Lilac scented breezes

Today is one of those days when the air is heavy with the perfume of lilac and other spring blossoms.

Violet jelly

We have a large patch of violets in the woods on our new property. It took me about 30 minutes to pick all these. It didn't help that I am six months pregnant and my joints were killing me from bending over or squatting to pick flowers. I followed the recipe I had to a "T" but it neglected to mention that you often need to add a drop of blue food coloring because the flower infusion turns pink when it gets diluted with sugar. Arg!

Loving my new Camera

I love being able to take really good pictures of both flora and fauna. Our new camera lets us take some of the best pictures of both! We got a Nikon Rebel XTi. When we got it, we were able to get the 75-300 zoom lens as part of the package. That's how I got the photos of the birds.
I recognize the Baltimore Oriole in the above photo, but I have no clue who the little guy in the lower picture is.

The little dragonfly was captured using the standard lens on the macro setting. He was unharmed. After a moment to collect his thoughts, he flew away to resume his daily activities.

gosht aur palak (pork with spinach)

Pressure cookers: To own one is to love one.
I forget where I got this recipe, but it was easy to assemble and the pork turned out tender and delicate. It wasn't hot at all, so we were able to talk James into trying some. He normally hates Indian food, simply because he's had a few bad experiences with curry. This was a good introductory dish for him them, very mild and satisfying.

A little visitor to our house. This Robin was just making sure we knew it was Springtime!

Thai Rice Noodle and Shrimp salad

Shrimp was on sale at the grocery store so I splurged and got the big ones. I thought they would work great in this salad. The dressing was a blend of sweet (sugar), hot (red chiles), sour (fresh lime juice) and salty (fish sauce). It was a light flavor and instead of using diced plum tomatoes, I used blanched julienned carrots. Overall, it was okay, but not one of our favorites. The rice noodles were too tough, despite the fact that I followed the recipe instructions for cooking them. I think it made for a prettier picture than a tasty meal. It was a real shame because we love Thai food. I guess I need more practice!

Mother's Day Cake

The day I was trying to figure out what to make for our Mother's Day get-together at my SIL's, my latest issue of Fine Cooking magazine arrived in the mail. I'm so glad it did, because there was a beautiful recipe for blueberry lime pound cake. This was a dense yet delicate cake with a citrusy glaze. There were no leftovers. The pansies were purchased while the cake was cooling. I made a mad dash to Wal-Mart and got 4 six packs of purple pansies and cut off all the blossoms when I got home. Now I have 2 dozen pansies to plant in my front flower bed!

Today I volunteered to help at the Senior Safety seminar given by the local police and fire dept. I just tacked on an extra hour to my normal volunteer time at the police dept and served coffee and juice and cleaned up the tables while the lectures were being given. I felt bad because I had to leave just as they were serving lunch, but Michael and I had a date scheduled. Today is our 2 year anniversary. He has a dentist appt and a fire dept meeting right after work, so lunch was the only time we could spend together. We went out to one of my favorite local restaurants. He had the chipotle brisket sandwich and I had the coconut chicken salad. Bother were excellent and because this was a special occasion, we splurged and had dessert. We ordered a slice of carrot cake and what we got was a mountain of carrot cake. It was very good, but finishing the entire thing felt like work!
This afternoon I hope to settle in and relax with the dogs. I started a batch of my Mom's sour cream chocolate chip cookies. The batter is chilling right now, so it gives me a break before I start baking. Maybe I'll take a nap. I sure could use one after that big lunch!

Seeing double at the Dog Park

In case you were wondering, Spinner is on the left. There was another fluffy tuxedo Border collie at the dog park and Spinner and he took a genuine interest in each other. The new guy had ears that stood up more eagerly than Spinner's do, and he had a more dramatic white streak between his eyes, but otherwise, they were strikingly similar.
Today's trip to the dog park can be summed up in one word: mud. All the dogs found the mud puddles and Blayze thoroughly enjoyed lying down in them soaking her fur up to her shoulders.
We spent an hour at the fire department hosing down the dogs trying to get the smell of swampy mud water off of them. It made for an interesting day. The sun was shining and it was 70 degrees outside. It was a gorgeous day for a stroll through the dog park. Now we're going to pick up some burgers from the local bar (they have an awesome kitchen!) and kick back for a relaxed evening.

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.