In yesterday’s post, I showed you my overgrown herb garden – overrun with rosemary, oregano, mint, and lemongrass gone wild. I also shared my intention to get it cleaned out and replanted this weekend.

All done, a mere 24 hours later! Here it is at 9:00 on this nice Saturday morning; cleaned out, replanted, and looking so much better! This time around I also considered laying sod in this beautiful little herb garden to avoid soil erosion. A friend of mine who has a green thumb once told me that sod could prove beneficial for gardens of all sizes, Be it small or large. She also laid sod (perhaps she ordered the item from shops like Green Valley Turf) and sent me pictures of her garden. Honestly, I was impressed by the appearance of it–beautifully maintained and organized. Hence, I also thought about using it and witnessing the results with my own eyes.

Anyway, enough of sod, let us come back to one of my favourite trees–the peach tree– which is directly across from the herb garden.

I covered it with netting before the birds could feast on the ripening peaches.

Apparently, just in the nick of time!

Two more quick photos to share on this Sunny Saturday. Yesterday, I spent the day with Tram, Zak, and Zoey! So much fun!

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My dear friend and former neighbor, Lori, sent me a recipe request all the way from Tokyo, Japan. Here is a condensed version of her email.

“Last night we took friends to our favorite restaurant here – Ivy Place. They have a drink that blows me away-it is lemongrass lemonade. Everyone was wondering, “How do you think they make this?!?” I said the only person in the world besides this restaurant who could possibly figure it out is Miss Linda! Ever heard of lemongrass lemonade? Here is a picture of what they serve.

It seriously is the most delicious, refreshing drink I have ever had (and I am a lemonade freak-so all the better). In all your spare time, 🙂 can you help us with this mystery and how to make this concoction? You may get a better idea though if you could just jump on a plane and get over here already!”

Now I’m pretty good at deciphering recipes and recreating them at home … once I’ve TASTED them! But to try to recreate something I’ve never tried – that’s a serious challenge! Quite honestly, it’s impossible. I can only make a guess, and not even an educated guess, as to what the bartender or mixologist at Ivy Place in Tokyo uses to make their Lemongrass Lemonade.

Otherwise, it wasn’t difficult to come up with a recipe. I have lemongrass growing in my exceedingly overgrown herb garden. I am going to clean all that excessive oregano and rosemary out of there and start over, soon, very soon … maybe this weekend!

At the end of the post, you’ll find directions on trimming garden lemongrass. If you don’t have lemongrass growing in your yard and you aren’t close enough to come over and get some of mine, you can often find it with the herbs in the grocery store.

One thing I did figure out after I made several attempts, Ivy Place makes the drink differently than I do! I can see that from the fact that their drink is clear and garnished with mint and mine is yellow and garnished with lemongrass. The yellow in my drink comes from the use of lemon zest. I don’t want to leave that out because the oils in the peel give you the most intense lemon flavor. I like my lemonade to be really lemony!

All that being said – Lori, here is my version of Lemongrass Lemonade. I’ve named it after you. Please make a batch, taste it and then give me some feedback about what you think and what might be added or taken away to make it most like the concoction that Ivy Place serves.

One last thought – Lori claims that this makes a seriously tasty cocktail when you add vodka. Strangely enough – I believe her!

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I found the inspiration for the final recipe of “Connor Week” on one of my favorite cooking blogs, White On Rice Couple.

Connor requested Roasted Cheesy Cauliflower which I also happily made. I figured, if one head of cauliflower is good, then two must be better!

The major change I made from the original White On Rice Couple recipe was to simmer and soften the cauliflower before roasting.

The Result?
Delish!

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Connor did not request this salad for his birthday dinner, but I needed something cool, refreshing, colorful, and healthy to add to the menu that was heavy with ribs and BBQ sauce.

I’d be happy eating this all summer long! Add some feta or goat cheese if you’d like. I left it out because those aren’t Connor’s favorite things, and on your birthday, you should never have to eat something you don’t like!

Summer Corn, Cucumber & Tomato Salad

Cilantro Vinaigrette
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Salad
16-ounce package frozen corn, thawed
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2  English cucumber, diced
1/2 red onion, peeled and diced
2 avocados, diced

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This is going to be “Connor Week” where I share with you the recipes I made for Connor’s birthday dinner. Yesterday was Connor’s Cake, a beautiful “candy cake,” today the main course is the star.

This is the second year in a row that Connor has requested baby back ribs for his birthday dinner. Last year’s recipe focused on the homemade BBQ sauce and the slow dry cooking of the ribs. This year, I slow-cooked the ribs in liquid and used the purchased sauce. Although this recipe is less labor-intensive, we all agreed, that both methods produced delicious results.

We had a “special guest” at the dinner this year. Connor has been house-sitting for nearly two weeks at Kim’s house while she and her family are in Machu Picchu. Connor wanted to spend the entire day here at home, so he brought along Kim’s adorable pooch, Charlie. Charlie LOVES Connor. Coincidentally, Connor loves Charlie too, and so do we!

