Making Dried Figs

I have been picking a few figs before and after work. Every day I see broken fig bits on the ground and partially eaten figs on the tree. I see the squirrels running back and forth the fence and jumping into the tree every day. Today is Indigenous People's Day in Berkeley Area while the rest of the country is Columbus Day. I didn't need to go to the cubicle job, so I grabbed the basket and finally got a chance to pick all the ripe and mostly ripe figs.

If you are familiar with figs, you know they don't stay fresh too long. I like to preserve some for later. I rinsed the figs first just because they have been sitting out there in the dust and who knows how many squirrels have climbed over them. After the were rinsed, I cut each in half and placed them on a cooling rack. Just my luck that we are having another heatwave here in the Bay Area. My sun room was over 90 degrees, so I left the sheet of fig halves in there until the sun started to set.

In the evening I transferred the figs into the dehydrator and set it at 140 degrees for drying vegetables and fruits. Within an hour, the aroma of figs filled the kitchen. I wish I could bottle this awesome aroma. Some of the figs are much bigger than the other. The bigger ones will take longer to dry. It will most likely take a couple nights for all of them to dry. They will reduce in size greatly when they are done. I will then bag them in zip lock bags just like I did with the dried apple slices. If you don't have a dehydrator or sun room, you can dry figs in your oven. Set the oven to the lowest setting possible and keep the door ajar with a metal spoon or something heat tolerant. I did this last year before getting a dehydrator. If you are looking for a dehydrator, check craigslist.com first. Sometimes people give them away under "free" section. You can also get them under "appliances" or "household" of "For Sale" section. I got mine off craigslist for a fraction of retail price.

Compost Giveaway Day in El Cerrito

Prior to my New York trip, I received a card in the mail about compost giveaway on October 10, 9 am - 5 pm, at El Cerrito Recycling Center, 7501 Schmidt Lane. I immediately marked the date on my schedule. Today is the day, and before 9 am I have loaded my Cruiser with 3 five-gallon buckets. Shortly after 9 am, I was on my way to the recycling center. This would be my first time going to the recycling center. I thought I knew where it was, but I ended up at the Electronics Waste Recycling event at the DMV parking lot. I got out of there and drove up Schmidt Lane. It turned out that the recycling center is located further up the hill.

I was happy to see that people have already lined up for free compost. After a short wait, I entered the compost area with a few other people. I was so happy to see the quality of the compost, which I nicknamed "black gold." The smell of the compost pile was earthy and organic. Love it! El Cerrito has just started collecting food scraps in July this year.

Personally I do not have a whole lot of food scraps to put in the recycling bin since most of them go into my own worm compost bins. I have to feed those pet worms! While I was getting my free compost, I also received some information on upcoming community workshops on Climate Action in El Cerrito. They will be held at the city hall on October 26, 5-7 pm, and December 2, 7-9 pm.

Mushroom Garden Stool

A few days ago I found a huge box in front of the house. Inside of the the box I found a shiny glossy mushroom garden stool. It was a gift from my best friend. For days I wanted to take a photo of it in the garden, but by the time I came home from the office, it would be too dark to get a decent photo without using the flash. I really don't like the harsh lighting of flash photos. This morning, I finally had the opportunity to take it out in the garden to get a decent photo.

Green mushrooms are not common in nature. The only one that comes to mind is Hygrocybe psittacina, commonly knows as parrot mushroom. Its cap ranges from 1.5 to 4 cm broad. Its color can be bright green to dark green to olive green when young, changing to some shade of pink, yellow, or orange in age. It's edible but nobody I know eats it since it's small and slimy with no distinctive taste.

The garden stool reminds me of a giant parrot mushroom.

Hygrocybe psittacina, a.k.a. parrot mushroom

Easy Hearty Onion Soup

I grow a lot of onions. A few weeks ago I started planting next year's onions. With all the onions, I need to cook something that requires a lot of onions. The weather has started to look like fall. It got dark at 7 PM tonight. I decided that a big bowl of hot soup would be perfect for dinner.

Believe it or not, I can't remember the last time I made a pot of "just" onion soup even though I love soup, all kinds of soup. I came up with this simple recipe below. The hardest part is slicing the onions. These freshly pulled onions made me weep the entire time. I could hardly open my eyes and had to pause a few times to wipe my face full of tears, but it was worth it!

Ingredients:

3 large yellow onions
1/4 cup butter (this makes it "hearty")
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon flour
2 14.5 oz. cans of chicken broth (you may go with low fat)
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup water
dashes of white pepper

Melt the butter in a medium to large size pot then mix in the sugar. Pour sliced onions into the pot and mix well. Let it cook for 10 minutes or until golden and soft. Add flour and mix it well with the onions. Add chicken broth, white wine and water then let it simmer on medium heat for 10 minutes or so. You know it's done when you smell the sweet onion. Sprinkle some white pepper before serving.

It's simple, tasty, and nutritious. These are some of the health benefits of onions (courtesy of Nutrition and You):

* Onions are very low in calories (just 40 cal per 100g) and fats; but rich in soluble dietary fiber.

* The phyto-chemical compounds allium and Allyl disulphide in onion have anti-mutagenic (protects from cancers) and anti-diabetic properties (helps lower blood sugar levels in diabetics).

* They are rich source of chromium, the trace mineral that helps tissue cells respond appropriately to insulin levels in the blood; thus helps facilitate insulin action and control sugar levels in diabetes.

* They are also good source of antioxidant flavonoid quercetin, which is found to have anti-carcinogenic, anti-inflammatory and anti-diabetogenic functions.

* They are also good in anti-oxidant vitamin, vitamin C and mineral manganese which is required as co-factor for ani-oxidant enzyme superoxida dismutase. In addition, isothiocyanate anti-oxidants in them help relieve from cold and flu by exerting anti-inflammatory actions.

* Onions are also good in B-complex group of vitamins like pantothenic acid, pyridoxine, folates and thiamin. Pyridoxine or vit.B-6 helps keep up GABA levels in the brain which wors against neurotic conditions.

"It's my best friend..."

I watched The Professional when I was in college. Back then I laughed when I saw the characters carrying that pot of plant every time they move or dodge a gun fight. To me, that pot of plant was merely for comedy relief in a brutal action flick.

Now almost 15 years later, I watched The Professional again last night. By the way, it is currently available to view online for free on Hulu.com. The story of a 12-year-old girl training to be a "cleaner" is still shocking (perhaps even more so) to me. Although the scenes involving the plant are still funny, I now relate to the characters differently. The movie also has much deeper meaning and symbolism to me now.

In the film, the main character, Léon, refers to the plant as his best friend. He tells Mathilda (Natalie Portman), "It's my best friend. Always happy. No questions." If Léon wasn't an assassin, he would be great as a gardener.

The first thing I do when I get home is to check my plants (and Dusty of course). Before I left for my trip, I took two trays of young plants to the greenhouse on campus. I wondered whether they would be okay while I was away. I was ready to put any plant in intensive care upon my return if that was necessary. I was so happy and relieved to see everyone looking so well when I came back. Some of them got bigger and look even better now. I shall put those potted plants in the ground soon.

Ironically, I was in Léon and Mathilda's fictional neighborhood last week. I think I passed by their apartment building on the northwest corner of E 97th St & Park Ave.