SEPTEMBER!!!!! THE month of Birthdays and Anniversaries!!!!

 

I'm not sure how it happens but September is the month for our family for birthdays and anniversaries!!!  Melissa and Ben got married last year September 12 and my birthday was the following day the 13th, then my Dad had his birthday on the 17th and Dave and I have our anniversary on the 17th also, so we cram a lot in a few days, oh yes my Mom has a birthday on August 25, pretty close!!!!

So this year was the biggie my Dad turned 90 so of course we had to celebrate!!!  Melissa and Ben had planned a trip so they couldn't make it for the actual birthday so we planned it for October 9 when most everyone could be there, so that is the plan.  But the neighbors thought there should be something on the actual day so Brandon and I packed up and surprised them on Thursday night the 16th and drove down.  what a surprise they had no idea and we had so much fun.  We were there for the party at Garvan Gardens, even the newspaper came and Dad was in the Sunday Paper!!!!  All the volunteers and staff threw a party Friday am, where they volunteer,  very fun!!!!!! Brandon and I got a cart ride to see the beautiful woodland gardens.  About 40 folks attended and the cake was delish!!!

Then Friday night was the progressive dinner in the neighborhood, we started out with appetizers and wine at the Gottliebs then gumbo, salad and corn at the Wurm's and dessert at the Postman's.  What a fun night and the icing on the cake was Steve playing Happy Birthday on his trombone.  It was an interesting evening, we met Steve who is a famous jazz musician from New Orleans, he and his significant other relocated to Hot Springs after Katrina, he is fabulous!!!  And then I had no idea Deanne, Mary Kay's sister  is such an artist, she does incredible paintings of horses, dogs, cats, etc.

  Pictured are her paintings of race horses from the Oaklawn Track in Hot Springs, now how to market this wonderful artist?????  And let me tell you her paintings of pets are amazing, all she needs is a photo and you will be happy as can be!!!  Contact me for more info!!!!

We collapsed after Friday and hung out and visited with the folks Saturday and Sunday Brandon and I packed up and headed up the hill for Missouri.  Had a great ride and Pam had the jet skis ready and the  river was up so we spent a few hours tearing up and down the Osage River, wow what a fun afternoon, topped off with a wonderful dinner at Baxters in Lake Ozark.  Monday I was off to Wisconsin and the cooler weather!!!

Now, to sew like mad, lots to do before we leave October 1 to do it all over again. 

 This trip we'll do a Fall Party in Honor of the birthdays etc for 30+ folks.  More on that later!!!

Last weekend my tutorial on Naturally Dyed Scarves was on Tipnut.com, a neat website full of tips and tricks for DIY, crafts, food, sewing, knitting, you name it!!!  They do a Craft Medley each month featuring fun ideas and the scarves made it in the line up!!!!
 Lots of ideas brewing just finding the time to get them done!!!

                                                               Happy Fall!!!!!!

Labor Day Weekend Dinner Party

Saturday night was our Labor Day Dinner Party with Jim and Linda and Dan and Deb.  We had a rather chilly evening so we had the appetizers out side and the other courses indoors, we ended up doing the fire pit and coats to top off the evening!!!  I don't care for this so early, winter is already toooo long aound here, no sense in starting early!!!!

Well, we started off with poppers, smoked spicy shrimp and a caramelized onion tart I got from Bob.  All were very, very good and went together nicely, we had a sangria drink made from a mix I got at Good Neighbor Festival.  It's a dry mix of sugar, tea and lemon flavoring, think I can make my own, then you add water and Merlot wine and freeze, only goes to slushy, add orange juice, lemon and lime slices and pour over ice, very nice!!!!

The soup was a combo of smoked tomato and mint cucumber, tomato hot, cuke soup cold, garnished with mint and a Parmesan cheese crisps.  It was a good combo and fun to try, the mild and cool cucumber tempered the stronger smoke flavor of the tomatoes.  Wouldn't make it every week!!!!!!!!

The salad is super simple with marinated mozzarella balls, olives and artichoke hearts tossed with fresh tomatoes on a lettuce bed, no dressing required, use a bit of brine out of each jar and you have a wonderful, easy salad!!

Our main course was rib eyes, veggies stackers, garlic bread and a smoked bulb of garlic.  The steaks were cooked on the wood fire and the stackers on the gas grill.  all were very good.

I forgot to photo dessert, it was a peach custard galette with almonds and whipped cream.  Very tasty!!!

Well, that was our big night, the pics of us are not that cute so I will leave them out!!!!

Now back to the rag stabbin biz, no rest for the wicked.

I have a fitting on Labor Day 10am, very fitting!!!!!

YIKES!!!!!! It's OKRA!!!!!

I know lot of people in the north lands aren't fans of okra, but they don't really know about okra.  And I'm no expert but I know I like okra in my gumbo and so this summer I planted some for fun!!!  Then I got to thinking about fried okra and how good that was when I had in the south.  So I went on line and found some recipes, I went for the easy one!!!!

The trick is picking the okra at the right time, gets really woody, so I discovered when it is softer to the touch and almost damp feeling, silky too it is good to go.  You will know when you chop it up easy cutting means tender okra!!!  Pick how ever many you want and chop in 3/4 inch pieces and put in bowl with salt and water, let set at least 45 minutes, drain ( I haven't been rinsing they get gooey) and roll in a mixture of corn meal and flour, more corn meal than flour and lots of creole seasoning, 3 Tablespoons or so.  Drop in the hot oil and fry till crispy and browned, I did eggplant that night too.  And enjoy they are so yummy and addictive, gad I could make them every night!!!

There are other recipes for cooking okra with tomatoes, but they don't sound that tempting.  I considered freezing it for gumbo but the fried is sooo good I'll stick with that for now.  Besides they sell frozen okra all year round!!!

And for the woody over ripe okra they will become Santa ornaments, yes they will!!!  That will be in a few weeks, my what the garden can do!!!!

Since the sewing has been nonstop, cooking and gardening is the next best outlet for me!! 

We are looking forward to the Labor Day Weekend. Dinner party tomorrow night  and with the cooler weather, glad we're not camping!!!!!

    Happy sewing and cooking!!!!!!