Tomato-Basil Salad

While scrolling through pintrist this evening I ran across a salad someone had posted and remembered I love caprese and eat them 3 seasons, they are easy, tasty & pretty.  This post is about one in particular that I have only made once, but will for sure do again as it was very unique to the eye and taste.
  
I was planning a dinner for girlfriends, on a warm late summer day.   I love making tomato, mozzarella, basil (caprese) salads.    So I went shopping, making a stop at a new Trader Joe's in KC,  I wandered through the produce section looking for the tomato piles.    There to my amazement was a bin of brown tomatoes.   I have never heard of them before, so naturally I had to pick up a package.  The looked very different, I would say more of a dark green than brown.  I was just too curious about the taste and I thought they would look very pretty with red & yellow tomatoes in the salad. 

 I was very excited to cut them open and what a difference there was on the inside.... not very appealing actually, but would still provide great color for the salad and the size was perfect to be put together with the red & yellow tomatoes I had purchased.  I withheld judgement still till the end...

I made the salad using red tomato, yellow tomato, brown tomato, LOTS of fresh basil that I had clipped fresh that day.   Sprinkled with capers & Kosher salt then drizzled with grapefruit balsamic & blood orange olive oil.       The flavor of the brown tomato is even milder than the yellow, almost bland, however with mixed in the salad it was a nice mix.

The result was very very tasty & nothing short of beautiful..so I had to share here.

Plain Ole Vanilla

1 1/2 years ago I retired.  Since that time, I have ventured into several new projects in my kitchen.   Having much time on my hands, I have been baking significantly more over this last year.    With that my vanilla supply is quickly dwindling.   For years I have had family members that would spend their winters in South Texas and with those annual trips, they also became my vanilla supplier.  This last year, however; my mother forgot the vanilla and now I find myself at risk of having to buy a tiny bottle from the local grocer for big bucks as opposed to the larger quantity of that coming from the trips to Mexico.    Considering my situation I was faced with 4 options.  1) hope mom did not forget me this year.  2) take a trip from Kansas City to Mexico myself to purchase my vanilla. 3) buy vanilla extract from the grocery store.  4) make my own. 

I quickly ruled out options 1-3 and decided now was the time for me to another learning project.  I should be able to go about 3 months with my current supply, so time was on my side to begin this endeavor.   My latest project is making my own vanilla extract.   

I begin with lots of research, the Internet is such a wonderful tool for the DIY person.   You have the opinion of hundreds all at the tip of your fingers.   You can read, compare, confirm the good, bad & ugly experiences of others both novice & experts.   

I discovered this process requires not any vanilla bean, but "extract" grade beans, or grade B beans.    The ugly ones, not the premium beans.  Funny one of the most used and favored nectars is made up of an uglier line of pod.   Found the right price for quantity on Amazon & placed my order.  

I wanted my vanilla to be plenty rich and in my research the recipes were anywhere from 3-8 beans per cup of liquid(vodka).   My vanilla, must be a stronger flavor, so I put in 10 beans per cup.

Such a simple process...
Dark sterilized bottle with tight fitting lid  (a dark wine bottle is a good option) this will be the steep bottle
grade B extract grade vanilla beans
70-80 proof vodka (any brand...but all research advised that 70-80 proof is better than the higher proof vodka).
smaller 1 - 1 1/2 cup dark bottle steralised(like a beer bottle with swing lid) this will be your using bottle

Place the beans in the steeping bottle, fill with vodka & tighten lid.
Place the bottle in a cool dark room, or closet.    For the first week shake a few minutes each day, then every few days give the bottle a shake.  After about a month, just shake the bottle about once a week.  

Your vanilla will be ready to use after about 2-3 months, however if you can let it sit up to 6 months will give your a better product.

Once you are ready to use your vanilla---
 cover the opening of the steeping bottle with cheese cloth
pour through a funnel to fill your using bottle with vanilla.   This will keep sediment out of the vanilla you will be using to bake, and will also keep the vanilla in the steeping bottle.  
Take more vodka and top off the steeping bottle return to dark corner to steep till ready to refill your using bottle.   

