Oscars Night

Last night I hosted my Second Annual Oscars Watching Party!  I put up my decorations inside the house. This year even saw the addition of a red carpet.

I also put out enough food to feed seven armies.  Or at least, to feed a dozen girls as they vigorously judged celebrity outfits.

I was excited to have all three of the new Lays flavored chips to serve!  I'm not a huge lays fan but just had to know what Chicken and Waffles chips tasted like.  I think the Sriracha flavored one were my favorite.

It was a fun night with awards for Oscars Bingo and then I guess I can't complain about the Oscar Ballot contest since I took home the winning pot!  Is it wrong to invite people over and then take all their money?  At least it's an improvement over last year when I took home the least correct predictions award.

The awards ran a little late but good times were had by all!

Halloween Recap

Last night marked my second Halloween in my new house.  Sidenote, not sure when my house officially stops being my new house but just go with it.  To prepare for the night I first did some basic housekeeping.  My front lightbulbs were swapped out with ones that actually function.  I never even realized I had 3 out.  Then came a little clean up.

Up close everything looked in order but my sidewalk and driveway were covered with millions of acorns.  I did a pretty big sweep a week ago but they just keep dropping.  I had also slacked on getting any fall color planted. 

My trip to Home Depot for plants was pretty sad.  They only had small mums left and the colors just weren't that nice.  I opted for all yellow flowers since they were the most cheerful available.  I got 3 mums, a yellow lantana and a couple of yellow pansy plants.

Nothing too spectacular but it was the best I could do on a Tuesday night.  Hopefully they will blossom and look wonderful for Thanksgiving.  After cleaning up the front, I made sure I was stocked up on candy.  Props to Mom for letting me know about the candy body parts at Target. They are pretty awesome. 

All my preparation paid off and Halloween at my house was a success!  Here are my stats and how they measure up against last year.

Time

• 2011 - My first trick or treater showed up at 6:30, lights off at 8:20
• 2012 - My first doorbell rang at 6:17, lights off at 8:30

Kid Count

• 2011 - 44 tiny people
• 2012 - 45 tiny people

I had a little bit more candy left over this year but that's because I bought 4 bags.  I would say the majority of my trick or treaters were 6 and under.  I had some very cute costumes and a few I couldn't figure out (but didn't want to insult the kid so I didn't ask).  All in all is was a blast and I look forward to next year!  Maybe I'll get 46 kids.

End of Summer Garden Update

Well summer is on it's way out but with temps still in the 80s and 90s my garden is still growing.  I know you've all probably been on the edge of your seats wondering what was going on with the garden.  It went through a bit of a rough spell and I lost several boxes.

 The weather was so hard on my peppers they were turning bright red but only growing to the size of a gumball.  The peak of August heat caused my tomatoes to quit producing and many branches of the plants to brown.

September's cooler temperatures and rain gave many of my veggies a whole new life.  Just look how much they've grown!  I have tons of peppers coming in and growing to normal sizes.  And the okra is doing great as well.

My tomatoes are still pretty sad.  They seem to be growing outward, escaping the box.  They are starting to flower so who knows, maybe I'll get a few more tomatoes out of them.

My baby carrots were a huge flop.  I finally just pulled them all out.  They look fine...until you realize just how tiny they are, about the size of the first joint of your fingertip.

I will definitely be doing more peppers and tomatoes next year.  I might do okra again as well as squash, but I look forward to coming up with some new flavors to add next spring.  If the weather cooperates, my peppers may still be coming in for a few months!  I still haven't researched what I can plant in the winter months but I'll let you know as soon as I have it all figured out!  My first growing season has encouraged me to keep it up!

Too Hot for Home Improvement

As temperatures cruised past 100 this weekend, I was just too hot to get anything done.  I especially couldn't seem to cool down all day Sunday.  I couldn't motivate myself to mow the lawn.  I broke a sweat just switching out loads of laundry.  I even got worried for a second that I might be getting sick because I was so hot.  But then the dogs started panting.  I went and checked my thermostat and it was a balmy 85 in my house!  The AC was running but was not actually cooling the air.  Ugh.  At least now I don't feel as lazy.  I have no clue when it went out but by Sunday evening it was like living in a sauna.  I spent most of the night awake, sweating, and covering my body with various bags of frozen vegetables.  Here is Stewart posing with some edamame.

Around 4am we all headed to the backyard for a while to play.  It was only 80 out there and my house was nearing 90.  It was quite the all nighter.  Sadly my AC people can not come out until tomorrow morning so it looks like we will be pulling another one tonight.  Send cool thoughts our way.  Or more frozen peas.

Iron Chef: Produce

My friend Anna sent me an email last week to try out a produce (and more) delivery service, Greenling.com, for free.  I immediately signed up to try a Local Box.  Basically, they deliver hand picked produce from farms around Texas based on what is in season.  I've enjoyed the forced creativity of preparing all the food I've been harvesting from my own garden so this would just up the challenge.  Thursday night, as promised, my Greenling box showed up on my porch.

I had seen a list of what was going to be in last week's box but I was still blown away by my bounty.

My delivery came with a list of the contents, including what farm each item came from.  The back of the list had several suggested recipes.  Anna and I had our own little version of Iron Chef over the weekend, cooking our way through the food and texting our results.  The first challenge I tackled was fresh pinto beans.  Prior to this weekend my only experience making beans involved a can opener.  I have never even attempted dried beans. 

Now these aren't much to look at but they tasted amazing.  I cooked them with garlic and chili powder and then added a little sriracha before eating.  The next day I made the suggested Watermelon and Cucumber salad with a balsamic vinegar and oil dressing.

Another success!  As a matter of fact I'm having leftovers with my lunch today.  After all that healthy eating, I decided to really dive into this and use Greenling's recipe for Fried Green Tomatoes.  While I was in the frying mode I added in some of the okra from my garden.  I also winged my own stuffed portabello mushroom recipe after reading several recipes online and just going with whatever I had on hand (cheese, bread crumbs, garlic, onion, jalapeno).  It might not have been the healthiest meal but boy was it tasty!

Tonight I plan to grill some pork and my fresh peaches and then grill up a little zucchini to go with it.  It has been fun forcing myself to cook (and eat) things that I don't usually buy when I grocery shop.  Not to mention everything probably tastes 100x better than what I would buy in a grocery store.  Thanks to Anna for sharing this site with me.  Hopefully I'll be able to get fresh produce delivered once a month or so.  I might even branch out and try some of the fresh meat and dairy Greenling offers as well.