Roasting Some Chiles!

This is the time of year for Hatch Chiles. Yum! I look forward to it every year. Central Market has a festival with a plethora of fresh Chiles for your roasting pleasure. Plus, they sell just about anything Hatch! My favorite is the Hatch Chile brownie and Hatch Chile scones. OMG. Oh, wait...also the Hatch Chile crab cake and Hatch Chile fajita wrap. Obviously I have more than one favorite. So, in order to enjoy my love of Hatch Chiles throughout the year I bought about 30 of them to roast and freeze. Roasting peppers is very easy peasy.

How to roast Hatch Chiles (any just about any other Chile pepper you want):

Place your Chiles directly on a preheated grill

Roast the Chiles until the skin begins to blister then turn. Continue to roast until all sides are blistered

Place in a large zip lock bag and seal. Leave the peppers in the bag for about 5 minutes. This process helps the skin to come off. Open the bag and place the peppers, one at a time, under cold running water and peel off the skin. You may want to wear gloves depending on how hot (spicy hot) your peppers are because your skin may be burned from the acidity of the pepper.

Once you have peeled your pepper you can put it in the freezer whole to preserve or you can slice and dice and serve!

If you choose to can your peppers  you will need to use a pressure canner so you don't succumb to food poisoning a few months down the line when you decide to eat them. 

Cheers!!

Granbury,Texas Pop. 5,718

Fort Worth, Texas Pop. 741,206. Sometimes is it nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of the hometown.  I have never considered Fort Worth very big, until now. The nice thing about Fort  Worth is that it is close to many things. Texas it big enough that it is always pretty easy to find something to do, especially if you get a little creative. 

A year ago this weekend I got married. It is hard to believe it has been a year! We went to Victoria, BC, for our honeymoon. I would have loved to go back for our one year anniversary, but unfortunately that just was not in the cards this time. Hopefully next year! But, I wanted to get a way and do something fun somewhat resembling our stay at that wonderful B&B. It was beautiful and right on the water with the mountains in the background and forest behind. The best of all worlds! So, trying to find something somewhat similar, I decided a lake house rental on Granbury Lake it would be! Plus, we get to take Millie with us! She has never been on vacation with us or swimming so I bought her a life jacket to be on the safe side. 

To prepare for the weekend I of course had to stop at Central Market to pick up a few goodies and some wine. 

When we arrived we found a bottle of champagne with a nice little happy anniversary note from the owners of the lake house. A very sweet surprise! 

We unpacked and then went straight for the goodies, summer sausage, cheese, and crackers. This seems to be a common theme with us. When we arrive to our vacation destination we break out the summer sausage, cheese and crackers. Yum.

After we settled in a bit I started grilling. I am not certain when the last time the grill was cleaned because much to my surprise, there was a huge inferno because of all the burned food bits in the bottom of the grill. Fear set in that it was going to explode and burn the nice little lake house down. But, we got that all under control and fortunately my steaks turned out just fine.

Then, we ended the night with a movie and Millie managed to make herself comfortable.

Cheers! 

Market Weekend

Friday, I split work the minute the clock struck 4:30 and headed straight to the Hatch Chile Festival at Central Market. I look forward to this every year. There are tons of Hatch Chile's to choose from among tons of Hatch Chile Foods...breads, cakes, fajitas, quiches, meatloaf, crab cakes, risotto cakes, and the list goes on.

I stuffed my face with several of my food items before I could get a shot of them but there are 2 things I cannot live without when I go to the Fest...

Hatch Chile Scones and....

 Hatch Chile Chocolate Brownie! Yum!

Today, I went with my parents to the Cowtown Farmer's Market. I always head straight for La Latte Dairy.  They have the best goat cheese ever. I picked up some onions and split squash with my mom.

Here is a shot of my veggies and the Hatch Chile's! I am going to roast the Chile's, chop them up, and freeze some for later use. 

Something else I cannot resist from the Market are the tamales from Hot Tamales. They are to die for!

Jeff ate practically all 12 of them by himself! 

After the Market we stopped into Amaryllis. It is a great plant shop right next to the Market. The store owner is so nice and come to find out her daughter-in-law is a Social Worker!  She is very knowledgeable on her plants, has great deals, and some great succulents. 

I picked up a combo pot for my Grandmother that is very cute!

For myself (of course I could not resist) I got a cute Fittonia.  All I need to do is plant it.

The Fittonia is going to take the place of the succulent I had in this pot that actually shriveled up and died because it could not take the heat. Now, I thought that was unheard of! It is almost impossible to kill as succulent! 

To finish the day off, a bit of knitting and a girlie movie! 

Cheers! 

Anniversary Celebration

Today, Jeff and I celebrate 11 years together! Since we are getting married in October, we decided to keep it simple.  We went to Central Market to get hors d'oeuvres and dinner.  Now, we always tend to over do it when we go to Central Market. It is such a happy place with tons of fresh baked goods, wine, and produce!

To start things off, we had baked raspberry chipotle Brie, summer sausage with the various cheeses we picked up at Relleno Bros. and crackers, hummus and pita bread, tabbouleh, and falafel!  We also cracked open our Relleno Bros Dolcetto del Cielo to sip along with our fantastic spread! 

After we stuffed ourselves with our hors d'oeuvres we had baked ziti with sausage and peppers....

and asiago garlic bread, yum! 

Then to top things off for dessert we had creme brulee and key lime tartlets.  I gobbled that down and obviously did not get a picture.  While we were indulging ourselves in a Central Market food fest, we watched Shutter Island. It was good and Leonardo DiCaprio is awesome! 

Cheers! 

