Spotted around my yard

Here are a couple of friends spotted around my yard recently:



A beautiful butterfly resting on the deck railing. Note to self: Hammer in nail soon.

There are dragonflies swooping around the yard everywhere, but only when I don't have my camera with me. I did manage to catch this one in the front yard, where he was taking a rest on the branch of our (unfortunately) dead cherry tree.

The deer, of course, are frequent visitors. They are especially fond of tomato plants. Fortunately I found this out at the beginning of the growing season, as they ate the tops of the plants before they ever bloomed. So I just kind of gave it up for a loss. There was one tomato plant that had grown in the shelter of a huge squash plant, and was hidden enough from the deer so that there were three small green tomatoes growing on it. And then one day I went to water the garden and there was the plant, pulled up out of the garden but not eaten.

So the next day, in broad daylight, I watched a doe come up to the garden and start investigating. She started nibbling on the tomato plant that was lying beside the garden. Mr. GV stuck his head out the door and the doe startled and ran into the woods. The funny part, though, was that she kept the entire tomato plant in her mouth for the first half of her run, then finally dropped it. lol

Love those deer! Wish I could feed them so that they would leave my plants alone, but feeding wild animals is a huge no-no. Next year we might put a deterrent in the garden. Or just plant a lot extra.

Processing.....processing

Have been doing a bit of food processing around here lately.



Here we have some kale from the garden, after it was cooked down. Half was left in the fridge for Mr. GV and half went into the freezer for later. I also made a big pot of veggie soup with TVP and bulgar.

Here you see the remnants of two canteloupes from our garden. Woot! The woot is simply for the fact that we actually got these two before the deer did! The first one was devoured when it was perfectly ripe. We had planned to pick it that day, but a deer got to it first. lol Oh well, it's an improvement over last year, when they got to all of them before we did. This year we didn't even plant canteloupe. The plants just volunteered from the seeds left by the deer last year. At any rate, we have learned to pick them when they are still a little green, and let them set in the hosue for a couple days, then process. (By the way, this is another food that Max the dog loves. He had three pieces at least, and still begged for more.)

One of the things I most like to grow in my garden is a stash of bell peppers. It is next to impossible to find organic bell peppers around here, and when you do find them, especially the red ones, they are very expensive. Unfortunately I've had to pick some of my red peppers a bit early this year, because they were starting to get bad in some spots. Spots were cut off though, and everything else was washed, cut up, and frozen. I love pulling out pieces of pepper all winter for chili and stews, and knowing I grew them myself, organically, and didn't have to pay outrageous prices for them!

Let's get saucy

I have had trouble finding a good marina sauce that both Mr. GV loves and I think is worth the time to prepare. So on my quest for a simple, delicious recipe, I decided to try the on from Vegan on the Cheap.

The ingredients were simple enough:

There was some chopping involved, which I don't mind at all. I could use a food processor but prefer to do it by hand. If I needed large volumes of chopped veggies or was always pressed for time, you betcha I'd use the processor. (I also prefer a hand masher for potatoes and a spoon for mixing things. I will occasionally break out the electric hand mixer for batters that need a few minutes of mixing together.)

I just love seeing the colors all mixed together!

And here is the final product after the immersion blender was used.

The verdict: Mr. GV said it is a keeper; the best marinara yet. I can see making a double batch next time and freezing half for days I'm not around to cook. Now that I've made it strictly by the book, next time I will begin tinkering with it. I'll reduce the oil, sugar, and salt until the taste is no longer satisfying, then kick it back up one notch. No need for added fat, calories, and sodium unless the recipe just isn't good without them!

Cramming a lot of fun into a little time

Back in May, I told my mom that for Mother's Day, I was treating her to a trip to a casino that is just a few hours down the road. The only problem was finding the free time to go. We have had the busiest summer *ever.* Plus we had to coordinate around my husband's and my sister's work schedules. At first I thought it would be just mom and I, but I'm so happy all four of us were able to go! We finally found a couple days we could all go, and it just so happened to be on my birthday too!

This is the room my husband and I had. It was so nice, and frankly-- cheap. We stayed for $30, and my mom and sister's room, with 2 queens, was just $40. I tell you, a casino is a cheap place to stay if you just want a day or two away from home and don't intend to do any gambling.

The view from our room. I didn't even bring my bathing suit, but after seeing this, I kind of wished I had!

We did gamble a little. I spent a few hours there, mom and S spent a bit longer, and Mr. GV never even went inside. Instead he spent his time napping, reading, and running.

My mom, excited to hop on the shuttle from the hotel to the casino for the first time.

Trying to get a "normal" picture of my mom and S together is not easy. But these are more fun anyway!

Exhibit A: Kissy face.

Exhibit B: Mom has horns.


Exhibit C: S has.....antlers?

And then apparently I had some kind of issue with looking straight at the camera. I think it had to do with my glasses, which I had not worn in a while. At any rate, I kept looking up.

The next day, mom and S went back to the casinos and had breakfast and did a little more gambling. By 11 we were checked out and headed toward Memphis. We had decided to see Toy Story 3 in 3D, so we picked up our tickets for a later showing and then needed somewhere to chill.

