"Will you make me soup?"

Awhile back, when we went out for dinner/putt putt with Sharon and Andy, Brett and I tasted a soup we REALLY liked. It was sort of a minestrone/pasta y fagioli thing.... Brett's been talking about wanting that again on and off the last couple of weeks, and the other night commented on how he really wanted it, and wondered if we could try to make it. Me? I was finally chilling out after a bunch of yard work the previous few days, and didn't feel like cooking. So it started off with him wondering what we had that might go in it, and looking online for soup recipes, and me suggesting which of our cookbooks he might look in as well.

And then I caved.

"Alright - I'll do it. But that means I get to put in some things you say you won't like! Deal!?"

What that means is...well...here - this is what I went and got from the garden:


That's lettuce up top (salad always goes good with soup, right?), and then on the cutting board, clockwise from top left, is flat-leaf parsley, a baby zucchini, an immature red onion, cutting celery (because we're out of celery, and we don't use it enough to buy it when I can use this stuff), some oregano sprigs, a couple baby summer squash, Niro di Toscano kale (first time I've grown this), rosemary, basil, and the other end of that red onion.

I started with cutting up and frying three strips of bacon. Once the bacon was crisp I set it aside and, in it's fat, sauteed onion, garlic, the squash and carrots. Once those were done I set them aside and fried up a pound of ground beef, and then added in the minced herbs, cutting celery, and kale you see above (excluding the basil). Added in some salt, pepper, and a dash of chili powder. Then I dumped back in the veggies, a box of chicken broth, a can each of chick peas and kidney beans, and a large can of "whole peeled plum tomatoes with basil" - plus all the juice from that can. This was all in the pressure cooker, so the lid went on and it cooked for quite awhile. While that was going, I boiled up a pot of shell pasta and cleaned up the lettuce for salad.


I have to say this stuff turned out REALLY good! The ONLY thing I wish I would've done differently was drained the fat from the beef (it honestly didn't LOOK like there was any - I think it stuck to the veggies). Oh, and maybe add more kale! ;-)

Garden stuff

Here's some of what I'm finding in the garden lately...

I've had to let out some slack on the asian pear covers. After doing some reading, I think next year I'm not going to monkey around with little custom-cut pieces of floating row cover that I have to wrestle with while wrapping a metal tie around the stalks... Instead I'll thin out the trees so there aren't too many Asian pears on each branch (you want to do this so each one remaining gets more energy without overtaxing the tree itself), and then just staple on a sack over each fruit that will be saved on the tree for harvest. Well, HOPEFULLY I'll have so many I have to thin them out...this year I have only a handful of fruits.


This is the first year I've grown cabbage. I feel like these guys are taking forever, but they ARE starting to form their heads. I hope they don't run the risk of bolting before they're fully formed!


The pepper bed's looking really good. MOST of the pepper plants are really starting to show some growth, although some are still really small - not sure what that's all about. And for the record, those leafy things between the pepper plants - the ones with orangey flowers? Emily - those aren't weeds - they're marigolds. ;-)


The peppers are starting to bloom!


The leeks are definitely looking more leek-like! I really need to start mounding up some extra soil around them - that'll keep a longer section of the base "blanched" - tender and white!


The squash and pumpkins are really taking off! The mini-spaghetti squash plant has vines longer than I am tall, and it's barreling through all the other squash plants.


What's this little guy!?


Oh look - there's more!


Those would be baby cucumbers! The cukes and gourds are really starting to take off. Only now, after talking with Dan and George last week, I'm really freaked out that there will be cross-pollination and that the cucumbers won't be very good. Hm. Maybe I can dig out the gourds, pot 'em up briefly, see if they survive, and if so, put them somewhere else - maybe up against the deck railing?


And these are some of the tomatoes. I know it might be a bit premature, but I think this'll be known as my worst year for tomatoes yet!!! We've had so many heavy rains that the plants aren't doing well. Even after all the tilling and ammending I did in the garden, I think the soil's become too packed down and saturated. It seems like just as soon as they perk back up, we get another flooding rain and they're wilting again. And now the crab grass, or whatever the evil grass is that's been here since we moved in, is starting to take over again... I need to get in there and keep trying to weed it out and cover it with more straw/grass clippings.


While these pumpkins are doing great, the beans in the foreground aren't. Just like with the tomatoes, the beans have not done well with all the rain. I have to keep re-seeding because so many have rotted out. Now we're to the point where some of the early crops in the raised beds are finishing up, so I can start planting new bean crops in the raised beds, where they should do much better.


Check it out! Okra!!! (Ok, you're going to have to get closer to the monitor if you really want to see them). Again - these guys are a victim of heavy soil and too much rain - they got washed around a bit I guess? After taking this picture I dug them up and spaced them out better....let's hope I have a good crop of okra this year! (I know okra aren't supposed to like being transplanted, but they weren't going to do well all bunched together)


And finally - something that's LOVING all the rain... I guess it's hard to overwater blueberries...and these guys are very happy. In fact, they're just starting to show hints of blue! Yum!

