It feels like -6 outside right now.

Is that legal? As you've guessed, we will not be adventuring today.

A few weeks ago Bryan and I were out walking around and he looks at me and says. I want to learn to cook French food. "Great!" I said, as I love to cook and thought it would be fun to do it together. He immediately ordered the 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' book. So far we've only attempted side dishes from the book but if they were a taste of what's to come, them I'm in!
Creamed Brussels Sprouts (in a lot of butter and cream...)

What was left of the artichoke by the time I took a picture. We ate this with hollandaise (and we've eaten three since this one!)I guess if there's more real French cooking... like not just veggies, I'll let you know! Maybe I can convince Bryan to whip up something magical for lunch. I am sick, you know? Cough Cough.

Oh, and Sophie, we made the black bean burgers and sweet potato fries you had on your blog! We always make sweet potato fries but I never thought to season them with Tony's! Great Idea! (And I made guacamole to go on the burgers... which I would totally recommend!)

It was supposed to be nice out today.

But then it started snowing around lunch and didn't stop until all the grass and sidewalks were once again covered in a thin coat. (The snow from New Year's weekend was still on the ground until last weekend when a warm rain finally melted it all.)

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I still think it's beautiful every time I see it flurrying to the ground. All this snow, though, just reminded Bryan of a photo he took back when it was so snowy a few weeks ago.

Amazing. He was shoveling the sidewalks.

Keep your fingers crossed for more snow so we can go sledding!!!

try that mershkin place

Or that "mexican" place for lunch which is what Erick finally decided the man he asked was saying...

Today we took a trip to Plymouth and Hyannis. Hyannis was terrible. Here are our adventures.

Erick and Laura came with us so it was definitely fun to have them along!!

Our first stop was Plymouth:

Where we saw the Plymouth Rock!

Which we were totally underwhelmed by. We did discuss photo-shopping ourselves into the photo above but at a much smaller scale so that it would look as big as we thought it would.Then we saw the Mayflower II... it was a replica of the original from what we understood.

We were pretty excited about the boat.And here is William Bradford.

And his grave site.

And last but not least we visited the Cape Cod Beer Company. We did the brewery tour and sampled what they have to offer.
After all of those adventures, it took us an hour in Hyannis to find a restaurant that was open... EVERYTHING said "Closed for the Season" or "Opened again in April." I didn't realize our outing so heavily relied on the season. We have already made plans to go back in the summer, though. This time we want to go all the way out on Cape Cod to Provincetown!

A New England Adventure

Tonight we shucked oysters.

Our very first oysters. Can you see the twinkle in my eye as I talk about them?

Bryan and I considered just going out and eating some on the half shell at a restaurant but then decided that since we can get them fresh, shucking them was just something we'd need to learn to do while we lived in Boston.

One new oyster knife, an internet tutorial and a bag of oysters later and victory was ours. It is a strange victory that comes with the top popping off the first one you open, but victory nonetheless. And a tasty victory if I do say so myself.

Cleaning the grit.

Grasping the oyster firmly in a kitchen towel.Grasping it a little more firmly in a kitchen towel and giving it a pep talk while waving the special knife at it.Gently removing the top.

A full plate of oysters!!!

I participated in every step shown above, just so you know. I really like shucking them (and then eating them!).

Home is Wherever You Are

Bryan and I took a day trip to Maine! We had lots of fun together (as usual)!

We started our trip in Kennebunkport

Where we went by Bartley's (which came highly recommended online)And got an amazing freshly made blueberry pie with wild Maine blueberries (which we ate in the car with plastic ware... we did not eat all of it... but enough)We had seafood stewand fish tacos for lunchand saw the Goat Island Lighthousehere it is a little bigger:

After we left Kennebunkport we drove up to Cape Elizabeth where we went to the Two Lights State Park.

I got to touch the Atlantic Ocean! I've never felt colder water than that water and it was crystal clear. What a beautiful day to be outside!

It tried to soak me at first.

And last but not least, with waining day light (at 4:30pm) we went to the Portland Head Light to see the country's oldest lighthouse commissioned in 1791 by George Washington. Light Keepers kept it burning for over 200 years before it was converted to electric.

Burr St.

I drove past a street called "Burr St." on the way home today. And when I did, I answered aloud, "Sure is!"

We'll figure all this how-to-stay-warm nonsense out soon enough I suppose. Look what I got to help fight the next storm! (and the next five winters worth of storms!) Hooray!

I think I'll go for a walk outside now

The summer sun's calling my name... but I can't seem to hear it over the 9 degree weather for some reason!

We walked anyway. Why? Because we're brave. We're brave and we're tough. We're brave, we're tough, and we're rugged out-doorsy people. And I don't want to hear any one of my friends or family laughing or disputing my part of the "we" in those statements.

(The frozen Charles River)

(A woman on the frozen Charles. She did not fall in. I guess the ice is pretty thick, though.)

While We Were Away: Part II

We visited so many friends while we were home! How fun it was to see everyone again! I've already blogged about staying with Parker & Lexie & being at my mom's house, but here's what else we did.

I went to a Journey caroling party before Bryan made it to Jackson:

(no journey party doesn't have food... hi, emily, in the background!)

We were invited over to Scott & Lisa's cute new house for chili and to catch up with some high school friends:

(beverly, lexie, molly gee, lisa, me)

We played with Howard:

(jill, phil, & chester cheeto)

a lot:

We had lunch at the newly renovated historic King Edward Hotel in downtown Jackson: (and climbed up to the roof afterwards because it was so new there were no functioning locks on any doors)

We saw a Jim Henson exhibit at the art museum downtown:
We also took puppets on the tour and did a puppet show at the end!

(us with lex & ben) (and if we're getting technical: Skunky, Mr. Quackers, Badger & Beaver)

We went with Neil & Beverly to hear some Blues music:

(bryan & me with neil)

Had game night at Van & Emily's house:

(van & emily)

Has everyone played "Things?" You should.

(kyle & katie)

We tried on new faces at Lexie & Parker's house:

And we hung out with Kyle & Katie for the last few days while we stayed at their house!

It's such a blessing to have such good friends and family close by! I really miss that about living in Jackson! It does make it that much sweeter when we go home, though.

Happy Sunday!