Hopleaf

I haven't yet looked at the two links caribemj supplied, but I've a similar problem (as if you could call it that) with our cilantro. It's getting big. And initially it had some brownish red (think you said 'tan') leaves at the bottom. I trimmed those first. I think the safest approach is to trim first what looks full grown and let the smaller leaves develop. Plus, you can sort of shape the plants. If they're growing too bushy around the sides, give them a trim there so they grow more vertically. If they get to vertical, cut some height off so they grow around the sides. That's the thing with herbs, depending on how much of it you go through, you can basically trim it to your use all the while keeping the plant healthy and producing more and more of what you want.

what a bummer, torakris. But like you said, you can't really fault Julia. And at least she's showing an interest in what you're doing out in the garden; if a few plants have to take the fall for that, so be it. You can even use this opportunity to teach her how to grow plants from seeds (just a suggestion). and you thought the typhoon was gonna get your garden. little did you know! How did that go anyway? the typhoon?

I don't have more experience in Mexican cuisine, I'm still just trying to learn as much about it as I can. But what you're suggesting, snowangel, sounds to me as if it might be due to regional differences. Were the two families from different regions?

This is not an understatement. Head this warning well; you may want to skip breakfast...hell, skip lunch too. These are true Dagwoods. You have to ratchet up your mouth like in the cartoons to get a bite of one of these. The brisket sandwich was my fav when I worked downtown

That was corny, but very funny.

Ahh, yes, your neighbors, the neighbors that everyone wished they had. I remember you mentioning them before, perhaps on the Gardening thread. You have no idea (perhaps you do) how lucky you are. Fried salsa? is that basically a salsa that you've sautéed all the ingredients?

WHT, this is gonna take some serious thought, not to mention custom score cards, colored pencils and a lot of sandwiches. For me without having put a ton of thought in it, I'd have to say that I like Meyer's Deli (great deli meats, great German beer collection, great German chocolates) when I lived in Lincoln Square, and was fond of Tony's (fantastic Italian sausage, great beef [just don't ask for jus on the side], and excellent giardinara) when I lived in Edison Park. So, it's gonna take some work, narrowing it down. edit: you already said Mannies. Duh!

...not to mention the typhoon torakris was just talking about. Boy, you let some ladybugs loose in your garden in Japan and a typhoon is liable to blow them clear across Siberia. Then what're they gonna do?

That's not exactly what I was looking for, but it sounds good enough to try. Lime on anything (except your eye) is a good thing. I'm surprised to learn how much lime is used in Mexican cooking. BTW, I don't remember who mentioned something about eating lightly grilled corn tortillas with a little crushed salt and lime, but I tried that this weekend. WOW! How awesome. (Actually, I think it was Miss J in one of the first posts in this forum).

hellish, indeed. plus most of them are for Carne Asada Tacos, wherein the skirt steak is only grilled for a bit and then it's sliced lengthwise for the tacos. I'm looking for something more along the lines of the Carne Asada that was briefly mentioned on the last episode of Food TV's Food Finds when they covered Hispanic foods. It wasn't in the Leona's bit, but the one right before or right after it. The guy was grilling outside in the parking lot and he kept dabbing these big skirt steaks with some sort of marinade. It looked so good my mouth started watering for it. I want that sauce. little flecks of peppers and tomatoes, some brownish liquid. What was that!? is that the Asada ?

I'm hoping someone might have a tried and true recipe for Carne Asada. I checked the eGullet Recipe Archive and came up empty. And Internet searches haven't revealed much.

Don't lady bugs get rid of aphids? that's what I thought. And I know that most garden centers sell lady bugs. Try that.

And he has a greenhouse!!!! man, you're livin' large. Rabbit Stew. Mmmmm... You're right about the foxes, except I don't think we have any foxes around here. And someone I work with mentioned the thing about making sure the mesh size on the chicken wire is small enough. She said she walked out to her garden early one morning only to find a mother rabbit pushing one of her babies through her chicken wire (at first she had the kind with larger openings) through the wire to get to her lettuce. Can you believe that...it's almost like something out of a Far Side cartoon. At any rate, since I don't own a shotgun, I'm going with the wire. Maybe I'll hook it up to a 220 outlet, nice little zap and that critter will get what's his!

Ok, it's official, I'm at war with a rabbit. Any recomendations would be greatly appreciated (by me, not the rabbit). He's already made a dent in my butter crunch lettuce. I tried planting marigolds around the border of the bed, but it didn't deter the little bastard (don't get me wrong, he's cute as a button, but come on...you just don't fuck with a man's garden, key my car, fine, but not my garden). So, I'm thinking that the unsightly option of chickenwire is my only resort, unless someone has a better option.

Wow! you live in Eden.

That worked. It is a little blurry, but you can still make most of it out. Is that your yard behind the garden? Big lot, eh? And the armillary sundial looks, from what I can tell, to be very cool. If you can manage a closer shot of that, I'd like to see it in detail. We're shopping around for a birdbath type thing for our garden. You must be further south than Chicago cuz all of your stuff looks like it's in mid-season form already. Good job, jackal. I'm sure you've got dirt under your fingernails.

Just PM the Big Man (no, not God, Fat Guy). ask him to help you figure it out. If that's the same link, it doesn't work for anyone but you. I don't think anyone has access to a yahoo photo file but the owner. Know what I mean? Did you try just quickly mocking up one of the free web pages Yahoo offers (geocities) and placing a photo there and then doing an image link on an eGullet post?

So, jackal, did you ever bring this up with a moderator? Still want to check out your garden.

As with any food that is consumed by a large number of people, there are those of us (Americans) who can and actually do appreciate good beer. That's not to say that we're averse to ever consuming a light beer. Regular, canned beers (à la Miller Lite) remind me of going to Wrigley Field for a Cubs game, especially if I can find an authentic wax-lined paper cup. My parents also would occassionally imbibe in the local canned beers and, needlesstosay, my first sip of beer was of this ilk. And hell, drinking more of them isn't really all that big of a deal, is it? that's kind of the point. Plus there's more cans to recycle.

Well, that didn't work either. Did you read through the Guide to Posting Images? maybe that'll help. I think your images have to actually exist on a separate web site. See if you can get it to work, it'd be great to see your herb garden.

This is the place. Let's see what you've got.

Since you referenced the grass-removal part early on in this thread, I should probably mention what worked for me (I was the one asking about it). I ended up just cutting the sod out in 1-foot sections and knocking as much dirt back into the bed as possible. It proved to be the easiest solution, but our soil is very rich, which may have helped. I've been relocating some flagstone and placed the cut sod sections where the stone was. It's taken to its new spot well.

yeah, too bad you didn't think of that.

I hope your lattice is very sturdy because wisteria is extremely heavy and needs a really good support. We had put in our veggies last week when it was nice, and then nearly everything died when it got cold, and we ended up having to replace it all. Not only was it expensive, but it put us behind a week. I buy plants at the nursery because our season is so short. I learned my lesson and have walls of water around everything now. Thanks JSD. I'll double check the sturdiness of the lattice. Like I said, it's been there for awhile, so I might have to replace it.

There's a 2-foot by 8-foot lattice that was attached to the garage when we moved in. We're waiting to see what come sup below it (neighbor says there's roses in that spot), but wanted to add the wisteria to climb the lattice. The spot gets a lot of sun. I guess I'll just have to see how the tomatoes and peppers do cuz they're already in the ground, and other than last night when the temp dropped into the forties, it has been in the fifties over night for abotu a week. The soil temp (just checking a foot down with my hand) didn't seem too cool. Cross your fingers!