A+B

Aquarium

2012-01-23T14:15:00.001-06:00

We visited the New England Aquarium today!
Lily had a blast! She got to touch a shark, an urchin and a starfish. She also got up close and personal with a sea lion!

Ice Cream

2012-01-21T14:30:00.001-06:00

Ice Cream is my favorite kind of sweet, hands down. It can be any flavor. It can have delicious treats added in. It can be mixed into milk shakes. And even turned into a cake. See how versatile? You probably didn't even need convincing...
Anyway, I bought this cute ice cream recipe book for my mom for Christmas and found myself really wanting to keep it (I didn't.) but I did go after Christmas and get another copy for me!

My first go at it was Lemon Cream Ice Cream!

Is it a tiny bowl?

Or a giant spoon?!

It's a tiny bowl.

(or are those giant blackberries?!?!)

Really yummy! Very light and creamy and not too sweet and I can pronounce all five ingredients!
Chocolate ice cream, you're next.

Why, you ask...

2012-01-16T08:18:00.001-06:00

Did I venture out into weather like this last night:

Well, to get doughnut ingredients of course!
We both have the day off so what better way to start the day than in a sugar coma?!

The vanilla cream filling!

The recipe is from the Flour Cookbook that Lily and her family gave me for my birthday! Really yummy!

I need a nap.

So This is the New Year

2012-01-11T14:43:00.002-06:00

We had an awesome Christmas in Mississippi with all of our families and friends!

Apparently I only took pictures on Christmas eve when we were at my mom's house. She planned lots of Christmas themed party games!

We had a wonderful, very laid back New Year's Eve dinner and champagne toast!

Isn't he handsome?! I wore glitter and Bryan wore a bow tie!

Last night we had a delicious meal in Chinatown! Dumplings! One of my very favorite foods!

Clearly we made short order of everything.

We were stuffed and each only paid $15!! Thanks for sharing this place with us! We don't go out in Chinatown enough!

Hopefully I'm back on track for blogging...

Tis the Season

2011-12-18T14:07:00.004-06:00

We threw a big Christmas party last night! It was so much fun and will definitely be a new tradition!

Vanilla bean cupcakes with buttercream frosting, red velvet cream cheese brownies, sausage dip, chocolate covered pretzels and gingerbread cookies.

Eggnog cheesecake bars and spiced rosemary nuts that Bryan made! The nuts were spicy and wonderful! Good job, babe!

Eggnog, whipped cream, hot chocolate, apple cider, marshmallows and gingerbread houses!

Everything was labeled so that no one was in danger of accidentally ingesting something they might have allergies to (nuts) or eating something against their dietary restrictions (gelatin).

Mulled Cider and tiny gingerbread houses for garnish on the side of your cup! See the one perched on the "Merry Christmas Y'all" cups above? Aren't those fun? My mom sent me some from Mistletoe Marketplace!

Homemade marshmallows: cinnamon, powdered sugar, cocoa, peppermint

Bryan arranged the kitchen so he could mix drinks and chat.

The seasonal cocktail menu: Amazing!

A Partridge in a Pear Tree gingerbread.
Pattern Here

Rudolph!

There ended up being about 25 people here, and everything was perfect! We met some new friends of friends, wished old friends the happiest of holidays and vowed to see everyone in the new year! I can't believe how fast this year flew by!

2011-12-16T20:39:00.001-06:00

As I browsed through Pinterest in a complete stupor recently I came across several old ceramic Christmas trees.
I really liked them and started looking online for one of my own when I remembered my grandmother having a similar one in her living room every year when I was little. I asked my dad if I was remembering correctly. To which he asked his mom where the tree might be found now. Anyway, my dad tracked it down and shipped it to me! It arrived today and has been dusted, filled with brand new light bright pegs and plugged in!

This tree makes me so happy! It's so festive and will be a new staple in my living room for Christmas!!
Thank you, Daddy! See you next week!

The War

2011-12-12T13:38:00.001-06:00

An epic battle between man and beast has begun. Every night between midnight and 4:00am Bryan awakens, flashlight in hand, to scratching, clawing, chewing and scurrying.
It's a mouse. And he's tormenting us.
Tonight he will meet his maker:

Hasn't he heard who he's up against? Bring it on, sir, bring it on.

Mistletoe

2011-12-11T14:24:00.001-06:00

After searching for days without luck, I finally found mistletoe at a small florist near our house. I wanted some for our party next weekend.
I soaked a ball of floral foam, cut the mistletoe branches into short pieces and attached them with some needle nosed pliers!
Voila:

Gingerbread Land

2011-12-10T20:35:00.001-06:00

I'm hanging out with two of my favorite ladies tonight, Martha and Adele!
We took on the task of making a gingerbread house. I think it turned out really well!!
We spread out icing, candy, marshmallows, almonds and coconut shavings and went to work:

I did any piped icing you see and they did the candy adhesion. Martha decorated the roof in the second shot, Adele decorated the roof in the top picture. I looked over at her roof and it was covered in gum drops, pez, candy cane, m&m's and marshmallows.... By the time we were ready to put her roof on the house it was picked completely clean of said candy. When I asked what happened she told me she wanted to taste them, then she wanted to eat them.
I think they did an excellent job! They even let me decorate a side (the almond shingles side) and the pez-brick two-sided chimney (which is what happens sometimes when gingerbread kits are made by ikea. I'd rather be missing two chimney pieces than those two screws that actually hold some important furniture piece together).
Oh, and per their instructions, the back wall is decorated with Mommy, Daddy, Martha and Adele stick figures.

The Right Stuff: Eggnog

2011-12-03T20:53:00.001-06:00

Since it gets dark here at 4:00, what better way to spend hours and hours of evening than by making salt dough gift tags and home made eggnog?!
Thanks to Katy Elliott for the salt dough ornament recipe!

Bryan loathes the fact that I annually purchase a carton of eggnog at the grocery store. It's what I grew up with. It's the taste of Christmas... he thinks it's disgusting... and it probably is terrible.

But this year: The Year of Cocktails!

Bryan whipped up a couple of eggnog recipes to try out and this one was perfect! So yummy!

I love love love knowing all the ingredients in the things that I eat. That's one of the main reasons why I love to cook and make jam and garden and meet farmers at the farmer's market. This one was simple and was about 5 ingredients.

He topped it off with a grating of fresh nutmeg! He drank about two sips and left the rest for me. Even the homemade stuff isn't his favorite.

Thanks for your favorite Christmas movies! I've added them to our list and also remembered how much I love A Nightmare Before Christmas so that one is on the list, now, too! I've never seen the older Christmas movies that you mentioned, Marley, so that's a new priority!

The Family Stone

2011-12-01T20:10:00.002-06:00

I'm going through our Christmas movies, as I do every year.
Elf-check
Home Alone- check
Love Actually- check
A Christmas Story- check
Now I'm currently watching The Family Stone--- laughing and crying!
I always forget how much I love this movie!

What other good Christmas movies should we add to our collection this year??? Which ones do you love?

