Playing in the Garden...

Sunday was such a beautiful day here in Ohio. Sunny with a little breeze and temperatures in the low 70s. Spending time soaking up some Vitamin D and working on my garden and with my flowers seemed like the perfect plan. 

My garden is 15' x 40'. This year I planted a few varieties of onions, peppers and tomatoes. Along with cucumbers, a zucchini plant, a couple rows of beans and peas and some Yukon gold potatoes. Things are starting to come in nicely.  Added some metal lattes for the cucumbers to cling to. Even though they are bush I want to keep them contained a little bit.

 

We have added some grape vines. My in-laws are from Croatia and grow beautiful grapes. And make delicious wine 😉 Super excited to see how they do.

Our house came with a built in fountain. The water to it still  works but time has done a number on the concrete. For a few years I have wanted to grow sunflowers in it. They are my favorite flower. I cleaned out the outer ring (thinking about some blue crystals with epoxy going in there), added some manure to the center and planted my seeds. 🌻 We have added a few chestnut and plum trees. 

 

These salmon and yellow flowers flanking my office are just beautiful. 

The hydrangea started as a gift from my Aunt and just thrive in this flower bed. They have tripled in size. I added a second one last year along with the hosta.

I think God was pleased with my efforts today and blessed me with this gorgeous evening sky.

 

Shawshank...

So how many of you have seen Shawshank Redemption? You know, the movie about a prison starring Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins. If you aren't familiar with it hop over here and take a peek.

The movie was filmed in Mansfield Ohio at The Ohio State Reformatory. The Reformatory has a fascinating history dating back to 1861. The grounds it would be built on, beginning in 1886, has been used as a training camp for Civil War Soldiers. In September of 1896 the doors were opened to the first 150 inmates. Who were put to work on the sewer system and completion of the 25-foot wall surrounding the complex. It remained fully operational until December of 1990 when it was closed via federal court order brought on my a class action suit citing overcrowding and inhumane conditions. 

   

In 1995 the prison was turned into a museum and The Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society was formed to raise funds for restoration. One of the events held every year is The Shawshank Hustle. It's a 7k running/walking race that goes past 5 film locations from the movie.  Included in our race fee is a tour of the prison. I can tell you that those cells are soooo small and the cat-walks are scary. *note - not a fan of heights. 

The race is fun, full of all the fanfare you would expect. The medals are amazing, there are various photo props/opportunities and the race director dresses as the warden and runs the race in a full suit.  

                                                                

Chicken wranglin'...

I have owned chickens for years and thoroughly enjoy them. Unfortunately, at also means an ongoing struggle with predators. Namely, raccoons!

We built a hen house with a chain link chicken yard, in which they are safe. I like to let them free-range during the day and lock them back up at night. Early spring they began to migrate to roosting in the barn at night. This is not a safe location! Long story short my beautiful flock of 6 ducks and 30+ chickens quickly was reduced to no ducks, one rooster and 5 hens.

Thankfully Sylvia has survived. She is a beautiful silver Araucana who lays green eggs. The only way we would keep the remaining chickens alive was to get them roosting back in the secure hen house. Which would require catching them and keeping them "locked up" for a week or so to retrain them.

I have found the easiest way to capture them is with a fishing net. My first attempt was Sylvia but while I was trying to get her out of the net Mr. Roo came to her rescue. Which quickly prompted me to bring hubby in to help. We were able to capture all of them and they are now safely locked up.

While we didn't get any pictures my barn cam captured a couple funny videos. When you watch keep an eye on Mr. Roo, he is the giant black chicken.

My New Toy...

I have owned an original Cricut for many many years. And while I love it, the allure of the new bright shiny Cricut Explore Air 2 was more than I could handle.

I tinkered around for a little while. Made a quick card and personalized my favorite coffee mug.

I can't wait to spend more time creating fun things.

Peach Crisp...

Oh how I love creating in the kitchen. And as y'all know I love to improvise!  So to be clear the title should be Peach MANGO Crisp

I sliced up 6 or 7 peaches and a mango. Added 1/4 cup of sugar, 2 Tblsp. of flour (for thickening), juice of a lemon (to keep peaches from turning brown), 1/2 tsp. of vanilla, salt and cinnamon. Let it sit for 20 minutes to pull some of the juice from the fruit.

