food

Chives

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I miss our chive plants that have gone dormant for the winter and have been buried in snow for the past week.  The name of the species derives from the Greek σχοίνος, skhoínos (sedge) and πράσον, práson (leek). Its  English name, chives, derives from the French word cive, from cepa, the Latin word for onion. Chives are a commonly used herb and can be found in grocery stores or grown in home gardens. In culinary use, the scapes and the unopened, immature flower buds are diced and used as an ingredient for seasoning dishes. Chives have insect-repelling properties that can be used in gardens to control pests. The flowers area pale purple and star-shaped with six petals 1/2″ – 3/4″ wide, and produced in a dense inflorescence  of 10 – 30 together. Before opening, the inflorescence is surrounded by a papery bract. Holbein watercolors on 140# Fluid 100 cold press watercolor paper.

2017-01-12-chives

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In – N – Out

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After growing up in Southern California, I finally had lunch at In-N-Out Burger, It is a chain in California with a cult like following. It was crazy busy when we were there at 2:00 in the afternoon. It was fantastic. Pilot Falcon fountain pen with Noodler’s Bulletproof black ink and Holbein watercolors in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook.

2016-10-12-in-and-out

Strawberries

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Another image from our travels through Watsonville and all of the strawberries. As long as I can remember, strawberry boxes always were from Watsonville, California. Even better when super fresh. Pilot Falcon fountain pen with Noodler’s Bulletproof black ink and Holbein watercolors in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook.

2016-09-26-strawberries

Artichoke

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Traveling from San Francisco airport to Carmel, we pass through Watsonville, California. This is part of the bread basket of America and you can tell by the miles and mile of vegetable fields as far as the eye can see. The Artichoke plants were beautiful and the Artichokes are almost ready for picking. Pilot Falcon fountain pen with Noodler’s Bulletproof black ink and Holbein watercolors in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook.

2016-09-25-artichoke

Asparagus

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Asparagus is a herbaceous, perennial plant growing to 39–59 inches tall, with stout stems with much-branched, feathery foliage. The “leaves” are in fact needle-like cladodes (modified stems) in the axils of scale leaves; they are 0.24–1.26 inches long and 1 mm (0.039 in) broad, and clustered four to 15 together, in a rose-like shape.  Theflowers are bell-shaped, greenish-white to yellowish, with six tepals partially fused together at the base; they are produced singly or in clusters of two or three in the junctions of the branchlets. It is usually dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants, but sometimes hermaphrodite flowers are found. Pilot Falcon fountain pen with Noodler’s Black ink and Holbein watercolors in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook.

2016-04-08 Asparagus

Radishes

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The Radish is an edible root vegetable that was domesticated in Europe in the pre-Roman times. Radishes are grown and consumed throughout the world, being mostly eaten raw as a crunchy salad vegetable. They have numerous varieties, varying in size, flavor, color, and length of time they take to mature. Radishes of spicy varieties owe their sharp flavor to the various chemical compounds produced by the plants. They are sometimes grown as companion plants and suffer from few pests and diseases. They germinate quickly and grow rapidly, smaller varieties being ready for consumption within a month, while larger daikon varieties take several months. Another use of radish is as cover or catch crop in winter or as a forage crop. Pilot Falcon fountain pen with Noodler’s Black ink and Holbein watercolors in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook.

2016-04-07 Radishes

Golden Beets

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Another variety of the beetroot. This sketch is of the Golden Beet which is a beautiful golden yellow in the inside and tastes like it’s more familiar cousin, the purple beet. It is several of the cultivated varieties grown for their edible taproots and their leaves (called beet greens). Other than as a food, beets have use as a food coloring and as a medicinal plant. Pilot Falcon fountain pen with Noodler’s black ink and Holbein watercolors in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook.

2016-04-6 Golden Beets