HAPPY FRIDAY!

Pic taken in Orange Beach, AL

Head on over for great grilling ideas for this weekend. Allie shares some really easy ideas for fast grilling with stuff you already have in your fridge.



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I have been in Pensacola all week. We've been working from our phones and computers and have been staying at J's mothers house. Yesterday I dropped him off at the boat for the tournament and headed over to Ashely's house, which is the wife of the captain on the boat. She is VERY cool and we always have a great time with each other. Her little boy is already 9 months old! Here is a picture of when I saw him last...he has grown like a weed. I will get some pictures, he's cute as a button and i swear he's the best baby in the world. We took him to sushi last night and we didn't hear a peep out of the little guy.

Baby Davin in December :)

Tomorrow were getting a condo on Orange Beach...both of us are looking forward to having a girls night. The boys come back hopefully with the winning fish! It will be a fun night ;)

Sunday we head home...which I'm happy about, I miss the dogs...and I'm VERY excited to get this granite installed. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Kitchen Stuff

Were installing granite in the kitchen and I wanted to share with you what colors I chose.  The granite name is Spendour Gold, this slab below isn't the same one as were getting, but close.  Instead ours has less rust, and more browns and crystals.  Very cool looking in person.

Then for the sink...this chocolate brown Grannie blanco below.  I'm still debating if I should choose the color black...I hate making decisions when it comes to this simple stuff :)  Really does it matter? In my eyes yes, in most peoples eyes no.

I'm in Pensacola this week for Jim's family and then for the Orange Beach Fishing Tournament.  Hope Reel Addiction brings in a big one! :)

Grill Fridays!

http://classygirlsgrill.blogspot.com/

How to JAZZ up your onions on the grill!

Mom finally has a home in Florida

Mom has been here for over 5 months, and finally things are feeling like home again. She has her house all completed, and we had our first family dinner over at her place last week. The menu, Southern fried fish and hush puppies with a fresh cranberry, apple, walnut salad.

Here are a few pictures of the night and of mom’s beautiful home!

Above Memaw getting her fish and BooBoo Bear waiting for some to fall...he loves fish and loves going to grand ma's house :)

That Baracuda hanging on the wall was caught by Jim and I in Key West...

GRILL FRIDAYS!

GO CHECK OUT WHAT ALLIE MADE!, Soy, Dijon & Garlic Drumsticks! YUM!

http://www.classygirlsgrill.blogspot.com/

Henna Lamp & Tagines/Tajines

I found a new store last week that was amazing, guess what is was?!! MOROCCAN. I have never seen such a neat store before. HIS website: http://www.living-morocco-online.com/ They had everything that I had been looking for, including many tajines to choose from. (Tajines cook your food at low temperatures, resulting in tender meat with aromatic vegetables and sauce, people also spell them with a "G" TAGINE).

I also found HENNA LAMPS, I got this one below...and I decorative tajine to keep garlic in. I have my eye on many more things, but I must wait! Check out his website for all things Morocco.

Silver Decorative Tajine

I used my tajine on Sunday and I did a little research for all that want one. I didn't know you had to prep it before you used it, so here is the directions below.

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In order to use your cooking tagine and get optimum taste from your recipes, it is highly recommended if not, mandatory that it is seasoned before initial use. Please follow these simple instructions below for maximum results:

The new tagine needs to be first submerged in water for at least 1 hour.

(My tajine being submerged in H2O)

Rub the inside of the base and lid with olive oil.

CHECK

Put into a cold oven and set temperature at 350 F and leave for 1.5 to 2 hours.
This process will strengthen your tagine and insure addition of a distinct flavor that tagine lovers seek at every use.

Poor oven needs cleaned, YIKES (CHECK)

Now it was ready for use..here was my recipe below

Naima’s Chicken Tagine RECIPE

3 medium carrots, peeled and cored (if core is bitter) and sliced in half lengthwise (I didn't have them so I used onions, and just layered them in the bottom like this...



½ Chicken, in pieces
1 large peeled potato, cut in 1 cm thick rounds
1 large green bell pepper, cut in chunks
1 medium red onion, cut in 1 cm thick rounds
2 medium tomatoes, cut in 1 cm thick rounds
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 tsps ground ginger
½ tsp ground pepper
2 tsps paprika
Dash of yellow food colorant powder, or a few strands crushed saffron
½ cube or 1 tsp chicken bouillon powder
1-2 tsp salt (to taste)
Handful of pitted green olives
6 -8 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup of water

It's READY for the oven

Splash 4 tbsp of oil on the bottom of the tagine. Layer your ingredients evenly in the tagine, starting with carrots, then going in order they are written. The carrots must be on the bottom, and the chicken pieces should be on top of the carrots, not touching the bottom of the tagine (When the carrots start to burn, they add delicious flavor and protect the rest of the ingredients – but if anything else burns, that’s not going to taste very good.) When you get to the spices and salt, sprinkle them evenly overtop the vegetables. Spread your olives on top, then drizzle the olive oil allover. If water is needed, add it now. Close your tagine and cook until your vegetables are tender, on a very low heat. This may take up to an hour – make sure you have liquid in the tagine or it will burn – and watch out for too much liquid, or it will bubble over.Once it’s cooked, turn off the heat and drizzle the rest of your olive oil on top. Let the tagine rest for about 10 minutes to cool off, and enjoy!

