blueberries

Last night my future sister-in-law invited me to dinner, and since I was so lazy yesterday I didn't even make a side (so unlike me I know!). Instead I went to the grocery store to pick up some brie and crackers. Upon entering the store, I spied something that gave me intense and immediate joy: blueberries! Blueberries are my absolute favorite fruit, and with good reason: those little round morsels of delicious sugary refreshing goodness are unmatched by any fruit I have ever tasted in my life.

 Raking low bush blueberries (the sort grown in Maine) is back-breaking work. The technique has not changed much since 1930, and if you would like to see footage of men raking blueberries back in the day watch the little video at this link: http://www.mainememory.net/bin/Detail?ln=26522

I especially love the reference to the housewife about 3/4 of the way through the video. Maybe the method for raking blueberries hasn't changed much, but thank goodness our treatment of women has!

Well I'm keeping this one short because I've got to get all packed up and ready to go to Pawley's Island, SC for the week. I'll be updating from there, so be sure to check back for breathtaking sunset pics, yummy recipes, and of course random musings about this southern land that I now call home.

art break

Last night I went to the First Friday Art Walk at Marietta Square with my good friend Pat. It was great to walk around and look at local art (and eat mango Italian Ice - thanks Pat!), but I believe that the finest piece of art was from Pat himself! Just check out this table of his!

Isn't it gorgeous! He is still working on it, and is also working on his own guitar (really wish I'd taken a picture of that). I think he hopes to sell it, so if this would be the perfect piece in your home just let me know and I'll pass on the word.

Another thing I have become obsessed with lately is old maps. There is nothing that puts who you are into perspective like looking at the world from above. I definitely owe this obsession to my land surveyor father, who looks at maps for a living and has a map of Maine bigger than I am hanging on the wall.

My favorite accessory is an old purse I found at a thrift store in San Deigo (for $10!) with the world map on it. It was created when the USSR was still around, so its also a neat piece of history. I've stopped using it because the leather is wearing on the shoulder straps and I'm afraid it'll break (I've already had it fixed once). Would putting something on the leather help? I'd like to actually use this beauty rather than admiring it hanging in my closet.

Isn't she a bute? I've definitely had more than one person come up to me from across a store or the street (and once the National Mall!) to ask me where I got it because oh please please please they must have one just like it! And for an unfashionable girl like me, it feels good to have that one timeless piece that can go anywhere with me.

I hope to one day find old maps of Georgia and Maine (a tribute to Tom and I, awwwww.....) and then frame them and hang them next to each other. I found a nice one of Georgia last night, but it was $130 and thrifty me said no to that. But I'll definitely be on the lookout at thrift stores, yard sales and flea markets.

Any other suggestions on how to decorate with maps?

If you're beyond crafty, I mean so much so that craft is now your middle name, then perhaps you could try this: http://beachyinthecity.blogspot.com/2008/09/crafting-make-map-bed.html This girl is inspiring!

Speaking of crafty people I know, check out these beauties that share a permanent residence on our guest bed:

My beautiful sister Laura made these for my birthday last year, and when I opened them I actually thought they were from Anthropologie. I didn't find out until a bit later that she made them! This becomes even more impressive when you look at these little beauties up close.

Yay!

This summer weather is absolutely perfect, and my dog Barley is itching for a trip to the dog park. For the love of all things dog, I'll leave you with these beautiful photos.

http://graceandivy.wordpress.com/2010/06/04/puppy-love/

My absolute favorite is the one at the end.... It makes me feel that the monster may need a friend for when I'm not here during the day. Anyone that can convince Tom we need two bundles of love gets a giant gold star for persistence.

keeping it simple

Today's meal was kept simple and made possible by a very generous coworker who happened to have too much roast pork shoulder and gave a large piece of it to everyone he works with (um, yes please!). Because Tom and I are strange (but mostly because we didn't have any bbq sauce), we decided to put the pork over some mixed greens and add caesar dressing.

Woo hoo for thoughtful coworkers!

Well, that was the quickest dinner I made all week, and while looking out the window pondering what to do with myself, I spied a lonely little friend who I once had very high hopes for.

When I bought this little Sugar Sweetie (don't you just love the names they come up with for vegetables?!) at the Oakhurst Community Garden spring plant sale a few months ago, I envisioned putting this little plant in a very large container. Peering now at the large container, this is what I saw:

Yuck, this standing water may have been breeding this year's crop of mosquitoes!

