new reading

Bought a couple new books today.... I need more books like I need a hole in the head! But next to dogs, books are my next weakness. Okay, chocolate is in there somewhere, but books, definitely, find their way into this house way too easily.

A trip to Costco today found the Barefoot Contessa's Family Style cookbook in my cart. I have most all her others and they're some of my most favorite recipes. They're simple to make and oh, so good. Tonight we're having prime rib and I thought I'd try her Parmesan Roasted Asparagus to go with it. Here's the recipe:


Parmesan Roasted Asparagus

asparagus, about 30 stalks
2 tbs olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 lemons cut in wedges, for serving

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. If the stalks of the asparagus are thick, peel the bottom half of each. Lay them in a single layer on a sheet pan and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 15-20 minutes until tender. Sprinkle with the Parmesan and return to the oven for another minute. Serve with lemon wedges.


This will be a perfect accompaniment with prime rib and oven roasted french fries!

The other book that found its way into the cart was Elizabeth Gilbert's eat pray love. The back cover says, "In her early thirties, Elizabeth Gilbert had everything a modern American woman was supposed to want--husband, country home, successful career--but instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she felt consumed by panic and confusion." This is "One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia." This book requires a good cup of tea and a soft, comfy chair. I think I'll start this book first.

Thanks for stopping by today. Hope you had a good day!

my attempt at vintage finds

As I visit all your blogs and drool over all the great flea markets that you go to and picture after picture of great finds, it makes me wish we lived down south so I could find such treasures as well. We do have quite a few garage sales in Juneau, but normally you won't find vintage items so guess I'll have to plan a trip to Texas or somewhere next summer! How fun would that be!

Saturday I had good intentions of visiting some garage sales but got involved in doing nothing that day.... As a last effort to feel like I accomplished something, ran to the consignment shop and found this cute little magazine holder for $10.99. It's not the same as going to a garage sale and finding it for $2.00!

Next door to the consignment shop is a used book store, Our Friends of the Library, and found these fine Gardening magazines tucked under one of the tables. What a find for only .50 each! Now.... I just need to find the time to look at them....

While looking in the gardening section, I also found this great book! I love love love vintage gardening books more than anything. And vintage cookbooks. And vintage bird books! This was published by the National Geographic Natural Science Library: The World in Your Garden, copyright 1957. Look at the pictures! I haven't had a chance to read it but it appears to be a story of which country our plants originated from. I can hardly wait to start reading it.

In case you haven't noticed, I'm not such an artsy crafty kinda person. I would like to be.... and I have done my share of arts and crafts projects over my life time, but then my eyes got bad and doing needlepoint and crochet was no longer so much fun looking through trifocals! But I still see art projects I want to do, drive to Joann's to get the project pieces, bring it all home, take it upstairs to my craft room (YES, I have a craft room!), and there it sits.... But arts and crafts is more of a fall and winter fun thing to do anyway. Our winters are so long and so dark that when spring and summer are here, we're outside as much as we can be, gardening, fishing, walking on the beach, picnicking. Anything to help us forget that another long winter is just around the corner. This time of year all I can think about is gardening. I love to garden and that's where my creative juices come into play.

I found this great website for yard art -- English Creek Gardens -- and can hardly wait to start shopping! I mean, look at this great apothecary jar and just imagine the uses for it!

Marbles.

Vintage buttons.

Crocheted cupcakes.

M&Ms.

Weathered beach glass.

Ribbons and lace.

Beads.

Lemons.

Cotton balls.

Well, you get my point. Anything will look great in this jar!

I hope you all had a safe Memorial Day weekend and did something fun to bring in the summer months. I worked, came home completely exhausted, sat down on the couch in my wet, dirty, stinky work clothes and promptly fell asleep. Today is my day off and I can hardly wait to see what the day has in store for us... besides rain.

a rainy day for reading

Today is a Fall day, pouring rain.... dark.... and dreary... a good day to stay inside and putter or read. But my body is too tired to actually do any work today, so I guess it's a reading day since my reading material has been piling up for months now to the point that it's getting out of hand. I've tried to toss catalogs as they've come in but have a new stack of them as well to browse through, attach post-it-notes to "must have's," and then toss knowing I'll never buy it. I've also bought a couple books that are sitting on the coffee table waiting for a day just like today.

I tend to buy too many magazines.... but always with the good intention of actually reading them. But it seems as far as I get is thumbing through them, looking at pictures, tearing out favorite pictures, and then recycling. And because I have some favorite magazines..... like Mary Englebreit, Cottage Living, Sunset, and a few others, I decided to subscribe to them this year for a cheaper habit. But as it turns out, the magazines show up in the stores earlier than I get them in the mail.... and.... yes, I BUY THEM!!! Knowing full well that my copy most likely WILL arrive in the mail shortly thereafter.... and now two of the same magazine sit on my coffee table....

I found a new magazine at the store last week--Flea Market Style. I've not actually thumbed through it yet, but I loved the cover and it looks promising!

Another one of my favorite magazines is Paula Deen. Don't you just love her? I usually try many of the recipes in each magazine and haven't been disappointed yet. They're simple and easy. Everyday cooking. I'm hoping to have a Garden Party some time this summer.... when the garden is in bloom.... all my projects are done.... when the sun is shining..... and all the stars in alignment! I might be asking for a little much to have all at the same time, but we'll see. But we've done so much in our yard the last couple years and I'm just dying to show it off. Most people don't go to this extent with their landscaping here in Juneau and I do love sharing my love for gardening with others who only wished they could. I've already got my menu picked out--right out of Paula Deen's magazine--so we're part way there.

Since I started working for Landscape Alaska, my love for gardening books has kicked back in full gear.... Here's some of the new gardening books I've bought recently. I'd love to have a secret room like the setting shown on the cover of Weekend Homes.... but it won't happen in Juneau. We simply don't have the climate or environment for it to be feasible.... Darn....

This is why I'm doing nothing today.... we finished hauling gravel and spreading the walkway yesterday and this is how big the gravel pile still is.... You don't know how badly I want this pile gone! I even woke up this morning and looked out the window in the hopes that someone came during the night and hauled it all off!!!! I'm not certain where I'm going to put the rest of this.... I'm hoping the kids need some.... or the neighbor.... I'm just thankful to get as much done as we did. I can't take all the credit though. Bucky, my son, and his fiancee Michelle stopped by and in about an hour's time hauled and spread more gravel than I would have been able to in three hours time.... I am so grateful for them. It felt like the Calvary had come in to save me! And all I wanted to do was cry, I was so thankful and so tired.... I don't know why I do this.... start such big projects that I know are over my head and more than my body can handle.... guess I'm just not ready to concede.... that I'm not so young anymore.... Too, any woman who loves to garden knows how strong the desire (?), need (?), and/or will (?) is to continue making little rooms, beautiful settings, and an enjoyable place to just escape and think how lucky and blessed you are to be able to still do this type of hard work. I am truly blessed and simply am not ready to give up!