The Final Product...

If that picture doesn't do my smoked bacon justice, I don't know what would. You can see the redness of the meat from the smoking process, you can see the crunchy, black, smoked, top layer of fat (pork fat rules, baby!) and you can see the shine of the sun gleaming down on top of it all. I'm so glad I was able to get that picture sent to my email so I could post it. It makes me hungry for a BLT! LOL

And that black, crunchy, top part - it didn't last long. Sorry Dizzy Deb, if you were here you could've had some but I just couldn't let it go to waste in your absence. It was incredibly delicious! 

As you can see from the pictures, Labor Day turned out to be very relaxing and full of pork. What more could a girl ask for... ha ha ha!

Well, you'll never believe what I had to do the other day... it's terrible. I had to buy a new satchel! Marcia has been in charge of my satchels for so many years I can't even remember the last one I bought. My little brownish-orange one ended up sitting in a puddle of that beautiful pork fat and soaked it up almost to the zipper. I tried Greased Lightning, no good. I tried Dawn, no good. I figured if those two couldn't get it clean, nothing could. I had to throw it out. sniff, sniff I miss it.

Shopping doesn't make me happy and shopping for a new satchel was worse than I ever remembered. Truly if Marcia were here, even she would have been challenged to find me the perfect one like she always has before. I went to TJMaxx first. It's close to work so I went on my lunch break. They have probably 6 or 8 rows of purses and they are stacked on bars 4 and 5 purses deep. There is a top row of bars and a bottom row of bars so you have to really dig up, down and through them to see every purse being offered. I never saw anything like it. And there were at least 10 women, including me, searching through them! All their fancy perfumes mingling that close together made my stomach get upset.

They were all huge, blingy, tacky, obnoxious looking things that made me wonder who in their right mind would actually carry something like that. UGLY I'm telling you. And for all their ugliness, they were extremely expensive to boot!! I saw one that was $154.00. Now c'mon. Really. For a purse. I don't think so.

As I was walking out the door, I noticed a really pretty pair of boots. Too bad they were $599.00 Prada's or I might have considered buying them...ha ha ha I didn't even know what Prada was until I read the book. My only other choice of stores close to work is Steinmart. I've picked up some tops in Steinmart before and it wasn't a horrible shopping experience but after the TJMaxx thing I wasn't really getting excited or hopeful.

The purses are in a much better viewing position in this store. They are on shelves much like bookshelves. Very orderly, very well organized by color and none of the tackiness of the TJMaxx selection. Within 5 minutes I had found my new satchel and was out the door. It's bigger than my last two but it was the smallest they had. It'll do until I can express my concern to Marcia in the hope that she'll take pity on me and honor me with another of her great finds.

At least that chore was over.

I picked up my CSA basket yesterday and was delighted to see more butternut squash, a whole bunch of radishes, basil, arugula, peppers, potatoes, green beans and okra. Trish topped it off with a little bouquet of zinnias also grown on the farm. Everything looks and smells so fresh in that basket I can hardly bear to put it all away. I'll be cooking the okra tonight in a recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. It's a stewed okra, tomato and pepper combination that really brings out the flavor of the red okra. And it's not sticky so don't go getting all grossed out. Indeed, when cooked long enough the okra loses that sticky texture. Some of you can just never be convinced though, can you? ha ha ha

For the arugula I'll be making my shrimp pasta with garlic butter and top it with the arugula and some parmesan cheese. Sounds pretty tasty, huh? The radishes will go in my salad, if they make it that far. I ate two of them last night when we got home. Couldn't help it, they were just too tempting... rinsed off, sliced up, salted and devoured. ahhhh

The butternut squash has many options for use but I still like the puree recipe that Terri gave me. I put a little pat of butter in the hole and sprinkle on cinnamon, nutmeg and just a dash of red pepper flakes. The halves roast in the oven until the pulp/flesh is really tender. From there all you have to so is scoop it out and eat it. I did add some sugar-free maple flavored syrup but even without it, it's good. Try it and let me know what you think. Thanks go to Terri for passing on the recipe!