Feeling very inspired to tackle such a job and give my little plant new life, I pulled out the drill and put a few holes in the bottom to allow water to drain. Don't you think the drill bit on the right would be wonderful for putting large holes in my pot?

Au contraire mon frere! That large (1/2") bit would only make an indentation, not a full hole. But when I tried a smaller bit, it went through like a champ.

Now, I'm not sure if these smaller holes will actually drain successfully, but I think it will be ok and I know it's better than it was. Plus, doesn't this little guy look cute as a cucumber?

I even had time to pot this beauty

Marjoram

And I also found, to my delight......

From a tomato plant I put in the ground a couple months ago

But here's the deal.... I'm not much of a pesticide type of girl. And I know my soil quality is really low (sadly low). What can I do to prevent my plants from doing this:

Bug Paradise!

Or from being stunted like this:

Also planted 2 months ago and still playing Mini Me to the fruit-producer next door

Any ideas would be so welcome at this point, because even though I mixed in about three inches of compost over the whole garden before I planted, I'm still not seeing the lush greenery that I want to see. It also doesn't get too much sun, so I guess I've pretty much got a trifecta of forces working against me huh?

Anywho, this perfectly simple evening left me with a yummy and quick meal, and also with a much happier garden. This left plenty of time to persue my other ambitions in my new favorite part of the house.

Side note: Since I've started exploring this blogging world (a little late I know), I have been continually amazed, inspired, and thrilled by what I have found out there on the world wide internets. There are so many wonderful people doing what they love and sharing it with the rest of us. My daily dose of inspiration is now so often coming from the writing, the photographs, the creativity of all of you.

Case in point: please check this out the blog post below. I bet you'll never look at your ugly too-small-to-be-useful closet the same again. I actually told Tom that I wished our house had an ugly too-tiny closet so that I could whip up a masterpiece, and after rolling his eyes he kindly suggested that I convert my walk-in closet into my very own office. Tempting....... but nah.

http://graceandivy.wordpress.com/2010/03/06/closet-office-anyone/

Warm Pumpkin Soup for a Rainy Day

Summer is creeping over the horizon, but this rainy stormy afternoon made me crave something warm and hearty. After searching through my cupboards, I decided to go in a direction I've never gone before and make Black Bean Pumpkin Soup. I found a base recipe online, but decided to alter it quite a bit to make it heartier and much more spicy. The ingredients:

1/2 stick butter
1/2 a white onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic
1 carrot, chopped
2 cups chicken broth
29 oz can pumpkin puree
2 cans 10 oz diced tomatoes with lime juice and chilis
2 cans 15.25 black beans
1/4 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1 bay leaf
salt
pepper
~3 T sherry vinegar
~1 T lemon juice

The onion, garlic and carrot were put in a soup pot with the butter and cooked until the onions and carrot softened.

The remainder of the ingredients were added to the pot, and the heat was reduced to low and simmered about 20 minutes.

Pretty? No Yummy? Yes!

Despite my initial thoughts of what this soup would be, I really really enjoyed it. I doubled the pumpkin that the original recipe called for and added fewer beans so that the pumpkin flavor would come through and have its day. This was a spicy, light and unexpected meal, perfect for a rainy summer day.

Even better, this soup took almost no time, and could be altered to suit any tastes. It could easily be made vegetarian (switch veggie broth for the chicken) or more mild (use less of the coriander and cumin, and use diced tomatoes without the chilis). If you prefer a smoother soup, you could also add more broth or use an immersion blender to up the smooth-and-creamy factor.

Sour cream or plain yogurt would work perfectly with this dish, and I would have added a dollop to my bowl if I had some on hand.

Yum!

PS. I realize that this soup is not pretty (boo I love pretty food pictures!), so to satisfy beautiful-food-picture-cravings I suggest this site: http://foodporndaily.com/ As they say: click, drool, repeat

Feels like friday on a tuesday night......

Ahhhh the sweet taste of success! After days (well, weeks) of lackluster meals and uninspired recipes, I finally stepped up my A game. Half carnivorous and half vegetarian, this meal put me in heaven. These heavenly feelings could have been brought about by the dinner location rather than the food.... but no matter, it was a relaxing and peaceful evening nonetheless. I can't really take all of the credit, because Tom had the simply brilliant idea to pack a picnic of the dishes I had been preparing and grill out at Red Top Mountain State Park. We've been thinking of getting married there, and decided to check it out and then sit by the lake and feast. What was on the menu? Cream Cheese Jalapeno Burgers and Summer Barley Salad.

