Is It Garden Planning Time Yet?

The days have gotten a bit longer, and the snow deeper. I’ve helped my community garden write up a new application. I’ve consumed a lot of hot tea. I’ve moved Bill’s new bocce ball set (his Christmas gift from me) a couple of times.

I. Am. READY. For spring!

Alas, spring is not yet ready for me. Or anyone in the Chicago area. And, frankly, I suspect it won’t be ready for us until roughly May. Which is still a gazillion days away. Or three months, which feels like about the same right this second. Especially with all the snow that hit us melting, but only into icy treachery.

It doesn’t help that Erica over at Northwest Edible Life has this month’s to do list for northwestern gardners, and as a newbie Midwestern gardener, I only know that I bet all her stuff is too early for me, but I don’t know what to do to satisfy this spring fever.… Continue reading →

Preparing to Host Brunch

Well, it’s almost time for people to show up for my second, ever, homebrew and home-cooking event.

Ha. “Event” makes it sound so much bigger than it is. What I’ve done is invite a handful of people over for brunch. But it feels like an “event” because at least one person is someone I’ve never met before. Which means a lot more cleaning than if it were just Rob or Nicky or Jason showing up.

Luckily, the beverage plan is easy. I’ll ask Bill to pick up some coffee beans and make some coffee for folks who are arriving. Then, I have the coffee beer I made with Nancy, a coffee beer Jason (Beer Husband) made, and a coffee beer Matt made. This isn’t actually a TON of beer for six people, as Jason & Matt’s beers are in 12 oz bottles.… Continue reading →

Confession:

Bill tells me regularly that he thinks I’m turning into a better cook by the day, and he’s always grateful for whatever I cook.

However, I’m still pretty poor at figuring out how to throw food together and have a meal result.

In fact, my confession is that I’m not only “poor” at it, I basically have no functional ability to look at my stash of food and make a delicious meal come out of it. And it’s not as if my stash is small. I have a decent sized set of shelves that I call my pantry (it’s ugly, but it works) that’s stuffed to the gills with food & ingredients, I have a fridge which is usually between “somewhat full” and “burstingly full”, I have the freezer that lives on top of the fridge and is always full, AND I have an apartment-sized stand-alone freezer.… Continue reading →