I have never before made pickled peppers and I have yet to try the ones that I pickled over the weekend. They sure do look good but they have to soak in their brine for a couple weeks before we'll be able to give them a try.
I was given the recipe and found it to be so easy, I couldn't resist trying it out. I was also given the peppers which made it sound even better. A friend of mine down at Pee Wee's gave me enough jalapeno peppers to fill four pint jars and she gave me enough sweet banana peppers to fill two quart jars and one pint jar. So I'm set for peppers for quite some time. If they turn out to be any good.
So the recipe goes like this (Kat, I'm pretty sure you'll skip this part but Mike might be interested if he grew jalapeno peppers this year haha): take your jalapeno peppers and cut the stem ends off of them. In a quart jar mix 60% vinegar with 40% water and then add about a tablespoon of canning salt. You can use regular salt but your brine might turn cloudy on you. It won't hurt anything, it just doesn't look as pretty.
Wash your pint jars and rings in very hot, very soapy water and let them air dry. When the jars are dry, pack the jalapeno peppers into them as tightly as you possibly can. Pour the brine mixture over them and put the lids on the jars. That's it!!! Really!!!
I want to say I probably had about 2-3 lbs of jalapeno peppers and they filled the four pint jars with no room to spare. In fact, I had one lone pepper left and couldn't squeeze it into any of the four jars. So that kind of gives you an idea of how many peppers and jars you'll need.
The sweet banana peppers I did the same way except I didn't cut the ends off. In hind sight I realize I should have because the stem ends turned a brownish color that isn't as pretty as the one pint jar where I did cut off the stem ends. You can see the pictures on the attached flickr site. Tell me which ones are your favorite????
The flickr site was updated today. I've had some troubles with it lately but I'm hoping today it will be back to normal. There are pictures of the chow-chow and pear preserves from last week and pickled peppers and outdoor pictures from this weekend.
Saturday and Sunday our temperatures were in the upper 80s. That may not sound like much but believe me it was a welcome relief. Saturday I hung clothes on the line and didn't even sweat! I staked my tomato plant again. This is one that insists on falling over no matter what I do. In all there are about 10 tomatoes still ripening on the vines and with new flowers just beginning to bloom, I may even get a few more before the season is completely over. The farmers may be done with their tomatoes but mine went in a little later than most so I'm still enjoying picking one or two here or there as days go by.
We let Colt and Ruger run free for a couple hours both days and stayed outside as much as we could while it was still nice enough to do so. They are doing better about sitting with us without pawing us or slobbering all over us! But they are still puppies and they do love to run and play so we sit out there on the benches and watch them as they go.
Saturday morning I took out a pork shoulder that I bought on sale at Food Lion. I poured on a little bit of Dale's seasoning the rubbed it down with some bbq rub. I poked holes all in it then stuffed them with slices of fresh garlic. Wally got the fire going for the smoker and put the meat into a cast iron skillet. He filled the skillet with beer to tenderize it and by mid-afternoon it was slowly smoking to tasty perfection.
Well now man can not live on pork alone (hahahaha) so we had ranch potato salad and fried eggplant to go with it. When the meat came out of that smoker, the top (layer of fat) was brown and crispy while the inside had a pink smoke ring and was so tender it fell apart when I tried to slice it.
As much as I wanted to eat that fat, I had to let it go. If Dizzy Debbie were here, she would have eaten it all. It was probably only a few bites but boy did they ever look yummy. I figured the fried eggplant would be enough fat for one day :) :)
Not to keep going on about food but it seems it was a food weekend. I got another recipe from the friend who showed me how to make fried chicken. This one she calls steak and gravy. Now this is a little bit trickier mainly because gravy is a little bit tricky. I took the round steak (she suggested), cut it into steak looking pieces, seasoned it and browned it in some oil in the cast iron skillet. It doesn't get cooked in the skillet but you do want to brown it just a little.
Once it browns, lay it in a casserole dish big enough to hold all your steak pieces and the gravy. You may or may not need to add more oil for the gravy but what I had looked to be just right. I let the oil get hot then sprinkled in about 2 tbsps of flour. When that got blended in, it was still too loose so I added another couple tbsps of flour. Now it was looking good. It gets to the point where it's almost a crumble of flour.
Once the flour gets together like that, you start adding water. Stir the water in until it's combined with the flour and keep adding more water until your gravy is the consistency that YOU like. I like mine not too thick, not too thin. I also added my salt and pepper at this point. When the gravy is how you like it seasoned, pour it over the steaks in the casserole dish.
The dish goes into a 350 degree oven for about and hour, maybe and hour and 15 minutes depending on the thickness of the steak. Using round steak calls for a long cooking time because it tends to be kind of tough. The gravy and the cooking time help to tenderize the steak and imparts a great deal of flavor. We could smell them way before they ever got done. The casserole came out of the oven hot and bubbly and I wished I had made some sourdough bread well in advance for sopping up all that gravy!
I cooked my purple hull peas and the acorn squash from the CSA basket to go with our steak and gravy. Talk about a Sunday afternoon dinner that will make you put your feet up and just sit a while...woohooo this one sure did it. We didn't feel like moving when that feast was over LOL
Of course we did get up and move around though. I cleaned up the kitchen while Wally took care of some stuff that needed done outside. This would be so easy to make for a crowd and a little goes a long way. It was very flavorful and tender and I just don't see how anyone could not like it. It might be better suited to a cool weather dinner but other than that, it's on my list to make again!
That list continues to grow!
I supposed if you weren't able to make the gravy home-made, you could use the packet gravy or the wondra gravy mix. Either one would work just fine so long as there is enough of it to cover the steak and allow it to cook without drying up.
I hope you enjoy these recipes yourself sometime soon. Otherwise, I'll just have to come down there and cook them for you myself!! LOL Just kidding. That's going to be a while yet :) :)
This weekend I'm hoping to make it to the Fair On The Square in Centerville. They'll have music, food, arts & crafts and all kinds of good stuff going on. It should be a fun time and with any luck we'll have nice weather like we did this past weekend.
We rode the 4 wheelers out on the back roads and didn't see another single vehicle even though we were out for about 2 hours. We crossed the creek at the concrete bridge (that's underwater) and rode tree lined dirt roads watching for deer and other wild animals all along the way. It was dark outside so the going is a bit slower in order to avoid the holes in the roads. It was nice and cool and next time, I do believe I'll have to carry a jacket. Can you believe it's finally that nice at night where a jacket is required???? Wow the summer heat seems to have gone on forever this year.
