Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Boiled Peanuts

I was walking through the grocery store last week and there they were…. 

.Peanuts. 

In the southeastern part of the United States, you can drive down back roads and  will probably spot a hand painted sign  pointing you in the right direction for Hot Boiled Peanuts.   My grandparents lived in south Georgia and grew peanuts in their garden.   My sister and I would spend a 2-3 weeks with them each summer. We would pick the peanuts straight from the garden and bring them in to be boiled.  mmm mmm life doesn’t get any better.

hot boiled peanuts sign

                                                        (picture from the internet)

I don’t come across boiled peanut stands in Texas.  So I make my own.

I start out with a 20 oz. bag of raw peanuts in their hull.   Place the peanuts in a large pot and add water to cover.  Bring to a boil.  Add  a cup or so of salt.  I know, I know that sounds like a lot, but it has to penetrate that shell and get to the peanut inside.

You will boil and boil and boil some more to get the inside of the peanut soft.  Approximately 2-3 hours.    Keep adding water as needed.

After all that boiling you get these beauties. 

DSC01694

Just break them open and enjoy.

DSC01693   

Keep them in the shell until you are ready to eat them.  Place the uneaten peanuts in the refrigerator.  They are good cold or hot.

Let me know if you try them.  

Monday, March 8, 2010

Paint the Path Pink and other paint jobs

As you can tell from the dates on my post, I’ve taken a little blogging break.  I’ve had lots of projects around my home to manage and am still waiting for some to be finished.  So I have been a tad distracted.

This past  Saturday Leah’s school had a Paint the Path Pink 5K Walk/Run Breast Cancer fundraiser.   Paige, Leah and I went and walked.  There were 650 people registered.  It was a beautiful Spring day for walking and over $25,000 was raised for Breast Cancer Research.  The second picture is kids and dogs.   Leah is on the bottom row about 5 down.  

074

Paige will be mad that I posted this picture with her eyes closed.  Sorry Paige, but it was the only one we got that day.

076

Here is some other painting news from the home front.

Finally – all the faux painting is gone and replaced with  Sherwin Williams Latte for the walls and Ralph Lauren Metallic Summer Gold for the ceiling.  I’m so happy with the colors.  I have yet to hang the artwork back up in the room.  I just have issues with nailing into newly painted walls.  I’ll work up the courage soon I hope.

IMG_1042

IMG_1041

The kitchen and family room also were painted.  The family room is Latte now and the kitchen is Nomadic Desert.  I’m waiting for my fireplace stone to come in.  When I get that done, I’ll post a picture of the fireplace and paint. 

My other gynormous project I had to deal with was the shower in my master bath.   We had the master bathroom renovated right after we moved into this house nearly 5 years ago.   We loved the look of it, but after time went on we realized something was not right.  After much deliberation between tile people, plumbers and me in the middle we decided the  tile should be removed and the shower pan checked out.  YUCK! – rotted wood and mold….. This was worst than we thought it would be.

So I now know the repercussions of an improperly installed shower pan.

DSC01668

DSC01669

I kept thinking of a spiritual analogy in this scenario.  You know like sometimes everything looks good on the outside but boy it can be rotten on the inside.  Better get it checked out and fixed or it will fall apart.

I’ll post pictures of the newly re-done shower soon.  This post has run long enough.

Hope you are  starting to see a little Spring where you are.

♥ Joy