What's all the buzz about?

Last week when I was working on the great mulch project (part one, apparently - since I need to order more...), the two retired guys who live down the street from us came down for a visit to see how the work was going. I'd already stopped down at former-Vietnam Nam vet/retired-pig-farmer George's place to drop off the last two spare tomato plants and to see how his garden was doing, and I knew retired-farmer Dan, who lives with his wife across the street from George, was out and about as well. Dan has hooked me up with leaves that fall all over his yard in the fall for my garden the past couple of autumns, and since he has a little stiffness walking, he's taken to zipping around in his rider mower to come down for a visit, with George walking along side.

While they were getting the garden tour, we noticed the forest of goldenrod (solidago) and other weeds up against my lawn in the undeveloped lot next to us was FULL of bees. At first I had assumed many of them were mimics, because I get so many flies that LOOK like honey bees in the deck planters. But many of these critters really were honey bees - we were all thrilled to know that, even with all the doom and gloom about bees these days, there were quite a few visiting our yards.

Now it's been a loooong time since my biology days, so I don't remember the exact rules. I think maybe flies have two wings and bees have four? I know you can't necessarily tell from the pollen sacks on their legs - I think I remember that some flies even mimic that with yellow parts on their legs? Maybe that's wrong...


Check out this cute little guy - definitely not a honey bee, but I'm guessing some sort of solitary bee. I've put out a little tube-nest for solitary bees, which right now is just resting in the railing on the side of the deck, but so far I haven't noticed anyone interested in it. I think I should probably move it up higher, maybe tuck it out of the way on the side of the house. Then again, considering how much "nature" we have all around us, it could be the solitary bees will have zero interest in my one little tube nest.


Now I think this next guy is a fly...not quite sure.


He was real busy working over the flowers.


I took these pictures late in the afternoon about a week after Dan and George had come by - and there weren't as many buzzing visitors in the flowers. I'll have to keep watching though... George even said it might be fun to try setting up a hive. That's something I'd love to do, but right now I don't need the expense/extra hobby, plus Brett worries neighbors would feel it's dangerous around their kids. OH well - seems like the bees are doing well enough without my extra help...

Yummy Chocolatey Goodness!!!

So Sara over at Sara's Kitchen recently posted a recipe for a chocolate brownie pudding cake that I've had in the back of my mind ever since... I HAD to make it. Soon!!! No matter what I'd be doing, images of that cake would pop up in my mind, and I'd think about what it might taste like.

It was all I could think about...

So this Thursday afternoon I knew I wasn't going to be slaving over making a new dinner - it was going to be a night of using up leftovers... I had some yard work that needed to be done, but that was mostly just running soaker hoses, and it was so hot out (reaching the 90s supposedly) that I wanted to stay in more than go out. Good enough reason to dirty some more dishes, and crank up the oven, right?

So you start off by making the cake batter, which is a bit unconventional with just 3 tablespoons of melted butter and zero eggs (this means it's low-fat people!), spread that in a greased pan, and then sprinkle on a mixture of cocoa and brown sugar.


Then you pour on boiling water!! Weird, right??


Bake that sucker up and what comes out looks like a nice, moist cake on top, but hidden underneath is a chocolate sauce that is sooooo good! And I like it even better at room temperature, when that sauce becomes more fudgy.


It's a super simple recipe, and again, low-fat. Sorry - I don't have any pictures of it scooped out. Sara does over at her blog, but her's is more fresh-out-of-the-oven saucy, and she went one step further by dusting it with powdered sugar.

Brett didn't seem too interested in this dessert. He's not big on the gloppy stuff, preferring more of a light, fluffy cake. That's fine - more for me!! The thing is, I need to polish this off ASAP because I'm eager to try a variant. I want to try mixing some orange extract or oil into the batter!!! How good should that be!? And then, when I wipe out that batch, I want to go at it again, but maybe stir in some coconut and almond extract. YUUUUM! And then there's mint.... HM!!

Oh, and as I said, it was a night of leftovers. We had the remains of some yogurt in the fridge after the Chicken Tikka Masala, part of a cuke in the crisper drawer (storebought - the homegrown ones are still no bigger than a half inch), and mint going BONKERS out in the garden. That had me wanting tzatziki (and I see there are tons of other spellings)...which I made up with some salt and garlic...but we don't have anything very greek to eat. So I decided to try thin slices of the cold leftover meatloaf in a small taco-sized tortilla with garden lettuce and tzatziki. It's ALMOST like a gyro - I even told myself the cold ketchupy topping was like having fresh slices of tomato.



