Henry and Papa GQ magazine

We have had a lovely morning. We got up late, ate a nice breakfast (Crunchy Nut Cornflakes), walked the dogs to the Farmers Market where we socialised with the folks and Henry got a free cookie, for "being cute". Pen-ultimate Farmers Market of 2011, so sad. What will I do on Saturday mornings from now on?! We then walked to the park and met up with some mums and kids we know. We played until we had run out of diapers and we came home!

The GQ pose.

Then just some goofy ones...

New kicks

I dont know why I ever worry about my son's eating habits. He had some gnarly diapers friday and then he ate like a champ. I need to just realise that he will eat if he is feeling ok. Unfortunately the most gnarly of them all was sitting outside the library and it came out of the diaper onto the very white onesie and all over the overalls too. Thankfully mummy had a bag for the ickiness and a spare onesie in the stroller.

So story time at the library wasn't overly successful for us and it turns out we didn't even make it to story time, we were at toddler time. Henry just kept taking other children's shoes. The little girls would kick him demanding their shoes back and sometimes he even wanted little girls who had taken their shoes off, to put them back on. So despite the fact that he doesnt need any shoes as he isn't walking, and the fact that he wont wear the sandals he has, we went straight to Neilson's to buy H some new Kicks. We debated the Toms but the soles were a little hard and they are supposed to learn to walk barefoot, so we went with the Pedipeds - hand made with leather soles so its almost like not wearing shoes at all. Henry absolutely loves them and wants to wear them all of the time! Which is great because they cost a small fortune. Papa loved them when he got home too, then I told him they were $35.50 before tax and he about had a heart attack. The thing is, kids feet are important and at the rate H grows, he will be wearing these shoes at least until he needs to start wearing socks around October time. Pediped also had some 18-24 months sheep skin lined moccasins for the fall, so Mummy is already eyeing those up! He loves his new shoes and the good thing is, I dont feel guilty letting him play on the dirty pavements on the square or out and about.

Henry and his new shoes:

We had another fantastic day today. I just love being Henry's Mummy, we have so much fun! He woke up at the usual time, 645am on the dot; Mama, Mama! My rib cage has been aching first thing in the morning so usually at this calling of my name I sit up instantly and just sit there a few minutes, let the aching go away. We had an early breakfast today then walked the dogs. Knox and Lana came over and we walked to the farmers market where they had sweet potatoes for the first time. Pretty exciting as Papa loves sweet potatoes. Because they were dug this week, you are supposed to not use them for 2-3 weeks so I had to inform Danny we couldnt have them this week. Zion Farms also had ground lamb which will be a nice treat this week; we talked about ordering half a cow from him too. Its pricey but I wont buy meat from the supermarket so you get what you pay for in my opinion. We then walked over to Square Books Junior for story time where the little guys played with a thousand other little guys! After a nice stroll home Henry had fun walking behind his walker thingy and playing on the couches, which were returned to us a littler earlier than we needed them, but at least Danny didnt have to go get them. We had leant them to Ibrahim who had some folks staying in his unfurnished house. It worked out for us because we dont have room for them right now, but they gave them back today, so we are little cramped in our living room/bedroom.

Speaking of, the bedrooms are coming along nicely. Its taking a whole lot longer than we expected but you cant rush beauty I suppose. Its actually been really hard for me because Henry hasn't been able to sleep in his bedroom during the day. The first day we cycled for two hours and he slept 40 minutes. The second day we walked for 2 hours and he slept 35 minutes, so exhausted, the third day I tried getting him so sleep on my bed. It took me about 40 minutes but then he (and I) slept 3.5 hours, so it was blissful rest! Friday was eventful for us because we looked after Knox and Jayden came over to visit, so we had a full house and H didnt take his nap (usually at 1pm) until 330pm! Little trooper. And we had to wake him up at 515pm to go get some dinner - the new baby wanted a cheese burger! So today Mummy was exhausted! It was so nice to put H in his bed for his nap rather than struggle to get him to sleep on my bed and then have to lie there with him so he didnt fall off the bed. Mind you, I was so tired I ended up collapsing into bed too, and I slept HARD! We played a little while then went across the street to visit with our neighbours and Henry played with the side walk chalk with Darden (3 yrs old). After some delicious home made tomato soup and grilled cheeses (with bread from Lana) and a nice bath, we did some walking and bouncing on the bed like we do every evening and H is now soundly asleep in bed. For some reason I am still exhausted so Im going to clean up after the day of destruction, sweep, mop and settle down to some ironing. Danny has a wedding in Clarksdale and probably wont be home til after midnight - that man works so stinking hard! Trooper!

