It's Raining Cherry Tomatoes

This year I planted my first square foot garden. I planted peppers, jalapenos, eggplant, watermelon, plum tomatoes and cherry tomatoes.  I also planted spinach and lettuce, which never sprouted... so in their place, Zinnias may bloom before season's end.

Off the bat, we got a nice little crop of jalapenos, which hubby has been adding to his quesadillas. Also a couple cute little eggplants, which turned to mush when I did not cook them fast enough.

And now - cherry tomatoes galore! Hundreds of them. So I did what any normal person would do - googled for tomato recipes. The "Slow Roasted Tomatoes" sounded delicious... and this was the best article: Slow Roasted Tomatoes and 10 things to Do With Them. And BONUS: per this article, cooked tomatoes are better at fighting cancer to boot!

So I cut all the little suckers in half (this took forever, so the 3rd time I made them, I just left them whole and it worked pretty well too)... drizzled them with Olive Oil, sprinkled with some Kosher salt, pepper and threw on some cloves of unpeeled garlic (I used more than 6 as hubby requested extra garlic) and let them scent up the house for about 3 hours. On a second batch, I added some fresh Basil leaves I had also grown - even better!

I put some in a Weck jar because, yes, I have a complete & utter addiction to jars. Put anything in a jar and it's the closest an inanimate object will come to puppy-level cuteness.

Ok, not quite, but still..

The tomatoes came out soooo delicious, a great addition to our pasta.  I plan to slather them on some sliced baguette drizzled with olive oil and lightly toasted and have a fresh and delicious Bruschetta.

Up next... keeping an eye on the two adorable watermelons that are growing in the garden...

Pavlova, my Love

My love for baking and making treats has recently been reinvigorated... an addiction to Unique Sweets on the Cooking Channel helped it along. So I've been baking a bit. Somewhere along the way... on Pinterest perhaps... I found a recipe for Pavlova - which is essentially a large meringue cookie that you cover in whipped cream and sugar'd fruit.

It sounded really yummy, sooo... I gave it a go. 

Everything seemed to work out ok with the meringue (I was so very careful not to get a single drop of egg yolk in with the whites) and they came out as fluffy little white pillows.

The final assemblage - though I only used strawberries - looked very pretty. 

Then I chomped in... mmmm, Heaven! It was delicious! Like Strawberry Shortcake on sugar steroids!

I ended up mish-mashing two recipes and also adding vanilla, here's where I netted out:

NOTE: Almost no two Pavlova recipes are the same! In reading many recipes both in cookbooks and online, they vary quite a bit. Some call for lemon juice while others call for vinegar. Some use salt, some don't. Some say to fold in the vinegar and cornstarch at the end, barely mixing afterward, some say to beat the meringue for 5-10 minutes after adding them. Almost none call for vanilla, but I couldn't imagine how bland they'd be without it.  The baking temps and times are all over the map too. 

I'm not sure if that means it's hard to screw it up - or if it's hard to get a successful meringue. All signs point to the latter... though I think mine tasted pretty damn good.

MERINGUE

3 eggs

1 cup superfine sugar (I processed regular sugar in food proc)

2 tsp cornstarch

3/4 tsp white vinegar

1 tsp vanilla

FRUIT

Cut up your favorite fruit, sprinkle with 1 tsp - 1 tablespoon of sugar and let it "marinade" from an hour to overnight.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line cookie sheet(s) with parchment paper.

First, whisk eggs to soft, wet peaks. Slowly add 1 tablespoon of sugar at a time, beating in between to get sugar to dissolve. Save 1 tablespoon of sugar to mix with cornstarch and vinegar - mix those together and add to the mixture, then add the vanilla. Whisk for another 5-10 minutes - to get nice stiff and glossy meringue. 

To ensure the sugar is dissolved, you can rub the meringue between your fingers - you should not feel any graininess. I did this and time and time again, felt graininess, until I finally gave up, decided it was as good as it was going to get, and baked it anyway! I think the key here is castor or superfine sugar, which should blend better.

