Category: Home & Garden Thursday

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The In-Between Things Blog-versary, Day 4

Today we are wrapping up the In-Between Things blog-versary extravaganza!  It’s been a year! Next week we will get back to our regularly-scheduled content, probably only twice a week going forward.  I feel like I’m still trying to figure out what I’m doing, but I also feel like it has been a very edifying experience and am looking forward to discovering what year two has in store.

A few numbers to make things seem important:

  • 1 person
  • 4 categories
  • 52 weeks
  • 145 posts

In celebration, I decided that this week we would take a look back at the past year by highlighting five favorite posts for each category.

I was sure that it would be simple to skim through and pick my faves.  Not so fast my friend!  Wow, there is a lot there.  I also noticed formatting issues and little typos on pretty much every post (thank you for tolerating my imperfections).  Other than the corrections, there weren’t really any posts that stood out to me.  On the plus side, I guess that means that the writing is at least of a consistent quality (for better or worse). On the minus side, it made it challenging to pick out a few posts in each category to highlight, so I’ve tried to go with just a range of topics.  I’ve re-opened the comments on these posts, please let me know what you think of them.  And if your favorite posts weren’t highlighted, please leave a comment here about which one(s) you feel were overlooked.

Home & Garden Thursday (35)

Let’s be honest, I expected that having this category would advance my domestic goddess aspirations – my house would be clean, my garden would be thriving, I would be making delicious foods, crafts would be happening all over the place – all so that I would have clever things to write about.  Well, my domestic goddess status is still aspirational, but there have been some flashes of brilliance.  The good news is that there isn’t anything to do except to keep trying (all in the name of having material to write about of course).

Coconut Cream Pie
Just thinking about this makes me want to make another one.  We might be overdue for cream puffs, maybe coconut cream filling would be a nice touch…stay tuned for more on that.
Kitsch Signature
Come on guys, this was clever!
Fairy House Craft Day
Ah, finally a good, solid craft day!  With such great results.  I wonder what other crafts I can get myself up to?  I wonder who I can talk into coming over to play along?
Sedona Dreaming
What a magical place!
Trophy Wife Manifesto
This is an idea that had been rolling around in my head for a while, it was great to sit down and actually write it up.  I don’t feel like I’m done with this concept yet, stay tuned for a future installment.

I was listening to a podcast on my walk the other day and it opened with this quote:

“Loneliness does not come from having no people about one, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to oneself…”

– Carl Jung

It struck me that this is what I was feeling when I decided to start this blog.  I was looking for an outlet to communicate. And even though writing is a solitary endeavor, I do feel more connected by having this outlet to explore different things and share my thoughts. 

Thank you for reading.

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Ladies-Who-Lunch with the Mommies

I was in Maui a few weeks ago and had the pleasure of going to lunch with my mom and my sister’s mother-in-law at Mama’s Fish House on the North Shore.  It was time for ladies-who-lunch with the mommies at Mama’s (oh, I how crack myself up!).

My sister and her sister-in-law had been a few days earlier and couldn’t stop raving about it. So even though it involved getting off of the beach and putting on real clothes it seemed like a worthwhile adventure.  And the only thing better than a ladies lunch adventure with one little mommy is one with two!

We drove out past Paia on the road to Hana (Mama’s is just outside of Paia, so we stopped before the drive got too interesting).  As soon as we got out of the car we were delighted by this magical little tropical escape.  We walked down a little palm tree-lined path with the ocean on our right.  The open front of the restaurant was on our left.  The entrance was at the far end, opposite the parking lot which gave us a welcome little stroll after our car trip.

  • First you walk under this cool archway, check out the geko pavers
  • And then you are at Mama’s!

The restaurant had that amazing, tropical, polished wood look.  It was dark and cozy and open and airy at the same time.  All of the servers wore fresh flowers in their hair and there were amazing flower arrangements everywhere you looked.

Mama’s is known for its local fresh fish, which is brought in daily.  The menu proudly lists the name of the fisherman who caught whatever is on the menu that day.  Of course, it wouldn’t be a proper “ladies who lunch” lunch without cocktails.

cocktails at Mama's Fish House
From left to right: Pink Hibiscus with elderflower and vodka, Pau Hana with guava, lime, and gin, traditional Mai Tai Roe Ai “the very best”

Our waitress gave such a sweet performance.  She was very animated and enthusiastically recommended several dishes.  Based on her suggestions, for our appetizers we had a Hawaiian ceviche with Opakapaka and mango and a Maui venison that was seared and served over a kale slaw (both of which I forgot to photograph but trust me they looked as good as they tasted).  For our main dishes, I had the stuffed fish, mom had the ginger-steamed Opakapaka, and mom-in-law had the Ahi and Mahi-Mahi in Panang curry.  Even though I enjoyed my main dish, I sort-of regret not ordering one of the waitress’s recommendations because her appetizer suggestions were so fantastic.

