{Sigh}

Where do I begin? Where have I been?

Let's begin with the latter. I've been here. Just on the other side of my computer screen, but I don't seem to have much to say. I've talked about blogger burnout before, but it just seems to get worse instead of better. I'm still cooking and baking, still taking photos (although I'm not really happy with most of them), but when it comes to putting the dishes into words and recipes.... well, it just escapes me.

Maybe it's because I'm trying to do too many things at a time. I have seriously considered the idea of switching my blog from blogspot.com to its own domain. I've been reading and studying, but it is a HUGE learning curve for me. I'm not a programmer, nor do I have a desire to be one, but some of those skills are required to build a new website.

I read expert advice on how to be a better blogger. Use all the social media available, they say, but I get overwhelmed: twitter, facebook, sulia, tumblr, reddit, google+ and there's plenty more. Who has that kind of time to spend all day at the computer? I'd never have time to do what I love most. Cook and bake.

In the midst of my burnout/questioning/soul searching I've determined I am not ready to move forward quite yet. So here I am on blogspot.com. For now I think I will make myself comfortable here. I have a Facebook page and a Twitter handle. Those are plenty for me right now.

So what can you expect from me in the near future? Exactly what I have done in the past. I will cook, bake, take photos and share them with you.

I know it's already February... correction, I know February is almost gone... but let's start with herbs and other stuff.

During the spring, summer and early fall, I grow my own herbs. Basil, chives, tarragon, sage, parsley, oregano, marjoram just to name a few. Late last fall I decided to cut up and freeze the chives and tarragon in olive oil in ice cube trays (I love Pinterest!) for use during the winter. It worked out beautifully. I have used the onion chives and garlic chives for my weekly batch of Focaccia. Unfortunately, I didn't come across the freezer idea until after the first heavy frost to which the basil, sage, parsley,, oregano and marjoram succumbed.

Speaking of frost... and ice... and snow... and winter... I'm over it. Really over it. We've had a few nice mild days, you know, as a teaser. But it is supposed to get cold again and the little girl inside of me is screaming, Nooooooo!!!!! I want warm weather! I want crop pants, t-shirts and flip-flops!

Okay. Enough of my tantrum.

What I'd really like is to be able to move my tropical plants and Meyer lemon tree from the garage where it's been winterized since before the first frost in November. They are doing pretty well, but I'd like my garage back.

We pulled the plants out to the driveway during those nice few days. The tropicals are a little yellow in spots, but some good fertilizer, heavy watering and sunshine should do the trick.

I have seven Meyer lemons that continued to grow over the winter and they are almost ready to pick.


And blossoms have already started to develop for the next crop.


I went out to the back yard to dump old coffee grounds in the garden and, even though temps have been below freezing at night, my onion chives are already starting to peak through.


The garlic chives aren't as hardy, but they, too, are showing signs of life.


Shockingly, last year's Italian parsley is also peaking through. That almost never happens!


It almost gives me hope that Spring is right around the corner.

Day One of the July 4th Holiday Weekend and My Garden

I do hope that all of you are having a fun and SAFE July 4th holiday.

Since our boat isn't back from the shop yet, we've decided to just hang out at home, do some yard work and work on the house to get it ready to sell in the near future (we hope). This morning was yard work. Tomorrow is painting, painting and more painting. But we started our weekend with dinner last night.

Grilled steaks with mushroom sauce, grilled yukon gold potatoes drizzled with truffle oil and a simple salad with white balsamic salad dressing.

I loved the potatoes cooked this way...


Tom sliced them about 1/2 inch thick and parboiled the slices until he was just barely able to pierce the flesh with a fork and the potato still had resistance. He removed the potatoes from the boiling water to a paper towel to dry. When the grill was ready, he brushed them with olive oil and sprinkled the slices on both sides with salt and pepper and cooked them on the grill until they were done all the way through. He removed them from the grill to a plate and drizzled each slice with a few drops of black truffle oil.

I had a sizable portion of the Mushroom Sauce in the freezer, which I thawed earlier in the day, but you can get the recipe HERE.

