Kitchen Transformation

What with all the craziness we had going on this past week, you'd think that we would try to take it easy on our down time.

Nah.

Dearest DH, in a fit of pique, "accidentally" put his foot through the wall in the kitchen.

Now, granted, we had been planning to paint the kitchen anyway, but this was truly NOT the best time to do it!

Ah, well.

Here's a really poor photo of the kitchen, taken right after we started cutting in. I forgot to take a true "Before" photo. Sorry!
















Dan asked for yellow. Something bright and sunny. Okay. I chose the color, so the results are completely my fault. It definitely is bright and sunny, but it might be just a smidgen TOO bright and sunny! O_O





































The first photo is actually closer to the true brightness than the second one. It's YELLOW!

Do you know what, though? It reminds me of my Oma Schantz's kitchen. Hers was bright yellow, too. And that's ok. :)

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2008, A Garden Odyssey....

Imagine, if you will, the strains of "Also Sprach Zarathustra".....

dumdumdumdumdumdumdumdumduuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmm...

DAAA

DAAA

DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

DADUM!

dumdumdumdumdumdumdumdumduuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmm...

Okay, you get the idea.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We

Have

ZUCCHINI!

Here's Farmer Dan, complete with uber-cheesy grin, displaying our very first harvest from our garden.






















And here is the first zucchini (I'm SURE of many!):
















I've been on my favorite scrapping discussion board, asking my pals in the Ether for recipes and advice, and they've been so helpful! As the zucchinis come in, we'll try zucchini pie, zucchini bread, mock apple crisp, zucchini in spaghetti sauce...

"...zucchini gumbo, fried zucchini, steamed zucchini..."

Ok, Forrest, you're done. :D

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I'm still here!

In a day or two, I'll post what it is that I've been working on seemingly NON-STOP since Friday. It's got a time deadline, though, so there's no dilly-dallying allowed. But I'm still here!

Promise!
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Does this make me an official Southerner?

We belong to a CSA, and in the basket of veggies this week was a bunch of....

Mustard Greens.

Huh.

What's a little ol' girl who was raised on Lawn G-eyeland supposed to do with THOSE? O_O

When we lived in Florida, I worked with a veterinarian who considered mustard greens to be the ultimate comfort food. He was a Southern boy. Whenever he was down, his wife made him mustard greens and sent them over to the clinic. Me, however? Gimme some bagels and lox. Maybe a nice knish, but mustard greens? Culturally and epicurally, I cannot wrap my little head around them.

Stumped, I tried Google. Found a few different recipes, but most used lots and lots of bacon, which I didn't have in the house.

Then I asked the Borg, also known as my fellow scrappers on the consultant board I read. I figured there had to be some Southern gals there who would be willing to share their recipes. Nope. Besides some assurances that mustard greens are NASTY, nada.

Twenty-five minutes until dinner and I was stuck looking at this weird batch of leaves. ARRGH!

Well, necessity is the mother of invention, right? I invented a recipe. And guess what? The kids didn't puke or gag, Dan actually said the recipe was a "keeper" and I ate two servings. Wow!

Does this make me an official "Southerner"?

Here's the recipe, in case you ever want to brave a new culinary experience....

Wash bunch of young mustard greens.
Tear leafy parts off the stems, and rip into smaller pieces. Set aside.
Chop stems into 1" pieces.In pot or dutch oven, melt 1 to 2 tbsps butter, and add same amount of olive oil.
Saute 1/4 white onion, coarsely chopped, and chopped stems.
Add good dash of salt (I'm usually very hesitant with salt, but this time I was generous with it.)
Stir occasionally -- you may need to add more butter or olive oil to keep onions from sticking to bottom of pot.
Once the onions have become translucent, add about 2 tbsps white wine, then add leafy parts. Cover pot.
Peek occasionally to stir.
Take off heat once leafy parts have wilted, and everything is coated.
Serve!

Y'all come back now, ya hear?

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Laura Ingalls Strikes Again!

Besides making butter every week, this past week I earned another notch on my Pioneering belt: making preserves! Granted, using SureJell sure ain't the way Laura did it, but hey, you do whatchagotta do. ;)

Here's some snaps of the yummy process:

Fresh strawberries....

Slice 'em up.....

Smoosh 'em...

The finished product, ready for the freezer!

My Mamma Taught Me Right

I was in the grocery store the other day with about 25 minutes to go before I had to pick up The Boy from school. In other words, I was rushing like a bat outta H.E.Double.Hockey.Sticks.

I got to the bread aisle, and there was a little old grocery store worker, pushing a cart with folded up cardboard boxes. As she made her way out of the aisle, her boxes bumped a display of bread and knocked some to the floor. She didn't notice.

My mamma must have taught me "right", because, even though I was pressed for time, I backed up, picked up the bread, and put it on the shelf where it belonged.

Yes, I did it because my mamma taught me right.

I didn't realize that another shopper had stopped to watch. As I walked back to my cart, she approached me and said, "I'm so glad to see that I'm not the only one who would have done what you just did."

"Are you kidding?" I asked with a smile. "My mom would KILL me if I hadn't done it!" :)

We spoke for another minute or too. I finally said, "It's just common courtesy."
"Right," she said. "Exactly right."

We went our separate ways, but my smile was still on my face.

'Cause my mamma taught me right.

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What are these?

Dan noticed a patch of flowers growing in front of this old house and thought it would make a wonderful photograph. So, we stopped by the side of the road the other day in order to allow me to: get out, climb through waist-high weeds, slip in a drainage ditch, get soaked by residual dew, oh yeah, and take a photo.

He was right -- I'm really pleased with the photos I took. Kind of a photographer's challenge, right? The one thing we're wondering, though, is: what kind of flowers are they? Anyone know? If you do, feel free to leave a comment with the answer!

Here are my lovely photos:

Lovely DD

The last band concert of the school year. Miss Thang is 1st chair, thankyouverymuch!

Time flies by soooooo fast. When did she turn into a young woman? :(

Clothes reproduction -- is this how it's done?

I was using my solar powered garment dryer this morning (aka the clothesline) and walked outside to find my wardrobe "g3tting it on" with Dan's wardrobe:


Isn't this photo just the ultimate definition of "g3tt1ng in your pan#s"? :D (Dan said, "Don't publish that sentence on the internet!!!" He was right! I suddenly got a bunch of hits that I didn't want. The words have been changed to help reduce those hits. Wow. )

They're singing our song!

"NAH NAH NAHNAH
NAH NAH NAHNAH
HEY HEY HEY
GOOOOD-BYE!

NAH NAH NAHNAH
NAH NAH NAHNAH
HEY HEY HEY
GOOOOD-BYE!"

Yes, the Flyers are LOSING miserably to Dan's beloved 'Guins.

45 seconds left, the score is 6-0 Penguins....

The fans are banging on the glass, singing the song, cheering and screaming....

Dan's counting down the final seconds....

6-5-4-3-2-1.....

HONK!

It's OVER! The Penguins are going to the Stanley Cup!!!!!

Dan's dad would have been so proud. This one's for you, Dad. We miss you.

:'(