Happy Birthday Kaye-Kaye!

Happy Birthday!

(29 for the 20th time)

Father's Day

A salute to some very special Dads! Jeff's Dad - Dick

Kaye's Dad - Melvin

Kaye's "Pa" - Massey

Jeff's Brother-in Law - Ronald


Abigail's Step-Father - Durwood



Abigail's Father - Mark

Especially our Son Massey!

Happy Father's Day!

Remember When.......

This is one our favorite pictures of Massey. It was his first summer. We had a great time playing with him and the water hose. We would turn it off and on and he would look in amazement wondering where the water went.

How Does Your Garden Grow!

The first tomatoes of the season!

Here is the first jalapeno!


Here are our sweet banana peppers!

This is our persian lime tree! Hopefully we will have limes by the 4th of July.

Move Over Kermit!

Our grandaughter pulls off "not easy being green" thing very well.

Move over Kermit the Frog!

Even the Little Ones Want to Help!

Aren't there such things as child labor laws!

Not only is she beautiful, she is strong enough to carry two buckets of water!

Or so it seems. It looks as though she is "fetching" water from the river. Not really. This is our grandaughter having a great time at the James River Association's annual lawn party in Richmond, Virginia. This is also the first time she has worn her new green dress.

This reminds me of when I was little and wanted to help my "papa" carry water from the pump from his house to the barn to water the horses, cows, and pigs. It was a long way to carry water and he did it with what appeared such ease even if he had to make multiple trips several times per day.

M & A, thanks for bringing back the memory.

Rooftop Garden Visitor

Found this butterfly resting on the chartreuse sweet potato vine this morning. A nice way to greet the day!

Pat Conroy Cookbook

Pat Conroy is one of Fripp Island's and Beaufort, SC's most famous residents. He has written many books about life and growing up in the low country. I am a big collector of cookbooks and have bought scores of this book to give away to family, friends, and professional colleagues. I love to read cookbooks. Especially those that tell a story. This one doesn't disappoint. In every chapter Pat recounts the many interesting events in his life and how food always plays an important role. I highly recommend this book to all of you who like to read cookbooks.

From the Rusoff Agency, Pat's publicist website, http://www.rusoffagency.com/authors/conroy_p/patconroy_cook/patconroy_cookbook.htm_

Author Anne Rivers Siddons is quoted as saying, "THE PAT CONROY COOKBOOK is more than just that. It's a virtual Ode To Joy. Read it; cook from it. You will eat better than you ever have in your life, and will know more about Pat Conroy, perhaps, than he would ever tell you."

If you are interested in an autographed copy, the Beaufort Bookstore 2127 Boundry Street, Beaufort, SC, 843-525-1066 usually has them for sale.

Jeff's Famous Pulled Pork Barbecue!

I recently made my pulled pork barbecue for a Memorial Day party at our house. It was a hit as always and I have been asked if I would share the recipe. I don't have a problem sharing it as it is so simple. Well "simple" if you can find the seasonings and the sauce.

Ingredients

1 6-8lb Boston Pork Butt

1/4 cup Aunt Cora's Soulful Seasoning (Hot & Sassy Variety)
(available at www.gugisglobalfoods.com/AuntCoras.html)

1 Cup Scott's Barbecue Sauce

(available at http://www.scottsbarbecuesauce.com/)

Optional

Williamson Brothers Barbecue Sauce

(http://www.williamsonbros.com/)

Preparation

Place pork butt in a crock pot with fat side down. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of Aunt Cora's Soulful Seasoning over the top of the pork butt.

Pour 1 cup of Scott's Barbecue Sauce in to the crock pot. Pour it down the side of the crock pot so as not to wash off the Aunt Cora's Seasoning from the pork.

Set your crock pot on high and cook for 4 hours.

After 4 hours turn the crock pot to low for and additional 2 hrs.

After the last two hours of cooking, open the pot to test for doneness by using a fork to see if the pork easily shreds. If done to your satisfaction, remove the pork from the crock pot. Remove the bone and any large remaining chunks of fat. In a large bowl or on a cutting board, shred pork by using your fingers or two forks. Some people like their barbecue minced.

Taste the barbecue, depending on your taste buds you may want to add additional Aunt Cora's and/or Scott's Barbecue Sauce. Drain any remaining liquid from the crock pot. Then return the shredded pork to the crock pot and set the temperature to warm.

I also make available Williamson Brothers Barbecue sauce to add at the time of serving. It is a sweeter sauce and as I am allergic to hickory is one that I can eat.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. We certainly enjoy making it for family and friends.

Lenny the Lizard!

We have a green lizard that has taken up residence among the plants on our roof top garden. He changes color depending which plant he is near. When near the dark purple sweet potato vine he turns the same dark purple brown color. Here he is on the porch rail near the asparagus fern and had changed to bright green. He is not happy that I am so close. His defense mechanism is to puff out his throat which is reddish in color and rocks back and forth.

