In January, I planted two pluot and one pluerry bare-root trees, bought from a California nursery. I have to admit I do not care for regular plums and planted these because my family like them. However, after reading about plum hybrids, I thought maybe I will like their complex flavors. About Plum Hybrids Plum hybrids are a cross between a Japanese plum and another stone fruit. Pluot is a hybrid of a plum and an apricot; pluerry is a cross between a plum and a cherry. They require 500 chill hours or less and the recommended USDA zones are 6 to 9. So, they can fruit and survive the winter in Houston, Texas. A major con is that plum hybrid trees do not self-pollinate. You need at least two pluot, pluerry or Japanese plum varieties that bloom at the same time to cross pollinate and set fruits. Plum Hybrid Trees Are Not Hard to Grow in Texas I planted Flavor Grenade, Flavor King and Flavor Punch trees above grade and in full sun. At first, I pruned them to knee length, because I wanted the...

During the weekend, my family wanted to have dim sum for brunch. We decided to do takeout and ate dim sum at home. Here are a few of our favorite dim sum dishes that I ordered at New Palace restaurant in Stafford, Texas.   Pork and Shrimp Tofu Skin Rolls This is my favorite dim sum dish. I am not Cantonese and cannot comment if it is authentic. Whenever I am at a dim sum restaurant, this is the dish that I must order. The tofu skin rolls, wrapped with pork, shrimp and bamboo shoots, were juicy and flavorful.   Pork & shrimp tofu skin rolls Baked Salted Egg lava Buns Out of all the dim sum restaurants that I have eaten in Houston, this place makes the best salted egg lava buns. When I split the crispy and soft bun in halves, a generous portion of the egg yolk filling came oozing out and it tasted rich, sweet and a little salty.   Baked salted egg lava buns Chicken Feet with Black Bean Sauce The chicken feet were big and tender. I could taste that they...

Finally, I succeeded growing a persimmon tree after failing three times in a row. Below is a Giant Fuyu persimmon tree that I recently planted in the winter. I bought it as a bare-root stick from a mail order nursery. Now, it is one of the fasting growing fruit trees in my backyard. Although too young to have fruits, persimmon glossy large leaves make it beautiful to look at and quite ornamental. Before this, I have planted one potted and two bare-root persimmon trees which died after a few months in the ground. Here are the three mistakes that I made. Giant Fuyu persimmon tree after 5 months in the ground Planted It Too Low My backyard has dark rich clay soil that can be hard as rock during drought or turns into a long-standing puddle when it rains. No fruit tree likes constant wet feet. When I pulled the dead persimmon tree out of the ground, there were barely any roots. To help with drainage this time around, I planted the Giant Fuyu tree on a mound with grass cutting and dried leav...

One weekend, I took my family to the Central Market in Houston for lunch. As usual, the sandwich line was long, but it was moving quickly. Central Market is a Texas high end grocery store chain, owned by HEB. They make fresh artisan breads daily here and all the ingredients are top quality. Roast beef sandwich at Central Market in Houston, Texas You can order from the signature sandwiches menu or choose make your own. I ordered a roast beef with ciabatta bread and chipotle aioli. My family got a portobello mushroom chicken panini and a Rueben. We also bought chips and ice cream, then ate in the store’s patio area. We all thought our sandwiches were good and left feeling satisfied. This is one of my favorite spots to grab fresh and surprisingly affordable sandwiches.