In the kitchen – Busy Bee Productions

Just a smidge of ice cream for me—I wasn’t always this delightful.

Thank you all for your kind words regarding my DNA/Brother post. I really wasn’t looking for sympathy, but I suppose that is a natural reaction for people who are not sociopaths.

I met up with my Linds yesterday for lunch; we decided to meet at Jason’s Deli because it’s convenient and they have free ice cream.
It’s a place the kids and I used to frequent when they were younger; I could get my salad bar fix, they loved a lot of the menu and the free ice cream.
One time I took them with a few friends, and I recall all of the girls coming back to the table with the most ginormously filled cones; it was ridiculous.
I was a bit irked by it; annoyed. Why did I get annoyed by something as small as an overloaded free cone? I don’t know. I was a bit anal-retentive back in the day; also, I was afflicted with severe PMS. I’m much more relaxed now.
Thank the good lord for that.
Or maybe I’m just tired.

Anyhoo, Linds and I had a nice lunch and we caught up a bit after her long trip to New Zealand.
I asked her to get me a chocolate ice cream cone.
This is what she came back with; she’d already had a few licks of hers before she arrived at the table.

Me: WHY IS MY ICE CREAM CONE SO SMALL?
Linds: You remember that time…..when you were so annoyed by the extra-large cone?
Me: yes, but, really?
Then my child proceeded to explain to me that there was ice cream INSIDE the actual cone too; it wasn’t just surface ice cream.
Me: What? INSIDE? I had no idea that’s how ice cream cones worked.

We had a good laugh and really, it was MORE than enough ice cream for me. And it was even better having some time together.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned it before, but I have to cook dinner at least 5 nights a week.
What? You too? *sigh* It becomes redundant, doesn’t it?
I honestly wish we didn’t need to eat every day because I don’t like cooking that much. But I do it, so yeah, where’s my gold ribbon?
One thing that does make the daunting chore of preparing dinner so many days of my life is my Instant Pot. Do you have one? I’m not a gadget fan, but this one is worth it.
Everything I make in it comes out well. Chicken dishes, beef dishes and possibly my favorite thing to do in it are hard-boiled eggs; they peel like buttah.

Last night I made a big batch of lime/cilantro shredded chicken; it’s great for tacos or on salads and YUM.
The Coach thoroughly enjoyed it even more so because today he has to prep for his colonoscopy.
Some people get to have all the fun. I suppose tonight I’ll have leftover shredded chicken over a bed of salad….hmmm, I guess I’ll have to eat in the bathroom away from the colonoscopy victim.

Wow. I talked quite a bit about food today. What’s for dinner?
XO

Too much of a good thing keeps Suz happy.

I’ve been on a cottage cheese and pineapple kick lately. Every darn day.

Breakfast? Sure.

Snack? Hells yeah!

Dinner? Suz, you might need SOME variety in your life.

***

One of the awesome gifts that the Coach procured for my birthday this year is flower delivery from The Bougs. You might recall he gifted this to me a few Christmas’s ago and I loved it so much.

So, Suz gets flowers delivered every 2 weeks.
Why, yes, I am a spoiled little brat thank you very much. And no, I’m not going to feel bad about that either. *removes hands from hips and moves on*

If you know me at all, which I’m sure you do, I love having fresh flowers in the house. If I can’t have them, I’ll cut some stuff from the yard and bring it in. Weeds, flowers, tree branches, poison ivy. Some lessons are hard learned.

Most of the bougs that come are so large that I have to split them into two or more vases; what a daunting job I have.

{I don’t always watch Ellen, but when I do, I’m cooking dinner}

In the words of my Grandma, “IT LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE DIED!”

Gerbera daisies and eucalyptus. It smells like a spa in here!

The white roses lasted nearly forever. 16 days. That’s almost forever, right?

What a sweet and thoughtful gift from my one and only. I’m gonna have to pay him back with something special….hmmmm….dinner and a movie? A day of fishing? A day of me not asking him any questions? Goodness…he’s hard to shop for!

Anyone else have anything they’re digging lately?

Smelling this and that

This:
I’m a self-proclaimed reed diffuser junkie. And I’ve only found a handful of brands that are actually worth the $$ to use. One of my favorite brands is Pier One. I honestly think the store charges too much for most everything, but their reed diffusers actually HAVE scent and are long-lasting. This ( White pumpkin) is a great scent for this time of year; it’s a nice sweet & subtle smell.

