by jphilo | Jul 7, 2015 | Top Ten Tuesday
July is a hot and sticky month in Iowa. Even so, it’s one of my favorite months. Here are 10 reasons why.
10. I save so much time in July not having to dress in layers, pull on boots or coats, or hunt for gloves before going outside.
9. Fourth of July celebrations are great fun, but they are more than fun. They are a time to be grateful for the freedom we enjoy in this country thanks to the courage and wisdom of our country’s founding fathers.
8. What is more lovely than gazing at fireflies twinkling during as long summer days fade from dusk to darkness?
7. Sweet corn.
6. My birthday is in July. I will celebrate the arrival of my 59th year, grateful to be in good health, relatively sound mind, and able to walk miles each day.
5. My sweet daughter turns 27 in July. She is a blessing worth celebrating all year long, but especially in July.
4. That same daughter and her husband were married in July five years ago. They are an amazing, faith-filled couple who are living an amazing life together.
3. In a few weeks, I get to spend a week helping out with our youngest grandson. A whole week of toothless grins, coos, and snuggles. What’s not to like about a July that holds that kind of joy?
2. Shadow Valley Family Camp begins tomorrow in Idaho. Look out mountains, here I come!
1. The Man of Steel and I were married in July 38 years ago. I can’t imagine enjoying July without him.
What do you like about July? Leave a message.
by jphilo | Aug 5, 2014 | Top Ten Tuesday
10. One of your earliest memories is of the pool party birthday when you turned five. Granted, it was only a kiddie pool with six inches of water in the side yard. But it was great fun. And as the photographs of the event show, you look pretty good in your swimsuit.
9. There’s never any homework to finish before the party begins.
8. In the same vein, parties never have to break up early because there’s school tomorrow.
7. Sometimes, your birthday coincides with your vacation, and you get to celebrate in far away places like Alaska, Idaho, Washington state, or your aunt and uncle’s farm in southwest Minnesota.
6. Even though you live in a four season state like Iowa, birthday meals can be eaten outside.
5. There’s no need for fancy decorations on a cake when everywhere you look, God has decorated July with flowers.
4. Fresh-picked sweet corn is on the birthday meal menu.
3. Because July is smack dab in the middle of peach season, your birthday cake can be fresh peach pie.
2. You can use the coffee house gift card at your favorite coffee shop to order not just coffee, but iced coffee…and then sit at a table outside to enjoy it.
1. Your sweetheart can ride a motorcycle to the store to purchase the most hilarious Modern Family gift bag ever in which to place the coffee house gift card he bought. Then he can hide both bag and card under his shirt to sneak it through the kitchen where you are cooking sweet corn for supper. That’s a Phil Dunphy moment if there ever was one.
by jphilo | Jul 15, 2014 | Top Ten Tuesday
10. Radio ads during sports broadcasts feature seed corn, soybean hybrid, fertilizers, and the like.
9. During the recession, Iowa’s unemployment rate was 2–4% lower than the national rate.
8. Unbearable hot, humid summer days and nights are interrupted by cooler, less humid reprieves that make a person appreciate good weather.
7. Cookie’s Barbeque Sauce.
6. Drives in the country on summer Sunday afternoons or evenings.
5. Fresh produce stands from June through September.
4. Soil so rich your son, whose college major is Soils, takes pictures of garden dirt when he comes for a visit.
3. After a childhood devoid of raptors, the eagles and falcons are back, soaring on the updrafts.
2. The green, verdant beauty of our country lane, which brings tears to my eyes each time I drive home.
1. Sweet corn, sweet corn, and more sweet corn.
by jphilo | Aug 7, 2013 | Recipes
The hunt continues for recipes with ingredient lists that match the contents of our weekly CSA share and what’s growing in my herb garden. This recipe from Hy-Vee’s Summer 2013 issue of Season’s Magazine reads like a July-in-Iowa garden checklist.
The recipe is super healthy and very easy to make. It does involve boiling sweet corn (I just put 4 extra ears in the pot one night when corn-on-the-cob was on the supper menu) and cutting the corn off the cob. But the work yields a side dish salad for several meals because it keeps well in the fridge.
Fresh Corn and Tomato Salad
4 ears sweet corn
2 large tomatoes, diced, or 1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
1 small, sweet onion, minced
1/2 cup chopped, fresh basil
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt (I used kosher salt)
1/8 teaspoon cracked black pepper
Boil corn in large pot of water for about 7 minutes. Remove corn and plunge into cold water. (Or just set it aside for 15 minutes.) Cut corn off cob and set aside to cool completely.
In large bowl, combine cooled corn, tomatoes, onion, and basil. Toss with vinegar and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
by jphilo | Jun 19, 2012 | Top Ten Tuesday
Yesterday, the weather was hot, steamy, and breezy – our first 90+ day of the year. The sweltering and sweating that accompanied the temperatures revealed these top ten benefits to hot weather:
10. Days like yesterday take the bloom off the I-want-to-live-on-a-tropical-island fantasy.
9. Days like yesterday make winter more attractive.
8. Hot weather motivates me to get up early to walk, and then I feel ahead of schedule all day long.
7. Hot afternoons means either grilling or cold supper to keep the heat out of the kitchen. Yum to both prospects!
6. I have less appetite on hot days. This phenomenon has not yet translated into consistent summer weight loss, but hope springs eternal in this human’s hips.
5. The heat make a person grateful for air conditioning
4. Hot days are a convenient excuse for staying inside to write instead of doing yard work.
3. This is sweet corn weather. Can’t you just taste it?
2. Ditto for tomato weather.
1. Days like yesterday give grandmas-in-training an excuse to take the neighbor kids to the pool and soak up the sunshine together.
What are benefits do 90+ days hold for you? Leave a comment.
