Best Doggy Bag Ever

So if you remember, I did a post about the tomato jungle that is growing in Mom & Harold's backyard: Garden Greatness.  Well yesterday I got to take home a doggy bag of the finished products!  The little baby ones are the best - so sweet!

Blue Passion Flower

Yesterday Carlinhos and I came back to our apartment and discovered this amazing flower blooming in our backyard. I have never seen this flower before and was in awe of its beauty and uniqueness - it didn't seem like it should be growing in the middle of Los Angeles.

At first we just saw one flower, but then when we looked up and saw that this flower is a vine and it had kind of taken over the back wall and the electric wires that are running up there. There were multiple blooms, and after more examination of the plant, we could see that it had little orange egg-shaped fruits.

So as I said, I wasn't sure what kind of flower it was until Mom informed me that it is a Passion Flower. And after some google-ing, I found out that this one in particular is a Blue Passion Flower and that the fruit is edible! And the kicker is that it is a native of South America, and more specifically BRASIL!
One of my favorite things to eat EVER IN THE WORLD is Mousse de Maracuja (Passion Fruit Mousse), which is basically like an ice cream made from passion fruit. I am so excited to try to make this with our new little edible discoveries! It will be interesting to see if the flavor of this type of passion fruit is as tasty as what I'm used to...I will update you as soon as I find out! :)

Garden Greatness

Over the weekend, I was at home and as you know they have quite the garden going, and this is such an amazing time of year for a garden.  Mom has leeks growing in the back and if you don't know what the flower looks like, you must take a look!  Not only do you get a tasty vegetable in the garlic and onion family, but they also produce the most beautiful flowers!  I am obsessed!  (and aren't the buds the blooms come out of like little elf hats - so cute!)

And Harold has so many tomatoes growing everywhere - it's like a tomato jungle in the back.  I can't wait to taste them all!  It will be soon because there are baby tomatoes and buds all over the plants.  So exciting!  Why buy shelf-ripened produce, when you can grow it yourself for free?!!!

Herbs, East Side

Here's our little herb garden so far - basil, chives and mint. I want to get more soon. Last year we had some other stuff including tarragon which I used a lot, but we have trouble with squirrels out there. So far this year they haven't found our new plants, and I'd like to get some chicken wire before they do. Jimmy found that little lantern, and we might try to turn it into a mini tomato greenhouse or something. :)

I love me some Herb!!! ;)

Mom and Harold bought me and Carlinhos some herbs for our new place. We now have Thyme, Rosemary, Chives, African Basil, Marjoram, Parsley, Cilantro and Sage growing on our back patio. I'm excited to have them because I hate buying the packages at the grocery store since I never end up using it all. Which should I cook with first?! :)