It's About Time

Why don't you pop on over to www.tamelingrecipes.com and see what I finally started?

P.S. - Let me know if you are forwarded to a different site that obviously isn't mine.  I'm having some issues with my domain :o)

You Should Be Ashamed

A trip down to the laundry room never fails to give me a good laugh.  This weekend, I found this note plastered to the bulletin board:

Yep, that's right.  She even posted the hair/fur/unidentified objects in a ziploc baggie under the note.

How Does your Garden Grow?

Here in the DG, it's growing in containers.  Lots of containers.


On Saturday, Hubs and I decided to stop off at Wannemaker's to see what kind of herbs they had.  Last year, we grew some cilantro and chives that we actually used in a lot of our cooking.


The place was a madhouse - there were even police directing traffic into and out of the parking lot.  But I can definitely see why.  It was like walking into gardening heaven!


We quickly found the vegetable/herb section...and just stood there.  Rows and rows of tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, you name it.  They had anything you would ever want.





I was fine with sticking to a few herbs here and there.  After all, we don't really have the space to "garden" - we don't even have a yard!


But it seems like every time I came back to the cart, there were more and more plants in it.  Apparently, Hubs was pretty excited about this garden thing.


Six planters, 5 bags of soil, and an insane amount of plants later, we were all set.  We planted everything as soon as we got home...and took a step back.

How cute is our "little" garden?!  I still don't know all of the plants we have (dill, mint, parsley, basil, jalapenos, hot peppers, bell peppers, poblano peppers, fennel (?), spinach, lettuce, rosemary, thyme, tomatoes, and arugula to name a "few"), but I am pretty excited about it.

Not as excited as Hubs, though.  He spends hours online reading about pests, and immediately goes to check out the garden the instant he comes home.

Our first product of the garden?  A mojito, of course!

I'm a little skeptical about how this will all turn out (especially the bigger plants), but I can't wait to see our garden grow. :)

So Blessed

The other day, the best surprise came.

My dearest bestest friend sent me flowers to work.

Not just any flowers - tulips!

They're now proudly displayed at home...and I smile every time I look at them.  I am so blessed to have a friend like my Holly.

THANK YOU, HOLLY WOLLY!  I love you!

Welcome Back!

My Dearest DG Farmer's Market,

And so we meet again.  You finally came back, just like you said you would.  Today was your first of many visits to come.  And, as promised, I decided to forego sleeping in just to see you again.

It was blustery and cold today, but the vendors were rejoicing because it wasn't raining on opening day (again).  Upon entering your friendly home, I spotted some random shoes lying by the newspaper stand.

I quickly stopped pondering the mystery of them once I saw it...the crepe stand.  Not just any crepe stand...a NEW crepe stand.

One with savory crepes and sweet crepes...and an "under the table special" crepe - Buffalo Chicken Crepes.  You know me so well.

One "under the table" special later, I was on my way back home.

I'm so glad you're back.

 

Garnished with a Banana

This year, Easter was held at Aunt Louise and Uncle John's house.  They certainly know how to put on a party!


We were greeted with a display of Easter-coordinated pastel barware - even the stirrers were decked out for the holiday!





And the appetizers (hold, please, while I wipe the drool from my mouth).  AHEM.  Appetizers were a little too dangerous for my own good.  Just look at that melty cheese.





The table was even decorated with with two little guests in their own cage (not real, of course!).





Not ones to be outdone, even the guests stepped it up a notch!  Stephen made some sort of banana liqueur concoction...





...and Steve and Patti made these amazing Easter basket cupcakes together.  Check out the decorating job!




Thanks, Aunt Louise, for an amazing Easter dinner!

One Year...

Believe it or not, Hubs and I got married a year ago this past Sunday.




As hard as this is for me to believe...and to accept (can't I PLEASE wear my wedding dress again?), this past year has been a total blast.  I never knew I could have such a deep love
for someone who isn't related to me by blood, and I couldn't be more thankful for him.  Any man who puts up with me and my tendency to be upset with myself for being upset, thereby getting even more upset, must really love me.  He rocks my world.


And he sure didn't disappoint when it came to planning out our anniversary.


On Friday, Hubs made reservations at an amazing restaurant in downtown Naperville called Catch 35.  Since we were running early for our reservations, we stopped at Quigley's for a hard cider and to talk about the last year of our lives.


Dinner was amazing, a fact that is proven by my lack of pictures (clearly, I was too busy eating).  I somehow managed to remember to get a picture sometime before we left.







On Saturday, he planned a romantic picnic at Morton Arboretum (all together now:  AWWWW!).




And on Sunday, we went out to breakfast at my favorite breakfast place.  Please note that I also failed to take pictures during breakfast.  Apparently me + food = too engrossed to take pictures.


Which brings us to...the cake.




Do yourself a favor...don't wait until a year later to eat it.  Trust us.