Shrimp on the barbie and grocery shopping with Pap!

             I went to the grocery store today, with my Father-in-Law... Pap.

Honestly I can not think of a more fun activity, since he reminds me so much of my Poppop. Pap doesn't drive anymore and when I took Max over to cut his grass today, he came out of the house and said, "Brian said you are headed to the grocery store?" I told him yes. He asked to go... well of course!

             My mother in law is not feeling well, so Pap was riding along with me to do the weeks shopping. I was going for Shrimp, and steaks to do on the grill... I know - an indulgence, but it was cheaper than going out to eat, and there are enough left overs for steak salad tomorrow!

             ... any way... a funny thing happened after I dropped Pap off.. Brian's whole family calls me Amanda. My Poppop always called me Mandy~ always. It makes me feel like a little kid- in a good way mind you.... anyway as I was getting ready to leave, Pap said " you want a diet pepsi for the ride home?" ( we literally live 4 miles away .. that is how much I adore this man, worried I will get thirsty in 4 miles) I told him no- I was good and he said, " Okay thanks, see you in a bit Mandy"... I got in the car and immediately teared up driving down the road. It was like having my Poppop here .. I adore my Father in Law, he is sweet, kind and caring and very fatherly.... but for a brief moment, I wished harder than I ever have since 7th grade that my Poppop had not had a stroke and was still alive, cause he would have loved Brian and Pap:)....

 Here is a pic of my Poppop

I don't have much of a good segway into my Shrimp recipe experiment ....

Soooo- on to the Shrimp.

I had no fresh cilantro- so I use my dried from my most favorite store in the world- Peight's in Belleville,Pa. I also used one of my newfound favorite spices- Goya Adobo 

Juice from 2 limes

A little olive oil

Four garlic cloves

anddddd- some lemon juice

Mixed it all up pretty looking huh?

Threw it in a ziplock and let it marinade for about an hour

Then on to the skewers it went...Brian grilled it and all in all - it was rather tasty!

We made the steaks and had a grand dinner I must say...

My Master Gardener

          So- it is garden time in our house.. I am NOT the gardener- Brian is.. I want to be really, I want to be. I have a deadly thumb- not a green thumb. It is a running joke my Mother says," How can you stand the screaming?" I tell her to be quiet and knock it off.. she is referring to all my house plants screaming as they die a slow death of dehydration. Last summer I was allowed to weed, once in a while Brian actually let me water and pick beans!

           I am okay with this- I figure it is my job to cook the bounty and figure how to preserve it all... and research how to plant what where. We make a good team that way, he loves the gardening. It works like the laundry in our house. I sort, wash and carry it up stairs after using the dryer or line drying - he folds and puts away, we both are doing a job we like and do not mind.

          So- this weekend we went to Belleville to a Green House- and got a massive amount of plants- close to 30 tomato plants, 12 pepper plants, cukes and some other ones.. for under 20 dollars.. that is my job too, finding the deals!

           Brian then decided to start his turning the garden, he actually expanded it this year, we ran out of salsa too soon for his liking.

            Isn't it pretty- all empty? I wanted to take the picture because every July and August we say, " Why didn't we take a before picture?" Well now I have one!.

           We also have a shed in the yard, that was pretty much surrounded by some old mint plants and weeds, we never did much with it, this year, Brian was determined to use the space to grow things, plus I said I wanted beans and zucchini and he told me I was killin him cause I also want garlic, asparagus, onions and potatoes....So now we have this adorable little area for well- I am not sure what yet- he still has to do his little OCD thing of writing all the plants down and plotting them out!

 

           I am so excited for this area- I wasn't home when he first started otherwise I would have a incredibly messy before pic.. but for all intent and purpose- this is the before picture, and the after will hopefully be full of plants and edibles!!!!

            I can not wait to start posting about the veggies when they start coming in, to show off all of Brian's hard work!.... then to post the canning! Yea!!!!!