Birthdays & Moving In - Garden Shed

A week or so ago was my Dad's 78th birthday. My sister & I (along w/our sweet husbands) decided to cook a surprise lunch for him & his church members. We served Boston Butts, Potato Salad, Green Beans, Mac & Cheese, Salad, Rolls & of course cake & brownies. He was very happy & yes, even surprised.

We also gave him a gate alarm for his place up in the country. Like us, he has a very long driveway & sometimes people show up unannounced. With the gate alarm he will be able to hear them coming before they get up to the house.

Last Friday would have been my Mama's 80th birthday. I was thinking about a distant relative recently & thought to pick up the phone & call her with a question that only she would have known the answer to. Sad to think there are so many questions that will remain unanswered because there is no one left to ask. Sure do miss her.

This past weekend we finally finished the Garden Shed & was able to start moving in. I was originally just going to paint everything white because that was the paint that I had leftover from other projects. It was waaay too white! Didn't want to go to the store for a small can of colored paint so I looked around & found a tube of blue Easter egg coloring. It was too blue. I had some black acrylic that I added which toned it down to this very soft grey/blue color. Fine by me & I didn't have to make a trip to town.

I hope to have plenty of room for gardening things, paint supplies, canning jars, as well as Christmas Decor. We'll see just how long it takes to fill er up. Oh & still need to paint the back doors.

p.s. We also got asparagus crowns planted but didn't get a pic of the beds. Not much to see but I should take one just for documenting sake. Now to wait the 3 years it takes to be able to harvest & eat. That is, if they survive.....

Garden Shed Update

Many may remember that we bought a Garden Shed waaaay back in December 2013 (Garden Shed Delivery). We have worked on it here & there (mostly there) over the past 3 years (yikes 3 years go by fast!).

We wired it, installed press board walls, added a shed roof on the back in early 2015. Then it sat while we worked on the barn. We decided to finally get it done over Christmas break 2016. We added flooring & trim & had intentions of being finished but we ran into a couple of electrical problems. Got those fixed & last weekend we finally finished it. Well, I still have to paint but, after painting it will be ready to move in. Here are a couple of pics:

West End

East End

I know not many garden sheds have pretty laminate flooring but it was very cheap (the lowest price of any flooring, even vinyl, at the local big box store). Plus, it was a whole lot easier to install.

Ceiling Fan - found in attic - clearance sale over 4 years ago.

Left of Back Door

Right of Back Door

The tools are hanging on slatboard that Greg had for many years. Someone gave it to him & he thought, "I will be able to use that some day". He lined his office walls with it & had some left over which we used here. I couldn't resist going ahead & hanging tools & shelves on it even though I will have to remove in order to paint. 

I have a lot of stuff ready to move into it & I am promising myself to not take 3 years to get it painted! Will post more pics as that gets done.

He Wasn't Invited ....

But he showed up anyway. BP (Bi-polar for those that may remember) cousin let his cows into the fields to graze whatever was left from the last growing season. Mr. Bull here decided he had had enough of the girl cows & the grass looked greener on our side of the fence. He found a way in & decided to stroll around for a while.

Thank goodness he didn't actually take a bite of this little pine.

He is a fine specimen.

Standoff

He wasn't aggressive but Nelly didn't like the looks of that big thing. We left her on the screened porch so she wouldn't try to chase him off & get trampled. He finally had enough & eventually found his way back out. Gotta get my Dad to talk to his relative about fixing the area he got in.

In other news, the cranes were migrating. It's funny, you can hear them coming waaaay before you see them. They fly very very high but I was able to get just one shot that actually shows them looking like cranes. You have to biggify it to see.

My orange tree produced a few (& I mean very few) oranges this year. It was loaded with blooms but only produced 8 oranges. I thought they might be on the sour side but am happy to report that they are quite tasty.

A quick shot of the prime rib we had for New Years dinner. We froze 1/2 of it for later eating.

And last but definitely not least, here's Nelly in her Christmas sweater. She doesn't look too happy about it but she didn't mind it at all. Although it is a bit snug so she's on a diet now.

Healthy Vegetable (not) & My Creative Side

I love vegetables, I really do. In raw form, steamed, stir fried, baked, etc. Broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, squash, zucchini ... you get the picture. But sometimes you see a recipe & think to yourself, wow that sounds good.

I had a resolution for this year to only cook recipes that had been tried & true from friends, books or magazines. It seemed in 2016 that I tried too many Pinterest recipes that failed. Most times an ingredient was missing or the wrong amount was specified. The pictures looked beautiful but somehow it didn't taste even 1/2 as good as it looked. However, I saw this recipe for cauliflower patties that I really wanted to try.

