I never tire of watching the sun rise over the lake. This morning, Labor Day morning, I took a few minutes of quiet time out on the deck and let the warm sunlight wash over me before making the hour-long trek to work.
I hope that you were able to find a moment’s peace this holiday weekend. Happy Labor Day, friends!
Officially, there are a couple more weeks of summer left. But for me, September the first has always marked the beginning of fall. Back in {Michigan} it’s back-to-school time. At the store, we’ve been in BTS and fall mode since just after July 4th. And now, according to a {probably not-so} secret email I received in my inbox yesterday- This is currently available. You know my affinity for this fall-time treat since I’ve blogged about it before. I’m holding off until Wednesday.
After all…I did just get around to item #1 on my Summer List. It was the perfect thirst quencher for Sunday.
Something I’ve already forgotten about Arkansas even though I’ve been here almost three years {3 years???} is that fall isn’t just around the corner-even if it is the end of August. At least not the fall that I know and love; warm days, cool nights, lovely changing leaves, football, and cider mills, and pumpkin doughnuts. No, instead, fall here is still hot. Still sweaty. But that’s okay, since I haven’t quite completed all the activities on my summer list.
The summer list started back in the spring. I never wrote anything down, for fear of not completing anything on the list and feeling like a lazy moron for not having done so. I did, however, mentally check off items and found myself enjoying them despite the heat and humidity.
So… without further ado, I present to you:
Gina’s To-Do Summer List
1. Make fresh lemonade- completed
2. Play in the rain – completed
3. Paint toe nails.
4. Read More – completed
5. Get out on the lake – completed
6. Try out more new recipes completed
7. Take more pictures – completed
8. Make ice cream sundaes – completed
9. Re-read every issue of Martha Stewart Living that I own – almost completed
10. Revisit my old friends in The Baby Sitter’s Club by rereading Super Special #2: Babysitter’s Summer Vacation – completed
11. Picnic – completed
12. Pico de gallo!! make and consume as much as possible- completed
13. Other silly things as thought of!
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Playing in the rain felt extremely silly…and I didn’t so much “play” as I did stand and giggle uncontrollably while Thom stood on the deck and took pictures. Still, it felt lovely to let the cold rain wash away the sweltering heat of the day.
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First on my summer list of to-do’s: Make & consume as much fresh pico de gallo as humanly possible. Check…and check. I made this at least once a week in the month of June and the first part of July. Each batch got a little hotter than the last with the addition of jalepenos. Have I mentioned my never-ending craving for this hot pepper all summer long? No? Okay. I can’t stop thinking about them….I have them in scrambled eggs {yum}, hash browns, with red beans & rice, and on sandwiches. And, finally, with some help from Thom…my poor fingers no longer burn from all the chopping.
Thom’s no-finger-burning method for dicing jalepenos:
1. Spear the jalepeno near the stem.
2. Slit the jalepeno along the length. Rotate your fork and make another long cut.
3. You should now have four pieces held together by the stem. Go ahead and cut off the stem to release those pieces.
4. Scrape off the placenta and seeds. This is where a lot of the hotness comes from. I left a bit on for added heat.
5. You’ll have four nicely cleaned layers of jalepeno. Stack and spear them with your fork or do one at a time. It’s faster to stack and dice all at once.
6. Cut layers into multiple splits depending on how big you’d like your dice.
7. Hold fork firmly spearing the jalepeno and dice, dice, dice.
8. Repeat as needed for each layer and you’ll have a nice pile of diced jalepeno to add to pico de gallo!
I add mine to roma tomatoes, lots of onion, fresh garlic, and cilantro. Drizzle with lemon juice and toss in some kosher salt. Add tortilla chips and enjoy!
Oh, Blog! How I missed thee! Almost a whole summer has passed whilst I mourned our separation. Alas! I am back…with a most noble and dependable internet connection and fingers, for typing, at the ready.
It would be impossible for me to recap all the haps around The Lake House so far this summer. We’ve had our yearly visitors, journeyed to Kentucky and to my most beloved {Michigan}. We’ve been in the boat on the lake, picnicked on a black, shale-covered shore at sunset, and became, officially, owners of our lovely little home.
I’ve also been reading like a mad woman, thanks to my daily visits to the library to check emails and Facebook quickly. So much to do in just an hour! I’ve been checking off items on my mental list of Summer-to-do activities…and I’ll be sure to share those in this forum as summer winds down.
For now I am off to surf and check in on all my internet friends {and by “friends” I mean all those blogs that I stalk}.
I leave you with a glimpse of my new morning ritual….No longer will I have to travel an hour and a half for my fave lunch place.
