Summer is salad season for me. There’s just so much fresh and abundant (and sometimes organic) local produces to be seen this time of year.

This salad has probably been done many times with many variations. You could even include more veggies like carrots or daikon and it would be just as good. Serves 2.

Before preparing my veggies, I like to soak them in water with 2 tbs of vinegar just to be safe.

Chop up the following:

1/2 bunch of organic spinach
1 Granny Smith apple
2 organic radishes
walnuts

Dressing is simply made with 2 tbs rice bran oil, 2 tbs apple cider vinegar, 1 tbs Himalayan salt, and a pinch of ground chili pepper and black pepper.

Some people like to caramelize and toast the walnuts, but I find it taste great either way.

Recently I’ve been using more rice bran oil instead of olive oil. These are some of the nutrients from Rice Bran Oil:

* Naturally rich in Vitamin E (Tocopherol and Tocotrienol).
Both types of Vitamin E are natural antioxidants that fight free radicals, a major cause of cancer. Tocotrienol not only outperforms Tocopherol in preventing oxidation, it also effectively helps lower blood cholesterol level.

* High in Oryzanol. Oryzanol is a powerful natural antioxidant found only in rice bran oil, not other vegetable oils. It is more active than Vitamin E in fighting free radicals. Oryzanol is effective in lowering the blood cholesterol level, reducing liver cholesterol synthesis, and treating menopausal disorders.

* High in monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) which helps lower LDL-C, the bad cholesterol. It also helps maintain or increase HDL-C, the good cholesterol.” Source.

Here in the U.S.A., I sometimes worry about my fruits and veggies being organic or not. When it comes to potatoes or other root veggies, I chose the organic ones. Luckily with pineapple and watermelon it’s of little concern. But if you live in China, you’ll have to wonder where exactly does your food come from?

We’ve all heard of the tainted baby formula and pet food, now the list is growing.

A recent report from the LA Times pointed out China’s food scandals are becoming increasingly frequent and bizarre. And bigger, cheaper, faster is the name of the game.

Below are the highlights of the food scandal in China I gathered from the Los Angeles Times.

- A Shanghai woman who had left uncooked pork on her kitchen table woke up in the middle of the night to find her pork was emitting a blue light. It was later found to be made by phosphorescent bacteria (which glow-in-the-dark).

- Last month, watermelon farmers in eastern Jiangsu province hoped for a bumper crop instead got . Much “like landmines” after they mistakenly applied too much growth hormone.

- A popular manufactured of steamed buns was caught using dye to make cheap wheat buns look like the more expensive black rice buns.

- And fish farmers are also feeding their fish ground up birth control pills to make some breeds of fish mature more quickly. Even the farmers themselves refuse to eat these fishes.

A Chinese food scientist who exposed many of these issues wrote a book about it, but the book was banned in his own country. Reporting about such things makes the government unhappy and people are scared to voice their opinion.

The list could go on and on. But these are just some of the ones I found shocking.

This isn’t just happening in China as it was also reported shrimp farmers in Vietnam were also using large amounts of antibiotics on their shrimps. And many of those shrimps are being sold to outside markets such as the U.S.A.  This just makes you think twice about eating shrimp cocktails.

I guess in this case we have to vote with our wallets. Eat less of the bad stuff or none at all. Eat more organic veggies and grow your own if possible.

Ever since I’ve started knitting, I’ve been noticing sweaters everywhere. And there are so many nice machine knit sweaters as well as handknits.

Pringle of Scotland (not the potato chip makers) is one such knitwear company from Scotland that started off with all handknits until they went with machine knit. They are considered to be “designer knitwear” made with fine yarns.

Pictured here is one of their argyle cardigan cardigan made with 100% Fine Cashmere. Quite expensive at $442.48!

A bit of history from the Pringle’s archive:

“Pringle of Scotland is the iconic brand founded in 1815 at the birthplace of the Scottish knitwear industry.

From the beginning technical innovation has led to the creation of knitwear as outerwear it became one of the first luxury knitwear manufacturers in the world, having expanded throughout Europe, the US and Asia during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Pringle has been knitting cashmere since the 1870s when it began as a luxury hosiery manufacturer.

Pringle also took a sporty two-piece cardigan and sweater set from the golf course and retailored it to create the ‘twinset’, and a classic British style icon was born.”

I somehow find this from Youtube very entertaining, educational, and funny!

I planted this pineapple guava for my mom’s garden last summer. And I’m so happy to see it’s blooming already.

There’s only a couple of blooms and most are still little buds about to open up soon. But my mom tells me her pet chicken (Eliza) has been eating the lower hanging flower petals. It’s been known that birds love to eat the petals too. Let’s just hope they will still bear some fruits in the fall.