Tonight we are making Vinny's Chicken, a recipe we duplicated from a small, family owned Italian restaurant in Oceanside, California where we could be found nearly every Friday night. Vinny marinated chicken halves (we will use chicken breasts) for several hours in white wine, lots of chopped garlic and fresh rosemary. Simply delicious. Vinny (Vincent DeGallo), the chef/owner of the restaurant, learned to cook from his mother when he was a boy. I've never tasted better Italian food anywhere.

As our side dish, I'm thrilled to be making one of my favorites, Pan-Crisped Deviled Eggs on French Lettuces, a recipe that I copied from Debbie's blog, The Friday Friends. Of course, we can't get French lettuces here, but a spring salad mix works fine.

For dessert we'll have sweetened blackberries (from our garden) spooned over no-sugar, low-fat ice cream (hey, you gotta cut down somewhere. It might as well be the ice cream).

I will have photos of tonight's dinner tomorrow.

I haven't shared much about my garden so far this season. It started out quite stunted because of all the rain in May. Then our weather turned from cool to unbearably hot, nearly 100 degrees every single day in June. My plants have been very confused. But they are perking up and starting to produce.

My French Tarragon is doing nicely...


I've already used four large poblano's for a meal of Roasted Poblanos Stuffed with Black Beans and Rice with a Suiza Sauce

And the plants are still going strong...

My orange bell peppers are just now starting to turn orange...

But my red bell peppers are still green with no sign of changing color yet...

The fruit has set on my tomatillo plants...

And we will have Snow Globe cherry tomatoes soon...

After last year's dismal failure, it looks like I will have heirloom tomatoes...


From the looks of things, we will be overflowing with produce very soon.

Signs of Impending Spring

Except for some rain, it's been pretty nice this last week. Yesterday temperatures hit 74 degrees and it is supposed to be the same today, but more rain is expected tonight. Later in the week, temperatures are expected to fall to the high 50's and low 60's, but no overnight freezing temperatures are in the forecast.

My garden has started to show further signs of life. I haven't planted any seeds or plants yet, but all of my perennials are active.

My potted tarragon is starting to grow. I love the licorice flavor of the herb.

I have new leaves on my roses, but I have to find something non-toxic to spray on them to prevent more fungal disease. I have friends who've told me to use some sort of copper-something-or-other, but I'm afraid of what it might add to the soil so I think I'll pass.


My chives are always the first things to come up and, even if we have a night frost or two, they should still be okay.


I have a flower bud on a couple of my daffodils, so we should have a flowery show soon.


And, of course, there are my irrepressible day lilies.


What does all of this new growth mean? For starters, it means it's already time to start weeding...


...and thinking about what I am going to try to grow this year. Definitely basil and tomatoes, but I think I will start my own tomato seeds this year rather than buying plants from Lowes or Home Depot. I used to buy my tomato seeds from Tomato Growers Supply Company with terrific results, but I got lazy. I also got a lousy crop of tomatoes. I'm not sure what else I'd like to try, but when I decide I will let you know.

So...is everyone still snowed in or are you seeing signs of spring, too?

Kitchen Window & A Cooking Update

I don't know why I'm having such a hard time with my food blog. I was so excited a few months ago when I first started my garden. I was ready to share the photos, cook up a storm and post recipes. I was bragging horribly about how great everything was doing. Maybe that's it. I was bragging too much and Karma took over.

What happened? Well, my garden pretty much went by way of the compost pile. The two year old oregano and thyme did not survive the wettest May EVER in Arkansas. The next victims were the squash. Between the bugs, the rain and the unseasonably hot weather, by June I could hear them choking to death all the to my kitchen window. By July the grape tomato bit the dust. The heirloom tomato forced out two blooms, but never fruited so I just ripped that sucker out.

So this is what I have left:

The roma tomatoes are finally doing pretty well. I picked five this morning.



The chives are standing up again, sort of.



We use fresh rosemary nearly every day. Although the bush is in need of some weeding, it is doing fine.