In a separate bowl, blend the following together with a fork, pastry blender or your hands. 

1/2 cup each flour, old-fashioned rolled oats and brown sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon, nutmeg and salt

1/3 cup cold butter, diced into small pieces

Pour peaches into a baking dish and top with the rolled oat mixture. 

Bake at 375° for about 30 minutes. Delicious served alone, with ice cream or fresh whipped cream.

I Can Do Hard Things...

Saturday I participated in a unique triathlon, the Headwaters Adventure Race. In place of the traditional swimming, we kayaked! It had been advertised on Facebook and thought "what the heck, that sounds like fun".  It was! I loaded up my kayak (which is still a challenge) and bicycle and headed out at 6am.

The first leg was running, which is my usual go-to for cardio. I was excited about my finish time of 20:57 for two miles. Still working towards a 10 minute mile, but making progress.

Next up was the cycling. That proved to be more challenging. MUCH more challenging. There were A LOT of hills and 10 miles a looong way on a bicyle. HaHa!

At about mile 3, as I began to push my bike up a hill to allow my heart rate to come down and catch my breath, I wondered how I was going to ever make it. Closing in on mile 7 I actually said to myself "Yes! You CAN do hard things"!

The cycling was the biggest challenge for me. The hills and being on the road, I'm used to the local bike trail. It was such a beautiful ride though and I felt very comfortable on the country roads. Only one part was on a busy highway and it had a wide burm. I did my best to get a little video to show the scenery, a GoPro might be a good investment LOL.

The final leg was kayaking down the Upper Cuyahoga River for 5 miles. Oh how I wish I could have taken some pictures. It was beautiful! It twists and turns and was so serene with the singing birds.

I was calculating how long I thought it would take me and figured about 2 and a half hours. But, being my first time I told myself if I could finish under 3 hours I would be satisfied. My overall completion time was 2 hours, 37 minutes and 58 seconds!! I am so proud of myself and will be doing this next year! Perhaps I can get my time under 2:30!

Creme De Mints

The first time we had this "cookie" was at my Aunt (in-law) Zora's. She is from Croatia and our son fell in love with it.  At our daughters wedding we had them on the cookie table and a dear friend of mine said she would like them for her son's graduation party. Well any excuse I have to bake, I am on it!

There are three layers to this bar cookie. The base layer is kind of like a thin cake. The middle layer is the minty part. And the crowning jewel is the thin layer of milk chocolate.

Note - as we work through the recipe you must understand I am a dump and throw kinda cook and use a recipe as a guideline. While I try to follow the portions and ingredients sometimes you have to improvise.

The base layer is pretty basic. You beat together 1/2 cup butter (remember this is an old recipe "oleo") and 1 cup of granulated sugar. Next blend in 4 eggs. Lastly, add 1 cup of all-purpose flour, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. vanilla and 1 pound of Hershey's chocolate syrup. 

*Hershey's no longer sells their 1# cans but the bottles contain the same syrup so you will need 16 ounces. This is one of the places I improvised. The bottle I had was 24 oz but I was making a double batch. So while it was a little shy on chocolate syrup there were no complains or leftovers.

Pour the cake mixture into a 9 x 13 pan and bake for 25-30 minutes at 350° F. 

*Again, improvisation...I greased my pan. Original recipe says ungreased.

Once your cake is baked and cooled. Beat together 1/2 cup butter, 2 cups of powdered sugar and 2 Tblsp. creme de menthe. Usually found with the liquors in your grocery store or at a state liquor store. Spread the mixture over the cake and refrigerate until firm.

The last step is to melt 6 oz of semi-sweet chocolate chips with 6 Tblsp of butter. You can do this on the stove top or in the microwave. I did it in the microwave for 30 seconds then would mix it, then another 30 seconds. Once your butter melts you can continue to stir and it will melt the chips.  Spread this over chilled cake immediately. And pop it back in the frig to firm up.

When you're ready to cut it, take it out of the refrigerator and allow to sit at room temperature for at least a half an hour. In the picture below you will see I trimmed the edges to get nice straight lines. You don't have to do this...it was for a graduation party and I wanted it to look nice. **Plus my son got to have all the edges.

I cut mine into approximately 1" squares. If you keep paper towels handy and wipe your knife in between each cut you get cleaner edges. 

 I hope you enjoy this bar cookie...something a little different but VERY tasty.