Was it good? Eh, yeah, not too bad! I'd have it again sometime, but maybe warm up the meatloaf just a little bit to lose some of the firmness...

Let's get mulchy!

Last week was the biiiiig project I've been dreading for quite awhile (and to be honest, it turns out it's not done!). Some of the weeds were getting seriously out of control in beds that have never really had much work done to them, and in the beds that ARE pretty much established, some had gotten better treatment than others. So it was time for a major clean up and mulching...

To help suppress weeds from here on out, I decided to do what's worked well in a few test spots in the garden - putting down a layer of newspapers BEFORE mulching with the wood bark. I had planned on making a trip out to the recycling center dumpsters a day or two before the mulch delivery, and hoped my timing would work out that there wouldn't have been a pick up of the paper bins recently. On a whim, and this is one of the perks of working in a library, I asked our head of Periodicals if she happened to have any newspapers that were going to been recycled. BOY did she!


Sweet - no need to go dumpster diving!

Next, the mulch!

I never got out to do the measurements of the yard as planned, so the day before I wanted mulch delivered, I did a quick rough draft of the yard, estimated the size of each bed, and came up with a rough estimate of 6.7 yards of mulch if I wanted a 3" layer (there's some GREAT calculators out there online if you just search for them...). Ok, 6.7. Well, that's a strange number to order, and I wanted to cover my ass in case I under estimated anything, so I ordered 9 yards. Sue from work (who's just retired this week - BYE SUE!) recommended a place she really likes, and Emily (who also used to work at the Library, and lives in my neighborhood) has also used Gallagher's at Sue's suggestion, and had really nice mulch in her beds, so I placed an order for 9 yards.

Thursday morning came, and I was getting antsy - I wanted to get started! I finally started edging some of the beds and newspapering to get a head start. When the guy showed up with the first 5 yards, explaining his bigger truck was broken so he'd have to make two deliveries, I had him drop it off out back (good thing I put tarps down!).


I know it might not LOOK like much, but that five yards took the better part of an afternoon to spread around the yard.

Around lunch time the delivery guy showed up with the second delivery, saying I got a bonus yard. I jokingly thanked him for the extra work, paid up, and got back to work...


For some of the extra weedy areas I'd gone around a couple days earlier with Roundup (I know, I know - I'm TRYING to be more organic....but sometimes you just have to get tough!), which worked GREAT, but it turns out I had a little accident and didn't realize I was walking through the yard with the little handle pressed on the nozzle. Dumbass....


Let's hope that doesn't take too long to recover. (Oh, and would you believe there's another small spot in the backyard? jeez!)

Just to show how much fun it is doing this sort of work, I took a picture of myself on the second day. I should've done a "before" and "after", but instead only thought about it midday, after my shirt was already soaked in sweat (notice the "dry color" of the shirt near the bottom!). And yes, I know, the garden hat's SUPER sexy... Trust me, I need it! It soaks up A LOT of sweat, stops me from burning my scalp and ears, and the biggest reason I wear it is it keeps the deer flies off - those suckers BITE!! (Read that wiki link - you'll know why I don't enjoy them biting....and we have quite a few of them!)



After Brett got home from work the second day, he was laughing at my feet - the "pale, not-yet-kissed-by-the-sun" parts that are always covered in socks and shoes, and the part that DOES get a tan, plus lots of dirt, sweat and grime. Sexy, hunh?


"Back off! I'm dirty, sweaty, sore, and tired and don't you DAAAARE take a picture!!!!"


And after I'd taken a long hot shower, where you have to scrub every part more than once, I passed out on the chair while Brett put together dinner... You can see Doogie was wiped out from the yard work too!


Backtracking a little...Thursday nite, after I'd worked on the first 5+ yards of mulch, we had a major rain storm (we'd also had one the night before). We've had so much rain lately that I guess even the worms don't like it - I found this guy crawling on the outside of the living room window. Just FYI - this is about 8 ft off the ground!! (Maybe a bird dropped it?)


More fun... Sometimes I get what I've learned are called "tonsil stones" - also known as tonsilloliths. I have an irritation at the back of my throat for a couple days, and it feels like I have a small piece of popcorn husk stuck back there, and at some point it feels like something's knocked loose and is resting at the back of my tongue. These things are STINKY and taste NASSSSTY! This is the biggest one I've ever had - I wonder if it's tied to all the yard work and stuff I might've inhaled? That's my (very dirty) pinky next to it. (And yes, I still have my tonsils) I don't think I've ever had tonsillitis, and I've never had one to show a doctor for proof. I've learned what they are strictly from the interwebs. So I took this picture so I could SHOW THE DOCTOR sometime...just to get an opinion. (For what it's worth - the one in the picture is roughly half an inch across - the wiki implies that's a giant one!)


