Of Produce and Progress

Oh my good gravy! It has been one crazy Summer! I shant bore you with slippery details. I'll just get straight to the Produce Aisle of today's post.

Welcome to the front/back-yard farmer's market! 

Oh I do think I need to come up with a fitting name for the new garden. Any thoughts? Lola's Retreat? Alex's Acres? NirvanaNova? No... it will come to me I'm sure. Oops, sidetracked there for a moment. 

That big Tom there took both hands to hold it. It was so big in fact, that when Pony Girl tried to bring it into the kitchen, it was far too bulky to handle and it leapt from her small hands and crashed with a squooshy thud on the floor. There was a moment of silence as we believed it was indeed a very sad end to a truly impressive tomato. Upon closer inspection we saw that despite a bit of bashing and bruising and breaking in half, there was still plenty of good tomato left to slice and eat with bread, basil and a drizzle of olive oil!

The Delicata squash is nearly there.

The figs are coming on gangbusters! My first attempt at drying a few in the dehydrator was a bit of a bust. Tonight's fig and sweet onion jam should have better results.

And the jelly cupboard is getting fuller by the week! I have discovered the joys of ginger cardamom pear butter!

Now that I have distracted you with the bounty of my garden, I shall move on to the Progress portion of this post.

Since last we chatted, we have acquired a dining table and chairs for the dining room. Previously loved of course. It is the very first proper dining table I have personally owned in all my life. As I am going on a few freckles past 44, this strikes me as quite a feat! Our extended family dinners are sure to be much more comfortable and sociable now that we can all eat at the same table.

A few of my knickknacks have shed their boxes and wrapping paper to make temporary camp on the shelves of the Aqua laundry room/wet bar. There is a little cocktail cart discreetly out of frame. 

This isn't pretty, but progress has definitely been made on my studio. We've been bashing down walls and exposing the brick, which incidentally is the name of my next album. Painting and lighting come next.

Progress was also made today on perfecting my Chai spice blend recipe. I am soooo close!

In that mug up there is one of my favorite things; Chocolate Chai Tea!

Well, that concludes the Produce and Progress report for today. Have a gorgeous weekend all!