Things that happened in August...

Started a custom nature/irish/japanese jewelry box order 

(was just getting started when I took this pic) ...

Papa Joe's half price pizza on Mondays :) 

My bottle of Inishowen Irish Whiskey was a hit during a little session in our house last week, was inhaled in a matter of minutes actually. This summer was the first time I've gone to Ireland without going to my friend Tina's house in Burt (Co. Donegal), so I was pretty excited when I saw this whiskey in the duty free shop at Dublin airport that's named after the old castle ruin near her house. I didn't even know this stuff existed (neither did she!), it was pretty tasty actually. We still have a bottle of Poitin to work on, I assume it won't go as fast as the whiskey did...but I suppose it depends on the night :)

finished sewing up a handful of purses made with my vintage fabrics...
slowly making a little dent in my stash!

This experimental dinner looks a little creepy, but it turned out quite good actually. It's bacon wrapped red sweet peppers stuffed with cream cheese, salsa verde, garlic, finely diced jalapenos and cheddar cheese. Bake at 425 til the bacon is cooked through and it gets all bubbly. It would've looked nicer, but the filling oozed out and my husband scooped it up and piled it right on top of everything! To avoid having that happen to you, leave the ends of the peppers in tact and just scoop out the seeds so you can fill them (like a little boat). You can modify the filling so many ways, let me know if you try something different :)

my very first tomato plants, still waiting for them to turn red...wondering if it will ever actually happen!

Banana bread that I made just last night. It was good... I think I mixed the ingredients too much though, was a bit dense. See recipe below (and again, let me know if you have a great recipe that you use! I saw one with pudding, bet that's tasty)...

I made this costumey neck piece about 5 or 6 years ago and for some reason stuffed it away with my huge collection of "things to be contemplated/modified/finished etc". I like it, but I guess I never loved it. Still haven't listed it in my shop as of yet...

 a lovely bouquet from my husband...remnants from a gardening mishap in a friends yard :)

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 cups mashed overripe bananas
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9x5 inch loaf pans.
2. Sift the flour, salt and baking soda into a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the butter or margarine and sugar until smooth. Stir in the bananas, eggs, and walnuts until well blended. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry mixture, and stir just until blended. Divide the batter evenly between the two loaf pans.
3. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted into the crown of the loaf comes out clean. Let the loaves cool in the pans for at least 5 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack, and cool completely. Wrap in aluminum foil to keep in the moisture. Ideally, refrigerate the loaves for 2 hours or more before serving.