A good day: Spent it cooking while admiring my new dishwasher!

Posting this just because I get such a kick out of seeing what others are eating! My lunch today centered around foods that needed to be eaten: roasted yellow squash, cabbage and onions with crumb topping; baked beans that let me use up some leftover black beans and leftover cane syrup, plus a tomato and yellow pepper; and finally, tomato and cottage cheese sprinkled with seasoned salt.

Soo proud of myself because I managed to cook up all the yellow squash that was in the fridge. Hubby picked loads of it a few days ago...sure didn't want to waste it! Several squashes went into the oven roasted veggies; cooked four lightly for freezing; and I cut one up into a veggie soup for tonight's dinner.
   On the one hand: YEA, I used up the last of the squash! On the other: BOO, the garden with all its fresh gifts is petering out!

New dishwasher finally arrived. We bought a better brand this time. (Translation: more $$$.) SURELY (Shirley!) a dishwasher should last more than five years! Hubby took the old one out last night. If he's not too tired when he gets home from working on my folks' replacement windows, maybe he'll install the new dishwasher tonight. Drying beside the food processor are my new pie shields I bought the other day. Still kicking myself for spending money the other day on NEEDS not WANTS, but these pie shields will save me from having to use aluminum foil on the longer baking pies.

The new dishwasher. Just having this gorgeous creature waiting in my kitchen (instead of on back order) is enough to make me swoon!

Hubby went dishwasher shopping without me. Sure HOPE he compared yearly operating costs before deciding which to purchase! That's his Cherries and Cream Parfait thawing...I froze what was left from our family gathering, so I wouldn't eat them!

And because I'd rather end a post with food than an energy tag, here's my lightly cooked yellow squash. Once they cooled on the counter and released as much water as I thought they might, I drained them. They'll cool completely in fridge, then head to the freezer for future use.

Managed to sneak a pepper and a tomato into my baked beans this time.

   Yeah, Wan, baked beans again!! ;)
   What's waiting in your fridge that needs to be used up? Or is everyone more efficient than I am...do you manage to use most of your produce as soon as it's picked or brought home? Wish I did!!

What kinda title ties together sushi with breakfast foods?

Sushi sampler (very fresh tasting--yum!) from Zuki Japanese Hibachi Grill and Sushi Lounge, Evansville, Indiana. I was neither thrifty nor green yesterday. Drove an hour, spent way too much money shopping and got lunch in a takeway container. I did bring the container home to wash and recycle, but STILL. Sad reminder to me to make sure to always have a glass container in the car, just in case I get a wild hair and decide to eat takeout.

Yeah, I forgot Meatless Monday yesterday--AGAIN! Well, at lunch anyway; I went meatless at supper. And of course, breakfast was my usual smoothie--banana this time. 
   While a smoothie does it for me at breakfast time, Hubby usually wants something more substantial. 
   This morn I made him a quiche. Made it too late for him to eat this morn but DD managed to enjoy a slice when it was hot out of the oven.
    Made Hubby a breakfast casserole last week. The only time we buy canned biscuits or rolls is when we want to make this casserole. Soo quick and easy, perfect for company!

   Spent a good part of today in town, and now that I'm home I don't feel like doing a durned thing! I'm pretty much a morning person, and I wasted most of my morning energy in town. Excuses, excuses, eh? What's your secret for staying motivated in the afternoons??

Local food joints, local flavor: Lynn's Paradise Cafe and Roy's Bar-B-Cue

Lynn's Paradise Café, Louisville, Kentucky. Gotta love the atmosphere at Lynn's. This was our second visit (stopped here on our way home from the State Fair on Monday), and my food was sketchy this time around. If we return, I'll stick with a Kentucky Hot Brown and a milkshake. Lynn's does a fine job with those!

FIL ordered Lynn's "Highlander" sandwich...meat overload! FIL pronounced it delicious. My cup of Tomato Onion Soup arrived pretty tepid, as were my sweet potato fries. Lynn's does make a decent Kentucky Hot Brown though, which I had last time and can recommend.

Lynn's sponsors the "Ugly Lamp Contest" each year at the Kentucky State Fair. The café is already jam-packed with ugly lamps, but these winners may yet find a place there.

Roy's Bar-B-Cue, Russellville, Kentucky. The walls at Roy's are covered with hunting and fishing trophies, fishing lures, and sports memorabilia. This was the room over Hubby's shoulder.

Good smoky barbecue...served up with your choice of mild or hot bbq sauce, shown here with cornbread pancakes and onion straws. "Killer Onion Rings" on Hubby's plate.

This was the wall behind me, and a couple of deer mounts were above our heads too. Can't say as I've ever eaten a meal with teeth like these breathing down my neck...Roy's Bar-B-Cue was certainly a memorable joint!