Henry and Knox giving Mummy a hard time!

Oh and it seems at 16.5 weeks pregnant I have reached the stage where I no longer look like I have a (very fashionable) muffin top; two women asked me when I was due today, so hooray! I look pregnant and I guess with all this tiredness today, I feel it too, though its probably about time!

The best tomato soup recipe you will ever taste

After looking online for a tomato soup recipe, I decided they were no good. Any soup recipe that uses canned tomatoes is not the recipe for me. So I winged it, as usual. Thought this time, I hit jack pot. Mental note, write this one in my cook book. I remember having no luck on the invent a tomato soup recipe mission last year, so I have no idea what happened to me tonight but ladies and gents, here is the tomato soup recipe to knock your socks off...

Bring to a boil and simmer the following ingredients for about an hour
One coarsely chopped onion
Four small zucchini/cougettes, half inch slices
8-10 lbs fresh tomatoes, skinned
Zest of one lime
Juice of half a lime
Some fresh basil leaves
Salt and pepper (a lot more salt than you would think)

Once all of the veggies are tender, blend with emersion blender.

Add about 4-8 Oz sour cream, depending on how creamy you want it
Another handful of fresh basil leaves
An inch or two block of grated fresh parmesan cheese

Blend with emersion blender again.

It's so good that I am eating a bowl at 1030 at night instead of going to bed and considering how many jars of this I can either can or fit in my freezer.

I know what I'm eating for dinner tomorrow night. Where is my grilled cheese?!


Easiest way to skin a tomato (in my opinion)
Cut tomato in half through the stem
Cut the stem out of both sides
Lay cut side down on a tin foil lined baking tray
Broil/grill

an inch or two from elements for 8 minutes
Leave to cool and peel away the skins

Technically the correct wy to skin a tomato is to etch a cross in the bottom of it and blanch it in boiling water for 30 seconds then plunge into ice water, then peel. I think this is messy and time consuming. Just my two cents.

So so sick

Why does this happen to me all of the time? Henry gets a cold from the flight, gives it to me, gets better quickly (thankfully) then I am seriously sick forever more. When I blow my nose I start to cough. When I start to cough it resonates through my whole body with a dry hacking but there is something in that tight chest to come up. Then my eyes get weepy and I confirm that yes, I feel like a big huge piece of crap. In short, I feel terrible right now and am going to bed as soon as I have eaten enough food to stop my stomach from growling; it's 8 pm on a Saturday night, geees I live the high life.

This morning Henry, Tux, Mojo (the last two are our furkids) and I walked to the farmers market for the first time in our lives. It was awesome (apart from my having to pause to blow my nose and hack my little heart out every few steps, oh and having to pick up dog poo). Unfortunately no eggs, I figured it would be getting too hot, but we managed to squeeze another box of peaches, two boxes of blueberries, some more tomatoes, figs and pears into our stroller (yes, Henry had to share leg room with the peaches, poor soul). Now all we need is some good goats cheese and some crusty bread for a mouth watering dinner.

Today we drove to Bolivar, TN to visit Dannys extended family at the lake, despite him having a wedding and staying in Oxford. Yes I am a fantastic wife (are you reading this Danny?). Yes, I realize that probably contributed to my shear exhaustion. Anyways, I'm off to bed, but if you are ever unfortunate enough to feel crappy in the summer please please halve some nectarines, sprinkle them with raw sugar and drizzle a good balsamic vinegar into the pit holes then broil/grill until the tops turn black (about 8 minutes). Absolutely delicious. Very very comforting. In fact, so comforting, I may have two more nectarines before bed! The good thing about this is that you can use slightly unripe nectarines, if you are impatient, like me. Only bad thing about eating this (I'm on my second bowl) is that you have to wait while the nectarines cool down. Ugh.

