Just Snacking

One of the greatest pleasures of growing fruit and vegetables are the little nibbles that you sample before any of your produce even reaches the plate. Be it a strawberry, pea, raspberry or tomato or herby bite there always seems to be something slightly illicit about such munchings but the taste is oh so sublime. I also tell myself that it is of course all in the name of quality control. This year's new discovery and a ready made allotment lunch, if I have remembered to take some bread and butter, has been the delicious 'Crystal Lemon' cucumber. Himself is not partial to cucumber so I decided this year to forsake my usual 'Burpless' for smaller outdoor grown cucumbers, namely the slightly exotic looking 'Crystal Lemon' and 'Iznik'. The jury is still out on the latter ~ it is described as producing cocktail sized cues but they are still too small to sample. The former though is definitely a hit and is already on next year's seed list.

Cleaned the bathroom today…

I know this piece of info is hard for you to contain your excitement

BUT…

I used a trick I recently saw here…Using half of a grapefruit and salt

...Sprinkle salt on the delectable and juicy grapefruit half liberally

Wet your shower and tile and use the fruit as the scrubber…

one half Grapefruit will do your whole bathroom...seriously

great on the fixtures too.

….And talk about a wake me up fresh smell!

Better than a fresh cuppa Joe.

really.

Try it.

Now off to see if it will tackle the discolored grout in our powder room…..

Citrus….who knew?!

Meteor Showers

 This post won't have amazing pictures because it was nearly impossible for me to capture the moon, stars and meteors on Friday night/Saturday morning with my camera, but I can tell you how much fun my husband and I had watching nature's show.

We got up at 2:30 a.m. EST and I grabbed my daughter's childhood sleeping bags (Lion King and 101 Dalmatians), fleece throws and some pillows, and headed outdoors. My husband grabbed the camera, tripod and coffee and still in our pajamas, we set up camp and watched the night skies until 5:30. This is not our first time to be stargazers but there are so many new technology tools that made the process more meaningful.

Our home is minutes from the airport so unfortunately the skies are generally bright and the full moon added even more light to the sky but we positioned our viewing station in the NE side of the house and the house itself helped block the view of the moon.  

It took a while for our eyes to adjust but it wasn't long before we could see a very faint formation that looked to be Camelopardalis.  

 My husband helped us find the best viewing direction and assisted in identifying what we were seeing with an iPhone app called "Planets" and there are plenty more apps and websites to help you for those interested in night skies.   The coolest was being able to chat with other stargazers about what they were seeing (or not) on the NASA website (yes, I had my iPad with me)!  The best was being able to see the meteors.  Such a memorable night.
If you want to really have some fun, grab Susan Branch's Summer Cookbook and try the menu she has for an evening picnic.  It's the best cookbook ever for this time of year.  

So today I'm celebrating our Dog Days of Summer with The Tablescaper and linking up with Seasonal Sundays.

Seamless White Background - How To

Just in case anybody was wondering how complicated it is to do a seamless white background product photo shot like the one below, I have included a shot at the bottom of this post to show how simple it can be done.

...and the promised setup shot:

Really not complicated at all! The flash was triggered via Nikon's cool CLS system. The groovy light stand is explained at another post here.

Purple.

Sometimes a little bit...

hits the spot.

American Beautyberry Callicarpa americana L

Look at the tired old cactus now!

Yep.

‘I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it.’

~Alice Walker

Orange Stack

Nikon D90, 18-105mm kit lens, manual settings, 1/60s, f16, ISO 200, SB600 flash bounced into an umbrella from camera left and a little high, white cardboard sheet against a wall to provide a seamless background, edited in Corel Paintshop Photo Pro X3.

Do Restaurant at the View

I am not a trendy person but tonight I felt I had dropped in on the Jetsons when we met good friends at Do. 

My husband saw a segment about the restaurant on CNN so we made a reservation.  This place is not necessarily about the food because it really is an experience, an iPad experience.  

This is the home page for the menu, but it's more than a menu.  The center app is a place to chat with others in the restaurant.  It's a great way to talk about the food or drink you are enjoying, or comment on the music, or just meet others dining.  And speaking of the music, when you arrive there is an app you can download on your iPhone that allows you to be able to vote on the music you want to hear...a modern day "jukebox!" 

The videos on the wall change continuously

Now going to the W.C. is also an experience.  There are buttons you push and the doors automatically open!!

Take a look at the bathroom mirror.

 After putting on your lipstick you can even take a picture of yourself!!

When it's time to order food it's just like online shopping.  Just select the items you want and they will appear in your cart.  

Go to your cart and submit and within seconds your server comes to your table to confirm your order.

Our friends are much younger than me and my husband and they were complimenting us on our contemporary choice of restaurants (a real first for me).  Honestly, I think we were all amazed. 

It wasn't long before we had to hug and say goodbye. 

So we entered our valet parking ticket number into the iPad so the valet had our cars waiting on us when we got to the exit!!

This was one of the coolest experiences I've had in a while and it was fun to enjoy the evening with good food, good friends and our favorite electronic device.