Like with mashed potatoes, I usually always have leftover cauliflower. With potatoes I make a twice baked potato casserole or patties. So I decided to try the cauliflower patty recipe but didn't follow the instructions exactly. For instance, the recipe called for 2 eggs but when I broke my eggs they were both double yolks. I said ehh, I'll just add a few more bread crumbs & a little extra cheese. See, that's where the healthy vegetable becomes not so. I patted them out & fried (so not healthy again) them in a little oil. They were delicious! We had extra so I've frozen a couple to see how they stand up.

As a homage to Mama Pea committing to being creative this year I wanted to share a wreath I made just before Christmas.

It's made with a pool noodle & canning rings! I wanted it a little bigger than the instructions called for so I enlarged & used more rings. It is quite heavy. Also, the extra weight caused it to sag a little & become more oval but I still like it. I have great plans to get some more quilting done this year & to finish a few of my UFOs that are in my drawer. I'll post as I get around to them, hopefully.

Merry Christmas!

Tree from many years past (I think it was the tallest we ever had).... but still one of our favorites. May everyone be blessed to be with the ones they love & still have in their lives this year.

Wish I still had that Pena up on the wall....

Christmas Cactus

Just thought it was pretty ....

Tiny Houses, Big Tree / Little Tree & Stock/Broth

Wow, time does indeed fly by. Can't believe it's the end of the year already! Just a quick documentation of what we've been up to the past few weeks.

Went to a Tiny House Festival a few miles south of us. One of the most disorganized festivals we've ever attended. When we go to these things we usually go very early, get through & get out. We got to this one a bit late & the crowds were horrendous. Parking wasn't so bad but there was no rhyme or reason to it. The price of admission was ridiculous but we found out that the $$ were to go to various charities. So, in we went. We first encountered converted school buses & vintage cars & campers which were very cool.

However it soon became obvious that this was, as Greg called it ... a festival for the gathering of young & old hippies alike.

 By the time we made it over to the new tiny houses the lines were 30 & 40 people long!

Photo courtesy of FL Tiny House Festival.

We said, no thank you, walked around a bit more & then left to meet some friends for lunch.

The next weekend was Thanksgiving. We went to the country house & invited my In-laws over for dinner. We were supposed to eat around 2:00 but the turkey would not cook! The oven there has been slowly going on the blink & it decided to nearly stop working that day. We kept turning it up. It was on almost 400 degrees before everything finally got done. Well, the turkey never fully cooked by the bones but we got enough breast meat sliced to finally eat around 4:30.

We don't get much fall color in this part of the country but the sycamore trees usually come through with some. I planted one last year, I think. The big old sycamore in the branch was showing color & my little new one was as well. They matched, how sweet.

See the little one in the oh so brown field?

When we got back to the city I decided to go ahead & make poultry stock. I added a frozen chicken carcass to the turkey carcass. While I was at it I decided to go ahead & make some beef stock from some steak bones that were in the freezer. AND, while searching for the steak bones I found some raw pork, beef & lamb bones, so I decided to go ahead & make bone broth. I used the stove top for the poultry & beef stock & cooked/simmered it for about 24 hours. Since the bone broth needed to cook for about 48 hours, I used my trusty 18 qt. electric roaster for that (after roasting the bones in the oven for about an hour).

It took almost 4 days to cook, strain, sieve & can it all. The poultry stock came out the creamiest that I've ever made. The beef broth is ok. But, the bone broth is wonderful. I only had 2 jars of meat stock left in my pantry so this makes me happy to get this done. Here's a pic of the finished product(s) 52 pints total!

Poultry stock, bone broth & beef stock.

I think that catches me up for now. I'm in the process of shopping around for health insurance so got to get back on the web & phone to get that done, ugh. Next up is baking Christmas goodies.

Another Expo under my belt & Preparing for Thanksgiving - testing recipes

Not much happening around here since I last posted after Hurricane Matthew. After cleanup I packed & headed to the country. I had volunteered to work the Ag Expo again this year. Not much different than last year (2015 Expo) except for a few new veggies to display, plus they had a few white fly problems on several beds. Oh, & I had Nelly this year. The Expo is about 8 miles from our house so I left each day to go home to let her out & to change into cooler clothes each day. It got hot in the afternoons. It was a lot of work 7:00a - 5:00p each day, standing outside talking to strangers (w/1 hour break for lunch). Much like the job I used to have ...

Our refrigerator in the Country House died a few weeks back & when they brought out a new one they damaged the doors in the process. So, another new fridge was to be delivered while I was there. They got that one in on Friday & I finally found some time to rest over the weekend.

Came back to the city & haven't been doing much of anything except trying a few new recipes.

My friend Debbie gave me a recipe for broccoli casserole a few years ago. Instead of the one I used to make (w/Velveeta & water chestnuts), it is now my go to broccoli casserole recipe.

I made mustard chicken Monday night. Had some broccoli & cauliflower that I decided to roast with a red bell pepper (toss in olive oil, sprinkled w/s & p & bake on 375 for about 30 - 45 minutes). Served with some Quinoa cooked in meat broth & it was all very good.

