Nail Stamping

One of my favorite gifts for Christmas was the 2012 Shany Nail Stamping Plates. I'll show you how it works in another post. I just got so excited I forgot to take picture of the process. So first I used a base coat, then two coats of "Lily" by Revlon. Make sure to let this completely cure or you run the risk of smearing or denting the polish when you get to the stamping part.

It was so pretty by itself I was temped to skip the stamps.

I went a bit crazy on the stamping on my right big toe but I think it turned out cute anyways. Much easier than trying to paint all those hearts by hand.

 

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January in Honolulu

I think that January may be my new favorite month of the year. The weather is just perfect right now. I have all the windows open and there is an amazingly strong breeze blowing through the area for the last couple of day. It feels like a perfect spring day minus the cold in the morning and evenings. I even put on some jeans, just for the fun of it. Below are some more up to date pictures of the garden (taken today). 

From left to right: Aloe in a small pot, baby lettuce behind the aloe, some green onions from the store, two ladders of cucumbers, one giant non-producing eggplant - he may need to go soon, lots of baby radishes in need of a good thinning, broccoli in the far back corner, spinach, a massively out of control tomato plant that has just been re-caged, a smaller tomato plant and more radishes.

Is that what I think it is! Yes, my first strawberry. Not quite ready to be picked. Hopefully the slugs won't find it before it's ready to be eaten - by me.

 A super close up of my baby lettuce. First time I've planted lettuce in the garden - so far so good.

 A strange twisted cucumber

Failed close up of the green onions. When I planted them the all but died and have only recently perked up. I even found a little flower thing growing in the middle of one. Hopefully these will help to detour some of the bad bugs.

Flowers I still need to plant....

 Strawberry runners I sniped and am attempting to save. Stupid slugs are killing me. Maybe I need a duck...

What in the heck is going on with my blueberry plant?

The leaves are all turning brown and falling off.

Sage showing some slight wear and tear. Not really sure how to use this in the kitchen so it has been just hanging out in the planter. Hasn't really grown much in a while.

I find these yellow leaves in the backyard all the time. They are so colorful and they feel like a thin silky leather. They take forever to dry up and start to break down so I tend to toss them over the fence. 

Veggie bake

I've been waning to make something like this for a while, and I must say that it exceeded my expectations. Started by browning some onions and garlic in butter. Then sliced my veggies (potatoes, eggplant, tomatoes, and zucchini) with a slicer - they are so handy, everything ends up the same thickness. I then put the browned onion into the bottom of a9x9 buttered baking dish and added the veggies. OCD kicked in and I had to make sure they were all the same. At least until the end when I started running out of items. Baked covered for 40ish minutes and then sprinkled with cheese. I used Parmesan, Romano, and some other kind I had sitting in the fridge but no longer remember the name. I used about 2 cups of cheese and baked uncovered (20ish minutes) until nice and golden/melted and bubbly. I think the cooking time all depends on how thick or thin the veggies were sliced up. In the future I will make sure to slice the potatoes thinner than everything else since they take longer to cook. Oh and I seasoned the veggies with thyme, oregano, salt, and pepper before baking it the first time. Pretty sure you could use whatever spices you like or have on hand. I also threw some quick rolls together (recipe said 30 min rolls - ended up more like 45). As you can see I had a slight problem with my math skills and some how manage to screw up the number of roll that should have filled the pan. Ended up with 11 but I was suppose to have 16. Next time.

Broccoli and cucumbers

Picked up a couple of broccoli and pickling cucumber plants. Paul likes the broccoli raw. Me, not so much - steamed and smothered in cheese is the way to go. Made a make shift tomato cage but I think we'll need to invest in something more sturdy soon.

Tomatoes

Our cherry tomato plant has finally started kicking out a few tomatoes on a daily basis. Here are the ones I picked today.

Steel Cut Oats and Scones

So I've been wanting to try some different kinds of oatmeal. I bought a small container of the steel cut oats and was totally surprised at what they look like. I've only ever bought the instant oatmeal. 

So of course I started making this when I was already starving; not realizing that it would take at lest half an hour. Turns out it took more like 45 minutes because I didn't want to scorch the milk. 

It tasted great - chewy with a nutty flavor. Bit too much milk so it ended up more like oatmeal cereal

Added a banana and some local honey. Steel cut oats are the way to go. Just have to make sure to plan ahead.

 

Light and Tender Cream Scones - well that's what the recipe called them. For me they were more like sweet heavy biscuits. Still good, just not what I was going for.

All doctored up with a bit of butter and honey.

Papaya

Papaya - pretty much the only new tropical fruit I like. I've tried a lot of new fruit but most of it tastes too florally. I'm only allowed to buy these every so often because I have a bad habit of letting them go bad. Same goes with Pineapple. But with Paul being away, I get to eat what I want! So far I've only let a couple of apple bananas go black, but the plan is to use them in some bread. So technically I haven't wasted any yet.

I've been playing around with my camera in manual mode to see if I can take some better pictures. I think these turned out nice compared to the ones I took in auto mode.

December in Hawaii

Living in Hawaii has given me plenty of new experiences. For example, I put the Christmas tree up and had the windows open because it was such a beautiful day. As a matter of a fact, I have the windows open again today. It feels perfect. Here is the tree minus the presents (presents take extra long to get here from the mainland).

Can you guess which stocking is Paul's?

As you may have noticed we have decided to skip the traditional candy canes this year since the girls won't be here to celebrate with us. Who really eats those things anyway? Not me, and definitely not Paul. Besides, I think all the antler ornaments make it look way cooler.

Hopefully, if I'm really lucky, I'll be able to retire this tree and score a new one at an after Christmas Sale. This one has see better years, but I think I paid $100 for it back in 2002 so I think I got my money's worth. 

Don't think I need to water today

So the garden/yard/stray kitties got a great soaking today. Good thing the garden is elevated. I love the rain.

Beets

So I love beets. I know, kinda weird, but they taste so good to me. While purging the garden the other day I pulled all the beets. Lesson learned: planting them way to close together means they didn't get very big. The leaves got big and tasted amazing.

just pulled from the garden 

only one was a decent size (and that's stretching it)

Leaves all cleaned up and soaking 

Didn't have time to take cooking pictures but what I did was roast the beets in the oven for a little over an hour and then peel and cut up. Then I cooked the beet greens by sauteing up some onions and garlic and tossing them in. Added some salt and pepper and let them wilt down. I then tossed the beets with some balsamic vinegar and put it on a plate. Went perfect with a glass of Arbor Mist Blackberry Merlot.