You can top of the steeping bottle for years to come.   If down the road(years) you feel your vanilla needs more strength then you can purchase more beans to add to the steep bottlem byt according to my research findings, you can use off the same bottle for as many as 30 years by just topping off the vodka.    I started my vanilla in a clear jar so I could see the process for the first week, then I changed it over to a wine bottle that will be my steeping bottle.    I am just now almost 1 month into the process so it will be a bit longer b4 I will know if I have the product I am expecting.    I now sit anxiously and wait, but I do have the pics posted below of the first few days.   

This is an easy project, and I find now that I have more time I truly enjoy making as much as I can from scratch instead of buying pre processed, this will make great gifts and it is always a good feeling to give or use something that I have created.

day 2

Day 4

The Table

Things had settled somewhat since my retirement,  I had taken time to do absolutely nothing and I was now  ready to move on into some home projects.  First on the agenda was the new dining room set. 

It started November 29, 2010.  I had just come home from a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with the family in Mtn. Grove & Springfield.  I love being retired, my holidays can now all be 2 week events and I am not worried about wasting "vacation" time.

My old set was just that...OLD.   I purchased the table at a garage sale about 15-16 years ago.  Even then it was quite old, easily identified by the design to be a circa 1972-74.   Butcher block top, with square metal legs in a pea green.  The chairs were metal also in the pea green with back & seats in the same shade of corduroy.    But it was in good shape and I could not pass on the $15.00 sticker.  I got rid of the chairs and found 4 bistro style chairs for $4.00, purchased some pretty upholstery fabric for the seats, grabbed the paint brush and ended up with a pretty little yellow dinette set.   Even up to Nov. 2010 it was very nice looking and not dated.  

   I spent a couple of months shopping online for styles and prices.  I looked at inventories from all major retailers as well as the online only retailers.   I found THE set, and the best price for the item was from an online retailer.   The day came that it was time to order the set.   November 29,1010, I place the order by phone as I had questions about their delivery process.   That ended up being a good decision the order rep gave me a bit of a discount.   The original delivery date was to be 12/13.    3 days later I get an email advising the ship date  had been pushed out to ship by 1-7-2011.   I was ok with this change, I had no plans to entertain at my home over Christmas.     1-7-2011 came & went and no calls or correspondence about the delivery, so I called the retailer and was advised the item had shipped on 1-7-2011.   Delivered 1-13-2011, 4 pretty large boxes carried up to my dining room.   I open the boxes and let them sit for 1 1/2 days to acclimate to the house temp.  Seems I had heard that should be done with wooden items.    Then the next 2 days I spent piecing together the 4 chairs.  This was a painful process since the tool used was a tiny allen wrench.   That can be very hard on the fingers when trying to make sure you have everything tightened.    I had torn down the boxes that held 2 chairs, the table and the pedestal and put them all in the remaining chair box, I needed the room and had the chairs all together now so wanted to start getting rid of unnecessary items.   To assemble the table I had called in help from friends that had the strength to make sure the table was together and sturdy.....then began the ordeal.    The pedestal was fine, however, the 4 legs coming off it all had some very seriously big cracks and would not hold up at all over time. 



Bad legs



So I contact the retailer the next morning and tell them of the situation.  They respond quickly with a couple of options.  1.  Receive a 30% credit and I can go have the item repaired  2.  Return the item for full refund.  3.   Return & have replaced.     I asked if they could send only the legs, after all the pedestal & legs were in their own box, so I was happy to just have a new pedestal & legs.    

