I've got the Golden Ticket!!

Here we go....
Starting tomorrow I will attempt to keep you updated on my goings on at the largest "comic" convention known to man, San Diego Comic Con.  This year I will be spending a lot of time cruising the floor and checking out all the amazing amazingness that the convention has to offer.  I'm thinking I'm gonna focus primarily on the weird and wonderful things that make this experience so awesome.  I've always been so intrigued by the amount of time and effort people put into their comic con experience and over the next 5 days I will attempt to share this will all of you.  My 7.5 loyal readers.  

Jack

Christian and Mel

Funguses

I've noticed over the last week or so that there are some new and unexpected visitors in the garden.  Mushrooms.  I have a long and sorted history with these little capped crusaders.  From an early age they were my sworn enemy.  Whether on pizza, in a tomato sauce, or handsomely disguised amongst the wok sautes, I was vehemently against they're presence or consumption.

As a growing boy there were very few things I refused to put in my mouth (most of my family can attest to this fact).  Mushrooms were one of these things.  I detested the smell, taste and texture of these little fungi.

Somehow along the way, I can't quite recall, I slowly developed a taste for certain mushrooms.  As I sit here and think deeper about it I think it had to be the extremely neutral oyster mushroom.  I often found these accompanying some of my favorite Cantonese cuisine (of which I am a loyal consumer but more on that later).  So slowly but surely I have developed a liking for these guys.  Especially when slathered in some serious sauce or sauteed with copious amounts of butter (but I know from experience most things are extremely edible doused in butter).

Perhaps my palette, when it comes to mushrooms is a little more sophisticated than when comparing to other foods.  After all, I was the guy who used to look forward to airplane food.  When it comes to mushrooms I hate the generic button mushroom you see on pizza or in most salads or tomato sauces.  This could be attributed to the delicious Chanterelles that I was exposed to during my summer visits to New Brunswick at my families fishing camp where they grow wild in the forest.  They were included in my breakfast without my knowing and to my sheer and utter surprise I loved the flavor!  From then on I would dive right in without hesitation.   More on that here. 

Here are some varieties I've found around the house.

THE BEHEMOTH LIVES

So, I told you already about my gigantic tomato plant that wasn't fruiting.  Well, surprise surprise, today I found the first little guy pokin his head out.  Here's a pic. See if you can find waldo in the second pic.  ;)

Garden Update

After my recent discovery of my new peach tree I decided since its such a lovely day here in sunny Southern California that I would go out and take some new pics of the Garden.  So here they are:

Strawberry flowers.  

Some heirloom tomatoes ripening on the vine. 

Tomato Flowers with a pretty nice view. 

Couple Blackberries popping out.

Little carrot.

Wild mint.  And by wild I mean, it is growing on its own from a mint plant I let go to seed last year and has re-emerged to say hello.  Tastes so good.  Sometimes I just walk outside and grab a few leaves to chew on.  Truly freshens your breath better than any gum. 









 

True Story

There was a Canadian boy in California.
He heard rumors about all the fresh fruit that grew in the state. 
He thought, if I had my own tree to bare me fruit wouldn't that be great?
So he bought a fresh peach.
He finished it right down to the pit and he spit. 
Into the yard and low and behold while this story is being told a year since the boy was so bold, a peach tree is growing old. 

Its not much yet, but its a true story.  I spit out a peach pit over the deck a little over a year ago and there she is!!

If and when I see some fruit I'll be sure to follow up with some new pics. 

Syndrome - The Graphic Novel

Fantasy Prone and Archaia have a new graphic novel coming out across North America in August.  The graphic novel called, "Syndrome" will make its debut at San Diego Comic Con starting on July 22, 2010.  Created by Blake Leibel and written by RJ Ryan and Daniel Quantz.  The art was penciled and inked by David Marquez.

Syndrome is a bold and intense original graphic novel hardcover that asks a surprisingly simple question.  What would happen if science discovered a straightforward explanation for one of the universe's greatest mysteries.  What causes evil? 

Here is a short preview of what you might find.

Here is a link to pre-order the book on Amazon 

Thanks for your support!!

The Tomato Jungle

I'm interested in a number of different topics at any given time.

A few of those interests include; vegetable gardening, snowboarding, hunting, fishing, classic muscle cars, classic SUVs of the 70s and 80s, survival and preparedness and of course being Canadian my extreme passion for Hockey (both playing myself and watching my beloved Maple Leafs).

I publish Comic books and Graphic Novels for a living and also participate in the production of cartoons and other entertainment mediums. I'm sure I'll be touching on those along the way.

At the moment I am spending a lot of my free time learning and practicing vegetable gardening. Currently I am growing 3 different varieties of tomato, sweet and hot peppers, carrots, basil, dill and cilantro. I am an amateur gardener. This is my second summer gardening and I am learning as I go. Above you can see the size of one of my tomato plants of the "Black Krim" variety when I first put in the ground in late March. If you can believe it, here is a picture of it now, just a little over 3 months later...

It has grown to almost 6 feet tall!! The "Black Krim" variety seems to be flourishing in my garden. The San Diego variety is not growing as large but has already begun to fruit. The larger "Black Krim" started to bare any fruit.
This is the least of my worries right now. Over the last week I have been over run by slugs and snails in my garden. I have lost ALL of my pepper plants. Both sweet and hot. They have been eaten. Destroyed. Decimated. Observe. These 3 pictures were taken over a 1 week period!!

The slugs and snails have completely destroyed my sweet pepper plants which I have been cultivating since germinating the seeds in late February!! I have tried all the tricks in the book regarding slugs and snails and it seems as though I have finally beaten them. Too late however. All my peppers are gone.

The peppers aren't the only victim. At least the stems are still there. My cucumbers are gone. The only thing remaining is the little white planting label stuck in the ground where the plant used to be.

I will be back outside tonight. Hunched over with a head lamp and salt shaker. I should get a video of what happens to a slug when you shake a little salt onto it. Seems cruel but if you felt the pain that I do after cultivating these plants for months only to have them eaten in a matter of days by a gang of slimy sliders, a little slug destruction is the only thing making me feel a little bit better. Stay tuned for a slug terminator video.

This is some funny ass shit!!