The burgers were quite simple. I bought two pounds of lean ground chuck, two packages of neufchatel cheese and a can of jalapenos. I mixed the chopped jalapenos (we used mild but could easily have handled more spice) with the cream cheese and set the mixture aside. The meat was formed into thin patties (make two times more patties than the number of burgers that you want - I promise this will become more clear in about three seconds). Form a yummy goodness sandwich with a patty on the bottom, the cream cheese mixture in the middle and another patty on top. With the cream cheese safely inside, pinch the patties together on the outside to keep the cream cheese from oozing out while cooking (we got six burgers out of this, so I Tom made 12 patties).

Recruiting a helper is best:

For the Summer Barley, I combined:

one cucumber, diced
several cherry tomatoes cut in half
a cup of fresh cilantro, chopped
one grated carrot [my recipe called for two, but really, who has the energy to manually grate two carrots]
two green onions, chopped
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt

one cup barley, cooked (this should be cool before mixing with all of the other ingredients)
After mixing the veggies with the barley, mix in one container of feta cheese (yum!)


After prepping the burgers and the barley salad, we packed up one cooler, one picnic basket and one dog and headed up the highway to our site of potential matrimony.

And since I brought the perfect chef, I was left to sit on the picnic table and ponder important things, such as the nature of our very existence, the intelligence of the person who invented waverunners and our great luck at being passed over by the pop-up thunderstorms that riddled Atlanta at precisely the same time we were sitting to feast. 

 Luckiest girl in the world? That's what I was thinking.

And lest you think we're a might tooooo classy, just set your fears aside.

In all, a perfect night for a perfect meal.

And for those of you getting ready to say your vows and wondering where you can get hitched on the cheap (with lots of nature and a casual atmosphere), Red Top really is quite an economical option. We weren't particularly fond of the site (a bit of erosion in the wedding area that took away from the ambiance), but at $250 for the whole shebang you won't find me complaining about a little dirt displacement.

And since we're pretty certain that a pig roast is a fantastic way to begin many many years of wedded bliss, this caught our eye more than anything else:

Stay tuned for more wedding details. Will we choose Red Top? Will we get married in someone's backyard? Will we elope? (Just kidding Mom.) We plan to answer these and many more questions next week, when we vacation with my super amazing future family.

Until then, bon appetit!

Home

I recently moved into a new house (with a bigger kitchen!), which means that I was also given the menacing task of moving all of my stuff and organizing it to fit in with someone else's space (I moved in with my fiance). This three-day weekend I found myself with very few plans and the house to myself. Inspiration in place, I tackled my boxes-o-stuff and subjected each item to intense scrutinization before deciding whether or not I would keep it. For a packrat such as myself (though not quite of the Hoarders variety), this was difficult. But surprising to me (probably not to y'all), going through those boxes that had been largely unopened from Asheville to San Diego to Atlanta felt really really good. It turns out that I don't really need papers from my undergrad days or all of the trinkets I collected in England and China to retain the memories that I have from those periods of my life.

What I thought was going to be a painful process has actually been quite liberating. I don't have boxes of unknown objects, but do have clean(er) spaces and a happier mind. Whoever said that a cluttered house is a cluttered mind was onto something, and I'll take peace of mind over lots of stuff any day.

What will I do with myself now that I am (mostly) moved in? Besides cooking fabulous meals in my big(ger) kitchen, I plan to tackle various DIY projects. My current obsession source of inspiration is from this blog http://www.younghouselove.com/.

Posts will hopefully be more frequent now that I live in one house instead of two, and now that I have a kitchen complete with all of my cooking utensils and even (gasp!) a real dishwasher! Cooking is so much more exciting when you know you've got someone else to clean up after you.

Sometimes its fun to go all out on your baked goods and spend time measuring flour and separating eggs and whipping cream, but then there are those other times when all of those steps just feel like work. Don't beat yourself up about it, that's what I say! If you went for a nice run around the neighborhood and came back only to find that you have nothing for dinner because you haven't been grocery shopping in ages, I see nothing wrong with reaching for the box of cake mix eyeing you from the back of the shelves. If you want to bake a Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Spice Cake and then eat several small pieces for dinner, you just go ahead.

PS. Those sweet potato fries were amazing, but my number one favorite thing about DBA Barbecue was sitting on the patio with a watermelon mojito.

Worth listening to: Nobody's Woman by Firefly Revival http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhvA6bSYrgs