As requested the retailer sent a new set of pedestal & legs only, the delivery for set 2 was 2 weeks later.   Well what are the odds....these too had cracks, 3 of the 4 legs were cracked.     Not as badly cracked as the first set but I was still in the same situation.   I again contacted the retailer, and again they were very quick to respond and advised they would be sending a 3rd set of legs, we are now at mid February.   The retailer also said they would advise the shipper to be more careful.   Now more than a month from initial delivery, I still do not have a table, I was ready to ship the whole set back and get a full refund, however, I had already cut up the boxes and now I was going to have to find boxes large enough for a table & chairs.   I had notified the retailer that the problem was with the construction, not the delivery company, and they were sending a 3rd set of legs.  

Stress began to set in to the point I was losing sleep one Friday night.   Then I decided I would contact the retailer Monday morning and if the 30% refund was still on the table I would take it.  I needed something moved along and closed.   Sunday I get a call from a great friend asking if they needed to come help me with the table, to box for refund, I told them I had decided I was just taking the refund and would do what I needed for the table.   We visited a bit, I hung up the phone, got on my computer to check my email.  There in my inbox an answer to prayer.  An email from the retailer.  This email contained an offer, instead of 30% credit, they offered me 40% credit & the 3rd set of legs.   I quickly responded with "I'll take it".  The 3rd set came, again, only 1 leg had no splits.  In the end out of 12 legs, I was able to get 2 with no splits at all and 2 with just very small splits.  Things were surely looking up.  What sweet relief, this was now a closed issue with the retailer & I could now move on to getting a table, whether it be a repair on what I had or to start hitting the 2n hand stores for one to paint/stain and I received a larger credit than anticipated.  

During all this process, I spent a lot of time contemplating what I could do to get a table in my dining room.... my mind kept saying If I only had someone that could weld a strip around each leg to brace it...  OH wait...I do know a welder, so I get on the phone and make the call.   3 weeks later, I HAVE A TABLE!    No, I don't just have a table I have a beautiful CUSTOM table.  



The black band around the leg where it joins the pedestal is the beautiful fix.



I made sure that during the process I would not be impatient, short or rude in any way to the retailer.  I tried to always be gracious and grateful to the retailer in all the dealings.    Grant it, I was stressed, and it was tiring to have projects "put on hold" and was not a FUN time; however, the end product is much stronger and sturdier than the original, I absolutely love the looks of the table after the fix.   It is much more finished looking  and of course now I have a one of a kind table.  The retailer was quick to apply the credit, and the 40% was given off the list price.  

Patience is hard on us at times for sure, but I consider this whole episode a gift from God.   It is rewarding to go through the stress knowing I remained peaceful in dealings and now have the blessing of a higher quality end product at a much lower cost.   With this handled, I was able to move on and complete the rest of my furniture purchases.   

Today I sit here and see a dining room I want to spend time in now.  I am thankful and hoping that I will always see all day to day life happenings as a gift.

We cant always control what happens to us, but we can control how we deal with life and how we deal does definitely affect our life and relationships.

The set

 

I am back

Well it has been a bit since I last posted.   Since I am new to this, not sure how much I will actually write.  The last couple of weeks have been hectic..and very cold & snowy.  Over the last 3 weeks, we have had 3 very large snow storms here.  The smallest amount of snow received at my home was the first snow which was right around 6 inches of snow.  Snow 2 came in at 8 inches here at my house and snow 3 came in 9-10 inches.   Snows 1 & 2 were very dry, and going out the next morning to clean the drive was not too bad, they were sunny days, no wind, so it was a pretty venture in not totally miserable conditions.   Not that I like shoveling snow, but I hate worse to be in a position of being snowed in.   I can usually do a pretty good cleaning of my drive in 30 minutes or a little less.   Snow 2 took the full 30 and because there was still snow piled on the sides from snow 1, I did not do the whole width of the drive.   But I cleared it so that the sun would hit the concrete and melt any bits I left behind.   I figure I am to clear most so nature can do it's job and completely clean the whole drive.   However it has been so cold that here we are a week after snow 3 and there is still snow piled along the drive and my yard is covered in several inches of snow.    Needless to say we have had cold temps and little sun.  

