GOOD EATS

It's Tomato-Time in Texas y'all, and the Lanes have been eatin' good!

Last order cycle I got a couple of pounds of my favorite big beefy slicing tomatoes, Cherokee Purples, from The Bountiful Sprout. The first two nights we made hubby's favorite Caprese Salads, alternating thick slices of tomato with a few slices from a ball of fresh mozzarella, then drizzling them with a bit of really good olive oil and a splash of aged balsamic, and finishing with a grind or two of coarse salt and pepper, and a shredding of freshly picked basil. Mmmmmm. 

The following night we had old fashioned tomato sandwiches. Hubby opted for one on toasted bread, with bacon! Me, I'm a tomato sandwich purist. Nothing but home-grown tomatoes, mayo (which I almost never eat on anything else), salt and pepper. Plus, it has to be on soft, mushy bread!

I'm hoping the selection will still be plentiful when I return from helping out a sister who's had a really rough time with a knee replacement surgery, for there are still soooo many things to be crossed off of my tomato checklist, such as...

• pasta with Jewell's or Jamie's raw tomato sauce
• tomato pesto tarts
• baked cherry tomatoes with goat cheese, scooped up with chunks of warm, crusty bread
• Greek salads, with cucumber, red onion, kalamata olives, and feta cheese
• Salade Provençal 
• Lago's roasted tomatoes, served over warm pasta, or on toast crusts with chevre, or in sandwiches

To name just a few!

Know what else is back is season? Shrimp. In particular, the Sunday night Cajun Shrimp Boils at Hays City Store.

One order is enough for two!

Now them's some good eats, I gar-on-tee!

TREASURE HUNT

We have several different thrift stores here in my little town, but one in particular is about to become my new favorite haunt. The others are mostly filled with all the stuff we retirees want to rid ourselves of when we downsize, and the very last thing I need is to bring any of that back into my house! This store, however, is rather small, and so has narrowed its focus to a very specific target audience -- young moms. On one side is a room filled with children's toys, furniture and equipment. On the other is one containing children's clothing and shoes. The central area is full of things mom might want for herself -- stylish shoes, clothes and accessories, and a few items to perk up her home with. Best of all? This shop is right next door to my favorite taco joint!

So, not long after I told you about my magical whatever-you-want-it-to-be shelf, I just happened to be in said taco joint. When I glanced out the window and spotted the thrift store, it occurred to me that it would be the perfect place to find a few accessories for that little shelf. Maybe a child's tool box or something?  Well, this is what I found on my very first visit.

Could it be a more perfect fit?

And I got it all for only $6.99!!!

Of course, it may be awhile before Little Goober is tall enough to reach that shelf...

but, maybe not as long as you'd think. Apparently he grew two inches in his first three weeks. Looks like he's gonna have his daddy's long legs.

Let me hear ya say "Hallelujah!".
 

SOMETHIN'S BREWING

First this appeared on our doorstep, in a box from Williams Sonoma.

Then this showed up in our mailbox...

and a week or so later, this.

Then, yesterday, my hubby spent the entire day Home-Brewer-Supply-Shop-Hopping in Austin, looking for things like cheesecloth and vat cleaner.

Looks like Hubby (henceforth to be known as The Vinegarmeister) has finally discovered a good use for all of this!

LEARNING FROM MY DAUGHTER

This house we have now was the perfect weekend getaway when we had college-aged kids, and it's turning out to be a fairly awesome retirement home for Hubby and I. Having no stairway inside the house, to allow sound to travel up from Hubby's stereo and bigass TV down in the Man Cave, has turned out to be a godsend. Learning to share a little 5x5 bathroom with one sink occupying the same space as the toilet and shower,  with no counters or drawers, and which also serves as our guest facility? Not so much. I know, first world problem, right? We manage.

Now that we have a grandbaby, however, I have to wonder, what was I thinking? OK, I know what I was thinking. I was thinking about older granchildren, who could spend their days at Blue Hole or Jacob's Well or Schlitterbahn or climbing Mount Baldy or Enchanted Rock or riding the zipline or exploring caves, then come back to have slumber parties and play video games down in the Man Cave. Guess I didn't give enough thought to the early stages, when you can't let them out of your sight! We have no play room or toy closet. Every cabinet and drawer is already stuffed to the brim. And there is certainly no space for play kitchens or toy work benches or standing art easels, unless it's out on one of the covered porches.

My daughter's house is pretty much the same way, but that was intentional on their part. They believe that life is better when you focus on accumulating experiences and adventures, rather than "stuff." Her solution to the play-station-problem? Just install a shelf somewhere. If you put a few tools on it, it's a workbench. Put some pots and pans on it, it's a stove. Put an old manual typewriter on it, it becomes an office or a place to write stories and plays and newspapers. The sky's the limit, really, and all in just a tiny bit of space.

