Garden Update-just about 9 weeks in the making

I am so proud of my little garden, though I worry about what the neighbors must think!  Hopefully people know that I am growing vegetables and not giant weeds.  Because a lot of my backyard is stone and roses, much of my growing takes place in the front yard.  As far as my peppermint patch reformation, the watermelon and especially the cucumbers look a little bit peeked.  I'm running out to buy them a healthy dose of plant food in a bit!  Hopefully they are just low on nutrients and I can supplement with a plant vitamin of some sort. 

Here's my progress at 9 weeks!

LEFT GARDEN BED

This is where I grow my tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, yellow bell peppers and crookneck squash.

This tomato plant needs a new cage.  It's become a little bit unruly.  That said, it has more tomatoes than my other plants and I'm excited for them to grow!

This is the inside of my crookneck squash plant.  In the past day or two I have seen many squash ripen.  Looks like dinner to me!

These jalapenos are plentiful and nearly ripe!

At what point will my peppers turn yellow?  One of them is already quite large!

 I had to stake this pepper plant.  It is pretty small and has around 6 big peppers on it.

Giant crookneck squash plant.  For as huge as this is, I have clipped it back about three times.  It doesn't have vines.  So though it is taller and more massive than my other squash, the plants with vines looks crazier because they stretch out across my entire yard!  

INDIVIDUAL PLANTS

These are plants that I have put in containers or in single garden spaces throughout my yard.

Sadly, I have never discussed this flower.  When we moved here this was just dead sticks.  There was practically no green on it at all, but there was ONE little white flower at the end of what appeared to be a dead stick.  I had several plants that looked dead and plucked most of them out, but I really wanted to see if I could bring this one back.  I wish that I had kept a photo journal of its progress because it is doing beautifully.

 Here is an acorn squash that I think it doing very well.  I hope to eat the squash it produces on Thanksgiving!

 This mimosa was doing well but I worry that it needs some help these days.

 My cardinal climbers are really thriving and growing now.

The cardinal climbers has started its assent to the top of my pergola!  I can't wait until it blossoms and blooms!  It's going to be so beautiful.

 These peppers are being grown in a whisky barrel

And this is the whisky barrel.  I am just starting to see some nice, big peppers forming.

 My pumpkins are what impress me most.  Though, this is the only seed that I planted that actually took and grew, it is doing quite well and I am so excited to have our own pumpkins this year.  Hopefully it will create at least four pumpkins so that we can all pick one!

This is the best watermelon that I've got, which totally stinks because I ran it over with my garden hose yesterday.  Hopefully it is well established enough to survive the trauma.  

FRONT RIGHT GARDEN BED

This is the home to a whole bunch of things with no room to grow!  Yikes!  I overdid this bed and before long it will just be a mess of green.  I can't bring myself to pluck anything out, so we'll just see how it goes.

 Two of my garlic plants have finally sprung through the ground.  Just when I gave up on them, they appeared!

 Here we have three acorn squash and one zucchini.  All are thriving.

 My california poppies are fighters!  They are doing well dispute being taken over my squash.

Inside a summer squash plant.

 Huge round zucchini that is ready to eat!

BEFORE AND AFTER OF MY SUMMER SQUASH, GROWN FROM SEEDS.

CORN 

I have to admit, it's looking good!!!  Bunny's corn has grown quite a bit this week!

BACKYARD PEPPERMINT PATCH 

This is in desperate need of help.  It really deserves its own post, which I will write at a later time.  Let me give it a bit of food and take a few days to see what happens.  :(

Happy Father's Day, Jay Holler!

Jay and I were immediately in love.  We entirely skipped that awkward, nervous stage of dating when you are scared to tell someone how strongly you feel about them for fear of scaring them away.  We were both honest about who we were, what we wanted and what we didn't want from day one and without fear of rejection.  On the night of our first kiss we both proclaimed that we knew, with certainty, that we had found our person and we were both equally, entirely done seeking someone for the rest of our lives.  And I suppose that was good because three months later, just days after Jay's 25th birthday, I learned that I was pregnant with our first child.  Six month after that first kiss we were married and just one year after that kiss we were the parents of a 7lb, 13 oz baby girl.  Seven months after Bunny was born I learned that I was pregnant again.  I do not know what made us think that we were ready to create a family at record speed, but with tons of support from our own families, we dove into parenthood head first, swam to the surface of the water and somehow managed to stay alive and to stay together and to grow and change and strengthen as one little group of people who loved each other beyond anyone else and supported each other consummately.

