Cream Puffs

I made cream puffs for a book discussion I was hosting. The book was Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt. If you have read it then you know why I made cream puffs. If you haven't read it you should. I have read it four times. It's that good.
But my main problem that day was that I don't have a pasty filler in my collection of culinary tools. So I had to improvise.

I used a little medicine syringe.

And even though I had to concentrate so hard that my tongue stuck out, it worked great.

I chose chocolate, rather than chalk dust as the finishing touch.... Read the book.

Swimming by the light of the Full Moon

We went camping over Labor Day weekend. We were able to stay at the Tifie Boy Scout Camp near Mt. Pleasant, Utah. It is a beautiful new camp donated to the Boy Scouts by generous donors. To learn more about one of the charitable foundations click here. It was a fabulous weekend. But I only have pictures from the first night because I failed to charge my camera battery before we left. We had a night swim, which was pretty chilly. And this is the best picture I could get of the breathtaking view with my little old camera.

I Feel Empowered.

Is it weird that canning makes me feel empowered? In the past it has scared me to death. It's hot (I don't ever want a skin graft), and there is glass involved (I don't ever want stitches), and what if I feel botulism to my family (I don't ever want to do that, I can't even spell it)?
But this year, through the help of my friend Melissa, I have learned to be comfortable with the process.
So far we have canned (from left to right) Salsa, plum jam, and jalapeno jelly!

IT'S SO PRETTY! and YUMMY.

This one is for Becky and Whitney! (Oh, and Amy, she was a victim too.)

So, my somewhat tactful sister called me and told me of an amazing discovery she made in a book she got from her sister-in-law. The book is called The Cheapskate or something like that. I thought, Wow, Becky's sister-in-law really knows her well. She told me that if I put my dish rags in the sink with some water and vinegar, and let them soak for about an hour, and then ring them out, and throw them in the wash, then they would smell good again. I decided not to be insulted, since they really did stink and gave it a try. It really works!

Then, my poor sister-in-law had unfortunate luck and got a major whiff of my flip flops. The ones I've been wearing everyday, all summer long. Of course I wash them, but the results don't last. So I took the cheapskate tip and I soaked them in water and vinegar for about five hours. Then I threw them in the wash..... And Whitney, I am happy to report, no more stench!

I just recalled that my poor cousin Amy was assaulted by the same flip flops ealier this summer. Sorry to all who were exposed to my stinkyness!

By the way, my feet don't stink, just my flip flops do.

A Guest In My Kitchen

I guess this little farmer wanted a closer look at my tomatoes.

Where is his face?

Pests

One day I was out admiring the beautiful flowers.

I noticed some mouse poop on the side of my house. How did a mouse poop on the side of my house? I looked up, nothing. I looked down and noticed about 20 more similar poops caught in a spider web. Do we have flying mice?

Then I noticed that my iris leaves were looking pretty poor. Somethings been eating my iris leaves!

The poop and the chomp marks belong to a million bazillion grasshoppers that have invaded our neighborhood. They specifically like my yard. Sam has been given orders to catch as many of them as he can. He was up to 20 within an hour. One day he even had half the neighborhood on the job with him.

And today I found these beasties hiding out in one of our bushes. I wasn't brave enough to get a better picture. Some of their friends have taken up residence in our shed.

Where are those birds when I need them?

The bounty keeps coming.

So we made some fresh salsa.

Yum!