So, I was looking around the house, trying to figure out where I could install such a thing, and you'll never guess what I discovered. I already have one. DOH!

Not long after we moved in, we noticed this odd little flip-up shelf on one end of our kitchen island, and we had no idea what it was for.

As in the bathroom, there is almost no counter space in our kitchen, so we thought it might be where the original owner might have set up her mixer or Cuisinart when she used them, or maybe it was meant to be a place to set your grocery bags while unloading them.

Or maybe, just maybe, it's meant to be absolutely anything you want it to be!


So, this morning, I was sitting in my special thinking chair, wondering where I could find a tiny table-top easel that would fit on this wee little shelf, when somehow my mind found its way to one of those life-hack memes I saw on Facebook recently. (Amazing how often this happens when I'm in that special chair!) Anywho, this one happened to be about binder clips, which we have quite a few of.

It got me to thinkin', what if I just clipped a big one onto the edge of the shelf, and left one the clips sticking up, like so...

Et Voila! We now have a pint-sized art studio!

TEXAS STATE SONG?

I was scrolling through my Facebook feed earlier, when suddenly this Stevie Ray Vaughn song popped into my head. I'm thinking maybe we should adopt it as our new state song. For once, we're doing OK here in Wimberley, at least for now. Other parts? Not so much.

Then again, maybe we should take a more optimistic approach. Something like this might do the trick. Apparently that's Hubby's attitude, as this appeared out of nowhere on our porch yesterday.

Yeah, that's the ticket. Let The Sunshine In!

41 + 4

My dad was a home designer/builder, and often, on Sundays after church and lunch, we would go visit his works-in-progress. I feel kinda bad about it now, but on more than one occasion I ended the tour with a comment along the lines of "It's great Dad, but I wouldn't want to live here. I'm going to redo a neat old house. Something with character and history!" I read waaaay too many historical romance novels as a kid.

That was the plan, anyway, until I went and fell in love with a mechanical engineer -- great with machines, not so great with things like carpentry, plumbing and repairs. Plus, we never stayed in one place long enough to complete a project of that magnitude. So, it just made more sense to buy new, then "Get outta Dodge" before anything had a chance to fall apart.

Still, just because I never actually lived in a neat old house, that doesn't mean I ever lost my love for them. In fact, I eat my meals in them every chance I get. No surprise then, that it was love at first sight when I saw the place Hubby had chosen to celebrate our forty-first anniversary (plus four years of dating) yesterday -- a very European place in the heart of Austin called Fabi + Rosi. 

I opted for pork schnitzel with spaetzle...

while John went for pepper steak with truffle fries.

I had to help him with those fries. (Moan!)

For dessert we started to share that item at the top of the list, just because we wanted to tell people we ate Krack Pie with Hooch Cream. But then the lady on the banquette next to us leaned over and said "Order the lemon chevre tart. Trust me."  I'm so glad we did.

Actually, the celebration started with us taking lunch over to Lex, Nate, his parents, sister and niece, only to discover that four of them had driven over to Wimberley to surprise us! They now have a refrigerator full of Mima's tacos. On the plus side, they were all soft tacos, which reheat pretty well. Plus, it's never a wasted trip if it means snuggle time with The Goob!

In between that and dinner, there was a trip to one of the best bookstores (with a great children's department) and THE best toy store. Turns out, I'm not the one they need to worry about, when it come to bringing Little Goober prezzies every time we see him!

Know what I love most? The amount of time and thought he puts into finding just the right thing. Or things.

POPPIES, FOR REMEMBRANCE

In the weeks leading up to Memorial Day, the deer finally decided to stop devouring all the poppy buds on our wildflower berm down the hill, leaving a nice display in honor of the occasion. Fortuitous, is it not, since poppies have long been the symbol of remembrance for those lost in battle?

 The Cantina Garden is making me very, very happy right now. After so many years struggling with drought and deer, it's finally starting to look like the garden I first imagined. Well, minus all the veggies I was picturing. Apparently veggies are not my thing. I'm more of a perennial person.

The Vitex is a purple blaze of glory right now...

and the traditional coneflowers are in full bloom...

but what really tickles me are these amazing hybrid coneflowers, bought for next to nothing off the bedraggled-rack at Lowes last summer.

I was not all that certain they would survive, but just look at them now!

Just love the variations in color, and how each bloom morphs as it matures!

Also love the way they blend with this crazy gomphrena that keeps coming back...

and this lovely Coral Bells, whose leaves start out a rich coral color, then turn into toffee!

But, know what I love most of all? These crazy 'shrooms that just pop up out of nowhere...

then turn themselves inside out!

Any idea what kind they are?