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Is this not the finest piece of brocolli you’ve ever seen? I MADE that brocolli. And let me tell you, it was also the BEST piece of brocolli I have ever eaten. Adam doesn’t believe that the brocolli I picked from our garden, the brocolli that we grew ourselves, the brocolli that I watered by strategically positioning the sprinkler just-so for maximum garden coverage.
He thinks that this glorious piece of brocolli, tastes the same as grocery store brocolli.
He thinks that this brocolli tastes the same as grocery store brocolli that was grown who knows where, sprayed with who knows what, was picked who knows when, was packed into a wax coated carton, was tossed into a truck, and onto a conveyor belt, sat in the belly of a cargo plane, was tossed into another truck, sat in a warehouse, tossed into another truck, was manhandled by the produce department, manhandled by consumers, and sat in my fridge until I decided to use it?
In all fairness, Adam finally conceded that our brocolli did, he guess, taste better than grocery store brocolli. So there you have it. Our household has voted, and home grown brocolli does, in fact, taste better than mystery brocolli.
No real mystery there.
And if I may add, the salad was the only part of her that dinner Ellis ate.
Today is my birthday. My 34th birthday. And this is a photo of me, taken with my new iphone (paid for via birthday money proceeds). I can’t install Adobe Flash, so I couldn’t upload directly to Flickr, but at any rate, here I am.
I am waiting for Ellis to wake up from her nap, and in the time she’s been asleep, I have spent (wasted) a ridiculous amout of time trying to install Adobe Flash, I Swiffered the entire house (don’t get too excited; it’s a small house), including pulling out the fridge to get the rat’s-nest of Porter-hair that had been mocking me for weeks, unloaded the dishwasher, tidied the living room, and scrubbed the shower/bathtub. I’m even giving Ellis rights to the first bath in the clean tub, but only because she has food in her hair & I do have some standards when it comes to my child’s grooming.
I have a short-list of errands to run today, time allowing, and then I have Action Appliance Repair coming sometime between 2 and 4 to look at our washer & dryer. Talk about an afternoon killer.
Boy do I know how to have a good time.
But, after Adam gets home from work, we’re having dinner at my mom & step-dad’s house for my FAVORITE dinner: grilled pizzas. The first time my brother said he was making pizzas on the bbq, I couldn’t quite wrap my head around it. Pizzas? On the grill? Really? In my head, it was a “bbq pizza”, with bbq sauce.
And it was not bbq pizza, but only the BEST PIZZA IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD. I’m sure the homemade dough, made by my sister-in-law Michelle, has much to do with it. We generally make several small-to-medium pizzas, but my favorite is a mediterranean, with feta, greek olives & things of that nature.
It has been a quiet day, but rainy & windy. The first of our fall weather is upon us, and I can’t say as I’m all that happy to see leaves on the ground already. When the weather starts to turn like this, I usuallylook forward to fall. But this year I’m still clinging to summer. I could sit & wonder what’s different this year, but the answer is sleeping blissfully 2 rooms away. 
I don’t want to admit that she’s nearly 16 months old, which means she’s nearly 18 months old, and that just means she’s on her way to being a teenager. And I’m not ready for that. I want her to stay innocent and pure, imaginative, silly, my sweet little girl.
I love fall. Almost as much as I crave the sun after a long winter, I also crave crisp days, leaves changing colors (as much as they can around here in the land of evergreens), pumpkin-spice candles, lazy Sundays watching movies, and cooking. Honey actually does most of the cooking in our household, but last night I was craving scalloped potatoes. And since we bought a 10 pound bag of potatoes at Wal-Mart for $2.00 ($2.00!!) this weekend, scalloped potatoes were definitely in order. I do love them, but it takes sooo long to cook, which is why I don’t make them very often. My co-workers Mary & James both pre-cook their potatoes, and duh, why had I never thought of that?
Fall & Winter are also the time of year for baking. I have already made a batch of party mix, a family tradition every Christmas-time. I usually get a hankering for them about now, so will usually make a double-batch now, and one again in December. Mom wrote a post recently about traditions, and party mix is one of my favorites. If you are interested in the best recipe ever, here it is:
16 cups cereal (rice chex, corn chex, wheat chex, Cherios, & pretzels)
2 cups nuts
1 cup butter or margarine (I have always used Nucoa brand margarine, because that’s what my mom always used)
1 Tbs Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tsp salt
1 Tsp garlic powder
(I think that’s right; it’s from memory.)
In a large roasting pan, melt the butter & mix in Worcestershire Sauce, salt & garlic. Mix well before adding your cereal, pretzels & nuts. Stir until everything is coated. Or not so well if you want some clumps 
Bake at 250 degrees for 45 minutes, stirring every 15.
It is a must to taste-test at each stirring interval. And don’t ask me why, but my favorite beverage with party mix is orange juice. It’s just my tradition.
Always make a double batch because it never lasts long, especially when you share with your loved ones. On a side note, Bucky (my brother) & I love the “clumps”, the bits of cereal that don’t fully separate. They just have extra flavor. Well, we never told Honey about the “clumps” because we’re mean & selfish that way, and when he finally found out about them, he for-shamed us for keeping it a secret so long! Ooops. Who said marriage is all about sharing.
During Christmas, I always make several varieties of cookies as well. Sugar cookies are by far my favorite. Mom, avert your eyes now, but I bought a pre-packaged bag of sugar cookie dough yesterday. I know, I was horrified that I did it, but Michelle made some a couple weeks back, and they were so good! It was a total impulse buy, and I never, ever buy pre-packaged stuff like that. Well, except for cakes & brownies, but NEVER cookies! What is my world coming to? I just wanted cookies, and I wanted them now!
My taste in music also slows down a bit in the fall. I’ve been listening to the Sleepless in Seattle soundtrack for days now, and I never grow tired of it. This time of year, I’m all about Louis Armstrong, Harry Connick Jr., Frank Sinatra or any one of those fine fellas, Ella Fitzgerald & Billie Holiday, of course my Williams Sonoma The Last Time I Saw Paris cd, any of my Pottery Barn Dinner & Cocktail cd’s ~ really, anything that is slow, romantic, and evokes that hard-to-describe feeling that music is so good at doing. The other night Bucky & Michelle were over for dinner & we listened to Simon & Garfunkle circa “Mrs. Robinson”, and that was just perfect for how I was feeling that evening. What is it about “The Sound of Silence”, anyway? It just does something to me.
Oh, gosh, I really should be getting back to work. I get so tired by mid-afternoon it’s hard to concentrate, and it just gets worse as the week goes on. Come winter when it’s dark by 3:00 pm, it’s going to be especially brutal. Although, don’t they say you get a crazy burst on energy in your second trimester? At least that’s something to look forward to, besides hemorrhoids & flatulence!
