the remaking of a kitchen

friday evening is often gnome night, but we pre-empted and invited missy, cole and allie to our house for pizza. missy is the most frequent gnomish hostess, so it was only right! papa murphy did us proud and the weather was fabulous, so don, missy and i sat on the deck and visited for hours. very nice.

Labels: gnome night, missy, pizza

we had guests for lunch today. john and beth are in the area for a german polka festival in wisconsin and called the other day to see if we could get together. we decided that lunch was what was available and today was the day.
i got into cooking mode and made a greek orzo salad with shrimp courtesy of bon appetit by way of www.epicurious.com. it was really great.....lemon juice and zest, feta cheese, fresh dill (from the farmer's market by the basilica) a bit of oregano, salt and fresh ground pepper. we had sour dough rolls from tj's and i made a fresh blueberry pie. i made some butter bean hummus to serve with stacy's bare naked pita chips to nibble on until we sat down for lunch.
it was great to see beth and john.....beth has known me since i was born....she was a big kid, 3 years older and we have pictures to prove it. these were taken to add to the record of our long lasting friendship. my parents were the only non family guests at the wedding of her mom and dad. beth and i claim we have an inherited friendship!
missy called to say she'd love to have us come over for gnome night, so i brought the leftover hummus and chips. i don't always bring something; i don't always have snacks on hand so it was fun to bring them tonight. we got to meet bob, the new neighbor who just bought the house across from missy. the house would have been on the market for 2 full years the middle of this month. he had big plans for redoing the place, so that should be interesting. we also met pat who lives next to bob with her husband bill. don h. knew him as billy when b grew up with his mom and siblings in the house. marcie and dale and their kids were there too. it was a fun evening.
we have been enjoying fresh red and black raspberries from diane's garden while their family is on vacation. they come back tomorrow, so it's all over then. :(
i am telling myself that i really need to use that magnificent sourdough starter resting in the refrigerator. it could happen!

Labels: beth and john, gnome night

on some friday evenings during the spring and summer, well sometimes in the fall, someone in the neighborhood places a kitschy figure of a gnome in their yard or on the porch. this signifies you all come over between 5 and 6 on friday night, byob and catch up on what's been happening.
last night jim was the host in his lovely backyard, with patio, waterfall, lap pool, and view of the lake. i decided that i would bake something and made crackers. i have been curious about them, read lots of recipes and finally took the plunge. when i mentioned my idea to don he agreed gnome night would be a great test. i would either come home with an empty basket or they would all be gone. well, the basket was not entirely empty, but i brought home about 1/4 cup of them, so i am claiming success. this could be minnesota nice....never eat the last of whatever. :) i told auntie lee what i was doing and she could hardly believe i would really make crackers....probably thought i WAS crackers.....but liked the sound of the ingredients. i will have to tell her the results. they were pretty good....but i couldn't find the small cookie cutters i wanted to use, so finally ended up with a champagne flute to make circles, and then used the knife to further shape them. they had both flour and cornmeal with sharp cheddar cheese, sesame seeds (instead of the recommended poppy seeds) and a bit of butter. how could they not taste good?
the next ones will have pepperjack cheese and some whole wheat flour as well as some seeds. yum. they were easy to make, and worth the effort.
i'm going to search for a recipe using rice flour to do a gluten free cracker.

Labels: crackers, gnome night