This has not been the time for heading out into the garden in Houston. I admit that I have not done much, but I did take the time for weeding. My daughters, Katya and Sakura, have been quite happy playing outside, so I have been encouraged to be beside my garden beds. Sakura, the baby, is absolutley furious if she cannot go outside to play.
    One task that I have put off lately has been weeding. Really, who wants to weed? I do have a couple of these weed trees sprouting up in my garden beds, and with the ground being so moist, I have been able to pull them out quite easily. In fact, during the summer, I do my weeding right after I do my wartering. My garden hoe make a fairly decent job of  hacking out most weeds. These baby trees that hide under my bushes can be stubborn though, so I go in with both hands to yank them out. So far, my task has been easy in this weather, and the days have not been too cold.
    I have been harvesting some vegetables. The mustard greens went down well in the pasta dish that I made last night. I appear to be the only arrugula lover in my family. My wife and the children politely ate a few bites, but I saw that those leaves were being pushed to the side. I have to say that the arugula seems to be happy in this weather.
    I stopped by the Farmer’s Market at Rice University this last Saturday. Fewer vendors are showing up in this cold, yet you can still find wonderful items. I felt like that I should support them by going. A nice young lady was there selling seeds to promote the Rice Environmental Club. I have to check them out more. I bought a packet. They should have been planted last fall, but these seeds can still be broadcast in a bed with good results. Katya is fascinated with the portabella mushrooms. She insists that we buy some each week. I marinated the mushrooms for an hour in a soy sauce/miso/rice vingar/sugar/garlic mixture. I added them to a stir fry with  green beans, carrots, yams, and onions. I threw the marinade into the pan at the end for a sauce. I served this with rice that had a little butter and a lot of paprika folded into it at the end. This meal went down well. One preparation step with the mushrooms is cleaning out the gills under the cap. They muddy the flavor. I find that the children enjoy the mushrooms more when these have been removed. I use the gills for a soup for myself. Why waste something so flavorful? How do you prepare mushrooms?