The petals are suppose to be great tossed in salads. But I have no desire to eat them. They’re really too pretty to eat and will just let the birds and bees pollinate it.

The common names for this fruit is Feijoa, Pineapple Guava, and Guavasteen. They are native to Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. Basically most of south America.

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If you’re going to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair

- Scott McKenzie

Colorful roses at one of the floral shops at the Embarcadero.  We got lucky and found street parking just 2 blocks away.  The parking meter system accepts major credit cards. For $3.25 we got 2 hours of parking.

These are the backyard patio of the mansions along Lyon Street stairs.  The geraniums with white petals and pink splashes go well with the little deep purple flowers.

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Happy summer!

Summer Solstice is June 21st, 2011.  It’s also the longest day of the year.

And this time of year we usually get little Cherry plums (aka Purple Leaf Plum) from our friend’s yard.  At this stage they are still tart but sweet in the middle.

I cut them into small slices and tossed out the seeds.

Mix a little bit with salt, sugar, and ground chili pepper.  It’s not exactly ice cream, but does make for a perfect snack on this hot day.

More info on the plums:

Scientific Name - Prunus cerasifera

Common Name - Purple leaf plum, Cherry plum

I had lots of fun knitting my bamboo yarn scarf so I’m working on another scarf.  After a washing, the 100% bamboo scarf became even more soft and silky.  It’s really great for summer as it’s very cooling.

This one is made with the 100% cotton yarn.  The pattern is “Old Shale” and the deep blue color reminds me of waves crashing along the beach.  So I will call it “Wave After Wave” scarf.

I really hope to finish it before the summer ends.

If anyone is interested in this pattern here are my notes:

Make 44 stitch and knit first 4 rows as edging.

Row 1: Knit

Row 2: K4, P, k4

Row 3: K4, *[K2tog] 3x, [yo, k1] 6x, [k2tog] 3x, K4. place ring marker and *repeat for how ever wide you want the scarf.  I repeated twice.

Row 4: Knit

Repeat the 4 rows.

I’ve been wanting to have my own serger for years now. But didn’t want to buy a brand new one since I don’t sew enough (to make it worth it).

Then I saw this used serger for $39 and was more than happy to buy it. It wasn’t perfect and missing the thread guide - as the thread guide holder was broken.

We improvised by using an old radio antenna because it can be pulled up and down. And for the thread guide holder, we used little open screws used for hanging pictures.

After cleaning up the lint and fixing the tension, it was ready for a test drive. Everything works fine and I am now a proud owner of a Singer UltraLock 14 U34!

This is the first summer tank top I made with my “new to me” serger.

I just drafted the pattern by hand and was surprised how nice the neck line turned out. The fabric is from Joanne’s Lisette brand, on sale for $5 per yard.

Sergers are great to have if you do lots of sewing and want the seams to sew up tight and last a long time.

And a good used serger is also good as it saves you money and also gets to be recycled by a new owner.

Note: Threading the serger can be tricky. Tweezers are a necessity!

More photos on my Singer’s threading chart and the mechanics,

This is another great photo from another website with names to serger parts.

France was in the news lately for not doing enough to protect the European hamster also known as the Great Hamster of Alsace. These hamsters can be found in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, but in Western Europe they are mostly found in Alsace, France.

France 24 reports there are only 200 remaining, while the NY Times reports 800. But the Commission figures show its numbers fell from 1,167 in 2001 to as few as 161 in 2007.

Photo from Wildlife Photo Gallery by Josef Hlasef. I like how surprise he looks here… “Oh do you want to talk to me?”

They grow to be about 10 inches long. These little guys look very cute and interesting with their brown-and-white face, small white paws and a black belly. The black belly part is most unusual and looks like it’s wearing a black vest. How fashionable!

The hamster lives a solitary life and hibernates for 6 months of the year. Once they wake from their sleep, they like to feed on grass and alfalfa. But these crops have been replaced with large scale corn farms. France has previously given subsidies to farmers to grow alfalfa or wheat, but the commission wants it to do more.

The European Court of Justice ruled that “Protection measures for the Great Hamster put in place by France were insufficient at the date of August 5, 2008, to ensure the strict protection of the species,”

Farmers aren’t very fond of these hamster and wish they could do away with them. Safeguard Wildlife president Jean-Paul Burget, in Alsace, said in a telephone interview with NY Times that “we are very happy and European rules must be followed.” France “now must work to raise the population of hamsters up to 1,500.” A good number which would help to preserve the species.

It’s not just corn farms, but development of homes and highways have also been creeping into it’s habitat.   But hopefully with the new court ruling they will have more space to live and roam now.

Youtube of guys vs Hamster. Funny!

Our friend had some fresh backyard chicken eggs to share with us. This is the first laying from their backyard chickens.

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