I Think I'm Morphing

Perhaps a hormone treatment would make me nicer. If not, I'll soon be an untameable monster; almost certain.

Reaching New Heights

Back in February we got the siding replaced on our house. We didn't put the drain pipes back up because I wanted to spray them a dark green to match the shutters, and I couldn't do that until I sanded and painted the eaves the same dark green. In our home a big project means waiting months to get started, so now, at the end of August, we decided to get to it.
While at Home Depot getting paint, I saw a $5 oops paint perfect for the kids' playhouse, so I threw that job into the mix. We finished the playhouse in a day (thanks to hard working children), and the eaves will be done in 7. If you need a good exercise program, try holding a sander for 2 hours while dangling over the edge of a roof...it really works the muscles. I've spent hours on this tedius project and although I never want to climb a ladder again (well, at least until it's time for Christmas lights), I like how it looks. Come visit and see for yourself.

And the Loser Is....

It's that time of year again: fair time. I decided to try my hand at the Mayor's pie contest; last year's win was a great encouragement. This year was Key Lime Pie. I have never made a Key Lime Pie. I called my sister, Patricia, a Key Lime expert, for some tips and then decided to make a version of my Cheesecake Lemon Bars, which are always a big hit. I did the cheesecake layer and then topped the pie with white chocolate curls...so lah-de-dah. You can take my word for it - it was very tasty. When I got to the judging, I found out right away that I was doomed. This year the Mayor decided to let his 3 kids and one of their friends help in the judging. There was a 14 yr old, an 11 yr old, and two 8 yr old boys. I had mixed some cashew Sandies cookies in the crust so it wouldn't be such a strong graham craker flawor. You can't taste the nuts, but I felt I should put a disclaimer in case someone was allergic. I wouldn't want someone's demise on my head just for a ribbon.

Well, before the judging began, one of the 8 yr olds boys came to his mom and said, "We forgot to tell them NO NUTS!!" Then I overheard the fair queen, also a judge, mumble something about cashews being nasty (not her words, but the gist of what she said). So out of 8 judges, 5 disliked nuts. The queen barely tasted mine and then pushed the plate aside...not a good sign.

When all was said and done, I tied for 5th out of 6 pies. The winning pie was very runny, but had thick dallups of a creamy frosting all over it. I have to admit that the pie that took second was very good.

As a consolation, the mayor did say that every pie had been voted as #1 by at least one person and that next year, to make the judging easier, there wouldn't be so many judges. He then came over to me and said he thought I had the best presentation. I felt all warm and fuzzy then. Ha. (Am I a sore loser or what?) As Nadine said, "Well at least you won last year and this year someone else gets a chance", which is true...but it's not as fun as winning every time.

Evening with English Beat

Tuesday night Paul and I went to see English Beat in concert at the Depot downtown. Good times; good memories; sore muscles after 2 1/2 hours of jumping and dancing. If you speak with me this week and I don't answer it's because I stood right at the stage in front of the guitar amp speaker. We got to speak with Mike, the lead singer, and he even waved to me...oooo! A gal behind us was celebrating her birthday and Paul got Mike to give her a guitar pick...Mike said it was the first time he had ever done that. (Yes, my hubby can be very persuasive.) We had a fabulous time reliving the "good ol' days" while hearing some awesome tunes.

Iron Chef Champ

Our family went up to Park City the beginning of this month to stay at the Westgate resort. We've gone there for years and always enjoy ourselves. Westgate plans activities for the guests' entertainment. This year they had an Iron Chef competition. You pay $5 and you get some random ingredient, go back to your room and cook something within an hour. The winner gets a prize. This is just up my alley. We cook most of our meals in our room's kitchen, so I had ingredients, but I had Paul bring back my two staples when he ran into town: Balsamic Vinegar and Red Wine...must haves for most sauces.
My ingredient turned out to be lime juice. I already had some delicious steaks in the fridge. I was trying to work out how to put lime juice into the mix, and then I remembered I had some plums. My entry was seared steak with plum lime sauce. It was DELICIOUS! I had never thought to put lime and plums together or to use plums for a meat sauce, but it worked (of course with a little help from my vinegar and cooking wine).
I took my tasty morsel down for judging. And I won!!! Okay, so it turned out I was the only entry, but hey, I still would have won. The judge had a sample anyway. This is how it went:
Me "I was told to have you taste my entry." Lady with a perplexed look on her face: "What is it?" Me "Seared steak with a plum lime reduction." (Paul says I've watched too many Top Chef episodes.) Lady: Blank stare. (Now I must tell you that although tasty beyond belief, plum lime sauce has an odd brown color, thus the stare.) Pause. Lady: "Okay." She slowly put some in her mouth and then her face changed. "This is really good!" Me: Look of relief, mixed with smugness. She ended up eating half of it. Me to myself: "Told you it was good." =)
I got a $20 gift certificate to the fancy restaurant there. Paul and I ordered an appetizer and two desserts that evening. I must say I felt very lah-de-dah. (I'll be holding a recipe signing shindig the third tuesday of September for all my fans.)