Fun Saturday

 Today felt like that last hurrah before my crazy summer work schedule begins.  We had been putting off a trip to Kansas City because we wanted to stay closer to home or were otherwise scheduled.  We looked at the calendar and realized that our available weekends were numbered.  So, today was the day to make the drive and enjoy the day together.

We started with some errands in Topeka and then hustled to Kansas City to make our lunch reservation at Cascone's.  A friend gave us a gift certificate almost a year ago and shared his family's love for the great Italian food served there.  We had an awesome lunch and bought some of the red sauce to bring home.

We did some vintage shopping at Good JuJu - a favorite consignment shop that is open the first weekend of each month.  This was the first time we had been to their new location.  Although we didn't buy anything, we had a lot of fun looking.

Our last stop was at a garden center to pick up some plants to round out our summer planting.  We had a Groupon - if you couldn't guess.  I thought my husband was an a very good sport to pull the wagon with the plants.

I made this! Pasta Carbonara

The Pioneer Woman can be credited for another success - Pasta Carbonara.

I love this dish.  One of my favorite food memories was dining at Panzano Restaurant and Lounge in downtown  Denver.  I was traveling for work and we had an evening when dinner was on our own.  We found this great place that according to their website "offers the best in contemporary Northern Italian cuisine with a focus on sustainable, local, seasonal and organic ingredients."  The food was delicious and the atmosphere was great.  I left counting pasta carbonara as one of my favorite Italian dishes.

Yet, I had never tried to make it until last night.

The Pioneer Woman posted the recipe on her blog and I had all but a couple of the ingredients on hand.  A quick stop at the store on the way home had us ready to give the recipe a try.

The result...delicious!  I will definitely make it again!

Garden update

 We are enjoying a much needed rain this evening.  My flowers and garden plants needed the relief, though my husband has been helping them along with some water on a regular basis.

We got on the ball this year and put out some of our decorations.  The entrance to the garden has one of my favorite old chairs that I bought for $1 at a yard sale, a painted sign from Wal-Mart clearance and a rooster from Target, also on clearance.  The insect hooks on the fence are from one of my favorite home decor stores and were super affordable.

I really love the feeling of this entry way before you are in the larger portion of the garden.  The walkway has some limestone rocks and walk-on-me plants like miniature thyme (and a few weeds, too, but who's counting).

On a mission for spray paint for a project, I stumbled on some of the healthiest and best cared for plants of the season.  A local hardware store had some excellent varieties and all were in great condition.  I picked up a few things to round out some planters and to add to the garden.

 I also found this beauty - boxwood basil.  This might not be a new variety, but it is new to me.  I love the dainty leaves and can't wait to try it with the star of our garden - tomatoes!

 We have a few baby tomatoes on the vine.  My family standard of garden success, passed down for generations, is to have the first ripe tomato by July 4.  Will we make it?

The lantana (sunrise rose improved variety) is one of my new favorite container plants.  We installed some of these in the concrete planters near the garage and I am loving how they look with some Mexican heather and sanvitalia (million suns variety).

All of these beauties will look refreshed tomorrow after this wonderful rain.  Happy day!

Plant geek: hollyhocks

The flowers continue to bloom in truly spectacular fashion this spring.

My husband and I took a really long walk yesterday.  This seems to be a tendency - we take off for a walk that turns out to be a much longer distance than we intended.  You might remember my post - When a walk becomes a hike.  This time, we thought our route was around six total miles and it turned out to be eight!

Despite the extra distance, the time was very enjoyable.  We had the chance to talk, enjoy the mild weather, and to enjoy nature.  I discovered an old limestone house that my husband swears I always knew was there.  We saw an old pickup rusting in a fence row that neither of us had seen before.  We both got the daylights scared out of us when a wild turkey flew up out of a ditch near us.  I also saw that a neighbor has hollyhocks blooming and that got me thinking.

We have hollyhocks on the south side of our garage.  I never walk on that side of the garage unless I am weeding this particular flower bed or we are working on a project and that is the shortest path to the garage for forgotten supplies.  What if our hollyhocks were blooming and I was missing the show?

Well...they are blooming!

I found this variety in a mail order seed catalog and loved the dramatic deep purple/black blossoms.  These plants have continued to go to seed and migrate around the flower bed.  I really love them, and so do the bees.

Remembering when

My mom has been saving a section of the newspaper from my home county.  Arlo Bell writes the I Remember When article that brings news stories back to print from across the years.  Some of the stories are sad, others informational, and others laugh out loud funny.

Here are a few of my favorites...

May 9, 1912
A rowdy drunk was knocked down Wednesday, when he was ejected from the Dumas billiard hall, in Osage City.  He rushed back in, drew a .38 caliber revolver, and was about to shoot the proprietor, when the proprietor's brother knocked him out with a billiard cue.  The gunman was arrested, but escaped from his guard that night.


