TOP CHEF -- HERE I COME!!

IT'S SUMMER TIME...with summer food...all that goodness from the Garden. The other day, our supper was sweetcorn and onion rings. OH MY GOD...

I was so busy eating the food, I almost forgot to take a picture.

That is the last onion ring...and the other little pillows of deliciousness are my new invention...

These are onion pancakes.

Here's what happened. I made a quick batter for the onion rings:

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup
1 tsp baking powder
salt
1 egg
1/2 cup milk

It worked great -- the onion rings were light and crunchy...perfect.  But, after frying two or three pans of onion rings, I was bored...

Cleaning the kitchen, I realized there was quite a bit of the batter left, and I hated to waste it.  So, I coarsely chopped an onion and threw it into the batter.  I reheated the pan of oil, and dropped the batter into the hot oil.  I fried them -- making delicious little pillows of onion cakes...

It was like a cross between a hush puppy and an onion ring...

DELICIOUS...Really.  Somebody out to put this on a menu.  TOP CHEF, HERE I COME...

Project Runway, Week #1: Highs and Lows

If you haven't watched the show yet -- this post CONTAINS SPOILERS...

I basically agreed with the judges this week. Although, the guest judge didn't add much...(I can't even tell you who she was, and I care so little I'm not going to bother to find out)...

Here were the three lowest scores -- and they were thee layers of bad, that's for sure:

Blake -- He had a bright, colorful stained-glass paned looking fabric. It could have been a stunning choice. But he insisted on draping it in a very simplistic way, with huge folds of fabric wrapped around the models neck, creating a bulge on the left side. Then, he twisted a train to the back...and as if the high-low hem isn't bad enough -- he added a bright gold lining. This was bad. On many levels.

Hanmiao -- This young (Japanese?) woman is very set on her aesthetic, which is clearly all about the boxes. She chose a gold plaid fabric, and then paired it with some wrinkly, cheap looking solid gold fabric. She made two pieces -- a dress and a boxy long, sleeveless jacket. Except that the body of the thing was twice as wide as the model, so the arm opening ended up at the elbow. Wha?? I did not get anything about this ensemble. It had no fit, no shape, no color sense, no fun. Wow. it was awful. I would have sent her home...mostly because she stubbornly loved what she did. There is no hope for her -- trust me. But she was only saved by THIS GUY...

Duncan -- All the other designers seemed to think Duncan was going to do really well with his draped pink silk dress. But I thought it was a complete miss from beginning to end. It looked like one of those 1980's Austrian Balloon Curtains. The judges hated it, too. Duncan got the first
Auf Wiedersehen from Heidi, and he will not be missed. The most worrisome thing is that the other designers seemed to genuinely like this garment. Is that a very bad sign??

Madison Square Garden is full of fabrics -- and you go for the shinny salmon??  Bye bye Duncan...

THEN -- the three TOP SCORES:

Merline -- this woman COULD NOT STOP TALKING. In the workroom, I thought the other contestants were going to punch her out, or lock her inside a huge Samsung frig. She kept singing a little ditty, "Gotta make it work, gotta make it work.." And I had NO IDEA what she was going to make. She kept talking about her love of architecture...but there was no clue, until the very end, that she was even cutting pattern pieces. Which is why it was a complete shock when she sent her outfit down the runway. It was orange, structured....shockingly good. WHERE DID THAT COME FROM??

Ashley -- This is my girl. After she described herself as "fun, funky and fat" -- I was on her team. She is young, and not a bit confident...but I was already cheering for her. She ended up choosing fabrics that the other designers passed by on the bleachers. Then, back in the workroom, she did some creative trading to get what she needed. She used a graphic floral print fabric, with bold yellow flowers on a black and white background. She put box pleats in the long skirt forming a paperbag waistband. The white swiss eyelet fabric made a beautiful top with an interesting open back which was perfect.  SHE DID A GREAT JOB. I WAS SO PROUD OF MY BIG GIRL...GO ASHLEY...I AM CROSSING MY FINGERS -- SQUARELY ON TEAM ASHLEY...

The winning designer was ASHLEY...and she gets immunity for next week.

Edmond.  My other favorite designer.  He has tried out for the show EVERY YEAR.  Are you kidding me??  And, during Tim's critique, when Edmond was working on a boring black sheath dress, with wrinkly lime green inserts in the bodice...Tim delivered the best line of the episode, "this is the antithesis of joy".  Hey -- we've all been there, Tim Gunn!!