Spread meringue onto parchment paper in circles about 4" diameter, 1" high. (All the other recipes say to draw circles on the parchment... I find that unnecessary as I tend to be a "winger" wherever I can :)

Bake for 25 minutes at 300 degrees, then turn off oven but leave in for another 25 minutes (again, many other recipes call for longer times, lower oven, etc... but this worked well for the size I cooked).

Once the meringues are completely cool, top with whipped cream and fruit. Dig in!

Best to eat them within a day or two. 

I think I could eat this every day, especially with the abundance of fresh fruit this time of year... 

Subscriptions are the New Black

I can't get over all the new "subscription" services. I mean, I remember the Panty of the Month Club (I wasn't a member, but how do you forget something like that) - so it's not new, it's just being taken to new heights with some very creative business models.

I was ecstatic when I got a card last November informing me that my very dear friend Daniela had gotten me a gift subscription to Birchbox for my birthday.  Birchbox sends you an array of deluxe beauty samples. HELLLOOOO, speaking to my heart as someone who chooses a hotel based on the toiletries they offer!

But not only do they send awesome sample, they make it adorable. That pink tissue paper just makes me smile and I have yet to recycle one of the boxes, I save them - for what, I'm not sure, they're just too nice to part with.

And then I learned about Love With Food - again, samples of delicious treats delivered to your door. I still think about the Pecan Divinity that was in the box a while back.

Now you can get all kinds of things via monthly subscription - from kids' craft projects to man stuff (oh, and Birchbox now has a monthly box for men... makes me wonder, does anyone use the term Metrosexual anymore?) - you can find it all.  


And if you can't find it... well, perhaps you have yourself a business opportunity right there!  And guess what - there's a site for that too! Member.ly will help you manage your own subscription service.

I've a Very Manly Muppet

We watched the Muppet Movie this weekend, it was really adorable... but it caused an Earworm.  Lauren and I could not stop singing "Am I a MAAAANNNN  or am I a MUPPET?" She sang it over and over while doing her homework. I grabbed a little video.



Here's the actual song from the movie, with an awesome cameo by Jim Parsons.



And now that I've watched the videos and written this post... it's BACK... the EARWORM!

IF I'M A MUPPPPEEEEETTTT, THEN I'M A VERY MANLY MUPPET!!

Thank you Academy Award winner Bret Mckenzie.  I love you anyway.  Long live FOTC.

Bacon

As we were eating breakfast for dinner last night, I again explained to Lauren that bacon comes from pigs.  I told her that some people don't eat meat because they don't like that animals have to be killed for meat. She looked up at me very sincere and in the most pathetic voice, with a big sigh and said, "but I loooooovvve bacon."

New Year's Past

Reminiscing today of New Year's past.  A few really stand out in my head. 

Like 1989->90... Charlie and I were in Vegas to visit my Dad, sis and bro who were all living there... I had just turned 21 a month earlier... it was a new decade, I was in the party capital of the world and I was old enough to go out to a club!!  TIME TO PARTY!!!  Right? WRONG!! Not one of those previously named wanted to venture out to revel in the New Year.  We went to a friend of my sister's - and played darts. I was so disappointed.  Though looking back now, I treasure the time I had with my Dad (I'd lose him the following year) and the family, safe from the fray.

Dad, Little Bro Adam, Big Bro Eddie

And both 2000->01 and 2004->05... both were spent in Brazil with my friend Daniela and her family.  Both times her Mom put out a beautiful, amazing spread for dinner and both times we honored the Brazilian New Year's Eve traditions... wearing all white, going to the beach and, at midnight, wading in to the water, making a wish, and jumping 7 waves. Magical. We hope to do this again soon with Lauren.

