Ripe

Willy Wonka: The strawberries taste like strawberries, and the snozzberries taste like snozzberries.

Veruca Salt: Snozzberries? Who ever heard of a snozzberry?

Willy Wonka: *We* are the music makers... and *we* are the dreamers of dreams.

My strawberry tower (sits right on my back deck) has actually been producing strawberries. First the white blossoms, and now lots of ripening berries. I am just a little excited about this because I never grew strawberries before.
These two were the first we ate just a day ago, and I took one last photo before I picked them. I was worried they wouldn't taste flavorful because of the lack of sunshine and excess of wet weather we have had, but they were tart-sweet.

June 7

May 30

Wordless Wednesday with wet moose and a cold one

Have been taking a little break from here...and will most likely continue to do so until...Friday?

Oops! Those are words....!

In the meantime, for your viewing (and listening) pleasure:

Summer Sunday Salad

Even though, according to the calendar it isn't really summer yet (not yet June 21), the fact that last night J and I sat outside by the outdoor fire, sipping Chardonnay and listening to the crickets (and had the doors and windows wide open so we could hear Billie Holiday, Al Green and Jamie Cullum tunes from the living room stereo speakers), and the fact that I made my black bean salad for the first time this past week, it certainly is feeling a lot like summer.
I love summer meals--so light and healthy, full of fresh ingredients like tomatoes and sweet red peppers, eaten outside.
This black bean salad recipe is a favorite. It can be doubled easily, and ingredients can be added or omitted. The lime juice dressing can be altered to taste, as well(adding cilantro or cumin for a more Southwestern flavor).

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Black Bean Salad

· 1 (19 ounce) can of black beans, thoroughly rinsed, and drained (or 1 1/2 cup of freshly cooked black beans)
· 1 1/2 cups frozen corn, defrosted (or 1 15 oz. can of corn, or fresh corn, parboiled, drained and cooled)
· 1 ripe avacado peeled, pitted, and cut into chunks
· 3 fresh plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
· 1 small red pepper, seeded, and diced

* 2 cups tortilla chips, broken into medium to large size pieces

· 1/4 lime juice (about the amount of juice from one lime)
· 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
· 1 to 2 teaspoons hot red pepper sauce(Tabasco or hot sauce of your choosing)
· Salt and pepper to taste


Directions
1. Combine beans, diced tomatoes, peppers, drained corn kernels and sliced avacado in a medium sized bowl.
2. To make dressing: in a small bowl, whisk together lime juice olive oil hot sauce, salt and pepper. Toss 1/4 cup of the dressing with the bean mixture and the broken tortilla chips.
3. Reserve rest of dressing to add at table if more is needed.

Also, this salad can be arranged on some fresh lettuce leaves and greens, with some grilled chicken slices added, for a nice summery meal (the extra dressing drizzled on the chicken is delicious)

Friday Fill-In with Fried Dough

I'm making up for the last week of no blogging with a second entry in one day. Thought I would use Janet's always inspiring Friday Fill-in for my second blog of the Donut Day.

Yes, I got my Allie's Donuts (delivered daily from their location in another town to the supermarket near where I work)this afternoon right after work.

Chocolate jimmie-covered for R, Boston Creme for J (but, I ate one half of it) and a simple sugar raised one for myself.

Now that I got my sugar and fried dough fix in, I won't have any urge to eat another donut for another few months. Hopefully....

1. I feel extremely lucky to have a safe and affordable_____ home.

2. My favorite thing for dinner lately has been _____ grilled Portabello mushrooms on rolls with roasted red pepper, some of my fresh greens, a little olive oil and garlic.

3. Whenever my dog sees the neighbor walking her Airedale, she goes crazy and all she does is_____ bark! bark! bark!

4. A nice long walk _____ with Jewel is one of my favorite things (and hers).

5. This week, my sister told me some_____ some good news (she has had some crap things happening in her life since last August).

6. When all is said and done, _____ the little things I worry about in the early morning hours usually turn out to be nothing I should have lost sleep over .

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _____ being a couch potato, tomorrow my plans include _____ house cleaning and Sunday, I want to _____ relax in the garden and read! Sounds pretty dull, doesn't it?

5 on the 5th-June Edition

Five Guilty Pleasures

1. eating Sour Cream and Onion ripple chips, dipped into sour cream (a b-a-a-a-d salty and creamy snack that I can eat too much of in one sitting when it is that certain time of the month)

2. downloading songs by Abba and Kelly Clarkson--and playing them LOUD in the car , yes, I'll admit it!

3. reading People and Us magazines in waiting rooms

4. buying yet another bottle of perfume. My two latest purchases--Escada's *Moon Sparkle*(so yummy smelling that it makes me want to bite myself, and yes, I do know I am probably too mature for this scent and should just pass it on to Rachel, but....) and Lagerfeld's *Sun Moon Stars*(incredibly beautiful scent and bottle!).

5. watching What Not To Wear or even Spongebob Squarepants. :-)

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Anyone care to share their own guilty pleasures? ;-)

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So, yes, I am back.(and more importantly, so is Conan!)

I still have some blogs to catch up on, and need to really get my act together and thank some friends for awards they decided to "give" me. I'll get there...

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I have been a happy hermit lately.

Content with my home and garden (and sniffing myself),

spending time with only those few people(and one canine) I really enjoy spending time with,

coming to the realization that I don't really know who my true friends are and being okay with that(for now--sometimes it does bother me),

and....

stressing just a little over a million little things about work (which is why I was up extra early this morning and decided to write a blog to clear my mind--so much on my mind I couldn't sleep).

Oh, and...Happy Donut Day!!!! ( I just might have to stop in at Dunkin D's and get me a raspberry jelly filled one on my way in to work later)