Snow 3 was Tuesday February 1, the BLIZZARD of 2011, one of the largest (geographically) blizzards in something like 30  years.  From north Tx all across the midwest up to the NE seaboard.  This day is also an even greater day, to me anyway.  February 1, my birthday.  The day my folks were blessed, I say loosely, with a daughter.  The day I was truly blessed by being born to a set of parents I would not trade for the world.   Life is good, bad & ugly, but it is such a wonderful experience when you have parents, grandparents extended family that is as great as what I have been given.  I can never express enough gratitude to God and my family, all of them, Parents, Grands,siblings, in laws, steps, Aunts, Uncles, cousins, every single one.    I truly love them all more than I can fathom.    Because of this I can sit at home, THANK YOU LORD for retirement...doing nothing at all but having coffee, watching tv & watching the beautiful snow fall (Blizzard 2011) on my birthday and not be bummed that I am not out doing something to celebrate.    Besides, Life in itself is a celebration, all the little things in every day are a gift, and when life tosses out a dirty hard, ball of ice, there is still a gift hidden in there when we let God catch it for us.

I have been asked about my table saga, and it is still going on.  Steps have been made, but I will give the full story once I am able to sit at my table and post the info.    But that story is evidence of the hidden gifts from God.

Next on the agenda,  Taxes and dental work.   I know, more fun than one can ask for huh.    But everything is a gift in some way. 

This week, pretty low key,  I will be cooking a corn beef that I corned...fun experiment.  I also have to make lasagna for a lunch on Sunday.   I will also likely be watching more snow fall this afternoon as another wave of snow is predicted.   It is so beautiful, especially when viewed from the warmth of your home.

Til next time...

Is there a light somewhere??

I have only had 2nd hand tables & chairs.  My current set was I'm guessing circa 1973, the table top was light butcher block with pea soup green square legs & same color corduroy chairs.   I purchased the set for 15.00 at a garage sale in about 1993.  In 1996, I pitched the chairs and found some cute bistro chars at a garage sale for 4.00 (for the set)   I grabbed the paint brush, purchased some fabric and the butcher block & pea green was erased.  I now had a very cute yellow table & chairs with new seat cushions in a beautifully Waverley plaid fabric.  

But all things must come to an end and now that 2010 was the time I had gone through a major life change, I decided my relationship with this table was over & it was time for us both to move on to new adventures in life. 

I made the decision & began the planning and shopping (online) around April or so.  I looked at hundreds of sets, read hundreds and hundreds of reviews.  I found a set I absolutely loved...I was so excited.  I had decided once things settled a bit I would place the order.   11/29/2010 was the day; I first thought I would order online, but I had a question about delivery so I called.  The lady on the other end of the phone was very nice & helpful.  All questions answered & the order was placed.   She even gave me an additional discount, everything was perfect!  The ship date was 12/7/10 and it should be delivered by 12/13/2010.  Delivery before Christmas and NY, wonderful, I had planned a NY day party and what fun to have a new dining set.  The gal that was taking my old table & chairs was going to come get the old set before Christmas....  I was so excited  a beautiful new table & chairs for my dining room.  Everything was falling in to place perfect.

Within days of placing the order, I received an email notification of a new ship date of  1/7/2011.   I was kind of bummed, but I did not have plans for people in my home over Christmas, so that was fine, I did not need the set before the Christmas/NY holiday.   The gal that was taking my table could wait till after NY no biggie, or I could use a little camping table.  It would work out fine.  

I called on Jan 9, 2011 to see if the table had been shipped because I had not received a tracking email as I was advised would be sent.   I received a call & email confirmation, item shipped.  Again I was excited, a new dining set...woo hoooooo.   Jan 14 2011, table delivered!   more excitement.   

