A Bobby kind of day...

Wasn't this just yesterday?  Oh, he was the cutest baby ever.

Now he's FIFTEEN!  And still a cutie.

Bobby's birthday was in July.  For the past few years, I've been taking him out to lunch and shopping for a birthday present, but we hadn't had a chance to do that yet this year.  So today was the day.  He chose P.F. Chang's...it was really good.

And since it's right across the street from Trader Joe's, I wanted to run in and grab some Sparkling French Berry Lemonade...love that stuff.

While there I made the most AMAZING find!  They have a new Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate!!!  I love cold-brewed coffee.  I used to make my own, but got out of the habit.  This is so cool.  Since my little Bobster loves iced coffee like I do, I made us each an iced coffee as soon as we got back home.  I just happened to have a bag of 'magic' Sonic ice in the freezer, and a can of whipped cream and a bottle of caramel sauce in the fridge.  

Lounging on the sofa with a cold glass of coffee makes a nice respite in the middle of the day.

In a few minutes we are going to dust off my old recipe binder, and bake a couple of loaves of my mother's bread recipe.  Nothing like warm, fresh homemade bread with real butter and homemade fig preserves!

Sunday afternoon at home with the girls...

Kasey took the boys to the city to finish up back-to-school shopping, so the girls came over to spend the afternoon with me.  I asked if they wanted to try knitting, and they both did.  They were very patient while I cast on and knit a couple of rows for each of them to make the grip and stitching comfortable for them.

They both paid very close attention, and really did well at remembering the process of making a stitch.  Mastering the tension wrap and moving the stitches up and down the needles was challenging.  They stuck it out for a respectable length of time for a first lesson.  I didn't want them to get frustrated.

Watching them sit cross legged on the sofa with their faces deep in concentration made for a pleasurable afternoon for me.  

I'm just glad neither of them were lefties.  :)

Fig season...

You wouldn't know by looking at it that this little fruit is SO delicious.  We completely lucked out when my sister-in-law asked us to come stay at their house with my mother-in-law...it was during the peak of fig season!  There are three fig trees in their yard, and Carey was diligent about harvesting.  I don't think I have ever in my life eaten so many raw figs.  Each time I walked through the kitchen, I popped three (or maybe six) in my very happy mouth.  

Coincidentally while we were there, Joolz mentioned in a post that her new cookbook had a fig jam recipe that she would like to try.  I left a comment that I was happily overdosing on figs at the moment, and she emailed me the recipe.  I had my doubts about it when I saw that it called for candied ginger.  I'm not a fan of ginger.  But the recipe did sound interesting, so today I made it almost as printed (except that I decreased the ginger just a little, and I added some very thin slices of lemon...because my mother always did).

Joolz, I owe you a BIG thank you!  And I happily recommend that you give it a try when you have figs ripening in Australia...which would be January maybe?  It was pretty easy, and it didn't need to be watched every minute.  The only downside was that the recipe only made three half pints!  :(  

I probably have enough figs left to make two more recipes worth.  Though I had looked up a couple of other recipes in case this one didn't hit the mark, this one turned out SO delicious that I am discarding the other recipes and using this one for the remainder of my figs.  I think I will try doubling it, though that's not always recommended.  (edit:  The second doubled batch tastes okay, but it did not set up the same and is a little cloudy...I wish I had not been in a hurry to get it done and had done individual recipe batches.)

Dear Laurie Beth,  my lovely and generous fig-preserving friend and sharer of your bounty, I want you to know that I won't come simpering and whining begging your hard work...this year.  :)

FIG JAM RECIPE
from The Australian Blue Ribbon Cookbook by Liz Harfull

1 kg figs (2.2 pounds)

¾ cup orange juice

¼ cup lemon juice

2 Tbsp sweet sherry

2 cups white sugar

125 g crystallized ginger, finely chopped (4.4 oz)

Wash figs and dice into small pieces, about 1 cm square.  Place them in a large saucepan with the orange and lemon juices and sherry.

Bring to boil over a medium heat.  Continue to boil gently, uncovered and stirring occasionally, for about 50 minutes, or until the figs are soft and the liquid is reduced.

Add the sugar and ginger to the pan, stirring continuously until the sugar is completely dissolved.  Boil gently for about another 30 minutes, or until the jam sets.

Pour into hot sterilized jars, and seal while hot.

Makes 3 to 4 cups.

