What a weekend! B.O.B. Bob and I spent the entire weekend either shopping for lawn and garden items, or actually in our lawn and garden. We’ve been talking about creating an outside living space for quite some time now, other than the garage. Not that the garage isn’t wonderful, but it’s not nearly as nice as spending a summer evening sitting on the deck in the sunshine, surrounded by all of my lovely plants. I have a serious addiction when it comes to flowers, herbs, and vegetables; I can never have enough. This weekend alone, I purchased three rounds of flowers. I always forget just how many pots I have to fill.
To begin creating our outside living room, we knew that we really needed a new umbrella. Does anyone out there make an umbrella that doesn’t fade in the first year or two? They become dingy looking way too fast for my liking. This time around we’re going with a bright sunny yellow. I think it will fade nicely, unlike the traditional reds, greens, and blues. *Shop Bed Bath & Beyond for your outdoor table umbrellas, they have a good selection at great prices, and you can also use your 20% off coupons towards them.
The other item that we have been discussing purchasing for some time now, is an outdoor rug for the deck. We have a pretty large deck, so we’ve had a hard time finding a rug that would fit our needs. This one doesn’t happen to be insanely large, but it’s just big enough to look right for the space. *We purchased our rug from Lowe’s, which has a decent selection, but they have even more available online.
To tie all of the colors on the deck together, we purchased two throw pillows for the deck couch. I promised B.O.B. Bob that they would really make all the difference, and I was right. I could see that look in his eyes that said, “I’m a man, and I will never understand the reason behind a throw pillow.” In the end he agreed with me, and that’s all that really matters. *Bed Bath & Beyond has a huge selection of outdoor pillows and cushions that come in a large variety of patterns, shades, and sizes.
To christen our new outdoor living space, we decided to have a last-minute barbecue for two. B.O.B. Bob was in charge of grilling baby back ribs on the Big Green Egg, and I took on the task of making potato salad. For several years now I’ve been in lust with the dill potato salad from The Bagel Cafe. It has the perfect texture, somewhere between mashed potatoes and traditional potato salad; and as for the taste, “Wow!” is all that I can say. I think I came pretty close to recreating it, but with a little bit of an added crunch from the shallot, dill pickle, and celery. This may become my new go to potato salad recipe. I wish I could show you a picture of the ribs, but by the time they were finished at 9:00, both B.O.B. Bob and I fell on them like zombies from The Walking Dead. Yes, I did spend all Friday evening watching the first season of the show. After only having ever watched the fourth season, I was surprised to see how the show actually began. I’m looking forward to seasons two and three.
1. I’m not a huge fan of roses, but I always sneak a few in. It’s nice to have some plants that will come back year after year.
2. This year I’m experimenting with a few new herbs. Pineapple Sage, which smells exactly like a fresh-cut pineapple, Cinnamon Basil, which I’m hoping to use in a few desserts, and Chocolate Mint, which B.O.B. Bob refused to smell because he loathes the flavor combination so much. I think that one will make for an interesting pitcher of sun tea later on when it gets warmer outside. That little red thing hiding out in my strawberry planter is one of the many hand painted Strawberry Rocks that I made last year. They are supposed to deter the birds from eating your strawberries. I have yet to decide if they help or not, but it always makes me smile when I find one in the yard. Occasionally a squirrel will try to steal one thinking that it is an actual strawberry.
3. I finally got around to filling the clay strawberry pot that has been sitting in our garage for over five years. B.O.B. Bob is very happy that it has found another place other than his man cave to live.
4. There are never enough flowers. I think I’ve reached my limit for right now, but as soon as summer arrives I’ll be replacing some of the current plants for warmer weather varieties.
5. I will always be grateful for two things on my deck. The Offenbacher’s patio set that we have had for over eleven years, that still looks like it did on the first day; definitely up there on the best money ever spent list. And then there’s the vintage wrought iron flowerpot holder than my brother Matt gave me. It’s definitely one of my favorites.
6. We finally got around to opening up the bottle of home-brewed beer that was given to me by a guy I work with. It was insanely potent, but with a wonderful taste. It was also nice to finally use the Kona glasses we lugged all the way back from Hawaii last year. I can’t believe it’s almost been a year since we were there. I’m ready to go to back.