There are just a few varieties of trees whose leaves have started turning yellow and red. The full onset of fall isn't here yet but you can somehow sense that it's coming. I was tempted to get the winter clothes out of storage and wash them in preparation of the cool temperatures to come. Ha! Not quite yet deary... we're supposed to be back up to 95 degrees by Wednesday...hahahahaha the joke is on me :)
I won't get a CSA basket for a couple of weeks. As the summer crops are in decline, they haven't enough to fill all the baskets. They take this extra bit of crops to the farmer's market on Saturday and sell them to make extra money. Those of us in the CSA are welcome to buy some of these extra crops and we get them at a discount but my refrigerator is still full from all that I haven't had a chance to eat yet.
The butternut squash is still fresh and so is the patty pan (the last two of the year). I have another bag of green beans and a bag of okra (that's going to get chopped up and frozen for gumbo when it gets cold outside) and one last bag of purple viking potatoes. I have 4 green peppers and two red peppers still to eat and basil that has rooted in the glass of water much like the 4 o'clocks did. LOL Guess I'll plant it and grown my own!
I hope you're enjoying the late summer/early fall harvest wherever you happen to be. I can't wait for the sweet potatoes, beets, turnips and carrots to start filling my baskets again! This one week seems like it's taking forever and I still have another one to go!
September quickly approaches - can you believe how fast August went by? With September comes football season and I'm ready for some MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL. I still like watching the races but football seems to go hand in hand with all the fall festivites around here. Pretty soon we'll be in long sleeves...hahahaha!
"A dog can express more with his tail in seconds than his owner can express with his tongue in hours."~Author Unknown
Monday, August 29, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
Did I Feel A Little Nip In The Air????
WHY just the other morning I walked outside and to my surprise, it felt cool!! Not cold, not chilly, no where near brrrrr. Just cool. It was the most delightful cool we've felt in many, many months. I drove to work without the a/c. I didn't even break a sweat. It was reminiscent of springtime and it felt so nice I wanted to stay home and play. Of course, that didn't happen but it would have been nice :)
As the day wore on it did warm up but the high reached only 89 degrees. There was a nice breeze blowing so between that and the sunshine, it was a great day to be outside. On my break I walked out to the car to get a magazine and I could have stayed out there all day! I did sit in my car and read a little of the magazine but there was work to be done, so back inside I went.
Driving home I saw that the schools all have their "Welcome Back Students" signs posted. Last week there was a pool party at the recreation center for the incoming 6th graders. The high school is open and in full swing. The elementary school hosted their "Meet Your Teacher - Open House" Monday, from 6-7:30.
School supplies take up the space in the ailes of the Dollar General and Fred's and a couple of weekends ago was the tax free shopping weekend for those who wanted to take advantage of it. You know where I was? That's right...at home in the cabin where belong!! LOL You wouldn't catch me out shopping on that weekend for nothing!! Well, on any other weekend either but especially that one!
I did have to go to the dreaded Wal-Mart the other day. I wanted to pick up more mix for the bread maker and Food Lion no longer sells it. Well, Wal-Mart didn't carry the brand I used from Food Lion so I bought the mix they had and took it home to make the bread. Yuck. It wasn't even close to being as good as the one from Food Lion. We ate it but it was yucky. I forget the brand but I won't be buying that one again. Get this though, since I loathe going to Wal-Mart, I bought like 4 boxes of the stuff...Great - now I have all this bread mix and I don't even like it.
Since the weather has gotten so nice, the 4 wheelers are back in action. Being outside and riding the trails is a great way to end the afternoon.We found that the storms blew down trees and limbs and all of those needed to be cleared from the trails. There are many more but the majority was taken care of. They were loaded on the trailer and brought up to the house for a bon fire.
Of all the sunflower seeds I planted, only one lonesome flower bloomed. It's not very tall, only about a foot and a half, so it must have been a dwarf LOL although I don't recall planting any dwarf seedlings... It's over by the outhouse and it has bright yellow petals with a dark black center - very pretty even if it is very little!
Sweet Sydna (back from her trip to Costa Rica!!! brat) sent me some 4 O'clock seeds so I sprinkled a few in a little pot to start them in the kitchen windowsill. Within just a few days they popped up out of that dirt and got so big that by the 5th day they needed to be transplanted! They now sit proudly on the front porch next to the sacrificial geraniums... hahaha I was so happy with those results that I planted 6 more in the same pot on the windowsill and guess what? I now have 6 more plants to transplant this weekend. If they would only bloom before it gets too cold...
I also started a sweet potato vine. Talk about easy!!! I cut the end off the potato, stuck a toothpick into either side of it and propped it in a glass of water. I set it in the windowsill and within a few days, it too had sprouted some leaves! This plant is so pretty! The leaves are a super-bright green and should eventually turn into a vine. Right now, everything is still standing quite upright and proud :) If you think you can't grow anything, try this one. It takes care of itself except for the addition of water in the glass until time to transplant. How easy is that????
As you know, our little Ruger ran away about a month and a half ago. Well, Wally was taking a friend of ours to a swimming hole across the road from where we live. As they drove up the hill, a guy on a tractor was driving down the hill and along side the tractor ran Ruger!! Wally stopped the truck, got out, called Ruger to him, picked him up and loaded him in the truck. He told the guy he was our dog and asked what happened to his collar. The guy said he chewed it in two...I don't know how he could have done that when the collar was around his neck...well, Wally let it go and brought him home and now he's safe and sound back with us where he belongs.
He was so happy to see Colt and Smith and he ran around, jumping on us and wagging his tail and peeing on every tire, tree and bush he came near. He really grew while he was gone and is now quite a bit bigger than Colt. He was always a little bigger but the size difference is much more apparent now. As they used to do, he and Colt rumbled and tumbled down the hill in the front yard and when it was time for treats, they all lined up just like they always did. He remember the rules for treats but not the rules for jumping. He jumped up on me and about knocked me down. When he jumped on Wally, his paws came up to the top of Wally's chest. That's how big he is now.
He's learning not to jump and not to put his big heavy paws on us when we're sitting on the porch. He wants to be right in the middle of the action and is so hyper he finds it difficult to sit for very long. He'll do it but we can tell it's a struggle for him. For now he's back on the chain until we fnd that we can trust him again. It may never happen now that he's had a taste of the outside world but we're hoping he'll want to stay with us now that he's finally home again.
When Wally called him over to the doghouse, he ran over there without hesitation and sat beside Wally while he put his chain back on him. He didn't seem to mind at all and wagged his tail to be petted more. We put Colt on a chain too but he's still Mr. Houdini and escaped it before dark. LOL He's so funny! Just the look on his face when he comes running up to the porch is so cute. He knows he's supposed to be on the chain yet he can't help but be proud of himself for getting free of it. I just laugh.