Christmas Time is Here

2011-11-29T21:37:00.001-06:00

We are somewhat decorated for Christmas! We still need a big gingerbread house and egg nog!!
(and friends of course!)

So Very Thankful

2011-11-27T12:19:00.001-06:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! My mom, step dad, and sister (Aimee), came up to spend a few days with us.
We saw most of Boston while they were here:

MFA

Chihuly tree

Sam Adams for a tour and tasting

The Christian Science Mother Church's pipe organ with thousands of pipes. Frank plays the organ so he was especially excited to see this.

Harvard Yard which is being occupied by students. No one without a student ID can get into the yard.

Harvard

Old State House on the freedom trail

Old north church on the freedom trail

The public garden and the commons

The Arnold Arboretum

And of course we did eat so much yummy food and shared the day with friends who could also make it over to our house.

We skyped Elizabeth again this year only this time it was from Vienna instead of Atlanta! We miss you, Elizabeth! Can't wait till you get here for Christmas!

Aimee

Nolan

The 85th Macy's Day parade on the tv we picked up for free from someone on craigslist!! We only wanted the tv for one day and were not crazy enough to buy one so this was perfect!! It's just not thanksgiving if there's no parade involved.

And of course there was Black Friday shopping. Aimee wanted to go be one of the first hundred in line at H&M so that we could get scratch off cards worth anywhere from $5-$300. We all went at 3am and waited for the store to open. We each ended up with $25 cards so we all got a free item or two! Then we walked Newbury street and stopped at some other places where we found some great deals! We were up and shopping for 8 hours by 10am. That was bananas! (but we'll never forget it!) and Bryan was thrilled that he didn't get roped into going at all!

(thanks for taking all these pictures! They are all courtesy of my mom, Teresa!)

We miss you already and are so glad you made it up here!

How did I miss this??

2011-11-16T20:30:00.001-06:00

I can't believe I never posted Halloween pictures!

Chowing down on pizza and apple juice at the park!!
P.S. she's a watermelon...

I'm 26!

2011-11-12T18:12:00.001-06:00

My birthday is today and I've always wanted a crawfish boil birthday party, but by November the season is well over.
New England's answer to this is the lobster boil!!

I cooked up some spicy potatoes, corn, mushrooms and onions and poured everything out on the table!

And then came the lobsters. It was a BYOLob party so everyone brought the lobster of their choosing.

Ian's chosen lobster weighed in at a whopping 3lbs! Dwarfing ours and doubling each of their weight in one fell swoop.

Amazing! They were so yummy!

And I made pecan pie for dessert (over which we both laid hands and said prayers for the successfulness of the crust-- they worked by the way)
Best pecan pie ever!! Another one might be on the Thanksgiving menu!

Home Updates

2011-11-08T14:29:00.001-06:00

We're over half way done with our home updates!
Here are some in progress shots:
Bathroom:

Please take note that I pried the tile toothbrush holder and tile soap holder off the walls. They are gone forever!!!

Woo hoo no more pink tiles. They'll get the final treatment tonight! All that's left in the bathroom is remove the wretched medicine cabinet, mount the mirror, hang the new shower curtain!

Living Room:

This is the corner where the closet used to be.
Only thing left is to repair the moulding. And hang art back up.

We (Bryan) moved all the furniture around so now our dining area is closer to the kitchen.

These two chairs are now finding a permanent home in our living room so they needed new fabric to coordinate with their new surroundings:

Kitchen:

Bryan added another shelf in the pantry and now everything has a place!!

The bedroom got new shelves and one less barn door, our front door is completed... We still want to replace the kitchen light and repair the ceiling but that might not happen this week.

Lily Bakes!

2011-11-02T15:33:00.001-05:00

I have a very good helper on my hands!!

We picked up a muffin tin this morning while we were out.

She helped measure, stir, and of course taste all the ingredients.

She liked cinnamon and sugar the best.
She also liked our finished pumpkin muffin product!

We may have found a good way to spend some extremely cold winter days!

Ch ch ch changes!

2011-10-31T13:22:00.003-05:00

We (with the approval of our landlords) have begun a few household renovations.
I'm beyond excited to rid ourselves of the light pink bathroom tiles!

TERRIBLE!!!! Everything about this bathroom is the stuff my nightmares are made of. We are updating everything in here.

Next: our living room had this akward add-on open closet that we demolished yesterday.

Before

During

After
We will be fixing and painting the ceiling, repairing the walls, baseboards and molding.
Our living room will be so much bigger without this closet!!
Bryan found several layers of vinyl tile and wallpaper! Yikes!

Next: we removed the sliding barn door closet door. We never use it. It doesn't work well. We can't close it when people are over because it would close off the bathroom.

We had a strange piece of plywood tacked to our front door that Bryan pried off. I'm half way done removing the 14 layers of paint so we can refinish it.

And the final thing will be repairing our kitchen ceiling. It's cracked and gross and the light fixture needs to be updated.

Whew! That was our Sunday afternoon. We pretty much decided what we wanted to change over brunch, got approval, and did everything else in the afternoon!

We hope to be done in two weeks! I'll keep you updated!

The Mouse and Me

2011-10-25T20:20:00.001-05:00

Today after I put Lily down for a nap, I grabbed a glass of water and headed into the living room. A short time later I saw, out of the corner of my eye, a small shadow run quickly across the floor.
I said "Eeee" just like in a cartoon and pulled my feet up onto the sofa. Luckily the mouse chose to run into the bathroom! I immediately grabbed a towel and using a wooden spoon wedged it into the crack beneath the door.
Danielle and Amiel said I didn't have to deal with it, but there was no way I could leave it in the bathroom until they got home. (if I couldn't leave dog vom on the floor at Derek & Tiffanie's then I certainly couldn't leave a mouse in the bathroom--- at least the mouse didn't make me gag repeatedly!!)
Anyway--- Amiel mentioned that there were mouse traps in the basement if I wanted to set one. I ran downstairs, set off a trap in the corner with my shoe, and proceeded to slather it in peanut butter while I tried to figure out the best way to catch the little guy.
After a few trials and errors I did it! I made a paper bag tunnel that led to the trap and I got him! It only took two hours!!

Sorry little guy! I just couldn't think about you in the same space as Lily!

It's the Little Things

2011-10-24T22:00:00.001-05:00

Today we smelled the flowers.

I love moving at the pace of a one year old during the day. I love bending down to her level to see things from her perspective, and I love being reminded that everything is new to her. Like when we watched birds flying in a circle in the sky for ten minutes the other day. They were beautiful to watch. And she was amazed the entire time!

Happy Monday!

Autumn, My Autumn

2011-10-21T19:04:00.001-05:00

My favorite time of year! We are celebrating this evening with cocktails and seasonal delights at our house!

(source for 'autumn' sign above: Pinterest)

(Lily helped me gather pinecones this morning-- I love how my garland turned out)

There are a variety of nuts, cookies, pumpkin muffins, apple butter, and roasted pumpkin seeds from the pumpkins I carved last night!

