What My Eyes Have Seen Lately



So.....

The Market was a no go yesterday,

cloudy, threatening rain, a tad bit windy...



Plato Loco, Waxahachie, TX.



I went into town (Waxahachie) anyway just to get out.

I had breakfast in the little café

across the street from this Ý photo

Then I walked up the street to the "Junk In The Trunk" event around the

courthouse square.

Waxahachie, Tx. Courthouse

About 15 vendors set up selling all kinds of junk.

I bought a brooch for $5.00 and a mini park bench for $1.00.

I'm going to use the bench as a show prop and the brooch as a Terry prop.

Then I walked the few blocks over to the junk store

and found this ß for $2.00, (another show prop)

needs some work though.









On my kitchen counter

Then I perused the many antique/gift stores around the square.

I saw a lot of items in the antique stores that I have, and use on a daily basis.

Like.....

My breadbox, my cast iron corn stick pans, my Fiesta ware, my potato masher,

my cast iron skillets, my Eagle Snacks tin, my Coke tins.....

Just to name a few!

Most had hefty price tags.

I never knew my breadbox was worth $39.95,

the bread should be honored to reside within!

I did have fun though, looking at how things were displayed,

getting ideas for my own display....



I even ran across some Steam punk jewelry,

which was quite a surprise!

All in all it was a good day, although, not very profitable. 

But, maybe I needed a rest, a little eye candy, some fresh input?

The rain showed up today, a steady, all day type of rain.

Not good for painting, the suitcase will just have to wait.

I spent the better part of the day viewing blogs and trying to comment.

Notice I say "trying to comment", google was not cooperating.

I made some muffins using Sue's jam cake recipe, thanks Sue!

And generally just screwed around.





Neighbors' house, Ennis, TX.





Saw this Ý Friday when I was hanging clothes on the line.

?????????????????????

Saw this ß  in Marshall the last time I took Nathan back.



Marshall, TX.



Santa Monica Beach

 

Well, that's all I have for today,

till next time, stop and smell the roses!

Bonjour

Spring Break

So....

What's more calming than a walk in the woods?

Several walks in the woods :-)

Nathan is over for spring break so we went to our favorite place, the park.

If you get off the concrete path there's a whole other world

just waiting to be explored.

GREEN SPACE

 A creek, trees, flowers, birds, snakes ....and ticks!

Yep, ticks.

I found me a few of those ticks too!

Never heard of ticks till I came south.

Maybe we had them up north, I just don't remember.

We also found this in the creek.

At this point we were pretty far in and

the trail kinda petered out,

 and since I was wearing flip-flops instead of hiking boots.....

Is it just me, or does the tree on the right look a little obscene?

Today we're going to a shabby chic, junktique, up-cycle show,

should be fun.

Till next time,

Bonjour

The Planets Have Aligned In My World!

 I admit it.....

I love to sew, doesn't matter what I'm sewing, I just need to do it!

Seems all things align and the world is right when I sew.

So, today was a sew day so to speak..

This is how the story goes....

A few years back I made a quilt for Nathan's bed,

a very nice quilt if I do say so myself.

Traditional piecing for the top and crazy piecing for the drop.

(I really don't quilt, I piece and then

tie the whole thing together with embroidery floss).

Anyway....

Our dog Red likes to lay on Nathan's bed , not allowed,

but while the masters are away.....

Apparently those embroidery floss tassels tantalized her.

A nip here a scratch there, well you can guess,

rips and tears beyond repair.

I took it apart and salvaged what I could, the crazy squares!

What could I do with these crazy squares?

It hit me today....Bedside rugs!

(We're living on concrete floors here)!!!



My Dad made the chest of drawers when I was a baby.

The legs came from a chair that the previous homeowners left here.

Crazy blocks are pieced onto a foundation fabric,

plenty enough thickness in those squares for a rug.

I had enough squares to make two, 27" x 37" rugs.

The backing is made from

a dis-assembled couch throw that didn't quite work out.



I'm back in the groove...

 Sun is shining, temps are in the 70's, life is good!

Hope You' all had a creative and fruitfull weekend.

Till next time,

Bonjour

The Excellent Adventure...Part 1

Lovey Puppy and Friends were getting 

bored with going to Grandma's house.

Bored with making soap, bored with cooking, bored with sewing. 

They had more fun when Grandma played....

They loved to watch The Little Boy and Grandma shoot the bow and arrows,

sword fight with their sticks and skip rocks at the creek.

