They didn’t have much in the way of seeds yet, in fact they were just tidying up the Christmas stuff and reopening after the holiday. We did however get a few things including a seed tray, some vermiculite, potting soil and kelp fertilizer for Mary’s wheat grass. We also bought a packet of every seed they had in stock - which should at least help get a head start on the herb garden! We’re going to start the seedlings this weekend, as well as place an order for seeds from Halifax Seed Company for all our garden veggies.

Although the snow is still here, it`s not too early to start planning the garden, so when it`s time, we`ll be ready!

It’s exciting to let you all know that we’ve moved to a new province and a more rural area of the country. It’s hard to think of the gardens we’re leaving - all the work we put into them, but thrilling to think about  future plans for bigger and better.
We’re renting a house on 4 acres of land with a huge backyard and permission to put in a garden, so I look at last season’s endeavors as a learning experience.

We made the mistake of over-planting, which caused the zucchini leaves to shade everything else in that bed -mainly carrots I believe. The 2 carrots we did get were short and stubby - a result of raised beds that weren’t dug deep enough, perhaps? The zucchinis we did pull must have weighed about 4-5 pounds easily and were the length of my entire forearm, we ended up with quite a few. The green and cayanne peppers also did well, as did the herbs, which are hopefully now being enjoyed by the new tenants.

I think our raspberry plant died, but I couldn’t tell because we didn’t stake or cage the tomatoes so they all ended up falling down and most rotted on the ground.

We’ll do things properly this time round, now that we know what not to do. It is getting cold here, and they’re expecting snow tonight so no outdoor garden yet, but the house we rented has a garage with a large picture window in it so I’m thinking of planting shelves of lettuce. I wonder if it can stand cold temperatures. I think the garage is insulated but it’s defiantly not heated. Herbs are another thing I’d like to grow over the winter - they’re too expensive to buy in the store.

If anyone has any other ideas, please share them, we’d love to hear what all our readers think

I heard somewhere you could eat the male flowers from the zucchini plant, so this had the wheels turning all morning, and I decided we’d try it… because what else would we do with those precious flowers? - and apparently picking them off could double our yield for zucchini… so off I went to look for a recipe!

After a long day of housework and thinning the over planted garden, I scurried off to the kitchen to whip up an experimental dinner with deep-fried zucchini blossoms over a bed of lettuce, asparagus - pancetta mozza with sundried tomato mayo on focaccia and fried zucchini with toasted pistachios, baked with parmigiano reggiano cheese.

I’m lucky that Marty is adventurous to some extent with what I make, because it’s not every guy (or girl for that matter) that will chow down, willingly, on flowers for dinner.
Nonetheless, everything was eaten… Marty didn’t really like the sundried tomato mayo used on the sandwich & I didn’t like the pancetta… once I removed it from my 2nd half, the sandwich became way less salty and therefore I could taste the flavors of the tomato mayo that much more.

I think next time I make this, I’ll try a roasted red pepper pesto instead - and leave out the salty pancetta. The zucchini we ate was picked from the garden that morning, as well as all the blossoms that were fried up.
I will defiantly make the blossoms when I come across flowers again, they were pretty cool. The sandwich just needs a little perfecting, but after all, it was an experimental dinner with some positives… glad I made lots - we have lunch for today too!

Looking more like a newsstand/ antique shop, Simon’s Restaurant, 4116 Bridge Street (near the corner of Bridge & River Road across from Whirlpool Bridge) could easily be missed, as there are really no apparent signs or indication what’s inside the building is a resturant.

People that know me know how much I love my eggs and sausage on the weekend… well I have to say - the eggs I ate at Simon’s were the best eggs I think I’ve ever had at a resturant for breakfast!! No lie.
The atmosphere is somewhat that of my grandparent’s attic, with piles of stuff hanging out from floor to ceiling all over the place. The waitress was super sweet and helpful, and when we walked in, the owner scuffled over to us holding a blue binder, which they use as a guest book, wanting us to sign, thinking we were tourists.
It wasn’t till after he and Marty started to chat we discovered that both the owner and his wife (the cook) knew Marty’s grandfather really well as he used to work at the bridge across the street.

This place has been around for a long, long time and is acknowledged as Niagara’s oldest resturant… over the years being infiltrated with touristy type attractions and eateries, it’s comforting to know Niagara Falls still has a few gems. There’s a reason Simon’s is still around.

Simon’s has been in Pat’s family since 1884. Rosa, his wife, who controls the kitchen and the menu, is French-Acadian, same as the people of the poem ‘Evangeline’ and those who settled in the Mississippi bayou or Acadia, Nova Scotia. Regulars, especially ex-pat Brits, simply love Rosa’s pies because she uses real lard. This is the only Niagara Falls restaurant that doesn’t have to advertise. Complete collection of local newspapers to read with your meal. Lottery tickets available.

If you’re in the Falls, go and eat breakfast here, say “hi” to the owners, and leave us a comment here about the great recommendation! We look forward to hearing from you!

Simon’s Restaurant, 4116 Bridge Street, Niagara Falls ON, (905) 356-5310.

