A Simple but Happy Fourth Of July

We had to have an early lunch today 
because hubby had to be at work at 1:00 oclock. We picked something that would cook up really fast but still keep in the tradition of foods served on the 4th of July. What do you think it was? LOL... it was hot dogs!

We fired up the grill
so we could get those beautiful grill marks on the weenies and I cooked up a pot of my hot corn salsa that only takes 10 minutes to cook. You can find my recipe for corn salsa cooked in a pot here.

It was a cool morning so I lay down a huge blanket on the ground
right under the shade of the pecan tree. We ate simple hot dogs with corn salsa and Greek yogurt for dessert. A few diced up mango's spooned over the yogurt made our meal cool and refreshing.

It was indeed a simple but Happy 4th of July.
Maybe next year he'll get the day off. Happy Independence Day everyone! I hope your day is spent making wonderful memories with your loved ones.... no matter how big or how small your holiday will be. :)
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Today we also celebrate:

• Republic Day (Philippines)
• Caesar Salad Birthday
• Liberation Day (Rwanda)
•  National Barbecued Spareribs Day

July 1: Happy Gingersnap Day

My day started 
by watering the flowers at 7:00am this morning. Next came the coffee. I settled myself down at the table with my laptop on one side and the newspaper on the other. I did a bit of complaining to my hubby about how I couldn't find a picture of gingersnaps that I liked so I could make it part of my cookie post. 


He explained to me 
how they were called "ginger nut cookies" back home in Australia. Before I knew it- The smell of cookies were hovering over my head. I guess my conversation about gingersnap cookies made him want some because in no time there was a pile of cookies sitting on the table. The hubby made 3 batches. I don't think I have to tell you how thrilling it was to sit and work at the table while eating warm and crispy cookies with a fresh pot of coffee. Not to mention.... I got my photo of gingersnaps. I love it when my hubby has the day off.  :)

► See National Gingersnap Day at my holiday directory.
► Stephen said he used the recipe from allrecipes.com/grandmas-gingersnap-cookies
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This Food Holiday shares July 1 with....... 

Second Half of the New Year Day, International Joke Day, Doctors Day (India, National Financial Freedom Day, Zip Code Day, Canada Day formerly Dominion Day, Independence Day (Burundi), Independence Day (Rwanda), Independence Day (Somalia), Republic Day (Ghana), July Morning tradition in Bulgaria, and Creative Ice Cream Flavors Day.

National Build A Scarecrow Day. This is a movable holiday. It's celebrated the 1st Sunday of July.... which means today, July 1 for 2012!

► See my page at http://www.gone-ta-pott.com/national-build-a-scarecrow-day.html 

National Water A Flower Day

May 30th is always National Water A Flower Day so in honor of that I thought I would post this!


Look at the photo really close.
What do you see?
One of my chores for the day was to plant my Mandevilla vine that I brought with me from the house in Florida. I've had it in a pot for weeks just waiting for time to get it planted. Well as always my pets like to help me with all my chores and today my cat Panther decided it was his turn to give me a helping paw.

I dug the hole for the plant and he was right in the middle of digging with me. I moved him out of my way so I could put the plant in the hole and started packing the plant in. Panther walked around all on top of the plant helping me pack it in too. I told him thank you then lifted him off the plant and grabbed my trusty cel-phone so I could snap a few shots to send to my family on facebook. Then I watered my plant in.

To my surprise when I posted the photo on facebook I saw it. Yep.... I didn't even notice what he was doing at the time but as I looked over the posted photos I saw his stream.  Yes I did say "stream." Panther thought it was a good idea to peee in my soil. I guess he was doing his part at watering the flowers.

Well I hope this brightens your day on National Water A Flower Day. Now I hope you go and water a flower too. Happy Water A Flower Day everyone!

Oh... and just so you know.... today is also "My Bucket's Got A Hole In It Day."

Today I Paint

I just wanted to share with you what my project has been for the last 3 days.
My brother Eddie is a woodworker and every year he builds the props for the bible school theme at church. This year he's building an airplane for the kids to sit in and get their picture taken. No it's not a real airplane. It's just a prop but he sure did a good job on it just the same. 


My job was to paint the black stripes: 
We wanted it to look like a bee so stripes it had to beeee. It's been so hot outside till we actually hooked up fans to blow on us while we worked. I stepped in ants once. That's what I get for painting outside barefooted. I spilt paint on my pants once and dipped my sandwich in the bucket of paint once. That's why you should never have a sandwich in one hand and a paint bucket in the other. giggle~ what can I say..........


Now most of my readers know 
I moved back into the house I was raised in. When that happened I also became my brothers neighbor. LOL! When you end up your brothers neighbor, you end up helping him on all his fun projects too. Especially when his shop is right beside you. wink~ Hey how-ah-bout that..... you can see my house in the background.


Well that's what my project was for today. 
It took him weeks to build the plane but it only took 3 days to paint it. My great nieces painted the bright yellow, my brother lined up the painters tape and I painted the black stripes. It's been a long time since I've worked on a project with my brother since I lived in another state but helping him paint reminded me how fun it was when we had a craft store many years ago.


Ceiling fan blades:
You can't see it in the photos but he used ceiling fan blades to make the propeller. giggle~ This cracked me up! He fixed it so it would spin too. How much fun it's going to be for the kids to go to bible school and see this fun prop. Great job brother!

National Coq au Vin Day

There are many reasons to celebrate and did you know our calendar observes a National Coq au Vin Day? Roosters cooked in wine are the main course on May 29th but you can enjoy this great recipe on any day of the year. Replace rooster for hen if you like.


Today I wanted to talk about Coq au Vin in honor of National Coq au Vin Day. They say this is a French recipe that ends up like a stew. I don't know if it's considered a stew or not, I just know I love the recipe. 

It's made with chicken, carrots, mushrooms and onions. You know the staple foods in stews. Now that I think about it... there's no potatoes in this recipe which is also a staple for stews. This recipe is made with the whole pieces of chicken instead of chunks of chicken like a normal stew is made. Hummmm so is it a stew or not? What do you think?

Anyway I love to make this recipe in the winter when it's cold. Mainly because I slowlyyyy stew it for a long time and it just gets the house to hot in the summer time. I know the recipe says to cook it for 90 minutes but like most of us cooks we adjust the recipe to suit. Now one of the reasons I love this recipe is because you have to fry the chicken first. I know what your thinking. That means the dish is going to take a bit of time to make but it's worth the wait I promise. I have the recipe on my website if you would like to go check out the ingredients. Recipe Here

The spice Asafoetida is used in this recipe but I never add it. I had to go to my herb dictionary and wiki to find out some spice facts about it and ended up just using leeks. 
It says "(also known as devil's dung, stinking gum, asant, food of the gods, giant fennel, Jowani badian, hing and ting) is the dried latex (gum oleoresin) exuded from the living underground rhizome or tap root of several species of Ferula, which is a perennial herb (1 to 1.5 m high). The species is native to the mountains of Afghanistan, and is mainly cultivated in nearbyIndia. Asafoetida has a pungent, unpleasant smell when raw, but in cooked dishes, it delivers a smooth flavor, reminiscent of leeks.