May292012

May Days

Geez, I can’t believe I’ve only got four posts for all of May! I probably mentioned in one of those posts that May is always crazy busy at my house. This year we decided to add to the madness and scheduled a trip to my home state of Utah for Memorial Day weekend.

The entire weekend ended up being cloudy and rainy (which I love and miss), but we managed to get a lot of outdoor activities in, including an amazing hike with the beautiful views you can see in the picture above.

We also got to hit IKEA (can you believe Las Vegas doesn’t have an IKEA?) and we ate at the cafe there. The food was good and I got to try lingonberries for the first time (they were good — I thought they tasted like cranberries!). I also loaded up on some Swedish chocolate because why not?

The next day we also stopped in at Hatch Family Chocolates in Salt Lake. The shop was the setting for a (sadly) short-lived reality show on TLC starring the owners of the shop (whom we got to meet when we last visited two years ago), and while the chocolate is a bit on the pricey side, it’s definitely worth it. In fact, it’s even better than See’s. Yes, I said it.

We worried about the tomatoes while we were gone. Thankfully, the weather took pity on us and stayed pretty mild, so there weren’t any water issues. The tomatoes in the bowl are a few of what we picked before we left, and the tomatoes on the plate were waiting for us when we got back.

As you can see, the sweet 100s are doing well, but the beefsteaks are having issues. We had two that we had to pick prematurely because they had developed blossom end rot. That link says that one of the causes is a calcium deficiency, but we’ve got calcium added to the soil, so we’re keeping a closer eye on maintaining the water supply.

And yesterday, the girls got to shuck their first ears of corn. Corn shucking is something I’ve been doing for as long as I can remember, but my city girls haven’t had many opportunities. Naturally, they got a kick out of it.

Apr252012

Wordless Wednesday: OMG

(These are amazing!)

Feb272012

Chocolate Mint Brownies for St. Patrick’s Day

Chocolate Mint Brownies

I’ve slowly started changing over my modest collection of holiday decor from Valentine’s Day stuff to St. Patrick’s Day stuff. If I thought I had very little to pack away for V-Day, I’ve got even less to bring out for St. Patrick’s Day!

But it’s not a big deal. By the middle of the month I’m tired of it anyway and I’ll have Easter and spring stuff out soon enough, so hey, less work for me! That doesn’t mean I get tired of holiday-appropriate baking, though. It definitely takes me longer to get past that and move on to the next season. Read More