All that being said, I have to also say that while we are elated to have Ruger back we also lost one of our old dogs. We didn't lose him as in we can't find him. We lost him as in he passed away. I came home one afternoon and only Colt and Smith came to greet me. This was very odd because Wesson always came with them. After putting away my things, I went back outside and called him. He didn't come. I went back in and told Wally I couldn't find him. He said he couldn't find him a little while earlier either. We decided to have dinner and then get on the 4 wheelers and go looking for him. He has been known to hang out at up by the mailbox where there's a pretty little female dog.
As it turns out, Wally found him in the back yard about 10 yards into the woods. He had already left this world. There was no sign of anything hurting him so we think he simply died of old age. Wesson was 15 years old and from what I hear that's a pretty good run for a rottweiler. He was a good old dog and we sure do miss him. His brother seems to be handling it well but I was worried at first. I hope he doesn't miss him too bad and now that Ruger is back, he has both puppies to annoy the heck out of him. We treat him special and maybe we even spoil him a bit but he's a good dog too and after losing his brother, he deserves it.
All the things I want to write about are scattered in my brain so you'll have to excuse me if I hop from subject to subject in an effort to get it all out before my brain explodes...hahahaha!
Our FL company arrived Thursday afternoon (last) and it was fun catching up, sitting on the porch, enjoying a nice breezy afternoon. Everyone had so much to say that it seemed all we could do not to talk over each other! The girls had on their FL sandals which I'm sure they quickly learned weren't the best footwear in TN. The rocks are pretty tough in this neck of the woods so sneakers or crocks would suit you better if you're going to be outside. If sandals are a must, I suggest a pair with a thicker than usual sole so you have some protection from the rocks. That, or walk in the grass...hahahahaha
Well, Ernie didn't like my crocks (which are really fake crocks that I call 'frocks' because I got them from Fred's LOL) but Dizzy Debbie sure did give them a workout! They come in handy when you're on the 4 wheelers, walking in the creek or trying to get down to the swimming hole. You'll have to ask her about swimming in them. I guess I forgot to show her how to keep them on :) She tells a funny story about it though!
Darryl showed up early Saturday morning with fish, frog legs and lard in tow. We were all busy putting on the final touches before the other guests began to arrive. Ernie made a Buffalo Chicken dip that was out of this world GOOD!! Several people asked for the recipe because it's one of those that you just can't stop eating. You have to walk away! LOL I'm pretty sure we all walked back too...hahaha! I made cole slaw and put some green beans in the crock pot with ham bouillon and a handful of chopped onions.
I sliced up some green tomatoes and some okra that were donated by one of the local farmers so in addition to all the other food, we had fried green tomatoes and fried okra! Most people will only eat okra fried so that worked out really well. Of course, I had to pick the fish from the bones so Dizzy Debbie could eat some of it. I couldn't have her choking on a fish bone on my watch!! lol Will she ever figure out how to de-bone the fish?? Probably not as long as I'm doing it for her hahahahaha
While I was in the kitchen (you know I'm there quite a bit LOL) I picked through the okra to get the smallest, tenderest pods for pickling. I made the brine, poured the okra in, let it simmer for just a minute and then cooled it down. From there I crammed the okra into jars - you really want to cram it in because it tends to shrink and then you have lots of room left in your jars. I put some of the brine in the jars and sealed them up to go in the refrigerator. This pickled okra is spicy as the recipe calls for whole jalapeno peppers to be added to it. They have to sit in the refrigerator just like the pickles did so I won't know if it's any good for another week. Keep your fingers crossed!! Since Darryl helped out so much, he got a jar all to himself!
As the day wore on more and more people arrived and everyone seemed to be having a really good time. We moved from the outdoor kitchen to up under the shade of the porch and then back out to the kitchen when the evening temperatures cooled. The karaoke was in full swing by the time it started getting dark and you can rest assured that was a fun and funny time for all!!
Darryl fried the fish and frog legs to a golden, crunchy brown and by the time it was all said and done, there was very little left to put up. As our guests began to take their leave, so did all of us head off to bed. Another party in the books and plenty of pictures to share. Debbie (not Dizzy) must have taken a picture of every inch of the property - it was a rare occassion when she didn't have the camera in her hands :)
The FL group was well on their way home by the time breakfast was made but that was their plan all along. Not that they don't like my cooking...they just needed to get home at a decent hour so they could get some rest and be ready for work the next day. I made a breakfast casserole for those of us who were left and while it baked in the oven we sat on the porch and shared our stories of the party! We were all laughing by the time the casserole was ready to eat.
The recipe is simple, depending on how many you're feeding is how you decide how many eggs to use. I had 7 people and used a dozen eggs. I could have used less but then we wouldn't have any left-overs and it's really, really good heated up the next day :)
I chopped up some onion and part of a sweet red bell pepper and sauted those in some butter for just a minute or two to soften them up. I stirred them into the eggs, added a couple tablespoons of salsa (homemade of course!!) and finished up with some chopped cilantro. I poured all of that into two 9 inch cake pans.
Well, you have to have meat for a crowd like this so I took some smoked turkey sausage and sliced it up into bite size pieces. Idivided it between the two pans and dropped them on top of the eggs. Over top of it all, I sprinkled some shredded cheddar cheese and into the oven it went. I baked it for 30 minutes at 350 degrees and it came out bubbling hot with gooey melted cheese all over the top of it. You're pretty good if you an resist that dish. No one at the cabin was able to :) :) I just love it when people want to eat what I cook!!!
I served sliced, fresh, homegrown tomatoes on the side and for those who like it, there was plenty of hot coffee. I didn't make the coffee, Claudia did. I don't even know how that thing works yet! lol but I'm glad we have it because lots of people seem to enjoy coffee in the morning and especially after a party like that :) :)
When the kitchen was cleaned up and the lingering guests had departed, we walked around the place picking up all the inevitable trash; beer boxes, cigarette butts, bottle tops, etc. I found 4 pairs of sunglasses, a t-shirt, a hairbrush, some cologne and a beer huggy-zippy thing. We hauled some of it to the burn pile and some of it went into the garbage cans. The sunglasses and things went into a bag for us to take to Pee Wee's. We called it Pee Wee's Lost and Found...hahaha
The next day we hauled the garbage to the dump and sprayed down the concrete areas, the picnic table and the trailer. I found a couple of wet towels in the trunk of the 4 wheeler and put them in the wash along with all the other towels that accumulate when you have company. I think it was the first time I had a full load of just towels! lol
Since I had Monday off, once those chores were done, we just stayed at the cabin chilling out. I made 12 jars of pear preserves and 7 and a half jars of chow-chow. I hadn't ever made either before so this was definitely trial and error. I had plenty of pears that Jay brought from his pear tree in Atlanta and I had lots of little green tomatoes that were donated by a local farmer. What else was I to do???? And yes, this is relaxing for me :) :)
I cooked the pears down and added artificial sweetener until they were sweet enough to go on toast or a peanut butter sandwich, whichever you prefer. I filled the jelly jars, wiped the rims, set the seals on them and closed them with the rings. Within about 15 minutes all the lids had popped and I had pear preserves that even a diabetic could eat!!