Bryan is mixing up some delicious cocktails like the Sherwood Avenue, Bacon Infused Old Fashioned- Old Fashioned, Bohemian, De La Louisiane, French 75, and my current favorite: The Never Setter. And yes, he infused that bacon-bourbon himself!

Leaf & squirrel sugar cookies

(thanks for the acorn cookie idea, Pinterest)

I hope you are having a wonderful autumn evening as well!

Hee Hee

2011-10-20T22:29:00.001-05:00

It's us!!

Follow the Honey

2011-10-17T10:01:00.001-05:00

Bryan and I stopped into a new store called Follow the Honey on Saturday. They sell all sorts of honey and bees wax things.

We loved the Tupelo Honey and the Orange blossom. We didn't love pure clover honey. I like the wildflower honey too.

They even have honey on tap if you want to bring or buy an empty jar!

"The only reason for being a bee that I know of is to make honey.... And the only reason for making honey, is so as I can eat it." - WInnie the Pooh

I Heart Food Trucks!

2011-10-14T10:40:00.001-05:00

All of my favorite lunch places in Boston are food trucks. Thanks, Roxy's for the grilled cheese and rosemary fries!

Popsicles After Wiffle Ball

2011-10-10T21:22:00.001-05:00

Yep, it was hot enough for that.

Seriously, October, get it together.

Farm Fresh

2011-10-08T07:02:00.001-05:00

I love that there are farmers markets around town almost every day of the week in Boston! I love getting to meet the actual people who grow the food I'm eating. Only a few more weeks until cold overcomes so we will take advantage of the markets while we can! I'd say we had a successful trip!

Some of what I got went straight into a wonderful dinner!

Bread with goat cheese

Parsnip purée

And mussels with leeks and fingerling potatoes in a white-wine-lemon-butter-cream-sauce!!

Animal week

2011-10-07T09:39:00.001-05:00

We spent time this week at the aquarium and the zoo!

On our way to the farmers market now for some fall produce!! It's chilly today but should warm up this weekend... Maybe enough for a beach trip???

Teething's the Worst

2011-10-04T20:58:00.001-05:00

Cold carrot sticks can help!!

I know

2011-09-27T17:22:00.001-05:00

I'm falling down on my blogging...

Mmmm...

And remnants of Adele's mustachio bashio!

(there were like 50 people at the party and rather than worrying about pictures while we were there I just spent time with Adele while I could--- I'll see if I can get some of Derek's photos to share!)

Onset Bay

2011-09-18T08:53:00.001-05:00

We drove out to Cape Cod for dinner last night with the PhD and Ddes students from Harvard. It was beautiful!

I could live this way.
They go kayaking, clam and scallop digging, biking... And it's close enough to the city to go down every weekend.
Beautiful!

I'm not a bus person.

2011-09-18T08:47:00.001-05:00

My new job is in a new neighborhood with less available street parking so I thought I'd give the bus a try. Turns out crazy people take the bus and working people take the train. Little did I know.
In the past week I've witnessed two verbal altercations (both of them were started by people sitting next to me- awesome) a very friendly, fruit-loving drug addict, and an obese woman with an obese baby listening to Monica & Brandy's 1990something duets out loud on her phone... I'm sure there were more but my music was smartly turned up loud enough not to be able to hear them.
So, that said, I only work 3 miles away so running home is my new means of travel! It's such a nice run, see:

This is the view crossing the river. I run by Berklee music school, by Newbury Street, Symphony Hall, the Christian Science Plaza, and MIT. Not a bad run at all. And now I don't have to get up early to run. It's now conveniently built into my day!
When the snow comes, I may be back to bussing it, but for now this is perfect!

Meet Lily!

2011-09-15T18:32:00.002-05:00

I'd like to introduce my new little friend, Lily!

She's so sweet and is such a happy baby! Very curious and easy going! I can tell we're going to be good friends!

Her Many Staches!

2011-09-12T20:08:00.001-05:00

Adele thinks mustaches are super funny and is having a Mustachio Bashio for her birthday in a few weeks. We spent some time last week cutting out felt mustaches and Adele tried a few on!

My new little friend is doing well and my new job is going swimmingly! Photos to come soon! (I still need to get permission!!)

My Favorite Things

2011-09-04T19:08:00.001-05:00

Autumn is just around the corner! I can feel it in the air! It is still warm during the days here, but autumn is coming and it's my very favorite time of the year!
In the spirit of autumn, we went apple picking this weekend!
It was the first picking weened of the season at our favorite Russell Orchards in Ipswich.

We took the hayride out to the orchard from the barn (where we picked up some fresh corn, blackberries, local honey, and delicious cider donuts!)

Some of the apples (depending on what type of apple) grow on short shrubs like these and some are on big trees with low hanging branches.

We got 20 pounds of apples this year!!! There are big, big things in store for them!

All strapped in and ready for the drive home!

We couldn't leave Ipswich without stopping for fried clam bellies! Delicious!!

I'm so glad we have adventures!

And I'm so glad we now have fresh apples!

Back to Normal

2011-08-30T15:19:00.001-05:00

Our power came back on in the wee hours of this morning!!!

The power itself being off for 40 hours wasn't that bad. The only major thing was the refrigerator/ freezer not working. I also missed hot water...

Like I said yesterday, it could have been worse. (see above pic)

So this week holds many changes:

It's my last full week with Martha and Adele. They go to school next week. While I'm so excited to see how much she learns and how many friends she'll make, I'm also really sad. I've had two fun years with Adele and have truly loved both of those girls like my own. I know we will keep in touch!

I start with my new little one next week! I'm excited about it. Hopefully I'll be able to introduce her soon!

Elizabeth leaves for Vienna tomorrow! We are excited for her, but I'm selfishly sad that one of my few girl friends here is leaving for a year! I have pictures of her goodbye party on my other camera... Coming soon.

Bryan starts classes at Harvard on Thursday! PhD or bust!
He also tells me that a perk of being a spouse is that I can sit in on any class. I'm totally going to do that!

I think that's everything to speak of at the moment!

All of the Lights

2011-08-29T14:09:00.001-05:00

Our power went out first thing yesterday due to this:

We finally taught ourselves how to play cribbage! Bryan beat me because he called a couple of 'Muggins.' Who knew we'd learn an entire new set of vocabulary words to play this game? (fifteen-two, royal double, His Nob, the crib, pone, starter, two for His Nob... So weird)

We also entertained ourselves by reading and drinking to candle light.

All-in-all Irene wasn't that bad in Boston. It was just really windy and rainy yesterday. I saw a lot of debris on my way to work this morning. Tons of tree branches and small trees are down. The worst thing I saw was a huge tree branch that fell and totally crushed a parked car. The scene looked like that mayhem/Allstate commercial.

Our power is still out with no estimated time of being turned back on. That is a slight inconvenience, but we know to be grateful because it could have been infinitely worse. After all, we aren't alone in this; 4 million other people are without power today too!

