Another Greek Festival season over (finally)...

 

Paximadia (like Italian biscotti), kourambiedes (delightful cookies similar to wedding cookies), koulourakia (butter cookies), baklava, and at the far end which you can't see, is the tsoureki. 

Baklava cheesecake.

The big tent, where the dances take place, and people sit and eat, drink, and have a good time.

Saturday evening......I think we have beat all previous years for attendance.

Greek dancers of all ages....so cute!

The baking team have spent nearly every Tuesday and Thurday afternoons from July to the Thursday before the festival, baking all of the cookies, bread, and cheesecake.  This is the first year we purchased all of the baklava from a bakery.  

The festival was two full days and one half day.  We sold out of all of the baklava cheesecake, paximadia, bread and cookies.  The only reason we didn't sell out of baklava is the amount that was ordered was a tad bit over-done.  We still have 2 big freezers full of baklava. 

I worked all day on Friday, 5 hours on Saturday and 4 1/2 hours on Sunday.  By the time 3:30 rolled around on Sunday I was exhausted.  I don't know how the baking manager had the energy to spend all day each of those 3 days.  

It was fun, but I'm really glad it's done.  

The attendance broke records as far as we know, because they ran out of tickets on Sunday around 1:30, and had to "recycle" tickets.  Instead of money, people buy tickets and then purchase most things with them.  Some of the vendors accepted cash and credit cards.  So it was a successful festival, but I guarantee that everyone involved is relieved!

If you ever come to the balloon fiesta, come to the festival ~ good times!

Love, 365

Looking forward to pumpkin season!

 Yep, I'm one of those pumpkin fans ~ pumpkin spice coffee creamer, pumpkin butter, pumpkin bread, etc.  A few weeks ago we had pumpkin spice creamer at our after church luncheon.  Very popular except for a few people, who are disgusted by the very thought.  It's rather like cilantro.  Ya either love it or hate it.  For me, it tastes like soap and is truly disgusting.  

What do you think about the use of QR codes ~ for practically everything.  I like it when I'm forced to sign in again to a streaming service I've already signed in to (why, oh why?).  I'm annoyed when products I purchase equipment that comes without any printed pages on how to put it together and use it.  Yeah, yeah, I know it saves paper.  😛

Now that the mosquitoes have moved out, now we have an influx of flies.  So Romeo buys a fly trap to put outside.  But ever since he put it out there, I would get a wiff of something disgusting.  After a week, I determined the smell is coming from the fly trap and moved it so it would be away from the back door.  It does work though, there were a couple of inches of fly corpses in the bottle.  I moved the fly trap closer to our fence, so that our neighbors ~ who never pick up the dog shit in their yard ~ can enjoy the scent of decaying flies.  Bwa ha ha.  Who knows, maybe they won't even notice.

I have been so busy.  Working two afternoons a week at festival baking (which is almost over!!! YAY), baking bread for us and to give away.  Trying to make progress on the quilt for my youngest son.  I also need to sew a small dress for a doll that a friend asked me to do.  **Never have ever made doll clothes, so this ought to be fun.  Then house cleaning and laundry and keeping up with tending the garden (which I do enjoy, except for picking off those ugly tomato worms).  

Otherwise, all is moving along.  We're working on training our little terrorists to walk without pulling and to stop growling at dogs they don't like.  Oh, and to sit when people want to pet or give them treats.  It takes a lot of work to make sure they have manners!  They are so much fun though...I was laughing out loud at Zoē doing zoomies in the backyard.  She's so much fun and such a pain in the ass at the same time!  Lol

 

Have an excellent weekend!  

Love, 365

Fall is on it's way.....

 

Zoē taking a nap, which we were all doing in the hot part of the day.....

"Did you say we are going for a walk???"

At last our temps have fallen, we enjoyed a high of 76 F and that's a lot cooler than last week.  I know it will be hot again, but finally we can see an end to 98-100 degree temps soon.  

Whatever is going on with the weather, my garden is really growing.  The peach peppers have doubled their height, and although I see flowers, I haven't seen any baby peppers yet.  I sure hope I have a stellar harvest!  My giant marconi pepper probably will not produce a nice large peppers like the first one ~ which I stuffed with cheese and herbs and grilled.  I didn't plant it in a very good place (which I should have known the tomatoes would shade them too much).  They are super tasty peppers though, so I plan to do more of those next year.  

We'll be heading up to the mountains for a hike next week, although it's way to early for the aspen's to be golden.  We'll have to go up again when they do, because it's just spectacular.  I would really like to drive to New England and see the fall colors next year!  

In the meantime, I've been spending my afternoons watching all the drama in the US Open.  Some of the matches keep you on the edge of your seat!  Yesterday I watched Tu and Alcarez, and that was a great game.  

