Sherry's New Toy

My new food dehydrator by Nesco. It has been in use daily since I got it - mostly with drying herbs that are coming up now in the garden. I also made some organic lemon zest (below) which smelled up the house very nice today. Liz and I really like homemade zest.

Bob worked really hard this past weekend in my garden - he's really not into 'gardening' so this was a real chore for him. I'm anticipating a big crop!

On my list for new appliances this year to make things a lot easier on my neck/back I have the new Heavy Duty Commercial Grade 7 qt Pro-line Kitchenaid Mixer;

and the new Kitchenaid Pro-line Commercial Grade Food Processor and Dicer:

Both are reduced price at Williams Sonoma, so I'm going to ask for gift certificates from there for birthdays, X'Mas, allowances, etc., until I have enough.

The bulging discs in my back have not un-bulged or un-pinched any nerves - so although I'm much stronger and more 'fluid' I am preparing for things to remain the same for a while. But I'll still do my tractions, exercises and twice monthly machine decompressions. I'll also have to make things as easy as possible in my everyday life. 

We never had our cabinets fitted for insides of any type (and  everything is piled on top of each other - pots, lids, pans, etc.)  and to get anything out of them I usually have to use disc damaging brute strength, or try to get on the floor and heft stuff around and pull out what I need, then get up - and do it all over again when I put it back. So we researched Rev-A-Shelf cabinet inners and we're fitting our handmade, non-standard cabinets with these - one cabinet at a time. Why is everything a chore!?

x o x

Happy Birthday Chuck!

Happy (Belated) Birthday Boo!

Mango Sorbet

I have been eating this up!

I get the mangos at Costco (Champagne Mangos - 6 medium, or 4 large of any kind), peel them with a serrated peeler (messy - or Google how to use a knife), and cut as much mango flesh off the fruit as possible. 

I fill a Cuisinart (about 3/4 full) with the mango fruit as I go. Add 1/4 cup of liquid sweetener (one year I used Coconut Nectar, now I use local honey - both great) and 3 TBSPs of lemon or lime juice.  Blend until smooth.

Here's the valuable information: freeze in *one serving* containers like silicone ones that are muffin size, because it is like ICE if it's frozen in a large container like ice cream - you have to defrost all of it to get some. 

To me it is much more better tasting when it's frozen! A very light dessert.

Frank and Theresa

We've been hoping to put some current pictures of Theresa, Frank's girlfriend of five years on the blog and we finally got some! Theresa comes over a couple times a week, and of course, they go out often. Obviously a lasting and lovely friendship!

She's a good influence on him!

Frank and Theresa flying in the side garden - one of the things they do together.

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Cricket's Toy

Cricket the barn cat owns the entire property and us. She's a feral cat, wicked, sometimes mean, and lives at the barn and harasses everyone. She just wants us all to remember the barn is her toy - oh, and everything in it too.

AJ and Alison's 'Toy'

Remember AJ and Alison's new place - 

well, now they're landscaping and planting. Look at their beautiful results. I know what hard work this is and I'm SO PROUD of them and how it's turning out. Alison's email tells the story:

"We have been gardening!  Well I have been gardening, AJ has been digging a lot of holes and trenches and then being dismissed since baseball started. We learned after we moved in that the sewer line runs parallel to the house and under a couple fruit trees that had been planted in the last few years so we started by digging those out. It took forever but the trees survived and are now happily living in some other person's yard. We replaced one of the trees with a petite Japanese maple that should not be as tempted to destroy our sewer pipes as the old trees would have been. We also had to remove a few feet of soil that had been back filled in to level out the yard but was just being held back by a (quickly rotting) wooden fence. I left that fun chore to AJ :)"

"There is a small, shady front yard that I have yet to tackle and then a strip of dirt that runs the length of the house and is only about 10 feet deep. I foolishly assumed that it would be a snap to transform this long narrow patch into something more desirable but boy was I wrong. I have been at it every weekend for a few months and it is finally starting to look like a yard! That side of the house gets a good amount of sun all day so I chose California natives that were suited for lots of sun and little water. There are many penstemons, monkey flowers, a manzanita bush that should someday reach 8 ft high, some douglas irises and a few others. 

Nothing edible besides my little potted herb garden and the raggedy tomato plants that out tenants put in. I also have some succulents  (Like these maybe... hmmm...)

in pots and in a weird little dirt patch that is closed in by the driveway and some left over cement steps to nowhere. 

By next spring it should really look like something. If I get to the front yard before summer really kicks in I will send along some pictures of that as well. Since the side yard is so long and narrow it does not photograph very well but I made a little collage of the plants and also a before and after. The before picture was taken before we closed escrow while I was waiting for the realtor, home inspector, and AJ to crawl back out from under the house. No way was I going under there. The after picture is from this morning. Hugs and kisses to your whole gang and I love the blog!"

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