When you last saw my plants, the situation was dismal. The tomatoes had leaf miners and were extremely infected. The cayenne pepper plant had holes in many of the leaves, clearly being eaten by some pest who doesn’t mind spicy food. After doing much research online, I decided my best bet was to strip all the leaves from the tomato plants and just hope they survived. I was heading out on vacation to Boston and I didn’t tell anyone to water them when I was gone. This was because I did not think they were going to survive anyways and was kind of upset about the whole situation. Just as I was getting into the cab to the airport, I looked over my plants and saw a new leaf on one of the tomatoes! I was shocked and kind of disappointed that they would be left to nature for water purposes for the next week and a half. Well when I got back, I was stunned to see large, green, leafy, and thriving plants in my walkway! My landlord had taken it upon himself to nurse my poor plants back to life! Before I had 4 tomato plants and 2 pepper plants, and now I have 2 tomatos and 1 pepper, so it wasn’t a 100% recovery, but it was still really great because I thought they all were goners. Click below for pictures and more.

Ive been craving thai flavors every day for the past 2 weeks.  The problem is the thai place here is very limited.  It is so awesome, but there isn't a ton to choose from.  In a totally unrelated note, I've been seeing grilling on food network and on the blogs every day.  This time of year, grilling is the hot topic.  I love grilling, but I am always seeking out things that aren't the normal grilling fare.  I decided to marinate some steaks in a green curry paste, grill and serve them with a thai style basil fried rice.  Searching on google for basil fried rice, I found this awesome video of two women making a great fried rice exactly how I wanted.  We used the Jamie Oliver green curry recipe we usually use for thai recipes to marinate the steaks.  I had really wanted to use a flank steak for this meal, but apparently Bermuda was out of flanks steaks and I had to settle for the more expensive and, IMO, less delicious tenderloin.

No recipe post today, just some comments and various things that are too small to make their own post.  2 site updates, plants, and brownies.

First off, I know fans of mandoline’s slice are probably pretty disappointed one hasn’t come out in awhile.  Well not to worry, there will be a few coming around soon.  Mandi was in LA for a week and then we had friends visiting so she hasn’t been able to get one finished.  There will be a post with wallpapers, and a mandoline slice, definitely coming next week and the week after.

Second.  I know we have been doing a ton of fatty, cheesy, fried deliciousness lately.  I’m sure people are looking for more of a light summery meal or salads because it is that time of year.  Well again – never fear cause TFIMB is here to help! Tomorrow I have a nice Caesar salad, and next week I will have a few healthy things up as well.

Next I have an update on my plants.  I am having mixed results with my herbs and tomato plants.  The herbs are doing great and we have already begun using them in meals!  More on the plants, and the brownie pics, after the jump.

I decided to grow some plants in my backyard.  I have always wanted to, and a combination of being an impulsive dude, the right time of year, a beautiful day, and reading this article (I’m reading his book at the moment) made me run out and get some containers and seedlings.  Suddenly I had a small garden.  Now I am by no means an expert on this, I’ve never done this before.   But I still wanted to post up some pictures because I think these plants are beautiful.  Also to show people who think they don’t have enough space and expertise that it is really not that hard.  Its not too late either!