2nd post of the night

I don't normally post twice, but I was going through my blog and found to my surprise that although I had THOUGHT about blogging things and putting up pictures of the garden, I apparently never ACTUALLY did. I was shocked to find there was a difference between reality and fantasy. My little bubble of my world has now been popped.

Enjoy!

Seriously. I have no idea when this is "ready". It would be great if someone could fill me in since this is so far the only canteloupe we actually have. I don't want it to rot on the vine. So, for future reference, there are 5 plants out there. To get 4 canteloupes, I need 20 plants. Shit. That means that my entire garden MUST be canteloupes next year.

My excuse for the sad state of my garden is that it's been too hot to be in the sun to weed. Believe it bitches. Now later this week is supposed to be cooler (at least not over 100 degrees) so we'll see if I actually get off my lazy duff and get out there.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Weed.

I think I may have to clean this out a bit before it's time to over-winter.

There really is cucumbers in there. Somewhere.

It's way too late for these to actually grow. I'm not sure what I should do with these.

I like a garden that's all natural. Growing wherever and however. I don't believe in being cruel and forcing plants to go where they don't want. Hence, the tomatoes are on the ground.

Yep. It's coming. This is another one of those things that I'm not really sure when it's ready.

Did I ever thank Brenda properly for this basket? It has truly been a life-saver.
Not bad for no money! Thanks again!!

So am I. I have a freezer full of it, so it's hard to be worried that the zucchini are dying off.

Corn. Nikki's piece. Sorry about the bad focus. And sorry that your corn will be buggy. But think of it as protein. Yummy! Many people around the world eat bugs. Just to let you know.

Pretty self-explanatory. I saw once I looked at this photo that are cherry tomatoes ready to be plucked. I'll get you tomorrow my pretties!

Just to clarify. This is plain ol' standard grass. Nothing to see (or smoke) here.

Hopefully, soon I will realize just because I write a post in my head that it doesn't magically appear on my blog, YET. That would be the coolest technology ever. Someone needs to invent that so I can just sit back and think my blogs. That would be the best EVER!!

Belinda

Mama would be proud...

So, I had a craving for something my mom used to make me. Stuffed artichokes are something us Italians love. I decided to try to make them (without having to call Mommy for the recipe of the stuffing). I found this recipe:

STUFFED ARTICHOKES

1 1/2 c. seasoned bread crumbs 2 tbsp. onion, chopped fine 1/2 tsp. garlic, chopped fine 2 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese 1 tbsp. olive oil 1/2 c. water 1 lg. artichoke Remove old leaves and cut stem off close to the artichoke, then trim tops of each leaf all around to remove needle like points. Press the artichoke up side down on counter, to spread the leaves open. Wash and drain. Mix ingredients, and fill each leaf, packing gently. Place in small saucepan with water, drizzle small amounts of olive oil over top of crumbs. Steam in covered pan for 45 minutes, or until leaves come apart easily. To eat: Remove one leaf at a time with fingers, scraping off the meat and stuffing on both ends with teeth.

And from there, I adapted. I actually used more garlic, more olive oil and basil and oregano. It was delicious. Check out the photos and tell me your mouth isn't watering. Okay, probably only my family will understand this post, but DAMN, they were good.

Ready to enjoy! This one was the first of two and it was amazing. After I ate it, I was the one that was stuffed. Didn't stop me from eating the other one though. This could be why I gained so much weight last year, hehe.

Ready and waiting in the pot. This one was just as delicious. I'm not sure why I don't just steam artichokes. They are so good with or without the stuffing, although the stuffing is the icing on that cake.

Here's a bit of the garden bounty. The cherry tomatoes are doing really well. I have an over-abudance of them. The Romas aren't doing so hot, they seem to be rotting before they are ripe so I plucked them a bit early. Hopefully, they will still make it.

Hello, jelly bean cherry tomato things. You are so delicious. I love you.

The green ones are "Romas". Well, they were on the Roma plant, but they work really well for fried green tomatoes (don't tell my dietician, she would be pissed).

Well, that's about all the excitement for today!

Belinda

Last weekend

My brother, his fiance and her daughter came down last weekend. We first went to Science City in Union Station which is a pretty cool place to go. Then we stopped by the house, changed clothes and headed to Twilight hours at Oceans of Fun (after 3 or 4 pm prices are $17.99/person). The kids had a pretty good time especially when we finally found the kiddie pool. We also checked out the adults only pool which looks a lot of fun. I plan on going back there during the week that police, fire, etc are offered free admission. On the way out, the kids got suckers. And then we grilled out and chilled. Here's some photos!

The suckers were huge. I'm sure the amount of sugar in them hopped them up like a shot of ephedrine. But they were obviously very tasty.

The aftermath of Macy's sucker adventure. I think if her tongue would have reached, she would have preferred to lick her face clean, but Nicole had to hose her down.

My niece always straightens her hair and here is "never-before-seen" footage of her with it all curly. She's gonna be pissed that I posted these.

I'm not sure if you remember a little girl posing naked a while a go, but this is obviously genetic.

Nicole will likely never speak to me again for posting this photo. Heh. What can I say, I love au natural photos :)

The big man on the internet. I think we were checking out someone's my space page here. Not sure though.

The weekend was pretty fun, although got expensive for us all. My niece Amber is coming down next week with her daughters (including the NEW one!!) and I'm pretty pumped to see the baby. My mother has ordered me to take photos and since I don't want to be written out of their will, I will try to comply. So, expect more photos.

As far as the garden is going, we've eaten corn and finally some cherry tomatoes. The zucchini has slowed down considerably as I've been forced to remove some of the plants due to squash vine borers and squash bugs. The cucumbers are doing pretty well and my one canteloupe is still hanging in there. We've gotten a pretty good crop of green beans and I think those are pretty well done. It's been too miserably hot to even think about going out there so the weeds are out of control. Although the really tall grass might be helping to protect from the scorching sun. I plan on watering this evening, so I'll try to take some photos!

Belinda