We got a 1/2 cow recently, yes that's right a 1/2 a cow!!!! Of course that comes with brisket which I had never cooked before. I had the processor cut me 3 small briskets so that if the 1st or 2nd didn't turn out, then I wouldn't have ruined all of them. Yesterday I took out the smallest of the briskets & searched the Internet for a recipe. I settled on a braised recipe. Seasoned the brisket w/salt & pepper & seared all sides.. Removed from pan, added carrots & onion to the pan & then 2 T. of tomato paste. Then added 3 c. of meat broth, about 1 c. of red wine & a splash or 2 of red wine vinegar. Put brisket back in pan & put lid on to braise at 325 degrees for 1 hour in the oven. Then turned the oven down to 225 to let it finish cooking for about 2.5 additional hours. Very good.

I had the left over roasted broccoli & cauliflower & decided to make the famous Burgess Broccoli Casserole to go w/the brisket. I adjusted the recipe just a bit & here's my version:

1 small head broccoli & 1 small head cauliflower - roasted in S & P & olive oil
1/4 c. chopped onion (I used about 1 T. freeze dried shallots this time)
1 c. sharp cheddar cheese (shredded)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/4 c. mayo
1/4 c. sour cream
1 egg
Buttered bread crumbs (I prefer Panko) Plus, I added a bout 1/4 c. of freshly grated parmesan.

Roughly chop broccoli & cauliflower, add onion & cheese & mix until combined.

Mix soup, mayo, sour cream & egg.

Add to broccoli mixture, stir well & put in buttered casserole dish.

Top with buttered bread crumbs & bake for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Served brisket & casserole with real life mashed potatoes & it was another fine meal! Gotta stop cooking like this during the week. My waistline doesn't need to grow any more before the holidays, or maybe it does ....

Safe & Sound from Matthew (updated w/pics)

Wow what a storm! We got lucky this time. It was predicted to be off shore by only a couple of miles by Friday afternoon. However on Friday morning as it was moving up the east coast it started a slight turn east away from the coast. By the time it got parallel to us it was about 25 or 30 miles off shore. Enough to still have very high winds of 70+ mph but not the 100+ we were anticipating. By around 3:00p the winds started shifting & coming in from the Northwest which actually caused higher gusts.

LOTS of debris. 

Driveway, back patio & porches alone took around 3.5 hours to clear. We did those on Saturday & then tackled the yard on Sunday. 

Only one very large tree down, no damage done but it's got electrical wires tangled in it so we are going to let the power company take care of that.

Our power went out around 2:30p Friday & still hasn't come back on for us (72 hours & counting). There were over 250,000 w/o power from our utility Co. alone, not counting surrounding counties. They are telling us we'll be back online by midnight tonight but they haven't even driven down our road to assess the damage. 

We have generators going. They run our pump so we have running water & both refrigerators & freezer are powered along with a few light & receptacles. We are/were prepared but so many weren't. Of course, those are the ones complaining the loudest.

We have a gas grill as well as a gas cooktop so no problem preparing meals. We've had breakfast casserole (made ahead of time), grilled sausages, steaks & twice baked potatoes (taken from freezer & put in cast iron covered w/tin foil). Plus other casseroles taken from freezer & easily heated by putting in a pan on the cooktop, getting the pan hot then turning to low & covering. Only problem is that I had to move my coffee pot to a different plug, oh the horror ... lol.

We went to check on Greg's business Saturday morning & the lines for all the fast food places was ridiculous! Plus, many street lights were out & should have been treated as 4 way stops but it seems that no one knows how to do that. People can be so stupid.

Greg's business is fine but he doesn't have power either. He opened today & is running registers off of a generator. 

It could have been so much worse so we are thankful for our safety & the fact that we have provisions so we don't have to run around town trying to find gas & supplies.

Hurricane Matthew

This one is huge & is expected to skirt right by us Friday afternoon & evening. To add insult to injury we have had a Nor'easter sitting over us for the past 2 days. It is windy & raining as I type this but has nothing to do with the hurricane. It is just making the ground saturated which loosens up the soil and makes trees fall & limbs break easier than normal.

All of the coastal areas around here are being evacuated & even some inland areas near rivers & streams. We are just outside of the evacuation area & so will be staying put here in the city.

I do need to go by a few more plastic tarps, just in case, but we are well set for food & water, just need to move a few things into the garage.

It's a good thing too because all the store shelves are pretty much empty & the gas stations are running out of fuel. Grocery stores are supposed to get re-stocked today but I'm sure will be wiped out as soon as things are put on the shelves. This pic of the bread aisle was taken by a friend at 2am this morning.

And just about the only thing left for pre-prepared meat products.

Our generator is ready to be cranked up if need be & will run fridges & freezer as well as a few plugs inside the house so we can have lamps & fans running. Our biggest worry are the trees but can't do anything about those so we will hunker down until it is over.

Hope anyone in the path stays safe & dry.