snow?!?!

I took this picture this morning at 8am. Michael took the dogs out while I started making rolls. The weather this year has been nuts. Wednesday it was 80 degrees (Fahrenheit) and now it's snowing! Arrgg!
The day started very early for us. Michael got a fire call at 6am (we usually sleep in on Saturdays) and then he came home at 7am and started working on a project in the garage. The dogs could hear him and they started barking and whining, which woke me up. So much for sleeping in.
I'm trying to make Buchty, or "Cheese filled sweet rolls" from the book Kaffeehaus. I had to make farmer's cheese for the filling from scratch. (It's not something we keep on hand). It was easy enough. I slowly boiled some milk (which smelled heavenly I might add) and then took it off the heat and added a little lemon juice. I'm winging this because I couldn't find a recipe with the exact proportions I was looking for. We'll see how everything turns out. If they're pretty, I'll post a photo.The photo doesn't do the taste justice. The rolls are like a buttery brioche. The interior is similar to a cheese danish but not as sweet. Overall, very tasty, but they took a really really long time to make.

Como Park in St Paul

Not much needs to be said about this gorgeous place. The pictures speak for themselves. I went here with my MIL and SIL today and the weather was absolutely gorgeous.





There aren't any leaves on the trees outside yet. Warm weather has only just arrived in Minnesota. But once summer takes hold here, it comes on strong.

Getting along better

The boys are getting along better than ever. Today Patch tried to play fight with Spinner. Spinner mostly ignored him, but it was a step in the right direction.

Happy Birthday to me and Cleaning Closets

The photo is a little fuzzy because the camera was on the wrong setting for the picture we were trying to take, but it still shows you how my wacky in-laws sing Happy Birthday. That's my brother in law on the guitar. He's the nice guy who bought me a fancy bottle of wine for my birthday while I am 5 months pregnant. My reaction was, "Thank you, ...jerk".

Today the weather was gorgeous and we've been doing a lot of Spring Cleaning. Michael is renting a carpet cleaner to shampoo the carpets in the bedrooms. As he was cleaning out the closet he found Miranda's Halloween costume and put it on Blayze. She makes anything look super cute.
I raked out the flowerbeds around the house and put down 6 bags of mulch. I need another 4 bags to finish. Maybe tomorrow.

Shepard's Pie

What to do with leftover pot roast and mashed potatoes? Whip up a batch of biscuits and throw the whole thing in the oven. Yum. What a hearty way to extend leftovers.

Home made Butter

I kind of cheated. I bought heavy cream and whipped it until it broke them whipped it some more. Very simple. I found the instructions here. Out of a pint of heavy cream I got a cup of buttermilk and roughly the same amount of butter. I put the buttermilk to immediate use in making buttermilk biscuits as I was making chicken and biscuits for dinner.
After using some of the fresh butter for dinner, I flavored the remaining butter as honey butter, cinnamon and sugar butter and cajun butter. Consequently, this inspired me to make bread today.
And of course, with making chicken and biscuits for dinner, there are a few beggars for the chicken skin.

Pan Roasted Halibut

Everyone was eating well tonight. We picked up some smoked knuckle bones from our local butcher on the way back from the grocery store. They were enthusiastically received.

Then for the humans, I made a very simple yet amply tasty Halibut dish. The Halibut was conveniently on sale (otherwise it would have been out of our budget) and the dish only required the purchase of a few cherry tomatoes and some pesto.

I started by making pesto butter. I simply mashed together a few tablespoons of pesto with about 6 tablespoons of butter. I shaped this into a roll using plastic wrap and placed it in the freezer until firm.
Next melt a few tablespoons of butter and spread this on both sides of the fish fillets. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, coat with plain breadcrumbs and then sear in a medium hot skillet with 2 Tbsp Olive oil and turn once. Add a cup of sliced tomatoes and then put the whole pan in the oven at 425F for ten minutes. When done, put a big pat of the pesto butter right on each fillet and you're done! The flavor is fabulous and we both loved this dish. I used to remaining pesto butter on the steamed broccoli and it was scrumptious. I highly recommend this simple and tasty dish. We'll try it again when my cherry tomatoes are in season from my garden. That's the only way I could imagine improving this meal.

Restaurant Review: Norman Quacks

Our new favorite restaurant. It's a bar/ restaurant in on Broadway Ave in Forest Lake MN. Reasons why we like it:
1. It's not a chain restaurant.
2. Everything on the menu is fresh made, not prepackaged or frozen. (The chicken tenders are to die for. They're each half a chicken breast dipped in homemade batter and fried.)
3. The butter is different every day and is often sooo yummy. They serve it with home made bread.
4. The quirky menu item names. I've had the Forest Lakeadelphia cheese steak sub. They throw puns or duck names in wherever they can.
5. The generous portions. I don't know how they stay in business. We've never gone there and not brought home a doggy bag.
6. The decor:
Those are waders suspended from the ceiling over the lights and buoy fixture. That's a moose skull on the wall. The partition between the rows of booths is stacked with books. (Not in view) I guess the reasoning there is, you get something to read as you wait for your homemade meal which takes longer to cook than prepackaged or frozen food.

Overall, our favorite place to eat out on those rare occasions when we eat out.

Got you in my sights

Right above Miranda's left ear you can see the object of her attention. There's a squirrel foraging about in the yard.

I started my seedlings yesterday. I made a few mini greenhouses from old fruit packages from the grocery store and for the larger units, I used leftover disposable lasagna pan lids. I cheated and bought some jiffy peat pots, but they were less than $2.00 for 50 of them, so I feel I am doing okay so far.
All of the seeds were free, coming from my garden, my Gramma's, my Dad's or my Sister-in-law's. I planted some mystery beans of Grandpa's. We don't know what they are, but they've been in the family for years and I hope I didn't destroy them this year. They collected a little mold in storage. I also started butternut squash from an organic squash my Uncle bought in Amish country in Lancaster PA.
The flowers I started are Bells of Ireland, Cleome, Gramma's 4 O'clocks, Gramma's wild orange butterfly bush that she brought in from the woods years and years ago, Purple Angel's Trumpet, Moon Flower (the angel trumpet variety, not the morning glory variety), some Castor Beans and some tall yellow Nasturtiums. We still need to collect the Cannas and Dahlias from my SIL's root cellar. It'll be a while before the ground thaws and the threat of frost has passed. The ground is still frozen at about 6" deep.
Also if you'll notice in the picture, the red begonia is the one I won at a bridal shower in November and it is still going strong. I also love the way the african violet reflects the light from the flash. It really glows.

a little nutty

This guy appeared yesterday foraging for goodies and snacking in the basswood tree in our front yard.
-And then these guys were playing a game of catch in the park which ended up being a game of monkey-in-the-middle with their Great Dane. (At first we thought it was a horse)
Today was gorgeous. It was 60 degrees and bright and sunny. Hopefully this weather lasts.