Beans and Leeks and Peaches, Oh My!!

Humongous, bright pink Hibiscus at the
Farmer's Market this morning....

Yet another gorgeous Saturday morning and another fun visit to the NC State Farmer's Market. I'm so thrilled that my husband now joins me for these little trips and seems to enjoy it as much as I! It used to be only me who would go, which is fine, as I can walk around the market for a couple of hours with no problem. (our Farmer's Market is 75 acres big, so there is plenty to see!) Sal is more a 'get what you came for and leave' type of a shopper. I do coax him through the other buildings though and he'll usually find something new and yummy to try like homemade Chow-chow or jam or two. Either way, it's a fun morning out for hubby and wife. Wife especially likes it because it gives me a chance to snap off some photos. Today they are courtesy of my phone, which I have to say, does a pretty darn nice job in a pinch. You sure can find some gorgeous shapes and colors at the Farmer's Market for sure......

There are loads of peaches still....(new recipe below!)

a sea of peanuts....

green beans....

turnips--I don't eat them, but they take
a pretty picture!

With peaches in such abundance right now, I've been searching for new ways to use them. Peach Bread, anyone?! Try out this recipe!! It is super delicious eaten alone with coffee or with a little cream cheese on top or try it lightly toasted with butter.....ok, I'm drooling now....

Peach Bread

1 1/2 cups sliced fresh peaches
2 cups chunked fresh peaches
6 Tablespoons sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
2 eggs
1 cup finely chopped pecans (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Place 1 1/2 cup sliced peaches and 6 Tbls sugar in electric blender and process until pureed. Mix with the 2 cups of chunked peaches.

In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, soda, salt and cinnamon; set aside. Combine 1 1/2 cups sugar and butter; cream well. Add eggs and mix well. Add peach puree, peach chunks and dry ingredients, mixing only until ingredients are moistened. Stir in pecans (if using) and vanilla. Spoon batter into 2 well-sprayed 9x5x3 loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes or until done. Cool 10 minutes in pans; turn out onto rack and let cool completely
Makes 2 loaves

Riding The Storms Out....

Hurricane Fran (1996) from space

I've been through 4 hurricanes. The first was Hurricane Floyd in 1987 when I was living in Ft. Myer's, Florida. The next three were here in Raleigh: Hurricane Fran in 1996; another Hurricane Floyd in 1999 and Hurricane Isabel in 2003. Hurricane Earl is doing his thing out on the North Carolina coastline as I type this. I'm about 3 1/2 hours inland from the NC coast, so I think all we're getting from Earl tonight are lots of clouds and little extra breeze. Thank goodness.

It is very humbling to sit inside your house looking out your windows at full-grown trees, bending toward the ground like they were made of rubber. You hear things crashing into and against your house and you can't go check on it because of windows possibly blowing out or something coming through your house. You are pretty darn helpless. It's gotta be what it's like for the midwest states when they deal with tornadoes. You do all you can to prepare, but there is only so much you can do except ride the storm out and then wait for the silence.......and it's an eerie silence. In a hurricane, this is the eye. Then part two cranks up.

The first sound you'll hear the next morning are chainsaws as some neighbors will already be out cutting trees that have fallen on houses or across roads and driveways. Everyone checks on each other and you help who needs it. Then you survey your damage. We've been soooo lucky through all of these to not have had any major damage done to our house. Lots of debris to pick up, but no damage. I hope the NC coastline and all my buddies out there do ok tonight.....I'm thinkin' about you!

The Miracle Marriage....Mine!

Today, Sal and I celebrate our 19th wedding anniversary. Look at those two youngsters! We had no idea what our future would hold at that time. We didn't know that we would move 9 times in 18 years. We had no idea that we would be blessed with a gorgeous daughter. We certainly had no idea that we were tough enough and strong enough to withstand some of the road-bumps that we would encounter in our time together either....

Along with all the great times, laughing and loving, there have been some truly rough and tough times. Most of them brought on by me. I was a mess. I was 'married' to a job that almost worked me to death at times, that caused me to come home in tears on quite a few occasions, that kept me out til all hours of the night and morning hanging out in places I had no business being in. But I loved it. Being in radio is a pretty intoxicating (no pun intended) career. Back before the business came under hard financial times, you got to fly places, stay in fancy hotels, hang with celebrities and alllllll that comes with that lifestyle. And I drank it up! (Pun fully intended). There was excessive socializing, carousing, drinking and partying and again.....I loved every minute of it. All the while, my husband kept the home-fires burning because he knew it was 'part of the job'. It was becoming more than just 'part of the job' though. It was all becoming a problem and thanks to some truly divine intervention about six and a half years ago that took us to California, I finally got my life straightened out.

A little over four years ago, Sal & I walked into a church together in a small suburb of San Diego called Rancho Bernardo. Both of us began an amazing transformation almost instantly and both of us accepted Christ into our lives only weeks later. I gave up the firewater, I lost 140 lbs, changed my behavior, got my priorities straight and started living a clean life--inside and out. Sal & I were both baptized at sunset in the Pacific Ocean at La Jolla Shores back in August of 2007. God gave us a clean slate and life anew and with our baptism together, as husband and wife, we gave each other a clean slate. It has taken our marriage to a whole new level of awesome-ness.

So, Happy Anniversary, baby. I thank God for you and I thank you for stickin' with me. I'm a lucky, lucky, lucky lady.

