Even Stephen

Bryan and I spent our Sunday afternoon fishing! I always love getting to spend time with him doing something he enjoys. (I like to fish too but probably wouldn't have gone to do that if I was alone.)














The fish weren't biting, but I did catch a new rattle bait. Bryan lost a bait after an epic battle with a tree branch--- so we came out even Stephen!

Beach Week

I'm so looking forward to beach week this year (that's no different than any other year, though)!

I would live in a bathing suit on the water's edge if I could.

Anyway, Bryan and I went out to dinner after our movie last night. We tried a new place called JM Curly downtown. We won a gift certificate to this place at the autism benefit we attended last month so we thought this was a perfect time to try it.
It was delicious! We had bacon peanut brittle, pickled deviled eggs, burgers and fries, and a bacon-butterfinger concrete for dessert! Bacon, bacon, bacon!

As we were eating the bacon peanut brittle, I asked Bryan if he thought I could get a box of it all the way to beach week. It's so good, and I know Sophie would give it a try! Any other takers? I'm planning to at least try to get some down to the gulf coast (although I shouldn't be held responsible for how much I ingest between the time I pick it up and the time we arrive in Fort Morgan...)

John Adams

We watched the John Adams HBO series over the winter and waited patiently for his estate to reopen in the warmer season. We went this morning for a visit! It really was beautiful. The estate has regular neighbors too... With equally beautiful homes.





Lots of windows on that second floor.

















One day I'll have a garden and orchard in my back yard!

We will have to go back to visit inside soon--- there were a lot of people touring so it would have taken all day to get an indoor tour.
We decided to go see 'Cabin in the Woods' instead of waiting. It was a pretty good choice.

Happy Weekend!

Going Fishing!

Bryan and John went to Bass Pro Shop yesterday to pick up some fishing gear for this summer. John just bought a canoe so that should make for some fun lazy days!

These are the beauties Bryan got for me:


Spinner bait matches my manicure... What more could a girl want while fishing?











We were hoping to get some fly fishing gear too but it was incredibly expensive... We'll have to look on Craigslist. I think that would be a lot of fun!

And since we're discussing the great outdoors, I found this pretty lacy leaf the other day.


Happy Earth Day!

Garden Time is Here Again

It got warm this year much earlier than last... after a whopping 4 inches of snow this winter I strongly suspected that there would be a blizzard in mid-April, but so far we're in the clear for any more freezing temps. Fingers crossed anyway.



Bryan trimmed a few small branches so we could get a little more direct light during the afternoons.


Our bed was weedy and looking a little worse for the ware, but we tilled and added more nutrient rich top soil.


We picked up all kinds of plants this morning while we were out! Seeds didn't work as well in past years because of the short growing season.





This year we'll have green onions, basil, red and green romaine, rocket mixed arugula, collard greens, rainbow chard, dill, lavender, oregano, rosemary, cilantro, parsley, mint, and whatever else I'm leaving out...


Nothing wrong with getting a little dirt on my hands every now and then!

Marathon Monday!

It's Patriot's Day here in Boston and that means it's also Marathon Monday!
Lily and I walked over to the race route this morning to watch some of the racers come through the finish line. She had so much fun cheering for everyone! She was screaming 'Yay! Yay!!'and waving and clapping. We only watched for about an hour but we saw most of the wheel chair racers come through the finish line. There were already tons of people out on the course cheering, too--- half a million spectators I heard on the news.
Apparently there is record high heat here today so many runners are having some trouble getting through the course. 5,000 runners chose to defer their run until next year because of the heat. 22,000 people are still running though! Great job, everyone! Really inspiring!!

He's got Bette Davis Eyes

We're house sitting this week and have a couple of four-legged companions (and a fish who will remain nameless because I cannot seem to remember his or her name).
A note on Rommel: Rommel has sad eyes. Like Bette Davis.



He's not sad (I don't think). He's just an old soul.
And Grady:


He just wants to share his toys.


And stare at Bryan.

Plum Island

We had a little adventure with John, Fiona and Pliny this afternoon. After the pup was turned away from two different beaches, we finally ended up at the Plum Island public beach.
It was beautiful and really made me excited about our upcoming beach week in Alabama!

It was nice and sunny this morning when I was running, but by this afternoon when we left for the north shore it was cloudy and freezing!
John threw something into the water and Pliny went straight in after it. I think he immediately regretted his decision because he was wet and cold for a while and didn't seem to like being either of those things.






Tall rain boots were in order to keep out the sand and wet. I can't handle sand in my shoes, and it was entirely too cold to not wear shoes.


It was Pliny's first trip to the ocean and I think it was a success! He smelled everything, chewed drift wood, ran as fast as his legs could run, and met some other dogs along the way.

Spring Fever

It has been so nice here. A little chilly but bright and sunny!
Things are blooming. People are friendly again...





And I found an amazing illustration book at the library today.
I have plans for better scans because clearly these pictures are terrible, but I'm loving the season pictures!

Smitten Kitchen

This week is 'clean-out-the-pantry' week in our house. I assessed the situation on Saturday morning when I re-organized and found lots of grain remnants. One cup of farro, half a bag of quinoa, some dried mixed beans, kind of a lot of long grain rice, semolina flour... there is plenty more, but I digress.
So I made a detailed meal plan for the week so that we could do our best to eat up some of those delicious things before they go bad (I don't know that any of those things would actually go bad- It just seemed like the right thing to do and it is budget friendly to boot!).
My friend Katie turned me on to Smitten Kitchen when we lived in Jackson. I remember looking through her beautiful food photos and thinking "I should really make some of these," and if I'm remembering correctly I did make one of her beautiful cakes, but never really went too deep into her archives.
Anyway, when I started scanning my list of leftover grains, something inside me yelled out to check Smitten Kitchen's recipe files for yummies.
How warm her heart would be to know every night this week will be dedicated to one or two of her amazing recipes.
Tonight was Tomato and Sausage Risotto and Arroz con Leche (rice pudding)--- so basically rice was our grain of the evening. Both are amazing. I'm in a rice coma right now. Sophie, both of these are easy and could feed a lot of people if we're missing any beach meals. I think the sausage could be replaced with shrimp if we had any left over, too.

I was hoping to link some of her beautiful food photos but I don't think she approves of that based on her FAQ section. But you should totally follow those links and check out our delicious supper. I was too lazy to photograph them tonight and her pictures are better anyway.

Up the rest of the week:
Mushroom & Barley Pie which uses our farro
Semolina Dumpling Soup which takes care of our remaining semolina flour
Multi Bean Chili and Cornbread with Cheddar, Jalapeño, and Green Onions which should knock out our bag of dried beans, corn meal, a leftover third of a block of sharp cheddar, and a well-intended-but-never-used jalapeño.


What's on your plate this week?!
I love food.

April Fool's Day

This day 7 years ago Bryan asked me to be his wife! Clearly I said yes, and we were married before the end of that summer. It's been an amazing 7 years too!
7 years, 3 cities, 3 houses, 3 schools, 2 states and a partridge in a pear tree...