Welcome to Friday and an official What’s Blooming post because I actually have blooms!
Just a nice short post today since it is a holiday weekend. I did have to work today, though.
I do not remember purchasing these, so I imagine they were some bonus bulbs in my last order. Daffodils!
But – teeny tiny daffodils! Here is my hand in comparison.
I have never seen such tiny daffs before. There is just this one little cluster.
Also up early are my early tulips. Only really early. These guys didn’t bloom until late April last year, so it goes to show what a mild winter is has been.
I can’t remember the name of these, but maybe Lady Jane? They are also very short. Here you can see how short:
I like the leaves on these, too.
So, tiny dots of color in an emerging garden. I think everything is coming early this year, unless the colder weather we have been having slows it down.
We are hoping to bike to Lake George tomorrow. Lots of hills! Still colder than I would like, but we are just going to do it.
Well, we are off to see the mouse! Pixie has to stay behind and have a sitter, as does the house.
I am bringing my netbook with me as I have to upload my paysheet for work this week, so I might post if we are relaxing. I also have the flourless chocolate cookie post queued up as well.
Since we are headed to warmer weather, I thought I would give you a video of warmer times. This is a slideshow of my gardenfrom 2011. From the first tulips to the mums!
I can’t wait to see how it grows this year!
And if you haven’t seen the Healthy Heart Weekend sign up – here is the link!
It’s Friday! This was a tough week, I have to say. Work seemed especially tough (although I am so thankful to have this job!!!). My legs were tired this morning, so I decided not to lift and to take a walk later in the day. For all the snow that fell yesterday, not much accumulation. The sun was bright and cheerful this morning and had already started to melt what was on the grassy areas.
Perfect morning for a warm breakfast. I made up some cream of wheat cooked with a mashed banana.
Topped with peanut flour and coconut butter. Just a lightly sweetened bowl from the banana (which actually was quite ripe).
I had a hard time getting started with work today, but then I logged in and one of my favorite docs was in there, so I set in. I do take it a little easy on Fridays. I am one of those people who doesn’t mind catching some weekend hours at work. My whole life I have worked on weekends of some sort, so it doesn’t really matter too much to me whether the weekend falls on Sat/Sun or whether I take a half a day on Friday. It helps working from home, too. Working in jammies? Please and thank you…
I wasn’t totally sure about taking a picture of lunch. It’s one of those that really doesn’t look good, but it tasted really good! So I took it from a long shot.
I put an egg and some egg whites in the bullet blender along with about 1/4 cup of salsa and blended it up. I then tried to make an omelet out of it, but it was so puffy that it fell apart. I also had tucked some cooked lentils and laughing cow cheese in there and topped with a dollop of sour cream. Although my dollop didn’t quite look like one you see in a commercial. More like a blop. Regardless, this was a very tasty mash! It sure has potential to be baked up in a quiche!
It was such a pretty day out today. My garden took a beating from the heavy snow, though. My mums are all squished, but the sedum are still standing and have a nice snow cap on them!
Pretty 😀
I was finishing up that soap order today. The soap is all done, I just was cutting it into logs. Then I took a latte break. Pixie showed mild interest:
Actually that wasn’t so much interest as “Get this thing away from me!”
I then got out in the sunshine (hello vitamin D!) and took a 2 mile walk, which I followed with another snack after I got back:
I did more work until dinner time and John came up and said “How about pizza?” Didn’t have to twist my arm too hard! We walked down the street. We get 3 slices of pizza a drink for about $7. We each have 1-1/2 slices. I normally bring a water bottle for myself.
The walk there and back tacked on another mile on the day. 3 miles of walking today without even thinking much about it! I miss biking right now, though. I refuse to put the bike on the trainer yet. It can’t possibly be the end of outdoor biking yet! Although this weekend it is out. More snow predicted for tomorrow night. It’s too early!!!! Ahhhhh!!!!
At least we have pumpkins to carve.
Today’s pink item – some of the swirled soap I made with the pink colorant.
Happy Friday! I am glad the weekend is here, aren’t you? We had thunderstorms roll in around around 4 a.m., which kept me up for a while and then I didn’t wake up until almost 8 o’clock! That is super late for me.
I decided on Friday oats banana custard style.
Topped with coconut butter. These are a little more liquid than normal because I used 30 grams of oats instead of 40, but the same amount of egg whites.
I just could not get into work today. It was not a productive morning and I made the executive decision to take some time off after lunch. Speaking of lunch, I made up a 1-minute pumpkin muffin topped with peanut flour and blueberry jam.
Quick and tasty.
