Almost September

 I can hardly believe summer is almost gone.  I am still in the summer mode and wanting to visit the beach again real soon.

I will start pulling out my autumn decor tomorrow.  My mantle needs a refresh but will leave my seashells out for a while maybe.  Not time for pumpkins or gourds quite yet. 

Some zinnias picked to take upstairs to living room.  Love having this little kitchenette area downstairs for summer especially.  

So much basil this year.  I washed the leaves then vacuum sealed them for the freezer.  They work really well this way for cooking and especially on pizza. 

My tarragon substitute of Mexican Mint Marigold I do the same way.  Love chopping these leaves into chicken salad and other recipes that call for tarragon.  Will come in handy this winter.  Drying this herb is not as tasty as preserving it fresh.  

I chopped peppers small for recipes then vaccuum sealed for freezer. 

A recipe found online.  My husband said it's delicious.

  It does taste like an apple fritter.

I used almond extract instead of vanilla.

Love slivered almonds on a lot of my baked goods lately.

I placed some on this baked fritter bread after it came out of oven. Let it cool some, then drizzled glaze on top.

 I can almost see Autumn.  The shadows cast tells me of the seasons change.   

Husband and I lunched a few days ago at Islamorada Fish Company in Bass Pro Shop.

Nice view to outside.

Hardly anyone there until we sit down and ordered.  Then the place started having customers roll in. 

My coconut shrimp was so yummy along with sweet potato waffle fries.  First time I had sweet potato fries that actually had a wonderful sweet potato flavor.  So good. 

Steve had shrimp with salmon

Later in the evening on a ride out to Hobby lobby there was this gorgeous sunset

Beautiful sky the day before.  

Some fun stuff this summer was 

a day at the batting cage near us.  

Husband went first

Granddaughter Genevieve 

Me,  I had to take a whack at it after all the healing from the past few months and it felt good actually

Genevieve got this picture of me as soon as ball hit the bat or coming at it I should say

Opa giving pointers

Opa and Genevieve played billiards next

Leaving with a few more pictures of outside stuff

Finally, all of the weeds and flowers that I didn't like are gone. Now more gravel.

Basil kept in water on windowsill sprouted so now it's growing in dirt in kitchen window

Bye for now

August already!

 Been a month.  Time flies and this summer has.  Finally getting back into the swing of things after TKR, Hernia and gall bladder surgery along with root canal and life in general. Whew, glad those things are over. 

Outside the patio tomatoes are coming back for another round.  I love this type of tomatoes as the always make a comeback. 

After a first round through July

August come back

New blooms

I made floret chive butter.

Love it on bagels and muffins

I mix chive blossoms with cream cheese 

Food lion had corn at 4 ears for a dollar.  The corn is locally grown that is sold in our neighborhood store. 

I cut it off the cob to freeze

Eton Mess as the dessert is called.  Traditional British dessert.  Associated with Eton College.

Simple ingredients are strawberries, crunchy meringue broken into pieces and whipped cream.

Meringue is easy enough to make but I purchased mine this time.  Strawberry flavor at that.  

I made the sauce with cut up mashed strawberries with sugar. cooked with a little thickener. Let it cool thoroughly before adding extra cut up strawberries to sauce.  

 You can just mash some strawberries in sugar and skip the cooking. let sit a little while.

Extra cut strawberries mixed into the mashed mixture.

Start layering.  Whipped cream, strawberry sauce with strawberries and crumbled meringue, repeat.  

It's also good if gently mixed before serving in dessert glasses. Don't over mix before spooning into cups.

Serve it right away while the meringues are crunchy.  I keep ingredients in separate containers until ready to assemble as it's easy to put together quickly. 

I love garden fresh okra.  I fried it in self-rising corn meal. 

Sauteed onions

Steamed garden fresh tomato slices. 

I made it like my mama did.  Love it.  Okra, with sauteed onions on top and then top it with tomatoes.

It's a meal for me

Outside flowers are still looking good.  Lot of watering these last couple of days. 

We have periods of rain and then zero. 

volunteer petunia 

Faux flowers in hanging pots on patio

Faux stump with flowers and and Mexican marigold at the base.

A boxwood I am training to a topiary. 

The mosaic duck I did ages ago.  A cement duck with different colors of glass I cut for it, glued then grouted. 

Swamp Hibiscus does well every year. 

This year's crepe myrtles really put on a show.  I purchased these 10 or so years ago and they are called California reds. 

From office window.  

Til next time

betsy

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