Nice one, Jim!

Wow, what a Valentine's Day we had! This is a belated photo but the cake was REALLY good (and we still have a slice or two in the freezer to pull out again later). Thanks go to Uncle Chuck for the recipe: chocolate cake with peppermint-cream cheese frosting.

Leap Year - is it spring now?!

Today is beautiful and sunny, with temps in the low 70s - I think we can say with confidence that we have avoided any big snowfall and snow days this winter, and spring is getting closer. Thus, with the warm weather, I am very excited to start thinking about all the vegetables and herbs that are soon going to be in season! Good-bye soups and hello fresh salads!

One of our new favorite foods is quinoa ("keen-wah"), which is a tasty, semi-crunchy grain that cooks up like oats or rice, and is a terrific base for all kinds of salads. Best of all, quinoa is very high in protein; eating quinoa is a good way to get complete nutrition, especially if you are eating a vegetarian or vegan diet. (We're only 50% of the way there but always thinking about new ways to eat healthy and more plant-based.)

Here is what I concocted today: Stoplight Quinoa Salad, with tomatoes, corn, celery, garbanzos, cilantro, pumpkin seeds and homemade creamy curry dressing.

Another ingredient that we have been having fun with this winter are dried figs. We have put them in granola bars, and this past weekend Jim got pumped up and made 2 recipes: homemade fig newtons (very good) and fig-walnut biscotti.

There's something satisfying about cornbread baked in cast-iron, isn't there?

And here is what has made these photos so fun and possible: our new Canon Rebel, a Christmas present. It is amazing. Hopefully lots more food photos to come this year. Today's post was also sponsored by Gemma, taking a nice long afternoon nap so Mom can goof around in the kitchen...

G-dad and Nonna's winter visit

One Friday evening and one very full Saturday - a great visit with Granddad & Nonna!

As soon as they arrived, Gemma got right to work choosing her favorite books and favorite new laps to read them in. (Meanwhile J&J sorted through all the amazing goodies from Trader Joe's and Costco and Valli that Mom had brought!)

Classic yummy breakfast downtown at the Village Deli, and even some pretty snowflakes that morning. We haven't seen much of the white stuff this winter.

Jim's breakfast of choice - pancake with bananas artfully arranged by the cook. You can't tell from this angle, but these are huge pancakes. It was hanging so far off the plate that the sides were touching the table.

Gemma really liked her some 'cake (and blueberries) as well.

The rest of the morning we explored at B-town's science museum, WonderLab. We all agreed that it is as much fun for adults as kids. Gemma particularly loves the water features and the shadow room.

In the afternoon, Nonna surprised Gemma with a new photobook entitled "Four Happy Cousins", filled with photos from Christmastime. They read through it about 6 times without stopping to look up.

In the evening the adults went to IU Opera Theatre to see Der Rosenkavalier, an epic opera by Strauss. Awesome! Gemma stayed home very happily with Sarah, a new babysitter (and neighbor). Doubly awesome! It was wonderful to have the weekend together, Mom and Dad.

Some Gemma pix (using our new camera)

We received a Canon Rebel DSLR for Christmas and have been LOVING it! Its pictures are So Superior to those we used to get with old our digital point-and-shoot camera. What a gift!

We've been using point-and-shoot digital cameras since June 2007, when we sold Jim's much-loved and much-used film SLR equipment (Canon, of course) in order to buy our first-ever digital camera, which was all we could afford at the time. We made do with it for two years in South Africa, and it served its purpose well, providing us with a convenient means to share our experiences in Africa with family back home (through this here blog, as a matter of fact. Go to the beginning, if you care to, and you'll see!).

At any rate, we've enjoyed seeing what the camera can do. Here are a few, taken by Julianna as she attempts to capture Gemma's zaniness:





And a picture of Gemma and Jim spending time doing one of G's favorite activities: reading.

Happy Birthday, Julianna!

Birthdays come only once a year - so why limit the celebration? Julianna and I enjoy stretching out birthday activities over a week or more. They typically include: a date out to a fun breakfast place; a homemade meal, using all new recipes, by the non-birthday person, including dessert; yet another special dessert the following week; and anything else we can think of!

So this year we enjoyed breakfast at The Runcible Spoon, a famed Bloomington establishment, on Saturday morning, a few days after Jul's real bday. It was 17 degrees that morning, the coldest it has been all winter - and bbrrr, simply walking from the car to the cafe was enough winter for us, thank you very much. Breakfast was yummy, and it was fun to be out on a date (with G. too, of course)!




In accordance with our birthday ritual, for Julianna's birthday I made her a birthday meal, using all new recipes. This is a tradition that was begun early in our marriage (over 10 yrs ago now, wow!) and which has produced many great memories and palate-pleasing culinary delights.

My meal for Julianna was fairly basic (due to limited prep time on a weekday evening), so was limited to the following: bobotie-flavored lentil burgers (bobotie is a traditional South African dish), roasted veg (potato, sweet potato, carrots, parsnips) with honey and walnuts, and, for dessert, individual chocolate souffles. Yum! I think Jul thought so, too!

Happy birthday, JHG!