Shopping, Cooking, And Mowing Torture

Hello there blog readers. I hope all is well. I cannot believe that September is rapidly coming to an end! We are encroaching on one of my very favorite months! October! Ah, fall is in the air. I love this time of year, pumpkins, leaves, cool weather, and comfort food! I went to Bath and Body Works yesterday because they were having a sale on their Slatkin candles. These candles smell great and last a long time. Since the fall bug has bitten me, I got a warm vanilla sugar candle and a sweet cinnamon pumpkin candle. The pumpkin candle smells great!! I also went to Williams-Sonoma, Kohl's, Central Market, and Double Exposure yesterday too. Seems as though the shopping bug has bit me too! There were some great finds at Double exposure. I picked up 4 new couch pillows at a steal! They are really cute and in great condition. The little rust color pillow I picked up a Kohl's. A set of 2 for next to nothing! 6 pillows total...and if the dogs mess them up, they were cheap and I won't cry!

I also found a brand new Martha Stewart Martini Mixer set at Double Exposure for a fraction of what it would have been in a store. It was still in the box and wrapped in plastic! Double Exposure is my new found place for housewares!

So, I'm busted, I can't not pick up a few bottles of wine at Central Market. That is what you see behind my Martini Set. :-) Central Market is fantastic. My friend Mel came over last night so, we went there to pick up a dinner for 2 and a bunch of other stuff that we did not need. We were there for an hour. But it was worth it! The dinner for 2 was Enchiladas and it was really good!

It has been raining for days here. I love the rain but, when it rains as much at it has....my yard looks awful! Jeff hates mowing. I really never understood until today why he hates it so much. I know it takes a while to mow because our yard is ridiculously huge (we are on a corner lot), but...I always figured it could be way worse and honestly thought he was just being a baby (sorry Jeff, love you!). He has been stressed because it is his last year of school and he has been studying a lot. I have been stressed because our yard is the worst looking yard on the block. I thought I would be nice and offer to help him with the yard today. I figured he could get done faster and then study and then I would be happy because our yard would not be 12 inches tall anymore and random people would stop ringing the bell offering to mow our yard for a "low price". Now, you know that your yard has to look pretty bad when random people are coming by offering to mow your yard for you. So, my bright idea was for him to edge and I would mow. Um...yeah..did I just say bright idea?

There are some things that I am just not meant to do and mowing is one of them.

This is only a very teeny tiny itty bitty small fraction of our yard, the side yard to be exact. It is also the flat part. The rest of the yard is on a hill and I have recently discovered that it is hard to push a mower up a hill. I thought I was going to throw up at one point but...I did not and I am proud! Jeff did finish it up for me after he finished edging but, I could have done it, with the very real possibility of passing out on the last stretch (I think I started hallucinating at one point), BUT...I could have done it! :-) So, the yard looks nice now and I am happy.

After our early morning mow, I made breakfast. I am growing jalapenos in my backyard garden and I happily harvested one.

Of course, our morning breakfast staple is eggs. So I chopped up my little tiny homegrown jalapeno pepper, sauteed it up with some turkey, and made an omelet.

I picked up some whole grain English muffins at Central Market yesterday so, I toasted those and added the most fantastic cheese I have ever eaten (that I also picked up at Central Market, It's called California Sicilian Jack) and toasted it until the cheese melted. I added the omelet to the muffin and viola, egg muffins!

Now I am working on a few little sewing projects which I will blog about later this week!

Cheers everyone!

What A Lazy Day For Me!

I have made a lot of progress on the second pair of socks I am knitting. I spent all day today (again with the all day knitting on Sunday) knitting these socks. Watch out everyone, there are socks for Christmas gifts in your future! I'm thinking that maybe I should try knitting sweaters now! But, maybe I am shooting a bit high with all my sock enthusiasm.

I also made my usual weekend breakfast consisting of eggs. When I asked Jeff this morning if he was hungry for breakfast he quickly answered "are you making eggs?" So, I guess I have gotten a bit predictable. Usually I make eggs and turkey sausage but, to keep things interesting today, I left out the turkey sausage and made a southwestern omelet. When I was mixing the cheese, black beans, salsa, and green onions (those cute little green onions were hand picked out of my garden) I thought all the colors looked so pretty, so...of course I took a picture.

My hollyhock is blooming. This is the first time that it has bloomed since I planted it last October. I never realized how pretty it would be!




I also picked up some basil and parsley at Central Market because this weekend was their herb fest. They had such pretty herbs and I could have bought more but I am trying to save space for the annual Botanic Garden Herb Festival (I know I have mentioned this before but my sister and I are in that picture in the right hand corner. That festival was about 2 years ago.).

Once again, it was another lovely Sunday.

Cheers!

Friends, Fun, And More Fondue!

Well, yesterday evening I was finally able to test out the vintage fondue pot I found months ago at an estate sale. Jeff and I got together with our longtime friends for a fondue night. After spending my birthday at Simply Fondue, we decided that fondue is tons of fun and something that we needed to do ourselves! So we had a sharp cheddar cheese fondue and a blue cheese fondue. Both were fantastic! We had chicken, apples, bell peppers, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, summer sausage, and bread for dipping. Oh, it was yummy. My little fondue pot worked like a champ!

For dessert we had chocolate fondue with homemade marshmallows and coconut macaroons from Central Market and also butter cream cake, pretzels, and graham crackers. The marshmallows and macaroons were so fluffy. I love Central Market.

Jeff and I brought along a bit of Sangria too. Sangria is perfect for this time of year (well, I guess it is perfect really for anytime of year!) Oh, my, we were stuffed by the end of the night but it was worth it! I should have taken more pictures but I was too busy eating!

Good food, good friends, and good fun. Just how a Saturday night should be spent.

Cheers!