Ripe, or frozen?

I’m not sure my title makes any sense, but I’ll revise when I have a flash of genius later.  Believe it or not, even I have those.

This morning, I harvested my watermelon.  Long ago (roughly 4 months ago) I planted two baby watermelon plants in my backyard.  Kind of on a lark, without much forethought, and it has been quite the saga ever since.  Twice now I have had little watermelons begin to grow, and twice those little watermelons got to the size of a tennis ball and split open.  They just couldn’t handle the pressure I guess.  Well, a few weeks ago I noticed that a third watermelon had begun to make some progress.  I was very nervous for it.  I checked on it every other day (every day would just be obnoxious), and it seemed to just get bigger and bigger.  One major difference between this one that has survived, and the two that burst at the seams, is where they began to grow.  The two that split were growing on the ground.  Partly because I placed them there, very gingerly and with love, and because I thought watermelon preferred to be on the ground.  Around my small, er, quaint, garden is a perimeter of chicken wire fencing.  This little watermelon decided to crawl it’s way up this fencing, and began to grow on the top of the fence.  I decided to leave it alone, precariously perched atop the chicken wire fence.  Lo and behold, it has matured.  Granted, I haven’t opened it up yet, so there is a strong possibility that it is full of nothing, or something gross.  With any luck, there will be just enough good stuff for me to have one bite and say it was worth it to grow watermelons.

I also got another yellow squash from my garden this morning.  It doesn’t have a good story.

In other news, I made a new pie last night.  New to me, perhaps familiar to others.  Once again, I turned to Martha, my cooking guidance counselor, and I’m pretty sure she hasn’t steered me wrong.  I made it because a friend of mine is in love with peanut butter.  And chocolate.  Really the combination I think.  Who doesn’t love the classic pb & chocolate combo?  If you don’t, I question your sanity.  I think I want to dub this pie the “Frozen Tundra Peanut Butter Monster.”  Too long?

I also peeled a lot of peaches last night.  I quickly realized that once peaches no longer have their fuzzy skin, they start to brown rather quickly.  Oh, and I wasn’t just peeling peaches for fun, it’s for a couple of peach pies I’m making in anticipation of a wedding this weekend.  Anywho, the brown problem.  I quickly looked online and found that lemon juice, or any citric juice is supposed to prevent that browning.  I poured some lemon juice allover my peach slices, and I think it did the trick!  Now I’m just trying to figure out how to counteract the lemony flavor I doused them in.  Could be that I’ll have to buy a bunch of frozen peaches…or just dump a ton of sugar in there.  This should be interesting.

Tonight, I will probably be peeling apples.  Get excited!

 

UPDATE: (most of this post was written yesterday, 9-28-11, so this is an update as of today 9-29-11)

1.  I broke into the watermelon, and I am sad to say that it was not done growing.  I almost shed a tear.

2.  I spent probably 3 hours peeling apples last night.  No matter how many times I wash my hands, the smell of apples is still there.  I’m in heaven.

Onward and…Upward?

I had myself an adventure since Saturday.  Specifically starting at noon on Saturday, when my flight took off for Denver, Colorado.  By the way, I would think most people know where Denver is, but you’re welcome if I’ve enlightened you.  Anywho, my dear little brother and I flew to Denver with one goal: empty the contents of my storage unit into a u-haul truck so that those contents could be brought back to KC, and so that I could discontinue making monthly payments on a storage unit in another state.  A multi-layered goal, if you will.  We flew in on Saturday afternoon, my dear friend Dan picked us up and drove us to the storage unit, and miracle of miracles — everything went according to plan!!!

I think that might be one of my favorite things in the world, when things go according to plan.  Especially because my plans are so magnificent 😉  It only took a couple hours to get everything loaded into the u-haul (which was waiting for us when we arrived at the storage unit, because I’m smart like that), and I arranged a nice hotel for us to stay at, which made collapsing into a heap Saturday night so much more enjoyable.  I’d highly recommend Hyatt Place hotels, should you ever get the chance.  They are actually quite affordable, and are simply lovely.  The only downtime we had was Saturday evening, after we’d loaded up the truck, and I am fortunate to have friends who are still willing to hang out with me in Denver, let alone take me and my brother to nice Mediterranean restaurants.  I had lamb shank for the first time, which was a treat.  I’m not usually a fan of meat on the bone, but this meat just fell right off the bone so I didn’t have to gnaw on it like a dog.  Also saw Denver at night from the viewpoint of Red Rocks.  It was cold, so we didn’t stay very long, but it was beautiful.

The only downer for this adventure was the drive back on Sunday.  I think our trip ended up being about 9 hours total.  Yuck.  Add to that a u-haul truck that must be about 10 years old, with minimal sound-proofing, and only your basic fm/am stereo.  We had to yell at each other if we wanted to talk, so most of the trip was spent in silence, or blaring that awful chiefs game.  At first it seemed like a miracle to pick up the chiefs game on the am radio in western Kansas, and then it quickly became unfortunate as there were no other alternatives.  We made it through though!

Then of course, I got to spend this morning and most of this evening unpacking.  It will probably take me the rest of the week (at least) to find nooks and crannies to put all my things.  My biggest concern right off the bat was figuring out what to do with the full size bed I brought back.  Now that I live at home, I already have a bed, so the one I had kept in storage was no longer needed.  Seemed pointless to stick it in our basement somewhere, especially when there are so many useless things taking up space in the basement.  Sooooo, craigslist to the rescue!  I believe I posted the bed for sale at $75 around 11:00 a.m., and within 15 minutes someone had contacted me about it.  By 12:15, the bed was sold and out of the house!  I couldn’t believe it!  I may have priced it rather cheap, but it was about 6 years old.  Pretty good condition though, if I do say so myself.

Now I am just luxuriating in all my recovered things.  It is strange to have started living on one’s own, and acquired a lot of my own things in that vain, to then have to reintegrate all those things with your childhood home.  Let’s just say I am glad my tastes in decor have changed over the years.

Sorry, no pictures this time! 🙂

Wanted: New Camera

I’ve decided I am in the market for a new camera.  A digital one that is.  Currently, I have a Canon Powershot Elph, circa 2005.  It has served me well, and has been to many fun and exotic places with me.  However, I think I have worn it out.  I’d also like to upgrade and get some higher quality photos…I can’t help but feel the food I make would look more photogenic if I had the proper tool to capture it with.

Input is more than welcome.

My first thought is that, while I have been very happy with the Canon, it would be nice to change it up a bit.  Perhaps a Nikon?  Such as the Nikon Coolpix…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That thing is cool looking.  Perhaps a bit bulky, but it has some pretty great ratings on Amazon.com.  I’d like to see what it’s like in terms of weight, and how user friendly it actually is.

I feel like my only other choices are to get an updated version of what I already have (which would not be a bad thing) or to get something like a Sony Cybershot, an Olympus, or a Panasonic.  I’m probably not scratching the surface as far as what is available, so I’m open to suggestions.  I’m leaning towards the Nikon though…any reason I shouldn’t?

This post is kinda boring today, but it’s what’s on my mind!  C’est la vie.