Weekend stuff and the upcoming list

My, it was a busy weekend here.  Seems like there was lots and lots of cooking on Saturday when Miss M. came to dinner.  Christopher has asked me for a long time to make chili cheese etouuf, one of his favorite dishes from a Cajun restaurant he used to go to quite often.  He bought the ingredients I didn't already have on hand and... although the recipe was two print out pages long... it turned out quite lovely (if I do say so myself).  :)

Since I know people will ask, you can find the recipe... here.  I made the chicken version exactly as indicated but left out cumin (which my husband does not like) and hot sauce (which my husband and Miss M. do not like).  One could add a little more heat by serving Tabasco on the side if one lived in those states that like their food just below Hades level.  

On Sunday, we traveled to the town close to where M. lives to attend church with her family and then have Sunday dinner at their house.  We had a great time as the two families get to know each other better.  I was a little concerned that fatigue would set in with the travel and all but I was able to sit and watch the others play board games and card games so rest was possible.

I was so proud of myself, I didn't even cover my eyes with my hands when Christopher was driving all the back country roads (her family lives way, way, way out in the country).  Okay, so I did mention just a few times that I thought he was going just a tad fast and that was mainly on the hairpin turns.  But we did arrive home just as the sky turned black, later to find there were tornado warnings not too far away (it has been one of those springs)... so I guess I'm glad we did not travel any slower.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), there have been more storms off and on today so the garden needed no attention.  I did walk out to check on the green bean plants, about half of the seedlings have broken through.  All the remaining plants look very good, they certainly love the hot weather.  The tomato plants had to be rotated to the least sunny area of the garden this year so I'm hoping they will be content there.

Speaking of sun loving items growing in shade... I have three peony bushes, one which was already here and planted under the dogwood tree.  The other two were $1.00 clearance starts from Wal Mart a couple years ago that I just stuck in the ground where there was some space... also near trees.  (Well, where I live you are mostly in, under, near, on, over, or around trees so you learn to work with it.) 

Anyway, the peony bush under the dogwood always has good blooms (albeit probably even more if in direct sunlight).  Both of the clearance bushes are growing nicely and one of them is developing lovely buds.   Some things work and some don't but I keep trying.  :)

I love peonies, they are one of my favorite flowers.  A few years ago we had to travel on country roads on a detour for about twenty miles and I noticed many of the farmhouses had peony bushes growing in full sunlight in rows near the side of the road.  It made for such a lovely trip!  I was curious, though, there had to be a story there since so many farm wives planted the peony bushes in the same location... many of the bushes were quite far from the farmhouse.

Now... onto the LISTS!  Tomorrow I will be posting instructions for you to leave your favorite books, etc..  I am going to keep that post up through Friday.  I won't be writing any posts here during that time (so maybe I can actually update the recipe blog!).   I will be moderating comments so you can come back from time to time and read what others have recommended...  tomorrow... not today... tomorrow (Tuesday).