Kitchen Yum Yum

I love it when we can start to harvest the summer produce from my parents garden. It seems like everything tastes better with fresh vegetables and herbs!

Farwell, Old Friend

My parents dog, Goldie, passed away right before 4th of July weekend. She lived a wonderful 16 (almost 17 years). We'll miss you girl!

Stained Glass!

Dan and I had fun at our stained glass class in mid-June.

Not too shabby for a three hour class, eh?

Crazy Kiddo

Adam was so excited to sport a mohawk for one day! (It was shaved after church and was going to be completey removed that night - so as not to embarass his mom when he started summer school the next day). I love that kid!

Chicken Salad a la Erin!

Erin shared her recipe for Chicken Salad and it was delish! The main ingredients are chicken, red grapes, green onions, celery and water chestnuts. The dressing was made of mayo, soy sauce and curry powder. So simple and so fresh!

Awesome Weekend!

The post is very old, but I wrote this right after the weekend of 6/10 - 6/12. Glad I jotted it all down then, because there were lots of great tidbits and details from the weekend. :)

This past weekend was one of those that I didn't want to end. It was a good balance of time with Dan, friends and my own time.

The big event of the weekend was Kelly & Trent's wedding, but some of the other highlights were great food, catching up with friends, watching Dirty Dancing and planting my herbs, tomatoes and flowers on the patio.

More about the food!...... Dan and I tried "Smoque" for dinner on Friday - excellent ribs, brisket and sides of mac & cheese, beans & coleslaw. On Saturday, we had lunch at "The Brown Sack", where I had the BLAST sandwich (bacon, lettuce, avacado, shrimp and tomato) and fabulous chocolate shake (although I had shake envy of Dan's peanut butter / banana combo). And, on Sunday, a group of us went to Birchwood Kitchen for brunch. To top it off, I ended my day with a Brown Sound ale & bacon fat popcorn from Revolution and pizza from the Boiler Room.


Looking forward to more weekends like this - and also looking forward to spending evenings on my patio now that it's all "jazzed up"!

Kelly & Trent Get Married!

What a beautiful wedding! Congratulations to Kelly & Trent! It was great to celebrate with so many wonderful friends!

And they're off.... a day at Arlington!

The weather on Memorial Day was much better than my foiled skydiving day the day before - so Dan and I headed to Arlington to check out the horse races. It was a first for both of us and a great way to spend the holiday!

Skydiving..... Fail!

Leisa and I signed up to go skydiving the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. Unfortunately, due to the overcast and rainy weather - our adventure was delayed. We did manage to have fun during the day, though, by meeting our new friend Suzanne and chatting with the Skydive Midwest crew (as well as getting a "behind the scenes" tour of the hanger.) Our excitetment (and nerves) would have to wait until July 8th!!!

Mmm... May in the Kitchen

I haven't done a lot of cooking in May - let along "photo worthy" cooking..... But, here are a few creations from the kitchen....

Panko-Crusted Tilapia with Kale Chips and Cheesy Rice

Personal Pan Pizza - made with Garlic Naan and Chicken Sausage

Napa Valley

I travelled to San Francisco for work in May and was able to extend my trip over the weekend. It was great to catch up with old friends, Erika & Josh - and visiting Napa wasn't half bad, either!

We had great weather and it was a fun day of visiting various vineyards: Clos du Val, Mumm Napa, Sol Bar, and a few others!

Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay...

It was a busy week in San Francisco for work..... but, I managed to find a few opportunities to enjoy the city by the bay.

On Thursday evening, John, Brenda and I went to dinner at a great authentic restaurant in Chinatown. After dinner, John and I decided to be adventerous and walk up a VERY steep hill to the Coit Tower. It was worth it! We experienced breathtaking views of Alcatraz, the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge from the base of the tower.

And then on Friday, my fun continued by meeting up with old Kansas friends Erika and Josh. We enjoyed cocktails at The Waterfront, followed by dinner at Foreign Cinema.

Lights! Camera! Architecture!

It was a beautiful day at the end of April, so I decided to take advantage of my open Saturday morning to partake in an architecture foundation tour.

The tour was called "Lights! Camera! Architecture!" The tour went through the Michigan Avenue / Wacker Drive / Chicago River area and our tour guide pointed out quite a few buildings and landmarks that played a supporting role in many well known (and not so well known) TV shows and movies.

One of the highlights was actually not part of the tour - as we were walking along the river, we got to witness some of the bridges raising for passing sail boats. In my five years in Chicago, this was the first time I've seen this! It was pretty fun to be a tourist with my camera in the moment!