Blake listened to Tim, and started over.  He made a simple black sheath -- but with a snazzy train, lined with the lime green.  I was glad he didn't completely back off the neon color...and I thought his final dress was joyful.  I hope he gets a chance to show us what he can do.

PROJECT RUNWAY IS BACK -- SPOILERS...

PROJECT RUNWAY IS BACK..!!!  I am sooo excited. Awesome. GREAT to start a new season in AUGUST. Way to go, Lifetime~!!

First of all -- it is always interesting to see who the sponsors will be. Although Brother sewing has been hanging in there since the beginning -- this show has had more sponsors than the Republicans have presidential candidates.

This year, the hair is being done by the SALLY beauty studio, (I'm guessing a new emphasis on nail polish) and the Accessory wall is by JUST FAB.  I think it is disappointing that they can't hang onto sponsors.  But when the appliance companies and the yogurt makers start demanding product placement, the challenges do become overly challenging...

But -- the first challenge was straight-forward. Heidi and Tim were on the floor of Madison Square Garden -- and Mood Fabric had spread out many, many pieces of fabric all over the bleachers. The designers were supposed to choose four pieces -- and then, make anything they wanted to make.

But, if it's going to be a race up the bleachers to get the best fabric -- I am worried for my girl Ashley.

Ashley describes herself as "fun, funky and fat".  You've gotta love a girl who understands the benefit of alliteration!!

Here is my review of what was sent down the runway on Week One.  The judges said these TEN designers were neither high or low -- just good enough to advance.  I don't quite have their names down yet, but I watched the show twice so I could record my first impression:
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Amanda from Florida made a halter dress that had a print top, with a handkerchief hem blue bottom.  I must say this dress looked better on the website.  I thought she knew what she was doing. 

Laurie from Chicago. Her tight fitting red dress had a beautiful one shoulder top and it could have been amazing. But she let it go down the runway with an extremely high split on the right side. Yikes. As the model walked down the runway, I kept thinking I hope her underwear matches the dress...because IT WILL MATTER...

Swapnil, from India -- made a dress with a strappy woven top out of a print, and a plain blue bottom. It seems like this is his only trick -- as he showed two versions of the same thing in his audition. If he stays on the show, it will be like watching Rachael Ray cooking carbonara week after week after week...

Lindsey, a little blond girl, made a saucy short dress (or was it shorts?) out of a dull tiny print...it was completely forgettable, I had to watch the show twice before I could remember anything about what she made.

David made an oversize maxi dress WHICH I LOVED. It was a bright blue fabric on the left side, with a graphic brown and teal on the right side. GREAT eye for mixing prints, and I also appreciated that he had pockets, and slits on the side. AWESOME....

Joseph, the chubby guy who is COMPLETELY FULL OF HIMSELF managed to make a lavender pencil skirt, which he paired with a printed crop top...boring in every way.  I thought he talked a big game, but delivered mediocre.  He won't last long.

Kelly -- rocked it with her short dress. After her Tim critique of her black and green plaid fabric, she started completely over with a new fabric and I loved what she did. The top was different, with a crossover halter treatment.  The skirt was babydoll layers, with a solid color lining. It was the best recovery of the show.

Jake -- He had a gorgeous orange/yellow striped silk fabric. The fabric would have created dramatic pleats, but he chickened out, and the dress ended up being predictable....and the strapless-ness bothered me. (and, for what it's worth -- his dress made the MODEL look fat).

Gabrielle from New York, made a mid-calf gray dress, more suitable for TLC's Amish show. Even she hated it (which I thought was a good sign, actually).  Except Amish women wouldn't wear this dull dress because of the open, gaping back.  The only thing that saved her was the fact that three other designers were determined to make outfits that were EVEN WORSE THAN THIS...(tune in tomorrow)

Candice Cuoco -- the girl with the severe black haircut, and 9 year old daughter. (During her meet-the-designer interview, it looks like she lives in a mansion.  My guess is that she's married to a NFL star.)  She made a white pin striped sheath dress. She seemed to think adding a black peplum was a daring choice. Really? Have you EVER wanted to wear a peplum dress?

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Tomorrow, I'll review the other Six Designers -- (with the highest AND the LOWEST scores)...

So, then I did this...

