Vote for Grandiflora!

Most of you know that I work at Grandiflora Home and Garden in Lynden............


...........and right now, we're in 1st place for The Best of Western Washington on King 5!  We need to make sure that we keep getting votes to KEEP us in 1st place as we get down to the last few days of voting (voting ends Oct 10th).

So, if you are willing to go vote for Grandiflora just click on this link:
Vote for Grandiflora here...........

If you've never been to Grandiflora, or if it's been a while, come in and see our awesome fall displays!  Not only is it an awesome place to shop, it's an awesome place to work!  I count it a blessing to be employed by these girls! For the last 5 years I have laughed with, prayed with, worked with, and been blessed by being not only their employee but their friend!  Through Nathan's accident, they have been flexible and understanding and have allowed me to be a mom first!

Trish and Jan see things so cleary!!

Kim, Trisha, me and LaVon ...........bringing home the goodies!

Sometimes Trisha just needs to relax....................:-)

 Sorry Girls, you know I've been saving these pictures for just the right time to use them!!!  Trust me, there were more I could have used :-)

I will keep you posted if we win..............and thanks for voting!!

A foggy morning

Saturday afternoon Randy, Max and I loaded up on the boat and headed for Friday Harbor...........................bye bye Bellingham!
We arrived in beautiful Friday Harbor and saw Mt. Baker trying to peak around the clouds............................         

 It was a gorgeous afternoon and evening.................................

We walked into town for a wonderful dinner.  I always order the Chicken Gorgonzola salad with barbeque balsamic dressing, I need to figure out how to make this!!  On our way back to town we were escorted by this.................

We woke up to this.........................
Walked into town for breakfast and came back to this! Now you see it.............now you don't!  It was crazy!

 We drank coffee and kept waiting for the fog to lift - it didn't.  Read books, napped,................still...............FOG! Finally we decided to go because it was clearing in spots.  My confident captain trusted his radar and drove through thick banks of fog.  The water was smooth and I sat and read my book.  At times I would look up and feel claustrophobic and stick my nose right back into my book.  I'm so glad HE knows what he's doing.  We arrived safely back into Squalicum harbor without any issues!  The weekend was relaxing - this is the first time we've spent the night on the boat all summer - and technically it was fall!

When life gives you green tomatoes........................

.............you make Green Tomato Bread! Yep - I know - sounds odd - almost disgusting!  My BFF Marla brought it over a couple weeks ago and I turned my nose up and said - no thanks!  Finally, sweet Marla convinced me to try it and I ended up eating 3 slices. 

Since our poor tomato plants have not seen near enough sunshine this summer (likewise for myself!), we happen to have a LOT of green tomatoes.  Yes, we've had some wonderful red ones too, sweet and juicy - but the greens have won out!

GREEN TOMATO BREAD

 3 c. flour

2 c. sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

2 eggs, beaten

1 c. oil

1 tsp. vanilla

2 c. finely chopped green tomatoes

1 1/2 c. chopped pecans

In a large mixing bowl stir together flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt, baking soda and baking powder and set aside.  In another bowl combine eggs, oil, vanilla, green tomatoes and pecans.  Add egg mixture all at once to dry mixture.  Stir just until moistened.  Batter will be thick, and lumps will remain.  Pour batter into 2 greased 8x4 loaf pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. 

It's fabulous with a caramel macchiato!  

This is one of those recipes that you're better off not knowing the name before you try it.  But, go ahead, you're brave, and besides - have I ever led you astray!!  Thanks Marla - you were right - it's AWESOME!! :-)

We're all crabby!

After a good day of crabbin', the best thing to do is to sit right down with great friends and get crackin'!
 First the men clean up and boil the crab.  Of course my husband has built a handy processing station.................only my husband!! :-)

 After a while of fun, laughter, and flicking crab juice on each other - voila' -a bowl full of crab meat!  Randy then pulls out his vacuum sealer, and we bag it up and freeze it.  Now it's all ready to be pulled out and turned into crab cakes, etc.!  YUM!

Crab season is over, but we have plenty to last a while!

Blueberry Cream Muffins

I'm always looking for a new way to use blueberries and I ran across this recipe and decided to give it a try.  I mean after all, it has cream cheese in it - how could it not be good?!?!

 

BLUEBERRY CREAM MUFFINS

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 6 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 2 cups fresh blueberries or frozen blueberries*
• FILLING:
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup sugar
• Dash salt

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat the eggs, milk and butter; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in the blueberries. Spoon about 2 round tablespoonfuls into greased muffin cups.
2. In a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, egg, sugar and salt; place about 1 tablespoon in the center of each muffin cup (do not spread). Top with remaining batter. Bake at 375 degrees F for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in muffin comes out clean. cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. 
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5. I can't get rid of these number bullets now, so bear with me!
7. They were wonderful!  I loved them heated up the next day.  They were great to share with friends and I've made them twice now!  Definitely a keeper!

Grilled Cheese, BLT, Burger please

Yes, you read right!    This is the dinner our friends decided that Randy needed for his birthday dinner.

GRILLED CHEESE - BLT - BURGER

You start by making grilled cheese sandwiches - yes, 4 pieces of bread per burger, 2 grilled cheese sandwiches per burger - it's the bun replacement!  You grill the sandwiches and then you press down to squish them a bit.

Then you take bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, and top them off with a fabulous burger that's made of hamburger and sausage.

We had spent the beginning of the evening snacking on chips and pico de gallo fresh from the garden.............................

...............so needless to say I was already feeling a bit full and the sound of that burger just sounded like more than I could handle.  But I had to try it and boy was I glad I did!  FABULOUSITY.......EXTROIDINAIRE...........I didn't finish my whole half, but I enjoyed every bite I took!  The best part - if you got a bite without burger - the "bun" was still awesome!

Dan and Marla were the chefs in charge and they also made their homemade onion rings - OH MY GOODNESS!!!

The evening was spent outside on the back porch.................flowers from farmer Randy's garden!

Kathi made her AWESOME caramel apple pie (Alas no pics), and a good time was had by all!!

By the way - we ate way too late and too much and we were all hurtin' - that's not so fun at our old age anymore!!  :-)

YOU MUST TRY THESE BURGERS - it makes men smile big!!

Happy Birthday Randy

Today is my husbands birthday.  If I had the money, I would take him away on a 2 week cruise to relax and refresh........................

...............since I don't have the money, we will just take our son down to Harborview for a recheck and go out for lunch.  Today they will be looking at Nathan's knee to decide if he needs to have another manipulation surgery.  Manipulation can only be done within 2 months of the surgery and we are at one month, so I will let you know what they decide.

Back to Randy - the hardest working man you've ever met.....handsome (boy howdy!!),honest, analytical, faithful, loyal, generous, kind............these are just a few of the words that describe the man that God blessed me with. 

He likes to laugh.................................
He is not too manly to play "Pretty Pretty Princess" with our little friend Hailey....

He is happiest on his boat, an island, a mountain, fishing.........................

He is so good with children..............and they love him.  This is him with above mentioned Hailey - we love her!
 
Does this man clean up nice or what?!?!

I am so blessed .................Happy Birthday Randy....................I love you! In our year of ups and down, you are the only thing that has remained constant and stable (heaven knows it isn't me!!).

By the way - You're not 46 my dear!!! Try again!