What is Happening

2011-08-26T15:21:00.001-05:00

This week we had an earthquake and now we are waiting for hurricane Irene to hit... I'm pretty sure I'm still in Boston. These things don't happen here!

Never a Dull Moment

2011-08-24T13:49:00.001-05:00

AKA: Adele Goes to the Hospital

She was running through a double doorway this morning. The right side was closed and the left side was open. She tripped and fell full force into the closed side!
Once she calmed down enough to tell me that her head hurt I was able to pull back her bangs and see this:

Of course I had a mini panic (internal panic though- I didn't want her to see concern on my face) we put an ice pack on it, sent this photo to Tiffanie, and called the pediatrician who said to come in just to be safe... So a little while later we were off to the hospital!

Here we are in the waiting room:

You can see the lump on the left side of her head.

And Martha did really well eating a snack and waiting patiently.

After seeing the doctor and getting a clean bill of health we were all in much better spirits!

Lollipops all around!

My Worlds

2011-08-17T20:36:00.001-05:00

I'm watching The Terminator and cutting pieces for my first try at a quilt... My two selves are colliding.

My sweetest husband in the whole wide world celebrated his birthday Monday. We're celebrating all week!
I'm so glad to have had the honour of spending another year with you, Love!

Taste Off Face Off

2011-08-13T08:40:00.000-05:00

After much debate about who could 'totally tell the difference between cheap beer X and other cheap beer X' we decided to put some feet to the fire with a 2011 Taste Off Face Off.
8 Cheap/ Lite beers were assembled. Cups were numbered. Ballots were created.
It was much harder than it sounded.
The Contenders:
Budweiser
Bud Lite
Miller High Life
MGD 64
PBR
Natty Light
Keystone
Coors Light

High Life, as most of us suspected was actually voted the best beer out of all of the contenders. MGD 64 was the hands down LOSER! It was SO BAD!
And then to get rid of all the half-full, numbered cups with warmish cheap beer we played a rousing game of Beer Pong!

Pie

2011-08-09T09:18:00.001-05:00

Pie made with our wild Maine blueberries!

Our Anniversary

2011-08-07T21:32:00.000-05:00

"Dearest Ashley, This weekend, I will whisk you away to celebrate 6 years of our wonderful marriage. We will awaken Saturday morning and leave the house around nine am. You should dress comfortably and cute for a car ride and some stops along the way. You will need the following for our trip: a bathing suit, some clothes for a nice evening out, overnight clothes, and clothes for some light hiking (and shoes).I love you!Bryan"

I got this sweet email from my husband Friday morning and this was all I knew!

When I got home, waiting for me was delicious champagne and a set of gold-rimmed rose-hued champagne coupes that I'd fallen in love with back in the spring! He's so sweet!

Also waiting for me was our very well planned and thoughtful itinerary for the whole weekend.

I also gave him his gift from me:

Saturday morning we headed north. We drove up to Portland, Maine, where we ate lunch at J's Oysters, walked around the city for a while, and got a delicious mixed berry pie from a locally owned and operated bakery!

A big bucket of Steamers (clams) (as recommended by Anthony Bourdain)

James river raw oysters. (We had a yummy lobster roll too... but it didn't last long enough for a photo!)

One of each please!!! We got a mini mixed berry pie and ate the whole thing in one sitting. We love pie.

We left Portland and headed north still to Lincolnville. We stayed at Point Lookout Resort and had a cabin all to ourselves. Strangely enough, we stayed in Cabin number 6 on our sixth anniversary on the sixth of August!

We did some hiking on this trail through the woods.

the trail was well marked... thank goodness... I'm no woodsman.

We hiked up to this lake. It was beautiful!

On the other side of the resort you could see out to the Atlantic Ocean.

We drove out to Rockland for dinner at Primo. (Also an Anthony Bourdain recommendation!) This place has a whole nose-to-tail philosophy about food. They grow many of their vegetables and herbs. They forage for dandelion greens, fiddleheads, mushrooms, etc. They raise pigs and chickens. They bake all their own bread. Cure most of their own meat... I'm ready to move to Rockland and do the same!

We ate charcuterie, fried stuffed squash blossoms, steak, pork saltimbocca, and zeppole.

The chef and her husband converted this old mansion into the restaurant. It was lovely.

Today we drove up to Acadia stopping to visit Fort Knox and the observation tower.

Observation tower was in the top of the left tower.

We had hoped to spend the day in Acadia National Park hiking and driving but the weather didn't cooperate at all. It was pouring rain and cold most of the day and we ended up deciding not to go into Acadia because we didn't think we would be able to see any of the spectacular views. That just gives us a good reason to have to go back!!

We opted to eat lunch and head back to Boston. Lunch was wonderful!

We stopped into a lobster pound. Ordered lunch and picked our lobsters.

I'm pretty sure mine was staring into my soul.

And then he arrived a few minutes later steamed to perfection!

Most of the adults in the room were wearing bibs. We did not wear bibs.

Finally on the way home we pulled off the highway to get some fresh, locally picked Wild Maine Blueberries. These blueberries are tiny in comparison to the bigger high bush blueberries and are much more flavorful and less juicy! I can't wait to make some pies!

I had a really wonderful weekend! Thank you, Love, for all that you did to plan this trip and all that you do for me in our life together. I'm thankful every day for you and for how you love me!

Make Way for Ducklings

2011-08-05T12:41:00.001-05:00

We finally made it to the public gardens for a swan boat ride!
I think the girls had fun too. I could have ridden around all day!

Daydreaming about the Beach

2011-08-04T14:13:00.000-05:00

Bryan's whole (immediate) family.

A & B

C & D (Cary & David)

Happy Birthday Cary!!!!

I forgot to share this earlier but we saw a nest of baby sea turtles hatch while we were at the beach this year. It was amazing! No flashes or lights were allowed so I have no pictures of it. It was really amazing though. A hundred of them popped out of this hole in the ground and headed for the ocean. They would scoot all the way to the water and then ride the first wave out into the gulf.

Do we really have to wait a year for beach week to happen again?

This weekend: Our 6th Anniversary!! How wonderful! I have no idea what's in store, but Bryan does! I'll keep you posted!

Another Truth

2011-08-04T13:42:00.001-05:00

Fabric Dying = Major Disaster, Huge Mess, Not Worth It, Ugly Puke-Burgundy Color...
But now I know....

Reality

2011-07-27T18:22:00.001-05:00

This post is for people who say I am good at household things and that I never post negatives.

Here is a major shortcoming that I have that I am finally willing to admit publicly.

Hi, I'm Ashley and I kill plants.

Everybody now: Hi, Ashley.

I looked over at my tiny cactus just now and noticed his major slumpage. I asked Bryan if it was dead because he was standing near it, and when he touched one of said cactus' prickles the whole thing deflated like a soufflé.
He laughed really hard and then put the cactus over near the other potted plant that also recently kicked the bucket.

This guy has been going strong for the entirety of our marriage, though:

At least they haven't ALL died...