I have my irises and my hostas from Claudia so I'll be digging in the dirt when I get home tonight. Thankfully they don't have to go in the ground very deep. You know my problem with the rock issue here. I figure the hostas will go between the day lily and the tiger lily off the front porch. The irises will be scattered about the farm but especially over by Dizzy Debbie's apartment. There is a tree stump in the back yard that looks like it needs some color so a couple iris bulbs will go over there and then some for my little flower bed too.

Debbie's apartment is a weathered wood color so I think the bright orange of the day lilies combined with the dark blue of the irises will be a very complimentary combination. Sounds like I have my work cut out for me :) It's work I enjoy so I'm looking forward to it and even more so I'm looking forward to seeing the flowers bloom in the spring. I know you're looking forward to seeing the pictures of them!

I'm reading a cookbook that Connie Bass gave me when her Mom passed away. It was her Mom's book and it is simply wonderful to read. The first printing was in 1938 so you can imagine the words of wisdom and the advice being bestowed on the novice cook. It's called "The American woman's Cook Book" by Ruth Berolzheimer. It's an 824 page volume and it even has the little black reference cutouts on the pages so you can easily find your way through it. So far I've read about maintaining an even temperature in newly manufactured electric ovens, how to keep your kitchen sanitary and germ free and how to feed your family healthy food while maintaining a housewife's budget. All things that were very important in 1938.

It even has the directions for rendering lard... yep, I used them! Does anyone know what "Timbales" is/are? What about "Timbale Cases?" Both are mentioned but I have no idea what the heck they are.Most of the recipes serve 6-8 people presumably because families were bigger back then as opposed to the modern day families. I am thoroughly enjoying this read and encourage everyone to dig through your cookbooks or your Mom's cookbooks or even her Mom's cookbooks. The way of life was so different and can only somewhat be appreciated by reading what the women went through just to prepare food for their families. I find it interesting even though some of you may not.

Well, if you come across any old cookbooks that you won't be using or that you just don't want, send them my way. I'm a glutton for them :)

Of course, many thanks go to Connie for choosing me as the recipient of her Mother's book. I do so appreciate it.

Oh yeah, the picture of the gang at the swimmin hole is from left to right, Claudia, me, Daniel, Daryl, Tenesha, Kurt and Beverly. You'll meet them all when you come visit.

The leaves are beginning to change. I didn't realize it would happen this month. For whatever reason I had it in my head that October was the month they would change. We already have trees that have turned yellow and red. I posted a picture of the first ones I could reach. There are so many that I'm considering buying one of those foam rings and making a wreath with them. If you have any suggestions on this subject, they are welcomed. I'm hoping my wreath making will be as successful as my basket making. That would really be cool... lol!

I'm also reading the 2011 edition of the Farmer's Almanac which was just released last Friday, I think. It is simply packed full of information and it's all I can to do keep from reading it while I'm working. Doesn't that just drive you crazy? I have to leave it at home. It has a cute saying for September that goes like this, "Now Autumn's golden stores behold, with fruit each tree is crowned; peaches in suits of red or gold, each twig bows toward the ground." There will definitely be more on the blog from this book. 

On the menu tonight - banana ice cream. I know I wrote about this before - surely I must have. All you do is slice up a ripe banana, put it on a sheet pan and stick it in the freezer. After 4 or 5 hours, take it out and put the slices in the blender. Blend them up, scoop it into bowls and you have soft serve banana ice cream. How about that? Sprinkle some chopped nuts on top and it's even better!

I may not make it back to the blog this week. I have to be back up for a co-worker who is taking the rest of the week off. Her job takes my whole day plus some overtime so it's hard to write a post on those days but I'll see what I can do.

"Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn." ~Elizabeth Lawrence