Weekend rain: day one

Well, remember that I was going to get some much needed couch time this weekend?

hmmmm. Yes. Quite!

I cleaned the house, though this was rather satisfactory. Doing all sorts of unusual jobs such as washing the dogs beds. I actually have yet to stuff the cushions back in the covers. I did sit on the floor with the dogs for two hours through a particularly heavy burst of rain and thunder as they really do get scared. Then all of a sudden, the sun just came out! So of course I went straight outside and weeded my vegetable patch, though it desperately needed it, so that was good. Then inspired, I popped to the store for marigolds (stops the slugs), basil (stops the deer, apparently, and helps with fertilisation) and zinnia seeds (just plain beautiful!). Then I planted all of these. Oh, and bought an ice cream sandwich on the way home!

But now, at 6pm, I promise to sit down here soon! Ive just got to stuff those dog beds and make my dinner! Which I am particularly excited about (dinner, not dog beds) because they had some more of that buttery delicious broccoli at the farmers market this morning.

Busy busy bumble bee!

I feel like I haven’t stopped since last week, so Im pretty tired. Ended up staying at work til almost 5pm Friday, which sucked and I was pretty wired and feeling crappy too. But I had a little lie down at home, though I didnt sleep, we ate a quick dinner and went to the violin quartet at the Ford Center. It was ok. Not really what I had expected. There were two ‘bands’ one classical (which we like) and one ‘modern’, playing things like Jimmy Hendrix and Robbie Coltrane (which we don’t like so much). Unfortunately the latter had a much larger role in how the evening was divided up, so that sort of sucked, and of course it was a late night, with us not getting home til after 1030.

Saturday morning started with the farmers market at 715am. Im so excited its open again! They didnt have much, but its just the act of meeting girlfriends and going to the farmers market to wander around with no specific purpose. I bought some Christmas tree ferns (bartered on the price!), some spinach, broccoli and greenhouse tomatoes. Meg and I then walked from there to town and ended up in the coffee shop where we met Tasha and Megan for a cup of tea. It was so nice! When I got home, Danny had already placed all of the bags of mulch where they needed spreading and we had the first palette of mulch spread by lunchtime. We then bought it loose, which is way more work, but cheaper. My back was killing me at the end of the day and we didnt even get it finished, but the back yard looks really really nice. In the evening we rode to Sonic and I ate a heck of a lot of food, ending with a root beer float! Although it all made me rather sick Sunday morning, guess Im just not used to fast food.

Sunday was nice, though still busy. I got up late for me, around 8am! Walked the dogs then got back into bed! I showered up and got all fancified and we went to the bakery for breakfast, where Danny beat me at cribbage! We did a belly photoshoot at Rowan oak and I conned Danny into grocery shopping with me. When we got home we did a few odd jobs round the house then Danny went to softball practice and I baked bread and cooked food. We had some friends over Sunday night to sit outside in the almost chilly spring evening air, it was so nice! I made rosemary focaccia bread and served with sliced mozzarella drizzled with pesto, sliced tomatoes sprinkled with seasoning, and a huge bowl of strawberries for appetizers. Then we grilled some steaks and had salad and wild rice. Yummy! They ended up playing Beatles rock band and sounded like they had a blast. Went to bed too late again and am exhausted today.

Stay away... I smell

Well, our water went out again sometime during the night Saturday. Thankfully we had a saucepan of water from Saturday evening which Danny collected before cleaning the carpets. This was very useful as we had about ten people for roast dinner and games Sunday night. The saucepan of water was enough to par-boil my potatoes, boil my carrots and steam my broccoli. I carefully drained the potato water into another saucepan and re-used this water to cook the cabbage. I have kept this water again and will use it to boil my turkey left-overs this evening to make a stock. Now that's resourceful!

