Anyone for a game of pool?

The pool table from Walker arrived safely in our basement in September. Thanks to our friends who were willing to help with the moving process. We had a "Pool Party" in October. It was a joyous get together, complete with babies and a musical jam session. Anyhow, here are some pics of the table in action.

Giardiniera extravaganza

I was able to harvest carrots and onions to add to the giardiniera. All other vegetables I had to buy. I did eventually get some tomatoes, however, I had to pick most of them when they were still green because it got too cold to leave them on the vine. I finally got a cauliflower sprout after I had stopped watering and was letting the garden just die out for the season. Crazy! I bought those as starter plants in April, and they didn't flower until November. Yikes! Next year I think I will stick with what was successful this year and maybe try a few new items, like squash or cucumbers. Anyhow, back to the giardiniera. It is delicious! It's pretty easy to make, most of the work is just the amount of chopping that needs to be done. I could snack on this stuff all by itself, but it's delicious on salads, sandwiches, burgers or even pasta. Mmmm, mmmm, mmmmm. . . .


Giardiniera: Onions, carrots, green peppers, red peppers, jalapenos, cauliflower, green olives, olive oil, vinegar and Italian spices. Yum!

Salad Success!

I harvested the lettuce, some carrots and some peas to make a delicious "home grown" salad for lunch last week. I'm waiting on the tomatoes to ripen and to pick the carrots and onions to make some giardiniera. Yay for gardening!

Beautiful Bozeman

We are in the process of setting up our pool room in the basement and getting ready for our trip back to Michigan and Chicago. I took Bill for a walk tonight and the sky was beautiful. Thought I should share some of the beauty. We live in a pretty special place.

Handsome Bill


Pretty sky

Garden of Eaten

I started some seeds this spring to plant a garden and also bought some starter plants. Here's what I was hoping to get:
Tomatoes
Peppers
Jalapenos
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Lettuce
Sugar Snap Peas
Onions
Carrots
Spinach

I put the starters in the ground in the beginning of June and then IT SNOWED! in JUNE! It appeared that everything survived, thanks in part to the fact that I thought to cover everything. Things got off to a nice start:

Garden Box


Lettuce


Tomatoes


Sugar Snap Peas


I got my tomato starter plants pretty early, so I had fruit really fast. I watched that first tomato grow first while the plants were still inside, and then saw it ripen on the vine to a nice, pretty red. Then, I went to pick it and this is what I found:


What?? My first tomato and the birds got to eat it. I was really bummed. At least there were already 3 or 4 more growing on the vine. Then, this happened:



I wasn't as prepared this time and so there was some damage. I lost some tomatoes and the leaves on the broccoli and cauliflower were demolished. I didn't give up though and kept watering everything. I also bought some mesh to help keep out the birds. Today, it paid off. I harvested my first broccoli!



I'm thinking of making a broccoli salad. How does this one sound:

2 medium size broccoli crowns
1 Clementine (Can substitute tangerine)
2 Tablespoons finely chopped soaked walnuts
2 Tablespoons finely diced sweet or red onion

Dressing:
Juice of 1 medium Naval orange
¼ cup olive oil

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 ½ teaspoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon tahini
1 tablespoon honey
¼ cup fresh cilantro
½ tsp orange zest


Can't wait! More to come . . . .

Summer has FINALLY arrived!

Summer took it's sweet ass time this year. We couldn't be more excited that the temperature is finally staying above 35 degrees :) In celebration of summer, Jim decided to build a deck, while I headed back to Michigan for a wedding and family visit. Here are some shots of him hard at work busting it out in less than a week:



And here is the finished deck:




While the deck is pretty sweet, we took it up a notch this weekend with the purchase of an inflatable pool. We enjoyed a couple of pool parties Saturday and Sunday. To all those headed out here this summer, be sure to pack your swim suits!

Reason for upper ass/lower back burn

As shown in Jim's last post, I suffered some premature sunburn this spring. The cause of this sunburn is shown below. Let's hope the temps continue to rise and rain keeps falling instead of snow so that these blooms don't freeze and die.






To refresh your memory, check out what this looked like about 1 year ago.