What I Did on Summer Vacation

-tried a new to us restaurant
-grilled some great food
-read five magazines, cover to cover
-built some great (well-contained) camp fires
-ate a lot of s’mores
-hiked
-beat the dudely in 9 out of 12 Yahtzee games
-read two and a half novels
-started a crochet project
-finished a quilting project
-listened to seven episodes of This American Life
-spent a rainy afternoon with hot chocolate and a movie

And now it's Monday and it all seems so long ago already.

Recipe of the Week

Recipe: Butter Pecan Ice Cream
Source: Gourmet

Ingredients: *****
How can you possibly argue with a recipe that is chock full of toasted pecans? You can’t. You simply can’t. Having them mixed with lots of creamy milk and eggs doesn’t hurt either. I did make a few minor swaps though. I used 2% milk instead of whole milk because that’s what was in the fridge. I also only had dark brown sugar in my cabinet so I used 1 cup of dark brown sugar with ½ cup of granulated sugar.

Preparation: *****
Custard making is not for the impatient. I reminded myself of this over and over again as I stirred my milk mixture over gentle heat and every so slowly added it to my beaten eggs and sugar. Praying you don’t end up with scrambled eggs also helps. However, if the powers that be fail you, straining through a fine mesh sieve is a lifesaver. The only thing I would have done differently in the whole process is to let the custard chill overnight. It really does save the ice cream maker a lot of work.

Taste: *****
I’m in love! Everything about this ice cream is right. It’s rich, creamy, and packed with buttery, salty pecans. I have no idea how I, a butter pecan lover, have made it this far into my adult life without making my own butter pecan ice cream. Now, if you’ll excuse I have to get back to the freezer. All this talk has reminded my I haven’t had ANY today. I would say I’d share if you were here, but I just know that isn’t true. You’re better off making your own.

Florist-in-Training

I love super market bouquets. They are unassuming, budget friendly, and, best of all, they last. Care to take a look at my latest example?

This bouquet started out as four individual bunches of flowers: alstroemeria, billy buttons, daisies, and sedum. With half an hour of playing and cutting I coaxed them into a little bit of loveliness. Not bad for $11.98, right?

80

Today this very spunky lady, my Grandma, turns 80.

The only way we could possibly celebrate this milestone was with a surprise party. Boy, did we ever surprise her! The little BBQ she had expected to have with my Mom last Sunday turned out to be filled with her family and friends from far and wide, some not seen for years. She was filled with tears and momentarily speechless as she took it all in.

She had a lot to take in, too. First, there were the decorations. My mom, sister, and I had decorated each of the tables with flowers and an old photo of Grandma. Hanging above the tables were tissue paper pom-poms, a birthday banner, and some balloons. Then there was the lunch buffet that consisted of pulled pork, corn bread, baked beans, potato salad, cole slaw, corn on the cob, sweet & sour cucumbers, and watermelon.

Of course, there was birthday cake but we couldn’t just stop there. We added to that cheesecake tartlets, blueberry crumb bars, and turtle brownies.

I can’t begin to adequately express how much this woman means to me, to our entire family. I hope our surprise party said everything we wanted it to. She’s been so much to us. She’s our strength, the one to dish out love, the one to put you right back in your place when you need it. She encompasses everything that I’ve come to associate with one simple word: Grandma.

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Conversation with a Four Year Old

Me: Should I bring you a present the next time I visit?

Little Miss Lou (not missing a beat): Yes, I’d like one of those bowls you keep fish in.

Me (stammering): Um, I think that’s too big to fit in my suitcase. They probably won’t let me bring that on the airplane.

Little Miss Lou (not missing another beat): OK, I’ll take a box of toys.

Me (stammering yet again): I thought you might like me to MAKE you something. Do you remember that flower pin I had on my sweater the last time I visited?

Little Miss Lou (so sweetly now): Oh, I do, Auntie J. It was so pretty on your sweater. Can you make me one of those?

Me (having regained my composure): Of course, I’ll make you one!

Little Miss Lou (twinkle in her eye): You know I love orange!

Made by Me/Made by Rae

When it comes to sewing there are only a few things that I hate. One of those things I hate is clothing construction for moi. I know zip about fit and pattern alteration, and these seem to be important parts of clothing construction. So far this summer I’ve failed miserably at a dress (shapeless shift!) and turning said shapeless shift into a skirt. I hold out hope I can rescue the skirt but for now we need a little time apart.

But if at first, and second, you don’t succeed try, try again. And try again I did with this fabulous spring ruffle top from Made by Rae. The beauty of this pattern is that there are no pattern pieces. You measure where you need to measure and construct your own perfectly fitted pattern piece. Genius! And the construction was so easy, so straight-forward, that I completed it in an afternoon.

It’s not my typical blouse. I tend to shy away from really loose, flowing tops, always afraid someone might mistake me for a pregnant woman. But, I have successfully worn this out in public on several occasions and not once was I asked my due date or berated for drinking a beer in my condition. And, it’s a good thing, too. I probably would have popped them in the nose. Hoping, of course, not to get any blood on my beautiful summer top.

Go on a Picnic

About three weeks ago summer finally arrived in Boston. Before it got the idea that it should move right along to fall I needed to attend to no. 11 on my list of 32 Things: Go on a picnic.

To go on a picnic you need food, good food, lots of good food! And of course, you need some fabulous company. Our fabulous company came in the form of our friends Val & Jim and a sea of strangers who had also staked out a little piece of Boston Common to watch Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors.

Val and I split up the food making with me taking sandwiches and dessert while she took sides and a beverage. I couldn’t decide on just one sandwich recipe so I made two: prosciutto and brie sandwiches with rosemary fig confit and roast beef sandwiches with lemon-basil mayonnaise and roasted red onions. They went perfectly with Val’s tomato-cantaloupe salad and red potato-two bean salad topped with herbs fresh from her garden. To wash it all down, Val brought a sparkling lemonade that may have gotten its sparkle from champagne. After all that yumminess, we had just enough room left in our bellies to fit in my dessert, blueberry crumb bars.

It was a perfect summer night. The air was the perfect temperature, the play was fantastically done, the company great, and the food was out of this world. It was with a happy sigh that I crossed the picnic off my list.