Precious Baby Coconuts

Yesterday afternoon, my friend and neighbor called me to find out what or who I had been yelling at in my backyard. She heard me out there making a racket and was a little alarmed at what could possibly be wrong. Although I confess that, at times, I would like to yell bloody murder at my husband or sons, I was actually taking my wrath out on a bleepety-bleep squirrel.

Right outside my office window, there grows a coconut palm. Now coconut palms are a little tender for this far north in Florida, and we had this one for some years before it decided to bloom. Shortly after blooming (which the bees adore), little baby coconuts start to form and grow. It's just amazing to watch how fast they plump up - kind of like watching corn grow, you can almost see it happening.

One day, I noticed I had a lot fewer baby coconuts than previously, so I went outside to see what was happening. Were they falling off? Were they diseased? A closer investigation revealed that they had been gnawed off! I kept my eye out for the culprit, and later that afternoon along comes Mr. Squirrel - a dirty rat under any name. He (she, they) was the sneaky thief that was eating my tender young babies.

Apparently, young baby coconuts must be especially delicious to this vermin varmint, because he is especially persistent. That's why I had to take drastic measures. When I saw him stalking my babies yesterday afternoon, I let myself out the back door quietly, tip-toed over to where he was making his approach, and started screaming at him. Don't ask me for a direct quote - I was pretty mad and looking to intimidate. He dashed across the lawn and scrambled up the elm tree, while I grabbed a garden rake and starting banging on the tree with it, threatening to impale him upon its tines the next time he shows his furry face.

So, that's what all the ruckus was about in my backyard yesterday afternoon. By the way, this is our second crop of coconuts this year. My first crop up and disappeared one day, carried off and eaten and drunk by the coconut fairy and his friends.

Yikes!

How did that happen - almost three weeks without a blog entry? I also haven't been reading many blogs or checking my email or the daily deals on Amazon.com or Woot.com, etc., etc. Why not?

Well, I had a last push to get everything ready for the Big Fabric Sale. A week ago Friday, everyone from our local quilter's guild was invited over to partake of the great deals on fat quarters from my selection. Many did come and, although the afternoon was unseasonably warm in my garage, shopped a good deal. I was able to condense the collection a fair amount and add some cash to my rainy-day fund, but still have many, many fat quarters left to sell. That means it's back to Ebay. I may try and sell more during our neighborhood garage sale on November 8, but since the majority of garage sale shoppers are not quilters, I don't expect too much turnover then.

I've also been super busy at work - actually working! By that I mean not playing, and catching everything up, going over the books to clean them up and get ready for year end, catch up on collecting monies owed and try to find ways to cut expenses. The business is getting hit hard by the recession, just squeaking by, and the squeaking would be a little easier if we could cut out some of the overhead. I offered to cut my hours, but nobody took me up on my offer!

Did I mention how much I love my Hello Kitty purse, shown at the right? It doesn't look like a Hello Kitty purse, but it is and I just love it! Here it's draped with a scarf I bought on my very first day in Paris. Apart from water and food, this was the first purchase I made in France. I took this pic after arriving home from the gala 15th birthday party we attended for my niece Yuriana where I wore my scarf and carried my purse for the first time.

Last One on the Block

I know that everyone in the civilized world (or at least everyone I know) has eaten at an Outback restaurant. Am I right? But I've never eaten there, never wanted to wait in line, or wait until they opened or figured that any wait that long would be worth it. Well, yesterday I found out otherwise.

I had one of the Top 3 steaks I've eaten in my life at the Outback! Of course you're not surprised. But I sure was. And not only was the steak great (Ribeye, Outback medium if you please, which is medium-rare in any other restaurant), but the Coconut Shrimp was to-die-for: crunchy, perfectly coated, cooked just to doneness without being tough. It was happy hour, so I ordered 2 frozen drinks made with peaches, peach schnapps, vodka and champagne. Wow! I saved one for dessert (and snuck it out in my iced tea to-go cup.)

The Bloomin Onion was greasy and great, and the veggies and wild rice flavorful and properly cooked. I don't really understand why the bread was such a dark brown color without tasting at all like pumpernickel, but it was tasty. I tried to limit myself to leave room for the rest of the meal. Pedro said he wasn't fond of the Caesar's salad, as the cheese was overly salty. Apart from that, we just loved the meal and left in an exceedingly content mood, to waddle through our grocery shopping.

What a great meal and excellent service! Plus, I had a $35 gift certificate, making a great meal a great deal. Maybe I'm the last person in the country to discover the good food at the Outback, but I'll be spending many good meals making up for my lost opportunities.

FYI, the Top 2 steaks I've eaten were both eaten in Houston, Texas. Number One was at an awards banquet at the George Brown Convention Center, a bacon-wrapped filet mignon. Number Two was at a restaurant in Houston called Houston's, oddly enough. Count on Texas for great beef! Number 4 was on a recent outing in Mexico, in a little family-owned restaurant in Dolores Hidalgo: a delicious thinner-cut rib-eye, lightly marinated, and grilled over real wood coals. And number 5 would have been any of really good steaks grilled over pecan wood that I ate at Durango's, before they went out of business. Good food just can't survive poor management and service.

P.S. Googled Outback Bread and found out the recipe has both cocoa powder and instant coffee - that explains the color.