That little snip of pineapple geranium in the picture from my last post is still thriving on my kitchen counter in a tumbler of water. I’m kind of hoping it hangs on, maybe sprouts a few roots, so I can plant it in my backyard and grow a pretty, aromatic plant of my very own. The tomatoes still linger and my mom encouraged me to try a simple tomato sandwich. I did last night, on sour dough bread, with a smear of that new olive oil mayo–very yummy.

I spent the week co-running the ‘Snack Shack’ at our church’s vacation bible school, whipping up snacks for some 175 kids. I will be glad to be through with that. Other things of interest in my life…I just finished reading the book I will be rave-reviewing for Barrie Summy’s Book Review Club next week. It’s weird how one book a month seems to float to the top just in time for its review. It’s…perfect. And, I made my coconut cream pie–it’s chilling in the fridge right now and it looks *yummy*. A picture is forthcoming…

Meanwhile, it’s been thundering for the past half hour, the house has darkened, and just a moment ago I heard a few sprinkles hitting the kitchen skylight. If it rains, it will be the first time that’s happened in the entire month of June. We need a break from the unrelenting temperatures and sheer brightness. An afternoon thunderstorm sounds simply divine.

Lately my Internet meandering has led me to various wedding, photography, and party planning sites, and I am AMAZED at all the possibilities for weddings these days. When my husband and I got engaged, we lived in Austin, but (and I’m not sure why) we decided to have the wedding in Houston. As I think of it now, it doesn’t even really make sense to me. And that’s about right–I was barely involved in my own wedding planning. I was out of town, and my MIL handled a lot of it. And then our reception site burned down and it didn’t even phase me. We got it all done and on a tiny little budget, but I don’t remember the ceremony or the reception having any kind of personality.

That’s had me thinking that I wish I had a chance to plan my own wedding again. But that’s not gonna happen, so I started thinking that I could plan a really fun party or picnic or get-together. But that’s not really my thing. And then I realized I’d really just rather be invited to one of those really cool parties and keep on with my blog surfing. And so we’ve come full circle.

Friday night I hopped in the car with every intention of going peach picking with a friend of mine. We’d planned on taking the kids, but not knowing what to expect at this orchard, we decided to go it alone the first time. Well we got sorta lost but we made it. Turns out the peaches were gone–over. The guy told me this, and I think my eyes bugged out. OVER?? I’ve barely had a good peach yet (they were California), and here they’re already over? Evidently they started mid-May. Who knew.

So no peaches and no blackberry picking Friday night, and the cantalopes weren’t ready yet. That left vegetables.

My friend was thrilled; me, not so much. Now I personally love vegetables, but I’m the only one in my family. So basically, once I get the coveted fresh veggies, I’m not so sure what to do with them. How many vine-ripened tomatoes can I actually eat??? I don’t have a spaghetti sauce recipe, and I’ve never made my own sauce (guess what–my family’s favorite is Ragu Traditional). Then there’s the bell peppers, the jalepenos, the tomatillos and yellow summer squash. While I loved seeing all those beautiful vegetables growing in carefully tended rows, I barely came home with any of them. Although, admittedly, the ones I did bring home have been delicious–tasting warmly of summer.

The pick-your-own herb garden was a lovely stop as well. The usual suspects were available, as well as some plants I’d never seen, cooked with, or even heard of…there was a whole section of the garden for scented geraniums: pineapple, passion fruit, and chocolate mint. There was lemon grass and bay leaves, spearment, and cilantro.

A bit of my haul…

And we enjoyed it all at twilight on a beautiful, breezy Texas evening, kid-free.
Simply lovely.

This is a year of ‘firsts’ in the kitchen for me…

first homemade pickles

first homemade strawberry jam

first attempt at cake pops a la Bakerella

first homemade yeast bread

And today! First time I’ve ever pierced the hard, hairy exterior of a fresh coconut. I say fresh. I mean ‘off-the-tree’ coconut. Because by the time my hammer and screwdriver combo infiltrated the little monster, my only reward was some grayish-vanilla looking coconut meat. I didn’t imagine that this was how the prize was supposed to look, but I tried a teeny bite of it anyway. Nasty, nasty, nasty! I’m cringing just thinking about it now. The whole thing got dumped in the trash, and then, of course, I had to soap down the hammer & screwdriver and sweep up the kitchen floor of all sharp coconut shell bits.

I will now be using the prepackaged coconut to make this coconut cream pie.
I don’t consider today’s project a failure. As Jerry Seinfeld put it, ‘Fruit is a gamble.’ I get that. I also get that the ready-made coconut is a LOT less effort. I’m pretty practical, and it’s likely that from now on, I’ll be sticking with the easy way.

On to new successes!