New New Math! Or is it cyphering? Or just a different perspective?

Not all of us were so fortunate to have the best grasp on mathematics. My motto now is if it cannot be done on a spreadsheet, it isn't worth doing. However, not everyone has access to a computer nor a spreadsheet program. This Ma and Pa Kettle video demonstrates how two people can solve the same problem and come up with two different answers that they are convinced is correct. This is quite funny.

Three Bean Salad With Quinoa

Received this new salad recipe from the Whole Foods Newsletter

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/

If you have a Whole Foods store in your area it would be to your benefit to subscribe to their newsletter so that you can take advantage of fliers that detail instore sales.

Three Bean Salad With Quinoa

Ingredients
1 cup uncooked quinoa Salt and ground black pepper

1/2 pound green beans, trimmed, cut into 2-inch pieces, cooked and rinsed in cold water

1 1/2 cups frozen 365 Everyday Value Shelled Edamame, thawed

1/2 cup chopped roasted red peppers

1 (15-ounce) can 365 Everyday Value Kidney Beans, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup 365 Everyday Value Organic Italian Dressing

1 teaspoon dried tarragon

Method
Rinse quinoa under cold running water and drain. Bring 1 3/4 cups water to a boil in a small pot. Stir quinoa and a pinch of salt into water. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until tender and liquid is absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes. Uncover and let cool. Put cooled quinoa, green beans, edamame, peppers, kidney beans, dressing, tarragon, salt and pepper into a large bowl and toss well. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Move Over Eva Gabor!

Eva Gabor has nothing on these two beauties!

Looks like a Green Acres remake might be in the works!

Holy Cow! No, Holy Buzzard!

I kid you not! This buzzzrd landed on the rail of the upstairs front porch! My desk sits less than 8 feet from where he landed.

Mollie Gets Married!

Kaye's cousin Mollie got married this past weekend to Mark Miller, a high school classmate of our son Massey. The wedding was held outdoors on Mollie's father's farm by a pond. Kathy and Tommy (Mollie's parents) spent a lot of time and effort to get ready for this event. Molly is a nurse and Mark is a graduate of VMI and has served two tours of duty in Iraq and received the Purple Heart. Mark plans to go to graduate school at VA Tech to pursue a master's degree in engineering. The couple plan to settle in Roanoke, VA. We wish them all the best!

Looks like they have done this before!

As the wedding party exited the venue, they danced up the isle.

Who said white people can't dance!

Just too Cute!

This is a picture of our grandaughter taken at a family wedding this past weekend. She has her papa and KK wrapped around her little finger!

Fripp Island

Check out this YouTube video about Fripp Island, South Carolina. It is really well done. Island Realty produced the video. We hope you too will come and discover this place we call paradise!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwP9AqiMddI&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Edestinationfripp%2Ecom%2F&feature=player_embedded

I want that recipe!

One of our favorite desserts is this incredibly decadent carrot cake. We originally found this recipe in our 2003 edition of our Annual Southern Living Cookbook. We've made this cake several times for our friends here at the beach to incredible reviews. We fixed it for a party at our house over Memorial Day weekend and everyone wanted me to share the recipe.

It can also by found at by clicking on the link below:

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=426338

Best Carrot Sheet Cake

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated carrots (about 3 large carrots)
1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
1 (3 1/2-ounce) can sweetened flaked coconut
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
Buttermilk Glaze
Cream Cheese Frosting

Preparation
Stir together first 4 ingredients.
Beat eggs and next 4 ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Add flour mixture, beating at low speed until blended. Fold in carrots and next 3 ingredients. Pour batter into a greased and floured 13- x 9-inch pan.
Bake at 350° for 30 minutes; cover pan loosely with aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning, and bake 13 more minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean. Drizzle Buttermilk Glaze evenly over cake; cool completely in pan. Spread Cream Cheese Frosting evenly over cake.

Summer Salad

For Memorial Day weekend we tried this new salad recipe that we found in the June issue of Real Simple magazine and at http://www.realsimple.com/. It was a hit on the beach with our friends. As a result I wanted to share it with everyone. Corn will soon be available in the low country and in your area as summer approaches. Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 cup walnuts
4 cups fresh corn kernels (from 4 ears), raw or cooked (we prefer raw)
2 jalapenos, seeded and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
kosher salt and black pepper
1/2 cup crumbled Feta (2 ounces)

Directions

Heat oven to 400° F. Spread the walnuts on a rimmed baking sheet and toast until fragrant, 6 to 8 minutes. Let cool and roughly chop.

In a large bowl, combine the corn, jalapeños, lime juice, oil, walnuts, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Sprinkle with the Feta before serving.