DONE, it was very good! It didn't cook long and the chicken was so moist. I'm trying a vegetable recipe next, I will let you know how it turns out. I recommend everyone owning one! They also make great servers.

I Found Wine Colored Gladiolas

Gladiolas are my favorite flower, and last week while in Publix I found them on sale for $3.99 a bundle! WHICH is a great deal, and it gets better! They had purple/wine colored gladiolas; I didn’t even know they came in such a color. I have seen purple, but not with a wine hue. I took them home and they are the exact color of my new kitchen paint. The pictures don’t do them justice; the flash gives them a more pink/purple look. If you’re having company over this weekend, pick some up for your table! It’s a cheap way to add glam to your home, I promise you every guest will be impressed.

Picture above is before they opened. Today I woke up to a full bloom on each bud! BEAUTIFUL!

Pictures below are some of the flowers Jim got me on Saturday, he saw that I loved the purple glads and while he was at the grocery store came across these purple flowers below. (Purple is my new favorite color, sorry Blue)

Mosaiced $2 Garage Sale Table

I found this table at a garage sale about a month ago. I love small pieces that you can use as a drink stand, where you have a chair and a coffee table looks to large, but you still need a place to sit your drink, well these work great. I painted the table black with spray paint. Then I took these mirrored mosaics (I found mine at a garage sale years ago) (Mom gave me some circles as well)…you can buy them at your local craft store and I mosaiced away.

Before I mosaiced it...

Lay your pieces out in a pattern before you glue

I used Gorilla glue (NOT MY FAV) I prefer Liquid nails. After gluing all the pieces down stick something on top so they are pressed down, this gets the glue sealed on tightly to the table. ( I used a wine glass and the mirror container)

Here is what it looks like now...

NOW I need your help, should I go ahead and grout, or should I leave it without grout. If you think I should use grout should I use a white or black? I would love your opinions. Mom thinks I should leave it, Jim thinks it needs grouted. Let me know your thoughts!

Beach Day on Sunday

Mom and I spent all day yesterday at Caladesi Island, which is located between Clearwater and Honeymoon Beach. It's beautiful and the only way to get there is by boat. We picked seashells, ate a nice packed lunch, and relaxed on our tubes. It was a perfect day. Pictures below.

Mom

The Beach

The ocean was very calm yesterday...

Our TUBE

Packed Lunch was fresh fruit and sub

He help us eat our sandwiches...

Grill Friday

GIRLS! IF YOU DON’T KNOW HOW TO GRILL A STEAK, HEAD ON OVER TO THE GIRLS THAT GRILL BLOG FOR AN EASY GUIDE ON GRILLING YOUR OWN STEAK! WHO NEEDS A MAN? WE DON’T!

http://classygirlsgrill.blogspot.com/

Weekend Projects

I had been eyeing this lamp at World Market for quite some time. Mom promised it would look good, and last week I finally broke down and got it. So glad she pushed me because once I got it home I fell in love with it. It looks great and now while I’m reading my magazines I don’t have to worry about light!

Second, mom and I found these lanterns in her neighbors trash bin. They were a rusty white! We both took one home, I chose to paint mine red to match my table. It turned out great.

I also painted my crabs red, their much cuter in person.

The Peacock and the Pearl

I have finally made up my mind on a name for the company I want to start, The Peacock and the Pearl. It took me over 5 months to figure this out! Hopefully in a couple of years it will be well known! "That's my dream" I have a lot of goals and I hope to make them come true in the next couple of months. I will keep you posted :)

Make You Own Wine Charms

I made my own wine charms over the weekend. I even came up with an idea I'm calling the "Wine Glass Bracelet" :) Here's the EASY directions below!

You will need:

jewelry wire (I chose purple, purples is my new favorite color)

wire cutters

Vintage costume jewelry or charms

beads

A jar of my grandmothers costume jewelry


It's real simple, cute the wire, crimp one end. Thread beads onto wire, then use a piece of jewelry or bigger bead (You can use anything) for the center. When your satisfied with the look crimp the other end. The two crimped ends attach to your wine glass...

The Wine Bracelet

I just took the wire, coiled it around the stem, then strung beads and stuck a charm on the end. Very simple and it jazzes up your wine glasses! :)

Weekend!

I have hung my lanterns that I have been putting off for the last 2 weeks. It’s starting to look like the patio that I have been visioning. I can’t wait for the nights to get a little cooler so we can enjoy dinner underneath them, they are dazzling at night.

TIP: If you’re drilling into concrete, make sure you wear gloves and have the right drill bit. (I had to learn the hard way)

VOILA!

July 4

Fourth of July was nice, we did tons of stuff around the house until late afternoon and then I heated up the green egg. We made steak, lamb chops, and mahi mahi. I also grilled up some zucchini and squash in my grill basket. Everything turned out yummy! Mom brought her famous potato salad and I made a mozzarella, cucumber, tomato salad with balsamic dressing drizzled over the top. It was a nice 4th, and the fireworks were great this year. Hope everyone had a great fourth! I would love to hear how yours went.

Grilling the vegi's on the green egg..I love our green egg!

Lamb chops and Steak

MAHI

Balsamic Salad

Mom's Potato Salad