I barely remember what my husband was like before he was a father.  Being a Dad is as much of who he is as is being a musician.  It is as natural as breathing. When I try to think about the kind of father Jay is or the changes that have happened within him since becoming a Dad I stumble a bit.  I don't have a point of reference to create contrast.

What I can say is that Jay is the sort of Dad who plays.  He is the Dad who takes off of work for parent/teacher conference, school plays, ice cream Sunday parties in the classroom and Dentist appointments.  He is the Dad who helps with homework, explains ludicrous math that is already beyond my comprehension, checks every problem and sits at the table until they fully understand it.  He isn't afraid to sit down and have tough conversations about uncomfortable things, calmly and openly with our girls. He goes to the park (I HATE going to the park) and will stay there for infinite amounts of time.  He is the Dad who doesn't really want to go anywhere if his family isn't invited.  No matter what the party is or who will be there, I can pretty much guarantee you that my husband would rather be at home with us, tucking the kids in, eating a grilled dinner and having snarky conversations in bed.  No matter how many times I tell him that it's okay to go out and see a show with his friends from time to time, he assures me that he'd rather be at home.   And after 9 years together, I believe him.

It gives me such comfort to know that my girls have a positive example of what a relationship is and a father who isn't too afraid or too busy with something else to make them his priority.  I feel like my girls will grow up feeling important and valued instead of like some sort of obligation that their father is fulfilling, which is something that I see a lot in the world.  (I hate writing things like that because my friends read it and think that I mean them.  So, for the record, if you are my friend, no, I don't mean you or your family).  Our children will better process conflict, have better self esteem and higher standards for relationships because of the example set before them.  I work very hard at being a good mother, but that only goes so far.  I am proud of Jay and I feel luckier than I could ever express to have him as a husband and father to my two little girls.

I have said it before, and I'll say it again, but we really hit the jackpot with you Jay Holler!

Weight Update- Week 9

I feel sort of strange writing about how much weight I lost this week because it seems like a lie.

I got on the scale around five different times this morning because I couldn't believe what I was seeing and THEN I made Lila get on the scale to see if there was just something wrong with the scale itself (you know, low battery or something).  When I get on the scale I sort of visualize the number that I want to pop up on the screen.  When the number  came in this morning, it was 3 pounds less than the number I hoped for in my wildest fantasy.

My body went through some sort of miraculous change this week.  I could sort of feel it happening.

I worked hard.  I restricted calories.  My period ended, which is certainly partially responsible for my dip.  I worked up a sweat at least once each day...  I felt less hungry and more in control of my eating habits and body all week.  And I certainly do feel slimmer.

Because I lost 8 pounds in one week.

That doesn't seem possible, right?

I know.

I feel embarrassed to admit that it happened because I don't feel that it's possible and if I read as much on someone else's blog I'd think that it was a lie or a mistake.  But it must be possible because it did happen.  So, I am not going to complain about this or ever expect that it happens again. Also, if I do not lose ANY weight this week, I will be okay with that.  I am just going to appreciate this and consider it some sort of gift from the universe.  Maybe I'm getting a big pay off for sticking with my weight loss plan even when times were tough and I wasn't losing at all?  Who knows?

What I do know is that I have lost 26 pounds!!!!!!

Boston Cream Cupcakes

I used this guy's recipe for these amazing little cupcakes and am super excited about the way that they turned out.  There's no doughnut better than a boston cream donut (okay, okay, a jelly donut might be a little bitter better than a boston cream donut).  Anyway, donuts are not in my present or future, and neither are cupcakes (sadly) but a girl can still get crazy in the kitchen, even if she is on a diet.

With my guidance, Lila did most of the leg work on these cupcakes (Bunny is at a friend's house).

Start with a basic vanilla cupcake.  Use whatever is comfortable for you, whether that be an old, familiar recipe or even a box mix.

Use a knife to cut out the middle of the cupcake

Fill with pudding mixture.

 We use a cake decorating bag to do this, but you could technically use a zip lock baggie that you cut the corner off.  Truthfully, you could also just use a spoon.