Grandma wasn't very good at any of these things...

But there was one thing she was good at.

Story telling.

Magic wands, far away places, evil kings, flying dragons, enchanted forests...

Grandma knew about these things!

Lovey Puppy and Friends would listen when Grandma read to the Little Boy.

They imagined themselves riding the dragons,

 fighting the evil kings and camping in the enchanted forests.

They wanted an adventure like the ones Grandma told about in the stories!

But how to make it happen?

The Little Boy did have a magic wand.....

And a flying dragon!!!

Lovey Puppy and friends started making plans!



Till next time,

Bonjour

Lovey Puppy...

There once was a little boy who couldn’t hear very well.

Since the little boy couldn’t hear very well,

that meant he couldn’t speak very well either.

His mother could understand him but not anyone else.

This made the little boy very frustrated and angry.

Puzzled, the mother took the little boy to the doctor.

Oh my, said the doctor….

The little boy had to go to the hospital several times.

Hospitals can be very scary, especially to a little boy.

The little boy’s grandma Jackie brought him a little stuffed puppy.

She told him, this is a Lovey Puppy, whenever you’re scared,

just hug her and she’ll make you feel better.

Through the years, the little boy has taken his lovey Puppy everywhere.

Movies, both grandma’s house's, dads…

Where ever the little boy is, Lovey Puppy is.

Lovey Puppy likes video games, movies, cooking, sword fighting,

whatever the little boy likes, Lovey Puppy Likes.

Along the way Lovey Puppy has made several friends,

Felix The Cat, Mr. Peanut, Casper The Friendly Ghost,

Mr. Pony, Robo Man, Purr Other Puppy and several Knights.

Lovey Puppy can be mischievous though….

Imagine the little boy’s surprise when he got to grandma’s house

and Lovey Puppy and friends weren’t in the suitcase!

 They were on an adventure, an Excellent Adventure!

 Till next time,

Bonjour

.....God Blessed Texas!

Oh my, we've experienced rain!

I've quit keeping track of the 100 degree plus days,

the long string of no rain days,

just too depressing to think about!

We've had to quit the garden,

concentrating only on keeping  the trees and herbs alive.

Today?

God truly blessed us with rain.

AMEN!

I can see a difference,

really.

My herbs?

I may lose some.

Sage

The sage is hanging in there along with the rosemary,
 but the lemon balm, lemon verbena, mints,
 oregano, basil and thyme are not doing as well.
Grasshoppers are also wreaking havoc!
The fruit and nut trees?
They'll make it by the grace of God.

Young Mulberry Tree, Happy

Notice the icky brown grass?

Mature Mulberry Tree Lookig way Sad!



Walnut Tree

More icky brown grass, cow food?
Where's that combine?

The Mesquite Tree, Protecting my wild blackberries!

Don't bother me now Grandma!

Till next time,
 Bonjour

Crispy Breakfast Tacos To Go

Have some leftovers?

Need a good breakfast meal?

Good, because I have one!

I was watching PBS a few weeks ago

and they were featuring Pati's Mexican Table.

If it's Mexican, I'm in!!!

This is the original recipe,

POTATO, SCALLION, & CHORIZO CRISPY TACOS

Naturally, I only had a few of the ingredients,

 but hey, I can improvise!

OK, here goes...

Filling Ingredients:

3 medium potatoes, boiled. Cool, and cut into cubes (skins on or off, your choice)

about 1/2 pound cooked pork roast, minced

1 small onion, minced

3 or 4 ribs of celery, minced (use some leaves too)

2  roma tomatoes, seeds removed and minced

(after mincing I put them into a strainer to drain off the liquid)

oil for sautéing  (3 turns of the pan)

oil for frying ( about 1")

about 12 corn tortillas

Seasonings, I used salt, lemon pepper, mexican oregano and cumin

Directions:

Sautee onions, celery  and tomatoes in oil about 5 minutes.

Add pork roast.

Heat roast/veggie mixture about 4 minutes.

Add potatoes.

Mash everything together with your potato masher or a large spoon.

You now have something that resembles hash.

Remove from heat.

Fan your tortillas on a plate, dome with another plate and warm in microwave for about 4 minutes.

Now we're ready to roll!!!

Spread a few tablespoons of the potato, veggie, meat mixture on the tortilla and roll up cigar style.

Secure end with a toothpick.

Securing, safety pin style

Patti suggested picking 2 together. I tried that the first time.

Second time I ran a tooth pick through them each individually.

