I digress...

frequently. I was looking around my house today and found several things you might like to hear about. I guess you can surmise that frugality is what I am striving for...I don't mean cheap...I mean being cautious with your money and your time.

Our house is a work in progress and we have the back end (bedrooms, bathrooms, coat closet and entry way) nearly done. I have always wanted a pot rack, but I didn't want to pay a small fortune for it. Our neighbor was trying to hone his carpentry skills and built us a permanent bar. Our house is small and a dining table was not very practical. The kind of entertaining we do calls more for buffet and sit where you can find a spot, so a bar was perfect. I wanted this pot rack directly over the bar, as it is the end of the working space I have in the kitchen.

Hobby Lobby had a sale on their garden items, and I went browsing and found this cast iron "door mat" which is meant to be used to scrape your feet when you come in. It was a really pretty dark green antique looking finish and has frogs and reeds in the design. We simply measured, marked for the exact placement, bought heavy duty hooks and put the in the ceiling timbers. Hubby hung about four links of heavy chain on each hook, and another heavy duty S hook attached the chain to the grill. We then got lighter weight S hooks to hang in the grill work and hung our pans from those.

My cost: the grill was on sale for 50% off of $20.00. The hooks were another $5.00 and Hubby had the chain we needed in his shop. $15.00 and a little time. We hung a length of chain from the center of the grill, put S hooks in the chain, and that's where I hang the lids.

We bought bar stools on sale at Bed, Bath & Beyond and had a 20% off coupon from signing up for email notices.  By doing this, we also freed up some much needed cabinet space.

We got our first cantaloupe today...it smells like cantaloupe heaven.

                             

It's a pretty nice size and if it tastes as good as it looks and smells our Mystery Garden was well worth the attention.

Have a great day!

The tomatoes that ate Birch Street

I have been picking tomatoes every day. I have them laid all over my counters, on the bar, and some in the fridge. My kids have tomatoes, our neighbors have tomatoes, and pretty soon we're going to have to open "Tomato City" out on our front lawn.

The big ones I can cope with...the little ones, cherry, plum and grape types, is another story. Our little rogue cherry tomato that came up behing our mailbox has spread out to the yard, and we're getting about two to three cups a day. Our neighbors have a little toddler who loves them, and we've been keeping them supplied until yesterday. Every day we would walk over a bag of cherry tomatoes and she would run up with her arms out and say "MINE, MINE". I make sure they're washed, because they usually don't make it in the house. Yesterday her dad, when asked if they needed more, said "We still have some. You should come over here and change her diapers some time". Hmmm...was that a hint?

They really are very nice and taste great, so Hubby and I are going to freeze them whole and when things slow down, we can run them through the food mill to get the pulp and make ketchup or tomato sauce. Guess I'd better hunt me up a recipe for something. They are too dear to pitch and I will not sit there and let them rot.

We have a cantaloupe that is turning and will be ready soon. It's so dang hot I don't know how anything is making it now. I went out to pick today and we have one of those great big black and yellow garden spiders in one bed. Glad I saw him before I looked him in the eye when I bent over to pick a tomato. That would not have been pretty.

Life is good.

Fried Okra

Baked pork chops and fried okra was our supper last night...the okra came from our garden last year. I froze some of it cut up so when we want it fried all I have to do is take out however much I want, run some cold water over it, and put it in cornmeal seasoned with seasoning salt, black and cayenne pepper. Shake off some of the excess cornmeal and put it in a little hot oil seasoned with bacon drippings. Wow! The pork chops were about $4.00 - I lined a cookie sheet with foil, laid the chops on and seasoned them with garlic, salt and pepper. Bake at about 325 degrees until they are browned and falling apart. If they get done before you are ready to eat all you have to do is wrap them in foil to keep warm.