I have to say, the turkey was delicious! Thanks Mr Brandon at Zion Farms, Pontotoc, for the free-range beauty! And thanks mum for the Delia Smith baking directions. Oh and thanks Danny for the meat thermometer I got for Christmas. You all helped me bake the most delicious, moist turkey I have ever eaten! I was quite chuffed with myself actually (seriously, who says chuffed in this day and age!), because other than the turkey and the gravy, everything else in my meal was vegan. We had roasted potatoes and parsnips, carrots and broccoli, cabbage, stuffing and Hubbard squash bake. mmmmmm! Thanks to Kevser and Megan for bringing a dessert, I just didnt have that in me! The only hard thing about not having water, was that when I took the turkey out of its bag I got raw poultry juices all over my hands; so I had to use drinking water in a little bowl to clean my hands. Oh and shaping the stuffing balls left my hands kinda sticky too! Thanks also to those that brought water over. Its funny the little things that you dont think about, like drinking water for the dogs; those guys went through almost two of the soda sized bottles of water that Megan brought over. And then there is water for after dinner tea. All in all, we have done well though, to have survived pretty well on just a few gallons of water since saturday!

Today it should get up to 43F, so hopefully there will be water dripping out of our taps when we go home for lunch! With temperatures that warm, I was even able to put the dogs outside as they were getting pretty stir crazy sitting in the house.

Mr Mojo is feeling a little better. Enough to play and use his leg, unless he feels that Tux is getting more attention than him, then he comes hobbling over to me. Seriously, how do dogs learn to play up to their mummy like that!

Easiest thanksgiving take along

Well, predictably enough, my attempt at practicing relaxation didnt go accord to plan yesterday. But, on the positive side, I did manage to clean my kitchen so that it was spotless!

Today is going to be a more successful day at relaxation, since Im worn out from yesterday! I made walnut and cinnamon English muffins for breakfast, delicious with honey. I went to the grocery store and now Im going to sit down whilst my bagels go through their first proofing.

I have a little bone to pick with the permanent farmers market on old 7. I have been buying my dried goods there for some time, such as brown rice, 12-grain, bulgur wheat and such. I have a terrible infestation of moths and its only in those items. Or at least I thought it was. So I ordered some 10-grain online, yesterday I threw everything away and today I bought all new tuperware and washed it thoroughly. I poured my cornmeal (not bought at the farmers market but stored in the same cupboard) into the new tub and wasnt sure, but thought there were little black specks in there. hmmmm. Went to pour the Rye flour (also from the supermarket) into its new tub and low and behold, definite black spots and moths. ugh. So I then had to throw both of those away and re-wash the tuperwares. Luckily bagels only require bread flour, which I know is good since I just opened a new packet (from the supermarket), but I have people that want bread so I have to go back to the store to replenish my cornmeal and rye flour stocks. ugh. I cant bare going to the store twice in one week. Thats why I make lists. Anyways, so this morning when I went to the farmers market, dont worry, only for vegetables, I told the staff there that I believed that they had moths in their dried goods because I had some sealed ziplock bags that contained goods bought at their store and they had moths in them, well she said, I wouldnt be surprised, its hard to keep them out of there. ugh. They know they have moths yet they do nothing about it. Disgusting. Now Im not one to say bad things about the farmers market, because I tend to love it, but that is disgusting behaviour. I wish the owner had been there. Hopefully I am now moth free as I have thrown everything away and bought new containers that I have washed and have stopped buying dried goods there. Fingers crossed eh.

On a more positive note (as I hate to finish on a downer) I made myself the best dinner ever yesterday! I was just sad I got full so quickly and couldnt have seconds! Dont get mad at me, I used a packet mix of something, but it was so easy and so tasty, its hard in these busy holiday times, justifying making it yourself (says she who is currently waiting on bagel dough!).

