We came up with Skinny Monkey as our website name because it combines both of our nicknames. For those of you who know us, you know why we have those nicknames...for the rest of you, don't worry your pretty little heads about it.
Saturday, September 5, 2009 at 04:22PM Memorial Day two years ago, we bought a car. Memorial Day the next year, we painted our bedroom. Labor Day Last year, we bought a truck. Labor Day this year?
Painting, construction, but no vehicle purchasing.
Three Day Weekends were made for this.
Update coming soon!
Sunday, August 16, 2009 at 09:12PM As the summer's heat * wilts away our vegetables, and the tang in the air reminds us that fall is fast approaching, I feel like it's whipped by us so fast; there's more left to be done.
As an aside, and reminder to myself, barrels do not make friendly homes for viney things such as melon. BAD idea. Also a bad idea is using old fence board to create false bottoms in the barrels so as not to use so much dirt. They need that dirt, but what they don't need is the fungus that the rotting fence board provides. And not to overplant tomatoes. They will turn into leggy horror-house tomato plants.
Back when I Didn't Know What I Was Doing and haphazardly tossing any ol' plant that would grow into our raised garden I've sense ended up with a hodgepodge flower garden that is mostly taken over by lavender. Not complaining one bit. Slowly but surely it's grown into a full-sized herb garden. Non herb plants include Jasmine (that is increasing tough to wrangle without a real trellis to grow on, but I'm training it to do a little something that will look great in Spring), gladioluses (that are seeing their last days), decorative garlic (also going to be gone next year), yellow narcissus that only blooms during Spring, and of which is a delightful harbinger of the season and hydrangea.
Now let's talk about hydrangea. It's root word would be hydra , which one knows automatically means it needs a lot of water. That's fine, but because I planted two of these in that raised bad when I Didn't Know What I Was Doing eight years ago, it is so in the wrong exposure that during the summer I have burnt blossoms and crispy leaves. It must go.
So, this morning I huffed and puffed and wrestled ONE of them out of the garden, fighting the mint (which totally made me think of the ice cream Vinny made with our fresh chocolate mint from the garden), and the stupid crab weed. It was humid and warm by 11am and completely unbearable to be outside so I didn't finish until late this evening.
In it's place, I planted sweet basil since we lost our in the frost last year and we're nearly out of what we harvested from that crop.
I would say we've been very successful in our vegetable garden this year. Countless servings of broccoli, salads, green beans, peas, tomatoes, sauce from said tomatoes, squash and zucchini, and a couple of savory melons helped cut down our grocery bill a bit.
It's kind of like a Mastercard commercial.
Seeds: $20
Dirt: $60
Water: $30
Ice cream maker: $50
A summer of home made and garden-fresh dinners and deserts? PRICELESS.
Next weekend will involve stucco, molding and paint!
Saturday, August 15, 2009 at 11:03PM Oh my gosh, I wish we could show you pictures of our glorious achievement in Teriyaki Pineapple Smith House Burgers and homemade coconut pineapple (Piña Colada) ice cream. But there was no pictures because we ate it too fast! The succulent flavor, the juicy tenderness and explosion of sweet with smokey. And the sugary confection that should be the 8th Sin of the World...the refreshing breeze of our ice cream to cap off a wonderful night with our neighbors and friends Curt and Chery. Read: Partners in Crime.
In other Smith House Kitchen developments we've had so many tomatoes ripen that we can't eat them all at once so I've been simmering them down into a pasta sauce and freezing for later. The secret? Brown sugar. And Fresno chilis. That's it. Can't tell you any more. If I do we'll have to kill you.
Our Big Ass Tube television in the living room finally went kablooey. After torturing us with strobe light epilepsy tests, we couldn't thunk it, hit or punch it hard enough to get it to come back on. Vin tried some trouble shooting but it was dead on arrival. So guess what we get to do? Shop for a new television.
Jam has been our biggest accomplishment this year. Strawberry, plum, peach, and cherry. Then the variations with chilis to make: Plum Viscious, Hot Fuzz, and Chillin' Cherry.
Summer has been hot, work has been hard, but play has been fun. As the days get shorter, there's a certain briskness to the air in the mornings as one can taste the withering of the robust summer days in its death throes. We've been thinking of cooler weather, hot food and cozy evenings. We're ready for harvest season!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009 at 02:04PM Far far away, that's where.
It seems like just the other day it was the end of July. Now it's nearly the middle of August. What the heck? As we wind down summer our evenings are filled with barbecues, friends and new ice cream recipes.
Will have an update soon! Stay tuned!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009 at 08:48PM We celebrated Vin's birthday this year with lots of sea food! On Friday, our good friends and neighbors hosted Fish Fry Friday with the Crescent City catch. Experimenting with different types of batters offered a palatable array of dishes along with vegetables and rice. Always a crowd pleaser. We also tried our hand at home made ice cream--nearly have this mastered--with a new recipe and our garden-fresh chocolate mint.
A couple of years ago, while shopping at Trader Joe's we found a chocolate mint plant, bought it, planted it and now it's going haywire in the herb garden. And by haywire, I mean taking over. So we ground some of it up and added it to the ice cream recipe, dropping in mini chocolate chips at the end for a delicious and refreshing treat to go along with birthday cake.
Saturday morning we took a leisurely drive to Bodega Bay with our friends Curt and Cheryl and their daughter, Nicki. It was foggy, but a welcome climate change to the 100º+ weather we've had in the valley. The Lucas Wharf never disappoints with their calamari lunch (breaded calamari steak on an onion roll) and for dinner, the Tides Inn (where Hitchcock's The Birds was filmed) always pleases with a variety of dishes. If you have a chance to sample their pastry bar, we recommend it!
Sunday was a day of relaxing and we wrapped it up with wine and cheese night sampling the myriad collection we have along with the gourmet cheese we purchased from the Loleta Cheese factory during the Crescent City trip.
It went too quickly, but was time well spent!