Saturday trip to the Farmers Market

Here it is, August, and I just finally went to my first Farmers Market of the summer! 

The day was warm, the sun was shining, the iced coffee was out of this world, and the variety of fruit, vegetables, & flowers were outstanding.  The coffee was so good in fact that I may have to go back this week just to find out the secret!

Applecrest Farm's Peach Festival is fast approaching. Very seldom do I go there though as the fair-like atmosphere doesn't appeal to me. But it is a nice place to visit when the kids go back to school ; )

TCC: Totally Cool Carrots

I shouldn't say it but I really dislike this picture of me. I have a thing about standing up straight. Plus I'm squinting. But at the same time ... whatever!

My daughter looks relaxed and happy though! Her usual demeanor. 

Tonight we had Blue Fingerlings with dinner. First I microwaved them in a bowl with water, then cut them up, threw them in a frying pan with butter, salt, pepper, basil, & rosemary, and fried them up to a light crisp on the outside. Excellent!

My husband was craving some of the cooked food at the farmers market because ... ahhhh .... it smelled SO good! Instead he just had coffee and ate lunch at home. 

Speaking of my husband ... this is him buying a huge onion. What we will ever do with it I have no idea. He thought they looked excellent though so home one came with us! He is officially in charge of cooking dinner the night we use the onion!

Look at all that fresh, local flavor! And oh how I love the Limelight Hydrangeas! If only there were a little more room in my garden to plant one. 

Have you been to the Farmers Market this summer? If so, are there particular items you always buy?

Just a little something . . .

Two weeks away. Where has the time gone? 

It always feels good to be back, especially when I have something pretty to post. 

I've continued to hold true to my word of keeping flowers in the house throughout Winter and will continue to do so until I can bring flowers in from the garden. If you don't have any of your own I suggest you go buy some! The roses I've been buying are the small spray roses, and at $3.99 a bunch you just can't go wrong. The florist had some out of code carnations marked down to $.99 so I bought those too and mixed them in.

She also had loads of bright orange and yellow mums that someone over ordered and were also marked down to $.99 a bunch so I bought two bouquets for the girls bathroom and put them into one large container. Its like a greenhouse in here and I love it.

So I think I have found my dream vacation spot. 

Yesterday I started browsing around Google Street Views and thought, 'Hey, why not go to Paris and see the Eiffel tower!' and so I did. Did you know you can go to different countries? I never even thought about it before. So then I drove around Champs Elysees and down a few side streets. Lots of people, shops, restaurants, and plenty of cars, but beautiful scenery.

From there I just had to go to Positano, Italy. Did you ever watch the movie Under the Tuscan Sun? It's one of my absolute favorites and you can view it here. The guy she met in the market and had the one night fling with lived in Positano. 

Positano looks like a gorgeous place.Water sparkles on the bays like a million diamonds, while houses seemingly stacked almost one on top of the other grace rocky hillsides accessed by simple narrow streets. (Positano map) You can see it for yourself by dragging the little orange person down to the blue lines. I would suggest zooming in on the map a bit first though as it will make it easier to find the streets. Just to the right of Chez Black has a gorgeous view!  Maybe you've actually been there yourself, in person? My girls were making fun of me because they thought it was a silly thing to look up online but I think its pretty cool. Technology is amazing! We obviously don't travel much but maybe one day that will change. 

What a marvelous way to check out a vacation destination before you make reservations!

The days just keep growing longer. Hard to believe we will be springing forward on March 11th. Sounds good to me! A few of my daffodils have just started to poke up out of they ground. I gave them a cease and desist order until at least March. Hopefully they listened ; )


Today I cut Forsythia and brought it in to force.

I was struggling to photograph the flowers before the sun sunk to low. The shots below are just before sunset. Often times I think it's the pretties sun of all with long shadows and golden colors.

Lots of hooting and hollering going on in the family room tonight during the Superbowl. Seeing as how we live in the heart of Patriot country I guess it's to be expected. I don't watch sports but I loved the half-time show, even though I'm not a big Madonna fan. It was SO much better than last year with the Black Eyed Peas. Oy!

