Morning Glories

Morning glories have come back to my garden every year since the first one I planted three years ago. I had the same experience at my other house before moving to this one. Though annual, they are such prolific re-seeders that you rarely have to plant another one again after planting the first one. And if you get too many seedlings popping up, they are easy to pull out so you don't have to worry about being overun with them. So few flowers are blue that I treasure these little garden gems. I love looking at them while I sit on my porch and sip my morning tea. So if you need a smile in your life, try planting a morning glory and enjoy the view!


What are some of your favorite flowers in the garden?

I am a White Wine Kind Of Gal

White Wines

My favorite wine is a sweet white wine. I know, sweet or dessert wines aren’t really wines for the connoisseur but I’m not a connoisseur—just a wine drinker. J My favorite wine is a Riesling—guess that comes from that sliver of German in me. But I also like a good Pinot Grigio or Chardonnay—which aren’t so sweet.

My husband loves a good Melbeck or Merlot but his absolute favorite is a Montepulciano D’Abruzzo. Can you tell he’s Italian?

I wish I could drink red wines, but, like many people I get a headache afterwards and it’s just not worth it. Some people say it’s the sulfates but sauerkraut and lunch meats supposedly have sulfates and I don’t get headaches from those foods. Others say it is the tannins and that makes more sense to me since it comes from the dark skin of the grape as well as some of the oak barrels the wine is aged in. Some reds are low in tannins so maybe someday I’ll try an experiment but if I get a headache, that will be the end of the experiment because those headaches are debilitating!

So any wine recommendations for a girl who likes her whites?

Recipe: Lemon-Garlic Scallops

Hubby and I love scallops but we've never made them. Well that changed with dinner tonight. We adapted a recipe from allrecipes.com and we loved the dish. So I thought I would share the recipe.

LEMON-GARLIC SCALLOPS 

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2-3 cloves of minced garlic (depending on how much garlic you like)
1 1/2 lbs. of (fresh) sea scallops
1 teaspoon of salt
1/8 teaspoon of pepper
2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup of wine (I like to use a sweet wine like a Riesling but any white wine should do)
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Serve over fresh pasta (I always get my pasta in the refrigerated section of the supermarket--it only takes 2 mins to cook in boiling water--literally you only boil it for two minutes--and I like the taste much better than boxed dry pasta.) To cook the pasta, follow the directions on the package.

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in minced garlic and add the olive oil. Cook for a few seconds until fragrant. Add scallops and cook for several minutes on one side, then turn over, and continue cooking until firm and opaque (no longer translucent). I hovered over the stove to make sure the scallops didn't overcook. If you cook them too long they get rubbery. It should only takes a few minutes on each side. I sliced into one of them to be sure that they were white through out and then immediately lifted out of the pan so it couldn't cook anymore.

2. Remove scallops to a platter, then whisk salt, pepper, lemon juice, and wine into the butter and garlic sauce.  Stir to combine the flavors. Pour sauce over scallops and serve over fresh pasta (I always get my pasta in the refrigerated section of the supermarket--it only takes 2 mins to cook in boiling water--literally you only boil it for two minutes--and I like the taste much better than boxed dry pasta.) To cook the pasta, follow the directions on the package.

Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and enjoy!




About 10 minutes Prep, about 10 minutes to cook so ready in 20 minutes.
Servings: Approximately 4 servings