Pretty Peonies

If I had to sum up yesterday's comings and goings with just one phrase it would be "Hurry Up!" It was my own fault. Earlier in the week, we were already in the process of planning dinner with two friends when Erik texted me to ask if I wanted to go to the farmer's market on Saturday. Well...I can't say no to that, even though I knew it would put me in a time crunch. It's so much fun going with them. I get a little glimpse into their lives when I can see what foods they're buying and listen to them discuss what they'll do with each thing as it accumulates in their many shopping bags. And besides, I just love them to pieces.

When I arrived at their house, I was overwhelmed by the fragrance of a tree growing in their yard. I don't know what kind of tree this is, but it sure smelled good.

Here's a closer-up picture of the flowers.

So when I finished yesterday's post, I hurried up and worked on my slow-stitching piece. And, yes, it is kind of an oxymoron to say you're slow-stitching in a hurry. Nevertheless, I finished this section of the newest barn for the Heartland Barns quilt.

Now I'll be moving my hoop to the right where I'll start stitching the barn. And this being Sunday, I'll be linking up to:

After leaving the market, I had one other errand to hurry and run, and I was home just after noon. We were planning a steak salad for our dinner with friends. I found some beautiful mixed lettuce bags at the farmer's market, although I already had lettuce from the grocery store. Since it was a special occasion, I couldn't pass up that beautiful fresh lettuce. So I washed and spun it in my salad spinner, and then made the rest of the items for our Barbecued Sirloin and Blue Cheese Salad. I needed to make the dressing and the rub. Mike was responsible for barbecuing the meat, and so my part of that was finished. I didn't take any  pictures as I worked. Goodness knows I was in too much of a hurry for that. So I'll just give you links to what I made. If any of it sounds interesting, you can go take a look. 

One of our guests was on some sort of "keto" diet, and so I was trying to avoid carbs of any kind. I set out some cooked shrimp with some store-bought cocktail sauce. That makes an easy appetizer. And with asparagus in season, I roasted two bunches and made Roasted Asparagus Wrapped in Prosciutto. It was easy to do, but kind of a pain working with the thin and easily torn prosciutto. A few bits of prosciutto fell into my mouth as I did this! 

Also on the list, I made Deviled Eggs. I imagine everyone has their own way of making deviled eggs. I like mine with a little sweet pickle relish. Here's my recipe:

Deviled Eggs

adapted from The New Best Recipe cookbook

6 large eggs, hard boiled

3/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar

1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/8 cup pickle relish

Peel the eggs and slice each in half lengthwise with a knife.  Remove the yolks to a small bowl.  Arrange the whites on a serving platter.  Mash the yolks with a fork until no large lumps remain.  Add the mustard, mayonnaise, vinegar, Worcestershire, and pickle relish; mix with a rubber spatula, mashing the mixture against the side of a bowl until smooth.  Fill the whites about 1/2-inch above the flat surface.  Serve immediately.

And finally, even though our one guest wasn't having dessert, it didn't stop me from making my favorite Skillet Cherry Cobbler for Two. As I've mentioned before, this was my mother's recipe, and it's one of my favorite desserts of all time. It's even more fun because I'm using cherries I've canned from our own trees. Here's an old photo from an old blog post. You really need to see it to appreciate it.

I call it a cobbler "for two," but it could easily serve six. When my mom made this, she made it in a 13 x 9 inch cake pan, and it lasted for days. If memory serves, I think we ate it for breakfast with some milk. It's fruit, right? And milk, right? What could be more wholesome? If I inherited anything from my mother, it was her wicked sweet tooth.

Except for riding in the car from one place to another, I was on my feet from about 8:30 until about 3:30, and I was one tired pup when all that was finished. I gave myself a few minutes to sit, and then went outside to check on the peonies. They are so pretty right now. Here are the two Joker peonies.

I was standing on the wall above them to take that picture. To their left, the Coral Sunset peony had opened. This picture was taken from above. (I wasn't really sure the best angle to shoot from in the late afternoon sunshine.)

And then I walked down below and stood on the bricks around the flower bed to get this next shot.

And really, when I see something so pretty, it just makes me want to take picture after picture, even if they all look exactly the same.

So it was warm and wonderful outside, with no wind to speak of, and so we had our dinner outside along with a good side of conversation. Mike and our gentleman visitor, Bill, worked together until they both retired. I'd never met his wife, also a Barbara, and so it was a good opportunity to make some new post-pandemic friends. They are RVers like us, and so it might be fun to travel together sometime.

And that brings me to today. I'm going to cut myself some slack. The only chore thing I might do is to hoe the vegetable garden. That's a job that's best kept up-to-date or else pay the price for neglecting it. I'll need to water the flower pots too. The weather is heating up, and those flowers are going to be thirsty. Those outdoor chores are usually fairly enjoyable with kitties by my side and birds chirping. The only other thing I'm going to do today is sew. We're expecting much warmer weather, and it'll be nice to see the sunshine after so many rainy days. But first...Sunday morning blueberry pancakes. They're sounding pretty good right about now.