Lazy Saturday Morning....Afternoon

OK, so maybe I didn't wake up until the morning was almost over. Apparently I do not have the farmer's ability to wake up at the crack of dawn on a Saturday, but I can live with that. When I did finally wake up this morning, I headed straight for the yard to pick some roses.

Perhaps its the result of the rain storm we just had, but Jeff's roses seemed to be doing one last hurrah for the season this weekend. I picked enough roses to make four bouquets of different sizes. I remember when Jeff bought this house, I had dastardly plans to get rid of most of the roses. They were suffering from a severe case of neglect and made his house look even more old ladyish. I have came to feel differently about the roses however, when I realized that they are some of the most fragrant roses I've ever met. I don't know what kind they are, but I'm assuming they are some old varieties become they smell like they had been sprayed with pure rose oil right before you sniff them. In a world that is full of scentless roses, this yard, with its eight amazing rose bushes is a real treat.

I did find a little hitchhiker though as i was distributing the bouquets around the house. This little baby snail was so cute and small that I went against my inner gardener and let it be, even though Jeffry's front yard has a major snail infestation. Did you know, that the snails in California are the same kind the French eat? I'm intrigued by the idea of free protein wandering around by the handful right outside the door. I wonder....

After flower picking and snail pondering had finished. I picked some fresh bell pepper for the pico de gallo Jeffry was making to go with our quesadillas. The food processor made it quick work as he just threw the tomatoes, onion, bell pepper and chile in, whirled it a few times and poof! Fresh pico de gallo magically appeared.

To finish off, I discovered a while back that the fruit from my pineapple guava was not lost, but still on the tree, just camouflaged. They finally ripened so I picked one and Jeffry and I gave it a try. They were not what I expected. They taste nothing like pineapple. I think they taste like a cross between a pear and a kiwi, and Jeffry thinks they taste like a cross between a pear and grape. I think the lesson we learned is that they don't taste very comparable to other fruits and are a flavor all their own. I'm going to wait another week and then pick another one to see if the taste changes. The flesh seems like it should have been a bit softer. We agreed that these little guys would make great jam, pie (perhaps mixed with strawberry) or a unique addition to fruit salad. Pineapple guavas are pretty productive once they mature, so I'm looking forward to making all these things in the future.