Weekend organizing and fun!

Easily the weekend's highlight was attending a Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert!  It was a special treat, attending with daughters Emily and Hannah.   The entire program was fabulous, and the guest artist Lisa Batiashvili and guest conductor, James Gaffigan, were excellent!  My favorites were the Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah by Saint-Saens, and Night on Bald Mountain by Mussorgsky. 

Scott helped me out by installing my new pegboard (from IKEA) in my sewing studio. Work in progress in the background, more on that later.

It looks great!  

Before the CSO concert, we went out for dinner at Gia Mia.  Everything was delicious!  We had zucchini fries, meatballs with polenta, gnocchi, and pizza.  

Girls night!  We decided we definitely need to do this more often, next time with Genevieve too. 

Saturday I got to do a little fabric shopping/therapy and get a few boxes checked on my Shop Hop passport.  Most of the fabrics are Moda, except for the blue and green prints which are Northcott.  The two gray prints are for the backs of baby quilts, the dog prints are for dog bandanas, and the others are just for my stash.

Our lab, Dora, just LOVES being outside in the summertime.  That is her happy place, for sure!

We love being outside too, and have been eating most meals outside this summer.  I just noticed that you can see both dogs in this photo - Buddy is under the table.  This delicious dinner was mostly from IKEA, Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes.  Yum!

 

Barn quilt and dining al fresco

Scott has been keeping himself busy recently by painting an awesome barn quilt for our porch!  I love it!  I actually found the design on the interest (sorry I do not know the creator) and I think that Scott's rendition turned out great.  Thanks, Scott!

Scott had extra time at home due to a positive Covid test earlier this month.  This was a first for either of us, as we have been so careful the past two years.  So far, I have not tested positive. 

I love those colors!

It looks great up close and from a distance too. 

We have had nice weather this month, so we've been eating outside a lot. We have the choice of eating on the back yard patio (above, with grilled brats)...  

...or eating out on our front porch.  We enjoy the front porch because we can greet our neighbors as they walk by.   You can see our garden in the background - it looks so great right now with the alium bulbs blooming and some fresh mulch showing off our hostas. 

This was another patio dinner - Pesto chicken, rice, and broccoli, and a nice cool Tom Collins.  Cheers! 

 

Puzzle Fun

During this past year of hunkering down at home, lots of folks did lots of jigsaw puzzles, and we found this fun one!  Then, we decided to try making several of the cocktails featured on the puzzle as a little research project!

Mai Tai Cocktail - we rated it 4 out of 5.

The classic - Tequila Sunrise.  I remember this as being very special as a twenty-something!  We rated it 4.5 out of 5.  

Bootleg Cocktail.  This was described on the puzzle as one of the signature cocktails of Minnesota, although we are both from Minnesota and had never heard of it.  Refreshing and tasty, we rated it 4 out of 5. 

 

A new start? Birthdays and the best chicken!

I tend towards perfectionism, or nothing - and blogging is no exception.  I put it off until I think of the perfect subject, or the best photos, you get the idea.  

So - I am going to try for more frequent posts, and less obsessing! Here goes!

Dear granddaughter, Ella, turned 3 back in February!  She helped baking the cake with her Mama, and had fun adding the sprinkles! 

My DL husband, Scott, never seems to age.  He, also, had a birthday back in February.  I baked his favorite:  spice cake with penuche frosting, and shopped pecans on top.  By the way, does he look 71 to you?  :)

I follow "The Kitchen" on Instagram and recently found THE BEST way to grill chicken!  My experience up to that point had been - either you grill breasts and they are dry, or you grill dark meat pieces and they don't get done in the middle.  Well, this recipe was EASY and SO GOOD!  We loved it the first day, and it was also delicious the next day.  Enjoy!

 

We shop, we cook, we eat

Scott and I have been cooking pretty much every day for the past several weeks.  I think we got takeout twice in all that time.  Here are a few keepers:

Recipe source:  Betty Crocker, purchased in 1978 (wedding gift!). My kind of recipe, one bowl, easy, and really delicious!

We had heavy cream in the frig, so we skipped the frosting and served with real whipped cream.  Check out my teeny stove!  Looks like we live in a tiny city apartment...nope, just a small mid-century ranch in the suburbs.

Now THESE are to write home about!  If you're ever in Minneapolis, consider visiting Al's Breakfast in the U of M neighborhood called Dinkytown.  There is but ONE counter, with about 15 stools.  That's it.  So you have to WAIT for your breakfast.  But oh, the food is worth it!  Here's a link to the recipe.  The recipe shows made with blueberries and walnuts, but I subbed in chocolate chips for the blueberries.  And you MUST use real maple syrup - pictured above is Anderson's Pure Maple Syrup, made by my godparents' family in Wisconsin.  They carry it at my local grocery store!

