Oh, Julia!

For Christmas my mother gave me the Art of French Cooking and told me I had to watch Julie & Julia. We did... and tonight we're watching Ratatouille on the Disney Channel. Oh man, do I want to back to Paris!

But with all this movie cooking (and cold weather), I decided to break into the cook books tonight. We made Supremes de Volaille aux Champignons and Risotto. Yum. Highly recommended.

Fruits of the Garden

Things have finally started to grow in the garden. The hot weather of August has helped dry the massive amount of rain we received in June and July. While my beans didn't really make it, the cucumbers have done really well. I'm also starting to get some tomatoes. The eggplants and peppers have taken off, as well as the herbs and lettuces.

Here's the first cucumber we picked:

I'll have more photos this week. I'm planning on doing some serious clean up in the yard.

Summer comes but once a year

.... and tragically, this summer has not been so great on the North Shore. Sean and I have been working the YMCA's Family Camping program on the Island in attempts to capture as much summer fun as possible. So far we've been lucky with the weather. The first overnight, we had a severe thunderstorm roll through, but we survived.

The Island is my favorite place to take pictures of course, so here are some from over the years:

Summer Entertaining

The sun is finally out today and my plants are drying out from all the rainy weather we've had. It's also my wedding anniversary and it reminds me of how much fun it is to entertain outdoors in the summer. Our wedding was held in a seaside tent on a day when we were lucky enough to have exceptional weather.

I can't wait for more warm nights ahead and having parties on our deck. When my husband, Sean, and I throw together a last minute get-together we always spark up the grill and cook chicken and veggies.

For a last minute party menu, don't forget:

Chicken breast for grilling: Splash with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder and rosemary.
Cut up red bliss potatoes: Dressed with the same as the chicken
Sliced red pepper and eggplant: Put right on the grill

Grab some summertime beer, like: Sam Adams Summer or Blackberry, Blue Moon or Wachusett Blueberry. For the wine lovers, like me, an unoaked chardonnay is the way to go. My favorite is The Wishing Tree. And if your really ambitious, make some mojitos. I grow peppermint in my garden, so I always know it's fresh.

Then all you need is your good friends, some good music playing on the radio and the sun setting on your dinner party!

Peonies from Nancy's Garden

I love peonies. I used them in my wedding bouquet and I'm growing some on my deck. My aunt Nancy has tons in her yard and graciously brought some over last night. They've made my whole house smell light and fresh!

The Garden Grows

Sean is in London this week for business, so I decided I'd spend the day working on the garden. After a delicious breakfast at Taste of Thyme in Salem, I cleaned and planted in between shooing the dog away. They love to trample plants!

Here's Baxter getting in trouble
While I didn't plant this grapevine, it's a welcome addition to the garden

Mixed greens, basil and chives. My basil looks like ants or some other creature have been munching on it.

The green beans have really taken off and the cucumbers look like they're growing too. Unfortunately, none of the eggplants made it, so I planted some more and the peppers were slow to take off so I added lots more of those as well.

I have so many tomatoes left over. If anyone wants tomato plants, let me know!

White Flower Farmhouse

A couple other blogs I read have picked up on this great little home and garden store in New York. While not located on the North Shore, They would certainly fit right in.

It's called White Flower Farmhouse and they feature tons of nautical and beach inspired home decor. I'm loving this farm table. It would look so chic in a whitewashed, airy beach house:

These nautical flag pillows would make a great accent on a big chair.

They offer lots of fun things for home and garden. You can order online, too!