I headed out to do a little shopping. Helen inspired me with her closet cleaning and shopping trip. I went to one of my favorite places:
I got a pair of jeans for $6! Score! This place lowers the price on items every 2 weeks, so sometimes you can get real bargains, particularly with pants since they have so many. I was actually hoping to get more things, but nothing else really struck me as a have-to-have item.
I stopped for a treat on the way home as John requested something. I went to Chocolate mill to get a cranberry pecan scone and a maple twist, which we split so we could each try one.
(not sure why I am pointing at the maple twist)
This went really well with my latte!
The garden still has some color in it. I have some long bloomers in there. It was rainy today, so today’s shots are a bit gray. The mums are all out in force now.
This mum is all stunted and I don’t know why. I think Japanese beetles got to it earlier in the spring and it just didn’t recover very well.
My burning bush is turning now. Gaillardas in front:
A new coneflower bloom.
I have a stray spiderwort that appeared and now has a bloom on it.
New buds on the knockout rose. Crazy plant!
I just really liked the raindrops on this:
Another scentimental bloom as well. I had to hold it up because it was drooping from the rain.
Some of our fall decorations:
My milkshake coneflower has a bunch of buds on it. If we don’t get a freeze in the next week or so, they might actually bloom! It’s been a very mild fall so far except for a couple days. And lots of rain. Too much rain! We really don’t need any more.
Time for dinner! I cooked up some chicken thighs and broccoli while John cut up a pineapple. My plate.
John’s plate had pineapple, chicken and potato chips 😀
I think it’s movie night tonight and a low-key weekend on tap.
Friday! I woke up with no ill effects from the attempted blood donation yesterday. No bruise, surprisingly. My arm is sore, but no bruise. There is a weird little tingly sensation down my arm when I rub it, though. That is weird. We had frost last night. Brrrr! I decide to put off the daily walk until evening. Instead, I commenced to breakfast. Here is something different:
2 of the ricotta puffs with apple cranberry topping. This was warm and filling.
I got right to work and rocked out today! Yay! Pixie was off and on my lap all day because it is cold. Here she is on her throne:
I had to use up some Fage for lunch today. I mixed it with pumpkin, flax meal, cinnamon and drizzled with honey.
This made me cold!
The garden seemed to survive the frost. A few things were nipped by frost. Some of my mums:
Yellow mums:
The knockout rose bush and sedum.
Coneflowers still blooming.
Here was a little bee that is so lethargic I could touch it. He will sleep on this flower all night now.
Sentimental bush:
I covered this bush up with a blanket to protect the other buds from frost.
Browalia blooming again. I am surprised these annuals made it through the frost.
Still looking pretty good for early October.
Latte time! With one of John’s cookies. I have to get John to link to the recipe. I know he found it on Food Network.
Not in focus very well – sorry about that!
We cooked a crockpot meal for dinner. I might post this one next week. It is teriyaki chicken. John made the brown rice in the pressure cooker.
I took a post dinner walk. My neighbors are all decorated for Halloween:
We still need to get out our fall stuff!
Today’s pink picture – my shoes!
A gorgeous weekend coming up and I can’t wait to get on the bike!
it’s Friday! This week went by so fast, didn’t it? Yesterday was pretty dreary round here, although it was quite warm so John and I decided to walk up the street for ice cream. I ended up eating caramel apple sundae and I was way too full last night. Oops.
That meant a lighter breakfast today. I made up some of my protein waffles. I had half of a batch topped with some sautéed bananas and coconut butter.
I really love this combo.
I started work early and then decided to take a walk. No more running for me. It’s kind of a relief to say that. I can do just fine walking, biking, and lifting weights.
The other half of my protein waffles made an appearance at lunch. I just know you all were wondering what happened to the other half. I had cooked up a couple eggs this morning, so I made some egg salad. It’s funny how I keep saying I love egg salad so much and yet I don’t eat it all that often.
Now on to the blooms! I am so pleased that my garden looks so good at this time of year. There are still a lot of blooms and some of my plants are sending up new shoots.
There was another stray bloom on the clematis:
The sedum keeps getting darker and darker.
I had to get a picture of my pale hand in there so you can see how dark it is.
My garden also has a sense of humor. One of the irises I planted appears to have grown a middle finger :
White snapdragons are blooming again.
The amazing knockout rose:
And my fall flag is officially up! Guess I should have ironed it 😳
Time to celebrate fall with a latte! John made up special lattes today. This was made using the Godiva Pumpkin Spice coffee I received from the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program. I love getting free stuff, especially coffee!
Good coffee, although really strongly flavored. We have to cut it with a little regular coffee when brewing straight up. John used it full strength in the espresso machine and then topped the steamed milk with a little homemade dulce de leche and cinnamon.
