Time is money!

In preparation of hosting Thanksgiving for my family this year, I made a list of things to get done around the house. One of those things is washing our grimy windows. We have 15 giant windows at our house so I thought it would be nice to hire a window washer so I'd have time to do other things on that list - you know, like paint my nails. I brought up my idea to Steve, a true DIYer, who would rather die than hire someone to perform handy work, who spends weeks on You Tube and reading library books to learn about a subject just so he can do it himself, who's own to-do list is pages long. So what do you think he said when I asked about getting them done? You're right! He said "we are NOT paying someone to clean our windows. You can do it! It's easy!" So I rolled my eyes and changed the subject.

Well, today I saw a deal online (our local attempt at Groupon) for professional window washing. 10 windows for $70 ($120 value). Great deal, right?! And perfect timing! So I thought maybe if Steve knew about this deal, he'd go for it. He's into deals!

We were on instant messenger at work, so I decided to share the deal link with him right then. His response was pretty perfect.

Renovation Reality

Thought I would give you a tiny glimpse inside the crazy world of a home-owner with little ideas that turn into BIG projects.

Remember when we wanted to replace a few windows that were old and cruddy? And remember how that one idea turned into Steve wanting to handcraft some window sills and molding? And then that required grinding off the current window sills in order to install new ones before the windows were installed? And remember how the grinding of the old window sills covered the entire guest room with an inch of dust? And that meant we quaranteen our entire living room with yards and yards of environmentally unfriendly plastic? 

Well, here is one minute and forty seven seconds of that process. You DIYers will love this. (Note: I am filming lying down under a plastic tunnel with the camera peeking out. We should get an award for our bubble room masterpiece.)

Peppino

Remember when I went on that awesome date to Castoro Cellars? And remember I promised some video of the guitarist, Peppino D'Agostino? Well, here it is! The percussionist is Jeff Campitelli...and he was incredible! Enjoy!

Not your average banana bread

Like I mentioned before, I am always left with a few overripe bananas and looking for new ways to use them. This time, I wanted to do a simple banana bread again and recently came across a new recipe while following various Bachelorettes on Twitter. (See, I knew there was a good reason for my new twitter obsession. I seriously cannot stop reading about what former Bachelors and Bachelorettes are up to...it's sick really.)

Anyway, you can find the recipe here: Ashley's World Famous Ball-Bustin' Banana Bread. I followed it exactly and this bread turned out SOO good. Best banana bread so far. It is moist but not oily. The most brilliant part of this recipe is how you separate the banana mash into one lumpy banana mix and one banana cream mix. That way, the banana is infused into the bread but you also get yummy lumps of bananas inside the bread. LOVE this!

Try it. Now. Go on! You won't be disappointed!

I even tweeted Ashley about trying her recipe and got this:

Whoo!

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 overripe bananas
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup pistachios, finely chopped
• Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan. ( I recommend doing either 2 small loaves or 4 mini loaves - remember to cut back the baking time if you do this.  I think the smaller the loaves, the more moist your bread will be)

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

Mash 2 of the bananas with a fork in a small bowl but make sure they are still lumpy. With an electric mixer fitted with a wire whisk, whip the remaining bananas and sugar together for a good 3 minutes; you want a light and fluffy banana cream. Add the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla; beat well and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated; no need to overly blend (This is very important!). Fold in the nuts and the mashed bananas with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Give the pan a good rap on the counter to get any air bubbles out.

Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes (less time if you do smaller loaves), until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Don’t get nervous if the banana bread develops a crack down the center of the loaf; that’s no mistake, it’s typical. Rotate the pan periodically to ensure even browning.

Cool the bread in the pan for 10 minutes or so, and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing. Toast the slices of banana bread, dust with confectioners’ sugar, and serve.

Cucumber Queen

Our cucumbers have gone mad this year. They took over the poor canteloupe, they outgrew the raised bed, and they are multiplying so quickly we can't keep up! There are bent ones, short and fat ones, long skinny ones, and giant ones...basically cucumbers growing on top of cucumbers on top of cucumbers! It's madness.

We've eaten so many cucumbers I am starting to get sick of them! I had to get real creative coming up with ways to serve up these babies and I thought I would share some ideas with you, in case you have a massive cucumber garden too!

Cucumber-Tomato Salad

This has been one of our faves lately. All you do is combine peeled and sliced cucumbers, slices of tomatoes (any kind, but the sweeter the better), a pinch of ground pepper and kosher salt, and your dressing of choice. I've used olive oil with balsamic vinegar, but my favorite is a local dressing/marinade called Carmen's Gorgonzola Thyme. I also crumble feta cheese on top. Steve prefers blue cheese but I say blech to that!

Tuna Salad with Cucumbers

This super simple recipe I found in my trusty cooking magazing, Martha Stewart's Everyday Food. Technically the recipe calls for celery, but I left that out and added carrots and radishes.

• 2 tsp poppy seeds
• 3 tbls rice vinegar
• 1 tbls sugar
• 2 tbls olive oil
• 2 cucumbers, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/4 inch half moons (6 cups)
• 3 celery stalks (if you want them)
• 2 cans of solid white tune in water, drained and flaked
• coarse salt and ground pepper

In a medium bowl, stir together poppy seeds, vinegar, sugar, and oil. Add cucumbers, celery, and tuna. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately or refrigerate covered up to 1 day.

Cucumber and Radish Crostini

The perfect snack or appetizer. Also from Everyday Food.

In a medium bowl, toss together 1 cucumber, peeled and very thinly sliced (I used a the horizontal blade on my cheese grater), 5 radishes, also very thinly sliced, 1 tbls fresh lemon juice, and 2 tbls of olive oil. Season with coarse salt and ground pepper. Spoon onto 18 toasted baguette slices and top with shaved parmesan cheese. 

***

For more cucumber recipes, try Martha Stewart's Seasonal Produce Guide.

We also tried pickling cucumbers. We tried three different methods - only one of which worked. Let's just say we have 8 jars of pickles that are not edible. Long story, and deserves a whole separate post on pickling.

Stay tuned!

Lacking, but with Luster

Sorry I've been lacking in the posting department! As you can see, I've revamped my page and have been working on the individual tabs up top. I like being able to keep links and other info organized neatly so that its easy to revisit (that and I am OCD). Now that I have this space how I want it (mostly), I can resume posting! I owe you a lot!

-Helya's wedding festivities!
-Peppino music
-Lake Tahoe vacation
-our garden before and after
-and on Dwight Delight, our pickling successes and failures!

In the meantime, look around and enjoy!

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Frollicking Fox

The foxes are still living alongside our property and becoming more and more used to us. A couple of weeks ago there were three brothers out at once, and we named them Timmy, Kit, and Pickles. Pickles gets left behind, Timmy is timid, and Kit is more daring. They played for about a half an hour right at dusk, jumping onto the wood stack, frollicking in the grass, and playing hide-and-seek in the trees. One time I looked out onto the back patio and saw one of the foxes lounging in one of our chairs, looking at me innocently like, "what's the big deal??"  Then, the other night, I think it was Pickles, came out well before dark to play, which is rare. I was able to take some video of his evening in our yard. Now that we've gotten a better look at them, we are pretty sure they are Gray Foxes. 

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