Butternut squash stuffing bake

1 medium butternut squash, peeled (potato peeler works great) and cubed (approximately 1 cm cubes)

1 lg bag frozen spinach (again, not me to go for the convenient option but is clean and pre-chopped), defrosted but undrained

2 packets low-sodium stuffing (butter is optional)

Oil

orange juice

lemon juice

black pepper

Place butternut squash cubes in your chosen baking dish (chose a large, deep one), toss squash in a few glugs of vegetable/canola oil and pour in some orange juice. Bake at 400 F for about 15-20 minutes.

In the mean time mix up the second packet of stuffing (I used the butter, but I dont really have fat in my diet so figured it was ok).

Remove from oven and mix with one packet of stuffing, the spinach, a few splashes of lemon juice and a sprinkling of black pepper in a large mixing bowl. I wouldnt add salt, the stuffing has lots in it.

Squish mix back into baking dish. Top with pre-prepared stuffing.

Bake at 400F until crusty on top and steaming on the inside.

I cooked mine for 20 minutes on the second bake and it was warm enough to eat if you were starvin marvin (which of course, I was), but I would probably bake for 30-40 minutes to get it piping hot, especially if you are taking it to someone else's house.

There are lots of fun things you can do with this should you have the inclination. You could add fresh cranberries to the mix, but my wonderful husband refuses to eat cranberries. You could make your own stuffing and add chopped walnuts or other favourite dried fruits. One thing I might do thursday (as this is what I am taking to family potluck thanksgiving) is pre-cook some breakfast sausage and mix it in also, give it some kick. A chopped sautéed onion would be yummy in there or your favourite winter squash. The possibilities for an easy dinner or accompaniment, are endless!

This year I give thanks for my wonderful, caring, generous, hardworking, selfless, and most importantly very handsome husband!

Saturday Salsa Queen

Well, I kinda disobeyed my promise. Not Kinda, I did. I promised to make another (better) tomato soup today, but I haven't. I thought there was not much point since I have a delicious looking one made by she who is formerly known as Ms. Ermin, so I thought I would eat that later. Instead I made salsa with my 10 lbs of tomatoes from the farmers market. Ive provided the recipe below, before I forget it! It might just be the best salsa to date. I was rather worried about making salsa since I didnt write the recipe down last year, but it worked out wonderfully, with some minor tweaking, so I thoroughly recommend it. I would also like to point out that the whole process took just 2 hours, compared to last year when each batch of salsa would take me an entire afternoon. The reason why, now I have a fantastic food processor. So please, if you dont have one, make sure you put it on your birthday list (thats how I got mine!) it has saved me hours and hours of tedious chopping and shredding this harvesting season. I have the largest Kitchen Aid food processor there is, and I recommend it to everyone!

Before you get distressed that I used a canned good in my salsa, I have not done this before but was worried about my onion to tomato ratio, if you dont want to use anything canned (as I usually dont) then please half the amount of onions suggested. Last year I did not use hot peppers, but I have tons from Summer's Grandfathers pepper plant so I thought I'd throw them in! Summer lovingly grew it from a seed from one of his peppers and gave that seedling to me, so now I lovingly feed and water it each year, its like a little bush now!

Awesomeness Fresh Tomato Salsa

Ingredients:

Approximately 10 lbs fresh tomatoes

1 1/2 large onions

2 green bell peppers

6 cloves of garlic (increase or decrease depending on your tastes)

3 hot peppers (optional and amount negotiable!)

1/2 c dried Parsley ( if you want to use fresh, you will just have to use twice as much)

Lemon juice

Lime juice

Apple Cider Vinegar

6oz can of tomato paste

Cumin

Salt

Black Pepper

1. Place jars and lids in water bath canner and fill with water until jars are covered. Set on highest temperature, your aim is to boil the jars at least 10 minutes before filling and it takes a really long time to boil that much water!

2. Skin the tomatoes; if you want to blanch them, thats fine, but I find that takes forever and this method is much more time efficient.

Cut all tomatoes in half, through stem. Place cut side down on baking dish and grill (English), broil (American), for 8 minutes. Tops of tomato skins should turn black. Remove tomatoes from tray and fill tray with next lot of tomato halves. When tomatoes have cooled, skins should peel off easily.