Even though we were all properly stuffed at this point, we knew that we couldn’t leave without trying the coconut cake.  The last coconut cake that I remember having was a very heavy and decadent, Southern style coconut cake.  This was the complete opposite – it was like eating a delicious, coconut-flavored cloud.

I love a good ladies-who-lunch date!

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Watermelon

Ah summer, I love it so much.  One thing that I love about summer is watermelon.  I don’t think about it for the rest of the year, but when it is hot enough, it is one thing that is always on the crave list. I love to just eat it plain, but there are so many other, easy, fun things to do with it.

These days the powers that be have engineered watermelons to a manageable size (and the seedless part sure is nice too).  But what are you going to do when you ask your husband to pick up a very small watermelon and he comes home with a basketball?

Watermelon and cucumber salad

  • Watermelon (cubed)
  • Cucumber (try to get it roughly the same size as the watermelon)
  • Lime juice
  • Fresh mint
  • Feta

Toss together and serve.

Watermelon water

You can buy bottles of delicious watermelon water at the store if you’re thirsty RIGHT NOW.  But if you have enough time to chop up a watermelon, you can make your own at home.  Just fill your blender with watermelon bits (no need to worry about nicely chopping it) and blend it up.  Yum!

Watermelon margaritas

Since you already have a blender-full of watermelon water, why not put it to good use and make up a batch of margaritas?

  • Blended watermelon water
  • Trader Joe’s Jalapeño Limeade
  • Tequila (I like silver)

Give it another whirl in the blender and serve over ice.

*note: I may have been testing this recipe before writing this post, hence the lack of measurements (just use your own best judgement, it will be fine!).

One thing that I haven’t tried yet, but it is on the list is:

Watermelon Sorbet

  • Watermelon
  • Sweetened condensed milk

Blend. Pour concoction into the ice cream maker.

When I was growing up, I used to make watermelon sorbet with watermelon and I think simple syrup in the ice cream maker.  It was so delicious served with a sprig of fresh mint on top!

What do you like to do with watermelon?

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Trophy Wife Manifesto

trophy wife toes in yellow shoes

Many years ago my mom was visiting and we went to get our nails done. I picked this pretty metallic teal/turquoise color.  As I was clutching the square, little Essie bottle while I waited for my pedicure, I noticed the name, Trophy Wife.

Yes, I thought, I want to be a trophy wife!

I had never considered myself trophy wife material and I wondered what it was about the idea that was suddenly so appealing to me.  Was I enamored of the concept just because I really liked the color?  What did being a trophy wife mean to me?

I decided to define what being a trophy wife meant to me.  Here is my Trophy Wife Manifesto:

#1 A Trophy Wife Takes Care of Herself

This means that a trophy wife makes time to look after her physical and psychological well-being.  Making a point of taking time for working out, self-care, reading, meditating, creating art, whatever it is that makes her feel centered and confident.  A trophy wife knows that these things are not frivolous, they are critical for living her best life.

#2 A Trophy Wife Prioritizes Her Relationships

This means that a trophy wife makes a point of being available and fully present to spend time with not just her husband, but with those people who are important to her.  She’s not too tired for date night; she doesn’t miss her loved ones’ important occasions because she is too busy.

#3 A Trophy Wife Doesn’t Work Because She Has To, She Works Because She Wants To

A trophy wife enjoys what she does for work.  She has made a choice that if she is going to take time away from looking after her relationships and herself, that it is going to be because she has a passion for what she does.

Even if she doesn’t have the luxury of not working, and/or doesn’t have her dream job, she finds something every day about her work that she appreciates and makes the most of her situation.  She isn’t trapped in a job that she hates because every day she knows that she has made a choice to be there and by doing so she has committed to herself to find something meaningful in what she is doing.  She might not be curing cancer, she might just be making a point of being nice to the receptionist.  That matters too.

If you’re thinking that this must have been the beginning of my trying to crawl out of my cave of workaholism, you would be right.

I bought my own bottle of Essie Trophy Wife nail polish.  It was my nearly constant toenail color and a touchstone for me, for a long time.