Oh, did you have a favorite commercial? Tomorrow I'll try to watch some of them online.

Hope your week is a good one!

Strawberries

Let me preface by saying I am definitely NOT a food photographer! There's still so much for me to learn in this area but I want to try and challenge myself a bit, shooting more still life, which includes food. I think these images may be a bit over-processed but with time, and practice, maybe I'll get the hang of it.


Lately the girls and I have been eating strawberries like crazy! You know, the ones they sell in the grocery store. The genetically modified version that look like strawberries fresh out of the field but taste like strawberry flavored cardboard. Ha!

After I cut them up I sprinkle a good dose of sugar over top . . .

mix it all together
&
 let them set out on the counter for 1/2 an hour or so to juice up.

The girls usually eat them straight up but I personally prefer my strawberries over vanilla ice cream

Hope you had a sweet Sunday! It's cold as the dickens here in New Hampshire!

Lemon-Blueberry Scones

I found this scone recipe on Country Living. Since they were so yummy, and so very easy to make, I thought I'd share the recipe with my readers!

Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut butter into several chunks and add to flour mixture. You may want to use a fork or your fingers to distributed the butter evenly through the flower mixture.
Add milk, lemon juice and lemon zest and stir until dough comes together. If dough seems too wet, add a little extra flour, about a Tablespoon or so.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead for almost a minute. Add blueberries and gently mix in. Divide dough in half, roll into balls and press each one into a disc on the baking sheet. Cut disc's into 4 equal quarters and sprinkle with sugar for extra sweetness if you so desire.

Bake for 17-22 minutes, until scones are golden brown.

* I did not use the Lemon Glaze this time, instead opting out for Blueberry jam. Yum!

Falling for Fall food

Don't you just love the foods of fall? Rich flavors, good color, and lots of cinnamon!

It was so nice to make my first Apple pie of the season. By the time I photographed it there was already a piece missing.

Today I made my second apple pie and it's almost gone this evening. The girls always want me to make Apple Crisp instead but Pie is just, well, it's Pie! And I love Pie!

Roses my husband gave me for our anniversary last month. They don't have much to do with food, or fall, but they're beautiful and the rich colors blend nicely.

I've been grazing my favorite magazines fall editions, like Yankee, Victoria, Southern Lady, and Better Homes and Gardens. Simple, light reads that have wonderful decorating ideas that I'll never replicate. But the photography is a soothing sight at the end of the day. It takes me away from it all for a moment and lets me dream of what could be.

Looking for a simple idea for lunch?

This is it! One slice of bread, deli turkey, a thick slice of garden tomato, muenster cheese, pepper, and oregano. Put it all under the broiler until it bubbles and you have an excellent lunch! Or go vegetarian and omit the turkey. It's just as yummy.

And my favorite pie of all . . . Pumpkin pie. I could eat the whole thing by myself so I try not to make it to often.

Nothing goes better with a slice of pie than a hot cup of coffee. My husband has an affinity for his Zebs coffee mug he purchased this summer during our trip to North Conway, NH. Have you ever been to Zebs? It's an awesome little store packed with goodies from your past, and products from around New England.

What are some of your favorite fall foods?

It was all Yellow

For the past 3 days, in the heat and oppressive humidity, my in-laws, husband, and myself have been painting our house. Yellow.

My husband was not impressed with the color at first. I think it's growing on him though. For years I've wanted a yellow house with white trim and black shutters/front door. I had hoped we would be able to change the siding first but it's not in the budget. Instead we paid to have wisdom teeth removed. And braces. And ... well, you know.

If you look up towards the top window you'll see the old green color (Sherwin-Williams Svelte Sage). The trim boards have since been painted.

New color: Sherwin-Williams Enjoyable Yellow. It looks rather orange in the can but goes on a gorgeous sunset yellow color. I just love it. In the next week or two I'll be planting Daisies and Coneflowers in the garden for a great showing next year. I'm also going to add a fountain.