Hope your weekend was filled with flavor!!

A mish mash of Preparedness; American Indian indigenous recipes; Homemade yard cart

This yard cart made from repurposed materials sure impressed the judges at the Kentucky State Fair!

A word of warning as we slide into another Saturday, Hurricane Irene offers a lesson to us all to play it safe in terms of disaster preparedness. Sadly, we're learning that disasters are becoming the NORM, not the exception, so the wisdom of the ages applies more than ever: better SAFE than sorry!

• Red Cross Preparedness Fast Facts to download
• Red Cross Power Outage Checklist to download
• University of Florida Disaster Cookbook to download
• Ready America: Prepare. Plan. Stay Informed. (with translations)
• FEMA: Are You Ready?
• University of Idaho: General Family Preparedness (quick lists!)

Whether it's all systems go or batten down the hatches, I'm forever nostalgic for times gone by and the can-do spirit of those who have gone before us, so I was tickled pink to probe into the authentic recipes at the American Indian Health and Diet Project website: Traditional Indigenous Recipes.
   I figure if I learn enough of the old ways, I'll be like a good scout, prepared for anything. Unlike a young scout though, I'm lacking in supervision and motivation--no badges offered when I accomplish something! But the threat of an impending disaster (anywhere in the world) is enough to jack up my preparedness efforts!

The creator was kind enough to tape these instructions to his award-winning repurposed cart.

   My heart goes out to everyone in Irene's path! Are any of you or yours living in the danger zone?? Anyone have any preparedness tips to offer?

P.S. An excellent article in Yes! Magazine entitled Small Steps for Growing a No-Impact Family led me to the blog Plant My Garden and a challenge to use these "seed words" in my writing today: learning, warning, supervision, safe, ages, systems, probe, play, slide. If you take up the challenge, please leave a link so we can see in which direction the seed words take you!

This moment: Kentucky State Fair foods finale

Looking through these Kentucky State Fair photos the other day reminded me to search once again for a new candy thermometer. Have yet to successfully make some of my favs. Here's hoping the new thermometer will turn the trick!
   Wishing you a sweeeeeeeeeet weekend!!

Didn't manage to get a good pic of the entire area, but this pic of part of the room gives some idea of the scope of the culinary display at the Kentucky State Fair.

Say CHEESE! Forgot to post this photo with the cakes yesterday...couldn't bring myself to just leave it out!

   Thanks to Soulemama for this photo sharing concept. One of these days I'm gonna post just ONE photo without any caption; won't you be surprised! Please feel free to share a link to your moment.

On my mind: Cakes, cakes everywhere but nary a bite to eat

Kentucky State Fair Brown Sugar Caramel Cake Recipe

By the time we got to the Kentucky State Fair, these cakes were even a few days old, but that didn't stop me from mooning over each and every one. All these pictures are incentive for me to spend some time baking blue ribbon cakes of my own.
   I had planned to include pics of some other goodies at the fair, but Blogger's acting finicky this morn, so I'll leave it at cakes for today.
   The Brown Sugar Caramel Cake recipe that made its way into the Louisville paper looks astonishingly decadent, and one thing's sure, that recipe does not look like a piece of cake to make! I'm thinking a chocolate cake with salt sprinkled on top is in my near future. Anything baking at your place today?

   Thanks, Rhonda, at down-to-earth, for this photo sharing concept. Please feel free to share a link and let us all in on what's on your mind.

Kentucky State Fair cakewalk

Plenty of talented cake-artisans in Kentucky, don'chaknow! Of course, my favorite cakes are the kind I can bake at home, and the Kentucky State Fair had case upon refrigerated case of them! As I'm not sure how many pics I can cram into one post, I'll be posting those cakes manana.
   How about it...are you more into these fancy decorator cakes or homestyle? If anyone else has State Fair pics to share, please feel free to leave a link. Dunno why, but I'm ga ga over State Fairs. Hope to go to Tennessee's soon!

Quick family get together--mostly just desserts

Yeah, quick family get togethers may be the easiest entertaining there is. We'd gathered for a BIG meal on Thursday night, so a hot Saturday night seemed to call for no more than just some simple desserts. These super easy Cherries-n-Cream Parfaits got the most attention.

MIL brought her much-beloved pecan pie. Made with Karo pancake syrup, this is one sweeeet gooey yummy pie!

Hubby's plate from the Thursday night family get together at Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn. Not in the mood to strap on a feed bag that night, I ordered off the menu instead of going the buffet. The buffet on a Thursday night runs $13.50; whereas, my chopped pork plate was $8.25, and I took home enough for Hubby's lunch another day!

