coffee with dessert

is delicious.  It's one of my favorite things, and I think I inherited this taste from my mother.

   

Baby gifts

I'm working on crocheting a baby blanket for my soon-to-be-born nephew.  My excitement level for crocheting comes in waves, and waves within those waves.  Right now I'm in the "I love to crochet once I actually get myself to start" part of the "I love to crochet!" wave.

I don't have a pic, so here's a picture of the teddy bear I made my niece when she was a newborn:

Just hangin' out with Chip-n-Dale, another little creature I made.

Hello, Summer. I love you.

tomatoes are getting better and better!

lettuce and basil from the mini garden =]

lovely sunsets

I cannot make steak!

I have a track record of cooking steak terribly.  What is my problem!?  I like to think that if we had a grill I could do it, but for now, pan or griddle, it's not good.  =[

GHETTO
Last night I tried to make flat iron steak... let's just say that when you had originally planned to use the left-overs in steak-and-eggs the next morning, but after looking at the end product you both decide you don't want to look at it again for several days, there's a problem.

GOURMET
Luckily, to balance out last night's steak debacle, we had side dishes of very yummy chipotle sweet potato fries and a lovely tomato salad.  And, of course, some of the pieces of steak were edible.

Tattoos and Henna

I'm more of a fake tattoo girl myself, but I do think some tattoos are really beautiful and/or cool.
  
These are all pretty cool.
This is sort of gross, but it is pretty awesome.

I love henna.
    

Is anything better than a spread?

One of my favorite meals is what we like to call a spread.

Today's spread:
Roasted beets in spinach salad with red peppers, sweet onion, and balsamic vinaigrette
Goat cheese
2 types of salami-like deli meats
Taleggio (so good I bought it again!)
Rustic wheat bread
Cantaloupe

Yummm!  I felt like I could've grazed for hours!

I love lace

lace curtains

my wedding dress

 

This table cloth from a wedding on Green Wedding Shoes

I just love lace!

Food Glorious Food!

Yesterday and today Chris and I ate deeeeeeeeeelicious lunches (same lunch both days. Too good not to have again).  On the skillet we grilled sandwiches that could be called crunchy-gooey-savory-comfort-food-that-makes-you-feel-better-about-your day-of-torturing-testing-students-and-busing-and-walking-commuting-through-the chilly-rain-sandwiches.
Ingredients:
Modesto sesame wheat bread
mayo
Lusty Monk honey mustard (love it!)
sliced cheddar
sweet onion (sauteed briefly in butter)
ham
egg, over-medium

Boy oh boy those are some tasty sandwiches!

found this on Etsy by BettyTurbo

And now I'm making these cinnamon cookies, and I've added some chopped toasted pecans. Yummm!

Katie Is Back!

Hooray!  She was in Europe (mostly Rome, Italy) for almost 3 months!

Here's her trip blog: Buona Salute Italia

Now that she's back I can't wait to catch up, hear more about her trip, try to convince her to move to Asheville, and... drum roll please... discuss trip plans to Miami to visit John, Cristina, the little girls, and Baby #3, due the first week of June! Yay family!

Tomato Pie

 I looooooooove tomato pie.  I learned the recipe listening to All Things Considered on NPR a couple of years ago. Story. Recipe.  Oh man it is sooo good.  I made one yesterday (I know, I know, tomatoes stink right now, but I couldn't wait!  Once I have tomato pie on the brain, I gotta have it!).

When Katie was here, we made a mushroom tomato pie.  It was to. die. for.  It was basically the same recipe, but I made the pie 2 layers: A layer of sauteed mushrooms and onions (with white wine, garlic, and some other ingredients to jazz it up), and the original tomato layer (tomatoes, basil, sweet onion, s&p).  Yummmm.

The question is:  Is tomato pie better than pizza?  Gasp!

Bad coffee is a sad thing.

Yesterday I had a delicious breakfast at Chorizo.  The food was wonderful, but the overall experience was dampened by the mediocre-at-best coffee. I'm starting to feel that coffee that isn't good is bad.  This particular cup (ok cups; I had 2 in hopes the second would be better) was too thin.  The beans, roast, freshness, etc. didn't seem to be bad, it was just poor proportioning. I like a fairly strong cup of coffee! I don't want to add cream and think Wow. This is now more gross.

I'm not trying to pay over $2 for diner quality coffee! Sorry, diners, but you often have weak, old coffee...and week old coffee. hehe  

Sage!

from the balcony garden!

Close up! Looking good, sage. Real good.

*Photography by Chris

Best read aloud ever.

I love this book so much.  I've read it aloud every year to my students, and this year I encouraged (ok insisted) that one of the teachers I work with read it to her class.  They loved it, of course.  Last night I started reading it to Chris, because I thought it was only right that he be familiar with a book his wife loves so dearly. =]  He was resistant at first, but it took only a few moments for the truth to set in:  Everyone loves a read aloud.

 

Go read it!

Roses and Honeysuckle

Glorious spring!  As I went for a jog today (Gasp! Yes, a jog! After months of slothery [a new and wonderful-if-I-do-say-so-myself word I just made up] I jogged!) I noticed so many lovely rose bushes, and  saw and smelled honeysuckle.  Oh how sweet and pungent is the aroma of honeysuckle!  It really brought me back to my youth - the youth before this adulthood youth - when Tootie and I used to pick honeysuckle in her backyard and sip the syrupy sap.

 

To my horror, while looking up "honeysuckle sap" (to ensure proper vocabulary), an e-how website called Eradicating Honeysuckle was high up in the results list! Astonishing! Dismaying!  I don't know what it means to be mayed, but I felt dis that when I saw the article. Behold this jolting quote from the article: "What children don't understand is that honeysuckle vine (Lonicera spp.) has become an invasive and damaging exotic weed in North America."

On a lighter note, seeing the rose bushes reminded me of my walk to school when I worked in Alameda, CA.  The school's neighborhood was chock full of houses with beautiful yards and gardens, many of which bloomed with beautiful roses.  I think the climate in Alameda must be perfect for rose bushes, because I have never seen so many in one place.  They were absolutely gorgeous, and seeing them really made my mornings and afternoons. 

To my horror, while looking up "Alameda rose" (in an attempt to find some charming examples), Google Images returned results of casket after casket!  Shock!  Apparently "Alameda rose" is a funereal wood choice! Upon my word!   See for yourself!