We're Home

2011-07-26T18:46:00.001-05:00

We made it back to Boston after a wonderful trip home!
I'm sad our trip was over so quickly!

Tonight: Beet Risotto and home made bread!

Beach Week

2011-07-17T22:43:00.001-05:00

After an incomprehensible amount of traffic, and a baggage thief at the airport we finally made it to the beach.

A girl grabbed my suitcase and left the airport (leaving her suitcase behind). The baggage claim attendant figured out what happened, found her number and called. She returned an hour later to switch bags and we were finally able to leave Jackson. The traffic was so bad (not to mention the pouring rain) that we were able to catch up with the others who had left hours before us!! Our travel ended up totaling 15 hours, but we made it!!

All rain all day today... Tomorrow there will be sun, I know it!!!

A Note on The Easter Bunny

2011-07-16T04:23:00.001-05:00

For Easter (several months ago) Tiffanie set up the girls' Easter baskets downstairs in the living room and sprinkled flower petals from the door over to the baskets (these were supposed to be indicative of footprints). The girls wake up like normal and wander downstairs like normal and while Adele is experiencing the excitement of bunny-shaped chocolate, Martha is going berserk because of, "the HUGE MESS the Easter Bunny has left her to clean up!!!"
Then and there, through the fits and rages the child swore of the Easter Bunny and declared him unwelcome in her home. She wanted no more gifts from him EVER, and if he must bring something for Adele again next year she specially requested that he leave it at the neighbors house with a note for where Adele might pick up her goodies.

Flash forward to the playground in mid-July, yesterday...
We are drawing with chalk!! Shapes, a long train, a house with people, fruit, a rainbow... And then I get a special request from Martha to draw the Easter Bunny. I do.

"Can you draw his flower footprints?"
"sure" and I do.

"now don't forget to draw me being super afraid."
"how did you look when you were super afraid?" she poses and I draw it.

I immediately send the photos to Tiffanie so she can catalog the date and time that these issues arose. (just in case her therapist needs to know in a few years)

Good Morning

2011-07-16T04:05:00.001-05:00

From Boston-Logan International Airport!

For some reason my alarm was set to quack like an insane duck at 3:00am. The 3:00am part I was aware of. The quacking part, not so much.

Now after an intense and VERY intimate moment with a lovely TSA agent (Bryan also got a pat down. He was also asked if he was wearing an anklet HAHAHA--- just like on Seinfeld! He was a little bit insulted.) we are watching the sun rise over the the tarmac.

Family, we're coming! See you soon!

It's a Beautiful Day

2011-07-14T18:59:00.001-05:00

In our neighborhood!

Looking Forward

2011-07-11T20:23:00.001-05:00

Martha and Adele are back from vacation and I was so happy to see them today! We should have some adventures this week so I'll keep as updated as possible.

In forward-looking news, we are T-minus 4 days and counting until Family Beach Week!!! This is year 26 if I'm not mistaken. (this is only year 6 for me, and I'm so glad it's a tradition I get to be a part of!) I am so excited to head South and soak up some if that heat advisory's sun!

Fluffy Heaven

2011-07-10T08:56:00.000-05:00

Bryan ate one and insisted he was having a sugar overload. I think they are delightful!

Oh My Heavens

2011-07-09T17:21:00.000-05:00

My sweet, fluffy, marshmallowy heavens...
Where have you been all my life?

They're not chopped into marshmallows yet, but they will be as soon as they set... Waiting for marshmallows to be ready is torture! I already licked the beaters... and the spatula.... and the bowl....

Having vacation has really allowed me to dig deep into baking and cooking this week! I LOVE IT! Yesterday I made bagels. I've made them before but not since we lived in Starkville. I should really make them more often (and then I guess I'll have to run even farther every day to make up for it...totally worth it.)

They were SO ugly, bless their hearts.

But they were SO good... I keep talking about them like they are past tense. I think there's one or two left. Two left, and one lost to the boiling water means we've eaten 9 bagels in two days. ummm..... I'm going to go running now.

Independence Day

2011-07-04T23:44:00.001-05:00

We watched the fireworks from Ian's rooftop. Way better than going to the river like last year...

We listened to the 'Independence Day' movie's presidential speech while we watched fireworks which was pretty funny and amazingly patriotic...
Anyway, Happy Independence Day! I hope you saw beautiful things tonight!
Tomorrow: The Beach! (again!)

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-04T11:44:00.000-05:00

I think I'll go have a cupcake now!

Fireworks tonight!

The British are Coming!

2011-07-02T19:28:00.001-05:00

Revolutionary War reenactments today on the Common!

And also Super 8 was a pretty good alien movie and a really good blow-things-up movie. Plus it made me want to go home and dance to 'My Sherona' over and over (which I absolutely did.)
And the tacos to follow were exceptional!

(I think the shrimp sticker looks like a caterpillar)

(I think the beef sticker looks like a pig) (I didn't get a look at the pork sticker... I wonder if it also looked like a pig)

Crane Beach

2011-07-01T21:16:00.000-05:00

The beach was magnificent!

low tide, when we left around 5:00

A perfectly appropriate book to be reading at the beach!

high tide at 10:30 when we got there

We had snacks, lunch, naps, books and music. A lovely lovely day.

The Vacation Begins

2011-06-29T20:26:00.001-05:00

11 Days.

Ahhhh....

Tiffanie is going to a wedding back home tomorrow and is taking the girls. She decided today to just go ahead and stay all week as well!
All the grandparents will get to see the girls, and I'll get a sweet vacation!

Tomorrow: the beach!

We Grilled

2011-06-28T12:16:00.001-05:00

Chickpea burgers (we also had real burgers and brats)

Grilled corn with thyme, garlic butter

Grilled zucchini with feta, lemon, garlic and olive oil

Bacon wrapped jalapenos

Home made grilled rosemary flat bread. They were so fluffy and light!

Grady did a little helping and a little resting

We went to Haymarket on Saturday and got all our vegetables and herbs to feed 8 people for $8! Haymarket is kind of amazing. Well kind of.

Weekend Buddies

2011-06-24T16:13:00.001-05:00

Bryan and I are house/dog sitting for Derek and Tiffanie this weekend!

They are getting the royal treatment, for sure.

Rainy Day

2011-06-23T12:25:00.001-05:00

Adele and I have accomplished quite a bit on our rainy day indoors!
We made cookies this morning with all the extras we could find in the pantry. I just let her choose the fillers and most of them are really good! There are some with nuts, some with chocolate, and some with marshmallows--- marshmallows don't bake well FYI.

Then we made 'cupcake' crayons based on Mollie's instructions (can't figure out how to link it from my phone).

We peeled the paper off all our old broken crayons.

We sorted them into colors.

We mixed different color combinations.

We baked our crayons at 200 degrees for 15 minutes until they were just melted and then we let them cool before we used them!

They're actually quite beautiful and work perfectly in small hands!