Fall in a cup. Especially paired with chocolate 😀
It’s been a hard work day to stay concentrated. Friday afternoon and all that. Plus there was a lot of kitty love going on:
I had the camera up at my chin. She is kneading on my arm here and has her “stoner” look as I call it. It’s nice to be loved.
I was glad for dinner time to finally roll around. Even though it was a staple dinner.
Although this pear was the most apple-y pear I have ever eaten. It was somewhat round, too. If it didn’t have the pear texture, I would have thought it was an apple!
Lot of rain in store this weekend. Hoping to get the bikes out on Sunday, but there is plenty of stuff to do around here. Lots of festivals and shows.
Welcome Friday. Welcome, welcome – I am so glad it is the end of the week.
It was soooooo cold overnight. We dipped down to the upper 30s 😯
That won’t stop me from biking just yet, though. It was 42 when we got up, so still good to go. Just needed to bundle up.
I put those little stretchy gloves under my biking gloves to keep my fingers warm. I decided to have John take me out to breakfast today for my football meal this week. The first of the 16 I will be winning, I might add.
We went to Maudes.
Now we have been to Maude’s before, but the building they were in got sold and the owners booted the restaurant out to make room for their own (nice, eh?). So Maude’s had to find a new location and it is very cute! They brought along all the old decor:
And they brought all their old salt and pepper shakers as well. There is a different set at each table.
Udderly hilarious, no?
As per usual when we come here, I had my cheese omelet, which came with way more home fries that I could eat!
Winning tastes so good!
The garden is in almost full autumn swing now. Just waiting on my planted mums to bloom.
I have perennial asters on the side of the house:
The Autumn Joy sedum is getting darker and darker:
Interesting story. The sedum is 3 plants. In the spring, I dug them up and literally used a hacksaw to cut them in half. I gave 3 plants to my mom and put the other 3 pieces back in and they grew just as big as the year before! You can’t kill them.
Green envy coneflower got a bunch of new blooms on it.
My 100 pound rose bush also sent out new blooms this week! I think this is the 3rd flush of blooms:
And the knockout bush – absolutely covered!
That’s with the four o’clocks in front.
Lots more color left for this garden!
I will skip food to get to the other important events of the day:
Irish Fest is a 2 day event that features many Irish/Celtic bands from local to world famous. There are vendors there, and on my bucket list some day is to get an authentic Irish sweater. There were quite a few kilts to be seen.
Bet they were cold.
Also a lot of the usual fair food.
Now that just sounds gross!
We watched some of Seven Nations, good – but too loud! We had to move out of the tent. That sure makes me feel old LOL!
Then the reason that I really wanted to come was to see Gaelic Storm. They are a fun group to watch. Here is a snippet:
John decided on a fried dough to eat:
I decided on a beer:
This was Harp, which is a pale lager made by Guinness. I liked it and it doesn’t knock your boots off like Guinness draft. I didn’t wear green like a lot of people. You don’t need to wear green when Irish is in your blood.
Friday! Woo Hoo! My Friday dance today? Dancing on the pedals!
I took a quick 6.5 mile spin before breakfast today. I had to wear a long sleeve shirt because of how cool it was. I wouldn’t have needed that running, but you feel much cooler biking because of the breeze (which is lovely most times). I did 6.75 miles before breakfast.
Came home and had another waffle problem. I forgot the baking powder in my waffles and they didn’t rise, so I had trouble getting them out of the iron.
Breakfast spaetzle anyone? At least the taste was fine 😀
Pretty standard day today. Busy, quiet. I was ready for lunch soon enough.
Broccoli stuffed omelet topped with laughing cow. Yum! Funny how I almost never eat omelets for breakfast unless we go out to eat.
Garden is still blooming. The Autumn Joy sedum is changing color now.
The Four O’clocks. They smell so nice!
Potted mums. My garden ones have not bloomed yet.
The heliopsis clematis has more blooms again. The blooms have 3 stages. The lantern stage:
Which then morphs to this:
And the final stage of the seed head:
All 3 of those are going right now on this plant. It is quite large.
My butterfly bush (buddelia).
Annual asters in multiple colors:
Okay, you will either find this cute or you will roll your eyes. It was latte time.
John: Any request from your barista today?
Me: Just a kiss with my latte
John: I’ll give you 2
The boneless pork ribs were thawed out for dinner today. I put them in some mesquite marinade and threw them on the grill. They were sooooo good!
I am so glad there are leftovers of these 😀
After dinner, I went out for another bike loop just because. I love my bike. Tomorrow is long ride day and it will be a cupcake ride! I am excited – I know you have all missed the cuppicakes, too.
