Our first harvest

OK, so the title is a bit excessive, given the size of our "harvest" - but we have a strawberry!  I mean, a real, actual, honest-to-goodness strawberry!

It was tiny, but red, peeking out from under the leaves of our strawberry plant.  Unfortunately, Brendan just had his wisdom teeth out today, so he couldn't share it with me - but I most definitely brought it in, washed it, and ate it.

And it was delicious - made even sweeter by the fact that I grew it myself.  So, so wonderful - can't wait to have more this summer!

Hiking adventure

Recently, Brendan and I went on a little hiking adventure.  It was a few weekends ago now, but I'm just catching up with a backlog of things to write about, so cut me some slack :)

We are total hiking novices, but wanted to do something a bit difficult and not just go for a regular walk outside.  We went to the Wachusett Mountain State Reservation, which is a ski area during the winter, but has some really neat hiking trails during the summer.  We hiked from the visitor's center, and took what seemed like a relatively easy trail around the side of the mountain for a bit.  The map is here, and we started out at the little house icon at the right and continued down the Bicentennial Trail.

And then things took a turn for the interesting.  Somehow, we decided that the Loop Trail sounded like a great idea.  Here's me, looking optimistic towards the beginning of the trail:

You'll notice that even at this spot, there's not so much a trail as a bunch of rocks.  That's how it was the whole time, but it got progressively more difficult.  I don't have any pictures of the harder parts of the trail, but we took quite a few breaks along the way to just breathe.  It did pay off with a good view somewhere along the way, though:

The trail was REALLY hard after this, and I don't have any pictures, but it looked something like this, with more green foliage  - it doesn't quite do the steepest parts justice, but it's all I can find (source):

We struggled upward for a while, and had a bit of a meltdown when we started to worry that we weren't coming upon the trail we expected to - did we miss the trail sign?  Nope, we were just going that slow.  The whole trail was only about 1.5 to 2 miles total, but the terrain was so strenuous that it took forever to climb to the top.  We eventually did make it up to the Mountain House trail, and discovered with delight that we could take an actual road down for a bit and reach Pine Hill trail, which is substantially easier.  Instead of random boulders, Pine Hill has rocks stacked in a bit of a staircase formation, which is a lot easier to climb (up and down).  Here's Brendan looking accomplished near the end of our journey:

As we finally reached the bottom, exhausted, we weren't sure that we'd do much more hiking - but both of us realized that we really did have a lot of fun.  I have been begging Brendan to go back since we got home, and we might just go next weekend.  Now that we know how long the trail is and what to expect, we'll have a lot more fun!

Anyone have any ideas for hiking trips?  Next time we'll bring a water pack instead of water bottles, but if anyone has any ideas for making hiking trips more fun, or anything important to bring, I'd appreciate it!

P.S. For you crazy people out there doing ridiculously long trail races - I don't know how you do it!  I can't imagine running up even the easiest part of the trail we did!  Major kudos.

Happy (belated) 4th! Have some pie!

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July!  I spent the long weekend enjoying the company of family and friends - mostly Brendan's family and friends, to be precise, but I had a really nice time.  We got to see our niece (I say our although she's obviously not my niece yet, we're not married) - I hadn't had the pleasure of meeting her yet, so that was really great!  Isn't she adorable?

We had a partay at Brendan's parents' house, had yummy delectable food, spent some time gardening (more on that in a future post), and watched the fireworks on TV (don't worry, we'll see some in person next weekend).  Overall, a super relaxing weekend.  Which is good, because this week has started out a bit rough - it's a good thing I got some rest!

On the food front - I made pie!  Well, pies, actually.   I made strawberry pie following this recipe, cherry-blueberry pie following this recipe, and pecan pie following my Great Aunt Myrtie's famous recipe.  The pies were all for the party, and most of each pie was gobbled up before I could even snap a picture.  I did manage to get one of the leftover pecan pie:

Delicious, right?  I know it's more typical to see pecan pie at Thanksgiving time, but it was a really nice treat for summertime too.  This recipe is FULL of sugar, so it's not good for you - but it sure is yummy!  You should all make some for your next summer getogether - or, well, for any occasion, really.  When is there not a good time for pie?