MORE fun - after the first afternoon of work, and before Brett came home from work, I came in, stripped off, was taking a shower, and noticed there was a spot of dirt up on my thigh. Odd - I wore jeans and a long sleeve shirt the first day - how'd I get dirt there? I brushed at it, and it flipped back and forth without ever leaving that spot.


Awwww crap! Doogie's had a number of tick in his fur or latched on this year - until we started the Frontline treatment. Now *I* have one!?!? I carefully finished my shower, making sure NOT to break the tick body from it's head, dried off carefully, got dressed carefully, and went to get the camera. I had to have proof of this - Brett would think I was joking around if I told him I had a tick but didn't show him.

Just after I took the pictures, the doorbell rang. It was Emily from down the street, with her daughter Miranda - they'd wanted to come by and see the gardens. Cool! Only maybe not the best timing since I was dealing with the tick... AND seeing how I'd JUST gotten out of the shower after a day of sweaty work, my body was still kicking out the sweat - I was drenched, and a bit nervous, and Doogie was hyper because we had a visitor. (Poor Emily and Miranda!)


Anyhow, after a number of attempts to get the tick off with tweezers (all those old school techniques where you coat/cover the tick in something or burn it are no longer recommended - it'll regurgitate back into the wound, possibly causing infection), I finally had Emily pluck it off. That suckerwas holding on TIGHT!!! The good news is we don't have to really worry about tick-related diseases in this area of Ohio...whew!

So after two days, most of the mulch was dispersed (there's still a LITTLE in the driveway I need to put out once the heatwave ends), the tick was removed, many of the weeds were also removed/conquered, etc... Only problem is...it turns out I need maybe another five yards of mulch!? AAAAAARGH! How'd that happen!!!

Oh well - it's a learning experience for future years, and the beds are gonna look REAL nice when I'm totally done. Right? Right!

RIP Farah

CNN.com just sent out email reporting Farah Fawcett lost her battle to cancer...

I have to say my most common memory/image of Farah was one that was pushed at us from every which was on posters, keychains and more when I was a kid:

A party to remember!

So this Wednesday was a very special day!! Shortly after I got home, I got to work on making a meatloaf mix, making sure I kept the onions/garlic separate from the entire mix (meaning TWO different pans to sautee the veggies) until after I'd separated some out into cupcake tins... So what might these be?


You'll just have to wait and see - but here's a hint (this came from Julie at work):



When Brett got home, the festivities started. First we had a trial run with trying to convince a puppy it WAS fun to wear a birthday hat!


"Look, see? It just slides on like this....and then you forget about it!"



"No no, just pretend it's not even there!"



Is this the puppy version of giving stink eye?



So a short while later things were all set up, and we called Doogie into the dining room! Boy was he surprised!!!


...partly because he thought he was done with all that hat shit!


But it wasn't just us - more guests arrived for the party! Here's Brett and Tucker doing a little dance...


Simon showed up for the party as well, wearing his finest fur coat. See how thrilled he is about wearing a birthday hat?


And I was really excited when Moxie showed up - she was a little late. Once she showed up, the festivities got started...



Note how EXCITED Doogie is about his surprise birthday party!


"Awwww, c'mon. Don't be bashful and try to run off. No no - don't try to run off!"


After the initial excitement was over, we realized that puppies can't blow out candles. (Boy was that embarrassing!) So Brett helped Doogie out with the candle...


Check out that super cool meat cake!!! That's two little onionless meatloaf "cupcakes" layered with canned cat food!! MMM MMM GOOD! (You may proceed to puke now - I won't be offended!)


In the time it took Brett to take the candle off the meat-cake, Doogie realized that goodie was for him and started inhaling it!


Dude! Pace yourself!


Well that didn't take very long...


Doogie wasn't the only one eating 'cake - the kitties all got smaller portions of the meat-cake "frosted" with canned kitty food.


Yum yuuuuum!!!!


Simon clearly loved his meat-cake!



"Hey, are you gonna eat that? I went through mine too fast..."


Once everyone finished their cake, it was time to open cards and presents!


Brett: "Doogie, this one is from your two daddies..."


Doogie: "Can I have more 'cake?"


And after cards, it was time for his present...


Why is it cats always want to be the center of attention?


It's a new Nylabone!!! This means I can throw out the other two chewed up ones that have all the little sharp pokies on the edges, which Doogie likes to drop on my bare feet.



More Brett partying it up with Tucker...


...and Simon....


And Moxie wanted to make sure she let Doogie knew how much she, um, loves him...


Not to worry - the critters weren't the only ones who ate well. Once the puppy party was all over, we got to settle down with our own tasty dinner!


Whew - I'm pooped! No more parties for awhile...

And don't worry - no puppies or kitties were hurt in the staging of these pictures. Humans? Well, we might've come close to getting slashed. ;-)