After a long day of painting I went over to my next door neighbors and picked some yummy raspberries for muffins. A few blueberries in the mix adds a little something extra. You can find my standard recipe here.

What did you do on this glorious Sunday? I love Summer!





Mosic Monday at Little Red House, hosted by Mary

Love , Sweet Love

Some relationships were built to last . . .

 

 

  Forever

A Hot Mess!

 

Tonight, for the first time in a long time I made Turnovers. Strawberry  Turnovers to be exact.

 

Funny but I don’t ever remember this happening before! At least not to this extent. I tell you, it really was a hot mess!

 

I’m going to try my hand at photographing food working in the Manual Mode. However, with food like this I might want to reconsider.

Breakfast with Winston

THIS ...

is Winston


This is Winston and his Dad having a moment

If HQ is available I suggest clicking on for higher quality images

Yesterday morning as we sat at the kitchen table eating breakfast, the shadow of my husband and Winston against the island caught my eye.

What started out as a profile shot of the two of them together quickly turned in a different direction. In the end I was laughing so hard I had tears running down my face. You'll notice Winston likes to lay his head on the table which is just as well since he is a bit overshadowed at times.

Lunch at Petey's

Except for a couple previously taken shots (the first one below, and a couple others) the rest are from my lunch with my Texas friend, Nancy, last Monday afternoon.

Several of the images are pretty poor quality but taking great photos wasn't really my aim. Enjoying my brief time with Nancy was all that was really on my mind. That said, let's go to Petey's!!

www.peteys.com

Blurry, but as you can see it's a pretty basic interior with booths all around.

When we arrived the restaurant had just opened so it was still very quiet. By the time we left the parking lot and most of the seats were filled. And it was a Monday. In October.


Walking through the door to be seated you go right past this boat. The first booth on the right after the boat is where Nancy and I sat. I just realized something, in all the times I've eaten at Petey's I've never had a view looking out over the marsh. What's up with that?




We didn't order lobster but one placemat fits all



The view from our table ... the parking lot. Across the street and behind the houses is the beach/ocean

Looking up and out our window

An overhead view

The reason we came ... the food! Both of us had the fresh Haddock sandwich with fries and a pickle. I believe it was $7.99. The fish fillets were large, fresh, and delicious! For an appetizer Nancy ordered fried Zucchini strips. They were quite good but a bit too much for us to finish. It was a Texas sized portion!

There we are! Nancy ate like a bird. Me, I was hungry!

Stairs and lobster buoys going up to the outside deck, which is now closed until next summer

Walking past the side of the building heading outback towards this . . .

We really had such a nice, relaxing day. First we went to New Castle, then Petey's, and finally Target (for an emergency curling iron), before it was off to the train station. Since the Boston bound Downeaster came through at 2:06 we didn't have much time to waste, and for a moment I thought she actually might miss it! No such luck.

Hopefully I'll get to see you again next year Nancy!

Blueberry Coffee Cake

Tis the season for Blueberries and since they are quite plentiful right now, we shall make many recipe's that call for all things BLUE! That is of course when there are enough Blueberries left over after everyone eats them out of the bowl ... the best way of course. And the most healthy I might add.

I found this recipe in a magazine several years ago and although I don't usually copy them down, since most aren't that good, this one looked particularly yummy and has proven it's worth many times.

The only thing that could make it any better would be a dollop of whipped cream and a cup of coffee! 

BLUEBERRY COFFEE CAKE

2 cups Flour
3/4 cups Sugar
2 t. Baking Powder
Dash of Salt
1/3 cup Butter or Margarine, softened
2 Eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 cup Milk

Mix all dry ingredients, then add wet ingredients one at a time, and stir until moist. Mixture will be rather thin. Pour into a greased 7x11 or 8x11 baking pan. I actually used an 8x8 in this post for a thicker cake but you'll need to cook it longer and test every few minutes to make sure it's baked all the way through.

Top with:

2 cups Fresh Blueberries
1/3 cup Sugar, mixed with 1 teaspoon Cinnamon

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

* A link to my Blueberry Muffin recipe : )