The only changes I made were: I quartered the figs instead of cutting any smaller, I decreased the ginger by about half, and I added about half of a lemon VERY thinly sliced.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

(Edit: I had to come back and add this book, because I forgot that I had completed it since last Wednesday's post.)  I read The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce while we were gone.  I looked for it at Amazon, then thought that I would check my local library's ebook lending site.  Not only did they have it, but it was available, so I was very happy to be able to borrow it for my Kindle instead of purchasing.  I really did enjoy this book.  It's one of those times, though, when I wish I had had a hard copy rather than Kindle version.  There were several points where I would have liked to flip back to read something again, and I just don't find that easy to do on my Kindle.  The characters were so easy to care about and so worthy of the happy ending.

Knitting by Anne Bartlett

I picked up Knitting by Anne Bartlett from a Barnes & Noble discount table while out of town.  I admit that I purchased this because I like the cover.  I had expected a kind of saccharine predictability along the lines of Debbie Macomber, but it surprised me.  It was about  unexpected, and somewhat frustrating, friendships between different personalities, give and take, learning to speak up for yourself, and surviving.  It wasn't perfect, but I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

Scent of the Missing by Susannah Charleson

Scent of the Missing by Susannah Charleson has been on my Kindle for quite a long time.  I started it this morning.  The story of training and working a Search and Rescue dog, I thought it might be a somewhat dry memoir.  Happily the writing is excellent, and I look forward to getting back to it.

Camera clutter...

 So I was going back through photos on my phone, and so many make me ask, "Why have I kept these?"

Like this photo of a buzzard perched over my backdoor.  Waiting...waiting...

And this one was a sad news story about a really terrible explosion, but it was so odd the way it looked like my home away from home was under attack.

I saw these orbs made from wine corks at a gallery...am I planning on making some...erm...not really.

This shelf at my local library.  One of the many things I love about this library.  Have you ever seen a bottom shelf tilted for easier visibility and access?  Awesome idea, but do I need it on my phone?

Ah...my long lost toaster.  I loved this toaster.  I had never had a toaster before.  It was only about one...maybe two...years old.  Alas, daughter thought it was hers and took it when they moved out...then she bought a new, fancy, multi-slice one for their new kitchen and donated this one...but not to me!  I'm waiting for the back-to-school sales when this sort of thing goes on sale.  (And I really just put this photo in here so she would roll her eyes and growl, "Oh, Mother," when she reads this blog post.  I've given her a lot of grief over this.)  :)

Vintage aluminum salt and pepper shakers. ???  

I kind of like the different beetles I see crawling around outside, and for some odd reason this one makes me think of the next photo...

...of this area rug from Ikea which was also still on my phone, even though I texted it months ago to the friend who was interested in it.

Dear Frankie, you are the only cat whose litter box I will clean.  I hope you are doing well back in Kentucky.  And I hope you think of me once in awhile.  Tell your canine friend, Chloe, hello from me.

Now this is one I took in an interior design center...before I saw the signs that said "No Photos!"  I wanted to text it to a friend who thinks it is funny that my husband stockpiles collects incandescent light bulbs.  I think we shall start displaying his collection in this way...makes for easy access when one blows.

Weekly Menu Planning...

pork chops
w/ baked sweet potatoes
     fresh tomatoes

chicken fried steak
w/ mashed potatoes & gravy
     vegetable

fish tacos
w/ coleslaw

lamb curry
w/ rice
     naan

grilled chicken sandwiches on ciabatta rolls
w/ grilled onions and green peppers

quesadillas
w/ guacamole

grilled salmon
w/ mixed garden salad

We are still with mother-in-law.  I am cooking while we are here, but it is not like being in my own kitchen.  M-i-l has some dietary restrictions, not to mention that she lives with Carey's sister and brother-in-law who are vegetarians, so I'm trying to be respectful as to how I use their kitchen while they are away.  We are having meat, we are just cooking it in pans brought from home or outside on the grill.

Today we went out to eat.  Tomorrow I will be making pork chops with baked sweet potatoes in the crock pot.  

We will be heading home on Tuesday evening.

Some of the meals on this week's menu are holdovers that didn't get cooked when I last did a menu plan.  I'll need to go to the store for the items that I don't have on hand, but at least the unloading should be fairly easy as I cleaned out fridge before leaving.

Have sewing machine, will travel...

We are with my mother-in-law.  I remembered while packing that I had not gotten a sewing project done that I had promised her, so I had my husband load the machine into the car while I grabbed my fabric scissors, straight pins, a spool of thread, bobbins and fabric.

She has a neck pillow that she especially likes, but the cover is difficult to remove to launder.  I suggested awhile back that making a special-fit pillow case for it would be easy to do...but it kept getting put on the back burner.

This afternoon I pulled it all out and made short work of it...not a GREAT work of it, but at least I feel better for having kept my promise.

It feels like I am taking my sewing machine everywhere I go lately, and still getting very little sewing done!

And my crock pot.  I brought it with me here too.