This last time that I went to get my nails done, took my little, old bottle of Trophy Wife with me and we were able to make it work.  I was reminded about how beautiful the color is and I feel very inspired and empowered when I look at my toes.  Who knew that nail polish could be so powerful?

Do you have anything that serves as a touchstone for you?  What is it and what are you trying to remind yourself of?  Would you want to be a trophy wife?  What would that mean to you?

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Fried Chicken and Champagne

My favorite neighborhood wine store, the Wine Country, holds regular wine tasting events.  One recurring tasting that I have always been intrigued about is fried chicken and champagne.  I’ve never actually been, but the idea really caught my attention, and I’ve been dying to hold a fried chicken and champagne dinner.

I enlisted some friends who were intrepid enough to sign on even though I hadn’t bothered to explain the concept.  Which I realized when we were sitting down to eat, as there were questions about what this fried chicken and champagne thing was all about.  Naturally, my response was, “guys, it’s a THING.”  Then we took a moment to get all official about it, took bites of our fried chicken, then a sipped our sparkling wine.  It was delightful!

There is something great about fried chicken in the summertime.  Especially if you pick it up from Stater Brothers.  Seriously, it is very good.  I am sure that some people make incredible fried chicken at home, but I’m only southern on my husband’s mother’s side, so I feel that is something that I can get away with not doing.  I also have a “no frying at home” rule.  Well, “rule” is a strong word, but I have yet to come across something that I wanted to make enough to be up for frying it myself.

One of my friends picked up the chicken and made these amazing cheesy biscuits.  I enlisted another friend, who always makes the most decadent things, to bring the carb course.  She made the most incredible macaroni and cheese!  I think she said it was a Barefoot Contessa recipe (I think this is the right link).  It looks like you basically, start with four cups of Gruyere, then add more cheese. I’m drooling just thinking about it, this is the kind of macaroni and cheese that makes your life better.

photo credit: El Jimenez

So, what about the champagne you ask?  Ah, yes!  We didn’t get through all of the options, but the one that was a great pairing was J California Cuvee that another of my intrepid friends brought (what did I do?  I did the delegating, alright!).

The final member of our intrepid group brought yummy fruit and a good dose of flair to the table.  With the fruit and the citrus herb coleslaw we felt that there was a least a semblance of healthiness on the table that night.

By far, the healthiest part of the evening was getting to spend time with great friends, sharing a meal and laughing about life.

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Citrus Herb Coleslaw

I pretty much like any slaw: KFC coleslaw, ramen slaw, fancy Asian-style slaw with Napa cabbage, mango and jicama slaw from Trader Joes, the list goes on.  It’s the sort of thing that is easy to make at home too. So, last night I made a Citrus Herb Coleslaw.  Yum, right?  Ok, maybe not your thing, but this combines three things that I really like: lemon, parsley, and slaw. 

I had a little bit of some-timers when I was getting ready to make this.  I have made it before, but it’s been a good, long while.  I remembered the gist of it, but when I went to find the recipe in my Pinterest recipe hoard, it wasn’t there.  I think the last time that I made this was before I started hoarding all of my recipes in Pinterest!  Yikes!

Ok, let’s google that thing up.  Hmmmm…

I found something close, but it wasn’t quite what I wanted.  Good thing that I don’t care that much about following recipes.  I made up my own version and I’m going to post the recipe here for two reasons:

  1. In case you want to try it (it’s super healthy and delicious).
  2. So that I can find it the next time I want to make it again!

Cynthia’s Citrus Herb Coleslaw

Ingredients:

  • Non-fat, plain yogurt (Greek or other)
  • One lemon
  • One bunch of parsley
  • One bag of already shredded cabbage
  • Sugar
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Apple Cider Vinegar

First make the dressing. 

Combine:

  • 4(ish) tablespoons yogurt
  • Zest of the lemon
  • Juice of the lemon
  • ¼ teaspoon salt (or 2 pinches if you don’t feel like measuring)
  • Good bunch of grinds of black pepper (less than the salt
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1-2 tablespoons of Apple Cider Vinegar

Wisk it together.

Assemble the slaw:

  • Add 2(ish) tablespoons of snipped chives (optional)
  • Add 1 bunch parsley leaves, roughly chopped (I like curly parsley, I know it’s not fashionable, do what you want).
  • Add bag of shredded cabbage
  • Combine thoroughly
  • Cover and refrigerate for at least a little while

Enjoy!

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Kitchen Scraps Garden

So, I went cheap on my veggie garden this summer.  Like REALLY cheap.  Instead of taking a big trip to the nursery and buying baby plants and/or seeds, I decided to see if I could grow some kitchen scraps. I am excited to report that it seems to be working (at least so far).

