I made tapioca pudding for an early brunch today. I did not have breakfast so I was super hungry. I had never tasted tapioca but it seems rather mild, natural in flavor. I used honey and milk to boil it, and then added some rose water once it was finished. The pistachios were a later reminder (after one ramekin was already safely tucked away in my belly). I am not sure if I would like to use tapioca in pies, as suggested on the box though. Something about the texture is a little off, so a whole slice of pie tasting like this…maybe sometime down the road. Otherwise, the taste is pretty decent. Although, I must note, that it does fill you up, and once I was done with one ramekin, I felt like I could not eat anything else for a long time.

In other news, the container garden is looking healthy and thriving. I have finally gotten rid of the aphids, thanks to an organic spray from Home Depot, which does not harm the plant (which means no more throwing herbs out!). The tomato plants produced their first crop of two whole tomatoes the size of an apricot. I was not sure how big they would be, but seeing the results, they could have come out far worse. The taste is almost like a cross between a cherry tomato and an heirloom. I wish that there were more prospects being produced, but alas, the plants are all filled with lots of flowers for now. I am hoping the heat will become more manageable and thus the plants will start growing. The heirloom peppers have flowers, which is great since all I thought I would see this year were the small green leaves. I am really hoping to get purple peppers, but any color would be fine really, since it would save me a dollar per pepper. The herbs are fantastic, and I made pesto last week in order to trim down the basil plants. The heirloom basil tastes really sweet, and the purple basil is almost too pretty to eat. Almost. I am really looking forward to reading a gardening book for our area, and how to deal with plant diseases and also insects. The season is not even over, and I would like to see how the plants do this year before starting anything other crops.