, right!?

This recipe makes vanilla meringues with a dash of vanilla extract, chocolate meringues with unsweetened cocoa powder, and raspberry meringues with dehydrated raspberry powder (made from freeze dried and super ground raspberries).  Feel free to play around with almond or coffee meringues using extracts too!

Spring Easter Meringues

Print this recipe!

• 3 large egg whites
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dehydrated raspberry powder

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper; secure corners with masking tape. Fit three pastry bags with a small open-star tip or round tips (such as Ateco #22).  If you don’t have three pastry bags you can use just one bag and wash and dry it between flavors.   Set aside.
2. Make meringues: Put egg whites and sugar in the heatproof bowl of an electric mixer. Set bowl over a pan of simmering water, and stir gently until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm to the touch, 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Transfer bowl to an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form.
4. Divide egg whites between three clean bowls.  In one bowl mix in vanilla extract.  In second bowl, mix in cocoa powder.  In third bowl mix in raspberry powder.  Stir all until well combined.
5. Fill each bag with separate meringue flavors. Pipe small (3/4-inch-high) star shapes or round shapes (depending on your tip) onto prepared baking sheets.
6. Bake cookies until crisp but not brown, about 1 hour 40 minutes.  Turn the oven off and let the meringues cool in the oven.  Transfer from pans to an airtight container for storage.

I’ll be the first to admit that I have gotten prematurely excited about strawberry season.  I’ve already played with strawberry sugar paper, and here I am with strawberry ice cream.  It’s not even April! Strawberries aren’t at their peak flavor yet, but I see baskets of them in every market I visit.  I just can’t help myself, so I buy and I bake.  I should tell you now-  it’s going to be a long berry season.  Long, glorious and delicious!

This ice cream isn’t as rich and heavy as other well made ice creams.  I used whole milk for the base and added a bit of buttermilk.  The buttermilk adds a light, yogurt-like tang to the ice cream.  And what a compliment to the macerated strawberries!  This egg-less ice cream is full of sweet strawberry flavor and highlighted with tangy buttermilk notes.  It’s so light an refreshing, I’m already anticipating craving this ice cream on those unbearably hot summer days.

Don’t have an ice cream maker?  Well it’s high time you get one!

This is also my one of my submissions for Mike’s Strawberry Seduction Event!  What are you waiting for?  Go get some berries and make a strawberry something for Mike!

Strawberry Buttermilk Ice Cream

adapted from the New York Times

Print this recipe!

2 cups cream, half and half or milk

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup sugar

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 Tablespoons cornstarch

heaping 1/2 cup sliced and diced strawberries (optional 1 Tablespoon sugar)

Rinse strawberries under cool water and slice.  Create a mixture of sliced and diced strawberry pieces.  If you find that the strawberries aren’t very sweet, you can toss the sliced strawberries in 1 Tablespoon of granulated sugar and set aside until ready for the ice cream.

Put 1 1/2 cups of cream or milk into a small sauce pan.  Add the sugar and salt and heat the milk over medium low heat.  Keep and eye on the milk, stirring often so that the bottom of the pan doesn’t get any burned milk bits.

While the milk is heating, measure out the buttermilk and vanilla extract and set aside.

Also measure out the remaining 1/2 cup of milk or cream.  Stir the cornstarch into this 1/2 cup of milk, until smooth and no lumps remain.

The milk on the stove should be hot and steaming.  The milk does not need to boil, it just needs to be steaming.   With the milk over a medium low flame, stir in the milk and cornstarch mixture.  Stir the milk constantly until you begin to feel it thicken.

The milk mixture should look like the above picture after it has been thickened by cornstarch.  Once the cornstarch is added to the milk it only takes a minute or two to thicken up.

Once the milk mixture is thick, remove from the heat and add vanilla extract and 1/2 cup of buttermilk.  Stir to incorporate.

Strain the warm milk mixture into a mixing bowl, cover in plastic wrap and allow to cool in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Once the mixture is cooled, remove from the refrigerator and stir in the sliced and diced strawberries.  Follow the instructions on your ice cream maker and make some delicious ice cream!

]]> http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2008/03/strawberry-buttermilk-ice-cream/feed/ 18 http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2008/03/hello-spring-hello-figs/ http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2008/03/hello-spring-hello-figs/#comments Fri, 14 Mar 2008 08:14:58 +0000 joythebaker http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/archives/49

Spring has sprung and figs are growing! Their season is still a few months away, but I had to get a picture of these budding beauties in my friend’s backyard.

It’s possible that you may not understand my deep affection for figs. They are my favorite food, without hesitation. Figs are divine. Cosmic. They can do no wrong. Have you ever had a fresh fig? A bite into a good fig simultaniously sends three sign to my brain- sweet. purple. love. Call me crazy, but figs just have a hold on me.

And don’t get me started on Fig Newtons. While I will eat them once in a while, it’s not because they taste anything like a fig fresh from the tree. Fig Newtons and fresh figs are worlds apart… don’t get me started.

What am I going to make with this years budding figs? So far I’m thinking fig compote, upside down fig tart, fig jam on warm biscuits and lavendar and fig cupcakes. Any fig suggestions?