February is for... feeling hot, hot, hot!

This summer has been so hot and dry I've had trouble keeping the tomatoes alive, and the pumpkins and eggplants have struggled along. The faithful zucchinis and squashes have kept us eating veg most of the week (especially the VERY prolific Tromboncino) and cucumbers failed to even get far off the ground. What a year. The upside to the hot, dry conditions is the avalanche of chillies filling the kitchen.

We've been eating some of them fresh, and leaving some in a basket in the hot sunroom to dry out. Matt even made a giant batch of curry paste to freeze for our favourite red curry. I think that's been the most successful dish of the summer: 'garden curry' with eggplant, zucchini and pumpkin, chillies, basil and galangal, all from the garden. Delicious! It's based on the red curry recipe from 'Cooking with Poo' (yes, that's the real title I promise, you can check it out here http://www.handicrafts.org.au/contents/en-us/d63.html). There are some great recipes in it, but this is my favourite.

We're growing 3 different chillies this year, the mildest being the jalapenos, next the long red chillies, and finally my all time favourite the Purple Dragon. It has gorgeous purple, white and green variegated leaves, with purple flowers that turn into purple fruits, and turn red as they ripen. They look beautiful all year round, and this one is 2 years old now. It is super-hot though, and I usually only use 1 or 2 of the tiny little gems in a meal. I have had to apologise to my dear sister for not warning her well enough, resulting in a ruined thai beef salad... but I'm sure she will forgive me!

 

Today though, I'm wearing my warm pyjamas and a jumper. It has finally been raining, and it's such a divine sound on the roof. Hopefully it's just in time to get some corn and the last of the tomatoes before it cools down, and then I'll have to get cracking planting some winter veg seeds.