It's Really Not A Cooking Blog

Another week has nearly passed since I last checked in.   I know it seems like the only things I post about here anymore are cooking and gardening.  So if those two subjects don't interest you, I hope to have some more interesting things to blog about soon.  My camera has been sent off today for repair.  I cannot wait to get that thing in my hands again!
I did do a fair bit of cooking this past week.  With that saurkraut I made, we were craving some grilled Reuben Sandwiches.  But first, I wanted to make some thousand island dressing to slather all over them.

Some mayo, a squirt of ketchup, sweet pickle relish, about a quarter of an onion, minced finely.  Salt and pepper to taste, and lastly, a hard boiled egg pushed through a sieve into dressing.  Mix and enjoy.  We "enjoyed" ours with some grilled Reubens!

I grilled them on my panini maker.  They were fantastic.  We have been enjoying the thousand island on all kinds of things too!
When I pulled the pickle tub out of the fridge for our lunch, I used the last one in there.  Since I have so many cucumbers coming out of the garden, I sliced a bunch of them up, and dropped them right down into the brine.  We have been eating them since, and every day, they are better and better!  So don't throw away your empty pickle jars.  Use the brine to make more pickles!

Yesterday would have been my beautiful Nana's, 100th birthday.  She passed away last September, only a few short weeks after we had celebrated her 99th.
Last night, we went to a family favorite restaurant, that Nana also loved.  We go there often, and they know our big family.  Last night, there were only a handful of us that could go.  But it was fun.  We laughed, told Nana stories, and had a really great time.  I wore her turquoise ring and earrings.  We all feel her presence, and feel sure she would have approved of our birthday celebration in her honor.  Below is a favorite photo of Nana, with my Mom, my two daughters, Gennifer's brand new baby girl, Hannah, and myself.  Five generations of females in our family.  Nana, our matriarch.

Nana and my Mom, a couple summers ago, at Newport Beach, where we did family photographs.

We toasted to Nana, with our favorite wine.

To Nana, we raise our glasses.

Mom brought Nana's special birthday hat that she wore for so many of her birthdays.  We took turns wearing it.  Here is my little brother Tim wearing her hat.

My nephew Chad.

The restaurant even sent us a piece of birthday cheesecake with birthday candle. We sang Happy Birthday to her, and my Mom blew her candle out, with tears in  her eyes.  I am sure her wish, was that she was sitting right there with us.  We miss her so.

After dinner, we lingered out in front for awhile, chatting.  Then decided to take a photo underneath the Crab Cooker sign, as we often do when we gather for any celebrations.  My Uncle John and Aunt Sue had already left, so they were not in the photo.  And this is only about 1/3 of our usual, much larger group.

Taken by the manager with my iphone.  Gosh, I miss my camera!!!   It was a nice evening celebrating her.
A little more on cooking.  I had a craving for meatballs the other day.  Probably because I saw that my friend Elaine posted a picture of her homemade meatballs on her IG feed.  I had a couple pounds of lean ground beef that I had just gotten at the market.  And I knew I had a couple of sweet Italian sausage links in the freezer.

Two pounds ground beef, 3 sweet Italian sausage links, casings removed.  Two eggs, handful of fresh chopped parsley, 3 cloves minced garlic, about 1/3 cup of parmesan cheese,  about 1 cup bread crumbs, about 1 1/2 cups milk, and salt and pepper to taste. Roll into meatballs.
I browned them in a little olive oil, rolling to brown on all sides.  Then I dropped them down into a pot of roasted tomato sauce that I made from my tomatoes earlier.

I let them simmer for an hour in the sauce, and then served them over spaghetti noodles for dinner.

They were SO good!  This was only a small portion of them though.  I took half of the meatballs and put them in another container with some sauce, to use for meatball sandwiches.  We had those today, on toasted hoagie rolls with melted provolone cheese and sauce!

Insanely delicious!
Today after going out to the garden I wound up with another large bowl of tomatoes.  And we had a fridge full of ripe avocados too.  So I took one side of the kitchen and Greg the other, and he made his guacamole, and I made salsa.

We were going to go to the lake this weekend, but just decided to stick around here and do a few things.  The weather has been so ugly.  Hot..hot...hot, and muggy!  It is lightly raining right now.
My garden is only producing a few things right now.  I have harvested most of it, before the heat burns it up. I had some funny looking carrots!

I hope your summer is going well.  I will be back soon with a post that doesn't involve cooking or gardening.
XO  Kris