New Vegetable Garden and the Year of Alabama Food

So it's been almost a year since I posted to my blog....  Part of it isn't entirely my fault.  I forgot what email and password I had been using since google migrated all the blogger stuff to their system.  It's associated with the email account I rarely use and thusly was forgotten.

BUT not to fear, I have successfully logged in and will be working diligently to get it moved over to WordPress and it's own URL.  Waterchestsaregross.com should be coming soon.  It might look like crud for awhile b/c i've got a freelance gig i'm working on, but have patience and we'll get there together.

A couple of things:  my wonderfully handy BF, Hunter,  helped me plant a veggie garden this year since my tomatoes only had one good group last year and then looked like shiz the rest of the summer and did nothing.

We planted 3 different kinds of tomatoes.  Heirloom German Johnson (I name him Willhelm), Huskey Cherry tomatoes (at the suggestion of a master gardener friend) and beefsteaks (at Hunter's request).

And we planted 4 different peppers: jalapenos, chili, cowhorn and serrano.

The little guys in March when they first got planted.
 I did some rearranging of them not realizing that yes, plants do grow.

As of May 05.

Here are some pics of the lovely fruits on their respective vines.  We got tons of them, but have only had one plum-sized beefsteak ripen as of yet.  We've had a handful of peppers come in and I even used two jalapenos in the chili I made this past weekend.

Husky Cherry Tomatoes abound!

The Beefsteaks are definitely gettin' their grow on!

It took the heirlooms a lot longer to get fruit on them, but
when I first saw them I freaked out!  They are so cute with the  little ridges!!

These guys are now in chili and in the freezer!

The cowhorns

Ok so that's the first thing.  Second thing is this:  It's the YEAR OF ALABAMA FOOD!  And they have this cool website and facebook page with all this cool info in it.  I highly recommend ya'll take a look at it.

Okie dokie - that's all for now.  But keep checking back b/c I will be posting again soon!  Thanks for stopping by! :)

Kitchen Remodel

So in August of 2010, I moved from Jasper to Montgomery, AL.  I live in my great-grandmother's house and the last few years my grandmother lived in the house, it fell into a slight amount of disrepair.  I had turned the dishwasher on to run overnight and when I came out into the kitchen the next morning, the kitchen had some serious flooding.  The dishwasher was just dumping water onto the floor.  Here begins my journey of having the kitchen and back porch remodeled.

Over the past few months, new appliances have been bought (some even installed), new granite countertops and a new kitchen sink were installed, and over the past 2 weeks the new slate floor and back splash were installed.

This week, they've started the prep work for painting (scraping and caulking) and next week, they will hopefully start painting.

Then all that's left is the install of the stainless steel back splash behind the stove, the re-installation of my range hood, new light fixture, and then finally the plumber comes to install my NEW dishwasher, which has been sitting in my dining room since probably November and I get my disposal hooked up again.

I'm hoping for it to be all done by the first week of April, but we'll just have to see how things go.

All of this is the reason I haven't cooked in FOREVER!  My stove has been in the living room for 2 weeks and will probably be there another 2.  I'm hating it!  I may have to bust out the crock pot lasagna recipe I have.

 

Old Fridge

 

New Fridge

 

There was a small office created by this wall on the back porch that my grandfather used, but it was really too small to do anything productive in and since it's not attached at the ceiling, i thought demo'ing it would be pretty easy and would create a lot more natural light (There are two windows behind the wall).  Mom agreed and since she owns the house that was kind of a big part.  So down came the wall!

 

And it's now one of my favorite spaces in the house!

 

Cleared out all the office stuff and got my "new" washer and dryer! 

 

...which, along with the stove, were residing in the living room. 

 

The new slate floor being laid down.  The white specks are the spacers

 

The back porch bathroom waiting for the new toilet to be installed. 

 

Back porch slate, laid, grouted and sealed!

 

The back porch stairs that lead out to the breezeway and garage. 

  

The wood facing has been painted to match the slate. 

The kitchen after the install of the new stove, countertops and cracks in the plaster walls have been spackled.  

 

The hole where my stove used to be.  But you can see the new countertops and how jacked up the old floor was. 

 

The new sink (a single bowl) and back splash.

 

Close up of the back splash

 

Before they could lay the slate on the kitchen floor, they had to put down a leveling agent.

 

Starting to grout the kitchen floor.

The finished floor.

 

Tybee enjoying the new floor!

More photos as the remodel progresses!

New Layout

I redesigned the header for the site and then started poking thru some of the templates that were available. I picked this one out, but I'm not sure what I think about it. Any thoughts? I think it might be too hard to read. Gimme some feedback, please!

Also, I made french bread today and will be posting the recipe and pictures tomorrow! Oh, its 1:43am... I guess I mean I'll be posting later today hehehe :)

2 year break is over! lol

So I've gotten back into reading my food blogs and now that i've got a big ole' kitchen I've decided to revitalize MY food blog.

It's a new year - so why not?

2010...GO!

The Good Wife's Guide - May 1955

Just in case any of you wives need a refresher on how to act, cook, etc...

click to enlarge! I know it's a little tough to read.

