TGIF Chatter!

Walking Margarita --- yet another example of your incredible gift, Deb, of coming up with perfect suggestions!  Did you see my post yesterday suggesting that you collect these into a book?  I'm telling you, the photos and the recipes would attract many a buyer! 

Paige, that bracelet sounds like a beautiful gift.  It'll be something your friend will treasure always.  What a special way to keep Mayday close to her each day.

Jan, that's the trouble with vacations -- they END, and you have to try to get back to normal life, which is always hard (probably worse after going to a tropical paradise like Belize).  I love the toenails -- so pretty!  How fun for summer.  I'd like to try that, but I can barely get a solid color painted on neatly when I do them myself!  I'm looking forward to more photos since I'm not on FB either.

This has been a hectic, tiring week with too much going on at home and at work, a couple extremely late nights, etc.  And I just found out that my SIL and BIL are arriving on Sunday for 4 days.  Things are in disarray all over the house because of painting, tiling, and carpeting projects in progress.  Oh well -- they'll have a clean bed to sleep in, but other than that, I won't be doing any Martha Stewart hosting impressions!

Julie or Jan, can one of you post that picture of the 4 of you where you wrote idog 2012 in the sand? The folks who don't have FB would probably love that one the most. I sure did.

I am barely able to paint my toes a solid color too, so anything that intricate would be impossible. Very cute though.

That recipe looked yummy!! DH bought a watermelon recently and it was the best we'd had all summer. I'm going to try to pick out another good one this weekend while they're on sale. In my perfect dream world, we'd have good watermelon all year long.

tacran

Did you see my post yesterday suggesting that you collect these into a book? 

Thanks, Tracy.  I could never do a book though, because most of the cocktails that I post on here are not my recipes.  Some have been around forever and some are new, but they're not my original creations.  I just get creative in matching the cocktail with the situation at hand and if nothing works, vodka on the rocks is always a good choice !!!!

Deb W.

cakana

In my perfect dream world, we'd have good watermelon all year long.

This reminded me...yesterday I went to the Farmer's Market at lunch to grab up some fresh local veggies. One vendor had bananas and avocados. WTH? Last I checked, neither of those grow locally. Another had red bell peppers that still had the stickers from Meijer (grocery store) on them.

sharismom

This reminded me...yesterday I went to the Farmer's Market at lunch to grab up some fresh local veggies. One vendor had bananas and avocados. WTH? Last I checked, neither of those grow locally. Another had red bell peppers that still had the stickers from Meijer (grocery store) on them.

That's actually a big scam going on around here too.  People buying stuff from the grocery store and passing them off as organic, locally-grown fruits and veggies so they can jack the prices up sky-high.  That's why I'm always wary of buying at a lot of these so-called "Farmer's Markets".

Deb W.

iluvjamison

sharismom

This reminded me...yesterday I went to the Farmer's Market at lunch to grab up some fresh local veggies. One vendor had bananas and avocados. WTH? Last I checked, neither of those grow locally. Another had red bell peppers that still had the stickers from Meijer (grocery store) on them.

 

That's actually a big scam going on around here too.  People buying stuff from the grocery store and passing them off as organic, locally-grown fruits and veggies so they can jack the prices up sky-high.  That's why I'm always wary of buying at a lot of these so-called "Farmer's Markets".

 

Deb W.

I never thought about it but I can see how that could happen. It's such a shame that you can't even trust that you're helping a local farmer vs. some yahoo trying to make a buck. My nephew-in-law works for a place where they run an education pgm about sustainable farming and they sell free-range eggs from their chickens at the local farmers market. I asked him much they charge and he said a dozen eggs was about $8. This is in Silicon Valley where people have a lot of money, but still, who would pay that??

 Wow that's awful about the farmer's markets and makes me a wary.  That's terrible!

cakana

It's such a shame that you can't even trust that you're helping a local farmer vs. some yahoo trying to make a buck.

Yeah, and the two vendors with the stuff that wasn't local - Amish folks. Not kidding.