More proof of our tiny kitchen. Scott is backed up to the refrigerator, and to the left of the stove the counter takes a left turn and there is the sink.  It's a "step saver kitchen", that's for sure.
Scott is working on a quick pasta dish I saw on "The Kitchen" (food network).  They had a "pasta drop challenge" where you had to create a pasta sauce in the time it took for the pasta to cook!
Here is the link for Sunny's Quick Bolognese sauce.  We used 1# hamburger, crumbled and browned with olive oil, salt, and pepper for the meat, and pasta sauce for the pizza sauce.  It was clean-your-plate good.  

More recipes next time!
Stay safe, everyone!

Thanksgiving 2018

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are grateful that Emily and Matt hosted Thanksgiving this year!  Emily is an excellent cook, and made the entire feast:  turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, glazed brussel sprouts, crescent rolls, charcuterie platter, and pumpkin cheesecake bars!  All I had to bring was an apple pie. 

This retro picture (c.1980) is my wonderful father-in-law, Don Hudson. Don't you love those '70s touches in the background? Orange coffee pot, green can opener, copper canisters? Don has been gone over 30 years, but his good looks live on in my husband.

We had fun recreating the old photo above.  Different time, different kitchen, but you can tell it's not 1980 anymore!  Insider note - after staging the photo, I stepped in and carved the turkey! We had lots of fun with food, babies, and football, of course!

More catch-up - Emily and Matt's baby shower, Ella's Tulip Garden quilt

We hosted a baby shower for our daughter, Emily, and her husband, Matt back in January.  We had fun decorating the house with some special family mementos, and fun shower decorations like the flag bunting. 

The quilt on the wall was made by my grandmother for my parents' wedding in 1944.  I thought the colors suited the baby shower theme.  The high chair in the background was used by me, my mom, and my grandmother!

Cutest cake ever!  Not only cute, but delish! White cake with lemon filling, and buttercream icing. (from Kirsten's Danish Bakery)

These are antique baby clothes I have. The beige one in the center was my mom's, so that dress is 100 years old! The picture in the foreground shows my mom wearing the dress. 

My lovely daughters!  Emily, Hannah, and Genevieve.  My heart is so full!

Mom and daughter.

Ella's Tulips - I had lots of fun making this.  

It looks so cute in their nursery!

Beautifully machine quilted by Sue Pawlowski.  

Baby Ella!  Born February 12, 2018. 

Ella and granddad sharing stories.  I have a feeling they will be great friends. :)

December Fun!

Buddy the Christmas Elf!  Buddy is actually our daughter, Genevieve's dog, but he has become a permanent resident at HQ (what our daughers call our house) due to her boyfriend's dog allergy.  Buddy is a lot of fun to have around!

Our yearly St. Lucia breakfast at Tre Kronor in Chicago.  This charming Swedish bistro serves a delicious St. Lucia Day breakfast, and the servers double as singers, singing traditional Christmas carols.  Note the crown of lit candles!
We see the same people at this breakfast every year.  It's part of our Christmas tradition, and many others as well.

Another Christmas tradition - my piano students' Christmas "recital" and party.  The kids each play a Christmas song for each other (no parents are invited!), then we make a small craft and enjoy some cookies and juice.  They look forward to this every day, as so I.  Such nice kids!  I have a great job. 

Scott's Christmas gift was tickets to "Not So Silent Night", a jazz version of the Nutcracker, and other Christmas selections, performed by the Chicago Jazz Orchestra.  They really cooked!

Happy Holidays!

Hannah and Danny's Engagement Party!

We hosted a small engagement party for Hannah and Danny last night, and it was just so much fun! They are a perfect match, they have so much fun together, and their love just shines through, doesn't it?

Just before we cut the amazing cake, which I had made especially for Danny and his love of golf. Cake created at Kirsten's Danish Bakery in Burr Ridge, IL. 

It was delicious, too!  Yellow cake with chocolate mousse filling, and buttercream icing. Yummy!

Our special guests were my brother and sister-in-law, Chuck and Jean, from Burke, VA, who just happened to be travelling through town the same weekend as the party!

Scott and I with Hannah.  Love her new dress! 

Group shot (and my finger, too, I guess - oops!), featuring Hannah's friend, Katie, our daughter, Genevieve, her bf Dave, Emily's husband, Matt, and our daughter, Emily. It seems that Dave and Matt became best friends last night after sitting together!

Nice smiles from Emily and Matt!  You can see  everyone having a good time, which I love.  We decorated with sunflowers, Hannah's favorite.

My wonderful husband, Scott - the party happened to be on our 39th wedding anniversary!

The guests of honor! Their wedding in May of 2018 will be here before you know it!