Experimenting, Always Experimenting

You just cannot imagine how thrilled I am right about now. No, I didn't hear anything from Mt. Dora. I did, on the other hand, benefit from having Mr. Bruce working from home. For months and months, make that about eight, or ever since I moved my office, I've been having internet connection problems. Some days it worked just fine, however the majority of those days, it's been as slow as molasses. Of course some of you may have never poured molasses out of a jar. For you folks--trust me, it pours super, super slow.  I am typing my first blog post with the aid of a Netgear Universal WiFi Range Extender, purchased by none other than Mr. Bruce. Furthermore, he set it right up, so now I'm connecting like nobodies business. Hurray for the little things in life!

Sunday night I grilled lettuce for the first time. Grilled lettuce? Indeed. I first read a recipe for such in my Agnes & Muriel cookbook which we've discussed in the past. So, it's taken me what, maybe seven years to try it? I purchased these cute little heads of Romaine from Freshfield Farms last week with the grilling idea in mind. Guess what? I didn't like it. What we both loved was our grilled chicken made delicious with the Peri-Peri seasoning. Now you could order some from Amazon, but it is somewhat expensive, or if you live nearby, I may be able to convince Matt to bring lots home from England when he's visiting for Thanksgiving. What's so weird is that although items are expensive in London, the spice is cheaper there than we can buy it here. Go figure. Must be the importing.

The tomato was perfect as was the Mary B biscuit. That looks like a bunch of food doesn't it? It was. The lettuce, my friends, is charred on purpose. Following the recipe you know.

Monday night Bruce was all jazzed to try out a new place that has been months in the making. Called Sonoma, which to me makes no sense as it is mainly a fancy beer place, they opened only days ago.

The verdict? They carry Old Speckled Hen. Need I say more?

While we're on the subject of months and months ago, there's one more to discuss today. While chatting with Tom about all my crazy art projects, he mentioned that if you put dish soap in with the milk and food coloring exciting things can happen. Don't ask me why it's taken me so long to try this because I can't give you a good reason. Now that I have--I want to do it again ASAP!

Instead of milk, I used the last of Nancy's fat free half and half poured onto a yellow plastic plate. Dropping maroon, dark green and blue food coloring, I followed that with the dish soap. Here's what began happening. Very, very interesting.

Not content to leave things alone, I added yellow, and maybe orange? Here's the set up below:

As you can see, I was working on the front porch. Man, that porch needs some work! And the finished image:

Does this not look like so much fun??? I suggest you try it for yourself and get back with me. What I need is more milk to give it another go. I do have the benefit of having "fall" food coloring which may not be readily available, but any combination of the traditional red, blue, yellow and green will do just fine. I just love the crazy shapes and movement. Maybe the ocean floor is like this?

Big time thunder and lightening just now--let's hope it means something. Our rain fall has diminished greatly in August, making for some thirsty plants and grass. Speaking of August--who can believe this is the last day??? I certainly can't. Before we know it, 2011 will be in the past, which many people might welcome. Maybe, just maybe, 2012 will be a better year for our world and her people. Okay, enough of that. What I was going to say is that since we went on vacation I've turned our sprinkler system off the automatic, two times weekly setting. My goodness! Our water bill has gone from $80+ a month, to $23. Now, that's what I call terrific. Every now and again, I've had to turn it on, as in last Sunday, but for the most part I'm trying to use what falls from the sky. The black clouds out my window sure look like rain. A girl can hope can't she?