MASHED BRUSSELS

And I don't mean smashed Brussels - which would involve hitting a Belgian over the head with something or other.

I call everything " mashed " - I know that some people say, for instance, " smashed potatoes " but in my world they're Mashed Potatoes or Mashed Turnips and Carrots - or Mashed Cauliflower

OR  glorious mashed  Brussel Sprouts  ( these are all good recipes to keep on hand as we get older and lose our teeth too )

This is how I make 'em.

First I cut an X in the bottom of them.
Why do I cut an X in the bottom of them?
I have no idea.

John's Mother did it - and so I must now always do it - get it?
It's the Yorkshire way don't you know?
( and I'm not going to argue with the part of the world that gave us Yorkshire pudding - no way )

He claims it removes some of the bitterness when cooking - maybe it does.

Then you boil them until there's not an ounce of nutrition left in them.
( this is important - the nutritions must be evaporated and floating around in the atmosphere - take deep breaths over the pot if you want to capture some of them )

Once they're soft ( very soft ) you add butter - and without letting John know - you add
Garlic
Chili Peppers
and a pinch of steak spice

And serve it with sweet potatoes made with butter and brown sugar
and a steak fresh off the grill
( then contemplate cropping out the photo so that it looks like you only ate 2 of those potatoes )

John says - These look different
Suzan says - Well I followed your Mom's recipe
John says - No you didn't - there's something different about them
John says - Did you cut the X ?
John says - And what's all these specks in there?
John says - It's just supposed to be butter
Suzan says - Bon Appetit sweetheart !

Total calories?
Fuggedaboudit - you only live once.
If you want to live longer you will NOT eat this every day or even every week - but now and again its perfectly fine to almost faint from food joy, right?

Bitter - Sweet - Spicy - Hot -
It's a party on your pallette LOL !

John's sitting there roaring -
John says - You kill me when you take pictures of our dinner
Suzan says - Oh be quiet
John says - Who do you think you are Julia Child?
Suzan says - Listen - Julia would have hit you over the head with a frying pan for being so fussy
( she didn't suffer fools gladly )

And I don't think I'm Julia Child by the way...............

Have a wonderful Tuesday everyone............
Hope it's a Ruby one by the time you say good-bye to it

I very very seriously have to start my diet...................
Eventually.
Much love,
Me




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GARDEN LIGHTING

Good morning everyone !

I know you've probably seen mason jar lighting 2,999,999 times before this -

My Son was over on the weekend to help me out with a huge problem (to be blogged about at a future date but the problem is solved )
It involved lighting - a way to hang up a chandelier to be precise - of which the base is larger than that whatever you want to call it attached to the ceiling.
In the den.
This is what we started with

Much to our delight we discovered that the wiring was installed on a paint stick basically

Can you believe what you're seeing?
I mean really - can you freaking believe this?
And there's no way a home inspection could have seen all these little " secrets " buried beneath walls and ceilings. Thankfully most of it has been updated now - this room and the living room are the last two nightmare's involving electricity ( even the certified electrician who worked here last year could not believe what he was seeing - bad - it was really bad )
It's shocking that the place hadn't burned to the ground many years ago ( which would have saved us from buying it and going through all of this )

Anyway - this post is not about that - it's about outdoor lighting - ( I just needed to vent for a moment or two ) thank you.
I've been searching for a chandelier to use for a year now........no luck.

I DID however have the horrible one we took down from the room my son is working on !
Picture it with fragile huge white globes hanging from each arm
I figured I'd simply turn it upside down and use it for tea lights.

John says - Why bother to wash it if we're just throwing it away ?
Suzan says - WE'RE NOT THROWING IT AWAY !
Suzan says - I'm going to use it outside over the dining table
John says - ARE YOU NUTS?  IT'S UGLY AS SIN !
Suzan says - Can you go help Gordie or something?

Last summer I used tea light in cages ( post HERE  ).which was very pretty but a pain when you're out longer than the candles last - than you have to stand on the table - open them up - and replace them. ( besides there's tons of area's they can go - closer to the pool would be pretty I think )
What I'd really like is a proper light

I brought the light into the mudroom to work on another day - but lo and behold THESE were sitting in the
mudroom - and you know how it is - somehow they made their way on to the light fixture almost by themselves...............

Do you think it's ok not painted?
I don't really want chips of paint falling in our food ( although painted and then chipping away would be a lovely look lol )

For some reason I'm missing 3 pins so the fifth one is not attached yet but here's how it'll look hanging outside.

I love how the light filters through the glass

I bought these last year to hang around the garden ( if you look closely in the tea light cages below you can see one hanging off the bottom of each of them )

So it'll be easy to glam up my new light when necessary ( you know, for those black tie bar-b-que's )

And I'll tie them in with these

And the best part?
My son is going to connect it with an outdoor switch - ON/OFF ( maybe DIM? )

OK - paint it or let the elements get to it and make it rusty ?
ME - who paints anything and everything - is leaning more towards letting it rust and hopefully getting some fabulous patina on it !

John says - I really like it - what a great idea
Suzan says - You do? ( because he very seldom says that as you know  )
John says - You watch - everyone's going to be copying you and using jars for lights now

I didn't need to tell him that I was the 3 millionth person to do this.
But I told him anyway..........because even though I can blatantly lie right to his face about how much something cost ( I can now do it without blinking or even crossing my fingers ) - taking credit where credit is NOT due just never sits right with me - I DO have some principles you know :)

So many dreams
I've kept deep inside me
Alone in the dark
But now you've come along
And you
Light up my yard.......................♪  ♪ ♫  ♪

Now have fun trying to get THAT out of your head all day.
You're welcome
I never liked it - even when most of the planet did, I didn't.

Oh !
Here's how it looked before - sorry for the quality of the pic but that's all it deserves anyway lol
I can't tell you how thrilled I am that it's down - and the ceiling's painted white - and my chandelier is oh so close to going up.................

I'm not sure what era it's from - but it looks like a bunch of moons to me -
And the last thing I need in a den is having a light fixture moon me.

Have a wonderful Monday everyone

ok maybe this will erase the previous one -
It's just another manic Monday...........................
I liked that one :)

UPDATE:  It was painted shortly after I posted this lol - a sort of Gold / Silver - Champagne?

For better or worse ( and I think I liked it better before but I'm NOT going to go there ) it's finished.

Can't wait for it to have lights in it!
Big hugs,
Me,



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