Next, on to the chow-chow. Now this recipe came from Ernie's sweet, sweet momma and it doesn't really have any measurements. As she said, it depends on how much you have. I set about chopping more of the green tomatoes (I started out with about 10-12 pounds in all - some went to the fryer, some to the windowsill and some to the chow-chow and still I have more lol), I chopped up a head of cabbage, a whole onion and a few jalapeno peppers. Everything went into the blender but then I found that I could do a better job of chopping than that thing so I changed over to my cutting board.
With the help of a friend we added vinegar, a sweet, red bell pepper and a little bit of the sweetener. Chow-chow is supposed to be a bit spicy so not too much sweetener. We cooked it down and did about a million taste tests on it until we were satisfied that it would be really good over a bowl of beans and cornbread. Into the jars it went and since it was really hot out of the pot, within seconds those lids were popping.
In all I do believe it has been a successful canning season for me. My shelves are packed with jars of all shapes and sizes and even with the FL crowd taking 3 (oh my gosh!!!!) jars of my pickles, I still have plenty for me and Wally to eat on our burgers and sandwiches. :) :) Dizzy Debbie better make sure Neccy gets her jar or somebody is going to be in big trouble... lol!!! When you see her, you might just want to remind her hahaha.
Well folks I have lots more to tell but it's quittin time in these here parts so I'm off to the farm for a weekend of relaxing, riding the 4 wheelers and trying my hand at steak and gravy. I'm using a recipe from the same friend who showed me how to make fried chicken so hopefully, it'll be just as good!!!
Have a great weekend!! I know I've been a blog slacker, I'll try to do better next week!
As the day wore on it did warm up but the high reached only 89 degrees. There was a nice breeze blowing so between that and the sunshine, it was a great day to be outside. On my break I walked out to the car to get a magazine and I could have stayed out there all day! I did sit in my car and read a little of the magazine but there was work to be done, so back inside I went.
Driving home I saw that the schools all have their "Welcome Back Students" signs posted. Last week there was a pool party at the recreation center for the incoming 6th graders. The high school is open and in full swing. The elementary school hosted their "Meet Your Teacher - Open House" Monday, from 6-7:30.
School supplies take up the space in the ailes of the Dollar General and Fred's and a couple of weekends ago was the tax free shopping weekend for those who wanted to take advantage of it. You know where I was? That's right...at home in the cabin where belong!! LOL You wouldn't catch me out shopping on that weekend for nothing!! Well, on any other weekend either but especially that one!
I did have to go to the dreaded Wal-Mart the other day. I wanted to pick up more mix for the bread maker and Food Lion no longer sells it. Well, Wal-Mart didn't carry the brand I used from Food Lion so I bought the mix they had and took it home to make the bread. Yuck. It wasn't even close to being as good as the one from Food Lion. We ate it but it was yucky. I forget the brand but I won't be buying that one again. Get this though, since I loathe going to Wal-Mart, I bought like 4 boxes of the stuff...Great - now I have all this bread mix and I don't even like it.
Since the weather has gotten so nice, the 4 wheelers are back in action. Being outside and riding the trails is a great way to end the afternoon.We found that the storms blew down trees and limbs and all of those needed to be cleared from the trails. There are many more but the majority was taken care of. They were loaded on the trailer and brought up to the house for a bon fire.
Of all the sunflower seeds I planted, only one lonesome flower bloomed. It's not very tall, only about a foot and a half, so it must have been a dwarf LOL although I don't recall planting any dwarf seedlings... It's over by the outhouse and it has bright yellow petals with a dark black center - very pretty even if it is very little!
Sweet Sydna (back from her trip to Costa Rica!!! brat) sent me some 4 O'clock seeds so I sprinkled a few in a little pot to start them in the kitchen windowsill. Within just a few days they popped up out of that dirt and got so big that by the 5th day they needed to be transplanted! They now sit proudly on the front porch next to the sacrificial geraniums... hahaha I was so happy with those results that I planted 6 more in the same pot on the windowsill and guess what? I now have 6 more plants to transplant this weekend. If they would only bloom before it gets too cold...
I also started a sweet potato vine. Talk about easy!!! I cut the end off the potato, stuck a toothpick into either side of it and propped it in a glass of water. I set it in the windowsill and within a few days, it too had sprouted some leaves! This plant is so pretty! The leaves are a super-bright green and should eventually turn into a vine. Right now, everything is still standing quite upright and proud :) If you think you can't grow anything, try this one. It takes care of itself except for the addition of water in the glass until time to transplant. How easy is that????
As you know, our little Ruger ran away about a month and a half ago. Well, Wally was taking a friend of ours to a swimming hole across the road from where we live. As they drove up the hill, a guy on a tractor was driving down the hill and along side the tractor ran Ruger!! Wally stopped the truck, got out, called Ruger to him, picked him up and loaded him in the truck. He told the guy he was our dog and asked what happened to his collar. The guy said he chewed it in two...I don't know how he could have done that when the collar was around his neck...well, Wally let it go and brought him home and now he's safe and sound back with us where he belongs.
He was so happy to see Colt and Smith and he ran around, jumping on us and wagging his tail and peeing on every tire, tree and bush he came near. He really grew while he was gone and is now quite a bit bigger than Colt. He was always a little bigger but the size difference is much more apparent now. As they used to do, he and Colt rumbled and tumbled down the hill in the front yard and when it was time for treats, they all lined up just like they always did. He remember the rules for treats but not the rules for jumping. He jumped up on me and about knocked me down. When he jumped on Wally, his paws came up to the top of Wally's chest. That's how big he is now.
He's learning not to jump and not to put his big heavy paws on us when we're sitting on the porch. He wants to be right in the middle of the action and is so hyper he finds it difficult to sit for very long. He'll do it but we can tell it's a struggle for him. For now he's back on the chain until we fnd that we can trust him again. It may never happen now that he's had a taste of the outside world but we're hoping he'll want to stay with us now that he's finally home again.
When Wally called him over to the doghouse, he ran over there without hesitation and sat beside Wally while he put his chain back on him. He didn't seem to mind at all and wagged his tail to be petted more. We put Colt on a chain too but he's still Mr. Houdini and escaped it before dark. LOL He's so funny! Just the look on his face when he comes running up to the porch is so cute. He knows he's supposed to be on the chain yet he can't help but be proud of himself for getting free of it. I just laugh.
All that being said, I have to also say that while we are elated to have Ruger back we also lost one of our old dogs. We didn't lose him as in we can't find him. We lost him as in he passed away. I came home one afternoon and only Colt and Smith came to greet me. This was very odd because Wesson always came with them. After putting away my things, I went back outside and called him. He didn't come. I went back in and told Wally I couldn't find him. He said he couldn't find him a little while earlier either. We decided to have dinner and then get on the 4 wheelers and go looking for him. He has been known to hang out at up by the mailbox where there's a pretty little female dog.
As it turns out, Wally found him in the back yard about 10 yards into the woods. He had already left this world. There was no sign of anything hurting him so we think he simply died of old age. Wesson was 15 years old and from what I hear that's a pretty good run for a rottweiler. He was a good old dog and we sure do miss him. His brother seems to be handling it well but I was worried at first. I hope he doesn't miss him too bad and now that Ruger is back, he has both puppies to annoy the heck out of him. We treat him special and maybe we even spoil him a bit but he's a good dog too and after losing his brother, he deserves it.
All the things I want to write about are scattered in my brain so you'll have to excuse me if I hop from subject to subject in an effort to get it all out before my brain explodes...hahahaha!
Our FL company arrived Thursday afternoon (last) and it was fun catching up, sitting on the porch, enjoying a nice breezy afternoon. Everyone had so much to say that it seemed all we could do not to talk over each other! The girls had on their FL sandals which I'm sure they quickly learned weren't the best footwear in TN. The rocks are pretty tough in this neck of the woods so sneakers or crocks would suit you better if you're going to be outside. If sandals are a must, I suggest a pair with a thicker than usual sole so you have some protection from the rocks. That, or walk in the grass...hahahahaha
Well, Ernie didn't like my crocks (which are really fake crocks that I call 'frocks' because I got them from Fred's LOL) but Dizzy Debbie sure did give them a workout! They come in handy when you're on the 4 wheelers, walking in the creek or trying to get down to the swimming hole. You'll have to ask her about swimming in them. I guess I forgot to show her how to keep them on :) She tells a funny story about it though!
Darryl showed up early Saturday morning with fish, frog legs and lard in tow. We were all busy putting on the final touches before the other guests began to arrive. Ernie made a Buffalo Chicken dip that was out of this world GOOD!! Several people asked for the recipe because it's one of those that you just can't stop eating. You have to walk away! LOL I'm pretty sure we all walked back too...hahaha! I made cole slaw and put some green beans in the crock pot with ham bouillon and a handful of chopped onions.
I sliced up some green tomatoes and some okra that were donated by one of the local farmers so in addition to all the other food, we had fried green tomatoes and fried okra! Most people will only eat okra fried so that worked out really well. Of course, I had to pick the fish from the bones so Dizzy Debbie could eat some of it. I couldn't have her choking on a fish bone on my watch!! lol Will she ever figure out how to de-bone the fish?? Probably not as long as I'm doing it for her hahahahaha
While I was in the kitchen (you know I'm there quite a bit LOL) I picked through the okra to get the smallest, tenderest pods for pickling. I made the brine, poured the okra in, let it simmer for just a minute and then cooled it down. From there I crammed the okra into jars - you really want to cram it in because it tends to shrink and then you have lots of room left in your jars. I put some of the brine in the jars and sealed them up to go in the refrigerator. This pickled okra is spicy as the recipe calls for whole jalapeno peppers to be added to it. They have to sit in the refrigerator just like the pickles did so I won't know if it's any good for another week. Keep your fingers crossed!! Since Darryl helped out so much, he got a jar all to himself!
As the day wore on more and more people arrived and everyone seemed to be having a really good time. We moved from the outdoor kitchen to up under the shade of the porch and then back out to the kitchen when the evening temperatures cooled. The karaoke was in full swing by the time it started getting dark and you can rest assured that was a fun and funny time for all!!
Darryl fried the fish and frog legs to a golden, crunchy brown and by the time it was all said and done, there was very little left to put up. As our guests began to take their leave, so did all of us head off to bed. Another party in the books and plenty of pictures to share. Debbie (not Dizzy) must have taken a picture of every inch of the property - it was a rare occassion when she didn't have the camera in her hands :)
The FL group was well on their way home by the time breakfast was made but that was their plan all along. Not that they don't like my cooking...they just needed to get home at a decent hour so they could get some rest and be ready for work the next day. I made a breakfast casserole for those of us who were left and while it baked in the oven we sat on the porch and shared our stories of the party! We were all laughing by the time the casserole was ready to eat.
The recipe is simple, depending on how many you're feeding is how you decide how many eggs to use. I had 7 people and used a dozen eggs. I could have used less but then we wouldn't have any left-overs and it's really, really good heated up the next day :)
I chopped up some onion and part of a sweet red bell pepper and sauted those in some butter for just a minute or two to soften them up. I stirred them into the eggs, added a couple tablespoons of salsa (homemade of course!!) and finished up with some chopped cilantro. I poured all of that into two 9 inch cake pans.
Well, you have to have meat for a crowd like this so I took some smoked turkey sausage and sliced it up into bite size pieces. Idivided it between the two pans and dropped them on top of the eggs. Over top of it all, I sprinkled some shredded cheddar cheese and into the oven it went. I baked it for 30 minutes at 350 degrees and it came out bubbling hot with gooey melted cheese all over the top of it. You're pretty good if you an resist that dish. No one at the cabin was able to :) :) I just love it when people want to eat what I cook!!!
I served sliced, fresh, homegrown tomatoes on the side and for those who like it, there was plenty of hot coffee. I didn't make the coffee, Claudia did. I don't even know how that thing works yet! lol but I'm glad we have it because lots of people seem to enjoy coffee in the morning and especially after a party like that :) :)
When the kitchen was cleaned up and the lingering guests had departed, we walked around the place picking up all the inevitable trash; beer boxes, cigarette butts, bottle tops, etc. I found 4 pairs of sunglasses, a t-shirt, a hairbrush, some cologne and a beer huggy-zippy thing. We hauled some of it to the burn pile and some of it went into the garbage cans. The sunglasses and things went into a bag for us to take to Pee Wee's. We called it Pee Wee's Lost and Found...hahaha
The next day we hauled the garbage to the dump and sprayed down the concrete areas, the picnic table and the trailer. I found a couple of wet towels in the trunk of the 4 wheeler and put them in the wash along with all the other towels that accumulate when you have company. I think it was the first time I had a full load of just towels! lol
Since I had Monday off, once those chores were done, we just stayed at the cabin chilling out. I made 12 jars of pear preserves and 7 and a half jars of chow-chow. I hadn't ever made either before so this was definitely trial and error. I had plenty of pears that Jay brought from his pear tree in Atlanta and I had lots of little green tomatoes that were donated by a local farmer. What else was I to do???? And yes, this is relaxing for me :) :)
I cooked the pears down and added artificial sweetener until they were sweet enough to go on toast or a peanut butter sandwich, whichever you prefer. I filled the jelly jars, wiped the rims, set the seals on them and closed them with the rings. Within about 15 minutes all the lids had popped and I had pear preserves that even a diabetic could eat!!
Next, on to the chow-chow. Now this recipe came from Ernie's sweet, sweet momma and it doesn't really have any measurements. As she said, it depends on how much you have. I set about chopping more of the green tomatoes (I started out with about 10-12 pounds in all - some went to the fryer, some to the windowsill and some to the chow-chow and still I have more lol), I chopped up a head of cabbage, a whole onion and a few jalapeno peppers. Everything went into the blender but then I found that I could do a better job of chopping than that thing so I changed over to my cutting board.
With the help of a friend we added vinegar, a sweet, red bell pepper and a little bit of the sweetener. Chow-chow is supposed to be a bit spicy so not too much sweetener. We cooked it down and did about a million taste tests on it until we were satisfied that it would be really good over a bowl of beans and cornbread. Into the jars it went and since it was really hot out of the pot, within seconds those lids were popping.
In all I do believe it has been a successful canning season for me. My shelves are packed with jars of all shapes and sizes and even with the FL crowd taking 3 (oh my gosh!!!!) jars of my pickles, I still have plenty for me and Wally to eat on our burgers and sandwiches. :) :) Dizzy Debbie better make sure Neccy gets her jar or somebody is going to be in big trouble... lol!!! When you see her, you might just want to remind her hahaha.
Well folks I have lots more to tell but it's quittin time in these here parts so I'm off to the farm for a weekend of relaxing, riding the 4 wheelers and trying my hand at steak and gravy. I'm using a recipe from the same friend who showed me how to make fried chicken so hopefully, it'll be just as good!!!
Have a great weekend!! I know I've been a blog slacker, I'll try to do better next week!
Friday, August 5, 2011
The Blog Lives On...
IT'S not that I haven't wanted to write a post for you. There are a couple of reasons why you haven't had an update in over a week. For one thing, work has been keeping me very busy!! I know, that's just wrong!
Unlike most of the rest of you, I'm not able to access the internet from home so I'm limited to when I have a few minutes at work. If you have read any of my posts, you know that even if I did have the internet at the house, I'd be too darn busy to get on it for any length of time :)
The other reason there hasn't been a posting is because the blogspot website has been giving me some trouble. It wouldn't let me sign in until just a few minutes ago. SO I'M BACK and here's your posting :) :) :)
I missed all of you too! lol
The last posting detailed my attempts at frying chicken. Now that I'm a successful chicken fryer, I ask you this...Do you think that part of the post was good enough to submit it in a short story contest being held by Good Housekeeping magazine?
A few of you have written to say that that was one of your favorite posts so I thought I'd check with everyone to see if there's another post that stands out as your favorite or if you think that one was good enough. I wouldn't even be asking except I keep hearing that I should write a book using my posts.
You, dear reader, tell me...
Finally it's raining here in TN. It rained overnight Wednesday again Thursday mid-day and now here it is Friday and it's pouring down a lovely summer shower complete with lightning and thunder although somewhat off in the distance from me.
The sky is white with the rain and the trees are blowing in the wind though not so strong as to be a danger. It's a welcome relief after 100+ degree temperatures since Monday. I know you Floridians know exactly what I mean :)
As I'm not sure where I left off, I'm not so sure where to begin....LOL How about this..We woke up with the roosters Saturday morning and by 6:30 breakfast was cooked, eaten and cleaned up, the laundry was on the line and we both had our showers. Saturday morning it was just a bit cooler than it had been all last week so we decided to pack a cooler and go for a lazy drive in the camaro. We drove along the Natchez Trace Parkway and I have to say it's one of the MOST BEAUTIFUL drives you ever want to go on. There are no billboards, no tractor-trailer traffic, no nothing really except everything pretty that nature has bestowed upon us.
Farm land for miles, rolling hills and mountains in the distance, ponds, lakes and creeks abound and at the overlooks you can picnic, hike or just take it all in at your leisure. The Trace goes from here in Tennessee down to Mississippi and you can make the whole trip in about 4 hours. If you wanted to, that is. It's much better if you stop and get out and take it all in.
It used to be that the government would lease portions of the grounds to farmers so they could grow hay. In exchange for the use of the farm land, the farmers had to mow that part not in use. For years they mowed and mowed all along the roadways. When we drove the Trace on Saturday, the farmers had instead planted row after row after row of corn. Now that's enterprising! As long as the corn is growing, there's no mowing to be done and they get the crop of corn in addition to all the hay they were already profiting on. Wow, now that's cool.
The Trace is home to hundreds of deer, turkeys, turtles, hawks, just about anything that roams wild in the woods. There are miles and miles of woodlands and for as far as your eyes can see, not a single traffic light. Not even a toll plaza exists. It's a sight to see alright but along with the view comes a very interesting story of how we stole the land from the Indians and forced them to leave. The actual pathway they followed in their mass exodus is called the "old trace" and you will see markers for it as you travel the paved road. Google the story. I think you'll find we did a great injustice to the Indians in this story just as we did them all.
While summertime persists with its soaring temperatures and the heat index climbs ever higher, still we know that soon Fall will be here. It's evident in the Dollar Stores and the nurseries and even the hardware stores. They all know the time has come to put the gardening gear, flip flops and tiki torches on sale. They all know those big trucks will soon be delivering potted mums, pansies and spring blooming bulbs. They'll restock their shelves with heavy coats, knit caps, scarves, gloves and the like. Snow shovels and boots and sleds that need to be replaced after hard use last year are probably already making the trip here.
The canning supplies are on sale too - what's left of them. If I've learned anything about canning up here it's that you buy lots of everything early in the year when it first hits the shelves. It may cost a little more when it first comes out but you risk not being able to find it at all if you wait. Those shelves that were previously stacked so high you couldn't reach them all are now down to bare bones. A few boxes of lids and seals are left and even a few cases of jars, but not many. The pickling spices are nowhere to be found. Even if you concoct your own, you're hard pressed to find all the ingredients that you need. Somewhere here in Hickman County someone has lots of jars to show for their efforts!! LOL wonder who that might be...ssshhhhhhh hahahahaha
Most of the flowers that bloom throughout the summer are beginning to decline. Even they can't take the heat. They won't be able to take the cold either so it's best this way :) Me? Well, you know I'll never give up trying to grow things here on the farm. I'll be trying to transplant some day lilies that have sprouted outside the rock borders. I have a couple of shrubs that need planted - they're just bare roots right now but it's still too hot for planting. From what I can gather, September will be the perfect time for them to go into the ground. About the time they get good and established, it will get cold and snowy and they can hibernate until the first warm days of spring. When they get bushy and begin to bloom, they are fire red when everything else is still brown and gray from the winter. Woo Hoo!!! Can't wait to see them!
