Good Plans

 Summer is "ON" at Maple Lane House. The flowers are all in, the tomatoes and herbs are planted, and the fresh new flags are flying in the breeze. That is where I have been in the last few days. Then, with Fathers Day and Son's birthday landing on the same day, whew, I am tired today. 

I had the urge to take a little road trip to a quilt shop, about an hour from me. Husband wanted to join me and off we went. Well, about  20 minutes into the trip he spotted a market he always want to peruse. Long story short, he landed in the butcher shop section, was hypnotized by some cold smoked pork chops and we had to go back home because we had no ice packs with us. Do you know what is involved in preparing cold smoked pork chops? I sure didn't so I scanned every recipe site online, there was a bit of help there but none of the recipes seemed to address my needs and just how "cooked" these things might be from this cold smoking procedure.

So, in my mind they needed a bit of a sear on the grill and into the oven to cook through. Use a meat thermometer and check temp, dinner is ready. Was I going to fire up the big grill for 4 pork chops? Noooooooo. Why not that new little electric grill on the patio? I have not even turned that thing on. I will soon. Anyway, I dug out the famous heavy as my car grill pan, fired it up on the electric stove that I despise more than poison ivy, and we were off. As soon as those darn things hit the hot grill there was smoke billowing from my kitchen. I don't mean a little bit smoky, I mean smoke so thick that I couldn't see from one end of the room to the other! I am running around opening doors and windows, fan above cooking surface on high, the Dyson fan in the family room at hi speed. Smoke, smoke, smoke. I turned off the heat, popped them into the preheated oven, covered with foil, turned off that heat. 

So now my son is entering the back door yelling for me because he never sees that door open, and he has never seen smoke billowing out the windows! He is grabbing the extinguisher from the cupboard and getting ready to do CPR! We quickly had the situation under control while DIL held Lola back, all the racket had her running in circles. Husband didn't hear a thing. Mmmmm.......

Long story long, we did not have to order pizza, the chops were actually very good according to the guests! 

I did manage to applique these lady bugs onto some kitchen towels, I will stitch some little antenna by hand to give them a cute little finish. I'm working on some closures for some baby bibs but the snaps are not working out quite right. and I am not keen on ties for a newborn. More on that another time.

 

Are You Going to Scarboro Fair? HERE 

I'll close with a quick little photo of my basil. I plant it right next to the house with the parsley, rosemary, thyme, chives, and some tomatoes. My pathetic gardening effort these days. I really miss my raised beds. Oh well. l still have some quilt photo's to share. Next time. 

If you live on the East coast you know we are having an  unprecedented wave. Try to stay cool.