Hello, Monday.

Although I am glad I went straight into research post-semester, the time to take a break has come. A chance to slow down and let other areas of my life emerge. Fortunately, things will be slow over the next week. So I asked for what I needed... which is so unlike me.

Friday started with a quick solo breakfast where I sat at the counter and read. I'm knee deep in a book... how novel.

I then headed to a coffee shop a couple blocks away to get together with some of the other moms at my son's school. There is an amazing group of woman who are interesting, lovely, and incredibly easy to be around. I feel like I have known them forever... it is that effortless. Coffee became lunch and the conversation flowed.

Kiddo has been adjusting to the idea of shorts weather, so we took a drive down to Mass to stock his closet with some warm weather duds. It was looking hopeless (he is not digging the bright primary colors some stores are carrying this season... I'm talking to you, Gap), until Old Navy saved the day. Adjustable waist? Check. On sale? Score! Now he won't keel over on the playground, drenched in his own sweat.

There is a great barbeque restaurant on the way home, and Kiddo can't resist baby back ribs, so we stopped for dinner. They have a great sides bar with an assortment of accompaniments. Delish.

My first watermark... I love this picture so.

The drive home is beautiful and we were graced by a lovely pink sunset. We passed a field of sheep and their babes and just had to pull off to the side to watch them. I wanted to take every one of them home! Kiddo was on board, but Mario would have put the kibosh on a yard full of baby lambies.

Of course the night required a sorbet/yogurt nightcap. This is one of our favorite ice cream stands in all of New England.

Saturday was a scorcher. We wish we had air conditioning probably 5 days per year... and Saturday was one of them. I took Kiddo to the Y to cool off in the pool, then we had some friends over for dinner. I adore my research friends.

Sunday we went for our first aimless weekend drive of the summer season. We drove up to the Lake Sunapee area and enjoyed the scenery, had lunch at a picnic table while Kiddo played on the playground, and took time to appreciate the mist-covered mountains post-rainstorm. It was the perfect kind of afternoon.

Now it's back to the grind. It is still unclear whether I'm working today or not (I'm hoping for the latter), and I volunteer for a couple hours at Kiddo's school on Monday afternoons. Mario has shared the duties the last couple weeks, so I'm up.

I got a call yesterday from the owner of the local CrossFit studio where I worked out about a week ago. She assured me that I could make the Foundations sessions work this month, so as of tonight I will be working out at the studio (The Box? Is that what they call it?) three days a week for the next four weeks. I'm terrified. I really hope I'm not hobbling around for the whole 30 days... wish me luck!

Linking up:

Hello, Monday.

Monday, June 3, 2013

It Ended Where It Began

After our apple-picking marathon on Sunday, we decided that some barbeque would hit the spot. The Top of the Hill Grill, in Brattleboro, Vermont is so much fun. And delish. My husband made the observation that we ate there on Memorial Day, then again the day before Labor Day. For us, Summer 2012 started and ended at this place. There is something really cool about that.

The menu is composed of paper plates backs decorated and placed around the window. I greatly respect the copious amount of glitter paint used.

The "Top of the Hill" part. I love dinner with a view.

My dinner. I don't usually eat pork, but I had to make an exception.

A man and his meat. In the spirit of transparency: Mr. Picky did NOT eat the beans and coleslaw. We had them serve his cornbread separately so that it didn't touch the other food. We've been down that particular road before and prefer to avoid it. His picky eating is probably the thing I have the least patience for.

He was all in.

Banana Boy. They had a hammock that J couldn't get enough of.

Apple-picking, meat-eating, sunset-watching hot tubber. He works for a spa manufacturer . . . so he really is hot tub obsessed.

    

After dinner we embarked on the scenic drive home. It really is lovely. Along the way we stopped at a small dam and played by the river.

View from the bridge that separates New Hampshire and Vermont

Enjoying the scenery.

The kid has never seen a ledge he didn't want to walk on. Sidewalk shmidewalk.

 

An impromptu rock-skipping lesson. Mario's rocks skip for days. It's a rather wonderful talent.

It was such a great day! Without realizing it, I live for days like this. It is so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle and stress of daily life that I often for get to live in the now. This day was all about the present. What a gift.