Welcome Friday – so glad to see you! I had a great night’s sleep last night, hooray! I actually got up later than normal at 7:30. I was going to go for a morning ride, but then just decided on breakfast.
Work very busy today. I am curious as to whether I will be working on Monday. If we don’t have power, I won’t be working.
I took a quick snack break of a plum:
I went out for a porch lunch today. I had the rest of the ricotta puffs (not so puffy) topped with peanut flour mixed up with water, honey and cinnamon.
The bees were also out en masse eating lunch. This time of year the bees really start collecting pollen.
They especially love the sedum:
I do get that close the the bumblebees, too. I love the bumbles. They are really non-aggressive and you can get in their face and they don’t care.
More Giallarda (it rained last night):
Purple snaps:
My white liriope:
Butterfly weed:
I wonder what this garden will look like after 65+ mile per hour winds hit it on Sunday.
I can’t believe I got my finger in that shot with a digital camera. D’uh!
I also took a picture of my neighbor’s chimney. They have a guest.
Me thinks that chimney may have issues during Irene. I hope it falls the other way and not towards our house as only a driveway separates us.
The afternoon was so gorgeous that John and I played hooky and went out for a bike ride along the path.
Surprise, surprise at where we stopped!
This was mango flavored froyo topped with coconut. Yes indeed. The color is a little funny because we were under a red umbrella.
The day is so beautiful. I can’t believe how conditions are going to deteriorate over the next couple days. Can you imagine back in the day before there was radar? You wouldn’t even know it was coming.
Gourmet dinner tonight. I sauteed up some broccoli and shrimp and then added half an ounce of cream cheese and a splash of milk to the pan to make a cream sauce. Topped with a little parmesan.
This was sooo good! John said it had too much broccoli in it. Pfffffft.
I disagree. I may have to go run off with Green Giant. I think he will appreciate how much I love broccoli!
We hope to get out early Saturday for a bike ride before conditions start to deteriorate. It all depends on how windy it is. Then battoning down the rest of the hatches for Irene! I hate the waiting for it.
I went out for a pre-breakfast ride this morning with temps in the low 60s. It was nice, but humid! Came back for breakfast and had a major fail. I went to make peanut flour waffles and started assembling. However, our cottage cheese was bad (pewwww!) and I had to improvise. Not a good idea. I use yogurt, but the batter was too runny, so I just put in more peanut flour in the hopes of saving it. They come out like foam rubber. Yuck! So, 1-minute muffle to the rescue:
This was topped with a sauteed banana and some coconut butter. I *love* this topping combo.
I had such a hard time concentrating on work today. I was ready for Friday! Soon enough, it was time for lunch:
What is that thing that looks like an ice cream sundae you ask?
This was frozen Wyman’s blueberries topped with 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese, drizzled with honey and a bit of cinnamon. I am glad I took this picture before I mixed it all up, because it was just a big purple blob after that. This was a good lunch and a nice change up from yogurt! I am now a big fan of ricotta. I get the part-skim kind.
Time for some blooms!
Annual dianthus. Not sure why these are so stubby, but at least they are blooming.
Yellow snaps. Tip – if you cut back your snapdragons after they finish blooming, they will bloom again. I cut mine back 3 or 4 times in a season and they will bloom until fall frost kills them.
Liriope (leh-rye-oh-pee)
Up close and personal:
The lirope are real work horses. the foliage looks nice and neat all summer and then these flowers come in late summer. They do well in all kinds of light from sun to shade (mine are in mostly shade).
Annual asters:
These are accidental. I had asters last year, and they left a bunch of seeds that sprouted. I sprinkled them throughout the garden. Somebunnybody ate the lower leaves off of a lot of the plants, though.
One lone clematis bloom:
And the other 4 o’clock. These are so hard to get pictures of because they are only open for part of the day (when I forget to take pics)
And lastly, more buds on the Scentimental.
This rose is having a banner bloom year.
I am going to make a slideshow in the early winter once the garden is put to bed showcasing all my favorite blooms pictures from tulips to mums.
Alas, I had to get back to work until the next snack break!
Note sleeping lump of Pixie in the background. Who wouldn’t want her life?
Made up a quick dinner tonight. Am I not always saying I made a quick dinner? I need to get more creative. I had baked up some coconut biscuits during lunch time and had one with my pork burger:
The biscuits came out a little more flat and I know it was because of the eggs I used. It really seems to make a difference for my recipes if I switch them up.
Relaxing tonight and a little football with some snacks. Gotta love the preseason and the plethora of games on any given day. Plus, another grain-free day in the books.
Another nice weather day on Saturday and I think a ride to the lake is in order.
Question: Do you ever use ricotta cheese for anything other than lasagna?
:
