Woolythyme

Yummy

Strawberry Pavlova from the first issue of Taproot.  

I'd say this recipe was worth the entire year's subscription price, ... but then, so was the pickled beet recipe.   I have a confession to make.  I usually look at magazines as nothing more than picture books, whether they are decorating/recipe/nature/travel/gardening/whatever.  If there is a good picture, it gets my attention.  I RARELY read the articles.  Sometimes one or two---never cover-to-cover.  Haven't done the cover-to-cover thing since my subscription to the Utne Reader in college.  (and that was a couple years ago!)

So, I'm not sure what it is about Taproot.  It's eclectic.  It's informative.  It's very well written.  It's beautifully photographed, and I'm loving the hand drawing/artwork as much as the photos.  And I'm reading it. And not just once.  It's a keeper.  Literally.  Vol 1 issue 1 is filed away---beet stains, berry juice and all.  

Look what just came!  Happy Dance!

Yarnalong and WIP Wednesday....

Doesn't it look like I should be curled up in a hammock with one of these books and my knitting?  Look closer...I think that's steam coming off the black table.  (It's 98 degrees in the shade...and see the swarms of mosquitoes and tiny bitey black flies?  No?  That's because they are swarming around me and the camera.)  

I just finished Anna Quindlen's Lots of Candles, Lots of Cake-- her reflections on aging.  She gives us her take on family, marriage, body, stuff, friends, and life in general from the perspective of a 50-ish woman.  I quickly realized many of my personal age-related "revelations"  might just be universal "truths".  I liked this a lot.  If you are a 20 or 30 yo--you might want to wait a few years to pick this one up.

Two reserve books came in at the same time....drat.  I hate when that happens.  I don't know which I'll start next.  I think I got both titles from Yarnalong recommendations.  I'll just see which grabs me fastest.

The grey blob is yet another lace shawl, this one Omelet that appeared in the spring/summer Knitty 2011.  I like the pattern a lot.  The shawl is divided into 4 sections, so if you mess up, you only have to concentrate on 1/4 of the shawl to fix it/tink it.  (Speaking from experience.)  Every other row is a "rest" row of purling...The yarn is Jade Sapphire Lacey Lamb from the stash.  It had been lingering there way too long.  The shawl is actually moving along nicely--and I'm just about ready to start the final (BIG) lace border section.  (34 rows to go....but who's counting?)

Joining Ginny for yarnalong and Tami for WIP Wednesday.  Check them out!!!

Vegetables (I hope)....

Last year I had tons of blooms on my zucchini plants and not one single veggie produced.  Every tomato ended up with end-rot.  It was not a good year. People in the know said it was just too wet.   Not a problem this year.  (I did have one pepper plant that must have produced 3,000 peppers, though, so all was not a total loss.)  I most certainly don't want to start a happy-dance too early, but so far, things are looking a bit better.  

The climbing malabar spinach (not a true spinach, but it loves our heat and tastes just like the "real" stuff!) even reseeded itself and is thriving.  The melons have already climbed over the raised beds and have started exploring the neighboring flowerbeds.

The currant tomatoes are going nuts-o in the alley.  I thinned them out earlier in the season, hoping that they might look prettier this year, but you'd never know now.   They do their own thing.  They look like an overgrown jungle, but the itty bitty tomatoes are the best!  

Doesn't everyone have cotton growing among their vegetables?

This little morning photo foray into the garden netted me 9 mosquito bites (and I had DEET on.)  I really hate summer  mosquitoes.

I'll never have my own cooking show....

Our CSA box this week had zucchini--beautiful zucchini, and while I should have been healthy and steamed it or just had it raw, I decided to make zucchini bread. Since it freezes great, I think I'll double the recipe and have some to take on vacation.  I have a plan.

I know I've doubled this before (surely???), but as I continue to add ingredients, I quickly run out of bowl space....oops. I have another cup of flour to squeeze in there.

We (I like to think I'm not making this mess all by myself, but I am) have pretty much maxed out the bowl capacity.

DOUBLE OOPS.  All that stuff fell out the back.  Gotta jam it back in.  That's the good stuff!

Miraculously, once it all got blended up and the beaters got removed--there was a teeny bit of leeway.  Beaters???

Can you see it in there?  Me, neither.  It's buried.  That was a gloppy mess getting it out.

The sink was a mess.

The counter got even worse.  (That recipe in the corner of the picture is for pickled beets--they were cooking on the stove. It has nothing to do with this post.)

  #1 Daughter once walked in on me during a baking frenzy (I think there might have been eggshells on the floor that time, though) and stated.....gosh, mom, you'll never have your own cooking show.  This place is a wreck.  I beg to differ.  IF I had my own cooking show, I'd have prep people, wouldn't I?  And cleaner-uppers?  AND---here's the real kicker.....a KITCHEN AID MIXER that could hold a double recipe of anything!!  (Poor Sunny Sunbeam--coming up on 41 years and she refuses to quit--and believe me, her beater holes have been clogged with more than just zucchini batter over the years!)

I digress... back to the bread.  This is a great recipe.  After trying dozens of zucchini bread recipes over the years, this one was declared "the best" and I've never strayed from it. It's super moist.  I wish I could give you a slice.

 

 

At least, I can share the recipe.

Zucchini-Pineapple Bread

3 large eggs

1 c vegetable oil

2 c sugar

2 tsp vanilla

3 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp grated nutmeg

1 tsp salt

2 cups coarsely shreddy unpeeled zucchini

1 (8oz) can crushed pineapple, drained

Throw it all together.  Bake at 350 for about an hour.  Makes 2 loaves. (and fits in the mixer)  Original recipe from Nutbread and Nostalgia.

Enjoy!  I'm off to unclog some beater-holes.  (Next up:  Brownies for 45!  It's tech dinner time already!!!! Gosh, I might have to quadruple that recipe!!!!)

a single moment......

Can you believe anyone could have this much fun at the car wash????

 

Joining with Amanda at Soulemama for a single picture from the week.

WIP Wednesday and yarnalong.....

 

 

Hi, everybody!!  My name is Einstein!  I'm rather brilliant...I read a lot...and of course, I never forget a thing (unlike some un-named someone who usually writes in this spot).  I haven't joined the herd yet; my eyesight isn't quite what it used to be (too much reading, I guess) and to be quite honest, I can't FIND the herd.  It's around here somewhere.  I'll look for it later.  Meanwhile, look at all the good stuff I've been reading this week!

Actually, this is "the blogger's" pile; she's not very far into either one.  I read the African Diary by Bill Bryson.  It was sort of an ad for CARE; a little fluffy.  Not his best.

The "blogger" was too busy making this today.

(I personally prefer my food to have peanuts in it, but for a non-peanut product, this was very tasty.  Strawberry bread.)  It sort of matches what she's working on....

Joining Ginny for Yarnalong and Tami for WIP Wednesday.  Join us, too???

(A few folks have asked about the "herd".  We're using them for a fundraiser to help defray the cost of the water purification systems we'll be putting in Kenya in July 2013.  For a $50 donation, an elephant leaves the herd and finds a new home with the donor.  Is an elephant worth that?  Absolutely NOT.  Is the opportunity to have clean drinking water worth the donation?---IMHO, most definitely!)

Ta-Dah Tuesday.....

 

We went from this....

 

 

To this....

I love blocking.

Weekending.....

::  11 hours in the car (a weekend visit with our son and his family)

:: softball practice, soccer game, softball game (one win, one loss) ; it was a beautiful day....I worked on my beach tan

:: MAJOR community yard sale  (had exactly 45 minutes before all the games started, but still managed to buy some junk  score some treasures)

::  dance recital (aren't 5 year olds in tutus the best???)

:: piano recital preview

:: a hike--by myself-- with all 5 children (and 4 scooters and a stroller) to see the ducks; I took my camera with me.  I took exactly 0 pictures.

:: more games of Yahtzee than I can count....and I managed to lose every single time.  Am I a good Grandma, or what??? 

:: home before the thunderstorms hit (and even managed to quick, quick, quick plant some gifted zucchini and yellow squash)

:: we were gone 48 hours---it felt like three weeks.

A single moment......

Joining Amanda for a single picture from the week.

 

Garden visit....

I dropped in (with my camera) to see a friend and her tomato cages...she has the most awesome, sturdy cages that even the strongest, tallest heirlooms can't topple.  When she saw my camera, she said 'I don't know what you're going to take pictures of...nothing's really blooming yet. You'll have to come back when things look good.'

 

Can you imagine things looking any better?   I'll be back, though.  (I forgot to take pictures of those tomato cages!!)