In the middle of the zoo, there is so much to do….

I went to the San Francisco Zoo last week with Max, after wanting to go for over a year. I had planned on getting a membership, but it turns out the individual membership was more expensive than I thought ($75) and didn’t let you bring a friend. You’d have to go at least five times by yourself to make it worthwhile, plus if you wanted company you’d have to convince someone to come five times. Sounds hard, right? Especially compared to the individual membership at the California Academy of Sciences, which is $99 and includes a plus one. So it pays for itself if you go four times by yourself, or twice if you toss in the free friend.

As it turns out, I’m pretty glad I didn’t get a membership and just bought the $15 day ticket. It was depressing. I thought it would be more akin to the Academy or the Monterey Bay Aquarium – their missions are education and preservation of the earth’s creatures and environment, and they accomplish their goals through the display of some of those creatures. The zoo, however….

At least the giraffes look happy!

The zoo seems to be designed to simply exhibit animals. It was long on chain link fences and sad looking animals, including a tiger who just paced and paced and paced, and pretty short on information about the animals and how we can help them in the wild. Admittedly a lot of the zoo was under construction, so maybe they’re trying to fix it, but I felt like they could be doing a lot more in the meantime.

They did manage to have some signs about the history of locations and exhibits, including what’s currently known as Penguin Island. It’s a long reflecting pool with an island in the middle that houses a bunch of penguins who splash around, swim, and even just chill in the pool when they’re not on the island. Of interest though was the fact that the island used to house monkeys. The zookeepers at the time, in their wisdom, thought that they should install a working stove on the island to keep the monkeys warm. The monkeys, in their monkeyness, decided to knock the stove over and set fire to the island. Crazy monkeys!

Grilling Feast

So, I bought a box of red beans and rice a few weeks ago thinking that it would be tasty some time. And then I brought it home, and it just kept sitting on the shelf, because I couldn’t figure out what to eat with it!

Finally, I had the idea of grilling Creole Spiced Tofu and serving it with the red beans and rice. A pineapple on the counter slowly going to waste was a later addition to the grill that added a delicious juiciness to the meal that it would have suffered from a lack of. Coupled with a couple of cocktails from the latest Real Simple, it was a perfect meal.

A delicious summer meal

Creole Tofu

• 1 lb. extra firm tofu
• 2 tablespoons Creole Seasoning Rub (see below)

Cut 1lb. block of tofu into 1/2 in. slabs (about 5). Mix two tablespoons of seasoning rub with about 1/2 cup of olive oil in a medium sized casserole dish and place the tofu in the dish in a single layer. Use a brush and flip the tofu around so the marinade is on all sides of the tofu. Refrigerate while the grill is getting ready.

Clean and preheat the grill to a medium-low heat. Cover and grill the tofu for about 30 minutes, flipping and rebrushing it with the seasoned oil from the casserole dish every 5 to 10 minutes. (To flip the tofu without it disintegrating, I put a large spatula right next to the tofu, used tongs to flip the tofu up and onto the spatula, and then slid the tofu off the spatula. A little more effort, but the tofu broke when I tried to just slide the spatula underneath.)

Use extra seasoned oil on pineapple slices for a tasty, grilled side dish.

Creole Seasoning Rub

• 3 teaspoons salt
• 3/4 teaspoons sweet paprika
• 1 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Combine all ingredients. Makes about 2 tablespoons.

Garden update, stardate 08012009

There’s good news and bad news, and thankfully the good news outweighs the bad. But let’s start with the bad.

Bad news

I had to pick (and toss) the watermelon today, because the rind split and bugs were chomping like mad on its tasty insides. At least they got to enjoy it.

Also, something’s been munching on the only cantaloupe too, but it’s in much better shape. Shaking out rolly-pollies when I see them….

I’ve been overwatering the Black Prince. Unfortunately, the effects of overwatering and underwatering look very similar. Read somewhere today that I should water tomatoes deeply every five to seven days when they’re setting fruit, so I’m going to try not watering him and the rest of my tomatoes for a few days. It makes me cringe inside, but I’m going to do it.

Neutral news

The peas continue to live, despite the heat, but I don’t think they’re going to make peas. Oh well. They look pretty. Sort of. An interesting experiment in the new raised bed?

Good news

The tomatoes are ready! The tomatoes are ready! And I’ve been eating them like mad on tomato and cheese sandwiches (on fresh bread from A Sweet Affair) and they’re sooo good. Salads with one of the many cucumbers (see below) are also fantastic.

One of the tasty first tomatoes

One of the tomatoes was so huge it snapped the vine it was on. I guess I’ll have to make fried green tomatoes….

Om nom nom nom!!

The lemon cucumbers are still going crazy! I give them away on all occasions. I gave Max and Christopher one the size of a softball about a week ago, I kid you not. I’ve decided to make these fresh lemon cucumber pickles in an attempt to use the bounty.

Lastly, I’m happy to report that the eggplant is finally on its way to propagating the species.

Flower, flower little eggplant!!

Anyway. That’s the garden. Used some mint in a watermelon-mint cooler drink today. I’ll have to post a food update soon.

Watermelons and Strawberries….

Grow time.

My watermelon is growing.

Time to eat you!

Om nom nom.

More on the container garden.

State of the garden address

Here’s the garden update for the week. I trimmed the dead parts off the mint, which appears to not be entirely dead. Maybe you CAN accidentally break off the main root and still have a successful transplant. We’ll see.

The lettuce sprouts have kinda died off though. Oh well. It was exciting for a little while. Maybe I should plant some more herbs. And the cucumbers have sprouted as well. Their little leaves look much sturdier than the lettuce does, so hopefully they’ll going strong.

The Black Prince flowers.

But the most important and exciting news this week is that the Black Prince tomato has put out its first flower, with at least six more to come. I’m really pleased by this, especially since the Peron had a flower that just croaked. I can’t wait to eat a dark brown tomato. I ask that you grow, my dark lord!