Thursday, April 30, 2015

The garden menu

Most years I'm a few weeks, or months, late to planning my garden. Tomatoes in October just aren't a good thing. In an effort to be more on top of things, I bought starter plants today.

Ok so actually I did not even intend to buy plants but hey you know how a trip to Home Depot can quickly spiral out of control. 

Lightbulbs? Check. 

Toilet bowl cleaner? Check. 

Strawberries? Okay!

They had a sale- all Bonnie veggies/herbs/berries were $2. In the past I've done most everything from seeds, but that is a big reason why my garden gets so behind. I chose cilantro, sweet basil, purple basil (did not even know that was a thing but how cool), cherry tomatoes, and lemon tomatoes (again, that is a thing as well). I grabbed 3 things of strawberries, and I'll admit I'm totally clueless. Will that yield like 10 berries total? Or like 50? Time will tell.

Our back landscaping looked pretty scraggly last year (oh do you not remember me whining about that?) so I decided I'll tear out a section of spindly bushes and plant a future berry patch. Growing up our neighbors had a berry patch with golden raspberries and we'd always sneak over to eat them. Note to self- also build a fence to keep neighborhood kids away from MAH BERRIEZ.



So that's the plan- berries, tomatoes, herbs. I will continue the tradition of growing monstrous zucchini, and maybe some green beans and carrots as well. 

Monday, April 20, 2015

Pahoweniks

We all just got back from a weeklong trip to Phoenix, or Pahowenicks (I think this is hilarious...no one seems to agree with me). Sun, hiking, pool, and eating. Vacation is awesome.

First things first- we could not make it to In-N-Out fast enough once we got the rental car. Good thing baby was snoozing in the back so that we could unashamedly cram our faces with the tasty deliciousness.


The house we stayed in (parents, plus my two brothers and their SOs) was gorgeous. We mostly hung out in the outdoor patio.


Oh time zone change- Mac woke up at 5 a.m, which was weirdly enough a great time to go grocery shopping. We picked up eggs, chorizo, tortillas, and pico de gallo and made breakfast burritos. I brought Tazo wild orange tea with me, and man that stuff is like drinking sunshine in a mug. 




Reaching for unripened lemons on Auntie Shanna's tree.


Ate at Backyard Taco, which was exactly the kind of hole-in-the-wall-but-so-delicious place we were looking for. 



Stopped at Luci's for lunch one day. My bestie and I split a BLT and $3 sangria. If only I could swing bacon and booze every day for lunch... 


Across from Luci's is the. cutest. bakery. ever. Bakeshop had awesome cupcakes, macarons, and my fave, homemade oatmeal cream pies. 






The website for the Phoenix farmer's market looked promising, listing tons of vendors and food trucks. We went Wednesday night, which must just be their slow night. It was super sad- about 4 vendors and only 3 food trucks. Eh. 


When in the south, eat at Waffle House. 


Took Mac and his chins for a few jogs. He wins the prize for baby who loves his sunglasses the most.


We went on two major hikes. I use the term "major" loosely. Like, I'm not wearing the tall boots and wool socks and safari hat and using walking sticks. Though all of that would've been nice. We went to Lost Dutchman state park and hiked below Superstition Mountain, then another morning we hiked up Camelback. Had to burn off all those cupcakes and oatmeal cream pies, right? 





Ok so that last pic might be from "Hey Dude." A thousand high fives if you used to love that show as much as I did. OH THAT CRAZY MR. ERNST.



Goodbye Arizona-


...it was fun, but it's always nice to come home.

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Happy birthday, baby

One year in and I’m starting to think I know what I’m doing when it comes to parenting. My little nugget of a sidekick…my number one li’l dude…my sweet baby guy turns one year old today. It’s cliché to say, but I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday.

It’s funny to think about all the things I thought I would be doing as a parent, and how reality has instead stepped in.

Plan: Always waking him up by singing “Morning has broken.” I loves me some Cat Stevens.

Reality: Most the time it’s “Hibabytimetogetupmamaisrunninglate.”

Plan: Read a book to him before bed every night.

Reality: Plop him in front of a pile of toys/books and let him go to town.

Plan: Take him on my morning jogs

Reality: Umm why would I wake up a sleeping baby at 5 am to go running in the dark?

Plan: Feed him homemade nutritious baby food.

Reality: Ok so this one mostly stuck. I definitely bought my fair share of Gerber, but it wasn’t difficult to occasionally make a batch of pureed carrots/sweet potatoes/chicken for him.

We had a nautical themed birthday party with family over the weekend and it was so much fun.

 Sailboat hard boiled eggs









Baby’s first cupcake went over a little too well.










 Happy birthday Mac Mac! We love you so much!

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Happy Birthster

I’ve always loved how every so often my birthday falls on Easter weekend. Four score and seven years ago it was actually on Easter. Praise be to..me? Anyway, love love love Easter. Love the springtime flowers, love the pretty pastels, love the chance to wear dresses I haven’t seen since last summer.
 

Not-so-much love to the candy.  Now believe me when I say I’ve had my fair share of it, but here is a fun reminder about what exactly is in the Easter candy we think we love. Below are three different ingredient lists. See if you can figure out which candy they belong to:
 
1. Sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, contains less than 0.5% of the following ingredients: yellow #5 (Tartrazine), potassium sorbate (a preservative), natural flavors, carnauba wax
 
2. Milk chocolate (sugar, milk, chocolate, cocoa butter, milk fat, nonfat milk, soy lecithin, natural and artificial flavors), sugar, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, contains 2% or less of: artificial color (yellow 6), artificial flavor, calcium chloride, egg white
 
3. Sugar, Corn Syrup, Modified Food Starch (Corn), Cornstarch, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Confectioner's Glaze, Carnauba Wax, Beeswax, Red 40, Blue 1, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Red 3





He learned quickly that it's more fun to throw the eggs than sweetly pose with them.

Here are the correct answers:

1. Peeps
2. Cadbury Creme Egg
3. Jelly beans

This Easter, stick to the ham and the green beans. Try to steer clear of anything with carnauba wax. And dodge any incoming plastic eggs.