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Connor worked on Saturday night, so we celebrated his birthday on Sunday. Marissa is in town for a wedding, which was also on Saturday, so it worked out perfectly since she could then celebrate with her brother too.

This is the cake I made for him. I found the image on Pinterest, of course. No need for an actual recipe. Use your favorite cake recipe or a box mix. Frost with your favorite icing, I used a chocolate buttercream, recipe included. Then decorate and trim with KitKat bars, M&M’s, and a ribbon. That’s all there is to it!

Connor’s Candy & Cake Birthday Cake

Chocolate Butter Frosting
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 to 4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk, half-and-half, or cream

Two 9-inch round cakes (from 1 box cake mix)

Three 4.5-ounce Giant Kit Kat Bars
One 12.6-ounce bag of M&M’s
Kitchen string
Ribbon

Chocolate Butter Frosting:  In the bowl of a standing mixer, cream together the butter and vanilla.

Mix in the cocoa powder.

Add the powdered sugar alternately with the cream. Beat until light and fluffy. If necessary, adjust the consistency with more milk or sugar.

Place one of the cake layers on a cake stand or platter and frost the top with the frosting. Place the second layer on top and frost the top and the sides.

Immediately after the cake is frosted, begin placing the individual Kit Kat sticks to the sides of the cake, leaving a very small space in between each Kit Kat (you need to do this before the frosting has time to dry and set up.)

Three giant packages is the exact amount you need to completely surround the cake.

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Happy Birthday

To my Beautiful Boy!

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No Friday Funnies today. In their place a “Not At All Funny!”

About this time last year, I bought a housewarming gift for Marissa and Jeff, a beautiful 8×10 Persian-Style Rug from Pottery Barn for their new place.

If I recall correctly, we bought it the first week of June 2013, it was on back-order, so it arrived the last week of June.

Nearly a full year goes by and they are enjoying the rug, all is well. Until the evening of May 4, 2014 (my wedding anniversary, by the way) when I receive a text from Marissa at 9 PM,

“I spilled nail polish on the rug & I don’t know what to do!”

Not yet realizing the rug she was speaking of was The Rug, I reply,

“Reminds me of when I had to replace the carpet in your bedroom with wood floors – I honestly don’t know – you should probably look it up on the internet.”

At this point, I’m really thinking, WTH? This is the 4th time that my otherwise intelligent daughter has spilled (or dropped a full bottle) of nail polish in her short life! When is she going to learn?!? Oh, and Happy Anniversary!

I should mention here that Marissa did call us to wish us a Happy Anniversary, earlier that day and that she had sent a beautiful card. She also went to great lengths to try not to text me about this crisis on my special day, by texting others first, but since they aren’t her mom…they, of course, were no help!

Then she responds, “I did. It said the rug is ruined. 

At that very second, it dawns on me…and I reply, “Exactly where in the house did you do this?”

I get the reply I most dreaded, “The living room. The nice rug.”

“Seriously??? Start blotting it with paper towels. Do Not Rub! Blot!!!”

“I did that.”

“Keep Blotting Until Nothing shows up on the paper towels, then send me a photo. Plus you better lift up the rug and make sure it isn’t seeping through to the wood floors.”

Then I get the next text, with a photo. “Not seeping through. Didn’t want to tell you, but it’s on the leather couch too. I might also need help with that.”

If you have kids, of any age, you know what I was thinking and feeling.

“I’m gonna wring her neck!”

“She drives me to drink!”

and basically, just…

“WTH!?!”

I call her and we agree that she will leave it alone and I will try to take care of it when I visit over Mother’s Day weekend, a short 5 days from then. In other words, Mom To The Rescue. (We agree that the couch is a non-issue because it’s a piece of cr@p that they bought on Craig’s List. It’s not really even leather, more like pleather, so I’m not wasting my time and energy on it.)

We research more and find several sites that suggest using aerosol hairspray or rubbing alcohol to lift out the polish, without lifting out or fading the dyes in the rug. She buys both.

After the full day of Amazing Race San Francisco, the proposal, and dinner with the engaged couple, I give them my hotel suite and I sleep at their place. That evening I get to it and do my best to get the nail polish out without lifting out the dyes on the rug.

Turns out the thing that worked best was the rubbing alcohol. I tried using a rag, paper towels, cotton balls, and cotton facial cleaning pads. The cotton balls worked pretty well, but the cotton facial cleaning pads worked best.

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Here’s another great appetizer for summer. If you don’t want to heat up the kitchen, use a grill basket and cook the shrimp outside.

Mixed Herb Pesto Shrimp Skewers

Pesto
3 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1 cup pine nuts, toasted
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup fresh Italian parsley leaves, packed
1/4 cup fresh tarragon leaves
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
4 garlic cloves, peeled
2/3 cup olive oil

Skewers
2 pounds frozen uncooked peeled and deveined medium shrimp, about 60 total, thawed
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Pesto: Place basil, pine nuts, Parmesan, parsley, tarragon, mint, and garlic in a food processor. Blend until herbs are finely chopped. Add oil with the machine running, through the feed tube, and blend to a coarse puree. Season pesto to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to a small bowl.

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