Day 4 & 5

2011-06-20T15:36:00.001-05:00

Not a picture in sight of our last two days but we went to Luna for brunch, went to the Cambridge Antique Market, took naps, then went to Craigie for dinner yesterday!
Basically we ate delicious food all day and took naps.

Today we shopped a bit then returned our friends safely to the airport!
We had so much fun and are so so glad they came up to Boston!!

Day 3

2011-06-19T01:50:00.001-05:00

We went to Newport for the day today! (by 'today' I'm still referring to Saturday because I'm still awake)
We had a blast!

The wind was crazy!

There were so many people observing sailing races.

The red tide at First Beach

Under my favorite tree at the Elms

After walking miles in the sun and wind all day we finally hopped in the car and made it back to Boston by 9pm.
We picked up a few groceries,

Bryan taught Parker how to shuck oysters,

and had a delightful seafood dinner (scallops, mussels, oysters, green beans) in our jammies.

And now it's Bedtime for Bonzo! My Daddy used to always say that to me. Happy Father's Day, I love you!

Day 2

2011-06-17T23:42:00.001-05:00

After biscuits and jam for breakfast we went to the Sam Adams Brewery for a mid-day beer tasting.
We walked most of the freedom trail afterword and then made our way to Fenway for a Red Sox game which we won!!!

While it was rather cool and breezy in the park it wasn't freezing. I think this poor girl who sat cloaked in a large black garbage bag for the entire game may have felt differently, though.

They're Here!

2011-06-16T23:22:00.001-05:00

Parker & Lexie visit Boston:
Day 1

Island Creek Oyster Bar

I Love Brinner

2011-06-15T21:49:00.001-05:00

Buttermilk Wheat Waffles

And home made buttermilk syrup. Thank you Tasty Kitchen! So yummy!

Hash Browns

Bloody Mary with Bryan's own Pepper Infused Vodka

The Dragon Boat Races

2011-06-13T17:38:00.000-05:00

So we ended up wandering down to the river yesterday for a while to watch the Chinese Dragon Boats race and to eat some Chinese food for lunch.

The boat races were exciting because the course was only a couple hundred yards long so it was over pretty quickly once it started.
We found some yummy Korean tofu mandoos (Bryan had pork and I had tofu) which were just grilled dumplings and also scallion pancakes for our late lunch.

We ate at the Harvard bridge and watched the show of children doing karate moves with weapons on a big stage (to the tune of Kung Fu Fighting *seriously kung fu fighting*)

And now for some yet unanswered questions:
1. The pie bird is not attached to my pie plate and was not used it the making of my tart tatin. It is used for venting pies rather than having to slit the crusts like you normally would, you can just put the bird right in the middle!

2. Strawberry-Lemonade Icebox Pie Recipe!

For The Crust
- Vegetable oil cooking spray
- 9 to 10 graham crackers, broken into pieces
- 1/4 cup sugar
- Coarse salt
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
For The Filling
- 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
- 2/3 cup strained fresh lemon juice (from 4 lemons)
- 2 large egg yolks (reserve whites for meringue), plus 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- Coarse salt
For The Topping
- 12 ounces strawberries, sliced (2 cups)
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 3 large egg whites, room temperature (2 reserved from filling)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Make the crust: Coat a 9-inch pie plate with cooking spray. Pulse crackers in a food processor until finely ground; measure 1 1/3 cups, and discard excess. Pulse cracker crumbs, sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in food processor to combine. Add butter, and pulse until mixture is moist and holds together when pressed between 2 fingers.
Press crust evenly into bottom and up sides of pie plate using the bottom of a dry measuring cup. (Make sure the sides and rim of the crust are firmly pressed so they don't crumble when pie gets cut.) Freeze for 30 minutes.
Bake crust until firm and turning darker around edges, 10 to 11 minutes. Remove from oven, and reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.
Meanwhile, make the filling: Whisk together condensed milk, lemon juice, egg yolks and egg, and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
Pour filling into warm piecrust. Bake until center is set, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
Make the topping: Sprinkle berries with 2 tablespoons sugar and the lemon juice. Let stand for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat egg whites and remaining 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar in the heatproof bowl of a mixer set over a pan of simmering water until sugar dissolves and mixture is warm to the touch, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to mixer, and whisk on high speed until medium peaks form, 8 to 9 minutes.
Spoon berries over pie. Spoon meringue over top. Place pie under broiler, with rack in lowest position, until meringue is just browned. Alternatively, use a kitchen torch to brown the top.

My notes:::
Don't cook the egg whites. Just beat them in a cold bowl with the sugar. Mine, when cooked, turned to marshmallow goo consistency.
You may not use all the berries and don't pour the strawberry juice on top. I used all the berries and juice and it was a little liquidy once sliced
Definitely make sure your custard is completely set in the center before removing it from the oven. It can't support the weight of the berries if it's not completely set. I would also recommend refrigerating the custard overnight before adding the berries and meringue on top (which makes this an easy make-ahead dessert!)

Recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart Living June 2011 issue!

Strawberries

2011-06-12T10:52:00.000-05:00

I got the best surprise phone call yesterday! A friend of Tiffanie has a huge strawberry patch in her back yard and wanted to bring me a big bag of them to make jam out of! She brought me 6 1/2 pounds of fresh strawberries (that equaled about 300 strawberries) and I'm making Classic Strawberry Jam and a Strawberry Marsala Jam with Rosemary! The classic jam turned out really delicious! It's bright and tastes just like a fresh, summer strawberry. I'll be starting the other one today!

Now that breakfast is done we are headed to the river to watch Chinese Dragon Boat Races this afternoon!

(these weren't even the strawberries from the big bag, these were from the farmer's market that Adele and I went to this week--- we have Strawberries coming out our ears this weekend!)

I hope you've had a lovely weekend as well.

Dessert, Anyone?

2011-06-11T15:08:00.000-05:00

My sweet Mama sent me a happy from the beach!

A Le Creuset pie pan and pie bird!

Isn't that little pie bird cute?

We had people over for dessert so that I could use it.
I made Apple Tart Tatin with the pie pan and because I also LOVE cake I made a Tripple Lemon Chiffon Cake. It might be my new favorite and I think it would be really good with raspberries or blueberries on top!

Scooper Bowl

2011-06-09T13:24:00.001-05:00

Adele and I spent all morning in the city. I would venture to guess I've walked about 7 miles so far today--- good thing I got a few extra calories when we attended Scooper Bowl! It was an all you can eat ice cream event to benefit the Jimmy Fund & the Dana Farber Cancer Research Center.

We got spoons...

Ice cream...

And we left with full bellies and chocolatey faces!

Now making it home should be interesting... It's 100 degrees today and I just ate 4 (small) scoops of ice cream (don't judge and don't forget to subtract what Adele helped with).

***don't throw up***
***don't throw up***

A New Adventure

2011-06-05T21:18:00.001-05:00

A new friend taught me the basics of quilting last week and because I can't do anything without doing it the most creative (aka difficult) way possible, I immediately decided I wanted to dye all my own fabric.
Have I ever dyed fabric before? No. Have I ever quilted before? Nope. Well let's give both a try!