3. Remove outer layer from onions and inner layer of bell peppers, chop into quarters. Using shredder applicator of food processor, shred onions and green peppers in a matter of seconds. Failing this, spend the next 15 minutes chopping the onions and peppers into little tiny pieces. Place in large, heavy bottom saucepan.

4. Remove skins from garlic cloves and seeds from hot peppers and whiz around food processor with blade applicator. Failing this, don rubber gloves and chop garlic and hot peppers into little tiny pieces. Add to saucepan with onions and green peppers.

5. Place skinned tomato halves in food processor a few at a time and pulse with blade. Failing this, chop tomatoes into small cubes and get tomato juice all of you, your work surface and the floor. Dont worry, the dogs will probably lick it up. Add to saucepan.

Time to date, if you have a food processor: 30-45 minutes

Time to date, if you do not have a food processor: 1.5-2 hours

Go buy a food processor!

6. Add remaining ingredients to saucepan. By now you are probably cursing me for forgetting to type how much of all the liquids and spices I used. Well I didn't exactly forgot to type it in, I just forgot to pay attention to how much I used. So here are some estimates, but just remember that you should keep a bag of chips handy at all times for continual taste testing!

1/2 c lime juice

1/2-1 c lemon juice (concentrate)

1 c apple cider vinegar

I shook the tub of salt over the pan three times distributing salt, maybe adding a tablespoon or so each time.

2 tbs black pepper, although this is definitely a preference thing

2 tbs cumin, but that really is a guess, sorry!

Bring to the boil and simmer. The length of time you simmer will depend on a) how thick you want your salsa b) how much tweaking of spice and liquid quantities you have to do and c) how much time you spend eating it out of the pan! I would say I probably simmered it about 20-30 minutes from start to finish, but I added the tomatoes a bit at a time as I whizzed them round my hand-dandy food processor! Shame Im not sponsored by Kitchen Aid really, although I totally could be, I love their products!

Since it was really hot, we ended up putting a spoonful into a bowl and letting it cool down before we could taste it, which is probably why I simmered it so long. That and I was doing the washing up in between so that there wouldn't be that much mess at the end!

7. Having boiled jars and lids for at least 10 minutes, remove from water bath canner and stand mouth side down for a minute to make sure all of the water is out. Then put 1/2 to 1 tsp of lemon juice in each jar. Fill jars with salsa, leaving at least 0.5 inches head room (I probably left a little more than this). Wipe jar mouth clean and firmly place lids on jars. Immerse jars in water bath canner ensuring 2 inches of water above jars (its ok to lay them down if you have room and dont want to use as much water). Boil for 40 minutes.

8. Remove jars of salsa from canner and check seals. Leave to cool, returning to check they have all 'popped'. If not, this just means you have some eating to do! Salsa in jars that have not popped need to be refrigerated (when cool) and eaten within the week. Label them up and put them in the pantry for your next party!

Since I have a fantastic food processor, I was not making salsa all day! I also walked my dogs at 630am, went to the farmers market for a mooch around (didnt really need any food since we go away next weekend). Went for tea with my girlies. Did the grocery shopping. Picked up my dry cleaning that I dropped off in June and forgot about. Went to the pool with my wonderful husband, read my book and swam 30 laps. Got ice cream at Sonic. Shaved the dogs, again. Cleaned the kitchen and mopped the floor. You know you have a sad existence when the highlight of your saturday night is changing out the mop head for a new one. c'est la vie.

So that was my saturday!

I have been wondering lately, why I have been so incredibly tired. But when you write down everything you do in a day and it takes an entire paragraph to include achievements prior to 7pm, I suppose its no wonder that you might be exhausted on a regular basis!

My most handsome husband is out shooting a wedding this evening and is then taking himself off 'to the boats', which translates into, "Im going to go waste a bunch of money at a casino". The conversation was rather funny actually:

"Honey, Timmy says Amanda wants to go to the casinos for her birthday tonight"

"Yes dear, why are you telling me this?"

"Well, what do you think?"

