Busy Sunday!

Yesterday was a lazy day (sort of) we did a bit of stuff around the house and as previously blogged I made a cheesecake and marinara sauce. Here is a picture of my finished cheesecake! 

From what I remember eating (and I did it fast) it was quite tasty! We left our

 friend's house and came home and passed out. Today was much busier than yesterday, we watched a few hours of morning television and then got to gettin' on! I soaked my sweet peas over night and was ready to plant them but realized I did not have any potting soil so Sofia and I went to Home Depot, with a pit stop at the puppy store to take Sofia on a shopping spree!

When we got home I started planting my sweet peas

The process starts by soaking the seeds, then planting them in good soil. After that you have to give them something to climb up so I made this tri

pod shaped stake

 structure for them to climb, I hope it works.

After that I cleaned up my potting bench which was a wreck here is a before and after

I found my rusty garden tools so I broke out with the steel wool and WD-40 and made them all shiny and pretty again!

After that I took pictures of the flowers in the front. Brian did such a nice job clearing the beds and exposing the crocus, there was a busy worker bee collecting pollen

Here are the Galanthus (Snowdrops) that my friend Steph gave us! I love them!!

After I gardening for a majority of the day I made a tasty dinner of Crispy Breaded Pork Cutlets It is a recipe from Everyday Food. 

Signs of Spring!!!!

Attempt #2. This is the second time I am typing this blog, the first time I was using my roommates computer (Windows computer YUCK!) well that post blew to bits. I just had to document what has been popping up recently. The first picture is of a gift that Brian gave to me it is a Momoyama tree peony. Brian got it for me as a gift for my birthday last year and I was so excited. I got so scared/sad that it died over the winter because it looked dead (like a very expensive dead twig). Well sometime last week I noticed there are some buds beginning to poke through and show! There is a picture of what the flowers will look like when they bloom I AM SO EXCITED! 

After that there are some pictures of everything else that is blooming, some iris, crocus, hyacinth, and the frozen surface of my pond, it is thawed now I just looked at it through my kitchen window. 

Also, tonight we are going to my friend's house for dinner and I am taking a strawberry and cream cheesecake. It looks very good and Sofia was licking her chops begging for some!

Reminiscing over old pictures I found these two. One of my seedlings after I just planted them out. I always say that planting out seedlings every year is like sending your children off to school, I worry about them and feel very protective of them because I raised them from seeds and pampered them in my basement and putting them outside is almost just too traumatizing. Haha! This weekend I think I will plant my sweet pea seeds. I have plenty of large pots and it will be nice to put them to use.
I am also starting to salivate over the thought of fresh herbs and tomatos. My roommate made a salad last night and the tomatos in it were tasteless, expensive, and hard. Nothing beats a tomato picked from the garden and still warm from the sun. This weekend Brian and I are going to our friends house and she said the land behind her shed is full of snowdrops (Galanthus). She said we could bring a shovel and that made me all hot and bothered!

Today was a busy one! I woke up this morning at 7AM and then did the treadmill, after that I had to take my friend's coat to the post office. After that I had to go to Jo-Ann's Fabrics and give them my availability since I am one of their new One Stroke Painting Instructors. In preparation for tomorrow I baked the cake for my mint chocolate ganache trifle that I am going to make. The cake came out a little on the dry side so I made a mint flavored simple syrup to brush the layers with. I also made potato salad since we are having an Easter picnic. Here are some pictures....

The first picture is a picture of my potato salad, I try and replicate the delicious potato salad that my mother-in-law Carol use to make and I hope that I do her potato salad justice! I love the flecks of fresh dill! It makes me long for the days of walking onto my deck and cutting fresh herbs, SOON MY CHILDREN... SOON.....

The next picture is my chopped eggs! To hard boil eggs I always use the fool proof method of putting the eggs in cold water, bringing them to a boil, as soon as they boil turn them off, cover them and let them sit for 13 minutes exactly. Try it, it works and it doesn't give you any of that gray/greenish tint that is usual on overcooked eggs. 

After that is our roommates dog Zoe looking diva-licious!

Then it was naptime for Sofia and I, we had a hard day of running around town, cooking, and then watching the food network!

Around the Corner.....

I never thought that I would anticipate the summer but I am. I am excited about gardening. I am excited to take the dogs for walks. I am excited to BBQ! This winter has flown by and I am glad. I love the winter but I miss cooking with herbs and placing vases of fresh flowers around our house.

I was talking earlier about wanting to plant more bulbs. I want to plant more lily of the valley, tulips, allium, hyacinth, muscari, everything! Our friend came over the other day and left some overripened bananas at our house so that inspired me to make banana bread.

The seeds that I ordered came in the mail, I was so excited. Most of my seeds I bought locally or saved from last year but I had to get some more lettuce leaf basil and some cosmos and sweet peas. I am excited about growing new things this year. In honor of Easter and also because I did not have time to force branches this year I put out my tissue paper hand-made branches with blossoms on them. I love them too!

Recently, my friend Diane visited. We had a great time (or at least I hope she did). Whenever she comes I always have some type of craft and various other activities planned. This time I taught her how to make and can strawberry jam, we made trays with pressed hydrangeas, and we also made christmas themed glasses with snowflakes etched into the bottom of them.

I had such a wonderful time, I love crafting and really do not have anyone else to do it with. All of the women I know and spend time with are like beefy men. We went to White House Fruit Farms and met a cute doggie and also ate their famous blueberry doughnuts.

I can not wait until Diane comes next year because I already have some of our future projects planned including Halloween people! I already miss Diane and hope she visits again really soon!