A Truly Lovely Weekend

This weekend has been so lovely. Dinner at one of our favorite places, a movie, walking with the dog...just so lovely.

The only thing I have made worth mentioning is Yogurt Cake from here:

-2 eggs
-1 cup sugar
-1 cup plain yogurt 
-1/3 cup oil
-1 tsp vanilla
-1 T rum (calls for light, we only had dark) 

-2 cups flour
-1/2 tsp baking soda
-1.5 tsp baking powder

Sift together dry ingredients. Add dry to mixed wet ingredients. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. We ate it with some raspberries/lemon juice/sugar and vanilla ice cream. A moist (just for you P ;) ) and delicious simple cake.

 Other random weekend moments...

We had some great cookie time with Mr. C: 

 And got caught in the rain not once but twice (not the brightest bulbs...):

And can't forget a random Gertie shot or two:

And finally, a photo from the bike race this weekend:

A Lazy Week

I haven't done any posting, and I have failed to do much cooking either. Certainly no cooking worth a recipe. But we've had a couple good things:

-Orange ginger almond cake from here courtesy of Amy F. from way back. Best gluten free cake I have had!

-Baked sweet potatoes with lentils

-And tonight, polenta with brussel sprouts and wilted spinach: 

And a few bonus photos:

-Squash from our garden! 

 -Reading with Mr. C - farm animals are the coolest.

And tomorrow class starts again - my first day of my last year of school. Yahoo!

Avocado Bruschetta

Everything is better with avocado. Well, not everything I suppose, but lots of things. So this isn't rocket science - in fact, it probably doesn't even merit a recipe. But we had a get together and it was great. So here goes:

Cast of characters:
-basil, chopped
-2 tomatoes (1 yellow, 1 red), diced
-1 avocado, diced
-olive oil, balsamic (white and normal), salt and pepper

Mix it all together, and serve it on toast or whatever you have. I mixed te avocado with a bit of lemon juice before adding it, and the avocado stayed green for quite a while. Yum!

Two Years

Two years ago today I walked down this aisle...

to marry this dude....

and I felt like this.....

I am the luckiest. I am so grateful to share my life with this guy who gets me and shares my biggest dreams. Here's to many more years of happiness and many great adventures! 

Tofu Steak (don't knock it 'till you try it)

                         

I'll be honest (am I ever not?): The very concept of tofu steaks has sort of weirded me out. But Robin and I watched a Barbecue U a while back that had several vegetarian dishes on the grill, one of them being tofu steaks. The host marinated the tofu, put skewers of ginger throughout, and grilled thick slabs of tofu. 

We didn't have ginger, so we marinated it in Soyaki, a teriyaki marinade from Trader Joes. We learned about it from my parents, and if you haven't tried it you should.

So again, this doesn't really count as much of a recipe. We marinated in Soyaki, dried ginger, and shallots for about an hour. Then we (Robin) grilled the steaks for 8-10 minutes on each side. When they were flipped, we poured more marinade over them.  With some potatoes cooked in a foil packet on the grill, it was delectable. We ate it with more soyaki and some Sweet Chili Sauce. I am sold. It was so good. We ate big tofu steaks (half a package each) but at $1.79 for a package, I thought we could splurge ;).

 

So try some tofu steaks! Let me know how they turn out. I couldn't believe how good it was! 

Minnesota!

I have not been cooking exciting food, but we took an exciting trip with family, friends, and the North Shore. 

Seeing some of the cutest kids around:  

The greatest grandma (and a lovely lady to boot):

Camping near Lake Superior: 

And there was some lovely food...

One of the most impressive pannekoeken of Jeff's I have had yet:

Delicious drink by Diane: 

Pasta overlooking Lake Superior: 

Delicious muffin on the return trip: 

And countless other lovely meals: out with old friends, in with families, over a fire.

And Gertie's car-riding skills remain one of her top selling points... 

Hope the weather is as lovely there as it is here this weekend!

105 Degree Deck

As I mentioned, this week we refinished our deck. So while no one probably cares, I thought I would post a few pictures. Because let's be honest, this blog is mostly about documenting our life, part of which includes documenting how we change our house ;).

Before:

After:

Robin replaced some of the worst beams, I stripped it, then we cleaned and stained the wood.

Come visit! Our deck is a happening place to be!