The Week's Favorites

Last week, I had two delicious dishes that made a reappearance at the end of the week for a nice date with the hubby.


The first dish is Lemon-Spiced Chicken (adapted from The Newlyweds' Cookbook). This is best made with thighs as suggested by the cookbook and confirmed by my resident poultry expert.


8 chicken thighs
1/3 c evoo
juice from 1 lemon
1 T cumin
1 t paprika
1/2 t red pepper flakes
1 t oregano
several sprigs of fresh lemon thyme (great and easy to grow in the garden)
coarse salt (to taste)
black pepper (to taste)

Mix the oil, lemon juice, and spices in a bowl. I pull the leaves off of most of the lemon thyme, but leave a couple whole sprigs in there. Put the chicken in a baking dish and pour the mixture over top. Be sure to coat the chicken well with the mixture. Let sit for 30-60 minutes or refrigerate for up to 8 hours. Heat oven to 400.


Ready to go in the oven...

Roast in the oven at 400 for 40-50 minutes or until browned and cooked through. Serve with pan juices poured over.


I complemented this with my favorite pasta salad.

Call me a cheater, but I love Suddenly Pasta Salad. It's even better with my favorite croutons crushed on top.


I also sauteed some yellow squash and spinach with a little chicken broth and fresh lemon thyme.


Yum!

The Making of a Purse

I got a set fat quarters a while ago that I just loved. I wasn't sure what I would do with them when I got them, but then I got the idea to use them for a patchwork purse.


When I work on a sewing project, I tend to take over the room and make a mess. Here are a couple shots of the process.

I think the finished product turned out pretty good!

Available at www.whatjoyisfound.etsy.com.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/80284807/patchwork-purse-hand-bag-peach-aqua

I didn't use all of the squares I got so I may have to do another patchwork quilted purse or come up with a different project.

Ann's Baby Shower

My sister is having a baby (due September 1)! We are all so excited for this little bundle of joy to join us as he/she will be the first baby among my siblings. Of course we had to have a shower to celebrate. She lives in Chicago and her friend Liz had the great idea of having the shower at the Lincoln Park Zoo.

Here is a picture of the invitation on my blackboard.

I thought this invitation idea was so cute, but it turned out to be a LOT of cutting. It was all worth it as I think they looked great.


The shower was on the patio of the cafe and aside from a few drops of rain before the shower started, it was a perfect day for an outdoor shower.


They are not finding out the gender (or giving any hints on names) so everything had to be gender neutral. Easy to do with a shower at the zoo.


Here are the centerpieces:

My crafty aunt made two of these adorable animal centerpieces.

My favorite part of throwing baby showers is making the diaper cake.

Shoes and onesies available at www.babiesjoy.etsy.com.


Sis and I at the shower.

Shower attendees.

Mingling.

The food included sandwiches, salads, and cookies from Panera and cupcakes from a local cupcakery. We had buckets of peanuts on the tables for people to munch on while she opened presents and gave boxes of animal crackers as favors. All in all, I would say that it was a delightful afternoon and she was adequately showered by family and friends!

Joyce and Royce

We pretty much live in a retirement community in Northern Mississippi. Most of our neighbors are older than our parents and drive around the neighborhood in golf carts. There is a man who walks his dog in his golf cart. As in, he drives the cart around and the dog walks on a leach next to the cart. (I will post a picture of it sometime if I can get a good shot of this.) Our neighborhood newsletter looks remarkably similar to my 98-year-old relative Louis' who actually lives in a retirement community.

Two of our neighbors are Joyce and Royce. I was out pulling weeds this morning when Joyce stopped by on her walk. We chatted for a few minutes and talked about our garden. She said that they haven't been able to grow yellow squash. That is one of the only things we actually have been able to grow. So later, when I picked two, I took one over to Joyce and Royce. They were sitting in lawn chairs on their driveway (I think this is their summer past time) and pulled up a chair for me. I sat and chatted with them for about an hour. We discussed guns, Ole Miss football, pickup trucks, and frying food. Ahhh Mississippi.

Today's Harvest

This is what I harvested from the garden today. For gardeners who know what they're doing, a small cucumber, even smaller carrots, and funny looking tomatoes may not be a great harvest (at least the squash are respectable), but, I'm not a gardener that knows what I'm doing. For all the trouble we've had this year, this is great!


One of the squash plants died before it got in the ground. Okay, I broke the stem. I watched the zucchini plants and one squash plant wilt and die only to find out that I should have been doing something to get rid of the bugs crawling all over them. I think this year it has been squash bugs 154, Emily 2. One of the tomato plants just up and died one night. I thought the cucumbers were being eaten by the bugs that took the zucchini plants, but then I realized that I should have just been watering them. Oops.


Despite my noviceness, there are some bright spots. The herbs (basil, mint, lemon thyme) are all doing well (aside from a small lack of water), one tomato plant has finally starting producing tomatoes, the surviving squash plants are kicking out some stellar squash, and we got some good cucumbers before I deprived them of water.


All in all, it has been a good learning year for the garden. I'm looking forward to tackling some new things next year. Rhubarb anyone?