Summer Thoughts

It’s Sunday about 2 PM and I’m sitting on the deck at the Park house enjoying a lovely day. I’m “seasoning” the Masterbuilt Smoker that we bought last year but never used (we were at the Lake house most of the summer). After locating the directions - filed where I keep all our directions - I realized that before smoking it needed to be seasoned…. so the pork will be dinner tomorrow and I’ve defrosted a steak for tonight. Hope to eat outside and cook on the grill. Also will have pasta veggie salad and Copper Pennies. 

It was a busy morning as I worked around the house on a variety of things. Those chores you do daily - make bed, clean bathroom, empty dishwasher, plan the day’s meals if I wasn’t pro-active enough to do that the day before. Then today I continued to clean kitchen cabinets. The cabinets are a nice cherry wood and the ones by the stove are sticky from cooking. I did one side this past week first using soapy water and then Murphy’ Oil cleaner. Today I did the other side. I’m pleased with the results and did some other stuff in the kitchen so I’m feeling accomplished.

Some things I’ve been thinking about:

• I made Copper Pennies - a cold salad made from cooked carrots and a sauce that includes tomato soup. And I was reminded that my mom made this salad when I was a kid. And I had it again at a party we attended many years ago at the house of Sue P. And here I am…serving it to B and me. Strange how things go full circle.
• I often think of people when I pull a recipe to make. Cooking and friends go hand and hand. There is Nancy, a next door neighbor in S. Jersey, who gifted us with Magic Cookie Bars for Christmas - and I still make them and think good thoughts.
• Several good recipes came from Martha D. who was one of a group of friends we would get together with all over South Jersey. The group was comprised of faculty from B’s school. Martha made the most delicious sausage with peppers and mushrooms in a tomato sauce. I made that last week - yum! 
• Loretta S. made the BEST meat balls and gravy. While I follow the recipe the batch I made recently was not up to what I used to make. Don’t know if it’s our taste or the pork of today. A bit of both I think.
• My mother-in-law (Ma) was a great cook! She did a lot to encourage me to cook. I still make her pigs in a blanket and also her beet relish which is served with kalbasa.
• And then there is the serving plate that Dorothy, a neighbor several streets over when we were in Somerdale, gave me. It held some cookies and the plate that was one she had for a long time and wanted to give it to me. Now that was so sweet of her and I still use the plate and think of her though she passed a long time ago.
• I have my mom’s glasses and figurines and while I don’t use the glasses they are on display in my china cabinet. 
• When I retired, the kindergarten teacher, Phyllis, gave me a lovely bone china dish from her collection. Another teacher, Jerri, gave me some glass bottles that her husband found on their property.

Good memories….. and it reinforces the fact that what you give or share can touch someone’s life for a long time!

A Gloomy Sunday

It's been a busy week! Just doing little things around the house. I've been setting up a filing system in my office consolidating the files from both houses. While I do this I'm scanning files and uploading them to Evernote - a wonderful program I'm using to access things using computers or iPhone or iPad. I started using Evernote because I found that the file I wanted was always in the house I was NOT in! At first the major things was recipes. Something I use even though it's a recipe I've often made. I have both a recipe box and a rather full 3 ring notebook for all the recipes I've used and liked. Then there are the cook books I have (and I have a lot of cookbooks) where I mark the page up with notes. And naturally, some or all of what I wanted was not where I was! And then there are the zillion of pictures that I have and have been scanning and saving on the computer's hard drive. And, what if the computer dies....or a fire occurs.....or more likely, the computer is in one house and I'm at the other. So I searched for a filing system that would allow me to store files in the Cloud and access them on both PC and Mac computers as well as my iPhone and iPad. And Evernote fit the need. At first I used the "free" version to see if I liked it - yes I did! So I'm now paying for the middle level of membership which gives me more uploads a month. The fee structure just changed and the free version limits you to two devises and I have four. Need a recipe? no problem... Need to know the insurance policy number? no problem..... need to check to see when Honey's last vet visit was done? no problem. I just scan invoices and pages from books and magazines or clip pages from the web and save them to a folder and also provide key words. I find this most helpful to keep the recipes I run across and want to try... clipped from the web or emails from great blogs I follow, I save them in a file called "clipped and copied recipes" and then key word them for salad, beef, bread....and so forth. So I can search for grilling beef recipes while I'm watching TV and working on my iPad. 

