The Triumphant Saga of Bill Murray

I might have mentioned before that there are three big planter pots on my porch. If I did mention it, it was probably in same (figurative) breath as the fact that I am am incredibly skilled at killing plants, especially rosemary. Last summer, my planter pots contained strawberries, lavender, and rosemary (because I love it and always want to grow it). I was pleasantly surprised to find that my lavender and strawberries survived the winter, and completely unsurprised when my rosemary failed entirely to thrive past October. That particular pot sat empty save for the corpse of my rosemary plant all winter and Benjy developed the unsavory habit of dumping the ashes from his grill and smoker into the pot. This summer, I decided to plant a patio tomato in the empty pot. I named him Bill Murray because I thought I'd be more interested in keeping him alive if he had a name. I carefully dug out all of Benjy's grill ashes and charcoal and planted Bill Murray in the remaining dirt.

He looked pretty happy for a few days but it soon became clear that something was terribly wrong. His leaves started looking withered and scorched and it was clear that poor Bill Murray was close to going the way of the rosemary. Benjy was either feeling guilty about the charcoal or just irritated by the sick tomato plant ruining the beauty of the porch because he kept bugging me to do something about Bill Murray. I thought the poor guy was beyond help but I gave in and went to Walmart to get a bag of dirt. The first thing I learned is that dirt is only sold in giant bags that are entirely too heavy for me to carry up three flights of stairs. The second bit of knowledge I was gifted with is that it's a good idea to ask your husband to carry said bag of dirt upstairs before he sprays himself with dark tanning oil (not even joking) and sits out on his sunny porch. Not only was the bag too heavy for me to carry upstairs, it was nearly too heavy and slippery for me to upend into my pot. Nonetheless I cut a hole in the top corner of the bag and valiantly struggled with it until I managed to maneuver it in place. It was at this point that I discovered the hole I cut in the top of the bag was too small to let the dirt pour out. I finally managed to get the dirt into the pot via a technique I like to call "madly stabbing the bag of dirt with a pair of scissors."

As you can see, dirt ended up everywhere. It was actually fine because I had too much dirt in the pot after everything was said and done and had to carefully carry the extra dirt over to top off my other pots. You can infer from this that I ended up with as much dirt on myself and the porch as I did anywhere else. I also have to add that before I could put new dirt in the pot, I had to get rid of the old dirt. The end of this process found me covertly hauling trash bags full of old charcoal filled dirt down three flights of stairs and into the back yard and dumping it into a corner. I'm pretty sure I looked deranged at best and like I was disposing of a body at worst. All of this work resulted in a sick Bill Murray perched inside a pot filled with shiny new dirt.

He still looked bad the next day so I cut off all of his branches that looked sick so that he could better direct his resources to keeping the rest of himself alive. I didn't take a picture because he looked so pathetic and for a week or two I was still pretty sure that poor Bill Murray wasn't going to make it. I definitely used this as a reason to make Groundhog's Day jokes at parties because I am a scintillating conversationalist (i.e. deluded enough to think that anyone else gives a damn about my patio tomato plant). But finally, he grew fuzzy new leaves and started to perk up. And now, his first tomato is turning red! I'm so proud!

And yes, of course I've named my strawberry plant Steve Martin and my lavender Dan Akroyd. Why do you ask?

Silence!

I'm just back from a nice vacation to D.C. and the Shenandoah Valley, and, of course, my cupboards are bare!   An additional meal planning challenge is that Benjy is working nights this week. The nice thing is that he doesn't go to work until after dinner, but he has to sleep all day in the bedroom that is just off of the kitchen. I need to minimize my time in the kitchen and cook as quietly as possible. This means I need recipes that don't require a lot of chopping or stirring or standing at the stove.
There are other considerations that go hand in hand with the night shift as well. He often takes some of the food from dinner with him to work- so grab and go type foods are key. It's also convenient to make foods that don't have to be reheated, since that saves time. And since he's going straight to work, garlicky foods are out! (I made roasted squid dressed with chimichurri sauce last week and he couldn't eat it because it would have given him dragon breath on the night shift. It was sad!)
The plus side is that aiming to spend as little time in the kitchen as possible (something that is generally anathema to me!) gives me a chance to play with some easy recipes!
My plan for the week is to make a ton of baked chicken  (just to shake things up from my typical whole roast  chicken routine) and serve it over the rest of the week with a variety of salads. I'm thinking Caprese or maybe a Burrata and tomato salad, roasted beets and goat cheese with spinach and walnut, and salad greens with avocado and hearts of palm.
When out of chicken I'm going to make an Italian tuna salad with tuna canned in olive oil, capers, basil, red onion, white wine vinegar, and white beans to serve over salad greens.
I'm also planning to make this truffled asparagus and boiled egg salad for myself for lunches because I think it looks insanely good.
Everything will be served with slices of crusty bread, although I may buy it instead of making it myself this week.

This sort of food would also work well for anyone having a busy week. I hope you can see how one night spent roasting chicken and beets (or any veggies you like!), and boiling asparagus and eggs can easy lend itself to a full week of healthy meals when you combine them with salad ingredients and a few pantry staples.