This time I used the toothpick like a safety pin, worked much better!

Frying, cast iron style



Fry them up in about 1' of hot oil, (about 350 degrees), turning once, until they're lightly browned.

Use tongs to remove from pan.

When you're removing them from the pan, tilt slightly to drain off  the excess oil.

Place on a paper towel lined platter.

Draining on vintage platter

You can also bake these.
Temps here are still in the 100's plus, so baking is not an option right now.

These are yummy hot or cold.

I package them up 3 to a zip baggie, makes 4 breakfast meals.

If you are eating these at home, try dipping in some sour cream and salsa, even better!

Tomorrow I'm off to get this hair cut.

17" of ponytail is more than enough for Locks of Love!

New do in the works!!!

 

Nathan says "hi" to everyone, he's missing our cooking together!

 

The next Iron Chef?

Till next time,
Bonjour

Hacking, Canning & Fun

OK...



So we finally had the time to can up

all those wild blackberries we picked in the spring.

We also pulled out the flat of strawberries from first monday,

and the surplus tomatoes from the garden.

They've all been patiently waiting in the freezer,

 anticipating being turned into yummy pantry shelf goodies.

Also pulled a couple packages of

cooked pork roast to defrost.

Later I'll be making it into something for our work lunches.

For the berries we decided to

 can them whole instead of making jam or jelly.

This way they can be utilized for

smoothies, cobblers, pancakes, muffins etc.

 I used the instructions in Jackie Clay's canning book.

(A backwoods Home publication).

The process was to pour sugar over the berries,

1/2 cup sugar to each quart of berries, (same amount of sugar for both types of berries) 

gently mix, then cover. Let the strawberries sit for 6 hours and the blackberries for 2 hours.



Free blackberries

While we were waiting for the blackberry two hour window, we moved on to the tomatoes.



Squashing TO-MATERS

We blanched the tomatoes to remove the skins,

then quartered them.

Into the pot they went.

We squashed them with the potato masher,

 simmered for a bit,

then ladled into hot, sterilized jars,

adding 1 tablespoon bottled lemon juice to each pint jar.

Released the air bubbles, wiped the rims, capped, and

processed pint jars for 35 minutes in the water bath canner.

To can the blackberries, 

we heated them up in the turkey roaster,

(I like to use the roaster because

the product has a chance to spread out.

I straddle it between two burners,

making sure the middle gets stirred to the ends).

When it starts to bubble,

ladle into hot, sterilized jars 1/2" from the top.

I use a chopstick to release the air bubbles,

wipe the rims, cap, and boil in the water bath canner.

Strawberries process for 10 minutes,

blackberries for 15 minutes, (same method) 

The process timing was for pints,

we did 1/2 pints but used the pint timing.

After that we were on to making our lunches for the week.

I diced one package of the pork roast and set it aside.

The other went in the fridge for ham salad.

In a large skillet, I heated some olive oil,

added chopped onion and garlic,

 sautéed for a bit,

added 1 cup brown rice,

and sautéed a bit more.

Next I added the diced pork roast,

1 can of cream of potato soup, 1 1/2 cups water,

and some frozen mixed veggies.

I brought the mixture to a boil,

reduced the heat to low and cooked for 20 minutes.

Forgot to add any herbs or seasonings,

but I guess the canned soup had some.

Oh yeah, I did cook the roast with herbs, forgot!

By this time my brain was sort of fried,

(we started at about 9am, finished about 5pm.)

The ham salad will just have to wait till tomorrow.

In the middle of all this, I get an automated call from Citi Bank.

Hello, your credit card has been used for an online purchase,

suspected fraudulent.
Call us at bla, bla, bla number.

Being the wary, suspicious,

know that crooks call and Email

you to get your info, 

person that I am, I don't call the number they leave.

I call the number on my statement!

Sure enough, my info has been hijacked!

Seems Citi Bank has been hacked.

The credit card I haven't used in about 3 years,

the same card I haven't even

activated in that same amount of time,

 has been used to purchase something,

or some service online, at the cost of about $100.00.

They even tried to use it again at Cabala's.

(hope I spelled that right)

Declined!

DUH!!!

Seems to me,

an inactivated card should be

declined the first time!!!

But what do I know?

OK,

one long, excuse me, could you repeat that again,

conversation later, I'm to be sent an Email that I have to E-sign,

stating, I have no knowledge of this.

Never get the email.

(By the way, I'm the one saying, can you repeat that again).