Life is good. And busy. And fun. And creative. Most days, I wake up with a smile on my face -- so many things to do, people to see, projects to work on...I sometimes cross my fingers, thinking it just can't get any better than this.

And, then -- I bought a puppy. I knew nobody else in the house would think it was a good idea. So I just brought him home one day...without telling John....

Yikes.

What was I thinking? A puppy is EXACTLY like a newborn baby...they cry at night, and wake you up at 5:30 AM...ugh...and there is no question that you WILL BE cleaning up poop...

The big difference between puppies and babies is that you must take the puppies outside every 30 minutes to pee...

His name is Frankie.  And he is keeping me pretty busy...

so busy, my blogging could suffer!!  I'm trying to keep up, but I am sleep deprived...

John, Warren and Chickens and Eggs

40 years ago, we bought our first home in the country mostly because there was a nice chicken coop on the property. John has always enjoyed keeping chickens.

He likes everything about chickens. He likes feeding them, and collecting the eggs, then washing the eggs, sorting them, selling them, eating them...it is a very enjoyable hobby for him.

The egg on the left is an extra-large supermarket egg. The egg on the right is from one of John's chickens.

But, as much as he loved keeping chickens -- it got to be a lot of work. Last year, when the last chicken died (from old age) -- he decided to get out of the chicken/egg business.

Then, the bird flu happened. The price of eggs went soaring -- and John was reminded how much healthier it is to be eating YOUR OWN EGGS, from YOUR OWN CHICKENS...knowing exactly what they're being fed.

And then -- in the spring -- Warren started asking Grandpa about the chickens??

THAT was all it took!!

John was BACK IN THE CHICKEN BUSINESS...

John bought some brown chickens, to become his new layers. And some white chickens, to become fryers.

John tried to get Warren to pet one of the chicks...

But he was having none of that...

Every time he comes, he runs down to the chicken coop to see the chickens...

So ...what do you think?  Is Warren supplying John with motivation or inspiration?

Hummm... maybe they're the same thing.  And, either way, the result is the same, right??

The point is,  it's good to NEVER GIVE UP DOING THINGS YOU LOVE...

Summer Cooking

The garden is full of produce.  I've made pesto several times, and Linda and I got together one afternoon to put some in the freezer.

Tabbouleh salad is one of my go-to dishes. Altho we never ate this as kids, my Mom loved this dish, and I made it for her often.

Here is a link to Ina Garten's recipe, it's a good place to start...John eats it with grape leaves -- I prefer tortilla chips!

OF COURSE, THERE WILL BE SWEET CORN..!!

And we have homemade potato chips DOWN PAT, PEOPLE!!

Last Sunday, I spent the entire day in the kitchen. We never did have a sit down meal that day...but the food just kept coming, and we gnoshed all day long...

Here's what I cooked:

• A huge bowl of tabbouleh salad
• I boiled a dozen ears of sweet corn
• Some amazing onion rings
• I shredded some potatoes to make potato pancakes

All of this shucking, cooking, chopping, frying, boiling -- created a HUGE mess in the kitchen. But it also led to a discovery. I believe I'm going to make my fortune on this...the next big thing...and I cannot believe nobody else thought of it...

August and Gardens

August is the final month of the summer, so there's a push to do all the activities you THOUGHT you were going to do during June and July when the kids got out of school.

But it's hard to do anything, or go anywhere -- because your garden is holding you prisoner.

How can you leave when the tomatoes are FINALLY coming in? After all those months of patiently tending, and weeding, and watering -- YOU GET TO EAT BACON, LETTUCE AND TOMATO SANDWICHES...

Really.  Isn't this the reason you planted a garden in the first place?

Sometimes, I do a gourmet twist -- with a nice kaiser roll, (grilled in bacon grease...don't pretend your mouth isn't watering...)

And, OF COURSE -- the first BLT's must be paired with sweet corn.  AHHHHHH -- Heaven!!

Thankfully, the deer ate their fill of green beans and lettuce, so they decided to let us have the cabbage and the peppers. In August, John's baskets are full.

My sister Ronda and Dean take their garden so seriously -- they sell produce at the local Farmer's Market!

Lilly, not really interested in tomatoes -- but loving the idea of a marshmallow gun...

Because of the shoulder high weeds -- finding the garlic and potatoes is always the biggest scavenger hunt of the year.

And you would think we'd have a good understanding of all this....yet we always seem to be planning a trip in August.

When it comes to gardening -- just like most things, timing is everything...