"Let me ask you this; will you be able to have a good time without me? Will you feel like Im abandoning you if I don't come? Is it rude for me not to come out for Amanda's birthday?"

"Well, I could probably have fun if you weren't there, even though Id like it if you were, and no, I don't think it would be rude for you not to come. But would you mind terribly if I did go without you?"

"My love, you will be leaving town at 10pm, arriving at the casinos close to midnight, I will stand behind you not speaking to you, since you will be focusing on the card game, you will be increasingly aware of my tired eyes despite me not showing you how tired I really am, and eventually you will feel so guilty that we will come home, even though you will want to stay. The alternative to that is that I sit here and watch tv, do a little ironing or crocheting and go to bed around 10pm. Which do you think sounds like my preferred option!?"

Needless to say, Im going to have a wonderful night in with the pups and go to bed early! Then Ill probably get up early and go out on my bike whilst he sleeps of his sleep hangover! I think Ill be waking him up by 1pm though, mark my words!

How did your tomato soup making antics go?

Have you an answer to the question; what is the difference between marinara and tomato soup?

Saturday morning sadness

Thursday night, Danny organised a bachelor party for our good friend Yavuz Ozeron, who gets married today. He and his brother did a pretty good job of sneaking into the house quietly at about 1am but you cant really sneak anywhere when you have two protective dogs. So needless to say, I didnt get a full nights rest thursday. If you were considering robbing us during the night, you may wish to consider as your presence will not go unnoticed. I still managed to get up at 6am and walk the dogs as usual though. I think there would have been a riot had I not succeeded in this morning activity!

After an exceedingly boring day at work friday, we took Danny's family out to Texas de Brazil in downtown Memphis as a thank you for sitting our dogs so often whilst we are away. I think they were pretty blown away by the delicious salad bar and incredible amounts of meat offered. We then went to see the latest Harry Potter, which I have to say, I wasnt all that impressed with. Too much teenage drama, which just bores me and perhaps even aggravates me. So we didnt get to bed til 2am last night. So for the first time in a long time, I did not enjoy grocery shopping this morning. Shock horror, I know. Its usually my favourite activity of the week, although I am away that its a sad past time to have. Im somewhat tired and grumpy, so perhaps best to avoid me today! At least until I get a full nights sleep! I enjoyed the Farmers Market with my girl friends and picked up some figs, but alas no butternut squash this week. I ordered my Thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys, which is a weight off my mind! This brings me to the title of this post... the reason I am sad this saturday morning is that my favourite blueberry stand had its last batch of blueberries this weekend. ah. So I bought 3 large cartons, two of which I put up in the freezer for those rough months when I can not see the end to the winter dreariness in sight!

Today I am honored to be making the vegetarian food for the union of Yavuz and Kevser. I am going to make a lime peanut coleslaw, Veganomicon's Corn Edamame salad and hopefully a garden fresh cucumber tomato salad with all my different colour tomatoes! I hope to squeeze in a little gardening and save enough time to wash up for the wedding at 6pm.

Corn and Edamame Salad

(great for lunches)

Dressing:

2 tbs toasted sesame oil

1 tbs rice vinegar

2 tsp soy sauce

Salad:

2c frozen, shelled edamame

1c fresh or partially thawed frozen corn

2 tbs toasted sesame seeds

generous pinch of salt

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile. whisk the dressing ingredients.

Boil edamame for 3 minutes. Add corn and boil another 2 minutes. Drain into a colander and run under cold water until cool enough to touch. Add the corn and edamame to the dressing and toss to combine. Add the sesame seeds and toss again. Salt to taste. Cover and chill at least 15 minutes.

Tomato Cucumber salad

Fresh tomatoes (never place fresh tomatoes in the fridge), sliced

Cucumbers, sliced

Parsley

Salt and pepper

Olive Oil

Place sliced veggies in rows on a square plate or concentric circles on a round plate - presentation is everything! Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with fresh or dried herbs and salt and pepper. Simple yet visual spectacular and oh so tasty!

OH! Its raining!