Harvest with Miss Landers

Miss Landers has a vegetable garden in the local community garden, and we went harvesting with her.  See some pictures of our outing below.

Food Waste Friday 7-1-11

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money. 


Here it goes for this week.


Hooray! I have no waste to show for this week. This is because we did some creative cooking to use up leftovers and other food we had with a short shelf life. We made Creamy Pesto Spaghetti. The whole family agreed that it was very good.

The dish was made mostly by emptying containers of what we had in the fridge. However, the proportions of the ingredients worked out well, so we will make this again keeping the pasta, sour cream, and pesto amounts about the same and add whatever else is handy.


Our Recipe (or a good guess at it.) 

Creamy Pesto Spaghetti

•  Cook and drain.

              6 oz. of garden spaghetti

• While the spaghetti is cooking, mix together:

             1 cup low-fat sour cream

            1/4 cup basil pesto

            1 fresh tomato- chopped

            8 stalks grilled asparagus-cut into 1/2" pieces

           1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

           2 oz. baked pork loin-chopped

• Microwave the above mixture for about a minute to take the chill off, then stir into the hot pasta.
• Garnish with tomato and basil. 
• Serves 4 or more depending on how hungry you are.

A Second Look 6-29-11

A Second Look around the yard this week found these things.

Yellow day lily. Can you find the green bug (katydid nymph)?

Deer have eaten day lily buds causing the brown stalks.

Yellow trumpet lily

Volunteer marigold in zinnia bed.

The baby bunny is venturing out more.

Hydrangea, Endless Summer

Double day lilies

Trumpet Lily (Lilium regal) with bumble bee.

Check this out

Here's another video from YouTube involving a billiards shot. Even if you aren't interested in pool, this is pretty amazing to watch. Almost 7 million people have already seen it, but in case you are one of the few who haven't, check out this link. 

The most amazing pool shot ever

Enjoy!

A History Lesson

My history education hasn't been very good—both from my schooling and my own initiation. So, I have vague ideas about a lot of things but don't understand much completely. This was evident during my recent visit with Ward to Fort McHenry in Baltimore. I knew that Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner there while he was watching bombs bursting in air, supposedly to the tune of an old English drinking song. But I never knew the rest of the story.

A replica of Key's Star Spangled Banner at Fort McHenry

Picture it. September 1814 during the War of 1812. The British have just burned the Nation's Capital and the people of Baltimore are frightened. The British Navy is amassing in the Chesapeake Bay and they are coming for Baltimore next if they can get by Fort McHenry. Meanwhile, Francis Scott Key, a young Georgetown lawyer, has taken a ship out among the British to negotiate for the release of Dr. William Beanes, who is a prisoner of war. 

The British start bombing the fort and the Americans return their fire. Francis is forced to stay among the British ships and can do nothing but watch the massive battle. For twenty five hours the exchange goes on. The firing finally stops and the battle has been won. But by whom? He anxiously awaits to see which flag will be flying over the fort: the Union Jack or the Stars and Stripes. When dawn brakes, it is a tremendous relief for him to see the Star Spangled Banner still flying. Francis Scott Key, overcome with emotion, is inspired to capture the feelings of the experience by penning the Star Spangled Banner.

There are many more details, that I can't quite remember, but the words of our National Anthem now have more meaning for me.

"Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?"