Call again 2 hours later,

same excuse me, could you repeat that again, conversation!

 (I'm thinking, trying to can food here, it's your fault you got hacked, you fix it).

Thankfully my brain didn't let me voice those words.

EXPLAIN EVERYTHING AGAIN!!!

Got the Email this time. Hope my E-sign went through.

GEEZ!

I was assured that I would not be responsible for the charge,

but you know what,

in the end,  the charge has to be covered by someone.

Guess who that is?

Never even got make soap today, oh well!

At least I had fun canning, got to make some bread

and even had time to call Nathan.

Now it's 10:34pm,

 I work tomorrow, goodnight!

Till next time,

Bonjour

Nathan

So....

My grandson Nathan has gone to live with his Dad,

2 1/2 hours away.

Doesn't sound very far except,

2 1/2 hours equals $75.00 in fuel one way.

This is the boy that has spent every weekend

 with us since about 1998.

The boy I sometimes pick up after

work just to hang out.

We cook, we fight, we create, we love.

We were working our way through

Rachel Ray's kid's cook book.

He has plants here, projects here.

He was learning here.

Other people are influencing his life now.

I have no say in this.

I am very sad.

I miss him.

Garden Goodies



The Plum Tree



Cayenne

                                                                     

Hurry Up...Turn Red



Freesia or Lilly?



Peppers and Tomatoes



Pickled Beets and Green Tomatoes



So...

  The computer crashed on Sunday,

just now got it up and running.

We were out in the yard tonight and

I thought I would share the view.



We canned the beets and tomatoes on Sunday,

 unfortunatelywe didn't plant very many 

so we only got two jars canned.

They're  for Steve's Mom and

she will appreciate whatever we give her.

The green tomatoes were a gift from

Steve's workmate Rollo and

he's promised some okra so

I'll pickle that for Steve's Mom also.

The garage sale-ing went well and

 I found a bike for Nathan....

photos to follow (hopefully).

Sorry this post is so terse

but I'm expecting the computer to crash at any moment.

I know, positive thinking.....



Happy first day of summer!!!

 Till next time,
Bonjour

 P.S.
It rained this morning and it's raining tonight. I can hear thunder outside...
SUPER!!!!!
I'm gonna check it out.
We're in a drought you know....TEXAS

Time For Me?

Oh My, Busy, Busy Bee....

Soap shows are over till fall, no more late night product making....

I'm out of, or near out of several soaps but that can be rectified in a day or two!

(Like Tomorrow and Sunday).

Time to concentrate my energies on other endeavors!!!

Cooking, painting, redoing?

Let's start with cooking.



Nathan holding his cookbook



As I've had time Nathan and I have been working our way

through the cookbook 

Rachel Ray 30- Minute Meals For Kids.

A gift from his Aunt Heather.

We've done several recipes in the book but Nate keeps going back

 to the Shrimp Scampi recipe.

Nathan, shrimp is $6.99 a pound, let's try it with chicken!

OK then!

Today we tried altering the recipe to use chicken.

The original recipe goes like this.

RECIPE

1 pound angel hair pasta/ we used thin, whole wheat spaghetti

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tbsps EVOO

3 tbsps butter/ we just used more EVOO

1 lb. shrimp/ we used 1 lb. cubed chicken breast 

1 cup chicken stock/ we had canned turkey stock

4-5 blades fresh chives, snipped/ we used dried, ground rosemary, dill, lemon balm and chocolate mint

A hand full of fresh parsley/ we used fresh lemon balm

tablespoon or two of flour, (not in the original recipe)

Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Bring a pot of water to boil, add pasta.

Cook pasta aldente. Drain.

Heat oil in saucepan and add dried herbs.

Sautee herbs about 2 minutes then add cubed chicken.

Cook chicken until almost done then add chopped garlic. 

Sautee about 2 minutes.

Add flour and cook for another 2 or so minutes.

Add the stock and  raise heat up to a boil.

( May need to add some water to mixture depending on how thick or thin you want your sauce to be).

Remove the pan from the heat and add the drained pasta.

Stir/toss to incorporate.

Garnish with fresh snipped/chopped lemon balm.

Serve with toasted, buttered herb bread.

YUMMO!!!!!

Chicken was $1.97 lb., boneless, skinless.

Pasta was $1.00 lb.

Surprisingly inexpensive for several gourmet lunch box treats.

What do you think, would you make this recipe?

Would you change anything?

I think we'll make chicken toes next!

Till next time...

Bonjour