Recently I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I've been taking a preserving class and have been canning and freezing as much as I can. Becca and I went strawberry picking and walked away with 30 pounds (!) of strawberries. I hurt my back pretty good picking the strawberries, but it was worth it. We made strawberry jam and strawberry-rhubarb jam with a little less than 1/2 of that, and I froze about 10 pounds for future jam making, or other treats.
Now I've moved on to cherries. So far I've gotten my cherries at the farmers market (they carry only the sweet varieties), but I'm hitting up Anne's cherry tree soon to get some of the tarter variety. I made cherry jam and brandied cherries. The cherry jam is very sweet, but it works really well with peanut butter. I haven't tried the brandied cherries, but I'm hoping they're good.
Our next class is on peaches and tomatoes. I'm really excited for peaches. And I think Becca and I will be heading out to find free blackberries and raspberries along the road or at a u-pick farm sometime soon. My hands are already stained from all the strawberries and cherries, so I might as well keep going.
Things have been really busy, but nothing too exciting on my part. I've had a few more Brownie outings, where we learned about domestic animals at the humane society and wild animals at a local park. In the photo we were learning about a relative of chamomile that was all over the path - so not animals at that moment, but it turns out that it is hard to get wild animals to show up when tromping through the woods with a bunch of first through third graders. Next up we're taking a tour of a candy shop, which will be hard for my sweet tooth to handle.
Oh, and I was on a jury for a federal civil suit. It was so neat. It was not really what I expected jury duty to be like. I totally recommend being on a jury if you have the chance, and not being like the lame people who were coming up with any excuse to not be picked. One of my favorite things about being on jury duty was being able to ride the bus downtown. I got a lot of reading done. World's End by TC Boyle. I didn't finish it in time for book club, mostly because it took me about a month to get past the first chapter, but once I started reading it I really started to like it. In general my book club did not like the book, but I'm now determined to finish it. I think the book failed to hit the spot with the book club because we've read too many books from the male perspective and really need a good book from the female perspective. Any suggestions?
Our friend Mike turned 40, so we threw him a party complete with a whole roasted pig, Pabst (of course), and Balls-be, the best picnic game.
Next year a lot of our friends (and Don) are turning 40, so this was a good warm up to the coming parties.
The restaurant is moving along at a swifter pace. There have been many frustrating moments, but the holes in the floor are now filled in, walls and insulation are going up, plumbing is continuing...
Today I'm going to look at environmentally friendly paints and hopefully pick out some good colors. Yesterday we picked out this awesome recycled paper counter top and bamboo table tops. We're really picking up speed now!
Last weekend Giorgio bought Don and I dinner at Giorgio's since this was Don's last week working there. Here's me and my 27 week belly pre-dinner. Now 28 weeks and counting! Post-dinner my stomach had definitely grown, but that was more temporary. I will say the hard thing about eating at Giorgio's is that the kitchen always brings out a bunch of extra courses, which is wonderful, but the food is too good and it's hard to stop when I should. It's so worth the pain though.
I'm hoping I can spend find the energy to do things other than cook this week. I have yet to really work on the room that will soon be home to Eldon/Donella, and time is flying by so quickly it's frightening.
Now I've moved on to cherries. So far I've gotten my cherries at the farmers market (they carry only the sweet varieties), but I'm hitting up Anne's cherry tree soon to get some of the tarter variety. I made cherry jam and brandied cherries. The cherry jam is very sweet, but it works really well with peanut butter. I haven't tried the brandied cherries, but I'm hoping they're good.
Our next class is on peaches and tomatoes. I'm really excited for peaches. And I think Becca and I will be heading out to find free blackberries and raspberries along the road or at a u-pick farm sometime soon. My hands are already stained from all the strawberries and cherries, so I might as well keep going.
Things have been really busy, but nothing too exciting on my part. I've had a few more Brownie outings, where we learned about domestic animals at the humane society and wild animals at a local park. In the photo we were learning about a relative of chamomile that was all over the path - so not animals at that moment, but it turns out that it is hard to get wild animals to show up when tromping through the woods with a bunch of first through third graders. Next up we're taking a tour of a candy shop, which will be hard for my sweet tooth to handle.
Oh, and I was on a jury for a federal civil suit. It was so neat. It was not really what I expected jury duty to be like. I totally recommend being on a jury if you have the chance, and not being like the lame people who were coming up with any excuse to not be picked. One of my favorite things about being on jury duty was being able to ride the bus downtown. I got a lot of reading done. World's End by TC Boyle. I didn't finish it in time for book club, mostly because it took me about a month to get past the first chapter, but once I started reading it I really started to like it. In general my book club did not like the book, but I'm now determined to finish it. I think the book failed to hit the spot with the book club because we've read too many books from the male perspective and really need a good book from the female perspective. Any suggestions?
Our friend Mike turned 40, so we threw him a party complete with a whole roasted pig, Pabst (of course), and Balls-be, the best picnic game.
Next year a lot of our friends (and Don) are turning 40, so this was a good warm up to the coming parties.
The restaurant is moving along at a swifter pace. There have been many frustrating moments, but the holes in the floor are now filled in, walls and insulation are going up, plumbing is continuing...
Today I'm going to look at environmentally friendly paints and hopefully pick out some good colors. Yesterday we picked out this awesome recycled paper counter top and bamboo table tops. We're really picking up speed now!
Last weekend Giorgio bought Don and I dinner at Giorgio's since this was Don's last week working there. Here's me and my 27 week belly pre-dinner. Now 28 weeks and counting! Post-dinner my stomach had definitely grown, but that was more temporary. I will say the hard thing about eating at Giorgio's is that the kitchen always brings out a bunch of extra courses, which is wonderful, but the food is too good and it's hard to stop when I should. It's so worth the pain though.
I'm hoping I can spend find the energy to do things other than cook this week. I have yet to really work on the room that will soon be home to Eldon/Donella, and time is flying by so quickly it's frightening.
Comments
And you're so good about using earth friendly paints and products at the restaraunt. It will be fun to choose colors for a place like that! Much different than choosing colors for home. What's the style going to be?
You're looking very preggy and cute! Did you do the 24 week ultrasound? Isn't that when it is? But you're not finding out the gender, right?
Thanks for the update!!
Your belly looks good, Elly! Not really very big for more than 2/3 of the way there!