Us this past December 2009

Lazy Daze Festival....

The Town of Cary Lazy Daze Festival is going on as I write this. Sal and I were up early to hit it first and beat the crowd. HA! It started at 9, we got there at 8:45 and it was already packed. Artisans to the right and to the left as far as the eye could see. There are some amazingly talented people out there doin' what they love, that is for sure. Booth after booth after booth of painters, sculptors, jewelers, wood carvers, sewers, tin-workers.....oh the list goes on and on. I bought one thing and that was a leather hair cuff. There was lots I would've loved to have if money were no object, but alas, not the case! Here are some pictures......

I love this mosaic mushroom piece...

Homemade wooden puzzles of all shapes....woof-woof.

This guy makes guitars out of license plates. He'll
do whatever state you want. This was the
Wyoming guitar. There was a lady in his booth
ordering 2 California guitars (at around $300 each!)

This metal lizard was tooo cool....

Gorgeous metal flower picks to add to your garden....

This face jug cracked me up. The bug
on his nose landed just before I shot the
picture. He so belonged there!

PB&J 4-ever!!!

Cassie's been back at school as a 7th grader for about a week and a half now and I think we've fallen back into the routine pretty effortlessly. My big responsibility every month is to print out the monthly school lunch menu and post it on our fridge. There, Cassie will mark off the days she will take or buy lunch. That in turn helps me plot out my grocery list for the upcoming weeks. Bread--check. Cold cuts--check. Fruit cups--check. Peanut Butter--check, check!

There was an article in the local paper today entitled "Not PB&J AGAIN! Liven Up The Lunchbox". BLASPHEMY! I had to laugh because one of the sandwich 'alternatives' they have pictured and suggested is a cucumber sandwich. My daughter would be trading that off to some unsuspecting 6th grader for something else, I'm sure! I still to this day believe that the PB&J is one of the finest sandwiches out there. The wonderful balance of sweet strawberry jam (my fav) slathered onto a almost-too-thick layer of chunky peanut butter with it's crunchy and slightly salty yumminess......mmmmmm. Think about it, in culinary worlds, the PB&J was waaaaay ahead of it's time with the whole 'sweet and salty' combo!

Now, I don't eat it every day and neither does Cassie--she'll opt for ham every once in a while--but the PB&? is standard. '?' you ask? Yep. Cass is creative, I have to say. Sometimes it is a PB&J, sometimes it's PB&F (that's PB and Fluff--we called that a Fluffer-Nutter). Occasionally it's a PB&H (honey) or PB&AB (apple butter). They're alllll good!

I've been reminded by my middle-schooler that the insulated lunch bag is still a must and they have to be cool looking and colorful, too. Before we roll our eyes at the notion of keeping-up-with-the-Kardashians with our insulated lunch bags, remember when we were kids? We wanted the latest lunch box with the latest and coolest action figure or tv show on the outside, didn't we? Yep! Charlie's Angels, Battlestar Gallactica, Fat Albert--they were the good ones to have. Ya know what lunch box I had in elementary school? A US Mail lunchbox. I am pretttttty sure it was not one of the cool ones. But I do understand now that that US Mail lunchbox may be worth some money!!! I bet my Mom still has it....can you say....Ebay?!

This was my lunchbox!

Farm to Fork....

The outing to the Farmer's Market this weekend netted quite a bit of fresh goodies: peaches, tomatoes, okra, corn, lima beans and one honey stick for my daughter (her weekly request) from the Bee Blessed Pure Honey stand. How can you not love their name?!

I. love. okra. Unfortunately for my waist-line, I like it fried and as often as possible. However, I tried a new recipe last night out of the August edition of Southern Living magazine that showcased okra in an un-fried manner and it was outstanding! I used Chorizo instead of the smoked sausage only because I had it on hand. I think ground turkey, ground beef or cubed chicken would work wonderfully as the meat in this dish. It would be equally good with no meat, to be honest.....or with some pasta! It cooks up very fast, so it's a good last minute meal. Here's the recipe:

• 1/4 pound spicy smoked sausage, diced
• 1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
• 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 cups fresh corn kernels
• 1 cup sliced fresh okra
• 1 cup peeled, seeded, and diced tomato (1/2 lb.)
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Preparation

Sauté sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat 3 minutes or until browned. Add onion, bell pepper, and garlic, and sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Add corn, okra, and tomato; cook, stirring often, 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Post-rain.....

We've had some pretty hefty thunderstorms roll through our area these past few days and it looks like another is brewing in the distance for tonight. I wandered through the backyard and noticed how all the plants and flowers have enjoyed the extra dose of water. Everything is greener and some flowering plants that hadn't flowered in awhile, were flowering again! While I was out snapping photos, I got buzzed by two hummingbirds who, I'm going to assume, were saying 'thank you' for re-filling their feeder earlier today. I love those little guys, but they sure do make a lot of noise when they buzz an inch away from your head......

....a teeny-weeny little fern.....

honeysuckle...

I have no idea what this is, but I like the
gorgeous purple berries on it....

....even though it's still a hot-as-Hades August,
this reminded me of Fall.....

ahhhh...my gorgeous Hibiscus has been
blooming like crazy this week thanks
to all the extra rain....

"Almost any garden,
if you see it at just the right moment,
can be confused with paradise."

~Henry Mitchell~