Growing caterpillars (or, An Excuse to Use My Zoom Feature)

Yesterday I mentioned how I’d given up on my red cabbage when I posted a photo of how well the rest of my garden has been growing. But why, you ask? See for yourself:

Yup, I’ve been invaded by caterpillars. This is the first year I’ve tried any plant from the cabbage family, so I hadn’t run into the problem before, but if my guess is correct, this guy will grow up to be a small white butterfly, also known in the US as the “Imported Cabbage Worm.” Apparently, these little critters are quite common. 

Fruits of my labor

I haven’t posted about my garden recently, mostly because I’ve just been watering it and letting things grow. Despite how well they started out, my radishes never got to the harvest stage … they grew tall and spindly above ground, but that’s about it.  I’ve given up on my red cabbage, too (more on that another day). My hollyhocks are thriving, though, slowly but surely. Two of my three lettuce varieties haven’t done well as the weather gets warmer, but the butterhead is doing well. And my tomato plants – wow! They’re more like tomato trees, especially the Sweet 100 cherry tomato.

Yesterday, I finally enjoyed some of the “fruits of my labor,” so to speak.

Bakerella’s Portland favorites

 I follow/subscribe to a lot of blogs … so many that sadly, I don’t get to read most of the most of the time. Today’s post from Bakerella, though, caught my eye with this bright pink photo from none other than Portland’s own Voodoo Doughnut!

Apparently, she came across a stash of photos from her book tour last fall, which started here in Portland. After Voodoo, she also made a stop at Saint Cupcake (below) before heading up to Seattle … which is great because hubby and I will be in Seattle for the Red Sox game in a couple of weeks, and now I have to add a few places on our list of stops 🙂

 Anyway, there’s a ton more photos over on Bakerella’s site of both Portland sweet shops, three in Seattle, and a dozen more. Check them out! But before you go, I want to pass on her warning: you’ll want a cupcake (or a five!) before you get to the end of these mouth-watering photos!

My boss is a Dumbledore look-alike

If I hadn’t glanced at Twitter this morning, I wouldn’t have realized that today was the London premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. But it was kinda hard to miss considering #harrypotterlive was a trending topic most of the day, along with #lovetriangle, #nevilletwins, #lunalovejoy, “Snape, Snape, Severus Snape”, GINGER PEOPLE and more. Crazy, right? You can find out more in this post from @HP4Writers, as well watching it on YouTube.

By the way, yes, I know it’s the Weasley twins and Luna Lovegood, but the presenter/announcer on the livestream feed was about as far from a Potterhead as one can get and still live in the 21st century. He couldn’t even pronounce J.K.’s last name correctly! (it’s “Rowling” like “bowling”!) Ugh.

But honestly, the strangest thing all day was when I saw a photo tweeted by @SnitchSnatcher of Sir Michael Gambon (Dumbledore). Oh. My. Word.  My only thought was, “He looks just like Randy!” – the senior VP/co-founder of the company I work for. Don’t you agree?

Left: Sir Michael Gambon, aka Dumbledore. Right: Randy Goodrich, VP of Passport Online.

Photo Challenge Day 13: Food

Pad Thai from Red Curry PDX

Red Curry might be my new favorite Thai place. Look at the delicious Pad Thai I picked up for lunch last week, just $7 on the lunch menu but enough food for 2 meals!

If you’re in the PDX area, you should visit! Red Curry is located at 10053 SW Nimbus in Beaverton, OR. They have a cute little dining room, but they also do take out. Call ahead (503-626-8844) or just drop in – they’re super quick!

This post is part of a 30-Day Photo Challenge hosted by Blessed Beyond Words. Click here to see more of my photography, including previous posts for the challenge.