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.  

After another Texas hard freeze, none of my citrus trees in the ground survived last winter. This spring, I looked for a Eureka lemon tree to plant in a pot and was surprised that the nurseries near me did not have it. Home Depot and Lowes in Houston only stocked Improved Meyer lemon variety. Due to citrus greening disease, I could not buy it from an out of state nursery either.   About Eureka Lemon Tree I wanted a Eureka lemon tree for its classic sour taste. It produces multiple crops a year and its fruits hang on the tree for a long time. You can have lemons almost year-round from just one tree. Since it was hard to find, can you grow Eureka lemon trees from seeds? In general, lemon trees do not grow true to seeds. Besides, trees grown from seeds would take longer to fruit. Lemon trees are self-fertile. You only need to plant one tree to produce fruits.   How I Planted a Lemon Tree In the spring, I planted a six-inch grafted Eureka lemon tree, bought from a Texa...

Craving tender roasted duck with thin crispy skin, we drove to Bellaire Boulevard, on Friday afternoon right after work, to avoid the crowd and long wait. The authentic dish comes with tortilla-like pancakes, but my family and I prefer having it with bao buns. Hai Cang Harbor is a Chinese restaurant that does Peking duck well.  Peking duck with bao buns at Hai Cang Harbor restaurant We ordered a whole duck that came with ten fluffy steamed bao buns. Except the drumsticks, they have deboned, cut and separated the skin from the duck meat. I put it together like a taco… a layer of duck meat and skin, julienne scallions and a spoonful of sweet hoisin-based sauce. A bite into the stuffed bun gave a combination of different flavors and textures. It was sweet and savory, soft and crispy at the same time. I like that the meat was tender and juicy. The skin was crispy like potato chip. There are restaurants that serve this dish with a thick layer of fat underneath the duck skin. So, it is ...

I have always wanted to grow sweet cherry trees in my backyard orchard, but hesitated because they normally require at least 800 chill hours. In Houston, we have an average of 450 chill hours per year. The last time I was at my local Home Depot, they only stocked Barbados cherry shrubs, labeled as sweet cherry. Against local recommendation, I decided to plant three bare-root cherry trees this year.   Three Varieties That I Planted From a mail order nursery, I bought two low chill varieties, Compact Stella and Royal Rainier. The third was a relatively new variety, Vandalay. Many nurseries listed Compact Stella as a similar and smaller version of Stella. Actually, Compact Stella requires 500 to 800 chill hours while Stella requires only 400. If I could go back, Stella would be a better choice for my area.   So Far, So Good After two months in the ground, the cherry trees are doing better than I expected. They are thriving. The Vandalay grew the most, but it initially...