Because the weather was extremely cold, I opened all the boxes and let the items acclimate to the house temps for a couple of days.  I then spent Friday & Saturday putting the chairs together.   LOTS of bolts to tighten with a tiny allen wrench...not fund days.   Then it came to getting the pedestal & legs together, however that did not happen.  The pedestal has 4 arched legs, that are the total support for the table, the actual pedestal does not touch the floor.   I say this because...every single leg had at least 2 cracks in them.   Rendering the table worthless.   I called the company, they asked if I wanted a refund or just partial refund and I could find someone to fix.  I asked if they could ship a new pedestal & legs, those items came boxed together, so I figured that one box could be resent.   It was, I received some time this afternoon, delivered by Fed Ex.  So I pack the box in and anxiously open it, unwrapping the end of the legs, to check for cracks.  To my dismay, every single leg is cracked.   I have now sent a not to the company asking for a full refund and let me know what needs to be done for refund & return.....   I sure hope this is not a hassle to get my money back.  Hopefully the biggest pain of this will be having to tear down these chairs.    Time will tell.

As for me now, I will get this settled, then I will be hitting the furniture stores.  I will purchase from a place that will deliver & set up the new, or I may check out the thrift stores first.  I have no problem recovering seat cushions if I can find a style of table & chair I like.

Everything's different in a day

Good morning, yest it is still morning, not by much in eastern time, but I am in central time and morning is any time before 12:00pm, which it still is even by eastern time standards.   I found myself thinking a lot about this blog yesterday.   How does one write without it being too obvious they have thought about it.  Isn't the whole purpose of this to be casual and express one's raw, unedited thoughts?   Hard to do when you have a million thoughts and/or memories circling in your brain.  A lot of memories of my childhood started running through.  Truth is,  my childhood memories are very random, not too detailed and dates are not at all a part of my memory.   As I write this, it is weird a a few strong memories immediately jump to the forefront and demand attention, so I will give it.  My Grandparents, all very instrumental in my life in very different ways.   Three of them died by the time I had reached the age of 20. 

Mom Lawson was the first to go, she died about 1965.  I was young but I do remember her, she was a treasure, I remember a very sweet caring grandmother, a little laid back a calm to the engaging circus Dad Lawson could be.   We called them Mom & Dad Lawson, not grandpa or grandma, and very definitely not by their first name.   I made that mistake one time in front of all the family and I do remember everyone laughing that I had called her Golda, but I thought it was such a pretty name.  All but one of her siblings had pretty names.   I made sure from that day on she was Mom Lawson, no matter how pretty Golda sounded to my ears.

Dad Lawson, my grandpa Lawson died about 1972 (I remember that because my cousin Aleta was still in school, and she is 3 years older than me.   Dad Lawson's personality is a book, a very entertaining book that can't share stage with any other stories.   He was a timeless treasure as far as grandpa's go.    

Next I recall my grandpa Chandler, he died in Nov. 1977.  I remember that because I had hurt myself on my job.  I worked at Tobin Hamilton shoe factory in Mansfield Missouri.  I went from boxing cut leather to send up the line, to a cutter which could be one of the better factory jobs.  Factory work is piece work, meaning every part of the shoe is assigned a price, and you were paid by what you produced based on that price and the quantity you put out in an hour.  In 1977 I was making $10.00 an hour, I know, Jan 2011 that is a poverty wage, however, that was a good wage in the day.    That career ended when I severely cut my thumb.  Now getting back to my grandpa Chandler.  I was hurt in Nov.  I had stitches & a guard over my hand and heavy duty pain pills.  My cousin Kaye & I had tickets to see the Beach Boys in concert in Springfield.  We went up a the day before the concert, and spent the night with a friend.  Late that night we received a call that my grandfather had died.   My mom told me to stay, enjoy the concert then come home,  there was nothing I could do that day.  So I did just that.  