This past weekend I picked ~ for free ~ 6 lbs 14 oz of prickly pear fruit....and made two batches of jelly.  I plan to send some of these out to my kids for Christmas.  On Saturday I will pick up a bushel of Colorado peaches, and I will be making canned peaches, jam and jelly.  I've already had my canning warm up, haha. 

We're still baking for the Greek festival....we baked and boxed 800 kourambiedes (similar to a Mexican wedding cookie).  We have a few more days of those, which I hate because that powdered sugar goes everywhere.  It's such a mess!  They are delicious cookies though.  Luckily we will have this Thursday off since my friend who manages festival baking is off celebrating her anniversary.  

Other than the above mentioned stuff, that's all that is going on!  It's a pretty quiet life, which has it's benefits and negatives.  Great if quiet is your thing, negative if you want some adventure before we're too old to do said adventures.  

Love, 365

I am....the tomato worm hunter, bwa ha ha

 

There it is, my nemesis.  A teeny little tomato horn worm.  The "stick" in the foreground is a toothpick, but I had to zoom in so you could see the worm.  

Romeo bought me a small black light flashlight, and it works!  I go out with a regular flashlight (so that I don't accidentally step on a pile of dog poo ~ yes, I do clean every day, but sometimes I miss one) and the black light one.  The worms show up, along with every other insect.  They glow!  

Caution:  if you get one of these flashlights, don't use it in your house.  My word, that grossed me out, and convinced me that I need to paint a few places in my kitchen.  Peg, just don't or you'll be washing the walls and scrubbing everything.  Yikes.

Almost every morning, we take these two terriorists (get it? haha) on a walk.  Of course we get up early and get out between 7 ~ 7:30 am.  It has been too hot, temps in the high 90s.  I can hardly deal with the heat anymore.  I sweat buckets.  When my friend and I went to the Lavender Festival, the sweat was running down my face, but I noticed most over people didn't seem to be as hot as I was.  When do I reach the age where I'm cold all the time?  I have a friend at church who always has at least one sweater on.  

 

"The Hill"...this is looking on the downhill side, which thankfully is on the way back.  We call it the aerobic part of the walk.  Plus it has a sidewalk, so we don't have to worry about the stickers in the doggy paws.  This is only a small part of the walk, so they have plenty of other chances to hold up the paw for removal.  

Demitri popped up on my lap for some pets and scratchies.  

Zoē with her lamb chop toy, waiting for us to get ready for the morning walk.

A beautiful shot by one of my cousins of the dairy farm.  Kittens everywhere!  

Keep cool y'all!  

Love, 365

 

Oh, summer, you are starting to piss me off........

 

My cherry tomato plant is producing like mad.  They are smaller than grapes, but oh so tasty.  I have had a couple of fruits off my Celebrity, and the plants I grew from seed are putting on fruit as well.  I have been diligent in searching for tomato horn worms, and yesterday my black light flashlight came in, so I went out an hour after sunset ~ wow, that thing works really well.  It makes the insects glow, and although I didn't see a horn worm, I did see a katydid that I plucked off.  

But tomato horn worms are the grossest bug ever.  

My sister send me this meme after hearing my stories about finding, removing and killing these destructive insects.  Lol.

Demitri is now 2 years old...I baked him a cake (which he will generously share with his sister, Zoē) with carrots and peanut butter.  It has a peanut butter and yogurt frosting too.  Yeah, I do spoil them.  But just look at that face!  How can we not?

There is not much going on.  It's just so hot that we don't want to go anywhere.  The dogs get their walk every morning around 7:30am, and that pretty much does it except for house cleaning/tidying/dishes, etc.  I ignored my sourdough starter to the point that I ended up breaking into my dried stash to start anew.  I just don't want to turn on the oven, and I'm not brave enough to use the grill to bake in.  Luckily, Romeo is feeling energetic since he has mowed the lawn and is replacing the screen on the back door.  Zoē jumps on it, but there was already a small tear anyway.  I am going to the church hall at noon for festival baking.  Right now it's koulouria.  A butter cookie flavored with orange zest....yum.  

I hope all of you are doing your best to stay cool!

Love, 365

Colorado.....

 

I

I think I mentioned that we planned on ~ and went ~ to the Denver Botanical Gardens.  In the distance I see this colorful object....and as we approached it, I said "that's a Chihuly"!  Who else would construct this colorful and crazy plant bloom/spike/weirdness?  It was really beautiful.  I love his work.

The gardens are huge.  The Japanese section was beautiful and I took a ton of photos.

This one turned out strange looking....I don't know why the lily pads washed out, I guess because the sky was so blue.  The reflection of the clouds was disturbed by the ripples in the water.  The water was very dark, and I read that they put a food-safe black dye into the water to reduce algae ~ and as a side benefit, it made the reflection of the sky really pop.

