Cucumber Flowers

Water chestnuts are synonymous to Chinese cuisine. They are the ones that makes water chestnuts popular all over the world except we only see them mostly in cans. Once in a while you will see them in Chinatown but you probably will not recognize it because they look like the corms of certain flowering plants…

Upo or Long gourd (Lagenaria Siceraria) belongs to the family of cucurbits.  The gourd had been used primarily as a water container.  There are different shapes and sizes to choose from.  Cucuzzi is an Italian long gourd that also belongs to the same family.  Some are long and gnarly that they call it snake gourd. …

Leek is a vegetable that is related to onions and garlic which belongs to the family of Allium, scallions or spring onions and shallots included. It looks like the spring onions only bigger in diameter. The white part closes to the roots is the most used in cooking, the green part or sheath of leaves…

Long beans or sitaw as we call them is in the member of the family of legume except they are eaten as green pods unlike other beans like navy beans or azuki beans. They are also called yard long beans or asparagus beans. I remember eating these beans cooked as adobo. It taste good and…

The popularity of kale as a cancer-fighting vegetable made me decide to plant some. I started with seeds and the variety is called “Toscano”. It is a plain-leaf type. Some kales have curly leaves. Some are called ornamental kales because of their different colors and mostly used as decorative plant in the garden. I have…

I have been experimenting on almost every new things that come out of seed catalogs. I find it very interesting and challenging at the same time. One of those experiments is planting this “watermelon” radish. I planted them just like other radish seeds. They grow fast and as soon as you can see the roots…