QFC Grocery Basket 6/17

Don Juan, the climbing rose, was getting all leggy and blooms were hanging every which way because he had ran out of trellis, so I decided to neaten him up.  In the process I ended up with a lovely smelly bouquet and Don looks a lot better.  He really responds to being chopped down in February.

As you can tell I don't water the grass which makes it kind of hard to drive the croquet hoops into the ground but here is my garden so far.  I had four crops of radishes and several heads of lettuce before it got too hot.  I've heavily seeded the wheel barrow and the chair pot with nasturtium seeds with some sweet peas thrown in for good measure this year instead of food plants.

The deck with the strawberry tower and raspberries in the background.

I started my begonias from little Costco bulbs but they have been having a hard time keeping up with the lobelia on steroids.  I planted four bulbs in this pot and the hanging pot but everyday I have to go out and move the lobelia out of the way.  I've NEVER had this problem with lobelia.

This is a miniature rose that Miss Pamela gave me a few years ago at our annual ladies' birthday party.  I love this rose!! but this year it has been attacked by spit bugs which are really called spittle bugs if we are being polite.  I'm organic so I don't use any type of poison except Sluggo which is not supposed to hurt pets, bees, or birds so I gave it a good hard spray of water and practically blew the poor thing out of its pot.  It has recovered and is now starting to bloom and I haven't seen any spit bugs since.  Knock on wood.

This year I bought an extra large potato bag from Gardeners.com instead of planting them in my limited garden space.  Here they are.  There ended up being about 100 pounds of Short's Magic Soil by the time I filled it up.  They are blooming now so when they start to yellow I'll dig around in there and see what I get.

My deck plants don't seem very imaginative this year but I was on a budget.  As it turns out that is a good thing because Poppy, the Boston Terror, flies off the deck in a mad rage to go fence fight the neighbors pit bull and shockingly knocks my pots off the deck - usually upside down.  The dog only weighs 15 pounds!!

The bird bath has been very popular with the birds this year - more than normal.  Maybe it is because the lemon balm is growing around it making it more private.  I've yet to see any frogs in there but they are all over the place this year...little green guys with big croaks.

Okay - let's look at the ad for this week.  On Monday I bought a piece of Copper River Sockeye and it was delicious but, anyway, I was talking to the fish lady and she said it was going to be on the ad again this week.  She was worried because the fish guys only gave her 50 pounds and said that there may not be any for this week, so check your fish counter before you put it on your menu.

Also - for families with teenage cereal eaters (and I know from experience that they can eat a box at a sitting) you can buy four General Mills cereals for $8 and get a free gallon of QFC milk.  And QFC is still running their Buy 5/Save $5 promo so check that out, too.

Here are my suggestions for "real food" this week:

QFC Butter - $2.49/lb
Alaska Sockeye Salmon Fillets - $7.97/lb
Fresh Pacific Cod Fillets - $7.99/lb
Draper Valley Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts - BOGO
Lean Ground Beef - $5.99/lb
Ribeye Steaks - $7.88/lb
Asparagus - $2.49/lb
Driscoll's Strawberries - $2/lb
Greens - $1.50/bunch
Oregon Blueberries - $3.50/18oz
Tomatoes on the Vine - $1.49/lb
Romaine, Butter, Red, or Green Leaf Lettuce - $1.50/ea
Washington Large Red Cherries - $2.99/lb
Yellow Peaches or Nectarines - $1.99/lb

A couple of weeks ago I took advantage of the sale on Roma tomatoes for $ .99 a pound.  Well, I bought more than I could eat so five of them were getting a little long in the tooth.  I cut them in half and put them on a pan with a rack cut side up.  I seasoned them liberally with salt and pepper and a drop of olive oil and roasted them for a couple of hours at 325.  They came out all flattened and yummy.  My idea was to use them on my salads but I added a couple to my sandwich and it took it to a higher level of yumminess.

Now you know that Miss MoneyPenny has been single for 20 years and I think I know what part of the problem is:

This is a shot of nighttime in the MoneyPenny bedroom.  On the left is Suzy, in the middle is Pici, and then the cat.  I don't know why they insist on sleeping crosswise on the bed but I've gotten real good at sleeping on my little sliver of bed.  And, of course, the Boston Terror is wrapped up way down deep in her king sized blanket to the left of Suzy.