Huh?  Kitchen scraps?  What?

Well, it all started one day when I was making something with green onions. I hacked off the bottoms and instead of tossing the little root ends in the trash, I decided to go stick them in the garden and see what would happen.  They grew! And I could go pull one and stick the end back in the dirt and it would grow again!  I love having green onions handy like that.  So, I decided to see what else I could get to re-grow.

I picked celery and romaine lettuce for my next attempt.  These guys got a fresh cut to the bottom of the heart (since they didn’t already have roots starting like the green onions) and kept them in a little cup of water on the kitchen windowsill. They started growing leaves right away. I kept them in the window and just changed the water every couple of days.  Eventually I had the starts of some roots.  So, into the garden they went.

  • Romaine then
  • Romaine now

Celery didn’t miss a beat, but I was worried that I might lose the romaine.  So, I watered and watered and told him nice things and he got his bearings and started to thrive.  One of each is not going to be enough to keep me from having to go to the grocery store, so I think I will have to try my windowsill technique on some more kitchen scraps until I have a more robust little crop.

  • Celery then
  • Celery now

I also planted the end of a sweet potato that I had left sitting around long enough that it has sprouted.  The vine is doing great, I am hopeful that I might wind up with home-grown sweet potatoes at some point as well (I might not, someone was telling me something about having to plant the eyes of potatoes…so I don’t really know what is going to happen, it will be fun to find out!

  • Sweet Potato then
  • Sweet Potato now with his friend Mr. Tomato Plant

An extra surprise treasure was that once I started watering my kitchen scraps, a little, baby tomato plant sprouted up.  Poor thing was probably a seed from one of last year’s abandoned cherry tomatoes.  At least now he has a reason to grow up and he won’t just be a lonely seed waiting for his moment of greatness.

One unintended consequence of kitchen scrap gardening is that I now have an overwhelming urge to start composting.  Why not let the rest of those kitchen scraps go to good use?  I’ll let you know when/if I get around to it.

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Golf Tournament

The other week, I had an opportunity to volunteer at a golf tournament fundraiser.  I had never been to a golf tournament, so I had no idea what to expect (yes, in 20 years of event planning, I never had to organize a golf tournament, it’s true). I was looking forward to helping out and having an excuse to spend all day outside.

The morning of the tournament, I got geared up in my official volunteer golf shirt and headed off to the country club.  It’s a really beautiful facility with a mission-style clubhouse and of course the golf course was impeccable.

  • photo credit: Leslie Jones
  • photo credit: Leslie Jones

Phones aren’t allowed on the course (one of the volunteer coordinators had a cautionary tale of someone who was escorted off of the property for taking a call), so I left my phone in my car, which was kind-of great.  I mean, I leave it in the other room all the time, but not checking in for eight hours is an accomplishment these days, wouldn’t you agree?

This is one of those events that has been going on for years and years.  Most of the volunteers are regulars and everyone knows each other.  I always get a little bit nervous when I find myself walking into one of those kinds of situations, so I was relieved by how nice and friendly everyone was.  The volunteer coordinators and the other volunteers were super nice, and all the golfers were relaxed and happy.

I was paired up with another woman who was also new to the event.  We were dropped off at our assignment with the promise that someone would come back by to explain what we were supposed to do.

It was a cool, overcast morning and my new friend and I had about an hour to chat and enjoy the scenery before the golfers showed up.  We still didn’t know what our official job was, so we just made a point of being friendly and checking off the groups as they came through.

photo credit: Leslie Jones

A gentleman in the maybe fourth or fifth group finally explained to us why we had been stationed at that hole.  You see, the fairway on this hole was a big hump.  Long hitters would clear the crest of the hump, but from the tee, you couldn’t see whether they were still hitting up or were on the green.  One of us was supposed to stand out on the course at the top of the rise and then signal back to the tee when it was clear for them to tee off.

This was an unfortunate interruption of my conversation with my new friend, but I was glad that we had something important to do like making sure that no one was concussed (I mean, the golfers were practically all doctors, but still).

When our final group had teed off, we headed back to the clubhouse where there was a lovely cocktail reception with a huge silent auction (add that to the list of reasons that I am glad to have never had to plan or run a golf tournament).  I’m looking forward to volunteering again next year.

