Is it too early for halloween?

Because I am ready to get spooky.

And these sites are inspiring the hell out of me.

First harvest

I'm finally getting some ripe summer veggies to enjoy.



The first ripe tomatoes are the Stupice variety, a small Czech tomato.



Japanese eggplants are coming in full force.



My Brandywines and San Marzanos are looking very nice.





I can't believe I grew these lovely zinnias from seed.



I see some delicious summer meals in our future.

Saturdaze

Dog days of summer



tiki awesomeness.



modern doors



And there is this, which makes me want to hug strangers:

Recharging the batteries

It has been a much needed and deserved weekend at the frog ranch house. Cooking has been sporadic lately due to a lack of time and energy. I managed to pull it together and make a kick ass dinner on Saturday night. We started with some chips and guacamole, using this recipe- which is oh-my-god yummy. I added red onions to the recipe, because you can never have have enough onions.



Seriously, is this food porn or what?



We worked our way up to a nice slow cooked dinner of baby back ribs slathered in barbeque sauce. Ribs were served with smashed potatoes, boiled then roasted and topped with salt, pepper and rosemary. Grilled corn coated in a compound butter of chili pepper and lime completed the dish. Recipes here, here and here.







Sunday, we spent the afternoon strolling around the Long Beach Flea Market. I am thrilled to see that it has grown larger in the past 6 months, and that there are so many people walking up and down the aisles. I managed to pick up a few things, including a black depression glass bowl for my Halloween collection, and a few pretty silver-plate platters. It is never too early to get ready for Halloween!!



We lunched at beachwood bbq. If you have not been here yet, go. Now. Seriously, right now.

The weekend ended with a very sweet and beautiful gift from my mother: a lovely set of the glassware- the same kind that is served at the Ritz Carlton. We went to the Ritz for mother's day tea, and I completely fell in love with their stemware. If I hadn't been carrying a clutch...



Luckily, now I have my own to cherish and enjoy! Thanks again mom, these are amazing.

All work and no play makes jack a dull frog

My posts have been infrequent recently, thanks to some insane work deadlines and a general feeling of exhaustion. I had a few posts started and never published, but I've decided to go ahead anyway and just finish them. I'll try and make up for lost time and post some lovely things I have seen and done recently.



The community garden is in full swing. In addition to all the wonderful corn, tomatoes, peppers and basil that is growing, there is an abundance of lovely flowers in bloom including sunflowers, dahlias, and zinnias.



Unfortunately there was a plague that swept through the garden and gave every one's squash a nasty disease. I came out to my plot to find a bright red flier attached to one of my tomato cages. The scarlet letter indicated that I had to rip out all my squash plants immediately, in order to ensure that the soil does not become diseased. I am learning that the community garden is the plant equivalent of a brothel. If there is something icky going around, everybody is most likely going to get it!



So no zucchini, no pumpkins and no spaghetti squash for now. I might replant some pumpkins, but I'm going to wait a few weeks to make sure this virus is gone for good. Luckily the tomatoes are healthy and looking good, as well as the rest of the garden crops. I am fascinated by the tomatillo plants. They look like little paper lanterns while they are growing:



In other news, work has recently taken me to San Luis Obispo. Had a wonderful solo meal at this lovely restaurant. On the way home, I stopped off a rest area just north of Santa Barbara and snapped a few photo with my Nikon:







It has been a busy few months, but I cannot complain.