Friday, June 25, 2010

spring strawberries

there is not much better than fresh strawberries, right off the vine. or fresh strawberries with yogurt and granola. or fresh strawberries and ice cream.
we had a wonderful day morning at a farm with friends, picking berries, feeding chickens, tasting herbs that were growing all over the place, and (of course) playing an episode of "mama-baby"









we ended up making strawberry jam (my first go at jam) and found this recipe to be really easy and so naturally sweet! the next morning we intended to have strawberry parfaits for breakfast, but we had used up all the strawberries in jam making. blueberry parfaits were excellent as well, especially with a fresh batch of our favorite granola!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

NYC

nearly seven years ago we tied the knot. our honeymoon was brief, but sweet,a mere two days at a B&B, after which we both had to return to work. we promised ourselves that we would have a series of minimoons for the rest of our marriage, rather than be disappointed that our first was so short.
we finally got away!
our good friends, chris and jess, have lived in NYC for six years. our desire to go visit them has been great, but there has always been something holding us back - not enough money, no time off, too late in the pregnancy, small baby who doesn't sleep, baby to old to make it fun, two babies,.....
when we found out our friends were finally moving back to the midwest (!!!) we knew we had to make a visit happen, even if i went alone (which had a delightful sound to it!). we had also hoped to have a little family vacation to celebrate the end of self-employment. we settled on a little family weekend away to Duluth and a minimoon to NYC!
did i mention we had never left our children for more than two nights and one day? we did get to Lutzen, just hubby and i, last summer for a weekend, but i didn't consider that a minimoon since he was working and our time together was dependent upon other people's schedule. i worried a little about our kids that weekend, but more for the suffering of our friends who were waking up with claire at O-Dark thirty.
this trip was free of worry, knowing the kids would be happy as clams with their grandparents!
this was a vacation!
it was about being together, uninterrupted conversations, eating really good food, exploring all day, dressing up and not having to worry about greasy fingers, seeing a Broadway musical the night before it wins the Tony, observing styles that will not reach us until next year, not eating dinner before 8pm every night, having dessert from the Chocolate Room every night (yes, we did), "man games" between chris and steve, crazy good food, interesting archetechture, ...
it was what we had hoped it to be!