Billy Mays and and my tomatoes

I was so excited about putting up my garden pictures I forgot I was supposed to show off the fruits of my Topsy-Turvy's labors. They are green, but despite the rain they are still very early. This plant is enormous! It seems to already be too heavy to twist itself back up toward the sun. Oh yeah, we haven't had any sun, so maybe that's the issue.

Here's a closeup of the problem spot. Maybe I should have hung it off the deck.






In other news, I'm really sad about Billy Mays dying. I just wrote 2 months ago about how much I was really liking his show Pitchmen. He seemed like a really decent person and good at his job. What a terrible thing. Ironically, i think the topsy turvy is one the only As Seen on TV product he hadn't pitched. I have a sudden need to by a box of Oxyclean...

Ladies and Gentlemen- we have a garden!

It's been a long time since I posted last! Nothing huge to report in all that time. Pretty much rained everyday since, so until today there hasn't been much summer activity. The topsy turvy is working, maybe a little too well, but I'll get to that in a bit. The Headline here is, thanks to a gorgeous sunny and bright day, Peter and I were able to get started a small herb garden! Here's how it went, in pictures.

First, we started with this rectangle of dirt that we dug out about 3 weeks ago (about the last time it wasn't cold and rainy), and dragged over one of the railroad ties left over from the old garden.


Next Peter digs down so we can secure the tie in as a retaining wall,



and shows good form with the grub axe! We pretty much did all the designing as we went along, because the site was at such a slant that all these problems arose as we worked. We weren't about to start sawing railroad ties, so we just had to make do with the sizes we had.



I think it worked out very nicely! Did I mention that it's very hot out here?



Okay, so I got excited when I saw that it was all working out and forgot that I was supposed to be taking pictures in stages. Here we built up the walkway and added flagstones, bulked up the beds with topsoil and built a little stone border with stones from the old garden.


Here's a picture of it from the lower bed looking up. You can see that the garden is in levels, which is how we dealt with the hill.



And, VOILA! Beautiful herbs finish off the upper level of the garden! It looks a bit like an episode of I Dream of Jeannie, I suppose. But, honest, it was a lot of work for one afternoon. Here's another picture of the finished top level:



We ran out of steam before getting to the bottom, but that will be easy compared to what we did today. Ahhh, summer is finally back! What a treat to finally get outside in the sun!

Sometimes you gotta break down and buy the "As Seen On TV" Thingy.

So my garden tragically has been destroyed- my church, my palace. It had to be demolished to make way for a brandy-new septic tank. The location of my beautiful wedding almost nine years ago has been literally reduced to a pile of rubble. I keep telling myself it could be worse- but in my little world it's pretty bad. The garden is a huge part of my summer pleasure, and that includes my summer diet. There really is nothing quite like a stir fry made with vegetables that literally just came off the plant that I grew from seed. But the thing I knew I'd miss the most- tomatoes! I eat 3-4 tomatoes per week during my harvest time- a freshly picked tomato is a whole different creature than the ones from the supermarket.

So, today I went out and bought... a "Topsy Turvey". It's hideously ugly, and it will not even come close to bringing me the pleasure that gardening did, but at least I will not be deprived of my Early Girls.

So whatever, it is what it is. I will be curious to see if it really does produce good tomatoes, though.

Incidentally, I've been watching the new show on the Discovery Channel, "Pitchmen", which stars Billy Mays and Anthony Sullivan. You know Billy Mays, the guy who screams and hollers about Oxyclean? It's hysterical, but also very interesting to see how these inventors come up with their products and get Billy and Anthony to make a commercial about them. Brilliant idea.

Growing Out My Bangs

I've given up on the barettes, because they don't stay in my slippery straight hair, and they make me feel like I have a comb-over. This is at least the 20 millionth time I've tried to do this, but this time I'm determined to not give in to the urge to cut these stabbing hairs from out of my contact lenses. Here's hoping it's worth it!

Cookie Conundrum

So, my beautiful little niece turned two last week. It was alot of fun to see her all dressed up and feeling like a little hot shot. It was a really nice party, too.

These are the cookies that I made for the occasion! They are from a very unusual recipe that I found and adapted from epicurious, they're a cross between a meringue and a macaroon. I heard that there were going to be guests at the party who are wheat and gluten intolerant, so i needed to find something that didn't include any wheat flour. !!!! Cookies without FLOUR?

