Today I tried out a new recipe for dinner...Kebbeh...taught by a Brazilian friend from my lifegroup. It is a lebanese dish which uses lots of mint. I love growing mint but have not really used it for any of my cooking. This dish is delicious. Another ingredient is onion...good way of eating it for those who hate it as it is finely chopped. It turned out great. Here is the recipe for sharing :
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250g burghul wheat (available from lebanese shops)
500g mince beef
10 sprigs of common mint (chopped up leaves finely)
some cumin
1 tsp of salt
some black pepper
half an onion or several shallots (chopped finely)
sunflower oil for brushing baking pan
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1. Soak the wheat in about a glass of water for minimum of 2 hours to soften it.
2. Mix the beef, black pepper, salt, onion thoroughly.
3. Add to the wheat and mix well.
4. Add the mint and mix well.
5. Form into rolls about 5cm long and 1.5-2 cm diameter.
6. Grease the tin with thin layer of oil.
7. Bake the kebbeh at 180 deg celsius till meat cooks (around 20 mins)
Common mint harvested.
Kebbah
When I was preparing the kebbeh in the kitchen, I caught a glimpse of the backyard out of the window and rushed for my camera. The evening sun's was caught on the two tall trees far away. It was a beautiful sight. I would miss this open view, the two fields beside the house and the reserve behind when I move to my new house.
My spring onion seedings have all germinated under partial shade after sowing 16 days ago. Looking forward to spring onion omelette. I love the thin spring onions because they cook easier for omelettes.
My oriental radishes are growing rather slowly thanks to the gloomy weather and thus they have not been receiving much sunshine. I have them protected under plastic containers at night but I am already working on large proper covers for them once they develop more. Keeping my brain juice churning! In my previous batch of oriental radishes, they grew very fast and leafy but their leaves were practically eaten away by some mysterious bugs/creatures when I went holidaying in Tasmania. See their gorgeous leaves here. And when I returned 2.5 weeks later, it was like this. 
The snow pea seedlings are getting me a bit concerned. They are growing well. It is just that they could be eaten up again. My whole purple king bean plant was eaten up without a trace. Now that the snow pea seedlings are still small, they are protected as I do with the oriental radishes and buk choy. But when they grow taller and bigger, I have to figure out a way to protect them at night. I cant camp out in the garden. Erecting a scarecrow is another idea but I think whoever visiting in the night is quite clever to see through my plot. I thought of using chicken wire to wrap around the growing pea plants but they prove not very flexible, and with the holes, the pea plants can still be destroyed. Then I thought of plastic sheets. Perhaps I can try that since they have no holes and are very flexible to go around the pea plants. Moreover, my pea plants are a mildew-resistant specie, so I need not worry about this problem with them all wrapped up at night.
The purple buk choys will suffer similar fate as the oriental radishes if not taken care of, so I will probably use covers for them once they grow bigger. They get pest problems such as caterpillars and aphids. I reckon pyrethrum sprays will have to be used on the leaves of the radishes and buk choy once aphids start coming.
