A Long Weekend in Photos

I had a nice long weekend and I'm sad to see it come to an end. Although we didn't really do anything spectacular, it was nice to just hang around the house with Jesse and relax. Tomorrow he is off on another business trip and I have the apartment all to myself. That means I have a list of things I want to accomplish while he's gone.

The Pecan Shortbread Strawberry bars were a hit at the office, but were trumped by a lemon cake. I never saw it coming. Oh Lemon Cake!! Why!? (shaking fists). Jesse got second place and took home a cute little box of truffles from a local chocolate shop. It was a valiant effort, but next year we're going to have to whip out the big guns.

In preparation for a busy week around the house, I maximized relaxation time this weekend. Most of my days were spent in slippers and sweats, only getting dressed when leaving the apartment was absolutely necessary (like beer and wings night for Valentines day).

We had a Risk extravaganza and Jesse kicked my butt again. I didn't really mind that he annihilated my army because I was "practicing" for our Belgium/Germany trip with Trappist ale. I think we will have to play Risk more often. It was a lot of fun.

The rest of the weekend pretty much revolved around sewing and cooking. My work space at the beginning of the week was a mess, so I started by cleaning up a bit.

I found out this week that my grandfather was diagnosed with leukemia. He's been sick for a while, so the diagnosis is more of a definite answer to a series of symptoms than a surprise -- nonetheless, it was shocking. I don't think the news quite set in until this weekend and as a result, I spent a lot of therapeutic ironing time, just thinking. There's something incredibly calming and satisfying about a giant stack of ironed, folded fabric. Don't you think?

I started playing around again with circles and some new color combinations. I've always been drawn to more primary and secondary colors for quilts, but decided it's time to branch out a little. I've been inspired lately by greens and browns and even orange. So, welcoming the tertiary spectrum into the sewing room has been a nice change. I have no idea where this one is going, but I am the queen of multiple projects!


Finally, finishing up the long weekend, I made a delicious dinner. I cheated a bit on the fish (it was marinated at Trader Joe's and quite tasty), but the sides were all homemade with love. We've been on a bit of a dark leafy greens kick, so accompanying the fish was swiss chard sauteed with mushrooms and onions, and creamy lima beans. The beans were made with the The Picayune's Creole Cookbook recipe and were even tastier than the first batch I made a few weeks ago.

Speaking of the Picayune, Fat Tuesday is on February 24th! That doesn't give me a lot of time to experiment with King Cake before the Lenten season begins. Not that I participate in Lent, but maybe it will be a motivator to try out some baking this week. I also have to make another round of granola, as Jesse has nearly made his way through my first batch. Needless to say, it's tasty!