My little volunteer pumpkin is still hanging in there despite the 100 degree temperatures. I carry a water bottle to work with me every day so I can water it on my way home. Since the blooms dropped it now as a bundle of little pods, for lack of a better word. I'm hoping those pods will turn into pumpkins and just take over the flower bed!
My tomatoes continue to grow - although a nasty worm ate a couple of the plants before I realized he was even there! There are still 6 plants and they all have tomatoes on them - providing another worm hasn't invaded the garden! Between the rabbits, the mole and the worms, my gardening efforts have been for naught it seems. I still had a fun time doing it and surely I'll do it again next year. The exercise was great and just being outside in nice weather beats housework any day!
Did you plant anything? Did it make it to harvest? Did it flower and perfume your yard or home? It's not too late in FL you know? You can start cherry tomatoes, lettuce and other greens now and still get them harvested by your first frost.
The big thing here this time of year is okra. Everyone grows okra! Well, except me LOL I'll just accept what other people are growing as it has been reported that everyone has a bumper crop this year. I may pickle it again, although this year I know to use only the smallest pods for pickling. Otherwise they get stringy and it's hard to eat them. They taste good but the texture is all wrong. More than likely I'll use most of it in a smothered okra recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook or my ham, bean, tomato and okra soup recipe that Joe Brack gave me. I should call it a stew since it does get a little thick on account of the okra. By the way, okra is pronounced okree here in TN. LOL I laugh every time I hear it.
We're gearing up for Wally's birthday party come August 20th. We have guests coming in from FL, including Ernie, Dizzy Debbie, Dennis and Debbie Hall and possibly even Lew and Traci. With ours friends up here and those from FL we have about 30 people invited so far. We never know how many will show :)
We're having a fish fry this year and Darryl is cooking for us. He's got those big gas fryers on stands that you use outside. He has already got me a good deal on the fish and he's looking into pricing the frog legs now. He gave me one price but he said it was a little high so he's checking one other source before we decide. Don't make that face Kat... unless you've tried them, you don't know what you're missing. Remember I made that same face last year until I tried them how Darryl cooks them and I surprised even myself. I loved them!
I'm making cole slaw and those little appetizers like Mike used to make at the Oriole's - the pickle wrapped in ham, sliced then stabbed with a toothpick. The last time I made them they were gone in a heartbeat. I'll have to double the recipe this year. We'll make some deviled eggs and I'm hoping to coax Ernie into being the hushpuppy maker as I'm still at a loss on that recipe (please, please, please, please, please?). Claudia is bringing her German potato salad and a pot of white beans.
I don't know what all else there will be but there's always more than enough food to go around. We have a guy coming to do karaoke and a pretty good burn pile is ready to be lit. Even though it's hot outside, you can still sit far enough back that you can enjoy the fire without getting too hot. Besides, it won't get lit until dark. We have horseshoes set up for those who can throw them. I'm not in that crowd - please - my throwing leaves much to be desired. You wouldn't want me on your team is all I can say. I'm a much better score keeper...lol!!!
Before the party there's plenty to be done. The lawn chairs need to be rinsed off, the lawn needs cut around the outdoor kitchen and the linens on the spare beds need to be laundered again. The porches were just pressure washed last weekend so they should be good to go and the coolers were washed and dried at the same time. The picnic table needs moved back into the shady area, the garbage cans all need new bags and the bean cans used for ashtrays all need to be cleaned out again.
I have bug spray, sunscreen and citronella candles and oil for the tiki torches should we decide to light them. Dizzy's Apartment (aka the outhouse) needs swept and cleaned and I'm pretty sure it needs a new bar of soap! lol After that, everything will be ready :) hahahahaha
Another week comes to an end and the farm awaits me so I dare not dally. With all this rain I'm hoping it will be cool enough to sit out front on the new bench seat. I can watch my humming birds as they drink up the never ending supply of sugar water and maybe read through another cookbook in hopes of finding something as yummy as my mayonnaise biscuits.
"It is not how busy you are, but why you are busy - the bee is praised, the mosquito is swatted." ~Author Unknown
Unlike most of the rest of you, I'm not able to access the internet from home so I'm limited to when I have a few minutes at work. If you have read any of my posts, you know that even if I did have the internet at the house, I'd be too darn busy to get on it for any length of time :)
The other reason there hasn't been a posting is because the blogspot website has been giving me some trouble. It wouldn't let me sign in until just a few minutes ago. SO I'M BACK and here's your posting :) :) :)
I missed all of you too! lol
The last posting detailed my attempts at frying chicken. Now that I'm a successful chicken fryer, I ask you this...Do you think that part of the post was good enough to submit it in a short story contest being held by Good Housekeeping magazine?
A few of you have written to say that that was one of your favorite posts so I thought I'd check with everyone to see if there's another post that stands out as your favorite or if you think that one was good enough. I wouldn't even be asking except I keep hearing that I should write a book using my posts.
You, dear reader, tell me...
Finally it's raining here in TN. It rained overnight Wednesday again Thursday mid-day and now here it is Friday and it's pouring down a lovely summer shower complete with lightning and thunder although somewhat off in the distance from me.
The sky is white with the rain and the trees are blowing in the wind though not so strong as to be a danger. It's a welcome relief after 100+ degree temperatures since Monday. I know you Floridians know exactly what I mean :)
As I'm not sure where I left off, I'm not so sure where to begin....LOL How about this..We woke up with the roosters Saturday morning and by 6:30 breakfast was cooked, eaten and cleaned up, the laundry was on the line and we both had our showers. Saturday morning it was just a bit cooler than it had been all last week so we decided to pack a cooler and go for a lazy drive in the camaro. We drove along the Natchez Trace Parkway and I have to say it's one of the MOST BEAUTIFUL drives you ever want to go on. There are no billboards, no tractor-trailer traffic, no nothing really except everything pretty that nature has bestowed upon us.
Farm land for miles, rolling hills and mountains in the distance, ponds, lakes and creeks abound and at the overlooks you can picnic, hike or just take it all in at your leisure. The Trace goes from here in Tennessee down to Mississippi and you can make the whole trip in about 4 hours. If you wanted to, that is. It's much better if you stop and get out and take it all in.