I have to say, it was really hot that day, at 97.  I was hot and sweaty after that, and a bit dehydrated until I found a few water fountains.  It was fun though!  It's worth seeing if you're traveling through.

The Denver Orthodox Cathedral.  It's beautiful, and we had a great time at the enthronement!  I saw a few people I knew!  That was a surprise.

Our new Metropolitan Constantine....AXIOS!! 

The ceiling of a smaller chapel in the cathedral.  So beautiful!

I'll leave ya with this photo I took a few days ago.  These are lenticular clouds....it was early in the morning, which is why it's so dark.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Love, 365

It's a beautiful day......

 

The hollyhocks just keep growing.  They are beautiful, and I'm really enjoying them.  I have one early plant in my garden that I will transplant in the yard, but it won't flower for two years.  

I've been enjoying my gardening, and put in a new above ground planter a few days ago.  Today ~ after we walked the dogs for 3 miles ~ I put in the ground cloth and put the 3 bags of soil in it.  As it turns out, I will need two more bags.  I know I'm putting the peach peppers in it (I think it's the color of the pepper that gives it the name) but I haven't decided what else to put in.  Somethings will come to me!

At last my chives are coming up.  They took forever!  My strawberries are putting on blooms after a month long hiatus from the spring.  I put them in a self-watering planter, and they're doing good.  Maybe next year we can harvest enough to make jam, but so far we eat them as they ripen.....so good.  

Lol, I've been looking at sofa beds for my office and this add popped up for a "human dog bed".  I just think it's hilarious.  Could you imagine your guests sleeping in one of these?  Hmmmm....I don't think so.  

The painting continues.  I've put a couple of color patches on the walls, but I may need to get a couple more to check out.  My office hasn't been painted for over 12 years, so I think it's time for a refresher.

Friday I am going with 3 others to Denver to attend an event at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral on Saturday.  I've never been to a cathedral, nor have I ever seen a Metropolitan be enthroned (I know, that's an odd word for it).  We're also going to go to check out the botanical gardens.  I'm really looking forward to the trip, but not so much riding in someone else's car.  I'm worried about motion sickness, which I don't have a problem with if I drive.  I do have medication (meclizine) that I'll take if I decide not to drive.  

Well, I think it's time for a shower and a nap.  I love being retired!

Love, 365 

The garden and other stuff....

 

These hollyhocks came up from seeds 2 years ago.  Last year all it did was grow and fill out ~ no complaints here, it was green.  There were two plants that came up, one was near the yard so I put a tomato cage around it so it wouldn't get trampled or cut by the mower.  This year they've grown like crazy.  The one in the photo is nearing 6 feet tall!  The other plant isn't yet blooming, but it's getting ready.  It is so nice to have them since I don't have many more flowers.  I looked at Lowe's for marigolds, but I couldn't find any.  I thought that was crazy, as lots of people plant marigolds in their gardens.

My shishido pepper has a tiny pepper on it, the tomato has two small fruits on it, my jalepeno plants have tiny little fruit.  I think those peach peppers are finally sprouting, but I still am not sure.  The one thing I can't get to sprout is chives.  What the heck?  I thought they would be easy to start from seeds.  All in all I'm happy with the garden.  This year I also planted carrots, but I'm not sure how many we'll get.

Have a wonderful week....

Love, 365

It's about thyme....

 I have an herb garden, with parsley, lavender, dill, oregano, basil and thyme.  The thyme, oregano and thyme wintered pretty well and are doing their spring growth.  So, time to cut back a bit.  I've already got some oregano drying, and this morning I cut a lot of thyme off too.  I love cooking with fresh herbs, it really does make a difference.  

Last year I had a black swallowtail caterpillar on the dill, and it munched everything, leaving only a few sticks.  But I hoped it would grow back, but no.  So, sorry butterflies, I'm going to pluck you off the first time I see you!  Fresh dill is amazing.  You can eat someone else's dill, lol.   

Romeo is helping the "loaves and fishes" ministry today, so I have a rare morning alone.  They cook food for 300+ people ~ Greek chicken, green beans, potatoes.  They are also cooking for a low income school today.  The organizers come and pick everything up, so all they have to do it cook it all.  

What to do?  The usual I suppose!  Take the dogs for a walk and see what the day brings.

Oh, and I'm having a lot of trouble posting comments.  Sent a message to blogger...lets see if they respond.

Love, 365

It's Monday! hahahaha

 

Oh, how I used to envy the people I saw out walking with or without dogs on that first day of the week.  Now, I get to be one of those people!  I do love it.  Peg mentioned that the days go by faster during retirement, and I do agree.  At 8:30pm ~ when I notice it ~ I mention to Romeo, what the heck happened to the day????  

