Nectarine Salad

I got this nectarine salad recipe from Hannah. It's been my potluck pleasebringasalad salad this summer.

Hannah shared it in our church newsletter as a family favorite. Now it's a family favorite at my house too. Thanks Hannah!

Nectarine Salad

10 c. mixed salad greens

1 small red bell pepper, diced

2 nectarines, sliced thin

3 oz. crumbled feta cheese

1/2 c. toasted pecans

1/2 c. sweetened, dried cranberries

salt and pepper

In a salad bowl combine greens, pepper, nectarines, feta, pecans and cranberries. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Dressing:

1/2 c. sugar

1/3 c. white wine vinegar

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. dry mustard

1 T. grated onion

1 c. canola oil

1 kiwifruit, peeled and chopped

1 T. poppy seeds

Mix sugar, vinegar, salt, dry mustard, and onion in blender. **With motor running, gradually add oil in a steady stream. Add kiwifruit and mix until thickened. Fold in poppy seeds.

Drizzle salad with dressing to taste and toss to coat. Garnish with a few cranberries.

*Cheater tip: If you live local, the Boxx Berry Farm Key Lime Salad Dressing can be used instead of making the dressing. I found this by accident and it was a happy accident. Though we love the poppyseed kiwi recipe more.

**I stop and start my blender as it is a powerful machine and I'd have a mess.

Sister From Another Mother

Becky and Troy are visiting from Missouri or MO as I call it. Becky is our sister from another mother. Her mom's name is Doris Jean, same as our mom. Her Mom and our Mom share the same birthday month and year. It's kinda freaky.

We are sisters that LOVE the word fresh. It's goofy but true. We love fresh. It's something we must have inherited from our mothers.

Anyway, she moved back to MO and we miss Becky. But she came for a visit. And we did our very best to convince her and her husband, Troy to move back to the Pacific Northwest.

We pulled out all the Pacific Northwest tricks. Fresh crab, fresh prawns, and smoked salmon for appetizers, eaten out on the patio, where there are no bugs and the temperature is mild. Unlike MO where the bugs, the heat and humidity would have made the evening uncomfortable.

For dinner we moved inside for grilled flank steak, ranch potatoes, grilled garden fresh veggies and a fresh garden salad. For dessert a summer fresh berry pudding with rum whipped cream made by Kathi along with raspberry brownie bites.

We served everything with Washington wines.

We didn't play fair. Troy and Becky can only want to move back now.

I set the table with Pacific Northwest reminders, rocks, sea glass, maps of the San Juan Islands and Washington, dahlias. Reminders of Washington, the Evergreen State to lure Troy and Becky back where they belong. It was an evening filled with lots of laughs, good conversation and some fresh Pacific Northwest foods.

Transition Week

It's the week before school starts. Summer jobs are finished. Back to school shopping and registration this week. I will need a trip to Costco for packing lunches and making dinners. The Fair is finished. We had a good time, enjoyed just going and not participating. My favorite part of the Fair is the horse show. I always say that once the Fair is over, Summer is over. It's all good though because I love September.

Today I am going to finish painting Danny's bedroom/the guest room. I took his room apart after he left this summer. I put everything into the attic and painted the room and some furniture. I am refeathering the nest a bit as guys leave. I'll share before and after pics when it's finished.

I'm freezing peaches today too. Max brought home peaches and I've been slicing and freezing them on cookie sheets and then bagging them for my morning smoothies. Delicious!

We are entertaining this week. Our friends from MO are coming for dinner. It will be great to see them. I better tidy up the house this morning and get my menu set and table planned.

So, a busy day today but another great day to be a wife and a mom. I'm blessed by the daily stuff, this is the kind of day I love. Have a good one!

Looking Back

This photo is from last year.

There is no this year.

Max isn't showing dairy or swine at the Northwest Washington Fair this year. I do not move the museum gift shop to the Fair anymore. Our Fair days are over. This year Hubby and I will go to the Fair for the first time in many years as regular Fair attenders, and not until Friday.

We weren't working and running last week getting ready.

No Fair decorations, no animals being washed and clipped.

No one is polishing boots or ironing white shirts.

No one is leaving the house at o'dark thirty to clean the stalls.

No one is doing laundry at midnight for the next morning's show.

There are no fatboyshowdaybreakfasts being made in the morning.

There is no barn duty.

No trophies or ribbons to win.

No one has a curly fry gut ache when they get in bed.

It is different.

This year is going to be a year of "lasts" with Max.

It's hard.

But it's okay.

Dating

On Friday night when Hubby got home from work he told me we had an appointment at 6:15 in Bellingham.

Really?

Yep, at Anthony's for dinner.

Why?

Because tonight is the 25th anniversary of our first date.

I was blown away. I didn't think of it. I hadn't remembered.

But he did.

So, I cried. Then after I pulled myself together, we went out for an evening to remember. He took me to Anthony's because the Bellingham harbor and Everett harbors are similar and Anthony's is similar to Pelican Pete's, where it all began. We had such a great time, just like 25 years ago.

I love that guy!

Beach Cake at Birch Bay

Beach Cake

1 yellow cake mix

1 small box of coconut instant pudding

1 T. poppy seeds (heaping)

1/2 c. orange juice

1/2 c. oil

1 c. sour cream

4 eggs

1/2 tsp. lemon flavoring

Use a mixer, combine ingredients and then mix on medium for 4 minutes. Pour into a greased bundt cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes and turn out of pan.

Glaze:

1/2 c. sugar

1/3 c. orange juice

1/4 c. butter

Bring to a boil, and let it reduce a bit until it's thickened and is glossy.

Brush cake with the glaze after you remove the cake from the pan.

*If you use a castle cake pan, the cake makes too much batter so I use enough batter to make a small loaf pan of cake too.

*I use flour/oil spray and lots of it. I've never had a problem, the cake comes right out.

*The "rocks" around the cake are candy and the beach umbrellas are from Pier One.

*This recipe was a bit accidental as I found one recipe and then made some substitutions using what I had in the house. It was a happy surprise.

The boot camp babes and their babes went to Mrs. VV's cabin at Birch Bay for the day.

We were celebrating our third anniversary, which was in May.

It was so much fun to have kids at the beach.

Sydney picked up many rocks while walking the beach with Karen. She loved this purple rock, I suggested a picture of her and the rock (that matched her flip flops perfectly) rather than carrying it back up to the cabin.

It was a fun afternoon at the Bay. The kids didn't want to go home and neither did I.

Thanks Lisa for planning a fun time.