It used to be that the government would lease portions of the grounds to farmers so they could grow hay. In exchange for the use of the farm land, the farmers had to mow that part not in use. For years they mowed and mowed all along the roadways. When we drove the Trace on Saturday, the farmers had instead planted row after row after row of corn. Now that's enterprising! As long as the corn is growing, there's no mowing to be done and they get the crop of corn in addition to all the hay they were already profiting on. Wow, now that's cool.
The Trace is home to hundreds of deer, turkeys, turtles, hawks, just about anything that roams wild in the woods. There are miles and miles of woodlands and for as far as your eyes can see, not a single traffic light. Not even a toll plaza exists. It's a sight to see alright but along with the view comes a very interesting story of how we stole the land from the Indians and forced them to leave. The actual pathway they followed in their mass exodus is called the "old trace" and you will see markers for it as you travel the paved road. Google the story. I think you'll find we did a great injustice to the Indians in this story just as we did them all.
While summertime persists with its soaring temperatures and the heat index climbs ever higher, still we know that soon Fall will be here. It's evident in the Dollar Stores and the nurseries and even the hardware stores. They all know the time has come to put the gardening gear, flip flops and tiki torches on sale. They all know those big trucks will soon be delivering potted mums, pansies and spring blooming bulbs. They'll restock their shelves with heavy coats, knit caps, scarves, gloves and the like. Snow shovels and boots and sleds that need to be replaced after hard use last year are probably already making the trip here.
The canning supplies are on sale too - what's left of them. If I've learned anything about canning up here it's that you buy lots of everything early in the year when it first hits the shelves. It may cost a little more when it first comes out but you risk not being able to find it at all if you wait. Those shelves that were previously stacked so high you couldn't reach them all are now down to bare bones. A few boxes of lids and seals are left and even a few cases of jars, but not many. The pickling spices are nowhere to be found. Even if you concoct your own, you're hard pressed to find all the ingredients that you need. Somewhere here in Hickman County someone has lots of jars to show for their efforts!! LOL wonder who that might be...ssshhhhhhh hahahahaha
Most of the flowers that bloom throughout the summer are beginning to decline. Even they can't take the heat. They won't be able to take the cold either so it's best this way :) Me? Well, you know I'll never give up trying to grow things here on the farm. I'll be trying to transplant some day lilies that have sprouted outside the rock borders. I have a couple of shrubs that need planted - they're just bare roots right now but it's still too hot for planting. From what I can gather, September will be the perfect time for them to go into the ground. About the time they get good and established, it will get cold and snowy and they can hibernate until the first warm days of spring. When they get bushy and begin to bloom, they are fire red when everything else is still brown and gray from the winter. Woo Hoo!!! Can't wait to see them!
My little volunteer pumpkin is still hanging in there despite the 100 degree temperatures. I carry a water bottle to work with me every day so I can water it on my way home. Since the blooms dropped it now as a bundle of little pods, for lack of a better word. I'm hoping those pods will turn into pumpkins and just take over the flower bed!
My tomatoes continue to grow - although a nasty worm ate a couple of the plants before I realized he was even there! There are still 6 plants and they all have tomatoes on them - providing another worm hasn't invaded the garden! Between the rabbits, the mole and the worms, my gardening efforts have been for naught it seems. I still had a fun time doing it and surely I'll do it again next year. The exercise was great and just being outside in nice weather beats housework any day!
Did you plant anything? Did it make it to harvest? Did it flower and perfume your yard or home? It's not too late in FL you know? You can start cherry tomatoes, lettuce and other greens now and still get them harvested by your first frost.
The big thing here this time of year is okra. Everyone grows okra! Well, except me LOL I'll just accept what other people are growing as it has been reported that everyone has a bumper crop this year. I may pickle it again, although this year I know to use only the smallest pods for pickling. Otherwise they get stringy and it's hard to eat them. They taste good but the texture is all wrong. More than likely I'll use most of it in a smothered okra recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook or my ham, bean, tomato and okra soup recipe that Joe Brack gave me. I should call it a stew since it does get a little thick on account of the okra. By the way, okra is pronounced okree here in TN. LOL I laugh every time I hear it.
We're gearing up for Wally's birthday party come August 20th. We have guests coming in from FL, including Ernie, Dizzy Debbie, Dennis and Debbie Hall and possibly even Lew and Traci. With ours friends up here and those from FL we have about 30 people invited so far. We never know how many will show :)
We're having a fish fry this year and Darryl is cooking for us. He's got those big gas fryers on stands that you use outside. He has already got me a good deal on the fish and he's looking into pricing the frog legs now. He gave me one price but he said it was a little high so he's checking one other source before we decide. Don't make that face Kat... unless you've tried them, you don't know what you're missing. Remember I made that same face last year until I tried them how Darryl cooks them and I surprised even myself. I loved them!
I'm making cole slaw and those little appetizers like Mike used to make at the Oriole's - the pickle wrapped in ham, sliced then stabbed with a toothpick. The last time I made them they were gone in a heartbeat. I'll have to double the recipe this year. We'll make some deviled eggs and I'm hoping to coax Ernie into being the hushpuppy maker as I'm still at a loss on that recipe (please, please, please, please, please?). Claudia is bringing her German potato salad and a pot of white beans.
I don't know what all else there will be but there's always more than enough food to go around. We have a guy coming to do karaoke and a pretty good burn pile is ready to be lit. Even though it's hot outside, you can still sit far enough back that you can enjoy the fire without getting too hot. Besides, it won't get lit until dark. We have horseshoes set up for those who can throw them. I'm not in that crowd - please - my throwing leaves much to be desired. You wouldn't want me on your team is all I can say. I'm a much better score keeper...lol!!!
Before the party there's plenty to be done. The lawn chairs need to be rinsed off, the lawn needs cut around the outdoor kitchen and the linens on the spare beds need to be laundered again. The porches were just pressure washed last weekend so they should be good to go and the coolers were washed and dried at the same time. The picnic table needs moved back into the shady area, the garbage cans all need new bags and the bean cans used for ashtrays all need to be cleaned out again.
I have bug spray, sunscreen and citronella candles and oil for the tiki torches should we decide to light them. Dizzy's Apartment (aka the outhouse) needs swept and cleaned and I'm pretty sure it needs a new bar of soap! lol After that, everything will be ready :) hahahahaha
Another week comes to an end and the farm awaits me so I dare not dally. With all this rain I'm hoping it will be cool enough to sit out front on the new bench seat. I can watch my humming birds as they drink up the never ending supply of sugar water and maybe read through another cookbook in hopes of finding something as yummy as my mayonnaise biscuits.
"It is not how busy you are, but why you are busy - the bee is praised, the mosquito is swatted." ~Author Unknown
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