This and That and Kitchen Stuff

Ack!  Not exactly a few days later.  Well, in my defense, I've been busy!  My big Bernina 830 sewing machine was in need of a spa treatment and the best technician lives in Montana.  He does come over to the Spokane area once a week to pick up machines at several designated drop-off points so we had taken Moby Stitch (the great white Bernina!) up earlier and we picked it up last week.  That's a day out of town, but there is a Trader Joe's up there which is, of course, a mandatory stop.  :-)

We've had Daniel over each Sunday night through Monday dinnertime since the beginning of August until this week as Ann had to be back to work at school, prepping for the new year.  He's so easy to have, but still it seemed like the days went differently when he was here as we visited and found things to do.  School started last week on Wednesday so he's back to learning.  Fifth grade this year!  Where does the time go?

Last Monday it finally worked out for Dan to have my birthday party and Ann and family showed up with pizza to share dinner and cake with me. Such a fun, wonderful time we had!  

Since my machine was back, I have ventured into my sewing room and have started a new round of bibs.  I had only two left in my gift pile and they were both for girls.  I've embroidered five new ones and cut out about twenty blanks to work on next.  

But enough on this stuff.  I mentioned in my last post that I'd do a kitchen post, so here goes.  

In May when we were at Costco I stopped to look at a Ninja Foodi Flip Air Fryer they had for sale.  I have friends who love their smaller air fryers but I didn't have a space for one, either on my counter or in my pantry, and I draw the line at storing kitchen items in the garage! The foodie is made to flip up and take up a smaller amount of counter space when not being used.  As I pondered the display, Dan picked one up and put it in the cart. "Happy Mother's Day!" he said.  Okay!

It took a bit of figuring to decide where to put it in my crazily designed kitchen but I finally put it in the corner where my mixer has lived and moved the mixer next to the frig.  It works, and somehow it seems I have even more room in that corner than I did before.  And we love our Foodi!  I've always loved the Mexi-fries at Taco Time and now I can make my own.  Score!  And the Foodi is more than an air fryer, it is a convection oven, a toaster and can broil, too.  It has a much bigger capacity than the usual air fryer and so is great for families.  I made little pizzas last week using ciabatta bread from Costco and they were so good using the air broil feature on low.  And it's perfect for reheating things like pizza or crispy casseroles so they aren't soggy the second time around.  

In its down position, otherwise up against the side wall

Yummy ciabatta bread pizzas!

And in other kitchen news, we are awash with zucchini!  Awash I say!  Last year we could hardly get any to grow and this year Dan brings up four or five (or more!) a day.  I'm working hard to be a good zucchini steward and use it all, so varied recipes have been used.  One winner was a chocolate cupcake recipe found in the August Costco magazine.  Oh my!  As I've told all my friends, it received rave reviews from everyone who ate it (I made it into a cake).  The zucchini chips featured in the article are good, too!

This cake from the Six Sisters is also a winner. And last week I found this recipe for zucchini onion pie.  I did change it a little; I caramelized the onions instead of adding them raw.  We loved it! Of course we've already had multiple dinners using my old stand-by summer squash skillet. Zucchini bread?  Of course!  

And thus ends this summer's zucchini themed post!  ♥

It's Zucchini Season!

Every summer since we've owned our own home, we've planted some type of garden.  In the early days, it really was for "survival" in that we certainly didn't have much money and a garden provided much needed food for us and our little ones.  And every garden included zucchini and yellow squash (which we called crookneck) even though as years went by, and locations changed,  it was more for the fun of it rather than cheap food.  

It seems that we always wait in great anticipation for the plants to finally produce something big enough to eat. Then, all of a sudden, there's too much!  And there's always a few zucchini that hide (how do they do that?) and turn into torpedos.  Ah, but they are perfect for zucchini bread and zucchini relish.  Until your freezer is full and so are your cupboards. This year Dan has tried to beat the system by picking the squash when it's very small, and for the most part, it's worked.  Mostly.

We've had Summer Squash Skillet; bread; steamed, blackened, and topped with cheese; PW's Simple Sesame noodles with chicken and squash added; and so on.  Last summer I discovered a spice cake that was extremely well received when we had company over a weekend.  I think one will be in the works later today.  

We've also grown green beans over the years, usually very successfully until this house.  The soil isn't very good, apparently, and Dan's often so busy with his consulting that the garden usually gets short shrift.  This year we were determined to get beans enough to can. Here's a photo of our crop.

Yes, that's it.  Seven jars.  The bunnies ate the rest. Sigh. Such is life here on the edge of town.  ♥

Signs of the Season

We've been either very lazy or very busy around here. The busy days lead to the lazy days! Dan checked the green beans on Monday and lo and behold, we had more! Out came the carefully put away canner and back to work we went. It froze that night, so we know we're done now. That, and he pulled up the plants as he picked!! My nice neat basement pantry is really looking stocked now.

I changed out some wall quilts and here's one of my favorites, made years ago. It's a "herky jerky" pattern, done by "hand", not machine embroidery.


Amazingly, we still have some beautiful roses climbing below our deck:


And the scarecrow has made his yearly appearance on the front porch.


Hope your fall is arriving with all its brilliance. Enjoy!

Goin' Green...

Beans, that is! The weather has been warm and we have green beans!! I just finished canning sixteen pints of the little critters and I'm so happy. :-) I spent the morning snapping them and as I progressed, I realized we had quite a few.


I loaded the first eight jars and knew we were in business when the collander was still plenty full.


Here's the first canner load, waiting for the pressure to drop so I can add the second batch.


And here are the jars, all lined up and done. As I've written this, I've been listening to the ping of jars sealing. What a sweet sound!


And more good news: there are more baby beans growing, and the weather is supposed to stay warm! Ping!

Sunshine, Shade, Sprinklers, and Some Stitchin'

This fall weather has been so perfect, I find myself loving every minute. It's energizing! Yesterday, after church, I told Dan it was way too beautiful to spend any time indoors, so we took some chairs out under the cherry trees and spent a leisurely hour reading and visiting. Here's where we were:


It was shady and perfect. Then Dan kept noticing dead limbs in the trees so he got his little pruning saw and went to work. I attacked some nearby weeds, and before we knew it we were hard at work and enjoying every minute. That is until the sprinkler system started up! I happened to be standing right over one sprinkler head and I wish someone had a video of me when it went off!! Needless to say, we were done for the day. :-)

Our poor garden. We had such a wet early summer, and Dan was so busy, we didn't get it planted until July. Yup, July. It's looking really good right now, and we're hoping this perfect weather lasts another couple weeks so we can harvest green beans and squash. Here's a picture of the beans. If you look closely, you'll see a sweet little bean waiting to be picked.


I mentioned in a previous post that I've been working on some samples for the shop. Every fall Bernina's OESD design company puts out some special CD's which are free with a qualifying purchase. They have traditionally been free-standing lace ornaments and this year's first one is no exception. I stitched out three of the designs and they are quite lovely. I also stitched a design (non lace) from the second CD onto a tea towel I made into an apron. Here's a view:


The snowflake is 3-D and here's a closeup of it:


I'm looking forward to making some more. Oh, and I made a new litle fall topper for the coffee table using Sandy Gervais' Gobble Gobble turnovers. I've become a real fan of simple little toppers for a splash of seasonal color.


Have I mentioned lately how much I love my 830 and my Handi-Quilter? I do!