Grandpa Chandler was an awesome man, he was probably the calmest man I will ever have known in my life.   I never saw him mad, even upset that I can recall.  He was a very handsome man, with a soft voice, beautiful blue eyes that shone and a comforting smile.   He was an animal person, he raised & sold rabbit hunting dogs (beagles).  People came from far corners of the US to buy a dog from my grandpa.   He loved to hunt & spend time with his dogs, he never had a desire to travel, and could always be found at home or hunting.    Grandpa also loved a good game of checkers or dominoes.   He was a very smart man and extremely talented when it came to strategy games such as checkers and dominoes.  Grandpa was color blind so right before the final crushing move on a game of checkers he would often have to ask if "that" (crushing blow)checker was red or black, and unless you lied, you just assisted in your own defeat.     Ah and you know the games that now sit on every table at Cracker Barrel..the golf tees in a triangle board, you have to jump down to just one tee; well grandpa Chandler did that every time for as long as I can remember ever seeing that game.   I  am lucky enough to have a small work desk that he made for me when I was 5, it is a priceless treasure.

My grandma Chandler died most recently (2004), like Dad Lawson, a story of her can't share stage, she was one of a kind, an artists and an awesome grandmother.   The traits I have received from her I affectionately call the Cleo gene.

I was so blessed with wonderful grandparents.  I am so proud, lucky & honored to have been born into their families.    Next to God our families are our greatest treasure.  

I guess my conversation has taken this turn due to events of the last few days.  I have a cousin dealing with the death of her spouse & and 2 high school mates dealing with the death of a sibling & husband.   Both are untimely, early deaths.   My heart goes out to the families of both men.  My prayer is that they continue to seek God for the peace & comfort that only he can give, and to always know that we have these wonderful memories to make us smile & feel the joy in what they gave during their time with us.   

Matthew 5:4  Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. (niv)

What's next...

Everyone seems to be blogging these days, so I have decided I would attempt this new way to journal.  My guess is this will be quite a challenge for me as I have never been much of one to journal.  Like many, I have gone through short phases of keeping a journal; the longest period maybe a year of inconsistent journalling.  I might have been better off starting this blog last year as it was quite an eventful year in my life in many ways good & bad, but I did not.  I am here now and life goes on, so I begin with the here & now.

It is another snowy morning in KC, not a heavy snow, just a light pretty coating, but layered over ice, so I did not venture out to church this morning.   Instead I sit here to try my hand at blogging; while watching a Hallmark movie & of course every so often I must click over to my Facebook page to play a game or check a status.   Oh, I cant forget that I also have brine cooling on the stove to make a corned beef, St. Pats is just around the corner.   I guess all of this could be a form of multitasking??   Shortly, I will add a load of laundry and doing dishes to my multitasking list.   Such is the life.  

Mine is not an exciting life, just simple, in fact not something most would not consider worth taking the time to blog.   This makes me ask why am I doing this?   Is it because so many others do, that is pretty lame.  Maybe I am searching for a deeper me?   Maybe I am bored, no can't be bored, too much to do to be bored.   Maybe this is just a bit of a creative outlet, or do I feel I need to learn more about myself and this is a tool to do just that?  Maybe I will figure out why I am doing thing as time goes.  Then again, maybe this will be my first & last time here.  In any event, I will be able to say yes, I have blogged.

Before closing this post, I will share with you the most important part of me & my life.   I am a Christian, I believe in Christ the son of God sent to live among us & die for us.  I believe in a daily relationship with God.  I know this relationship has walked me through life and provides peace & strength through all times good, bad & ugly.  I am so thankful for God's presence in my life and honored to be called a child of God.   I am a member of Pleasant Valley Baptist Church in Liberty, we are doing a year long program to read specific scripture called Red Letter year.  I will include in my blog some of the scripture for that day/week.  I also want to share a great website with anyone that may be reading this, Bible Gateway is a site that gives you almost any version of the Bible you want to use.   I highly suggest this site  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/ 

This week's memory verse:
Matthew 6:33  But Seek first his kingdom & his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (NIV)

I think I have said enough today, any more I will feel like I am rambling and I hear a multitask alert calling..