I was skeptical that a cookie without any flour could be any good. I like my cookies to have that chewy-ness that (I thought) only flour can do. Well, these were delicious. If you love almonds, coconut and sugar, these little babies are like a chewy piece of heaven! YUM.

Here's the recipe. It's a little fussy to make, but I think it's worth it!

5 large egg whites
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond extract
1 1/3 cups sugar
7 ounce package sweetened coconut lightly toasted
3/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted, cooled, ground

To toast almonds, spread out evenly on a baking sheet and bake on 375 for about 8-10 minutes, or until they start to turn golden brown and fragrant. Cool completely and grind up with a food processor if you have one. (I used a parmesan cheese grinder, and it worked great, though not as fast!)

Toast coconut the same way, but stay right on top of it, stirring with wooden spoon so it doesn't burn. Cool completely.

Preheat oven to 275°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Place egg whites in large bowl; add vanilla and almond extract. Using electric mixer, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, beating until meringue is very thick (similar to marshmallow creme), about 5 minutes. Fold in coconut, then almonds. Drop batter by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared sheets, spacing mounds 1 1/2 inches apart.

Bake macaroons until pale beige outside and dry-looking (insides will still be soft), about 25 minutes. Transfer baking sheets to racks; cool macaroons completely.

If you really want to go crazy with it, you can melt down semisweet chocolate to dip them in. I didn't bother with it, but next time I might see how that works!

A Toast to St. Valentine....

I used to dread this "holiday". Not because I didn't have a valentine- actually, it was when I did have one that I used to dread it the most! It was the inevitable box of chocolates, or stuffed bear, or cheap jewelry, or gigundo hersey's kiss. I couldn't care less for any of that crap! "OH! A teddy bear holding a box of choclates and heart-shaped gold-like bracelet, how... nice...."

I sound like a meany. But honestly, I never put much stock in Valentine's, and always made a point to not celebrate it on principle! Until I met Peter. Now I embrace the holiday, our way. Homemade cookies, a walk in the woods, a candlelight dinner at home, and a vase full of red parrot tulips make for a really nice day. When you're with your best friend, anything is perfect. I don't guess we need this particular holiday, as we can be found doing this sort of thing on any given weekend, but who am I to argue with a good excuse to break out the champange glasses?

A Toast To St. Valentine: illegal marry-er of sweethearts and martyr of romance, may we always mark your holiday with a message like thine, "Love Always, your Valentine".

Log Cabin Fever and Education Frustration

This is not old (i actually just made these last month), but I did already post my log cabin throws on my facebook and spread it around. I love them. I love that they match the Denise Schimdt coasters that I also made! I love making things for our space. It's a great feeling to know that I can look around and say,"I think we need new coasters," and make what I want out of whatever I have!

I didn't have anything "brand new" to post, because I'm taking a class that leaves me feeling kind of ...blah. I hate to complain, but anyone who knows me knows my travails with higher education. To be specific, I have generally had terrible luck with instructors, and this semester is no exception. I'm almost done, I tell myself. Just this (required) class, and one more of my choosing and I'm done with this phase of my program.... but my motivation is shot and my creativity and drive for my assignments is close to dried up. Last semester, I had an incredible teacher. I was really proud of all I had accomplished and my confidence was really climbing. He had an excitement and energy that was so very contagious. I felt like I was really learning and growing as an artist and a designer.

This semster it seems like slogging through mud.

Now, I have recently learned to try to give people some slack before I pass judgement. Some people have miserable lives- and sometimes the people that are especially exhausting and annoying turn out to have such trouble that you feel bad for ever getting irritated with them. But it seems that more often then not, the people that are supposed to be the "professionals" teaching a class, seem so miserable to be there, they can barely get through 5 minutes without a sarcastic remark or derisive sneer. Look, I'm paying $900 for this course. While I hate to admit that money skews my judgement in matters of personal interaction, that 900 smackeroos has severly shortened the amount of slack I'm willing to give a teacher. Aren't we all suffering alittle? Don't we all sometimes have to take a job we would rather not do? I obviously want to take the course- the proof our hard-earned dollars that I was willing to part with. I'm eager, interested, and hard working. Why does this have to be expensive and miserable?

Only 11 more weeks to go....