Much of Bunches: June 2013

So we've been in our new home for two weeks now. Wow, it feels like it's been a lot longer than that!

We've got most of the boxes unpacked, and we're slowly hanging things on the walls. This is one of my favorite parts (and Jeff's least favorite), because I feel like it makes the house our home. I'm especially pleased with how the wall next to the dining room turned out. (I'm sorry that the picture quality isn't very good - my camera has been temporarily misplaced in the move, so I'm taking pictures on my iPod.) It was especially tricky getting the large painting hung over the stairs without a ladder.

I'm really grateful that Cosette has adjusted so well. She loves being in her "new home," and there are days when she just wants to stay inside all day. This has made it a little tricky to run errands, and I have to reassure her that we're coming right back. She loves jumping off of the stairs, having a play room, and she enjoys looking out the windows (they're nice and low throughout the house, just her height). She also loves spending time outside in the yard, which she calls the "garden." An appropriate name, since the previous owners named this home Golden Gardens.
I feel like I'm not quite staying on top of the yard work, but I try to do some every day. Most days I get up early and work in the yard before Cosette gets up. It's quiet and peaceful, and I really enjoy it. Another fun thing I've discovered is making flower arrangements from yard clippings. I try to only use those that I have to trim back anyway, not cutting any flowers just to put them in a vase. I filled a few vases last week with roses, and this week I combined trumpet vine flowers with the leaves of a variegated dogwood. I was pretty pleased with how it turned out, and I look forward to experimenting more in the future.

One downside to our new home is that we don't have air conditioning. It got pretty brutal last week as we started getting up into the 90's and 100's, so I called a few companies to come out and give us bids on air conditioning. We're not sure if it's going to be in the budget for this summer, but we hope to put it in in the next year or two. And one really helpful thing I learned from the people who came to give the bids was how to properly run our swamp cooler. I don't know a lot about swamp coolers, so I was doing it wrong and it was barely making a difference on the really hot days. But now I've learned the secret of how many windows to open and how far they should be opened. I feel like the house will be livable this summer, if not exactly comfortable.
I wanted to share a good recipe I tried out for the first time tonight. We've started picking the first of the zucchini in our garden, and I know that there's a lot more to come. So I decided to try fried zucchini for a side dish with our dinner tonight. They were really good!

Here's the recipe for anyone who's interested:

Thinly slice 1 zucchini (this filled two of my frying pans, single layer)

Mix together cornmeal, flour, and seasonings to taste (I used garlic salt, seasoning salt, and italian seasoning). I don't have exact amounts, but I ended up running out partway through making them, so I would say do a little more than you think you'll need, around 3/4 cup - 1 cup.

Heat olive oil in frying pan(s) over medium high heat until the oil is rippling but not smoking.

Dip zucchini slices into milk (could also do egg or an egg/milk mixture, but I was out of eggs and they turned out just fine with just milk), then dip in dry mixture.

Place in skillet in a single layer. Fry until golden brown (about 3 minutes), then flip and brown on the other side.

This is all I did, but the recipe said you could sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top and cook for 1-2 more minutes until the cheese melts. I didn't try this since we're avoiding dairy for Jeff, and I thought they were fine without. They were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside - yum! You can eat them plain or with tomato sauce or ranch dressing for dipping.

Well, we hope that everyone is enjoying their summer so far! I'm going to continue to experiment with items from our garden. The previous homeowners were generous enough to plant it for us before they moved, but I'm not sure what to do with all of these vegetables. Please let me know if you have any favorite recipes that include the following:

zucchini, yellow squash, green beans, tomatoes, beets, cucumbers, and pumpkins (they also planted green peppers, broccoli, spinach and carrots)

Jeff and I are now the proud owners of this beautiful home in West Jordan, Utah. These first few pictures are from the listing - today there are a lot more leaves on the trees and flowers in the yard. I don't want to post any indoor pictures until we're settled.

Although the materials are different, the general layout of the outside
of our home is very similar to my childhood home in Virginia.
(go to http://www.homesnap.com/VA/Springfield/6810-Gillings-Road)