That:
My newest (other)favorite smelly thing is Lume all-natural deodorant.
How do I put this delicately…..Ummmmm…..I sweat like a man.
A cute little construction type-working man, but a man just the same.
I’m sure it’s because I’m super healthy and the bad stuff just needs to be expelled from my body. Yeah, let’s go with that.

They have perhaps the best commercial-it’s quite entertaining.

The past few years I’ve been more aware of the chemicals that I don’t really want to put on/in my body. And let’s just think about all the glands in our pits that are so close in relation to the larger glands on our chest.

This is an all-natural deodorant that actually works. I love it so much. I still sweat, but I never stink and really, that’s the most important thing. I have the lavender and sage flavor and it smells really nice. Like me.

Anything you’ve fallen in love with lately, I mean, aside from me?
XOXO

My favorite things in the kitchen

Sometimes I wish I lived in Canada so I could spell favorite as favourite. Also, I would be much nicer, if that is even a possibility.

The kitchen is the heart of the home. Nevermind it’s NOT where the magic happens…well, at least in my case. I’m not sure how everyone else lives. But, I/we do spend a LOT of time in the kitchen mostly clothed.

Some of my favourite ~~favorite~~ everyday useful things. Aside from the Coach.

Our cast iron skillets. We ditched the old (and unhealthy) nonstick pans a few years ago, even before we had our gas range. The darn things are so hardy and heavy….we don’t even bother putting them away in the drawer. Although, that would give me more of a daily workout. We just leave them on the stove, oiled up and ready to go.

BTW: the gas range is actually clean. For the life of me, it never looks as good as the day it was installed. Apparently, I don’t have a ‘show’ kitchen, it is a full-fledged working kitchen. You’d think I was a better cook with the way it appears.

Method stone cleaner. Do we have some stone in our kitchen…lawd YES.
This is my favorite cleaner for all the hard surfaces; smells good and it does the job. I’m able to purchase a gallon of it and refill my bottle and I reuse the same cloth/rag until it can walk around on its own.
Win. Win.

Scrub Daddy. I’m not sure what kind of hocus-pocus magic is in this scrubber, but it is my go-to cleaner for all things difficult.

Mrs. Meyers everything. I’m so in love with her soaps. I love that the scents change with the seasons and it brings a little bit of joy to my dishwashing. I still keep a bottle of Dawn under the sink for the greasy/heavy duty stuff, but for most everything Mrs. Meyers dish soap is good enough. And how about my little bubbler? There’s soap & water in there and you press it down to add it to your little scrubber. It’s the best. I purchase most of my cleaning products from Grove Collaborative and this set was one of my first buys. With the little stoneware dish underneath; it keeps my sink area both tidy and pretty. And really, pretty is the way to go.

My turquoise kitchen pig. I don’t usually allow critters on the my clean counters, but this guy is too cute not to allow it. I found him years ago at Home Goods. Ya know that place, where dreams come true for a fraction of the cost.

This is two of my favorites in one. Drawers and my Snapware. I used to only use Tupperware and I still have some pieces, but I found snapware at Costco a few years ago and really built up a good collection of both glass and plastic. No more ~~cussing~~ searching for matching lids. And I LOVE drawers. I like my drawers like I like my men; big, strong and organized. If you ever have the chance to update your kitchen, drawers are so much better than cabinets.

Well, that’s all my favorites for today.

Anyone have something in the kitchen that they can’t live without aside from the actual food?

I was not compensated for any of my pics or links. That was just me trying to be a friendly Canadian on a Wednesday.

XOXO

Dad’s Day

Dad’s day in a nutshell.

The girls had planned on coming down to spend the day on the boat at the condo early Sunday morning, even though Lolo works until 3:00 am policing the streets. Anything for the Dad. The girls showed up early enough, but so did the d*%$ rain.

Instead, we went out to breakfast and then visiting for the early part of the day.

It’s almost 100% certain that one or both of our girls will fall asleep while in our presence.
Is it the comfort of being near their parentals? Is it the late nights working?
I like to think it’s the overpowering feeling of being loved. 🙂

Linds got in a little bit of yoga before her nap on the couch.

