birthday week 2011

I've never been one to get super excited about my birthday but last year was pretty good. I got to spend the weekend away with Kris, Giada and a few friends. It was also one year ago that I got my camera that I am still in love with.

This year, since my cousins were visiting, planning anything for my birthday was out of the question. As I mentioned in my earlier post, I got to spend a lot of time with them so I thought that was a pretty good gift. In addition, Kris and Giada got me a new fishing pole and Le Creuset baking dish. Maybe that doesn't sound too exciting to you but I have been in search of a good lasagna pan for some time and I was not about to spend what they were asking for the super deep one I found a a while back. Le Creuset......not too shabby :) Now it just needs to get broken in. What will it be? Lasagna? bread pudding? fritatta? hmmmm.... As for the fishing pole, well that is quite a story.

I grew up getting dirty but I had never been camping or fishing until I met Kris. The first time I was ever in command of a fishing pole, I caught a sunny. I was all smiles and so excited. Kris helped me get the hook out of it's mouth and then we threw it back in. Sadly, the poor little guy didn't make it. I saw a small fish floating near us and when I showed Kris, he broke the news that it was my fish. Way to go, Heather. First time out and you're killing them. So much for catch and release. The rest of that summer, we went fishing as often as we could. The apartment we had was within walking distance of the river so we'd go after work. I used one of Kris's old poles. It was rigged and occasionally, we'd have to fix something or other on it. It didn't matter though because I loved fishing.

A few weeks ago, while I was at a baby shower for a friend, Kris took Giada for her first fishing outing. She's been asking to go and has mastered her squeamishness of worms so it time to try. Her first day out, she caught a few sunnies and Kris pulled in a 12" bass. Knowing she enjoyed it, we all went again and this time, we rented a rowboat. I got to try out my new pole and outside of Giada's lack of concentration ( she'd ignore the bobber and we'd end up reeling in fish on her line), we had a great day together.




The day of my birthday was also Father's Day this year. Since we'd spent a lot of fun time hanging with family all week, we decided to catch up on yard work and then enjoyed a few glasses of sparkling white wine as Giada checked us for any apparent ailments.









The hummingbirds are coo-coo for the feeder this season and most of them have gotten used to humans being around by now so we get quite a show each day. They fight over who can use the feeder at any given time and they'll dive bomb each other in effort to get their turn.





As an added Birthday gift, Giada came home from her first day in the 'big kid' classroom with this sticker. Keep it going, G-Bear!

csa- week 3

Week 3 pick-up:

• 1 bunch of green onions
• 3 beets with greens
  
• 3 radishes with greens
  
• 1/4 lb salad greens with arugula
  
• 1 head of red leaf lettuce
  
• basil & parsley
  
• 1/2 lb kale

It's Sunday night and Kris is making potato soup with our veggies. In addition to the potatoes, he's using the garlic scapes, parsley,kale and green onions. Once it's all cooked, he will puree it and we will have some rosemary bread quickly toasted in a pan with olive oil and rubbed with fresh garlic. A nice quick meal packed with lots of vitamins.

We really only have the radishes, beets and salad greens left so it looks like salad for dinner one night this week. We'll probably leave the radishes alone and slice them up in the salad. The beets will likely be rubbed with olive oil, salt and pepper and baked in the oven. Once cooked and cooled, they will be great with some goat cheese and greens.

The herbs, small tomatoes, raspberries and grapes that we are growing are doing well and will be a nice addition to the CSA foods. So far, the half-share is perfect for us. Though it seems like you don't get enough at times, once you try to work them into the meals, it ends up being just enough for us without wasting anything.

min svenska familj besök!

Starbucks stop....refuel!

About six years ago, my mother asked us to come over for dinner because her cousin was visiting from Sweden with her family. We went over for a bit but thinking back now, we must not have been there too long. Long enough for a few pictures but that's all. Since then, Facebook emerged and gave me the opportunity to get to know the younger cousins a bit better. I offered that if they ever made it back to New York, they would have a place to stay. When I got the news that they had planned another trip to visit I couldn't wait for them to get here.




Once the agenda was set, I decided to take a day off from work to spend a day in New York City with them. They wanted to SHOP! The night they arrived, we planned to have dinner with the rest of the family at my parent's place. As excited as I was to see everyone, I was nervous as well. After sharing so much online, I felt like we'd just click but that's the funny thing about online.....you feel you know someone and then the in-person relationship can be so different. We said hello and chatted a bit breaking the ice over Skittles and dinner. We didn't get back home until late and we had to get up early to catch the train to NYC so there wasn't too much bonding that night.

The next morning, we made our way to the city. We dropped bags off at the hotel and set off on our shopping adventure. First stop: Starbucks! They had been subjected to Dunkin' Donuts for too many days and needed some espresso. After a quick jolt, we were on a mission. Have you seen National Lampoon's European Vacation? I lived and breathed that movie when I was younger so when I looked around and saw all of my cousins in different directions all holding things up or trying things on ,this is all I could picture (watch here)






After the morning shopping session was concluded, it was decided that we should get some food and I was treated to a wonderful lunch in Rockefeller Center. The weather was clear so we sat outside, next to the fountain with large umbrellas shading us from the glaring sun. Though updating Facebook statuses was crucial since we had Wi-Fi access, it was still nice to sit down together and enjoy a bit of a reprieve.


We continued to shop after lunch but as the day winded down, so did the shopping and after I made sure that they got settled back at the hotel, I hopped back on the train to come home and leave them to explore NYC on their own for a couple of days.

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I met everyone at the train station upon their return and took the girls back to our house for a night of relaxing. Pizza, beer and doing nothing. It is how we like to relax at the end of a week but knowing they they'd been exploring for three days, Kris and I knew they would appreciate some down time. It worked out perfectly.

In the morning, we just took our time and before we had to meet up with everyone else, we shared our favorite view of the mountains with the girls.

Frida, Hanna,Karin, Me and Giada......see any resemblance?

Karin taking as many pictures as I usually do....with a very similar camera!

It was a hot day and rather than continue shopping, we hung by the pool before the farewell dinner.

Giada and Hanna enjoying the pool and each other

It's only been five days, but I already miss them all. And that nervousness of seeing them in person? Completely gone. I'm already counting the days until we see each other again......here or in Sweden!

csa- week 1

This is the first time that Kris and I have participated in a CSA. I found this farm by chance and I was drawn in by the fact that they grow using organic practices and are very community-minded. We opted for the half-share because we could try this new way of buying our veggies and see what size share would work best for our eating style and schedule.
This past Saturday was our first pick-up. We got:

• 1 stalk of green garlic
• 2 radishes with greens
  
• 1/4lb arugula
• 1/2lb salad greens
• a head of broccoli ( or we could have gotten u-pick snap peas)
  
• 3/8 lb broccoli rabe
• 1 head of cabbage
• 3 types of kale

It seemed like a small amount.......until we got home and cleaned it off and tried to fit it in the fridge. For a family that eats a lot of veggies, this is a cool way to spruce up the everyday meals. Some of the items we will get by default may not be things we'd usually buy but I love that it forces us to find a suitable recipe.
I don't plan to do too much with the salad greens and I already have a few things that we regularly use arugula, broccoli & broccoli rabe for so the biggest challenges this week are the kale and the cabbage. Tonight we had the cabbage sauteed with chicken in a thai peanut sauce over brown rice. Y. U. M. Kris has plans for the kale so I'm excited to see what that may be.

I have 23 weeks to go so if you see an ingredient that you have a great idea for, let me know and if I try it, I'll post it on this blog. Happy eating!