The Americas revealed the strangest thing I think we saw all day (and because of it I’m upset I didn’t have a camera - it was just so odd…) - a dead goat in a tree, it’s hind leg setting broken at a strange angle. How morbid! We looked around to see if anyone else was noticing this, but nobody seemed to until they saw us all standing, staring up. Then some lady leans over to me and says “that’s not REAL… is it?” I didn’t know what to say to that as I looked over at my present company and we started to laugh, thinking “no… the Zoo has a tendancy to put FAKE dead goats in trees” haha! WTF?

Seriously though… how did it get up there, and why did it seem that we were the only ones to notice? Unfortunatly we forgot to ask about it on our way out… maybe I should give them a call today? 

Great day altogether, apart from a rough drive home after dinner at the Bordwalk Pub in the beaches… hope to do it again sometime.

———–Update: July 22———-

After sending the zoo an email about the goat, I received a reply.

]]> http://aboyhishoeandtheirgarden.com/?feed=rss2&p=656 http://aboyhishoeandtheirgarden.com/?p=653 http://aboyhishoeandtheirgarden.com/?p=653#comments Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:25:30 +0000 martini http://aboyhishoeandtheirgarden.com/?p=653   Had a super long day at school today trying to get ready for my big practical exam tomorrow and eating ridiculous food.  Although I consider myself a concientious eater, I do still enjoy my junk food (as I’m sure I’ve mentioned and for those of you that know me; you know) so my friend Mark and I from school had lunch at a small trailer restaurant; for lack of a better way to put it.  It’s not a fry truck per se, but it’s a trailer that serves fry truck type fair.  The place is called Neeko’s (sp?) on Victoria Ave. in Niagara Falls.  Mark got me turned on to the place and the owner (Nick; go figure) is a really nice guy who took the time to explain to me that his burgers, which are his specialty, are made fresh each morning with ground beef he buys, prepares and seasons himself.  If you’ve ever worked in the food industry you know is incredibly rare (those of you who have worked in high end kitchens are exempted from that statement obviously hehe…) this is.   I had the special which was like 8 bucks including a crappy tip which included a fresh, char-broiled 6 oz. burger. medium fries and a can of soda (I generally dislike soda at this point in my life, but I suppose I enjoy a few cans a week as a “treat”).  The best part was that it was literally one of the best burgers I’ve had in quite some time,  remarkebly reasonable price wise (what’s a decent combo at MacDonalds) and I was getting to support a local, independent entrepeneur at the same time: how can you beat that? 

  Then, later at work , a bunch of us split on a ridiculous pizza order from the local chain here and enjoyed it immensely, not nearly as much as I enjoyed lunch at Neeko’s but it was fresh, hot and we were supporting a local business (albeit a small chain).

  To my suprise upon arriving home, Alli was here and working on some of the best and most delicious smelling crock pot ribs with potatos I’ve come across.  Damn she spoils me a bunch!  I’m not sure what her recipe was, nor do I much care as she hasn’t made anything bad yet . I even liked the chicken gizzards a bit, although I’m not sure I would order them.    We also had left over sushi that she slaved over (four hours is slaving right?) last night to make dinner for when I finished school.  It was effing stellar; Miso soup, five different types of sushi rolls (she also told me about the difference between sushi and sashimi; extra note, Pops likes sashimi more that sushi, so get him to stop calling it sushi universally), tempura yams and shrimp.  My lord it was delicious and y’all should ask her to hook you up with the directions (recipe is so lame right?) on how to make it.

  So tonight I managed to find a documentary on WNED (our local PBS affiliate) called Black Coffee, I think, that chronicled the history of good ol’ java.  Those of you that know me personally probably know that I am not at all a coffee drinker.  I think I’ve had 2-3 cups throughout my entire life, but this show was uber interesting.  It outlined (and don’t quote me on it; it’s late) the entire history of the coffee bean from Ethiopia throught the Turkish Ottoman empire, through Arabia and out from there.  Super cool stuff so I encourage all you coffee and coffee derivitave drinkers to check it out.  The neatest point to me, that if is if I understood it right, was that espresso actually has less caffeine that coffee; it’s a more concentrated coffee with more concentrated flavor and a thicker brew but because it is brewed for a shorter duration, it actually has less caffeine.  Food for thought, if I’m correct, I thought.

  We’ve been noticing more hits through google lately and truly appreciate all of you spending a minute or two to catch up on what we are thinking or doing, sincerely.  Please share your thoughts with us and let us know what you would like to know more about or hear more about or see more of.  It’s you folks that we do this for and it’s really nice to know that there are others that are interested in what we are doing and what we are learning and thinking about; it is truly is the highest compliment you can give someone; to want to listen.  So yeah, pipe up; let us know what you’re interested in, let us know what you think; let us know what you’re doing;   if we all wanted one way communication we’d watch tv like zombies right? :)  Seriously, you guys make it worth doing, thanks!

 Oh, and thanks to Alli as always for kickin’ ass and making all this happen!

PS. note to self, proof read everything; you just spelled coffee as coffe three times dummy.