I painted the downstairs bathroom (it's a half bath, and fairly small).  When I bought the paint, I noticed that Lowes had these packets of scent you can add to the paint.  I figured, why not?  Well, I can tell you why not.  It mixes with the scent of paint and is awful.  I won't be doing that again.  I'm heading there today to buy some garden plants and some paint samples (remember when those were free???) because I'm tackling repainting the dark accent walls with a new color.  I also need to paint my office, and our bedroom, but just one room at a time, please.  Next time I'll enjoy the scent of plain ol' paint, which is a lot better than paint mixed with lavender.  

My hollyhocks are growing like crazy, and one has shot up at least 2 feet.  It has tons of blossoms on it ~ usually they have a large single spike, but I noticed there are flower buds on the main stem too.  The original color was white with a pink center.  These came up in the yard from seeds that blew around, but I honestly don't know if they will be the same or a different shade.  One of the plants is nearly as tall as I am (which isn't saying much, haha).  I'll post a photo when they bloom.

Now that Pascha is over (Orthodox Christian Easter), I've been working on some big cleaning jobs.  I cleaned the stove top...not a favorite job.  Then I remembered that I've been meaning to clean the vent hood, specifically the blower housing.  I estimate it has been at least 10 years since I've done it.  That was a big mistake.  It took two days to clean all of that sludgy grease.  I put a reminder in my calendar for next year because I'm determined not to go through that again.  Romeo was using a spinning scrub brush, so everything around the housing was splattered with that same gunk.  I coulda killed him.  :-)

I'm making pumpernickel sourdough today.  This is one of those breads that you don't put in the fridge for a cold rest before you bake it (I did that once, and it just didn't rise well, so was too dense).  So, if you don't get started early (8am) I'll be up late finishing it.  Most of the time I make pumpernickel for our Priest, as he loves it.  This time we're gonna try it.  I think it'll be great with ham and swiss.  Probably won't have it today though; the last time I made it I was baking at 8pm.  

Well, I guess I've bent your ear (or would that be your eyes, haha) long enough, and I need to get a few things done.  Have a great week!

Love, 365

Drivers just wanna be first........

 This is my signature meme for drivers, haha.  I remember drivers ed....we've seen the consequences on the highway and streets when people tailgate.  But mostly I become annoyed at those who just don't want to be behind anyone.  You see them, as I think this is a country ~ or maybe world-wide issue.  Someone slips right in front of you, causing you to slow down (or worse, put on the brakes because they did so they don't hit the person in front of them).  I look in my rear view, and there's no one behind me.  Arhg, that really burns my buns. 

I am busy this morning, have to bake 5 loaves of prosphoro for Sunday.  Tomorrow, we're baking 63 loaves of tsoureki to sell.  It's a delicious bread (although I like it with orange zest, and we're apparently not doing that).  Yesterday I drove all over running errands, partly to get the flour, eggs, etc for tomorrow.  I also had to go to a restaurant supply for sesame seeds, the only place that had a big container of them.  There's a Costco near by, so I figured I would go to that one, but recalling I planned to order contacts from Costco, I decided to go to back across to the one closest to us.  Dropped off a clothing and shoes donation, picked up my rx for my second uti this year, and went to get doggie shampoo.  Luckily dinner was leftovers.....

This vegan tortilla soup is soooo good.  Onion, garlic, chipotle chiles, veg broth, can of fire roasted tomatoes, a can of black beans, plenty of spices.  It is very spicy, which is just the way we like it.  It is blended with an immersion blender, which I like as I'm not a big fan of beans.  

Recipe: 1/2 tsp oil, 1 onion diced, 3-4 garlic cloves minced, 1 jalepeňo or 3-4 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, 400g dices tomatoes or use fresh, 3 Tbsp tomato past, 1 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp sea salt, 1/2 tsp tumeric, 1 Tbsp brown sugar, 1 Tsp balsamic vinegar, 2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce, 3 cups veg broth, 1/2 cup corn (fried, although I just use the grilled corn from last summer that I removed from the cob and froze), 15 oz black beans rinsed and drained, 1 avocado sliced or chopped, 1/2 cup plant based milk or more veg. broth.     

Heat oil in a large pot and saute onion, jalepeno, garlic over med. heat 3-4 min.  Add diced tomatoes, tomato paste, all condiments, the broth and plant based milk, and beans.  Stir to combine, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 15-20 min.  Blend until smooth with an immersion blender.  

They also put a recipe for homemade tortilla strips, but I just bought some.  Serve with the avocado slices and tortilla strips.    *****I used fire roasted tomatoes and chipotle chiles because I love lots of spicy flavor.  

Two loaves baked, and waiting on the next two to rise for shaping.  In the meantime there's lots of other chores to do!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Love, 365