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    T Tuesday: not a food blog edition

    This post may make you think twice if you’ve arrived at the right place. It’s centered around food. Growing, eating, drinking, and baking with a little artsy-crafty splash thrown in just so you remember where you are.

    This is my new favorite breakfast. Blueberry Oatmeal Bake. I found the recipe on Pinterest…where else?!  I modified things slightly to fit the ingredients that I had plus I don’t like using artificial sweeteners.

    Check out this kohlrabi I got in our CSA box! Crazy!! I haven’t cut it open yet…I’m thinking today. I set it next to the loaf of bread we got as well with our farm share this week. I love it when they do community partnerships.

    Between the beans from the CSA and my garden I needed to can some more spicy beans. I mixed up a double batch of the brine since I had so many. Not wanting to pour it down the sink, I grabbed some random veggies to try in a jar with some extra spices since I wasn’t including a jalapeno. Time will tell if we enjoy them or not.

    Speaking of the garden…the high heat and humidity have done a number on the garden. The beans and squash have quit producing and of course you know about my deer chomped tomatoes. I was watching a youtube video about harvesting potatoes and the gardener mentioned doing a second planting of some of the quick turn around crops that stop production in the heat. Hmm…sounds exactly like what’s happening here. He said to look up the first frost date and count backwards from there to see if there is enough time. Our first frost date is Oct. 2nd so I have time!! I’ll let you know next week what I decided upon.

    Since we’re talking about outdoor things…look at these lovely lilies my neighbor so generously lets me pick.  She had some other colors but those must be a little tastier to the deer…they beat me to them. My tiger lilies should be blooming this week…if the deer don’t get them first. Darn deer!!

    With the heat and humidity I’ve been drinking tons of water. That gets boring sometimes so need to mix it up. My new favorite is club soda with a squeeze of lime or lemon. So refreshing.

    All my walking is doing something that I hadn’t really noticed until I put on a shirt I hadn’t worn since my birthday.

    I’ve lost 12 lbs. Both my walking and staying away from things such as those in the birthday basket I received. I want to keep this momentum going. Wish me luck!

    On Saturday our state wide mask order went into effect for all indoor public spaces…its about time if you ask me.

    I started making more masks. J will need a bunch at college. Mini-me will be doing her classes at home for her college courses. We find out later this week what the fate of K-12 school will be.

    Are you still with me…I think we’ve finally arrived at the artsy part.

    I’m not in love with this page as a whole. But I do love some of the little details.

    The textures….

    The colors…

    And the message.

    Today has me replanting in the garden, sewing and stupid household chores.

    What are you doing today?
  • Blog

    T Tuesday: this and that edition

    Once again I have one of these posts that I’m all over the place both mentally and physically.

    Tomorrow is our 23rd wedding anniversary. With it being mid-week, we are planning to do basically nothing until Saturday. Then we’ll be having sushi!

    I thought this was clever. My neighbor gave me a few of these quite a while ago. Funny the things you find when digging out for a garage sale!

    You wouldn’t believe the piles of stuff I have sitting around waiting to be priced and brought to the neighbors on Thursday morning!! Mr. G has a ton of stuff from the garage too. Hopefully the vast majority will sell…not really wanting that stuff to come back into the house.  Garage sales are a lot of work but when doing it with others it can be fun and having the bonus of getting rid of stuff while making a little cash is a super bonus.

    I transplanted my seedlings into larger containers yesterday.

    They are doing so well. I also planted zucchini and summer squash in pots on the side of the garage.  I’ve read that they can be grown in pots so might as well give it a try since my in-laws aren’t having a garden this year.

    I snipped the end off my mint plant and put it in water a few days ago…look at the crazy roots it grew in such a short time.

    If I get a chance I want to make a wreath for our new front door. I really shouldn’t be worrying about that right now since I still have to get it painted, I just need to do something crafty every so often or I get cranky.

    Speaking of crafty….look at this dessert I made for Easter!

    It was so decadent and sweet. Almost too rich and sweet if there was such a thing.

    The rest of the week will be a whirlwind. Appointments, garage sale, anniversary and J heading to NYC on Saturday. It’s likely a really good thing that I am insanely busy until then because I think I’d be making myself sick with worry if not.

    What are you doing today?

  • Around home - Blog - Kitchen

    T Tuesday: rum cake edition

    This year for Christmas we changed things up a bit.  In the past several years we’ve had a Christmas brunch and it worked out very well since the kiddos weren’t too great at waiting to open presents. In those days I think they would have preferred everyone spend the night and get up at 6am.  Since they are older now, we decided moving back to a more traditional time for our family was best. That meant we’d need a dessert.

    I decided to make a rum cake. I’d made this one before and it was so yummy. The recipe comes from a cookbook called Booze Cakes that I checked out from the library.  The first time I made it I used a vintage Nordic Ware bundt pan in the classic bundt shape. This time I decided to get a little adventurous and use my fancy bundt pan since it looks a bit like Christmas trees.

    rum cake

    As it was baking, I was realizing that the tree pan was smaller than the classic pan…I kept watching it in fear that it would run over as it baked. I was lucky…

    rum cake

    Look how beautifully it came out of the pan! I took a lot of time preparing the pan in hopes that it would work.  So cute!

    rum cake

    Remember I mentioned this was from a cookbook called Booze Cakes…yeah…that bottle was full when I started and I wasn’t sampling. I don’t even like rum in drinks…but I sure do in cake!!!

    Just before serving I dusted the entire cake with powdered sugar giving it the appearance of snow. I totally forgot to snap a photo though. You’ll just have to take my word for it. It was yummy and boozy.

    The kids head back to school after winter break so I’ll be all by myself for a change…well I’ll still have Marvin to keep me company.

    Marvin

    What are you doing today?