1892
The jail keeper, at Lyndon, left the jail in charge of the sheriff's son last week.  When the boy went to dinner, two prisoners used a broom and a piece of wire to get the keys off the desk and unlock their cell.  They hid in the attic and had a good laugh when he returned and found them gone.  The jailer was not amused and the two are on a diet of bread and water.


1907
The Women's Christian Temperance Union gave a mechanical social at Burlingame.  The ladies demonstrated their ability as carpenters and the men made buttonholes and sewed on buttons.


April 27, 1932
In connection with national clean up week, any child in Osage City may attend the Saturday matinee at the Dickinson Theatre for 10 tin cans or bottles.


A Burlingame man was fined $100 and sentenced to 30 days in jail last week for being caught with 48 bottles of home brew.


1892
Several boys at Lyndon, ages 12 to 17, took a keg of beer to Salt Creek Sunday and got beastly drunk.


1882
An enraged woman at Carbondale has threatened to prosecute any saloonkeeper selling liquor to her husband.


Two 10-year-old boys broke into a store and a doctor's office in Osage City Sunday.  They took some merchandise, but were soon arrested by the city marshal, who recovered most of the stolen goods.  They both received a first-class flogging from their parents.


My mom and I love talking about the language used.  Phrases like, "beastly drunk" and "first-class flogging"
are not common in our everyday language now.  I was surprised to find two references to gypsies - both in 1932.  I was not aware that gypsies were a part of our county's history.  Other aspects of our history like failed banks, war bonds, and rationing are mentioned.  One cannot ignore that fact that we are in a place where agriculture is part of nearly everything we do.  Notes about water rights, farm accidents, and cattle rustling remind me that since the beginning of our communities, people have been connected to production agriculture.  My heart was warmed when reading a note about the community garden in 1932.  All of these short notes create a window into the past.

I am really glad that my mom shares this bit of history with me and I am happy that Arlo Bell takes the time to bring the news back to life.

Cooking adventures

This past weekend was one of my first opportunities to spend time in the kitchen.  On Friday night, I made The Pioneer Woman's restaurant style salsa (yum!).  Early on Saturday, I made a minestrone soup in the crockpot (super easy!) and triple chocolate chunk cookies (my husband told me that I can't make these too frequently - very good!).

Mom joined us for lunch on Mother's Day and we had roast chicken, asparagus and mashed potatoes.  I tried out my roast chicken recipe on my mom and I think it was a hit.  For dessert, we had strawberry fool (something I have wanted to try for a long time).

Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookie Bars

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
3 oz dark chocolate bar, broken into pieces

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9×13-inch baking pan. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter and brown sugar. Beat on medium speed with the paddle attachment until it’s uniformly brown and grainy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat well on medium speed to combine (about 1 minute).

Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. With the stand mixer running on low, add a little at a time to the butter mixture until just incorporated. Add all the chocolate and mix briefly to combine.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread out into one even layer as best you can — don’t worry if it doesn’t quite reach end to end though. The batter will spread while cooking.

Bake for 23-27 minutes, until golden. Let cool for 20 minutes before cutting into 12 bars.

Strawberry Fool


1 pint strawberries
1/2 c orange juice
1/2 c sugar, or to taste
1 c heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 T powdered sugar

Hull and wash strawberries.  Chop into small pieces.  Toss strawberries with the orange juice and sugar. Set aside until the strawberries begin to make a juice in the marinade.

Place half the strawberries and all the juice in a blender and puree.  Put the puree in the refrigerator.

Whip the cream with an electric blender.  Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and cream until stiff peaks form.  Remove the strawberry puree from the refrigerator and fold into the whipped cream.

Place a small amount of the whipped cream mixture in bottom of the serving glasses.  Add a layer of the slice strawberries.  Top with a final layer of the whipped cream mixture.  Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve (up to two hours).

Saints in residence

We visited family in Colorado over spring break and during our time there, we spent an afternoon browsing an antique store a few blocks from where we were staying.  There were so many things that were interesting and we had a great time roaming around.

At nearly the last booth, my husband and I were both intrigued by a number of things this vendor had on display.  Two items, high on a shelf at the back of the booth, captured my attention - two statues that appeared to be hand carved saints.  I loved the simple, yet stately look of these folk art pieces.

I have this test that I use when I see something I like and think I might buy it.  I have to leave the item and walk around.  If I keep thinking about it, then I know it was more than a passing whim and I go back and pick it up.  

Well, these two made the cut.  I considered buying just one, but could not bear the thought of separating the pair.  I am glad that we brought both home with us.  They are now our saints in residence.