Challenging myself for fun

So I have been cleaning my house from top to bottom. My husband loves following the 1,000 awesome things blog. He shares each one with me every day. This has inspired me to start posting things I hate to clean, to see how many I can find. This list is growing day by day. Today's winner is the vent on the top of the microwave. It was so full of grease that it almost brought me to tears. I tried everything I could think of to try to clean this, from a scouring pad to a toothbrush. About 30 minutes into the job my husband suggested trying the Easy-off grease remover that he uses on the stove. (Yes, he is in charge of cleaning the burners on the stove). It worked like a charm. I would caution that it is a strong chemical and he ended up doing two sprays, one for the front and one for the back.(The smell kills me and I cannot even be near the stuff) The grease washed right off. I don't even know if anybody else even cleans the outside vent of their microwaves. In my next house the microwave will NOT be over the stove.

Grandpa's Haverst

So as many of you know, a few weeks after my mother passed I got the impression that I needed to visit my grandfather. As we visited him, I made a commitment to him that I would come out once a month to help him with his books, and asked if he would allow us to come out every fourth Sunday and bring him dinner. The Sunday dinners were supposed to be when we worked on getting things together for his trust and stuff like that. Sunday dinners have happened for the last two years, however, we have yet to work on the other stuff. What we end up working on is his garden. He does nothing to his back yard any more, yet he has this tomato plant that is trying to take over every free space of dirt. We removed two plants that were not near the general location of the original plant. This plant has unique origins.
Let me give you the back story. As family came into town after my mother's passing, we decided to have a "lets visit grandpa day." Shortly after their arrival, dead animals were discovered in his back yard. These animals were buried after a great ordeal to find the perfect place. This burial occurred in March. In July this tomato plant begin developing where the burial had occurred. The fruit is larger and more savory than cherry tomatoes but smaller and sweeter than regular tomatoes. Last year, the plant took over the planter by the end of last summer, grew over the wall and then over the shed behind it. We harvested buckets of tomatoes each time we visited. Grandpa also had a large supply in his fridge at home and at the office. We ended up canning them and using them in much of the salsa we've made.
This year the plant is back and has quickly merged into the blackberry bush that is in the planter beside it and the rose bushes in the planter across a walkway. Across the yard on the side of his garage we found three plants and there were more in another side yard. We pulled up a few of these new plants. Some had already begun to bear fruit. We only picked a ice cream bucket full this trip, but this beast it only getting started. I go back out on Tuesday and I am sure I will bring more home.

Next come the grapes. Ever since I can remember, my grandparents had this grapevine. Childhood memory was that the grapes had seeds and were bitter. This year, the grape vine overtook the apricot tree and produced more grapes than I have ever seen on it. Most were out of our reach. We stopped after we filled a bucket. Moroni plans on juicing them and trying his hand at making grape jellies. MY childhood memory thinks we are going to need a lot of sweetener.


The two buckets side by side.

As we were walking we found an avocado on the ground. We both looked up at the same time. His tree has so much fruit on it that it can't even hide the avocados any more. In the picture we took earlier this year, these avocados were still on the tree. The cracker package is just to give you a size reference.

Grandpa has not been up to going out in his yard lately. Sadly, I did not see any apricots or peaches this year. It amazes me that after all his hard work on his grapes and fruit trees, that they bear the fruit without his help now. I miss the plum tree that he took out about five years ago. For those who grew up exploring in his backyard, so much has changed. The fountain is still there, yet vines have overgrown the area. The tree house shed has crumbled since he removed the swing tree to give more room for the apricot tree. The garden area is grass and has been that way since grandmother passed, but the PVC pipe still sits on the bricks ready to water. At times, walking into his backyard is like watching a movie where they show the passage of time by the growth of the plants all around.

Food

I realized that over the last couple of month we have made some amazing food creations. When I say we I can say it honestly everything I have pictures of have been a team effort. Moroni does do most of the cooking in our household, however, I do have sometimes. First up the large lasagna for my birthday celebration. Have is a picture of the process we used to get the perfect layers.
Next come bride and groom hand dipped strawberries. This was created for Moroni's brother, Sam's wedding reception.

Lastly Tortas! So I was introduced to Tortas working at LDSFS, a little shop around the corner that I fell in love with this Mexican Sandwich. I love the meat choice of thin sliced bread beef (melanasa). So here is one we created at home. The homemade ones are good but nothing beats Torta Las Glories in Colton.
The picture don't also match the yumminess, but I thought I would share some of our good times. We are working on jam right now.