Lunch

 

Simian was busy all day so Mom and I went to visit a friend's new baby. We went to Au Petit Salut for lunch and I was surprised at how crowded it was for a weekday.

Plants versus Zombies

Do not play Plants versus Zombies. I'm serious. I held out so long because I heard it's very addictive. They do not lie - guess what I've been doing for the last three days? That and making cannele.

If you have no will power (like me), then you might want to consider getting the game now - it's on sale till tomorrow!

In other news, I can't believe what this poor father has to go through.

Plane Ride

We touched down this morning at 5 - ahead of schedule. I finished a book and watched three movies - probably a new record. I finally got to see Say Anything that I've literally wanted to see for years. The few things that struck me - two of the Heathers are in the party scene (among other people) and if you wanted to impress a girl now, you wouldn't need to hold a boombox over your head anymore. All you'd need would be your Ipod and mini speakers - less upper arm strength needed :)

I also saw Liebe Mauer and Hachiko : A Dog's Story, which was shamelessly manipulative but still had me sniffling anyway. Possibly because it was based on a true story (even if that was in Japan and not the US). And no, I am not totally undiscerning in regards to animal movies. I tried watching Gu Gu the Cat on another plane ride and was so annoyed (by the protagonist's friends), I had to turn it off.

Simian watched four movies and played Zuma endlessly. We went for a run after we landed and then went for a swim. Saw M briefly - she's showing now!

Spring!

 

Literally overnight, the purple flowers that we planted started poking out. The sour cherry tree started blooming as well and the tree in front of the main door is about to put out shoots. Of course now that we're about to leave and have moved all the plants out, we read that there's a chance of snow. Good lucks plants!!

I also took my last shot of a junco for this season - by the time I get back, they are likely to all be gone.

Bird Feeder

 

After finishing the roof and sealing it, Simian put up the new bird feeder this morning! Here it is next to the old bird feeder (which I still love) - it looks huge in comparison. The birds have started investigating but are a little wary.

Simian also came home early to start transplating some of our vegetables. Let's see if they survive outside while we're gone.

I of course, cleaned the house again before we leave. The weather was gorgeous today - windy but otherwise warm and sunny.

Dinner

 

It was the night of the three course dinner, otherwise known as "arrrgh we have to use up the fresh food before we leave!!" Simian came home to a cream of mushroom soup, a tomato pie and a pear and chocolate cake. As usual, because I didn't have all the ingredients on hand, I did substitutions - I played fast and loose with the herbs as usual. Also, I didn't have shallots - so I just used onions. The mushroom soup recipe recommended processing the mushroom beforehand - which didn't quite work for me as I was using half shitakes. So I processed it halfway through cooking - much better.

I also thought that the cake, while good - and I was all to happy to use my Bosc pears (which are my favourite pears) up - needed a little something extra. To be fair the recipe does call for buttermilk or cream. I think even a little sprinkled confectioner's sugar would have been nice, or a great caramel sauce. Still time to make some :) Simian, however, thought it was good just as it was.

Mulching and food

 

Busy day - Simian woke me up and then he went out and started mulching the last few areas. I went out and the contractor called from the apartment to say he was almost done. So off we went to Bmore. We saw our neighbours, L & M as well, and saw our new tenant who was moving in. I also saw Bob, L & M's new puppy again - he is such a handsome boy.

We talked to the contractor, L, who told us work is still pretty hard to come by. Then Simian and I went to Nacho Mama's - we had been talking about Mexican food the other day and I had a hankering for good Mexican. I forgot though that the chilli con queso here was NOT a soup even though it was lumped with the soups (I somehow thought that maybe it was a 'special' soup :)). Both the guacamole and the con queso were fantastic - but we rolled out of there because we were so full. It made it worse that Simian had a Natty Boh and I had a wonderful margarita. With the heat of the afternoon, both of us just wanted to nap.

We went to buy a post for the new mega bird house Simian is making me. Then we came home and mulched in the evening. You can see the pile of mulch - the outer ring is the size of the original pile of mulch. Simian had taken all the lariopes out so we had to break them down, pull out the larger ones and mulch over the whole thing. It's supposed to rain tomorrow so it'll help the mulch settle.

Jiffy Pot

Jiffy Pot
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

Today was the first day of spring. Simian and I mulched all day - we still have a bit more to do tomorrow. It seemed that almost everyone in the neighbourhood was out and gardening too. We may put some of the plants into the garden tomorrow.

First Gelato of the season

First Gelato of the season
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

Not that I wouldn't have had it in winter - because I would and I have, but we just hadn't gone down to Fells Point in ages. The snow probably had something to do with it.