The two Farmer's Market we go to require, and confirm by visiting the vendors' locations, that all the vendors are within 150 miles and grow or produce what they sell.  It's the main reason I like them so much. :) There are other markets around but they're more like the rip off types that resell produce they buy elsewhere.

Busy, busy at work today.  I don't feel like I've gotten much accomplished even though I've been constantly working and busy (except when I check in here, lol).  Phone calls seem to take up so much of my day and keep me from getting the paperwork done.  I did manage to pay some bills and took them to the post office.  Our regular postman is on vacation and the mail here has been very random.  I'm glad most of our customers now pay with direct deposit, otherwise who knows when or if some payments would arrive.

glenmar

And this, the farmers market scams, would be why I'd rather just grow my own stuff. 

Ya' know, Glenda, some of us don't have the space or time; some have a brown thumb. And, if one is single and lives pretty much alone, a garden can produce too much food that goes to waste (we don't all can). I don't really enjoy gardening thanks to my years spent weeding the half acre every summer as a kid. One or two plants, I can handle; more than that, not so much. In my case, it pays to know the product, be a savvy shopper, and get to know one or two of the farmers who actually offer local seasonal stuff and stick with them.

 My thumb is black lol.  I kill most plants.  There's a small veggie market that I know is local stuff (since it's sold right on the same land they grow it!) but now I'm wondering about the bigger markets that have multiple vendors....

I've decided I'm going to try out those walking margaritas Deb posted and will report back on Monday how they came out!  Oh this will be a fun weekend....

sharismom

 some of us don't have the space or time; some have a brown thumb. And, if one is single and lives pretty much alone, a garden can produce too much food that goes to waste (we don't all can). I don't really enjoy gardening.

Luckily, our next door neighbor has a lovely vegetable garden, and he regularly shares its bounty.  Yesterday he handed me 2 zucchini and 1 yellow squash over the fence.  My favorite is the various kinds of lettuces he has in the late winter/early spring. 

This valley is a gardener's paradise, so we have amazing local produce sold in the grocery stores, in little stands all around town, and in 2 farmer's markets available on Wednesdays and Saturdays.  The vendors we buy from are farms that have been in the surrounding area for a long time.  My friend's job puts her in touch with lots of local farmers (she specializes in things like water quality and alternative energy sources), so she knows who the good sources are -- not just for fruits and veggies, but for humanely raised chicken, beef, etc.

Glenda, if you love gardening, you should consider living in this area some day.  You can garden year-round; something is always growing, blooming, attracting birds, etc.  There's no such thing as putting your gardening tools away for the winter!  You just need a raincoat while you're out there! 

I didn't mean to offend anyone.  I just said that I love to grow my own stuff.  And I truly do.  The only canning I do is tomatoes, and occassionally a few pickles.  Do have to get some pickle relish put up soon.  Everything else goes in the deep freeze.  "Playing in the dirt" as I call it, feeds my soul, brings me peace and all sorts of good stuff.  Between the garden and my job, and my family, I've managed to stay remotely sane since we lost Mike.  Pulling weeds, turning soil, etc, gives me a place to take my anger at the senselessness of Mike's death out on something that isn't going to fight back.  The nurturing, etc, is probably a misplaced missing having my son to nurture and fuss over.  In many ways, this year especially, the garden has been my salvation and the balm that soothes the jagged edges.

So again, my apologies to those I offended.

If you're worried about where the farmers' market produce is coming from, try a local CSA (community sustained agriculture)--the food will all be grown produced on the farm that hosts the CSA. You buy a share (or something similar) and each week you receive a box of fresh food from the garden. Depending on the CSA, you may get to go "shopping" for your produce from the produce available that week or they pack the box for you. Some also offer eggs and other produce. (Here on the island, we just take our extras to our senior citizens and others who might not have a garden--rather old school but it works. They get fresh veggies and we get to visit for a bit.)

Back later--I need to go make Deb's watermelon "drink". That look amazing, though tequila and I don't get along too well any more.