I have to say I am enjoying this urban gardener-stuff.

In all my 64 years, this is the first time I’ve actually grown something other than just tomatoes and peppers. Pot doesn’t count, of course, although we did do some pretty good baked goods back in the day.

But I digress…

Food – coming out of my own yard. Who woulda thunk?!?

We’ve had a few happy neighbors as too much became ready at once. I was passing out some beautiful heads of romaine lettuce earlier today. They had to come up so the green beans could go in.

I also picked a celery to make a bit of room. It’s early, but tasty! There’s some cauliflower out there, as well… It’s probably too hot for it, now – it wants cooler weather – but we’ll let it go for a while longer.

So looking at celery, onions, radishes, a head of chicory, the last of the broccoli, and a few tomatoes almost past their prime, a dinner was born.

I had a boneless short rib in the freezer so I pulled it out this morning. When I went to check on it at noon, I discovered it was actually catfish. The only two things in the freezer that weren’t labeled, I mixed up. Go figure.

Catfish will be dinner tomorrow.

The onions and the short ribs went into the braiser and a few minutes later, so did the chopped up celery – leaves and all. Then the chopped chicory, chopped radishes, chopped tomatoes, and the broccoli. Next went about a cup of red wine – maybe a bit more – and into the oven it went – with a lid, of course.

I let it cook for a couple of hours and then pulled it out and shredded the beef. 30 minutes before dinner I splashed a bit of beef broth on it and it went back into the oven while the potatoes boiled.

It was pretty good. One of those meals that will never be duplicated, but that’s okay.

Tomorrow will be catfish – and who knows what else…