Happy Birthday, America!

I searched for some patriotic hooked rugs in honor of the 4th of July and found a couple of great ones. They are both Sally Kallin, Pine Island Primitives designs. The wonderful eagle rug is called "Kathi's Eagle" and was hooked by Sally. Nothing says America like an American Bald Eagle!

This rug was recently hooked by my friend Rhonda Thomas - check out her blog, My Glory Stars, link is in my list of More Fun Reads. She does beautiful hooking! This Sally Kallin design is called "Olde Flag". I love the hit-or-miss tongues around the border.

Both designs are available on Sally's web site.

Hoping you have a safe and fun 4th of July!

Gremolata

Summer grilling season is here! We had to wait until our deck was repaired before we could get the grill out, and that was done last week. The wonderful aroma of grilled meat is once again filling the air in our neighborhood, and it's "good eats" time!

One of the awesome grilled meals we had included this fantastic condiment pictured above, called Gremolata. While the traditional version is a simple mixture of minced lemon peel, garlic and parsley, mine is a multi-herb concoction of all the herbs growing in my garden: flat leaf Italian parsley, basil, sage and rosemary. It's never exact, just a few leaves or so of each, minced finely. To that I add some grated lemon zest, minced clove of garlic, salt and pepper and enough olive oil to bring it all together in a paste. I then spread this on a butterflied pork tenderloin, which cooks in about 25 minutes on the grill. Absolutely heavenly! You NEED to try this!

In summertime I love mincing herbs, love the smell when I'm working with them, the scent lingering on my fingers. So the process of making the gremolata is part of the enjoyment.

What's your favorite summertime recipe?

Ciao!