Redirect

Hello readers!

I have changed my blog over to a new URL on blogger until I can make a total switch (one day) to a new platform.

If you've been reading along here I hope you'll follow me over to my new page: Peonies & Pistols.  It's all the same, just with a new URL!

So, please change your RSS feeds and bookmarks to reflect the new site.

Thanks for following!

Kim

A bird in the hand

Or, I should say, a bird in the house, which is what we had a couple days ago.

Todd I were sitting peacefully working at the dining room table when whoosh! a bird came swooping through the dining room!  It bumped its way around the chandelier and our heads before flying off to the sun room.

We took off after it, including Rigby who was very interested in the lil' guy.  We found the bird resting on a window and...

We didn't quite know what to do.  We didn't have anything handy to catch it with, you know, like a net, but Todd found an old towel that we thought might do.  He sneaked up behind the bird slooooowly and ever so gently wrapped the towel around it and headed outside.

Todd sat the bird on the stoop to let it recover and do its thing.  Poor guy, he was stressed!  He was panting and didn't have the energy to even pull himself upright...

Finally, after a couple minutes the bird got it together and sat up...

Rigby had been watching the scene with extreme interest.  In the sun room he stood on point, staring intently with nostrils flaring, as Todd approached the bird.  And he wouldn't go inside until the bird flew off, which it did moments later.

Stay tuned for the next animal intruder story.  I saw a mouse in our kitchen!

Picklefritz

What the heck is Picklefritz?

Well, after dating Todd for a while now and visiting Wisconsin a few times I am convinced Wisconsinites have a diet of mostly cheese, beer, and pickled foods.

Todd's not too picky and enjoys just about everything, and in true Wisconsin form he does love a pickled something or other, to the point that his grandparents used to call him Picklefritz.  

He really wants "us," a.k.a., me, to try canning, which I'm not opposed to and have always wanted to learn anyway.  His mom even gave me all her old canning stuff so I have no excuse but to get my can on.

So, over the weekend, I decided to try my hand at it.

I chose a quick pickling recipe I've had hidden away in my recipe books for a while now.  It's called quick pickling because it doesn't require the boiling of the jars and all that jazz.  You just throw it all together in a jar and let it sit in the fridge for a week and...like magic!...pickled...whatever you chose.

In this particular instance the recipe called for green beans, which we had in Old Fashioneds at his grandma's house last year.

It is super simple, too!  

The beans as they're getting snapped and thrown in the jars...

Beans swimming in spicy pickling juice.  This recipe calls for LOTS of garlic and some dried hot red chilis...

And Todd can't keep his hands out of them!  To really "pickle" they're supposed to sit for a week, but he keeps sneaking beans.  I have no confidence they will make it to the end of the week.  But I can see why.  This recipe is truly fantastic!  And, as I mentioned, amazingly simple!  

I highly recommend it!  You won't be disappointed.