Then there was New Year's Eve 2005->06... spent in the hospital.  I was 25 weeks pregnant with Lauren - my water had broken on Christmas Day and Charlie drove like a maniac to get me to the hospital. They managed to stop the contractions, but still told us of all the risks of having the baby so early.  I don't really remember that New Year's Eve very well (I think I've repressed a lot of that intensely stressful few months), though I'm sure we watched the ball drop on TV.  I watched a LOT of TV over the next 4 weeks as I remained on bed rest in the hospital. Ironically, I think I made it so much further along by visualizing myself floating in the pool in Brazil the previous year... so after 5 weeks in the hospital, our little Lauren was born, changing our lives forever.

The New Year's Eves have been much mellower ever since, hanging at home, and though I will forever miss the midnight phone call from my Mom, "Happy New Year!!" I wouldn't trade the quiet celebrations at home with Charlie and Lauren for anything.

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy, safe and prosperous New Year!!

Love and Other Drugs

Ok, since I didn't want my first blog in forever to be about shopping...

My in-laws are staying with for a few days, here us after my hubby's Grandmother passed away last week.  They can't seem to wait to get back to Florida, even though it's freezing there too. My Mother-in-Law misses FL because she spends her time seeing every single movie that comes out. Quite a contrast to me, who these days, sees a movie in the theatre about once every 4 months.  But yesterday, with the kid home with the guys, MIL and I headed out to see a movie we've both been anxious to see - Love and Other Drugs.

FINALLY, redemption for the disappointment that was "Prince of Persia".  In the trailer for "Prince of Persia", they made it look like Jake Gyllenhaal was shirtless throughout.  Well - *spoiler alert* - he wasn't.  Had his shirt off for all of 5 seconds in that movie.  In "Love and Other Drugs", you see a LOT of Jake (and A LOT of Anne Hathaway for that matter).  But washboard abs aside, it was a funny, sad, frustrating, touching movie.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars (it was no Love, Actually), though maybe an extra half star for the excellent use of bodies. Gratuitous yet effective.

Really? Really?

I can't believe it's been over a year since I blogged!  OK, I know I'm a crazy twitterer, but you can't really express everything in a tweet... looks like a New Year's resolution if ever there was one.  I SHALL blog again!  With photos!

Happy Halloween

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There's a Method to my Madness

A while back Jenny gave me a wonderful little sampler of Method products. She is definitely a Method Maniac - I am also a fan of Method, though mostly the soaps and baby shampoo as I love that they are natural and smell yummy. Oh, and currently also loving the little dishwasher orbs.

One thing that bugs Jenny - sometimes when I receive cute gifties, I "save" them rather than "use" them (thus the adorable, unopened bag of toffee from her London trip circa 2001 that she repeatedly mentions how delicious it would have been had I eaten it when she'd given it to me 8 YEARS AGO!!)

And the Method gift pack was in danger of the same fate, I mean, it's too FREAKIN CUTE to use! I want to display it, not use them up! But a few days later, Little Miss got it in her head that she wanted to clean the sliding glass door (not sure what triggered the desire)... and the adorable little - and most importantly NON-TOXIC - bottle of Method cleaner was perfect for her little hands! (I sure as heck wasn't going to let my 3 year old get her hands on old school window cleaner!)

So I let Lauren "play" (clean) and I invoked my get-her-to-love-cleaning psychology... that I'm assuming will have her, in a few years, dying to clean the entire house... with something along the lines of, "ok, I'm only LETTING you clean because you've been a good girl" to go along with my usual, "no, you're not allowed to use the vacuum! Don't even THINK about touching it!! Now run along and put on a bunch of tattoos while Mommy vacuums and drinks her coffee."

Then grabbed my cam and got video as she cleaned and professed her love for Method.

Took her a bit to get the hang of spraying, but she loved it. She cleaned that one spot on the window about 20 times before I finally had to take it away from her, of course, ending with a, "if you're REALLY good tomorrow, you can clean the muolding with the wood cleaner..."

Method. I love Method - and Lauren does too... Jenny gave us an adorable trial size set of Method goodies... I got lots of video and pics that will be coming soon!

In honor of the end of summer bee swarm, which does not work well with my phobia..

How To Get Rid Of Bees on Howcast

Cousins

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Munching before recital

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