Flowers and Food
OMG, you guys! The bulbs I worked so hard to put into the ground last fall are actually sprouting! I'm really surprised! More so than I care to admit: I was convinced I was wasting my time. And it looks like most of the perennials survived the winter too. I was worried about my butterfly bush because it wasn't exactly thriving after I stripped it of all its soil and probably a hefty bit of roots too because of the snail egg infestation. But it's already sprouting new leaves, so fingers crossed we're done with the frost! I'm really looking forward to seeing what else felt like surviving! - Ideas for perennials much appreciated. I still have a lot of soil to fill.
This has been a good week. We had sort of a situation with our cash flow dipping dangerously low for a while, and while it's still not ideal, it's looking like we're slowly moving out of the woods. I got a LOT of unresolved matters off my desk, which is always a good feeling, even if the reason for clearing them out was pure desperation. I still have some left, which will take priority next week, with the mantra that it's never as hard as it seems, and then I will feel really good and only have matters to deal with that we've had our hands on within the last few months, rather than those god-awful "this is from last year and you're terrible at your job"-things. Yes, I had those. I don't intend to ever again.
We're having friends over for dinner tomorrow, and I'm supposed to be baking a cake right now, or at least make dinner for tonight, but I'm taking a goddamn moment. The menu is not terribly time consuming, and we have all day tomorrow to do the things that still need doing, so I think I'm calling it a night (after dinner, natch). Sven is online chatting with his friend - the one who made his knife - and therefore not complaining about being hungry (he never does, but I suspect he had a late lunch, because he's also not pacing and opening the fridge seventeen thousand times. And he knows we have hot dogs in there, so he'd have ripped into those if he couldn't wait any longer.)
For tomorrow, I'm attempting a restaurant style appetizer consisting of slow roasted tomato salad with olives and pickled garlic, served with a smoked salmon rose (or just... artfully arranged, whatever), asian-style marinated king prawns, and I just found seasonal lumpfish roe at our local supermarket, so yes, totally that too!
... I might skip the salmon, now that I'm realizing I might not have room on the plate...
We're making our usual grilled entrecote steaks, but I'm planning to marinate them in an Asian-inspired sauce (ginger, soy, garlic, honey) rather than our usual barbecue sauce (ketchup, brown sugar, Sciracca sauce, smoky grill oil). I'm tossing potatoes, fennel, celery root, and red peppers in sesame oil, soy and, uhm, *spices* (don't really know yet, but I'm thinking garlic, cumin, maybe a whisper of all-spice, which is pretty close to five-spice) and roasting them in the oven, and then a crisp salad with with a pickled ginger-based dressing. So, sort of Asian Fusion'ish.
For dessert, I found a recipe for a Lemon Blueberry Layer Cake that I plan to try out.
It's here: http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2014/02/09/lemon-blueberry-layer-cake
For my own added thrill, I intend to decorate it like Captain America's shield, with blueberries and raspberries. Because I am a nerd, and because it's my goddamn party. :)
- Or I might fail spectacularly, because baking is not my secret superhero power in any way, shape, or form, in which case I'm sending Sven out for ice cream. At least I'll still have fresh berries to sprinkle on it, and I bought a bottle of Limoncello, so at that point no one will care, except, perhaps, for one designated driver, who is too polite to complain. As if ice cream is something to complain about. :)
And for those who it did not occur to wonder, the hot dogs are also for tomorrow night, because my darling husband swears that you offend the barbecue gods by not finishing off a meal by roasting weenies in their honor, and he is very excited about hot dogs in general. Heh. :D
This has been a good week. We had sort of a situation with our cash flow dipping dangerously low for a while, and while it's still not ideal, it's looking like we're slowly moving out of the woods. I got a LOT of unresolved matters off my desk, which is always a good feeling, even if the reason for clearing them out was pure desperation. I still have some left, which will take priority next week, with the mantra that it's never as hard as it seems, and then I will feel really good and only have matters to deal with that we've had our hands on within the last few months, rather than those god-awful "this is from last year and you're terrible at your job"-things. Yes, I had those. I don't intend to ever again.
We're having friends over for dinner tomorrow, and I'm supposed to be baking a cake right now, or at least make dinner for tonight, but I'm taking a goddamn moment. The menu is not terribly time consuming, and we have all day tomorrow to do the things that still need doing, so I think I'm calling it a night (after dinner, natch). Sven is online chatting with his friend - the one who made his knife - and therefore not complaining about being hungry (he never does, but I suspect he had a late lunch, because he's also not pacing and opening the fridge seventeen thousand times. And he knows we have hot dogs in there, so he'd have ripped into those if he couldn't wait any longer.)
For tomorrow, I'm attempting a restaurant style appetizer consisting of slow roasted tomato salad with olives and pickled garlic, served with a smoked salmon rose (or just... artfully arranged, whatever), asian-style marinated king prawns, and I just found seasonal lumpfish roe at our local supermarket, so yes, totally that too!
... I might skip the salmon, now that I'm realizing I might not have room on the plate...
We're making our usual grilled entrecote steaks, but I'm planning to marinate them in an Asian-inspired sauce (ginger, soy, garlic, honey) rather than our usual barbecue sauce (ketchup, brown sugar, Sciracca sauce, smoky grill oil). I'm tossing potatoes, fennel, celery root, and red peppers in sesame oil, soy and, uhm, *spices* (don't really know yet, but I'm thinking garlic, cumin, maybe a whisper of all-spice, which is pretty close to five-spice) and roasting them in the oven, and then a crisp salad with with a pickled ginger-based dressing. So, sort of Asian Fusion'ish.
For dessert, I found a recipe for a Lemon Blueberry Layer Cake that I plan to try out.
It's here: http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2014/02/09/lemon-blueberry-layer-cake
For my own added thrill, I intend to decorate it like Captain America's shield, with blueberries and raspberries. Because I am a nerd, and because it's my goddamn party. :)
- Or I might fail spectacularly, because baking is not my secret superhero power in any way, shape, or form, in which case I'm sending Sven out for ice cream. At least I'll still have fresh berries to sprinkle on it, and I bought a bottle of Limoncello, so at that point no one will care, except, perhaps, for one designated driver, who is too polite to complain. As if ice cream is something to complain about. :)
And for those who it did not occur to wonder, the hot dogs are also for tomorrow night, because my darling husband swears that you offend the barbecue gods by not finishing off a meal by roasting weenies in their honor, and he is very excited about hot dogs in general. Heh. :D