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No-Bake Cookie Adventures

When I was visiting my friend in Arizona we wound up in Flagstaff for lunch.  The place that we went had a big assortment of yummy, vegan sweets and K stocked up.  Her favorite of the assortment was a no-bake, vegan, peanut butter cookie.  She found a recipe online for a three-ingredient version that we decided that we had to try out.

Three Ingredient, No-Bake, Vegan Cookies

  • 1 cup creamy peanut butter (recipe calls for natural, unsalted)
  • ½ cup maple syrup
  • 2 cups rolled oats

Combine the peanut butter and maple syrup in a bowl.  Microwave in 20 second increments, whisk in-between until it is well combined.  Continue to microwave in 20 second increments until the mixture begins to dry out (4-7 times). Add the oats, form into cookies, freeze to harden.

For an added peanut butter cookie touch, we used a fork to flatten the cookies (cute right?).

I love how simple these cookies were to make.  I love that you didn’t even need the stove, you just use the microwave to do your “cooking.”  They were pretty yummy, but I do think the “dough” tasted better when it was warm.  If you are vegan and you are looking for something for your sweet tooth, this might be a good option for you.

I was interested to know what other no-bake vegan cookie recipes might entail, so I did a little googling and found this!

Peanut Butter-Chocolate No Bake Cookies

This is a chocolate/peanut butter cookie (click header for link).  It has coco powder, so you still get the gluten free thing, but you get a little bit of the body that you would get from a cookie that has flour in it.  You also use a little bit of coconut oil and some solid chocolate, which both add a bit of fat and I would think create a creamier texture.

I found about four variations on this same recipe, some used sugar instead of maple syrup, and one used coconut milk instead of almond (or other non-dairy milk).  I can see myself trying this out in some form.

No-Bake, Not-Vegan Cookies?

So, then I started to wonder (as one would) what a non-vegan no-bake cookie would entail.  Spoilers:  the recipes that I found were pretty much the same as the vegan cookies but included some form of milk and/or butter.  So whatever kind of milk you decide to use (or skip) and whatever kind of fat would be the variables between a vegan and a non-vegan cookie.  But all the no-bake cookie recipes that I looked at omitted eggs and flour (no surprise there!).

Since it’s starting to warm up, this may be a fun area of sweets-making to explore without having to turn on the oven (when it isn’t an ice cream experiment day at least).

Has anyone else tried any no-bake vegan baking?  Do you have a favorite recipe or trick?

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Sedona Dreaming

Recently, I went to Arizona to visit my dear friend K again.  I knew that I hadn’t trained quite enough to keep up with her, but not being quite prepared enough for something generally doesn’t stop me from showing up and giving it a shot and like I’ve said before, she is very tolerant.

The weather was gorgeous.  It was a treat to be there when it was in the mid-70’s to 80’s (and a bit of a relief to not have to worry about overheating while we were out adventuring).  I didn’t know exactly what we would get up to, but I knew that it would include some outdoor activities.

K took it easy on me on day one.  For day two she asked if I would want to take a drive up to Sedona to go hiking.  YES!  Sedona is a bucket list destination for me, and I was so excited to go there.

I generally have a very peaceful feeling in Arizona and in Sedona it was even stronger. Driving into town made me think of that animated movie (was it Cars?) and maybe a Willie Coyote cartoon.  The landscape is so iconic, it felt very familiar. One thing that was unexpected though was how it was so dessert and so lush at the same time.

We pulled into the parking lot at one trailhead, no parking spot, wasn’t meant to be (in Sedona you have to really be open to the signs that the universe sends you).  So, we went to the next trailhead and there was our parking spot!  This was the trail that we were meant to hike.

We set off on the Little Horse Trail.  Rather than deciding our whole route at the beginning, we decided which way to go until we got to the next fork, then we would make our next decision.  At one trail map, I made the mistake of looking at the trail difficulty ratings and got intimidated that one of our options was rated as “advanced”.  We wound up taking that trail anyway and even though it was advanced, all it took was a little bit of encouragement from my friend for me to make it to the end.

My biggest problem with hiking is that I have to really watch where I’m putting my feet.  I feel that I miss out on some of the vistas because I am trying to make sure I don’t slip or twist an ankle.  But this hike had some great scenery at ground-level that I got to enjoy.  I think K said that she counted ten different kinds of flowers, but I was trying to not stop too often so I only got photos of four.

Eventually we wound up at the church rock (someone built a big church coming out of this rock.  When we got to the end of the trail, rather than going to church, we decided to walk back to the car through the neighborhood and check out all the cool Sedona houses.

After a four-mile loop, we were back at the car and ready for to find somewhere for lunch.