And what did I do this week?

• Laundry - well that is a never ending task with several loads spread over the week
• General cleaning around the house we all do like vacuuming, bathrooms, dusting.......
• Working in what we refer to as the Oil Room which is a really nice large space in the lower level where we put in lots of plastic shelving and I store things. It's a pantry area, place for all the stuff we have accumulated over the years (in boxes or totes that are labeled), craft things, wreaths for the front door (it's amazing how much space they take) canning jars, Christmas stuff (lots of that with several trees and such)   Well, you get the idea. The area does look much better.
• I made a blueberry pie using Jersey blueberries I got from Shop Rite.
• Driving to go shopping or visiting family
• Binged on Netflix.... the past week it was the HBO series (3 seasons) The Newsroom a really, really good program that had a lot to say. If you have Netflix do check this out. I also am finishing up this past season of Blue Bloods with Tom Selleck. (it has been renewed for next season) I also watch Amazon Prime as we subscribe to Prime and have for over 5 years. 

And below, last Sunday's dinner - chicken on a beer can!

And a view of our back yard from the deck. 

We are using the deck a lot and really enjoy our view!

I'm Back!

Hi there! Back on line - let's just say June was a strange month.

One really nice thing about June is was we celebrated our 50th Wedding Anniversary! Yea, us!!!!  Below is a picture of me enjoying the fruit from a lovely bouquet of fruit - really yummy!

June also brings strawberries to NE PA and we were gifted with a nice large container of beautiful strawberries. Oh, what to make. Well, since I had gotten an ice cream maker for our anniversary I decided to use that... Here is what I did.

 First a bit of research. Sorbet is basically fruit and simple syrup. So first I made the simple syrup - equal amounts of sugar and water brought to a boil on the stove while diligently stirring. While that cooled, I started on the strawberries - first rinsing them and then stemming and cutting either in half or in quarters.

I then pureed them - 3 plus a bit made 3 cups of puree

After measuring out the 3 cups, I added to the puree 3 Tablespoons or 1 ½ oz squeezed lemon juice and 1 cup of the simple syrup that had cooled down while I was doing the berries. I then poured the mixture into the container.

Which was then "dropped" into the machine, covered and turned on.

This was really cool! The machine cooled the mixture and then it froze. The entire thing took about 50 minutes. The next day (I refrigerated the remaining berries on a large tray that I covered) I made a second batch that only took about 30 minutes - the berries and simple syrup were cold. 

The resulting sorbet was excellent!!!!  B and I really enjoyed it. Miss Honey was rather envious watching. 

Sorry, Honey, sorbet is for people! 

Rhododendron in Bloom

What a beautiful day today! The sun is out, the air is cool and crisp, many flowers are blooming and the grass was cut Thursday. We had rain over the weekend with heavy rain yesterday. This morning it was in the low 50s and is now in the low 70s. A strong breeze is ruffling the bushes and trees which are now green. Summer has arrived at the Park house and we are enjoying the day. I spent some time this morning weeding the flower bed by the driveway. All the rain has not only helped the plants but given the weeds a head start. I enjoy working in the garden and filled a bin with weed and clippings from the shrubs I cut back. Still a lot to do across the front of the house. 

When we bought the house two summers ago the front gardens needed some tender care but showed real potential. On one side of the house there are a number of rhododendron bushes that are now in full bloom. So lovely!

And in the back of the house, the shade of the trees provides a cool retreat. 

Binging on Netflix

Last week, after days of cool gloomy weather, Summer arrived bringing hot muggy days and hot muggy nights! A cold front came through yesterday and after some thunder storms really cooled things off. Today is bright and clear with temperatures in the low 70s around 10 AM. 

I have a confession to make - I binge on old TV programs and movies on Netflix. And because of the cool gloomy weather and lack of appealing programs on TV, over the past week or so I finished looking at all the episodes of Crossing Jordan, a show that was on TV for six seasons. I just love Netflix. I also looked at all the episodes of Boston Legal and Downton Abbey. To stream Netflix its only about $8, a bargain. I also have Prime on Amazon and get some programs included in the membership. I enjoy revisiting some programs but more often “find” and look at programs new to me. This past winter I watched season one of Madam Secretary and then enjoyed season two in “real time”. I prefer Netflix as I can look at the program when I want and don’t have to look at all the commercials.  Any suggestions on what I should watch next?