Happy Labor Day everyone.   I thought today would be a good chance to catch up on a few things here on the blog.  I have bits and pieces of random things that seemed like a good fit for today.

1. This past Friday we had the first “Kathy Elkins Wing Cook-off” at WEBS.  If you read this blog with any consistency, you know in the past we’ve had a Chili Cook-off, Pie Contest, etc.  Baking is not my strong suit and although I can make a decent chili, I knew it wasn’t my strength.  My strength is cooking and in particular grilling.  We grill no less than 5 nights per week year round.

I’d been pushing Malea to have a grill-related contest so this past Friday was my big chance.  I make a good wing, but it’s very simple – salt & pepper for a nice crispy wing.

We had 7 or 8 entries and all I can say is yum!

It’s always challenging to cook on a grill that isn’t yours but everyone did a great job.  In the end I did not win, which is okay.  Congrats to Missy from our shipping department who had the winning wings!

Winner in the non-wing category hands-down was our Ops Manager Pete.  This is what he brought:

This is what it looked like:

There are simply no words to describe how good his salsa was.  Here’s his recipe – it’s pretty loose so it may take you a couple of attempts to get it to your own liking:

Pete-y’s AWESOME Grilled Salsa

Tomatoes-3-4
onion-1
poblano chilies-2
Jalepeno Chilies-2
Garlic
Salt
Pepper
lime

Grill the veggies right on the coals
Chop them up and added the spices to taste

2.  We have had a very strange summer here in the Northeast.  Most of June and July were very wet, August was sweltering and the last 2 weeks have been glorious.  The local farmers have really struggled with their crops – the field behind our house was planted with squash and by mid-July they had plowed it under.

Our own little garden has been hit or miss.  My tomatoes have done great, peppers have been a disaster, I have one surviving cuke plant, lettuce was okay and I had to pull out most of my onions.  Even broccoli which has always done well for me has been a struggle.  I have six plants and this is all I have to show for it:

It’s lovely and will be delicious, but we should eating broccoli for breakfast by now.

The one surprise of the season is this:

I bought two cantaloupe seedlings back in the spring on a whim.  I have never attempted to grow cantaloupe before.  Up until about a month ago I didn’t think I was going to see any fruit.  Then the hot weather came and the two plants started growing like crazy.  Look what I have now:

There’s a third one too and several small cantaloupes also forming.   Here’s a shot to give you size perspective:

I am just hoping the good weather holds and we don’t have any sort of an early frost.  I need this month to get these guys grown up.  I am so excited!

3.  I had a very sweet email from Kristin Nicholas on Friday inviting me to her next series of knitting & stitching classes at her farm.  Unfortunately, the dates don’t work for me which is too bad.  I heard amazing feedback from folks who attended her first weekend classes back in August.  Here’s the link to the class info http://kristinnicholasclasses.blogspot.com/.  This is really an amazing opportunity to spend a couple of days in a gorgeous part of Western Mass, on a spectacular farm with one of the knitterati!  I encourage you to check it out and if it works for your schedule, to get yourself signed up asap!

4.  Lexie Barnes has a pretty cool thing going over at kickstarter.com.  Here’s the link:

Another cool opportunity that didn’t work with the schedule.  I think I’m starting to see a pattern here.  Darn kids. . . . . . . .

5.  So last night as the sun was setting, I was talking to the boys and asked them if they preferred sunrises or sunsets.  Jackson likes sunrises “because it means I’m up early to go to hockey” and Jonathan prefers sunsets “cuz I can celebrate a great day”.  Interesting I thought.  So I posed the question on Twitter & Facebook.  Initially the responses were pretty even but by this morning the winner was clear – sunrises.  Reasons were varied, many like sunrise and the start of a new day and all things possible, some preferred sunrises because they were rare (i.e., they don’t see them often).  Water was a big player and location evoked a lot of emotion in the responses.  I can’t remember who said it but I’m right with the person who mentioned First Encounter in Eastham – right with you on the bayside sunsets!

I am definitely a sunset person, although I appreciate a lovely sunrise too.  The sunset in Hawaii was pretty spectacular as was the sunset on Nevis where we spent our honeymoon.  Nothing like coming down the 18th fairway to the beach and setting sun.

What do you prefer?  Sunrise? Sunset?

Cheers to the unofficial end of summer.  I hope yours was full of spectacular sunrises and sunsets.

Kathy