Backyard Birthday Banquet

Backyard Birthday Banquet

Happy 26th Ashley!

Birthday girl requested crab.

So we had a fun finger food first course of:

 Alaskan Snow Crab

Drawn Butter

Corn on the Cob

Cheddar Bay Biscuits

I remembered to get a photo before everyone came back for seconds.

My sweet Kids

♥

Waiting for second course from Grand Pa's kitchen.

Ribs

Smashed Hot Potatoes

French Bread

oops I forgot to get photo

I can't think of anything I love more than being surrounded by our family and in our back yard.

Before birthday cake, we walked over for a tour of the Garden Palace.

Make a wish Ashley!

Creamy Cold Ice Cream Cake

full of birthday wishes

12  ice cream sandwiches

1 quart ice cream of your choice (softened)

Cool whip (thawed)

Chocolate magic shell

Pull off about 18inches of aluminum foil and lay on a dish.

 In the middle of foil, lay first layer of ice cream sandwiches.

Spread a layer of the softened ice cream. 

Lay a second layer of ice cream sandwiches.

Spread a second layer of softened ice cream.

Wrap the foil over it and freeze it long enough for the ice cream to harden.

Remove and add a layer of thawed cool whip.

Wrap the foil over it and freeze long enough for the cool whip to harden.

Remove and add as much Chocolate magic shell as you like.

Wrap the foil over it and refrigerate until party time.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

My family, even the non-sweet eaters, loves this.

I love that I can make it a day or days ahead.

Knowing that Ashley loved lime sherbet, that's what I used.

I have made it with other flavors and you can even use more than one flavor.

You can make it as big or little as you want. 

This one I actually used 11 sandwiches.

It is OK to cut them to make the square or rectangle. 

It would not need to be two layers but that's what make it impressive. 

Looks like I slaved over it. 

The Star in my Garden

For the most part, I have spared you from this gardening season.

However, I must tell you about this yellow star of my garden.

It was a dismal failure! 

It grew!

It grew about five feet high and wide and had exactly one bazillion beautiful, yellow, star shaped blooms on it at all times.

And it still does.

The problem, the stars never turned into fruit.

Actually, I don't know what I would do with one bazillion beautifully cloaked little green yellow orbs like this.

I knew early on when all I was getting was yellow stars that I had a big problem. 

Nevertheless, I was thrilled with the sweet little yellow stars in my garden and this was after all the first time I had tried to grow tomatillos.

Heck, I don't even have that much experience eating them.  

Yesterday with a little googling, I confirmed my suspicions about the yellow stars in my garden.

Sure enough, they do not self pollinate and I made the mistake of only planting one.

For an unknown reason to me, Mother Nature has required this beautiful plant be grown with a mate. 

The fact that out of exactly one bazillion yellow stars, I actually harvested exactly 14 cloaked orbs is therefore another mystery.

I can tell you they are very sweet and taste a lot like a tomato and were delishious on yesterdays salad. 

Next year, with two plants I will go into the tomatillo business.

Can you just imagine what I can do with exactly two bazillion stars and orbs from my garden.

Do you see the pineapple

April 2014 just as I was about to head home after a great visit, my friend Susie said, "don't you want this pineapple plant?"

OK

As you can see on my patio by September 2014, it was quiet large.

When our temperature consistently got into the 50 degree range at night, she had to come in the house. 

I only had one spot to accommodate her spiky arms. The light wasn't as good as it should have been and even though I passed her everyday, I confess I neglected her. 

Sometime after Christmas I looked for new growth and lo and behold I thought I could see what might be the birth of a new baby pineapple. 

This is what it looked like in February 2015 still inside.

And here it is in April 2015 after moving outside.

Today I harvested the baby.

It didn't get very big. 

Probably because of my neglect.

Notice the juice.

I served myself homegrown pineapple and homemade yogurt for breakfast. 

And.

I ate the whole thing.

It was the juciest and sweetest pineapple I have ever eaten. 

Sorry Susie, I couldn't wait for you. 

My New Herb Garden

With another blogger's recommendation, I headed to Amazon to check out a book about growing herbs. 

I have always been interested in growing herbs; however, my only success so far has been with mints and basil.

I was not real happy with the recommended book contents.

That was OK because I found this one instead. 

Oh my!

I knew this one was for me.

Anything you have ever wanted to know about growing herbs will be found in this book, Homegrown Herbs by Tammi Hartung. 

The tag line for this book is, "A Complete Guide to Growing, Using, and Enjoying More than 100 Herbs".

No lie. 

It's true.

This is the best gardening book I have ever had in my hands. 

I can spend hours and hours trying to devour it. 

There are wonderful pictures of all the herbs.

Within ten chapters she covers things like: growing and using; selecting plants and designing a garden; soil secrets; propagation; maintenance; pest and disease; harvesting; herbal preparations for medicine and personal care; cooking; and herb personalities. 

The charts scattered through the pages are my favorite feature.

At a glance you can discover:

Plant Habitat Preferences

Plant Characteristics and Requirements

Planning A Theme Garden

Propagation At A Glance

A Guide to Beneficial Insects

Harvesting Guidelines

Edible Flowers At A Glance

Plant Name Cross-Reference

I got real excited when I discovered the theme garden chart.

I am particularly interested in collecting as many of the "tea" herbs as I can find. 

I buy bulk hibiscus and generally make a large pitcher of it. 

This week, I decided to make a small pot of hibiscus tea.

I used stevia, spearmint, lemon balm and hibiscus.

When I make a large pitcher, I also add the juice of one lime. 

My new herb garden is conviently right at my backdoor.

The window in the above picture is my kitchen. 

The garden is still a work in progress as I am fighting bermuda grass and nut sedge. 

And the only way to get rid of it is to keep digging it out. 

I plan to eventually mulch this with a gravel.

Even though my gardening progress is slow, I'm still enjoying stepping out the door at dinner time to fetch a herb or two.

For example,Tuesday evening just as I was preparing talipia for the oven, I stepped out and snipped some Mexican tarragon, rosemary, and parsley.   

Mexican (also called Texas) Tarragon, Tagetes lucida

Pineapple Sage

So far, I have 25 different herbs. 

When I first started buying them I went with a list of what I hoped to find. 

Soon I realized if the garden centers had it, I wanted it.

You may have noticed that many of my herbs are in containers. 

Many herbs require good drainage and not so much water. Containers are my version of raised beds to accomodate this habitat preference.

I haven't sampled all of them yet but so far, I have enjoyed what I have used. 

The most important recommendation I could make is; if at all possible, make your herb garden right at your back door. 

And you will not be disappointed in the book. 

Promise.

A Story about Jenny and the Bobcat

A True Story about Jenny and the Bobcat

We had no idea about this until Saturday while Jenny was still here. 

My Mister usually collects his game camera cards and takes a look on the weekends. 

We were pretty shocked when we saw and realized how close in time our paths crossed with the bobcat.

We see all sorts of wild game probably because they are coming to a watering hole, our stock tank.  

Had ta show.

♥

The In-between Week

It just so happens this week, the in-between week, is my very most favorite week of the year.

Every year.

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one.

And I know I've said it before. 

I like it because after the rush of the season is over, there seems to be a calmness in the house.

I like it because after the dishes are done, the wrapping papers are picked up and out of the house, the house is clean.

I like it because for a few days, there are leftovers and no cooking.

I like it because everyone left happy.

Santa did good. 

I like it because it seems like the calmness is also present in my thinking space.

For the most part, the old year is over and the new one hasn't started yet. 

I'm wishing you a HAPPY NEW YEAR.