How do you cook around a crazy schedule?

Creepy!

I watched the Kentucky Derby for the first time yesterday (on TV, not in person, sadly). Prior to the race the camera briefly showed a brown horse with a white spot on his nose and I told Benjy that he was my favorite because he was a pretty horse. Finding out that his name was "I'll Have Another" led me to believe I'd made a good choice.
And then he won!! I guess if this whole engineering thing doesn't pan out I can always make a living betting on horse races. ;)

However, apparently the Derby took a deadly turn this year.  This morning I also read an article about an abandoned pet cemetery in rural Louisiana that  is the center of several murders. I guess it's been a good news day for all things Creepy and Southern.

Seriously Want to Go Shopping

Things I need to buy: a new camera. Still. I think I want this one, but I kind of hate gadget shopping. I'm such a bad engineer.
What I want are clothes, shoes, and bags. Disclaimer- I totally bought a pair of neon pink shorts and a pair of cobalt blue pants from Jcrew last week. They are fabulous. Especially the neon shorts.
However, this has only whetted my appetite.
Things I want- dark wash sexy bootcut jeans from the Gap, a pair of Toms (b/c now that they've been around for years, I can finally embrace the trend), a maxi dress, and  a couple of slouchy bags- I want a grey one to replace the one I bought last year and have completely destroyed with overuse, and a buff colored one for the summer b/c I think it would play nicely against my awesome neon pink shorts. :)

What do you plan to wear this summer?

Edited to add that I bought the camera and the dress online, and after some soul searching I've decided that I just don't need the Toms- I have a lot of cute flats already, so there's not a Toms shaped void in my life, or my closet. After some closet searching I realized that I have a tan hobo bag that I can totally use this summer- I just forgot it was back there! As for the jeans and the grey bag- the jury is still out. I really love my current grey bag and might see if I can get a tailor to fix it. And I think I should try the jeans on again before I decide to buy them, but I HATE going to the mall so I may just never bother. :) 

It's a Tough Life

I've been really pleased with how much travelling I've managed to accomplish in the past year. Places I've been: New Orleans, Mississippi, Houston, Spain, Virginia, several places in Maine (I won't count the stops on the move up to Maine!), Ohio, Colorado, Arizona, San Francisco and Napa, Boston, D.C., and NYC. Do I qualify for road warrior status yet? :)  The picture to the left is from my recent trip to San Francisco. My Kristi, Lauri, and I are completely blocking a view of the Golden Gate Bridge. :)
I'm incredibly grateful that I've been able to travel so much this year. I'm further grateful that I actually love to travel- it's something that came to me late in life. I used to be terrified of flying and pretty unadventurous in general. One thing I appreciate about growing older is that I've become so much more open to new experiences. Some of that is due to an increase in confidence, and some of that is due to a better ability to separate needless fears from legitimate concerns. But so much of the credit for my evolution into a travel loving person is due to Benjy. I was always the type of person to sit around and think "It would be fun to go to XYZ..." but would never go without someone to give me a push in that direction. Benjy loves to travel and was just the person I needed to give me that push. He's also incredibly fun to travel with- his companionship makes the trips we go on together a joy and has helped me establish enough positive connotations to combat any fear I have of traveling alone.
Just one of the many reasons I am so supremely lucky. :)

The picture of us below was taken in Arizona at Christmas. Most of our recent pictures together were taken at arm's length- I thought this one was a bit nicer. :) 

In other news, after 4 or 5 long years, my trusty point and shoot Cannon has bitten the dust. Can anyone recommend a nice compact camera? 

What a Year!

So it's two days late, but I'd be remiss if I didn't blog about my first anniversary! Actually, I'm kind of remiss anyway b/c I was out of town for Benjy's birthday (for work) and our anniversary (I was on a girl's trip in San Francisco and there were no affordable flights that got me home by Monday). Whoops.
Nonetheless, I'm very excited to have been married for a full year and I'm looking forward to spending Sat. with my husband in a lovely bed and breakfast in Camden, Maine. We're also going to eat at Conte 1894. I'm very excited about that as well.
This has definitely been an exciting and challenging year for us. We honeymooned in Spain, moved 1600 miles away from our home in New Orleans, climbed a mountain together, skied down several mountains together, weathered our first New England winter, celebrated my birthday in NYC and his birthday in an Irish Bar at 8am on St. Patrick's Day, visited Acadia National Park, met friends in Boston, celebrated Christmas in Arizona, skied in Colorado, and returned briefly to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. It's been a big, busy, fun  year and there's no one I'd rather have spent it with!
Adjusting to the big move and to the Benjy's tough work schedule was the biggest challenge of the year. I have to give him so much credit for being willing to spend his spare time with me- traveling and exploring- instead of resting on the couch, which is probably what I would do if I were in his shoes. Despite all the challenges of his work, he's been, as always, a wonderful companion in this adventure. I'm so happy to have been married to the love of my life for a full year and can't wait to celebrate with him for many years to come!

Happy Dance!

Check out that high on Thursday!