(yes, that's snow on the table and chairs)
which wouldn't have been so bad, but just the week before it was so beautiful that while my friend Kammy was here visiting from Chicago, we were able to have our first patio meal of the season:
Spring, you &%$#$@&(!@$ tease. Oh well. Could be worse. It could be a lot worse, actually -- I hear that Bemidji woke up to 8 inches of fresh white stuff this morning??! Also, look how much greener it is compared to just a week ago. I don't think I'll be out working in the garden today, though.
According to my training plan, Saturday is supposed to be my long-run day. I don't like treadmills (running in place, gah) and I really don't like tracks (running in circles, double gah), but it's still snowing and sleeting and just all-around miserable out there. So I'll be heading to the Y this afternoon and either running in place or running in circles. Whee.
# # #
Our winter sowing experiment was an unqualified success. Even the tomato seeds sprouted, to my astonishment. Granted, they didn't sprout until the morning of the Science Fair, but still. They sprouted! Emma tracked daily high and low temps for the 37 days from planting to the Science Fair: according to her calculations, the average high temp was 48°F and the average low was 31°F. (For the curious, the lowest low temp was 12°F on March 24, and the highest high was 77°F on April 21.) Fun stuff. The seedlings went right back out on the patio when they got home from the Science Fair Thursday night. Here's hoping that they survive this current round of sleet, snow, and cold so I can plant them on Mother's Day.
# # #
Last night's dinner was indeed very pretty. I hear that some of Pete's biking buddies like my food pictures? Well, enjoy, guys!
The bread (recipe from my absolute favorite baking book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day):
The Meat and Cheese Lasagna (from my favorite cooking magazine, Cook's Illustrated; I got this recipe from the Spring 2008, Light Recipes edition):
A Red Onion, Spinach, and Tomato Salad (I was nervous about that horseradish dressing -- a little horseradish can go a long way! --but it was very good):
Together, it all looked like this (I was in a hurry because we were just about to eat and screwed up the focus on this one, but it's still pretty):
Dessert was an Italian Pear and Apple Tart with fresh whipped cream:
(Not pictured: the appetizers: marinated olives, mushrooms, and artichokes from Byerly's. Yum.)
With the exception of the bread, all of these were new recipes, so there was the potential for disaster and an emergency call to get some pizza delivered. That's actually never happened -- I haven't made an inedible meal yet -- but as they say, there's always a first time for everything. Fortunately, this meal was very edible. Thanks, Matt and Mandy, for being such cheerful new-recipes guinea pigs! (Well, and I suppose I should thank Pete and the girls too, but they live with me and so have to suffer through new recipes all the time. Comes with the territory.) I realized this morning that we didn't drink the wine that you brought over. Oh dear. I guess that means you'll have to come back for another dinner...
I am a bad auntie, by the way -- I took pictures of food, but didn't get any pictures of Brooke! She is the third cutest baby I have ever seen in my life. Seriously. Major cute factor! But poor Brooke had just had her 2 month shots and really wasn't in a picture-taking mood. Next time. :-)
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