It was such a nice, sunny day though that after meeting our new tenant to give her the key, and visiting M and L, we went for gelato.

Of course I had the chocolate hazelnut - but they also had bosc pear and it really TASTED like bosc pear! I was very pleased.

The best part of gelato in winter though? No line at all. We had to queue for a few minutes today.

Mulch

We have a mountain of mulch in the driveway - 12 cubic feet of it to be precise. It was delivered early this morning and I'll take a photo soon :) We need to mulch before we head back to Singapore or we're going to be looking at a mountain of weeds!

What is interesting since we've moved out to the 'burbs is that I've noticed people around here are a lot more trusting on many levels. Take the mulch for example, or the work we're having done at the condo or even the generator we recently bought or had installed. No one asks for a deposit. It's a handshake (or even a phone call) and that's it. People assume you'll pay up because you say you will.

Here's an interesting article on food stamps and what people use them for that has caused a lot of ire. Food stamps for healthier food - why not? I still wouldn't shop at Whole foods - but if people are prepared to eat less and eat healthier, then why not?

Weather has been gorgeous - I even got to hang clothes outside today, though I had to toss them in the dryer for a few minutes.

Sewing, Rabbids and casserole

 

Here's Simian trying to thread his sewing machine - apparently the needle broke and he's trying to get it working again so he can start sewing. In the meantime, we ended up getting distracted and playing more of the Rayman Ravings Rabbid TV Party - Suntaneye, I blame you! All we do is play this.

I made a tofu casserole from dinner. It went excellently with chilli.

In other news, Daylight savings ended yesterday! Yay!

ECG

 

Simian and I ran a few errands this afternoon - we got some frames for posters and prints that we got so we can start putting them up, for one thing.

Then we went in the evening with Will and A to visit HJ and E and their new baby. The new baby looks more like HJ at the moment - but I'm sure that will change as he gros. HJ and E moved into a beautiful new apartment with a great view. They look out onto a lawn that has deer and coyote as well!

Simian got me an ECG machine and we tried it out yesterday as he just managed to get the cables. He's a little upset that the reading is still a little 'noisy' but I think it's pretty good!

Pi Party!

 

Today is Pi day (3/14 for all the non-Americans :)). Simian and I attended A's annual Pi Party at A and Will's home. It was fun as ever with tons of pies that everyone baked. I contributed an apple cheddar crust pie. It didn't look as nice as the last one I made, but I think it tasted okay.

Wet Day

 

Simian and I were supposed to go to New York City today (we had free tickets on the bus to go up). However the weather was wet and dreary and I was reluctant to go. We decided to stay in Maryland instead and ended up having a very busy day indeed.

First, we went to try a restaurant I read about, Kavkaz Kebab - it turned out to be a little too meaty for us, but was interesting. Then we headed to Goldman's Kosher Bakery, supposedly the best Jewish bakery in Bmore, to get some challah bread. They also had hamentaschen (sorry Imp I forgot to take photos!) - we got a few.

We took the challah to visit M, in hospital. Simian also dropped by the apartment to work on the bathroom a little. Then we visited A and R, before heading over to M & G's for dinner with food from Tutti Gusti and the hamentaschen). It was wet all day so I'm pretty glad we decided to just stay in town!

Seeds and stuff

 

I went down to a senior care community to talk to some people there about their TNR programme (detailed on my work blog). Suffice to say the place was huge and I was impressed by the facilities. The dining room had a carving station and would not look out of place in any pretty fancy hotel.

One of the caregivers also took me home to feed me soup and she emptied the contents of her fridge to ensure I had enough to eat when she heard I was vegetarian. Considering she gave me two bowls of her lovely home made soup and bread I was already stuffed. Then she fried bananas and gave me ice cream with that and homemade raspberry sauce :)

Getting there was a little bit of a problem because for some reason my GPS in the new car always gets confused when it's almost at the destination. It kept telling me to make a U-turn so I went around in circles but I eventually got there. I got stuck in Beltway traffic on the way home - but I had NPR as always to listen to which is always interesting. Interestingly, I found out Corey Haim passed away today - I used to love his movies when I was a kid.

I came home and started on dinner and then after dinner, Simian and I planted seeds. In a few weeks we'll transplant them outdoors!

Visiting

Simian stayed home for the morning as we had an electrician come in and fix the generator. We went for a jog in the gorgeous weather - first time I've run without gloves in months. The perfect weather couldn't last - we're going to get rain for the next few days.

