Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. This week's Hodgepodge is Volume 123. What's something you've done recently that was as easy as 1-2-3? 

I made 2 gallons of fresh brewed ice tea. So yummy, so easy, so worth it!

 

2. The Wednesday Hodgepodge also happens to fall on the first day of May...what is something you may do this month?

Start my garden. Plan on planting tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, and cucumbers.

3. The Englishman Horace Walpole is credited as saying, "The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think."  How do you see it?

I'm definitely both. I feel way more than I should at times. Then there are times where I laugh off things and let them roll off my back.

4. May is National Hamburger Month...how often do you eat a burger?  What are your must-haves when it comes to burgers?  I assume you vegetarians won't be celebrating so tell us what you'd like instead?

I eat them twice a month. I love mine with lots of cheese (blue, cheddar or american), LOTS and I meant LOTS of pickles, ketchup, mayo, and mustard. I like it with bacon on occasion but we like to make ours with pork roll (taylor ham to my non-jersey friends...and if you don't know what taylor ham or pork roll is you are living a sad sad existence) 

5. Pansies, petunias, geraniums, impatiens...of the four mentioned which is your favorite in a patio pot? Will there be pots on your patio this spring? (Or whenever spring comes to your part of the globe?)  Who does the gardening at your house?

I don't really do pots. My mother always did and well she did them all. We had  a big yard growing up so it was always full of flowers and veggies. I'm thinking of doing some herbs on my balcony though.

6. When did you last (literally or figuratively) shout "Mayday, Mayday!"

I'm pretty sure I've never shouted it. Maybe years ago in school reading a play or story or some such.

7. Say farewell to your April in ten words or less.

Thank God the A-Z challenge is over with. It kicked my behind. I was great during the week but Saturday's were too hard for me to post. 

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

Ok not so random but if you see above my comment about pork roll and you've never tried seriously go out and try it. That is if you eat pork. While it is primarily a Jersey thing you can find it places like Pennsylvania. Most other states that carry it will call it Taylor Ham (which is a brand name). Taylor is the best Pork Roll in my opinion BTW. There are also websites that will sell and ship it to you. Anyway to make it is super easy. If it is not already sliced you slice it then gently make 2-3 cuts on the edge to keep if from curling up. Place in pan and fry. The typical way it is consumed in Jersey is on a hard roll with fried egg, cheese, salt pepper and ketchup. YUM YUM YUM!

A is for Apricot

Here it is day one or rather day A of the A-Z blogging challenge. I will be doing two posts per day as an extra challenge to myself. One is an etsy shop feature the other being food related.

For this first day I could have gone with the obvious choice of apple but no I wanted to change it up. So today you have apricot! Apricots are wonderful for people who are dieting
They have about 17 calories each and contain vitamins A,C,E,and K. They are also rich in Iron and Potassium.


The following recipe/photo is courtesy of  Janet Hudson of Vegan Feast Catering. She the author of the cookbook The New Vegan: Fresh Fabulous and Fun

Apricot Tarts

Recipe:
1 Recipe Puff Pastry
2 apricots, sliced
8 apricots
1/2 cup raw sugar
1/2 water
2 tbsp agar agar
In a sauce pan bring apricots, sugar, and water in a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar- add agar and continue to stir until thickened. Remove from heat and chill.
Roll out puff pastry and cut out stars - ladel some apricot sauce, star, and repart until you have a short stack. Top with a slice of apricot.
Bake 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

A-Z Blogging Challenge

 To help keep me blogging I have signed up for the 2013 A-Z blogging Challenge. The simple idea of it is we will be writing for 26 days (skipping Sundays) in April. Each day follows the letters of the alphabet. So April 1 will be A April 2 will be B To find out more or join visit http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/.


Among the ideas I have is daily recipes, kids crafts, feature etsy shops whose name starts with daily letter, along with other fun things that follow that days theme letter. I'm looking forward to this and hope to meet and learn a lot from my fellow bloggers along the way.

Don't have a blog? This is a great opportunity to jump on the blogging bandwagon. the more you blog the more addictive it becomes. What topics would you feature? If you haven't blogged in a very long time this is your chance to get back into action.