My goal this weekend was to do some test strips and see where I stand:

This is the basic range I've decided to go with!
I'm excited! Soon I'll be undertaking the large (and daunting) task of dying 10 yards of cotton!

And then cutting out several hundred tiny squares.

And then sewing them back together.

And then quilting them.

What am I doing again?

Strawberry Lemonade Pie

2011-06-03T19:46:00.001-05:00

Greetings

2011-06-01T14:06:00.001-05:00

Greetings from the Boston Museum of Science!

Happy Wednesday! It is Wednesday, right?

The Winner!

2011-05-29T11:23:00.000-05:00

Thank you to the people who entered my giveaway! Your odds of winning were REALLY good, but after Bryan drew the number out of a hat we can now announce that the winner is:

AIMEE

Your prize will be on it's way to you soon!

Thank you again for entering! I'll do another giveaway soon!

Marblehead

2011-05-28T18:47:00.000-05:00

Don't forget to enter the giveaway! Everyone should enter (even if I already know where you live!) You have until noon tomorrow!

Bryan and I drove up to Marblehead, MA, today to do a little wandering and exploring. On the stellar advice of Katy Elliott, we had a wonderful time and saw many of the main sights that Marblehead has to offer! Thanks Katy!

Spirit of '76

Jeremiah Lee Mansion

Lunch at the Driftwood Cafe

Clam Chowder and Clam Strips, Yummy!

After lunch we walked up to Fort Sewall. The views were beautiful!

I'm so glad we finally made it to Marblehead! All the old New England houses were absolutely what I pictured. This town is full of charm and I always love being somewhere that the ocean is only a short walk away!

And then we drove home... Sometimes when I'm driving, I look up and still think, "I live here!" and I'm glad!

Giveaway!

2011-05-26T14:02:00.000-05:00

I know everyone's devastated that Oprah said goodbye yesterday so to help lift your spirits I'll be giving away one necklace hand made by me. This is also the big public launch of my Etsy site so please visit and tell your friends! I'll be adding items to the site at least once a week so when you are looking for a unique gift or something cute for your home, I hope you'll think of Etsy and support one of the many artists or craftsmen!

You can visit my Etsy site by clicking HERE.
I'll be adding a permanent button to my blog's side bar soon so you won't have any trouble finding my store!

And also, for future reference, if you ever see me make something on this blog (or have seen me make something on this blog in the past) that you would like to purchase, just let me know and I'll whip something up to add to my store!

Thank you so much for your support and love!

Now for the good stuff:
If you are my very first giveaway winner you will receive this necklace in your mailbox very soon!

To Enter please leave a comment telling me what city you live in and your favorite thing about that city!

Good Luck!

Only one entry per person will be counted. I will determine and post the winner on Sunday afternoon so please no submissions after Sunday at noon (eastern standard time).

Castle Island

2011-05-25T13:10:00.001-05:00

Adele and I spent the day at Castle Island in South Boston with friends. It is gorgeous outside! I hope this weather is here to stay!

We picnicked, flew a kite, ran as fast as we could, kicked the ball, and watched the birds, airplanes and boats! Summer is finally here (for real this time I hope!)

The Weekend is Near

2011-05-20T13:49:00.001-05:00

The weekend is nearing and I can't wait!

No big plans really.
(unless you call the world ending on Saturday 'big plans'--- we'll see about that on Sunday, though, I guess.)

On the to-do list:
Spend time with my husband!
Blog giveaway
Make and eat some lemon pie
Run miles and miles (because of the pie)
Take a nap (because of the running)
Taste this new marmalade:

Seems like an achievable list!

Happy Friday

I love the smell of peaches!

2011-05-18T19:53:00.001-05:00

Early Summer Peach Marmalade

While summer has yet to be seen in our neck of the woods, early summer peaches are in! Boy oh boy are they smelling good!

My Etsy shop is up and running. I plan to add a couple more inaugural items in the next day or two and will share the link on my blog then. There will also be the giveaway that I promised in honor of the occasion!

My Sweet Life

2011-05-17T13:41:00.000-05:00

Strawberry Short Cake!

Cooking Up A Storm

2011-05-15T18:13:00.000-05:00

It's a stormy 10-day forecast and I've got the perfect remedy! Cooking!

Today I made gumbo, basil green goddess salad dressing, strawberry short cake, hush puppy batter (all for dinner tomorrow with Bryan's reading group) and guacamole (for lunch)!

Bryan, my sweetest husband in the whole wide world, also made french toast (with home-made freshly whipped cream!) and bloody mary's for breakfast!

Brimfield, I'm Yours

2011-05-14T19:21:00.000-05:00

It's Brimfield time again!
Here's what I found today:

I'm loving that cake dome and vintage juicer!

We all got some really cool stuff!
Laura got nesting tables, chairs, a sewing machine, a cool oval picture frame and some smaller items I think.
Sarah got some amazing kitchen canisters, a metal Hiawatha poster, a book of architectural drawings, etc.
And Adrienne got some architectural goodies and a window!

These are WEIRD.

And so is this guy...

It was a long and thrilling day-- we still only saw half of the market (if we even saw that much!)

Happy Saturday!

I made something!

2011-05-09T18:49:00.000-05:00

I made a skirt this weekend. And while my other clothing 'creations' have been exciting at the time, they have been beyond unwearable. I have learned a lot, though, and feel like this whole learning-to-sew-things-I-can-wear-out-of-the-house is a process that I'm getting better at with every garment.
All that to say: I would like some opinions on my newest creation. I really like it. It fits me well. It moves nicely. And Bryan approved.
I think it would be cute with a silk top and some nude heels (or colorful heels)... Any opinions?

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T21:18:00.002-05:00

Happy Mother's Day to our wonderful mothers! We love you!

We spent the day out of doors as it was a beautiful day here in Boston! We biked up to Sacramento Field to play a little friendly game of wiffle ball. It was 'bookstore' vs. 'philosophy' (I was philosophy by association). Philosophy won! (probably because of my killer pitching--- I looked up a few wiffle pitches online so I was AMAZING) (actually I was terrible at pitching--- but I'm going to pick up a wiffle ball so I can practice)

Hope you had a beautiful Sunday!

Ketchup Water

2011-05-06T22:28:00.000-05:00

1. Ketchup
We made Ketchup! Yay! It's delicious!

The recipe from this book that Tiffanie gave me in the fall.

I gathered some herbs and spices together in an empty tea filter.

And tied them all up and tossed the bag into a puree of tomatoes and onion along with some brown sugar and champagne vinegar.

Making ketchup is a huge, red splatter-paint party (but it still needed to reduce) so we covered it with our handy dandy splatter guard! Yep. We have that in our kitchen.

I'll probably puree it a little more next time but it is so tasty on sweet potato fries!

2. Water

After I was washing up after the ketchup-making (do you see the splatter on that pot??) our hot water wouldn't turn off! The knob was in the off position, but water kept pouring out!

this is in the off position.