Yep, Starbucks it was, where the one coffee drinker in the family, Mr. GV, could get his favorite, an iced soy latte with peppermint. And we all geeked out with our electronic gizmos. Actually, we could be an ad for the Ipod Touch, because we had 3 of them out, checking in on Facebook, email, and blog feeds.

Soon it was time for the movie.

It's not easy to pull off the 3D glasses look---you gotta have attitude!

Me and Mr. GV, sans glasses.


The day before we left for our time away, Mr. GV did some online investigating and discovered a new-to-us restaurant called DeJAVU. They serve Creole soul and vegetarian food. He managed to keep the type of restaurant a secret from me until we pulled up in front. This is a Big Deal, because Mr. GV has trouble keeping things a secret from me, just because he wants to share them right away! :)

Three of us had vegan food:

S had the Mushroom Hoagie Roll, and chose Sweet Potato Fries and Roasted Garlic Potatoes as her sides. She enjoyed the first two items, although the garlic potatoes were a little too garlicky for her.

Mr. GV chose the Veggie Rolls, along with Collard Greens and Candied Yams. He enjoyed his meal. But it was spicy, even for him!

I decided on the Tofu Your Way, teriyaki-style. My two sides were Veggie Brown Rice and Smothered Okra. It was all yummy, but the okra was especially good!

Mr. GV and I also shared a slice of chocolate cake with strawberry sauce. The cake was good, but the sauce was a little.....odd. It had a strong mint flavor. Just not what I expected.

All in all, the meal was very good. We will definately be back to try other dishes the next time we are in Memphis.

Mr. GV and I outside the restaurant, apparently squinting into the sun.


We had a nice little rainstorm. And then we saw this as we headed towards home:

A rainbow was a nice way to cap off our time away.

Front porch guests

A few weeks ago I posted a picture like this, to show our elusive front porch visitor. I looked at that nest often, hoping a bird would show up. What a thing of beauty that nest is.





One morning I peeked through the dining room window and saw this:




And a few days later I was delighted to see this:

Then this:

And best of all this---four lil' birds!

Gabby was happy to see them too.....she is watching mama, who at the time was off the nest.

At this point, the nest was starting to look a little bit crowded. I saw mama (or I suppose it could be papa, as I saw the pair together a lot) bringing them food, but at this point I never caught her sitting on the nest.

A few days later, they were gone. Hope I have more front porch guests next year!

Magazine mania

I admit it---I love magazines. It's neither environmentally friendly nor frugal. I fully own up to that. But the fact remains, it's a vice of mine. Right now I receive:

VegNews
Vegetarian Times (free)
Organic Gardening (free)
E! (in place of another magazine that went out of business--Plenty, maybe?)
Entertainment Weekly (extremely cheap 2 year renewal)
Mother Earth News (cheap automatic renewal)
Body and Soul (free)
Reminisce
Reminisce Extra--I was born in the wrong era, I tell ya. Love the 40's and 50's.

My mother-in-law usually gives me a few magazines at Christmas, just random issues of a few different subscriptions, so there's that too. And my mom gives me her weekly copy of my hometown newspaper.

But I do my best to decrease the environmental aspects of my magazine-loving self:

-When I'm finished, I give them to my mom or sisters if they want them. Those they return, plus the ones they don't want go to the Friends of the Library bookstore, where they bring in a quarter each, and benefit the library.

-I very rarely clip an article/recipe, instead choosing to type the information into my computer, so that I can leave the magazine intact and donate it.

-If there's an article I really want to read in a pop culture magazine (People, for example) I trot myself down to the library and read it for free.

-I have always been a fan of Archie comics, ever since I was a little girl. While they aren't magazines, per se, they're still made of paper and ink, and are expensive considering how quick a read they are. For years I rarely bought them, but recently discovered I can buy them much cheaper and paper-free through the app store for my Ipod Touch.

-I stopped getting our local daily paper delivered when they started offering a pdf version online. Love that!

-My husband was inundated by free professional magazines at work. Trust me, nobody but those in his field wants to read those, and frankly my husband rarely cracked them open. I went online and got them all to stop sending, except one. Still working on that one.

How about anyone else? Can't get enough of a good magazine or think of them as clutter and don't want them in your house?

Deceleration

Eventually it was time to leave Summerfest. At lunch on the last day, we receved a rave review of a restaurant that was on our way home. And so that night we decided to give it a try:


The vegan selection was good, and the food truely was delicious. Mr. GV had the lentil soup


and a pita pocket.

I had the mujadara, which is lentils and rice, topped with salata and fried onions. Delicious! We also had some hummous served with pita which was devine.

We left completely satisfied, and found our hotel. I guess we should have known the evening wasn't going to end well when this happened right after we arrived:

As I about to check us in, the fire alarm began going off. People started filing out of the hotel, and soon 2 fire trucks arrived, and men in gear trooped inside. Thankfully it appeared to be a false alarm. But just in case, I made sure I knew where all the emergency exits were before went to bed!

Shortly thereafter, Mr. GV started feeling pretty rotten. It was soon evident that he had a full blown case of food poisoning. The restaurant had been very clean, service was spectacular, not to mention it had been voted Best Mediterranean and Best Vegetarian in an area paper. I suppose it can happen even at the best of places, but naturally we won't be eating there again!

The next day was a fairly uneventful 8 hour ride home. Mr. GV went to bed in the early evening and when he woke the next morning he was much better.