Ratatouille Made with Love!

Tonight Bob made ratatouille for me from garden fresh tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, green peppers, onions and flat leaf parsley and thyme from our herb garden. Ratatouille takes some time to make and so you can feel the love that someone (Bob) has put into this special dish. Basically you peel two medium eggplant and slice it up and cut up two medium zucchini to look basically the same as your eggplant. Toss the vegetables into a bowl (non metal) and salt. Let stand 30 or so minutes. This leeches out the bitterness of the eggplant and some of the liquid out of the zucchini. Then you cut up one large yellow onion into thin, small slices. Slice up two bell peppers. Peel two large tomatoes. Cut out the stems and squeeze out the seeds and some of the juice. Slice the tomato into strips. Chop up some flat leaf parsley and some thyme, especially if you have an herb garden like we do! Drain your eggplant and zucchini and pat dry. Heat up one T of olive oil and cook your e

Mulberry Hill Bed and Breakfast

(This is my room!) This past week I was in training to be a leader for our school's B.I.S.T. team in Kansas City. I stayed at a delightful bed and breakfast called Mulberry Hill. Roy and Pat spoiled me rotten. Every night at 8:30 one of them knocked on my door with a delicious homemade dessert. I was treated to fudge brownies and ice cream, key lime tarts, white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, chocolate chip cookies and ice cream and strawberry shortcake. Breakfast was a dream! I had quiche and spinach crepes one day, a true farmer's breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage biscuits and gravy,a custom omelet, and teeny belgian waffles! mmmm. It was so nice to have someone come in and clean up after me by making my bed and cleaning the tub. True luxury! The best part: it was on the district tab! And, it was cheaper than the hotels around the area!! To learn more about this delightful place, go here: Mulberry Hill !

Introducing Adam....

Karen's first baby! We are so in love with our great nieces and nephews! You have met Kassie and Tristan.... and Janie and Alex, too, now meet Adam!

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All I can say about this picture is: A. I was driving through Moberly when I saw it. B. I was going to meet my new nephew Adam. C. I thought of Karen when I saw it. D. Made Bob slow down so I could get a picture of it. In hindsight, I think I was plotting a way to get rid of Karen so that I could get my hands on that beautiful baby!

Niemeier Reunion

Last Saturday was the reunion of Bob's mom's brothers and sisters and their families. Bob's mom, Irene, is the oldest of seven, I believe! It was held in Wien, Missouri, which was the former home of Steffes Store (for over 100 years) and St. Mary's of the Angels Catholic Church. Bob and I were married at this church in Wien, 31 years ago! I don't remember this, but Irene's mother, Margaret, apparently embroidered the patches on this quilt and had it quilted by her daughter, Dianne, who passed away recently. The quilt was brought out and updated by having everyone sign it. You see Bob and Terri on this quilt and can see that Ashley Brooke was added and now, Eric Hasty! Karen, my niece, is signing her husband's name and her newborn son, Adam's name. She also updated David's crew and added Susan's husband. So now we are complete!

Zucchini Pasta Toss

I love Ree at Pioneer Woman. I love how she writes, I love how she loves her kids and her man. I love how she cooks. I was recently inspired by this dish to create one of my own using zucchini, which our garden spits out by the gallons. Check out the original version here: Farfalle with Zucchini Here's my version... 8 oz of pasta 1 15 oz can crushed tomatoes 1 zucchini, coarse chopped 1/2 onion, medium dice 3 T olive oil 1/2 chicken broth salt pepper fresh herbs: I used dill and basil Put your pasta on to boil. Prep your veggies and herbs. Heat up the olive oil in a large skillet. Make sure the oil is smoking hot so that the zucchini cooks fast, but gets a good char on it. Remove the zucchini and brown up the onion. When the onion is soft, add chicken broth and deglaze the pan. Then add the tomatoes and zucchini and herbs, stir together. Ladle in the pasta, getting some of the pasta water into the sauce. Stir together. Serve. Sprinkle with fres

Shelter Adoptions

Perfect dog? No... that one ear keeps flopping back and he barks a lot... but can you see the tail wagging in the picture? It is a little bit blurry! We recently adopted Truman from the Columbia Humane Society. I wanted to report to you on his progress because I know a lot of folks are skeptical when it comes to adopting a dog. Truman had a horrible beginning, with an owner who thought she could neuter the dogs herself (and botched it up, according to the vets). That alone gives him a lot to be upset about! He is such a delight! He is funny and cute and so entertaining! We bought him a long skinny toy that I call "Ernie" that he drags around and chews on. He loves treats and has learned that Bob is the "treat man!" Has it all been perfect? No, he's a year old and not housebroken. He's trying really hard, in fact, tattles on himself when he tinkles or poops in the house (he stands by it and barks until one of us comes over, then looks terribly

Jina Yoo's

Yesterday Bob, Ashley, our friend Ashley and I had lunch at a sushi restaurant in Columbia called Jina Yoo's . It was so good and so much fun. My favorite was called Lemon Drop, which is salmon, cream cheese, and other goodies with thin slices of lemon on top. Ashley is pictured with Sin City, which has crab and fried lotus root. Yummo! Do you like sushi?

