What's for dinner?

I guess I can't even cook dinner without taking pictures:-)

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All my life I have said over and over that I don't like fish.  I was the little Catholic girl who during Lent refused to eat fish on Friday when my parents went to Howard Johnson's (Bordentown, NJ)  for their weekly fish fry.  They relented and let me have a hamburger, peas, and gravy, but don't tell anyone;-)  Over the years I decided that fried shrimp was another good vehicle for eating my beloved ketchup.  After a while, I'd even got to where I'd eat cocktail shrimp and sauce.  Finally I graduated to sauteed shrimp with lots of butter.  Notice a trend?  The shrimp had to be camouflaged. But still, I refused to eat any other kind of shrimp.

Donnie likes fish, and I'm really game for trying new stuff these days, so I bought some Salmon from Whole Foods a few weeks ago.  I managed to cook it reasonably well by pan frying it in the cast iron skillet, and I honestly had no trouble eating it up.  I stopped short of saying it was great though.

Carolina Grown has a lot of trout on their menu but also has fish like Almaco Jack from Haag & Sons Seafood.  This week I decided to have some Almaco Jack delivered with my order.  Now boy was that fish good!  I loosely followed the recipe on Carolina Grown's food blog using lime juice, a hint of basil and coconut oil along with salt and pepper and white wine.  The fish was mild, flaky, no ones, and YUMMY!  Served up with some onions and sweet bell pepper (orange) along with snow peas and a hearts of romaine salad.  Very satisfying.

So if you were asking what's for dinner now you know!  :-)

Bacon! It's for Breakfast!

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As I promised a day or so ago when I was talking about bacon from Rainbow Meadow Farms through Carolina Grown, I'm back with pictures and the cooking steps for baking the bacon instead of pan frying.  If you don't eat bacon because you don't like the mess cooking it in the skillet makes, give this a try.

I set my oven on convection bake 350.  My friend Patricia says regular baking at 375 works too.  For a pound, I line two cookie sheets with parchment paper (well one is a cake pan, but you get the gist).  Whatever the pan, it should have an edge on it to keep the oil contained as the bacon cooks.  I used scissors to cut the paper to fit just so after watching Donnie do it so carefully last time.  Lay the bacon on top of the parchment paper in a single layer.  Bake on a middle oven rack for 10-25 minutes depending on your oven and whether or not you want any bacon wiggle or just like it crunchy.  Use tongs to move the bacon to a plate with paper towels on top to drain and then serve.  I drain the very pure looking oil into a glass jar to use in seasoning something else later on and store the jar in the fridge.  Throw the parchment paper away and let the dishwasher take care of the cookie sheets.  No fuss, no muss, and everyone is happy to have bacon with their eggs!  Donnie said this AM it was the best bacon he ever had.  Yum!    

Note, you can cook up a pound over the weekend when you've got extra time and just gently reheat during the week.  Make in advance and enjoy!

Also note how flat the bacon is.  With this method, you avoid the bacon curling up on you too much!

Dreamy Daisies

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We continue to have a good bit of rain, so many of the flower pics I take are wet.  I took some roadside and neighborhood flower  pics on the school run and a short errand trip yesterday.  I liked the tiny daisy shot best for it's dreaminess and being something unique relative to what I've already posted this year.  But these wet lilies sure are pretty too!

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Cute anole lizard in my yard.

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And mourning dove love birds.

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That's a thistle sock for the goldfinch (not pictured) behind them.


Donnie and I had a chance to go to the Museum of Life and Science last night for their adult Disco Tech party.  Our good friends Joe and Debbie (below) invited us.  It was a fundraiser with a silent and live auction plus lots of adults dressed in their 70's best having too much fun dancing to the Bee Gees.  My kindof music!  Debbie and I waited until 10PM to get on the dance floor and then danced on and off with the guys for the next hour.  I left out of breath, sweaty, and with a big smile on my face!

The following shots were taken on the train ride.  Yes, the dressed up adults got to go without kids on the train!  Woo hoo!

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Back inside the museum, we had a bit more fun too:-)  Who says museums are just for kids!

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My Carolina Grown Order from 060112

I order from Carolina Grown sometime from Sunday 6AM - Tuesday midnight and they deliver the following Friday or Saturday. My order has always come on Friday so far. I thought you might like to see what the coolers look like, what the food looks like, the packaging, etc.

Included in this order was fresh butter and mozzarella cheese, fresh bacon, purple scallions, snow peas, and almaco jack fish fillets.

So far I am very satisfied with the website for ordering, delivery service and the food.  You can read more about Carolina Grown on their website, but basically it's a business the seeks out and buys organic produce and grass fed meats and buys the food so that members don't have to run around hunting out these items for themselves.

I plan to take pictures baking that bacon this weekend!  And probably of the fish and snow pea meal too!

Flutterby

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This Eastern Tiger Swallowtail showed up on my butterfly bush yesterday.  Technically I was late to go get the boys from school already, but I just had to get out of my car and take a few pics before i headed down the road.  This was the best one I got for sharpness and color and exposure.  I hate it the leaf is in front of his head:-(

This shot is Madi's dog Salvo poolside yesterday.  He's so handsome!  We love this dog.  He's such a well behaved boy!

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This is Joey asking to have his picture taken.  He was really enjoyed the water!  Thanks to Teen and Madi for having us over!

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All my kid shots at the pool were blurry.  Too much action and not enough light but at least when the shade is over the pool we can sip the sunscreen/chemicals and no worry about sunburn.  The water was reasonably warm.  It felt great!  The kids are doing this new thing this year where they somersault into the pool:-)  I did talk to them about neck safety since the pool is not that deep.  I think they're OK with what they are doing at least this year.

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The video describes it better:-)

And the obligatory daily food shot.  How to have a hamburger without a bun.  Put homemade cheese sauce on it and then add a little sour cream salsa mixture as a pseudo ketchup.  Yum!

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Sending Sunshine

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The rain moved out and the skies finally cleared after Tropical Storm Beryl moved out to sea.  My rain guage said 1.25 inches.

These lovely flowers, gloriosa daisy I believe, are growing in my front perennial garden.  They have come back fuller than ever.  I am pleased!  They remind me of sunshine and seem full of cheer.

Also blooming in my yard are hydrangea (lower right), oak leaf hydrangea (lower left), and gardenia (can you smell it?).

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I continue to try try to cook whole and healthy meals and to document them with pictures.  Below is green beans, onions, chicken breast, and a romaine lettuce salad with fresh guacamole sour cream dressing.  The dressing was a smidge thick but tasted yummy.

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My girlfriend, Patricia, pointed me to the blog 100 Days of Real Food.  The writer, Lisa Leake, recently documented everything that her family ate for a week with a picture.  She broke it up into breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner.  Very interesting stuff at least to me.  She is allowing and serving way more carbs than I am but I still enjoyed reading her posts.

Fabric Art

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I took some coneflower pics yesterday, but I'm not satisfied with them, so you're getting another picture from Monday.  This is a curtain in the window of the old house down the road.  I adjusted the contrast and brought out the details.  I  think it's kindof cool.  Here's the window.

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Here's the best coneflower shot, but it's grainy and not well focused:-(

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A double.

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TS Beryl or what's left of him is here this AM and it's pouring!