Latest Crop

My garden is very happy these days. Other than the usual war with many creatures and getting our fair share of what we grow, as you can tell, all is well. • Picture was taken with an iPhone.

First Ever

First time growing leeks (Leek Verna) from seeds. Very excited to use it in a dish for dinner.

Manuela

Manuela is located inside the Hauser & Wirth arts complex at the heart of the burgeoning Downtown Arts District of Los Angele. The food was amazing and the restaurant is beautiful. There is an outdoor space where they grow their own chickens and herb and vegetable garden. • Garden and indoor photos by Laura Ford; Food photos by Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Time

Greens

Beautiful greens in my organic garden, enjoying the colors, textures, freshness and the different flavors.

My first passion

First passion fruit from my garden, I LOVE the flowers and the fruit, so good. Nature's bounty.

In my kitchen

New creations in my kitchen, recipes will follow soon.

Gardener in West LA

I'm looking for a gardener in the West LA area to help me with my vegetable, fruit and herb garden. He/she will need to maintain the garden weekly, clean, prune, plant and harvest when needed etc. If you know of someone please let me know. Thanks.

Plants

Garden plants that are usually discarded, there is beauty everywhere. • Hand drawn, manipulated in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.

Blueberries

New blueberries in the garden, I can't wait to taste them.

Artichoke

Our first artichoke, 18 months in the making, almost gave up on it. It's a completely different flavor when you pick, cook and eat it. Best artichoke I've ever eaten. Three small ones are still growing.

Purple Broccoli

New purple broccoli in the garden, I'm ready to try this beautiful vegetable. I've found a very simple recipe here. It looks like a perfect combo. Have a great weekend. Xo

New Crop

Our latest crop from the vegetable garden, beets, carrots, lettuce and different green leaves. What's for dinner?

Garbanzo Beans & Cabbage

As promised, this is the dish I made with our organic, home grown cabbage. I followed this recipe but changed a few things. Here is what I did (I marked the changes I made in bold):

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium potato, scrubbed and cut into tiny dice
• 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme)
• 1 shallot, minced
• One 15-ounce can garbanzo beans, rinsed very well and drained
• One cut dried Thai chile pepper (optional) 
• 3 cups (8 ounces) very finely shredded green cabbage
• fine-grain sea salt

DIRECTIONS

1. Pour the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add the potatoes and spread them evenly in the pan. Cook the potatoes for 5-10 minutes or so, make sure you scrape and toss the potatoes during cooking so that you can get each side browned and cooked through.
2. Add in the fresh thyme, onion, Thai chile pepper and the garbanzo beans and spread all around the skillet. Let cook, undisturbed for 5 minutes to brown just a bit, then scrape and toss again. Cook until the beans are nicely browned on both sides.
3. Stir in the cabbage and cook for a few minutes. Sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Stir and toss again. Once the cabbage has wilted down, the dish is ready.

Cabbage and blackberries

New cabbage in our garden. It's truly magical to experience all these wonderful vegetable grow. They are tasty, organic, healthy and loved. I'll share what dish I made with it. • The blackberries are very sweet, no wonder the birds don't like to share with us. I check on them everyday and try to get them before they do.

Dried

Hot Thai red peppers and Christmas lima beans. Both from our garden, the peppers we use in different dishes, the lima beans we'll plant when the time will come. So much fun.

In the garden

Flowers are blooming and berries are almost ready. I enjoy our little garden so much, every day there is a new surprise. Nature is plentiful, it's much appreciated at our home. Xo

Unedible

I left the okras to grow for way too long, they are huge and completely unedible (but they look pretty). More luck next time.

My Okra

Okra or Okro known in many English-speaking countries as ladies' fingers, bhindi, bamia, ochro or gumbo, is a flowering plant in the mallow family. It is valued for its edible green seed pods. • Okra is a popular health food due to its high fiber, vitamin C, and folate content. Okra is also known for being high in antioxidants. Okra is also a good source of calcium and potassium. • The products of the plant are mucilaginous, resulting in the characteristic "goo" or slime when the seed pods are cooked; the mucilage contains soluble fiber. Some people prefer to minimize the sliminess; keeping the pods intact, and brief cooking, for example stir-frying, help to achieve this. Cooking with acidic ingredients such as a few drops of lemon juice, tomatoes, or vinegar may also help. Alternatively, the pods can be sliced thinly and cooked for a long time so the mucilage dissolves. The immature pods may be pickled. —Wikipedia

Honey Roasted Carrots with Tahini Yogurt

Another wonderful recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi's book Plenty More. I used carrots we grow in our garden. You can find it here. Enjoy.

Sweet figs

I managed to get a few soft and sweet figs from our tree before the birds got to them. We had to put a net around the tree. I don't mind sharing our fruit and vegetables with worms, ants, crickets, birds, squirrels and what ever animals that live in our back yard, I don't like when they don't share with me. Last time we didn't get to eat even one fig, no more! No wonder they didn't want to share, the figs are so tasty, they melt in your mouth.