Cucumber

  We have been using squash flowers for as long as I can remember in cooking.  But the method is just simple.  Removing the anthers first and then mixing it with other vegetables seasoned with fish sauce is the norm.  But I found out that the popularity of using the flowers in the modern culinary…

Patola is what we call the luffa gourd. There are two types of this gourd but I am only familiar with the one that has angles or ridges on the skin. This is the specie called Luffa Acutangula. The other specie must have been introduced in the Philippines at a later date. We call it…

Taro plants are commonly grown here in Hawaii but it seems hard to find if you want to make your own laulau. So I decided to give it a try and plant some. The root or corm is actually given to me by a Tongan friend because that’s all she have in her garden. I…

Shallots in the Philippines is called Sibuyas Tagalog or Sibuyas Iloko. Sibuyas is a word derived from Spanish word “cebolla” which means onion. I like this type of onions fresh mix with tomatoes and used as a side dish for grilled fish, especially milkfish. But anything grilled like pork or chicken or even beef will…

It’s been two weeks after I took pictures of the cucumber flowers and now it’s ready to be picked. It turned out to be a pickling type of cucumber because it is short and small but plump. I am not complaining mind you. It’s just I didn’t know what variety I planted. It’s good I…

I like Swiss chard in my garden, not only of the healthful benefits but because it is pretty much easy to plant and grow. It is not finicky like some other plants like lettuce for example where you have to wait till the weather is a little bit cooler before you can plant. This one…