okra retry

At the farmers market I happened upon this sweet little lady who was selling okra.  I discussed my okra issue with her and she assure me that given the right okra, my recipe should be great.  She showed me how to check for the right color, length and softness.  She felt like the okra I worked with last time had perhaps been on the plant for too long, like way too long.  She simply couldn't believe that I had to saw it with a serrated knife to cut it.  Her sweet little hubby got out his pocket knife and had me cut a piece right there to see how soft it was.

So I used the same method as before roughly using a Paula Dean recipe for my breading mix.  They were wonderful and delicious and I want to grow my own next year.

While I'm mentioning the garden, here are a few pictures from this week.  I feel like I've been writing a lot about the garden.  In another week I'll be writing bunches about preschool.  I'm seasonal like that. I should have picked a bunch of pumpkin blooms to fry up too.  They are mostly male blooms, not sure if that is common for pumpkins. Lots of boys, just a few girls.

This happy bloom has a plumb bee over for a visit.

Here's a little something funny.  It's on a few squash leaves.  I think it's some kind of leaf mildew. 

The maze of fabric strips supporting the cages is getting more elaborate.  Next year I'll have to investigate in some other type of support.  When I go out to pick tomatoes, I have to wear long pants and long sleeves and crawl on my hands and knees between the plants and under the supporting fabric strips.  It's like an adventure course in my backyard.