Aunt Myrtie's Famous Pecan Pie
Serves 8 (less if you're hungry!)

Preheat oven to 350.

 

Use unbaked 9-inch pie crust.

 

1 cup corn syrup (Aunt Myrtie used Karo)

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

2 tbsp. melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

 

Mix all of above ingredients together thoroughly.

 

Stir in 1-1/2 cups chopped pecans or pecan pieces of the size you like. 

Pecan halves can be put on top of mixture if you desire.

 

Pour into unbaked pie crust;  Place on cookie sheet to catch any drips.

 

Bake on center rack of 350 degree oven for approximately 60 to 70 minutes.

 

Foil can be placed over the crust (not filling) to prevent crust from burning.

The foil should be removed about 15 minutes before end of cooking time to

allow crust to brown.

Enjoy!

A realization

I was driving by myself in to work today for a change (Brendan's got an appointment at home), and I happened to turn to this song on my iPod:

It's a nice song on its own, but it has special meaning for me:  the day I graduated college and was about to leave for home, Brendan gave me a CD full of songs that he'd picked out.  Some were silly and some were serious, but most were about leaving, new chapters in our lives, and moving on.  I realize now - and perhaps realized then - that after two and a half years of dating, he didn't really expect to see me again.  He thought I would move to Philadelphia, my life would change, and I would find someone new.  I actually spent most of that summer, while I was doing a summer lab rotation in D.C., driving to work listening to that album - and probably crying at least once per commute, thinking about how much I missed him and how scared I was for things to change.

If I'm being honest here, I had the same thoughts as he did when I left college.  I loved him very much, but we had, in effect, had a long-distance relationship even when I was in Boston.  He worked full time and barely had time to see me, and my college schedule was pretty full, which led to us seeing each other for dinner or a movie once every 1-2 weeks.  When I left, we'd probably spent the equivalent of a month together, if you add up all the time we saw each other.  I didn't know if we could last the time apart, but I knew I had to choose to go to grad school somewhere great rather than staying in Boston.

(Commencement Ball, right before I left Boston)

The first few months away were really rough, and we didn't see each other near enough.  But something changed in the middle of my first year in grad school.  I finally came to see that he was committed and loved me, and we finally began to put effort into keeping the relationship going while we were apart.  Things weren't easy, of course, and we had plenty of arguments about how often we could talk to each other, see each other, etc.  But we managed to have a lot of fun together and see each other as often as possible.  We aren't always the greatest communicators, especially with each other, but I credit open communication for keeping us together over the five years I lived in Philly.  Without honesty and talking often, we wouldn't have made it.

My realization, in the car this morning, is that I finally have what I've been waiting for for so long.  Even when we were dating when I was in college, I was waiting for us to have a chance at a real relationship - and now we finally have the chance to be together, wake up to each other every morning, and have the full presence of each other in our lives.

This past week or two, I have been a ball of stress.  I've been worried about my new postdoc job, scared that it's going to be too intense for me.  I've been worried about how things will turn out with our relationship, and when we will get married and have kids.  I tend to stress a lot about the future, but this morning I definitely had a moment of appreciation of the present.  I am finally here, at home with my best friend and sweetheart, and we get to have a life together.

Brendan, if you are reading this, I am so happy to finally be here.  I know that we haven't really felt like things are much different than they were before - but that is a testament to the fact that we've managed to keep this relationship strong and grow together over our time apart.  Coming here to be with you felt like coming home, and I am so, so grateful for the chance to come home after all these years.

On feeling at home

It's been a little over 6 weeks since I moved in with Brendan, and while it may sound cliche, the past weeks really have been a whirlwind of excitement, stress, over-emotional-ness, and fun.  It took a little while, but I now can say I really, totally, feel at home in the house.