A footnote turned into an entirely new post

As the title says, i had intended this to be a "ps" at the bottom of the previous post, but it took on a life of its own b/c once you get me talking about Irish Carbombs... well i pretty much won't stop. So here's the original footnote-y post.

OMG! I just found this posting/recipe on hungry girl por vida It's a freakin' Irish Carbomb cake!

Anyone who knows me, knows that my FAVORITE DRINK in the whole wide world is an Irish Carbomb... sweet ambrosia! And now there's one in freakin' cake form!

For those of you unfamiliar with the wonderfulness of the Irish Carbomb, let me tell you about it.

Recipe:
half a pint of Guinness
half a shot of Jameson Irish Whiskey
half a shot of Bailey's Irish Cream

The two half shots are poured together into a shot glass and served next to the half pint of Guinness.

Once the imbiber is ready, you drop the shot into the beer [this part is notoriously messy] and chug it as fast as you can. Why? Well because if you don't, the Bailey's curdles and you end up with a nasty mess that someone just paid $6.00 for and should rightly be able to kick your ass for not finishing!! <-- voice of experience on the paying end!

Here's a pic. Compliments of Google Images. I know i've pics of my very own carbombs, but hell if i know where they are.

Absolutely nothing to do with food....

Like the title says - this post as nothing to do with food, but i found this a humorous observation.

Below are two pics of me and i find the similarities awesome! lol


Doesn't look like too much changes in almost 30 years!

ps: i have 2 dishes on my camera needing to be uploaded and i'm cooking rice with shrimp and chorizo tonight! So REAL FOOD updates tomorrow, kiddies!

Lots of pictures tomorrow!

I went to Memphis, TN this past weekend and had lots of good bbq! I took tons of pictures and will be posting them tomorrow! I'm still recovering today and too lazy to even worry about it.

I did do some shopping too though - 3 words. William-Sonoma Outlet. I bought Calphalon Infused-Anodized 5-Qt. Deep Sauté Pan for about half of what it retails for... i love finding a bargain! Also got some MATCHING [shocker, i know] small plates to replace the mismatched ones i've had since college. ADULTHOOD HERE I COME! lol



On a different note, CONGRATS to my co-worker, Randy and his wife Darci on their new baby girl, Sydney Claire! Randy became officially responsible for another human life on Saturday, July 28 at 5:26 pm EST - Lord help us all! lol

Kidding, Randy and again.. congratulations!!

TOMORROW FOOD FOOD FOOD!
UPDATE:
Here are a couple of pics of Randy, Darci and Sydney.

RUSH tonight - recipes tomorrow!

I cooked last night - shrimp etouffee and blackberry cobbler, but i'm only working a half day today so no time to post the pics from the camera i didn't even bother bringing into the office.

Why am i taking a half day? oh i don't know... maybe to go see RUSH tonight!! So excited - third show for me this tour! W00t! Yes, they are starting to become wrinkly old dudes.. but shit happens to the best of us.


So pics and recipes tomorrow! Btw - it was all VERY VERY good!

FoodSaver® - I LOVE YOU!

Ok so I've wanted a real FoodSaver® forEVER and I finally got one thanks to my mom and dad!

Well, due to how busy they are and that I'm about to wet my pants in anticipation, I went ahead and ordered it today. A REAL FoodSaver® on MY counter top in a matter of mere days... it boggles the mind.

So if you don't hear from me once it arrives, its b/c iIve vacuum-packed myself for freshness. I'm going to [pardon the expression] suck the air out of EVERYTHING in my apartment. I may have to make one of those mega-shopping trips and go to COSTCO and buy half a cow just to suck all the air out of it and throw it in the freezer.

OMG! i'm so freakin' excited!

Here's what the ole' girl looks like and all the stuff she comes with:


So i will be saying "So long, rarely used toaster oven!" and "Hello, my stainless steel, long-awaited beauty!" /swoons *THUD!*

PS: I promise I'll actually cook something tomorrow night! This blog's supposedly about cooking, I think...

Where the magic happens...

I didn't cook anything last night - but i made some mint tea. The recipe is completely unimpressive and i'm not 100% on getting it right yet, so here are some pictures of my kitchen.




Today's is Stubbs' birthday! Happy Birthday, you lucky bastard in living in Hawaii! To make everyone else jealous - here's a picture of his back yard

Saturday Night

So this past saturday night i had the parental units over for a dinner composed of tapas. Mom brought a couple of things, but i made the majority of the meal by serving the following:

• coconut shrimp with an apricot sweet chili dipping sauce and a chinese honey mustard dipping sauce
• ricotta stuffed, bacon wrapped dates
• herb and cheese savory crackers with a balsamic syrup

The pictures i have are from the contributing website b/c i didn't know i'd be starting a food blog on monday. Gimme break - i JUST started!

Water Chestnuts are gross.

I've been an avid reader of food blogs for a year or so, hording recipes from them and stashing them in my huge binder only to be shared with those lucky enough to have the giant binder thrust upon them. But now, its time for me to share my recipes and dining experiences with complete strangers.

welcome to water chestnuts are gross... because they are.