Lilac, Gardening and Garage Sale Excursions*

Bonjour monde,

The scent of lilac is filling my kitchen and senses as I write these words.

Takes me back to childhood, walking to school just before it let out for summer, surrounded by that unmistakeable lilac scent, boughs weighed down by assorted blooms, and picking some on the way home; to give to my mom when the day had ended.

The blooms are late this year because we have had such a cold spring, this week has given way to perfect weather and everything is coming to life.

These are my red peppers which have finally begun to sprout, now if only some pesky critter menace would stop digging in my pots; I would be happy. The trials and learning curve for a newbie Gardner is steep! It seems that cinnamon and then some stinky onion spray have not worked their magic, I will not be deterred!

I finally made my Southern Spiced Fried Chicken with a special salty/sweet glaze. It's gluten-free and gets gobbled up, so I had to take pics pretty quickly. This recipe will be available in my cookbook only, but it will be worth the wait. I was surprised by how much extra glaze the fam kept adding to their pieces of chicken; as it was on a whim that I decided to create that finish for the popular chicken recipe. Happy that it went over well and learned my lesson on the double it up next time front.

This one was an extra smothered piece after I had already poured some glaze on it. We were laughing at how much was being used, would you like some chicken with your glaze?

Anywhoodles, I moved forward and am happy to report that all granola batches were an absolute success! I am thinking of posting this recipe at some point, hopefully on a tasty Tuesday soon.

That one is the almond and blueberry cranberry maple granola, boomtastic!

Come back for it because you are going to want it over and over, I think it would also make great DIY gifts. In a Mason jar with a pretty lid, fancy ribbon and nice tags. Yeah, that could work out nicely for the holidays later on this year.

Hey, it's never to late or early to plan ahead and start buying or making Christmas gifts.

I plan on doing some serious canning and jam/compote/jelly/pickling this summer and fall. God willing it will all turn out and my friend's and fam will have delicious noms that you just can't buy.

We went to these city-wide garage sales this past Saturday and scored loads of garden stuff, pots, tomato cages, camping dishware, and all these Mason jars; on the cheap!

My aunt is amazing at bargaining down, I suck at it. It amazes us all that she's so good. She sweetly and jokingly butters up the seller's; they smile and crack jokes with her and she gets more bang for her buck. I am just awkward, unsure, mortified & uncomfortable. I feel like I am being shifty or doing something wrong.

It may not be the best way but I'll pay the asking price, don't judge me...

My mom scored a dozen Mason jars for 0.25 cents for a whole box!

Yeah, a dozen jars for 25 cents; which would have been $12.99 plus tax at the store. I must say, people were super happy to be rid of them, us canning folks snag and bag with smiles all around.

I got 6 boxes more for about $10, and I was super happy about my $2 camping set which I had seen retailing for $20+ at the sporting goods store.

If you have them in your area or even a bit out of town, I highly recommend going to these types of garage sales. People have stuff you need at way better prices, and not all of it is used or even gently used. Some of the sellers were business owners getting rid of last season's stock, overstock puzzles that were never opened or unwrapped, so much baby gear, clothing with tags and store folds. My uncle got 5 Tommy Hilfiger shirts and my aunt paid .50 cents each!

(Flambant neuf!) Flaming New, as she kept repeating in French. Tops I had seen for $49 & up to $57 in the stores downtown!

The only downside was that I got a touch of sunstroke, I had sunscreened, wore proper clothes, but forgot a hat and didn't drink as much water as I usually do. Too caught up in the excitement, I paid for it and ended up having to cancel my plans for my birthday on Sunday. I spent most of the day in bed, seriously nauseated, with cold compresses and a pounding headache. I slept a lot and it finally started to clear off a bit in the evening-loads of fluids helped. I am not going to complain though because we had a blasty blast on Saturday and party plans can happen another time.