Before I moved in, Brendan lived in the house for two years.  He took buying the house seriously, and bought "adult" furniture (i.e., not from Ikea).  The house was cute and looked polished when he first moved in - but without anyone else in the house, it began to look a bit like a bachelor pad - except in gigantic scale.  The combination of a stressful job and a long commute meant that he had very little time or energy to keep things clean, and once he moved in everything from his parents' house, there was a lot to organize.  And this, my friends, is what I moved into on May 1.

(No, I don't have any "before" pictures - I think I just really wanted to forget that little episode in our lives! But trust me, there was a lot of stuff, and while some areas were organized, many needed a little work.)


Being the neurotically organized person that I am, I had a few minor breakdowns in the first few weeks. Moving into a house with someone you love and merging your lives is stressful, and the lack of storage was a bit.....overwhelming.  But we got through those weeks together with a lot of compassion and love - patience didn't hurt, either.  We slowly but surely chipped away at the mountain of my stuff, and made room for my life in his house.

I am now the proud occupant of my "office," which is actually the formal dining room.  We discussed all sorts of possible locations for a desk for me, but it became pretty clear that any desk area was going to be a bit of a squeeze.  The dining room is not normally used for anything, so we set up my printer, computers, and some of the office supplies downstairs.  The whole thing can be moved somewhere else or stowed away if we have company over, and the space in the dining room is HUGE compared to where I would be working otherwise.  Take a look:

Not too bad, right?  Don't mind the clutter still in the corner - it's a pile of things to bring to my new desk at work.  But this space is perfect for me - both space-wise and feng shui-wise.

Brendan has been really, really wonderful about working hard to get the living spaces in the house organized, and I have to say, that is what's really made me feel welcome.  He knows I'm obsessively neat, and even though he isn't, he's trying his hardest to make sure everything is clean for me.  It will take a while until everything is taken care of, but the massive progress we've made has helped make me more patient for the rest of it to be finished.

Cleaning isn't all we've been doing, though - we've been having fun too!  I have my garden, and we have been catching a few movies (Pirates = meh, X-men = awesome).  There's been some cooking out, some shopping, and some snuggling going on too:

The kitties are getting adjusted to our new definition of "home" too - Mimu isn't totally comfortable yet, but we're getting there.  And Meadow and Lily like that I'm here - I feed them earlier in the morning!

The next few weeks will be busy, but I'll do my best to come by more often and write more.  I'm on a steep learning curve right now at work, but things will (hopefully) calm down and I'll get into the rhythm of things.

Hope you are all having a wonderful summer so far!  Did anyone grill anything exciting yet?

I have a garden!

Hello from my little corner of the world....long time no see!  I've been crazy busy this month, and now that I'm finally looking forward and the dust is settling on move-in time, it's time to tell you all about my new home!  I have a long post planned with pictures of all the rooms, but for now, let's talk about the garden:

I tried to make a nice little panorama of the garden, but as you can see, my Photoshop skills leave a little to be desired.  Oh well - at least you can kind of see what we've got!  You'll have to click on the pictures to actually be able to see anything....panoramas are huge!

When Brendan bought the house, one of the things he loved was the location - not just the town, although we love that too, but the fact that the house is located at the edge of a cliff with a beautiful view, and that it's at the top of a hill in his neighborhood.  The outdoor areas of the house were a huge selling feature, and this garden certainly helped convince him to buy.  The only problem is, there is a LOT to learn about keeping this garden up!

This is my first year paying attention to what we have outside, and so far I see hostas, some ornamental grasses, some unidentified pink and blue flowers, a not-yet-growing rose bush, and something that looks like creeping juniper.  I am learning as we go, so I'm sure I'll know a lot more about the garden as time goes on!  One of the things we're doing this year is keeping track of how it looks every month, so that we know when each flower comes out.

