A funny thing happened...

So, first of all PSYCH!!!


If you click the link below in the last post, I was all super serious about moving to another site and creating an awesome food blog, blah blah blah. Which I did and worked pretty well for a while. Then, I got burnt out and changed jobs and didn't have time to pour into new recipes and pictures and editing pictures and lengthy posts.


So, I'm not doing that anymore. And if you go to the 'new' website you get one link back to this older blog.


I think old is good. This is my VINTAGE blog. I'm happy with it the way it is.


I intend to only write things I want, so you can't really expect anything consistent like food, art or renovating posts like before. I think I'll just ramble a bit and enjoy spritz out some awesome words into a post. If that's not what you want to read, I get it. I only spritz for the enjoyment of spritzing.


So, now that we have that out of the way and I've began 3 lines with 'so', we can move on to important stuff, like my weekend.


*****
Let's start again....a funny thing happened.


So, there I was (ha, I worked in another 'so!') out shopping with my daughter. I call her 'the girl'. Or I did when I used to post all the time, which I don't. So, I thought I'd remind everyone i.e. myself. We bought her some new shoes to go with an old outfit (see, told you I like vintage) for a party with a friend this week.


Afterwards, we had some extra time, so I took her by the nail place to get pedicures. I thought it would be fun, and also important because she bought open toed sandals, and hello you gotta have cute toes.


Well, our normal place was too busy for a walk in, so we drove to a new place. The new place is closer to my house and actually ended up cheaper. SCORE! I thought it couldn't get better than this!


Then, The Fireman's (a.k.a. my dear husband) ex walked in. YIPES!


Actually, it wasn't that bad. She was fine. It was just weird. She tried to say hi and was polite. She eventually tried to tell me all sorts of stuff about my/our boys...Yes, it was weird. Especially when she acted like I had no idea how they were as kids....um....didn't they live with me exclusively for several years? But I kept my mouth shut. I know. Shocking.


She did slide in a jab about, "Well, I hope you like your nail color....*loaded pause*." Cause, ya'll, I picked a mossy green shade. I happened to LOVE it. I think it's really pretty on ma toes.


So, I just shot her a brilliant smile and said, "Yea, I know. I just love fun shades on my toes! Gotta do something fun for myself!" To which she replied, "Oh, yeah. Me too....just not today." and waved her boring burgundy fingers at me.


Disclaimer: Just so you know. I totally like burgundy. Maybe not for summer, but I don't judge...typically. I'm just having a catty moment.


Ok, I'm done with my catty moment. The pedicures were fun. I enjoyed being with the girl. I enjoyed the male nail dudes. Wait, did I forget to mention that? That was weird, too. But cool! They did a super good job!


I will actually likely go again. Even though there's always a chance I'll run into the Fireman's ex. It happens. I won't let it stop me. I roll with it.


The moral of the story: Be polite even in tough situations. Be the bigger person. Be catty afterwards. No, not really. Well, maybe a little really.

Moving...

Not my physical home, but JenMarie's Cafe has moved.

Please visit me at www.jenmariescafe.com

I'm really excited about this move. Right now, this site will remain as is for reference on my older posts, I'm not sure if I'll figure out how to move the info over. Hopefully, I will get them moved and this site will automatically redirect.

For now, please give me some linky love and click on the link and add it to your favorites bar.

You know you want to...

Flower Beds Finished!

I never thought that our front porch project, that we started last year, would take so long to totally finish....

The fireman had built these flower beds with timber a week or more ago and we've been picking out plants, digging up dirt, adding soil, laying landscape fabric, planting plants and mulching....

Here's where we have the plants lined up where they should go. I like the boulder at the beginning of the bed. Look at that mess!
Well, the fireman did most of this. I did some planting....

Garlic Kale Chips

I was pretty hesitant about how good Kale Chips could be. I had heard about them from Shutterbean and they sounded interesting, but I was a little hesitant.
Okay, a lot hesitant. It sounded healthy and all, but um, ew.

Then, my friend Jana said she was going to try them, and I was excited cause I could see if they were any good or not. Cause she's a good judge of yummy foods.

She liked them and then it still took me a couple of months or so to get around to buying some and another week yet to actually cook them.

Planting Flower Gardens

The kids only have through half of next week before they're out of school. I still can't get over how close summer is.

The fireman and I have been busy working on our flower gardens. I know, the plan was to do the fence next, but we got ahold of a garden tiller and didn't want to lose the chance to use it for free. Also, part of my Mother's Day gifts were all these pretty flowers.

So, the above planter is one of our pretty porch plants. I just plant annuals in these. That way I can change it up and add some pretty splashes of color each year. Gives me something to mess with.

Buffalo Chicken Breasts

I really wanted to call this recipe Hot Breasts, but I thought that might be bad for the search engine...

You know, like Hot Wings...but with chicken breasts?

I was trying to make a healthier version of Hot Wings, but I still wanted a little crunch, so I did do a quick flour and fried in a little oil. Not deep fried, not seriously encrusted. You could if you wanted to, but this is just a little bit healthier. Alternately, you could grill or panfry without any crust at all.

Next, wing sauce. What makes up wing sauce? It's hot sauce, plus butter. That's pretty much it. Hooter's uses more butter for their mild sauce, so their Hot is actually less fat. Follow?

Rhubarb Crisp

You know how at Halloween, it's like incredibly important that you buy candy corn? Cause you just can't get it any day of the year.

It's a once a year opportunity.

Rhubarb is like that.

You can't got the the freezer section and buy frozen rhubarb. That'd be weird. But also awesome. 

What is it about rhubarb that makes it so wonderful? I think it's cause it's tart, like cherries, but since you only get it during the Spring/Summer it kinda makes it more special.

I do try to bag up some chopped rhubarb in my freezer so I don't have to wait another 9 months until I get some of this yumminess again.

And now, my friends, rhubarb season is back. Let's welcome it in with my favorite rhubarb recipe!

I love this recipe for two reasons. Firstly, it doesn't have strawberries or anything else in it. It's all about the rhubarb and man does it shine. Secondly, the crunchy topping is sweet and has some serious crunch. The filling is ooey gooey and warm, sweet and tart. What could be better?