 No need to save the leftover pudding mixture.  Feel free to squeeze the rest right into your mouth.

 Quick tip:  When using a decorating bag for anything, NEVER EVER put the frosting or filling directly into the bag. What a mess!!!!!  ALWAYS use a large piece of plastic wrap. Scoop large spoonfulls of frosting or filling in the center of the plastic wrap and roll it up (twisting the ends well.)  The end of the plastic wrap that will be at the top of the bag should be knotted and the other end will slide easily through the decorating end and can be cut with scissors and the tip can be reattached.  This picture is what the plastic looks like after I remove it from the bag, when it has been emptied out.

 When all is said and done, your bag will look like this, instead of like a complete gooey mess with filling oozing out of the top and onto your hand.  Gross!

Yes, that IS Groovy-James trying to lick the pudding off of the tip of my decorating bag while I take a picture.

 Take your ganache and spoon it onto the top of the cupcakes.

It can be a little bit messy!  Best not to use too much.  The leftovers will be great over a bowl of ice-cream and topped with a few salted peanuts the next day!

Sprinkle on a bit of powdered sugar.

ENJOY!

S'mores

Nothing says it's the first official day of summer vacation than s'mores on the grill!

S'mores are seriously my favorite dessert food.  The combination of sweets is absolute perfection.  There was a place in New Jersey called Cafe Metro that had a s'more poo poo platter as a dessert option.  Ohmigod.  Many a s'more did I eat there while pregnant with Bunny!

I will not be participating in the s'more festivities this evening, but that doesn't mean that my children shouldn't experience the deliciousness of the perfect dessert food.

Homesick

You'd think that if I were to get homesick, it would be for one of my many east coast homes, but it's not.  Every summer Jay and I go out to Denver to visit with my friends, who are really more like family to me at this point.

Because we are going to my friend Mathew's wedding in November and then back out to Denver for Christmas, we decided not to try to plan a visit this summer.  At the  moment we're paying off some debts while simultaneously saving to buy a California house of our own, which makes things just a little bit tight around here.  Two trips in a year is pretty much all we can do.

But I'm really missing my friends so much.  I keep finding myself choked up by how lonely I am for them.   Friendships like these take decades to form.  I have been friends with Siet since I was 11 and next year will mark 20 years since I met Mathew.  Their spouses are all so similar to Jay and when we visit everyone has so much fun and there are so many people who come together.  It's just food and music and adventures and long, long, long conversations that twist into new conversations and the kind of laughter that could make you pee your pants if you're not careful.  It's like one giant, never-ending dinner party.  I never feel as loved as I do when we're in Denver.

Sigh.

I am homesick.

Fresh Picked

I just picked this round zucchini and yellow squash from my garden and can't wait to toss it on the grill tonight.

I sprinkled it with a bit of pepper, garlic and EVOO.

I'm also marinating chicken and prepared a stuffed shell tray for the girls.  And while I'm on the subject, I'd like you all to note that I was not able to find ANY marscapone cheese in either grocery store that I went to.  AND craziness of craziness, one store only offered one kind of ricotta and the other only had two kinds of ricotta.  "Sidney, I don't think we're in Jersey anymore."  This is the first stuffed shell plate that I'm making without marscapone.  I'm assuming that Whole Foods has it, but I really didn't want to make the trip on a Sunday afternoon.  It's always such a mad house.  I almost called the whole thing off and grabbed a bag of nice ravioli (my girls are missing their Jersey Italian) but the kids protested.  I swear to you... I am actually sort of surprised that the California grocery markets don't keep their garlic and porchetta in an aisle labeled, "ethnic food."

I seriously LOVE California, but I miss that great east coast food.  I've had some of the best Mexican food ever since moving here, but my restricted diet doesn't allow for much on a menu at a mexican restaurant.  I miss being able to stop and get really good food just about anywhere.  Even if it was an amazing sandwich at the Reading Terminal Market or an awesome fusion dinner at the Continnental Midtown.  I even miss those Blood Orange Margaritas at El Vez and the extraordinary chicken fingers and local cranberry wine at the Vincentown Diner.  Sometimes I just get sick of cooking and I'm almost always disappointed when we venture out for dinner somewhere.  Maybe that's why people in California are so thin.

This post is making me really hungry.