7. The new deck rug is surprisingly easy to clean. I thought that I would have to use a vacuum on it, but a stiff broom seems to do the trick. The new throw pillows on one of our three outdoor couches helps to draw the colors of the umbrella, chair cushions, and flower pots all together.
8. Mandevilla is my favorite plant for outdoor flowerpots. It’s absolutely gorgeous, and it thrives in all weather conditions. This is extremely important to someone who may sometimes forget that plants need water. I bought four huge plants this weekend, but will be buying many more later on for the pots out front. As soon as the tulips and daffodils are finished blooming, I’ll replace them with these, and they’ll continue to look beautiful throughout the entire summer and fall seasons.
9. Meet Churchill, who was the highlight of my weekend. We adopted him on one of our many trips to Lowe’s over the weekend. He also has a cousin whose name is Winston, who will be going to live with my brother. Churchill is almost realistic in size, which made him perfect for my ever-growing concrete farm collection. So far Willie the Pig and Churchill seem to be getting along nicely. I think they’ve bonded over the embarrassment of being dressed for Easter. B.O.B. Bob is dreading the day when I finally locate a life-size cow statue.
10. I can’t wait to spend the summer enjoying our new outside living room. It’s going to be a great place to spend time with family and friends, while cooking out on the grills.
Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 Pounds Red Potatoes (6 Medium Potatoes)
- 1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 2/3 Cup Mayonnaise
- 4 Tablespoons Dill Pickle Juice
- 1 Teaspoon Dried Dill
- 1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1/2 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
- 2 Mini Dill Pickles, Very Finely Chopped
- 1 Large Shallot, Very Finely Chopped
- 3 Stalks of Celery, Very Finely Chopped
Directions:
- Rinse all of the red potatoes, and then peel half of them.
- Dice the potatoes into small to medium evenly sized chunks.
- Cover the potatoes with two inches of water in a large pot, and add 1 teaspoon of kosher salt.
- Bring the potatoes to a boil, and cook until done. This should take anywhere between 20 and 30 minutes.
- Drain the potatoes well.
- Place 2 cups of the potatoes into a large mixing bowl, and mash with a fork or potato masher.
- Add the mayonnaise, pickle juice, dill, salt, pepper, pickles, shallot, and celery; mix well.
- Add the rest of the potatoes, and then stir until well combined.
- Refrigerate the potato salad for at least 4 hours before serving.
Suggestions:
- Feel free to peel all of the potatoes, or leave them unpeeled if that happens to be your preference. I love the color that they add, but leaving them all unpeeled creates a funny texture to the potato salad in my opinion.
- Using an entire shallot gives this potato salad a real onion kick; you can always decrease the amount used to half of a shallot or leave it out entirely.
- Use a quality dill pickle in this recipe, not a mushy condiment shelf version. Claussen Pickles are an affordable and easy to find deli-style pickle. Another great one to try is Ba-Tampte, which comes in a red and white jar in the refrigerator section of your grocery store.
Improvements:
- Serve this potato salad warm with crispy crumbled bacon.
- Make this potato salad using Homemade Mayonnaise.
Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 Pounds Red Potatoes (6 Medium Potatoes)
- 1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 2/3 Cup Mayonnaise
- 4 Tablespoons Dill Pickle Juice
- 1 Teaspoon Dried Dill
- 1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1/2 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
- 2 Mini Dill Pickles, Very Finely Chopped
- 1 Large Shallot, Very Finely Chopped
- 3 Stalks of Celery, Very Finely Chopped
Directions:
- Rinse all of the red potatoes, and then peel half of them.
- Dice the potatoes into small to medium evenly sized chunks.
- Cover the potatoes with two inches of water in a large pot, and add 1 teaspoon of kosher salt.
- Bring the potatoes to a boil, and cook until done. This should take anywhere between 20 and 30 minutes.
- Drain the potatoes well.
- Place 2 cups of the potatoes into a large mixing bowl, and mash with a fork or potato masher.
- Add the mayonnaise, pickle juice, dill, salt, pepper, pickles, shallot, and celery; mix well.
- Add the rest of the potatoes, and then stir until well combined.
- Refrigerate the potato salad for at least 4 hours before serving.
ORIGINALLY POSTED 04/07/2014
