Gordie turned

14 today! Oh Gordie we love you! In honor of his 14th I baked him zucchini cupcakes with ZUCCHINI FROM MY "GARDEN"! I have the word garden in quotes because of all the deer, ground hogs, bunnies, raccoons, foxes and other assorted varmints - I must grow my vegetables up high where none of these pests can get at them!

Please enjoy pictures of Gordie enjoying his birthday and my "garden".

It's almost August...I'm looking forward to Fall. This summer has just been TOO DARN HOT FOR ME! We need a pool in our backyard - NOT!

Best,
Jane M

I've got some weird

looking cukes growing! Don't you think?

I've also seen so many recipes for the zucchini blossoms all over the internet. I'm wondering if I pick off the flowers if I lose the chance of maybe getting a zucchini to grow? I doubt anyone in my family would enjoy eating a blossom so I guess I'll leave them on my plants.

Here are some more pictures of Gordie. If I'm outside he's out with me. He's such a great dog! I know I write this all the time.

Over the weekend we were invited to friends house for homemade pizza. Joe worked all night rolling out the dough and baking pizza after pizza. WAS IT GOOD! Wish I had a slice RIGHT NOW!

Time to start my din-din. Pork on the grill with rice and a salad.

By the way, has anyone else out there got sucked into watching Deadliest Catch? You can come clean as I just saw in the newspaper today that it was the #1 cable show last week. Well count me in a voyeur - as well as I watched re-runs last night. WHY DO I WATCH SUCH SADNESS? Wish I was smart enough to just change the channel! It's not like I have to get up off the my comfy couch to switch the station like in the olden days! Oh well - WHATEVER.

Best,
Jane M

Our first HARVEST!

LOOK we picked our first zucchini. I guess we could have left it on the vine a bit longer, but I was TOO ANXIOUS - as usual! I could also pick this nice red tomato - I think. I'll do that later before I get dinner together. Kind of measly pickings - 1 small zucchini and 1 tomato - that won't feed the 2 of us! (Russ just left for the day - he's heading down to the Jersey Shore with the rest of NJ on this 100 degree day!)

Last night we went to friends house who made pizza for us for dinner. WOW - WOW AND DOUBLE WOW WAS IT EVER GREAT! Our host made the pizzas all night long - the oven was on at 500 degrees for 2+ hours! The air was on so it was fine. He uses a slab of granite to cook the pizza on. Me, whenever I try to get the dough OFF my pizza peel it all sticks. I'm told that the red sauce must be COOL in order for the dough to slide off the peel and onto the granite. Maybe I'll get brave and try again. I also noticed he did not load the dough with sauce and I'm thinking that helps too.

The dog pictured is named Lucy. In this picture she was talking to Gary. She is just a puppy - about 18 months old. She was looking for a slice of pizza herself!

All righty then - hope all is well. If you missed us in NYC at MRket, come see us in Chicago.

Best,
Jane M

While We Were Working

at MR these past few days - MY GARDEN HAS BEEN GROWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So not only was I so happy with meeting and selling all our fine customers, but we're going to have ripe vegetables soon!

For those who looked at the line and bought the ties, THANK YOU!

Can't write now, have too much work to catch up on.

Best,
Jane M

One Question

While cleaning the bathroom this morning, I decided to clean the toothbrush cup holders. Who belongs to which cup? Can you guess?

It's beastly HOT in NJ. Actually it's been really hot since the end of June. I'm over summer. It can cool off now please.

Tomorrow we go bright and early to set up at the Javits. Look for us at MRket at Booth 560! We're very excited to show our new line!

Best,
Jane M

I have a lot of zuchinni and cucumber flowers

but only 1 cucumber seems to be growing on all the plants! What is that all about? Oh well I gave it a good try. It is only July 12th so there is still time this summer - as impatient as I am.

Summer is flying by and the MRket show starts on Sunday! I can't believe it! Look for our booth #560 - we have some new display ideas!

Time to start the big biscotti bake.

Best,
Jane M

It's a hot summer here in NJ

Wow we are having a HEAT WAVE here. Yesterday the temperature reached 103 degrees. Today we might need mittens and hat as the thermometer will only reach 98 degrees!

Last night I had my girlfriends over for a Pot Luck dinner. All the food tasted great - I grilled a steak and everyone brought side salads. I also made my now famous bean salad which was also a hit. We ended the meal with my famous carrot cake cupcakes which everyone loved!

I'm very perplexed over my zucchini and cucumber plants. The plants look healthy - large leaves, and loaded with flowers but where are the veggies? There isn't even a HINT of any cukes or zukes growing! What's up with that?

In 11 days MRket NYC starts! Can't wait to show our new line of Fall 2010 neckwear. I'll start the big biscotti bake at the end of next week.

Best,
Jane M