After cutting back all the flowers from the basil a couple of weeks ago, more flowers have emerged. I think I will give them one more good cut before the first freeze sometime in October.



And the parsley. I suppose the third time is a charm. Planted initially in the ground in the garden, it died. I bought more and put it in the pot with the Texas tarragon and the thyme and it took off. But, one night while I slept, little black and yellow worms ate all the leaves and left nothing but bare stems. I picked off every single one of those slimy little suckers and mercilessly mashed each one to a bloody green pulp. It was so gruesome, others apparently decided not to follow their fate. The parsley is now growing back.



The mandevilla has finally started to do what it should have done in May...grow and climb.



The front of the house has fared much better. The crepe myrtle are still blooming like crazy.



And the pampas grass that I planted just over two years ago have grown from the 5 gallon pot size into these gi-normous beauties.



So what's my problem? I have no idea. I have been cooking up a storm, just not excited about posting the stuff. I think it is just time to clear the cobwebs from my head and simply jump in again with both feet.......maybe.

It's Wednesday and What's Outside My Kitchen Window?

I didn't post last Wednesday. In fact, I haven't posted much of anything since the end of April, except the Happy Mothers Day post.

It's been raining consistently since the end of April. As of last Friday, May 8th, we had received 10-1/2 inches of rain so far in May. That is a lot of rain. More rain is predicted through Saturday. In addition, the weather has cooled off considerably. I think the high yesterday was 64 degrees. It's warmer now at 8:00 am than it was at 3:00 pm yesterday.

But, I took photos last Wednesday and this morning, so... lucky you ... you get a two-fer... and we have a lot of ground (pun intended) to cover so let's get started.

The pergola is taking shape nicely. The wisteria is growing like crazy and the whole top of the pergola is nearly covered with the vines. But, I've made some changes to what's underneath.

I had been searching for a large, really nice, well-tuned wind chime and a couple of weeks ago I found a beautiful Gregorian Baritone wind chime. You can hear a sample audio of the chime here. It arrived last Friday.

Around the same time two weeks ago, I received a flyer in the mail from Pier 1 advertising a sale on glassware (did I ever mention I have an obsession with all sorts of dishware?), so I took a trip to the store.

As I was meandering through the store, as I often do, I saw this statue of a Buddhist monk holding out his begging bowl. I fell in love with it, stroked his head gently for a few moments, but I left the store without him. The next day I went back and bought him and we placed him under the center portion of the pergola (notice the puddle of water from our non-stop rain)....

And last Friday, when the wind chime arrived, Tom hung it over the statue and set the statue on some stones to raise him up off the ground, so now it looks like this...

The old worn out rattan chairs that were sitting where my monk is now perched were moved over under the trees where the bird and squirrel feeders hang...

Tom moved my porch swing from the patio...

to underneath the pergola...

...Aaahhhh, much better. We were able to relax there a couple of evenings after dinner when the rain subsided briefly.

So let's get on with the plants. Tom's Arapaho blackberries are doing extremely well.

Last week they looked like this...

This morning...

Daylillies last week..

and this morning...

By next week, I should have photos of the flowers.

The planter near the pond is doing well, but it looks like the nasturtium is going to be the dominant flower.

Last Wednesday...

and this morning...

Speaking of the pond, the plants are really growing.

Last week...

and this week...

A closer look at the plants in the pond and you will see a little something peeking up through the water. Yes, my friends, that is a water lily bud peeking through...









My garden is doing just okay. Insects are eating my basil and everything else is barely growing because of the continual rain, lack of sun and cooler temperatures. If I listen carefully as the sun goes down, I can hear the poor plants pleading, Help me. Help me. I'm drowning! And I feel so helpless!

Last week...

to this week...

Not much difference, but in anticipation of weather more conducive to gardening, I bought tomato cages anyway.



Yes, my dear readers, it has been a thoroughly wet, dreary, bleak, damp, totally yukky two weeks and the only person who seems not to notice is this guy.

Kermit was wrong. It apparently is not only easy being green, but downright pleasurable.





For more Kitchen Window Wednesday, visit Debbie @ The Friday Friends.