An award and a few nominees!

Becky K at Hospitality Lane awarded me this sweet award for inspiring her to blog! She is such a fabulous writer and has such good advice for all of us. If you don't visit her yet, check it out! Here are the rules for the award: The rules for receiving this award are: 1) Put the logo on your blog 2) Add a link to the person who awarded you. 3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs. 4) Add links to those blogs on yours. 5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs. I would like to nominate: 1. Kristen at Scrappin My Bliss . Kristen and I have actually met and I know that she is an authentic person. She writes like she is and that is a very wonderful thing! 2. Staci at Podunkian Post Gazette . Staci is a hoot to read. Check her out yourself! 3. Tina at Sunny Flower Days Tina has a remarkable vest for life. Her latest post on friends is beautiful! 4. Robyn at Happy House of Haas We have been friends for a long time... her latest post is absolutely takin her

Truman is adorable!

Truman is so quickly becoming part of our home... as I am blogging he is sitting at my feet fast asleep. We took him with us to see if he would travel well and he does... except he must get a little nervous because he didn't eat or drink much at all. We are in the potty training business right now and that is such a difficult task to do with an abused dog. Any scolding makes him shiver down to his bones. Bob takes a much more assertive manner with him and I bet I make it even more difficult when I am too loving... got to find a middle ground! Just in case you were wondering... Truman does ride in a carrier in the car... we were just seeing how well he'd like to be in a car. He doesn't like his carrier much but he seemed fine in it in the car. Don't you love that he's small enough for Ashley's purse? That probably won't happen again as long as he isn't potty trained, though!

Mom's 70th birthday!

Several of you might know that my mom celebrated her 70th birthday! My sister drove in from Kansas and I drove in from mid-Missouri to surprise my mom with lunch out with her girls! She chose to go to China Gardens, which is a fun Chinese buffet. When we walked in, who did we see but my mother and father-in-law! We had a nice chat with them as well! Then my cousin LeighAnn came in and I had to catch up with her a bit. Mom got two fortunes in her cookie... we think that means extra good luck! Ashley and Eric got to come as well which is always a delight!

Introducing.....

Truman! We have adopted a dog from the Central Humane Society who was rescued from a puppy mill in Kirksville. He is a Cavachon, which is a hybrid dog of a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and a Bischon Frise. He is delightful, perky, bouncy, energetic, loves to play and is so incredibly charming. Bustopher, our devil cat, doesn't like him but that is no surprise to any of us who know him! He's pictured with his big sis Ashley, who is delighted to have another brother (Bustopher is her other brother) to play with. Truman seems totally taken with Ashley, too. His birthday is June 26, 2007!

Daisy Delight

There is a local restaurant that we discovered when we moved to Jefferson City in 1994 that was very close to our new home. It is called Daisy Delight and of course, the name appealed to our then third grade daughter. Yesterday Ashley had time to have lunch with Bob and me and guess where she wanted to go? Yep, Daisy Delight! It had been some time since Ashley and I had been there since we moved from the Eastland house almost six years ago! Daisy Delight serves good American food as you will be able to see for yourself. We had a great time! To learn more about this local favorite, click here... Daisy Delight

July Gardens

Here are a couple of pictures from the backyard... Usually at this time of the year the gardens are burnt and withered, but we have had so much rain that the gardens look ok, for the most part....

I'd like to introduce....

...my friend, Kristen, who has a delightful blog that you would all love to see! Kristen and I have known each other for a long time, first meeting on the Gooseberry Patch chat area and then in real life in 2006 when Bob and I traveled to Boston, Portsmouth and some parts of Maine. The pictures of the sailboats in my blog title are from this vacation! Kristen is the administrator for a chat group I belong to called Girls Like Us (GLU for short). It is tough being the administrator for the group of us outspoken, wild, autumn-crazed girls but Kristen keeps firm but loving reigns on all of us! All the girls in the photograph belong to GLU! Kristen is crazy mad about her husband and her beagle. She can scrapbook and do altered art (what IS that????) like no one's business and has attended scrapbook workshops and conventions with her mom (who is a complete hoot). I always feel so blessed when I get a little something from Kristen in the mail! Please go and visit Kristen at her

Super Easy Cake!

I saw this recipe in a magazine and had to try it! Easy Cake 1 box of any flavor cake mix 1 12 oz can diet soda, any flavor Mix the two ingredients, spray pan with Pam and pour batter into pan. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Top with cool whip! Think of the possibilities! Lemon cake with orange soda... carrot cake with orange soda... vanilla cake with strawberry soda... this is gonna be fun!

Happy Fourth of July!

I am taking part of Kari and Kijsa's Flag Parade! Enjoy the flags in my blog title and the flags on Ashley's tshirt!