It's fixed now... Thank goodness our landlord lives in the same house as us! He, his wife, Lulu (the dog), Bryan, and I were all in our kitchen trying to sort out the issue/ morally supporting...

(I will now add bleaching the sink and changing the bristely scrubbie part to my to-do list tomorrow. Yikes.)

Summer is Beginning

2011-04-30T16:48:00.000-05:00

Summer has finally started here in Boston!

I, accordingly, began the summer with a nice Strawberry Jam with Aged Balsamic and Black Pepper!

4 lbs of fresh strawberries

All the jam is setting up now and will be ready tomorrow!

We also planted our garden! It's finally done (fingers crossed) dipping below freezing every night.

We have cilantro, dill, basil, lettuce, and flowers!

Our Zoo Date

2011-04-28T13:50:00.000-05:00

We met a story-time friend at the zoo today.

When they wanted to walk and not hold an adult's hand we asked them to hold each other's hand. So cute!
Adele kept saying "friends, friends" and even hugged him goodbye when we left!

Orange Soda

2011-04-27T19:20:00.000-05:00

Bryan found an article on how to make your own soda recently so we decided to give it a go!
Our first soda is similar to orange crush:
We started with honey oranges (next time we might try blood oranges!)

Juice them all and funnel the juice into a bottle with a tight stopper.

Add lemon juice and simple syrup.

And soda water...

And viola! A yummy drink that has less than 4 ingredients!

It couldn't be easier! You can do any combination of juice you can think! I can't wait to try more!

Oh No! The Birds!

2011-04-25T21:39:00.000-05:00

Elizabeth gifted us free tix to see Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds this evening at the Coolidge Corner Theater. That's probably my favorite theater in town!

They even brought in an ornithologist before the showing to discuss why birds attack! How fun and informative!

An Easter Picnic

2011-04-24T18:27:00.000-05:00

Most of our friends are not originally from Boston so when holidays come around it's nice to have a family, of sorts, to spend the day with! We met at the Hatch Shell for an Easter Picnic.

Everyone brought picnic items to contribute! Three of the said items were straight out of Southern Living magazine recipe archives. We had delicious potato salad, bread and cheese, yummy fruit, deviled eggs, chips and dip, pimento cheese sandwiches, strawberry-rhubarb mini pies, honey glazed ham, biscuits and jam/ marmalade, fruit-herb-mozzarella skewers, and the ever popular cheese puffs.

We made short order of everything available, that's for sure.

A little walk on the Esplanade

A beautiful sunny day! Maybe the first this season!

Happy Easter!

Boston Cream Pie

2011-04-23T15:07:00.000-05:00

Vanilla chiffon cake with vanilla curd and dark chocolate glaze. It was a keeper! Really Yummy!

Yoni will be leaving Boston soon so we had a farewell gathering in his honor last night.

David and Carolyn also got engaged recently so to keep the cake from being all sad, you just had to turn it around!

Easter Cupcakes

2011-04-23T15:03:00.000-05:00

Martha was home all week with Adele and me! We had lots of adventures this week and even made Easter Cupcakes together yesterday.

Stay tuned... My first attempt at Boston Cream Pie coming soon!

We are in Boston, after all.

New Cocktails!

2011-04-23T15:00:00.000-05:00

Bryan is really getting good with the cocktail mixing. I think he should take a bar tending class sometime!

Nolan and Elizabeth came over last weekend to help us try his newest ones!

The "Tomato Kiss"

This one would be so yummy with a grilled cheese sandwich!

The "Plantation"

This one was probably my favorite of the evening.

"31 Flavors"

"The Paddleboat"

Garnished with fresh raspberries.

And for dessert I made blackberry, lemon puddings with a bit of sponge cake and vanilla ice cream on top!

What Exactly Does a Heart Attack Feel Like?

2011-04-17T00:26:00.000-05:00

Because I think I just had one!

On a more cardiac-friendly note, Bryan and I went to Island Creek Oyster Bar for a dinner date last night.

We hadn't been there yet, and we ate extremely well!
Of course, we also had cocktails:

Mine, above, was made with a rhubarb infused vermouth and Bryan's below was similar to an old fashioned but with added cinnamon.

Everything we ate was delicious, too!

From the raw bar we had several types of raw oysters and halibut ceviche.
We also had fried oyster sliders (my new favorite food!)
We split a lobster roll, fried clam strips, and house made sugar doughnuts with strawberry-rhubarb jelly.

When friends come to visit from now on, we will make sure to bring them here!

Happy Saturday!

Home Improvements

2011-04-15T15:17:00.000-05:00

I entered my sweet Chinese-Food-Restaurant sofa re-do in a competition today!

I have my fingers crossed!

Working at an upholstery shop in college has benefited me more times than I can count. I'm so glad I took that totally random job working with an amazing 70 year old man who taught me how to sew, build, upholster, and re-upholster!

Pizza Night, Again.

2011-04-11T19:56:00.001-05:00

This margherita pizza was our delicious dinner!

Pizza night isn't a new norm at our house but really this one was very good.

And in honor of pizza night I'm posting the recipe for:
Raspberry and Ginger Crumble Pizza from our last pizza night!

Ingredients:
1 recipe of white pizza dough (you can make it or buy it... But not a pre-cooked dough. It needs to be raw dough in a bag in the refrigerated produce section.)
1 tbsp melted butter
2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries
1 tsp fresh grated ginger (make your life easier and peel the Ginger with a spoon and not a veggie peeler before you grate it)

4 tbsp butter, chilled and diced
2/3 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp oatmeal

Vanilla ice cream to serve

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400

Roll out dough and brush with melted butter.
Put raspberries on top and sprinkle on Ginger.

To make the crumble, rub the butter into the flour with your fingers until it looks like breadcrumbs. Stir in sugar and oats and sprinkle mixture over pizza.

Cook for 20-25 min until crust is golden.

Serve while hot with ice cream!

Let me know what you think, Brittany!

My Legs Saw the Sun Today

2011-04-10T19:01:00.001-05:00

And it was good.

We walked over to the Marsh Chapel at BU this morning for a Bach Cantata which was really quite good!

After the cantata we walked over to the Eastern Standard with Nolan and Elizabeth for brunch.

And then a lovely stroll home again for a nap!

Can it be that springtime has arrived in Boston?!

Hi-Ya

2011-04-09T20:01:00.001-05:00

On my way home yesterday I was witness to some bizarre public behavior.

I know he's tiny in these pictures and you may have to zoom in to see what he's up to, but he was jumping and leaping and karate chopping up and down the platform.

This was only a short time after Adele and I witnessed a grown man in a business suit be-bopping his way through the Commons while singing quite loudly and in an unexpectedly high pitched voice 'soul sister' by Train.

Yikes.

Opening Day

2011-04-08T11:57:00.001-05:00

It's opening day for the Red Sox at Fenway and even the frog pond's frogs are all gussied up for the occasion!

A+B