Later in the day The Coach went back to the house and fired up his pull-behind smoker. He’d been prepping some bacon all week in the fridge and it was now ready to be smoked. No store bought bacon for this connoisseur.

He also added in several slabs (12) of ribs for us, his Dad and brother. If you’re gonna go through the trouble of smoking, you might as well smoke a LOT of meat.

Bacon (32lbs) on the left, ribs on the right. He purchased 3 whole pigs earlier in the year from some young peeps via the 4 H club.

He shared a lot of it (pre-cooked) with our employees too; which they really appreciated.
We spent Sunday night vacuum sealing all this goodness for later uses.
For the Coach a day with his girls and smoking gobs of meat equals a heavenly day!

I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend, whether you were smoking something or not.

How to celebrate 28 years of wedded bliss without committing murder

May 25th, 1991 was the day the heavens opened up, the angels swooped down and we said our vows in front of our family, friends, Minister and perhaps some future ex-cons.

It’s been a really fun ride with some ups and downs, but mostly ups. I’m not a big fan of heights, but I’m persevering the high highs.
People sometimes ask how we’ve got along so well for SO long (34 years) and I always say, “it takes a lot of patience.” (for the Coach) I’m a piece of work and he’s simple.

We were discussing something the other day and it was along the lines of me being a bit high maintenance. (I’m really NOT that bad, but we both have $$ taste in some ways)
I said: “you didn’t know what you were getting into.”
His response: “Yeah, I didn’t know you’d need to go from the Trailer park to The Four Seasons.”

Whatevs. I once saw a trailer park named The Four Seasons.

So what did we do to commemorate 28 years?
Well, we were both pretty excited to make our first batch of homemade dog food. For Callie.
(in case you thought it was for us)
And yes, she loved it!

Then we went to a graduation party for four of Coach’s softball players. We had a pretty low-key weekend as Coach is recovering from some sort of bizarre infection in the dermis layer of his knee. He’s supposed to take it easy.

Suz’s first party selfie.

How CUTE IS THIS SHORTS ROMPER?

I never find cute stuff like this that fits my shape.

I took that pic in the bathroom of the party to share with Lolo and Lindsay as all three of us are obsessed with rompers and jumpsuits.
I asked the Coach before we left the house: “Can I wear this and get away with it with my almost 52-year-old legs?”
His response was stellar:

“Yes, you look fine.”

Honestly, he’s lucky to be alive today.

Happy Tuesday Y’all.

TGIF~Does this couch make my dogs look small? Carbs or starve?

It’s been a busy and productive week at Casa Busy Bee.

If I’m allowed to complain, which I think I am, I am struggling with a lower back issue.
I’d love to tell how this happened because I was working out too strenuously, or that I was rock climbing, but sadly, I was sitting in a chair putting on my sneakers getting ready to start my cardio workout.
I.hurt.my.back.putting.on.shoes.

Never did I believe this would be my life.

Anyhoo’s, I’ll live.

Last week we babysat our granddog, Max. Lolo was off in D.C looking at a graduate school (fingers crossed!!) He really enjoyed his time here and away from his new little (huge) brother the Husky.
No, I didn’t offer to watch the not.yet.potty.trained.and.oh.so.hairy.husky.

The dogs have taken over the couch. I’m so happy we invested in such nice furniture for them.

Max might suffer from boundary issues. Or he thinks he a parrot.

Anyhoo, Lolo loved the D.C area even though it was freezing/snowing and she is a Florida girl.

I had one of the best problems to have this week. I had TOO many tomatoes in my garden.
I decided to make stuffed ‘maters (and one lone green pepper) I didn’t use any carbs; just lean grass-fed beef, veggies, and some cheese.

They were delicious and something different than our usual dinners around these parts.
The Coach has been cutting out carbs for a while. Apparently, my NO carb cooking has seeped into my brain. The other night I had a dream that we were in a post-apocalyptic world and we’d survived. We had very little food to eat, and I was trying to get the Coach to eat potatoes, and he refused. Apparently, he’d rather starve.

That’s all I have to get off my chest today. Looking forward to a nice weekend, just hoping my back cooperates with me!
Happy Friday Y’all!
XO