We headed downtown to visit our old neighbour, M, who had a quadruple bypass yesterday. He looked good - and was itching to go home. First, he'd like to get out of the ICU and into the normal rooms - for some reason, they don't have a room free. Suntaneye's husband came too - Suntaneye was unfortunately in class.

Simian then went to work late in the afternoon. On the way home, I of course heard the story about the accelerating Prius.

Mushroom Pasta

 

Another gorgeous day outside - unfortunately Simian had to work all day again.

I finally got around to making the gorgeous mushroom pasta that is Planetofsound's concoction. I actually had almost all the ingredients on hand - and I have to say the truffle oil made a huge amount of difference. I used the shiitakes that Mom sent (and they were great!), along with white buttons and porcini. I should have skipped the enoki though!

I also made these tiny chocolate chip cookies - should have made them tinier but it was still a great recipe. I miss Gourmet :(

I decided to boil some barley - here's the funny thing though. Apparently everyone has their own recipe. Mom had told me not to use too much barley and to put it in a medium saucepan. Someone on the Net suggested a 1:4 ratio of barley to water. Halfway through the cooking, I called suntaneye - she uses enough barley to cover the base of the pot, but it seems everyone boils it twice. At any rate, I think I used too much barley but it tasted pretty good anyway!

A, one of our neighbours dropped by with vegan cookies and a print from Hawaii for us.

We've been plagued by ants - we've never had so many. It might have something to do with the weather - Simian and I suspect that they're coming in from outside because of the ice still on our deck. Anyone have any good suggestions to get rid of ants? we tried vinegar and cinnamon. Simian caulked the entrance hole we found. We caved in and got ant traps last week but there are still tons of ants. I read somewhere that it might just take time.

Sunny!

 

Gorgeous sunny day - it was a little windy but it was still beautiful. Simian has to work almost all day so I went to get my hair cut and then I went for a drive just because it was so beautiful out! Here are some of the redwing black birds in my tree. I'm pretty sure they're redwings - though the last lot of redwing blackbirds I saw had a lot more red. Apparently the birds flash more red when they're more confident!

Prius fixed

My Prius was finally fixed today - I drove it down, and they took 45 minutes. They offered to drop me off somewhere if I needed to get anything done. When I mentioned I just needed to get some groceries, the dealer loaned me her own car. I got back and it was all done.

Weather today was gorgeous - the skies were blue and clear and it was sunny. A guy at the parking lot of the grocery store commented it would have been perfect if it was slightly less windy, but I'll take what I can get! I was able to fun without my hat for the first time in months AND I had to actually use sun block today!

Strawberry Pie

Strawberry Pie
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

I made a strawberry pie from the Pie book M got me for Christmas. I had a little problem with the crust but I worked with it and it turned out pretty nice in the end.

Dinner

 

Woke up early this morning as we were told that someone would be by to fix the heat pump between 8 and noon and I wanted to clean the bathroom first. Simian waited for me to finish and pop out of the shower by which time, the repairman came. It was a good thing Simian stayed home too - turned out the heat pump is in the crawl space above the laundry room and not where we originally thought it was. It seemed fixed and the problem was a loose wire, but when the guy left, the heat went off again. He said he'd come back tomorrow with a colleague. The good news was that today was partly sunny and not too cold so it's still fairly warm upstairs.

I made Cauliflower Jalfrezi (with tons of substitutions) and Nigella Lawson's garlic and parsley hearthbreads. As you can see, I'm on a breadmaking kick at the moment. We also tried the red pears we saw at H-mart the other day. Boscs are still my favourite.

Ice Cream and presents

 

Simian and I went to meet a woman who had wanted to rent the apartment, and eventually decided not to. She however asked if Simian had some time to spare to tell her about Bmore, so we went to meet her and had lunch with her in Quarry Lake. I wanted to try California Tortilla but it's closed on Sundays in January and February. We ended up at Ciao Cafe instead because Jasmine didn't open till noon and we didn't want to stand in the cold. After lunch, Simian and I stopped into Maggie Moo's where we had their ice cream.

We bought a pint and went over to Suntaneye's. She's done so much with her new place in just two months! It looks really amazing (suntaneye - the painting was really good on the walls too, I forgot to mention!). Suntaneye also got me this lovely print - I'm going to frame it up and put it up!

In other news, our furnace died - we called up the insurance people so they're sending out a repair person tomorrow. Then they'll assess if it is covered under the warranty. I hope it gets fixed soon. Of course, when you see what's happening in Chile, it's good to be reminded how fortunate we are!