Spring

Most of the weekend was rainy.
A few spots of sun.
A few spots of clouds.
During a cloudy bit, I biked to the falls.

You must try this recipe. Now!

It MUST be spring if there are strawberries and rhubarb available, right?

I spent a few minutes perusing the internet to find a good, new recipe. I found one for Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp at Skinnytaste.com, so I thought I would give it a try.

Normally anything with rhubarb has heaps of sugar, but not this! I used one drizzle of honey and one drizzle of agave nectar for the filling - brown sugar for the topping. It turned out magnificent.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
filling:
1 lb strawberries
1 lb (5-6 stalks) rhubarb, sliced in 1" pieces
1/2 orange juiced
1 drizzle of honey
1 drizzle of agave nectar

topping:
1 cup quaker quick oats
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup melted butter

Quarter strawberries and combine with sliced rhubarb in an 8x8 pan. Drizzle with honey and set aside for an hour.

Heat oven to 375F.

Combine topping ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir the fruit mixture, then drizzle with agave nectar. Squeeze half of the orange over the fruit, then stir again. Top with topping and pop in the oven.

Bake until topping is golden brown and fruit is bubbling, about 40 minutes.

Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

From one Friday to the next....

A week between posts is really not that bad, considering:

Sunday 4.15
Brunch with the LCs at the Tap. I had the pancakes and chicken toes -- delicious. Followed by a Twins game with T and a couple Morans.

Late afternoon, my Mom and her sisters arrived. Patio happy hour and dinner followed by lots more wine/beer and chatting. The Loehr ladies brought me beautiful roses.

Monday 4.16
AM - work

PM - Lunch with the Loehr sisters, shopping, The Hunger Games. Home for HH and dinner, then hours of Sheepshead fun. I needed a refresher on the rules, but still had lots of fun. More beer and wine. Not alot of sleep.


Tuesday 4.17
Early morning breakfast at Ike's with Adam, who was in town for a meeting. One my way to breakfast, I saw this (and for some reason thought it was pretty hilarious ...enough to snap a photo!)

Loehr sister's left. Yoga in the evening. Awesome!


Wednesday 4.18
More work - stressful couple of days. 6.5 miles in the evening. Puppy obedience for Jordy at 8 PM meant another night to bed at 11.


Thursday 4.19
Fighting traffic in the evening rush hour of rain to have a birthday dinner with Nicole at Crave. Not enough hours in the evening to catch up with her, but a great dinner. Another late "school" night.

Spring

Spring = allergies
This season seems unusually bad. I have to time my long runs for the lowest pollen count times of day. Pretty much everyday at 3 PM I fall asleep. ....no matter what. It is an issue.

Spring = lilies
My calla lilies survived the winter in the basement and are now out of hibernation. It will still be a few weeks before they can be planted outside again though.















Spring = Twins games
First game of the season ticket holder pack was this week. Temps were a bit cold, but I didn't have to wear a hat or wrap up in a blanket. The seats are great -- out in left field. I am looking forward to many more games. Oh, and the Twins finally won!!

2012 Books, part 1?

I finished one book on vacation and got 83% of the way through another. Good reading time for me, since I barely read anymore in my non-vacation life.

The Silent Land. Good, a bit creepy. The ending was predictable. The middle was great for a while. In all, satisfying.

Breakfast with Buddha. Great. Loved the roadtrip across the heartland with stops in Chicago, Madison, Eau Claire, Minnesota.

Not sure what to pick up next. I had The Paris Wife along for vacation reading as well, but didn't get to it.

We took two monkeys to the zoo. And saw this monkey there.

Last week I headed to Chicago for work. Originally I had plans to have dinner with Heather J, but illness struck. Instead I ordered takeaway Pad Thai and gazed out my window at this view .....

Not as good as a dinner with Heather would have been, but not too shabby either.

Back in the non-vacation world

I like getting back from vacation on a Friday evening. Even a 2 hour flight delay didn't seem so bad when I had all weekend to "recover". And a great weekend it was. Bike rides, brunch with friends, dog park, and general easing back into routine.

And then vacation happened....

It was a glorious week in Weston Florida. Sun and warm for 7 days straight. 2 cases of strep throat. a few sunburns. and about 10 bottles of wine [+ one bottle of Evan Williams for Dad].

Day one - arrival: Nothing to exciting.

Day two - boating with the cousins: We piled into "Red Rocket" minivan and drove up to the Kairalla's house in West Palm Beach. We spent the day out on their boat. Mark gave us the "tour" of the coast. Kris grilled us some lunch and made sure our drinks were always fresh. And the kids played in the water, on the sandbar, collected shells, found crabs and starfish. That day really summed up the whole trip: Family, Fun and Sun.

Days three through the end: Pool, Beach and Butterfly world
Lots of time was spent at the pool. Syd and Cass loved to play in the pool. They made several friends while doing so. The rest of us (even Dad sometimes) hung out around the pool and read books, or talked, or just relaxed. It was good.

One day we went to Hollywood Beach. The public access we found was in a mostly residential area, so at 10 AM we pretty much had the beach to ourselves. We walked along the beach, found shells and played in the waves.

We also took a quick side trip to Butterfly World. Syd and Cass enjoyed seeing all the different butterflies and birds. Cass even fed some lorikeets -- and one decided to perch on her head.

Good times, good memories. Ahhhh, vacation.

p.s. We went to see The Hunger Games movie too. Super!