I have to say, one of the weirdest things I've noticed is that trees seem to try to grow EVERYWHERE around the house.  I didn't know trees could just sprout up randomly - I thought beyond just the acorn, they needed a little food and water and general care - but apparently, they can just pop up anywhere they please!  I have picked more trees than actual weeds out of the garden so far, which is a little odd.  We have to keep viligant, or we'll have a forest in the backyard instead of landscaping.

Aside from the beautiful plants, I now have an herb garden and some tomatoes:

The herb garden is sweet basil, Greek oregano, cilantro, rosemary, summer squash, and orange bell peppers.  In the small clay pot is green peppers - I think I may be planting those in the soil soon, I just wanted to make sure that things could grow in there before I put everything into the ground!  We have used some of the cilantro, basil, and oregano, and they were delicious.

And in the deck pots we have "Black Prince" heirloom tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, strawberries, and "Red Beefsteak" and "Mr. Stripey" heirloom tomatoes.

I am really excited about having actual food come out of our garden.  Last year's CSA experiment was great, but actually growing the food myself would be even more rewarding, and we'd have an abundance of the things we love without the abundance of random greens that we won't eat.  Let's cross our fingers that some of these actually grow - I'll keep you all posted!

That's it for now, but I'll have more soon on how the house is coming along once I get pictures of all the newly-clean rooms!

Buffalo Chicken Quesadillas

Hi all!  I'm on my way back home from visiting family in MN (it's a bit weird to call the new house "home" and my childhood house my parents' house, but that's really the way it is now).  I have a TON of things to share, including beautiful pictures from my trip to San Francisco, lots of yummy eats on the trip, and highlights of my MN trip, but to tide you over, let's go with something Brendan and I made right before I left for the week.  Hope you enjoy!

Buffalo Chicken Quesadillas

In the interest of full disclosure, I was inspired to make this dish when I received a (free) bottle of KC Masterpiece Buffalo sauce through the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program.  But I will now be making these on days when we need something quick and delicious - they are really, really good!

Ingredients:
Boneless, skinless chicken breast (1-2 feeds 2 people, depending on how big the chicken is)
KC Masterpiece buffalo sauce (or, well, probably any buffalo sauce)
Shredded cheese (I used a "Mexican" blend from the store, but you could shred your own cheddar too)
Onions and/or peppers
Tortillas - 2 per person
Sour cream, salsa, or anything else you want for dipping

Directions:
Cut chicken into bite-size pieces.  Marinate for at least 1 hour in the refrigerator with buffalo sauce.  When you're done marinating, turn on your broiler.

Cook onions and peppers in a saucepan over medium heat with a bit of olive oil for around 10 minutes, until they are soft.

While cooking the vegetables, place chicken pieces in a single layer on a baking sheet and place in the broiler until pieces are no longer pink - around 5 minutes.  Remove chicken and preheat oven to 350.

For each quesadilla, put one tortilla on a baking sheet, then top with chicken, cooked vegetables, and a handful of cheese.  Fold the tortillas in half and bake at 350 for around 10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.

Let cool a bit and serve with sour cream, salsa, or another dipping sauce.


My honest review?  I think the buffalo sauce was great.  I was worried that it would be too hot when the label said "HOT" on it - but the flavor was pretty mild.  Brendan loves spice and would have liked a bit more kick - but I really enjoyed it.  You do need to use a lot of sauce to marinate, and adding some at the end would probably help add back a bit more spice - but for a quick and easy dinner, this was a great idea.

Would I buy it again?  Probably....but maybe not very soon.  I love BBQ and use a lot of it, but buffalo is a bit of a niche flavor.  And as with any sauce like this, there is plenty of added sugar and sodium to be concerned about.  Overall, the sauce is exactly what I would expect - a great way to add flavor to something quickly for a weeknight dinner, but not the end all and be all of culinary excellence.

Thanks to KC Masterpiece for sending me the sauce to try - we really enjoyed it!

With that, I'm out - I have a flight to catch!  But, assuming I'll be less stressed now that I'm mostly moved in and over my cold, we'll be back to the regularly scheduled program this week.