It Ended Where It Began

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

BBQ Bonanza

We didn't start out last week with the intention of going on a barbeque spree. It just happened that way. You see, we don't have air conditioning. This isn't much of a problem, as we live in New Hampshire. Our house is surrounded by trees, we have a lot of windows, which allow for a nice cross-breeze, and it's really only hot enough a couple days a year which doesn't warrant owning and running one. Plus, I don't believe in air conditioning and try to use it only when necessary. I think it messes with my internal thermostat. Yeah, I'm weird. Anyway, the last thing we want to do this time of year is run the oven. Even if we had air conditioning, we wouldn't want a 350 degree oven heating our house up. Instead, we get our money's worth from our gas barbeque. It's big and fancy because my grill master husband wouldn't have it any other way. Here is our week in dinners:

Monday:

We roasted a whole chicken. Mounted on a soda can filled with water. We only had bottled beer, so we made do. I was a little disturbed by how it was sitting up and staring at me, so I quickly shut the lid after taking the first photo. But it sure was delicious. I rubbed it with salt, pepper and a smoky Moroccan spice blend. I'm always worried about barbequed chicken being dry, but this was amazing.

Tuesday:

More chicken! We're not big beef or pork eaters (and I actually avoid them), so we eat a lot of chicken. Mario even reheated some leftover waffle fries for Jared. There is nothing this man won't barbeque.

For dessert? Blueberry cobbler. . .on the barbeque! Mario and Jared love going blueberry picking at a local pick-your-own place, so we have bags and bags of frozen blueberries in our basement just waiting for a recipe.

It was arguably the best cobbler I've ever had. It was amazing. . .and not an oven in sight. From beginning to end, he made it on the barbeque. My husband is a genius.

Wednesday:

Okay, so this isn't my actual turkey burger. But we had turkey burgers and they looked a lot like this. I forgot to take a picture because I still hadn't caught on to the fact that we were knee deep in a barbeque bonanza. I'm not very astute. A blogger should just take pictures of everything under the assumption that they may be useful in a future post. Oh, well. Just imagine that I made this delicious burger...except I like my toppings on the top.

Thursday:

Leftovers! Mario was out of town, so Jared and I dug around in the fridge for dinner. You would think we'd tire of chicken. . .

Friday:

We may have saved the best for last. That's right, barbequed pizza. It was awesome. This was my son's pizza. He has a dairy allergy, so it is sans cheese. He has actually grown to love it this way, and has no interest in trying cheese alternatives. Whole wheat crust, fresh basil from our farm share, Trader Joe's pepperoni, and black olives. Deeelish.

Our pizza was a hodge podge of ingredients. I tend to like it that way. I think of it as grocery store stream-of-consciousness pizza. I just grab what sounds good and we load it on. It always turns out delicious.

Garlic herb crust, fresh basil, black olives, peppadew peppers, fresh chicken Italian sausage from Whole Foods, freshly grated parmesan, and chunks of goat cheese. I'm just realizing that Mario must have snuck in some of Jared's pepperoni when I wasn't looking. My husband said it may have been the best pizza he'd ever had. He says that every time.

It was a great dinner. Pretty simple, too. We just preheated the pizza stone on the barbeque and transferred it using a peel.

Our barbeque bonanza had come to an end, but its memory will live on in our hearts. And our bellies. We have a lot of leftovers. This isn't the end of this post, however. Before I finish up, I wanted to take a moment to talk about my smokin' husband. Get it? It's a reference to his barbeque skills and his good looks. I am so clever.

Hard at work multitasking the grill. . .

You like? Yeah, baby, daddy brings home the bacon and the pizza pie.

This guy is awesome in so many ways. . .one of which is his cooking skills. He can cook. He also thinks outside the box. After our wedding rehearsal, we had a barbeque on the beach with all our friends. My in-laws didn't have a grill at their beach house, so Mario spent the day before making one. Yes, I said he made it. He used a large metal barrel, cut it in half, welded on a handle, legs, vent and hinges, and fit it with a grate. It was a fully functioning charcoal grill. It was big enough to cook meat for everyone and six years later it is still the official beach house barbeque.

Let's all take a moment and appreciate his ingenuity. I may have hit the man lotto. But sometimes I forget when he's snoring or peeing with the door open. Barbeque sauce runs through that man's veins.

So what are your favorite barbeque recipes? Share?

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BBQ Bonanza

Monday, July 9, 2012