"No Impact Man" Colin Beavan: Join Me—and YES!—for No Impact Week

Hmmnn, though at this time in our lives, Hubby and I cannot achieve "no impact," it will be interesting to see if we can at least reduce our impact. That'll count too, won't it?

"No Impact Man" Colin Beavan: Join Me—and YES!—for No Impact Week

TreeHugger: Ecohome Design Awards Test Meaning of Term 'Sustainable'

Gotta love TreeHugger, and really connecting with this article:
"Ecohome Design Awards Test Meaning of Term "Sustainable"
Though Hubby and I are nowhere near zero-energy energy usage, a girl can dream can't she?

On my mind this moment: Why, chocolate, what else?!

Freshly made Spago Chocolate Cake*** and Chocolate Cherry Peanut Butter Chip Cookies alongside a slice of MIL's blackberry pie made a couple of days ago. Which do you think Hubby chose to eat after his lunch? Why, his momma's pie of course! ...I am somewhat consoled by the fact that he stole nibbles of the two I'd made. ;)

Chocolate Cherry Peanut Butter Chip Cookies --I'm hoping these are reminiscent of a PB&J, but I won't know for sure until cheat day tomorrow! Grandgirl2 helped me to throw these cookies together; they're a riff on the infamous Neiman Marcus Cookies.

Grandgirl2 is a big chocolate cake fan! ***Unlike I Dream of Baking (where I found the recipe so I wouldn't have to take the time to type it), I did use coffee in my cake. Though I don't like to drink coffee, I love the way it kicks chocolate up a notch.

   Thanks to Soulemama and Rhonda at down-to-earth for this photo sharing concept. Please feel free to share a link to your moment.

Spring Mill State Park's Pioneer Village ghost; Owling is the new planking

Double click to enlarge the photo to see the ghostly fingers reaching for the table. (I was tempted to end this caption with that, just to see how goosebump-worthy my photo is. Sorry to disappoint any ghostbusters, a cobweb is responsible for the "fingers.")

This challenge to do something new every day reaps unexpected benefits. Tho' rain looked imminent, I drove to the park anyway, as walking in the rain on purpose would be new to me. Normally, I'd have skipped the walk outdoors, but instead I enjoyed a nice, cool walk and it didn't even rain. Yea!
   On another note, I am SOO behind the times. Evidently planking is out and owling is in!
   HEY, I totally FORGOT about Meatless Monday the other day. Can't believe no one razzed me about that! ;) Hope to do better next week!!

Imagine paying 75 cents per kid per school year quarter!

Gotta love arched garden entries!!

Sweetest little cabin ever!

Some picnickers got smart & cooled down their melon in the nearby creek. Or is this a crick? ;)

    Gotta get off this thing and figure out what my something new will be today. Unless buying fresh Krispy Creme Doughnuts to FREEZE until cheat day counts!?! My blueberry cake doughnuts will be thawed before eaten, but I LOVE eating plain glazed doughnuts frozen. Yeah, weird, I know! Do you eat anything besides ice cream straight from the freezer?

Will coal power go the way of the Edsel? Meanwhile, PLANK responsibly!

Snapped this shot on the way into town today. Maybe one day coal-fired power plants like the one pictured here will be as rare a sight as this old Continental!!

Finally ran out of my stockpiled $3.69 bags of flour and have been waiting for the price to come down again. Since lots of other places are carrying their organic flour for $5.00, I figured I should jump at this sale.

Three things: that's all I needed when I walked into the store! But when I found a good sale on the coconut milk I like ($2.50), organic flour ($4.09), and these un-dented on-clearance cans of wax beans ($.39) and sweetened condensed milk ($.69), I couldn't resist! (One year 'til expiration date on the beans; two years on the sweetened condensed milk.) 

My latest "something news" are perfect, because I can work on them a bit on the days I've less time. I can't seem to get the hang of this juggling, but at least I'm trying! I'd been married to Hubby over 25 years before I learned he could juggle. Someone gave me these balls as a gift, and I saw Hubby juggle for the first time when he taught our visiting niece how to juggle with these. Yup, he continues to surprise me, after nearly thirty years. Oh, and can you believe I've never read Hamlet? We read excerpts in some class in high school, but I've never read it in its entirety. (I've seen a play or two, but I expect to get more out of reading it myself.)

In case you're curious, for dinner we had fried eggplant (no, didn't burn it, tho' I'll admit it looks it!), cukes-n-onions and venison burgers. When Hubby informed me he wasn't very hungry, I decided to save the corn on the cob and some oven-fried sweet potatoes as my head start on tomorrow night. BTW, this is Hubby's plate. I had half a burger, with no bun. Still not crazy about venison.

Learned there's a new trend going around: planking in public places. Y'know, the yoga plank. Anyone else done it or heard of it? If interested, check it out and don't forget to Plank Responsibly! ;)