Spending lots of time - In the garden.
Picking - Snow peas, Napa cabbage, radishes, spinach that has bolted, and chard.
Making - Lots and lots of this salad. It's the whole reason we grow Napa cabbage. The printout is my cousin's original recipe, and all the notes were for Ryan when he asked for the recipe.
Drinking - "Homemade" shandy/radler, courtesy of Vicki. I've only had Leinenkugel's and for some reason it never occurred to me to to mix my own. That's what I'm doing now and it's delicious!
Grateful For - A long weekend. I'm not doing anything monumental, and there may be people planning my participation in things that sound suspiciously like work, but the prospect of four (currently unscheduled) days in front of me is delicious.
Ready For - Watching fireworks. The town fireworks are a block away, so I'm happy to get out my lawn chair, bug spray, and beverage in the back yard and not to have to fight traffic and crowds.
Enjoying - Cool mornings with low humidity. This officially ended today, but it has been nice while it lasted.
Not Looking Forward To - A big pruning of our two big oak trees. It's expensive and a little nerve-wracking to watch guys climbing trees with chain saws and hoping that the limbs don't come crashing through the roof, but very necessary. There is the added bonus of spending time with my tree guy. He's cute, funny, teaches me about trees, and tells the best stories. Yes, I'm old enough to be his mother, but I like to think he likes me well enough to spend two hours here when he could do the estimate in 15 minutes. John wants a discount on the pruning before I run away with Mike.
Watching - Leverage and Grey's Anatomy. I have to pay attention to Leverage to understand the plot, but Grey's Anatomy is a good show to knit to. I don't have to follow every detail, and I can easily take time to roll my eyes at Meredith's histrionics without dropping stitches.
Learning - That I don't have to answer every question and reply to every request. My initial reaction is so often to blurt out my first thoughts, but I'm slowly learning that things often go better if I think before I speak (at least about the big stuff). Good lesson to finally start learning at age 60, huh?!
Contemplating - An important long-term project. I'm not being secretive, but before I write about it, I have to make plans and work out the details because I really want to succeed. I hope that even mentioning it here will help me stick to it and be accountable.
What's going on in your world right now?
Hi bonny! What a fun post, and thanks for the recipe - it sounds wonderful. I, too, have no plans for a nice, 4 day weekend and that feels great. I'm just hoping it doesn't get too unbearably hot & humid. These past few mornings have been pure bliss (I've even put on a sweatshirt to sip my coffee on the patio!). And our fireworks are also so close that we can watch from our yard - yay!!
ReplyDeleteGreat recipes! And, your garden is so amazing!! However, those steps... what are they for? I am curious! Also, we are working on "deer proofing" the yard (I know, this won't happen, lol) but I was shocked to see in broad daylight a doe in my back yard on Monday - too bad I did not see her before she ate all the lilies buds, all the hosta flowers, and all the rhubarb leaves!
ReplyDeleteIch liebe ein radler! I'm not even sure if that is correct German (probably not) but just wanted to chime in as another Shandy/radler fan!
ReplyDeleteI don't know German, so it looks good to me! I had actually never heard of radler before a few days ago, but Vicki http://knitorious.typepad.com/ told me about the one she had on her trip to Spain and how she made it herself back at home. Delicious!
DeleteGood Morning! I'm in the midst of year end...very, very busy (eyeroll)! But Meredith's histrionics! She drove me batty and was the reason I gave up after 5 years or so. :-) Here's to those very, very, very welcome 4 days!!!
ReplyDeleteYay!! I'm so glad you're enjoying your homemade shandy/radler concoctions!! Have a GREAT weekend, Bonny!
ReplyDeleteBonny! Your garden looks MARVELOUS! I hope your long weekend unfolds in the most wonderful way. (I'll be hunkered down in the basement bunker on the 4th -- trying to keep JoJo calm despite the relaxing meds from the vet and the Thunder Shirt. I hate that my entire neighborhood shoots off fireworks all weekend. . . )
ReplyDeleteMy family made a very similar recipe for Chinese Chicken Salad. I think we lived on it for a few summers! Love how organized your garden is. Smith spends hours every day in ours (the community garden at large) and done a fairly good job of keeping it a little more organized this year. Your big tree looks daunting! What a bonus the tree guy is nice to talk to and flirt with ;). Hope your weekend turns out to be more relaxing than expected and you can keep your feet up for awhile.
ReplyDeleteYour garden looks fabulous! I am envious, but I know how much work you put in to make it so. I make a similar salad with regular cabbage. I have never tried it with Napa cabbage. The lower humidity is at an end here, too, Bonny. I am going to miss it so much! It means the return of the sweltering Southern heat justin time for the 4th. What is it about tree men? I feel the same about mine. He is just delightful. I hope you have a wonderful long weekend!
ReplyDeleteThank you! The garden has plenty of pests, wilt, and fungus if you see it up close, but I guess that's all part of the challenge of gardening. My tree guy is bringing his girlfriend next time so we can talk about saving and sharing seeds with each other, but that will be fun also. Wishing you a wonderful weekend!
DeleteI love your annotated recipe! "I don't do this" "I don't use" and the decimal notations (I always write half as 1/2 in a recipe but you write 0.5) ... it's as much a recipe as a clue to you!
ReplyDeletegolly a whole stick of butter! those were the days...your garden looks inviting and you'll be picking non stop soon. My husband announced we have a pepper! wahoo! We had a team of tree men take down two dead (standing) trees. I didn't watch the climbing, my stomach would flip and flutter. Funny though, the tree we were worried that would fall on the house, never would according to him. But the pine tree....yup, we saved our house!
ReplyDelete