Cherry Muffins

I was going to write this post last night, but then Donovan got back earlier than expected so I had to abandon the blog in order to go pick him up.  I'd say it was more than a fair trade. 

My day yesterday was rather uneventful, just running errands and cleaning the house.  In the afternoon, I whipped up a batch of these yummy Cherry Ricotta Muffins in case the guys were hungry when they got back. 

I've never baked with fresh cherries before, but they were definitely a winner!  They added just the right touch of juicy sweetness, while the ricotta made them creamy without being too rich.

Unlike a lot of muffins, these weren't overly sweet and they're just as good the second day as they are straight out of the oven.  I would know, I tried them both ways. 

the work continues

Two more rooms checked off the list!  Living room and dining room are done, for the most part.

I'm still playing with the arrangement of the living room.  It's kind of an odd space really, with some weird angles.  But for now, this will do.  I'm just happy to have a couch to sit on.  And a coffee table to put my feet on.  It's the little things that make me happy.

Yay for no more eating at the kitchen counter!

I took a break tonight and went over to a friend's house for dinner and a movie.  It was nice to get out of the house for awhile and I'm super proud of the fact that I made the half-hour drive there and back all by myself without getting lost.

I'm sure you all are getting tired of seeing pictures of the house in all its random stages of disarray, so hopefully I'll have something more exciting to share soon!  Until then, back to unpacking....

Day 2

Hey everyone!  Today was another busy day of attempting to bring the house back into order.  First thing this morning, I fueled up with some yummy oatmeal and fruit.  And, of course, a big mug of coffee.  Gotta have coffee.

Yes mom, I voluntarily ate oatmeal.

My main priority today was getting the kitchen under control.  I have a thing about having the counters cleared off, and as you saw yesterday, the counters were most definitely not cleared off.  Although unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of my newly organized kitchen, but I'll make sure to take some tomorrow once I get the last couple things put away.

The highlight of the day though was digging out all my precious cookbooks and putting them in their new place of honor.

I did manage to take a picture of that.  What can I say?  I have my priorities straight.

at long last

It's been a long day.

But a happy one as well!  We (or should I say I) received our final shipment of household goods, which included all of our furniture, a good chunk of our kitchen stuff, dishes, linens, books, and a lot of random things I forgot we had (hey, it's been over 2 months since I saw all this stuff).  In other words, the house became very disorganized very quickly. 

Thankfully the movers unpacked pretty much everything from the boxes, so that's one less step for me to do.  Plus, I'm not left with a huge pile of empty boxes and paper to get rid of.  That's no fun.

The best part of it is that I get to sleep here tonight...

It's not pretty yet, but it's my own bed and after a month on an air mattress I bet it's going to feel amazing.

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quinoa salad and baked tofu

Let me preface this by saying that this is not a Donovan-approved dinner.  If I ever try to pass this off as a complete meal for him, I'll probably lose my kitchen privileges.  But he's gone at the moment, so I can get away with it.  Maybe I'm going back to my roots, reverting to my childhood in which I ate plenty of tofu and who knows what else (all of which I thought disgusting at the time...I guess my tastes have matured).  Whatever the reason, when I'm cooking for myself I tend to go uber healthy. 

The quinoa salad is a new recipe I tried from one of my favorite bloggers, Eat Live Run, and I highly recommend it.  The flavors are light and perfect for summer, plus it's just a fun way to dress up plain, boring quinoa.

 

The tofu was something I threw together on my own without using a recipe, and surprisingly it didn't turn into a disaster.  For the marinade, I used soy sauce, fresh garlic, honey, a splash of vinegar, and enough water to thin it out and cut down the sodium level from the soy sauce.  After letting the tofu sit in the marinade for about 20 minutes, I baked it at 400 degrees for about 35 minutes.  

It was delicious!  If you like tofu, that is.

my afternoon...

...was spent here

And it was lovely.  A good book, sunshine, what more could you need?

table and chairs

The day before Donovan left for training, he had the afternoon off.  So what did we do?  Went to Ikea, obviously.  It was "just to look around," but who were we kidding.  We walked out with an adorable little table and chairs set to go on our upstairs balcony.  The job of staining them fell to me, and since today has been the first sunny day in awhile, I got down to business.

A before picture...

And a few hours later, an after picture...

Now they're happily drying while I dream about cozy breakfasts, afternoons reading in the sun, romantic dinners, etc.

Before and After

So you know how I said in the last post that one of the things on my to-do list is weed the front yard?  Well, today was that day.  Actually, yesterday would have been a better day, because yesterday was sunny and today it's back to cloudy.  But what can I say, I just wasn't feeling it yesterday. 

Donovan's last comment as he stumbled out the door at 5:30 in the morning on his way to several weeks of training was "holy cow, we really have a lot of weeds in our yard."  Point taken, honey. I'll make sure the yard is weed-free when you get back. 

You would think that a "yard" made out of pebbles would be low maintenance, but no, those annoying little suckers pop up faster than you'd think.

So I dug out my gloves, ate a piece of chocolate for strength, and got to work.  Typically I despise any kind of yard work, but this time wasn't so bad.  And now I don't feel like the neighbors are judging us for having a weedy yard.

Not perfect, but it looks a lot better!

Sorry for the bad light in the pictures, like I said, it's a cloudy day.

"I was born to finish pizza"

The guys left early this morning for a few weeks of training, so last night became an impromptu send-off party slash just hanging out and having a good time.  Our first time making homemade pizza turned out to be a success, with Donovan and Tom polishing off two whole pizzas.  I was lucky to snag my two pieces before Tom declared "I was born to finish pizza" and ate the last slice.  Thanks, Tommy. 

  

The guys were also super excited for the next few weeks of training...

Tom even gallantly stepped in and did the dishes.  I'm hoping Donovan was taking notes :)

And then Donovan got a hold of the camera and things just got crazy...

Yeah, anyways....

And my plans for while I have the house to myself?  Hopefully getting the last shipment of our stuff and finally getting the house put together, weeding the front yard because it's a mess right now, and staining the little table and chairs set we got from Ikea to go on our balcony.  That should keep me busy!

Reunited

Our little family is all together again....

 

Welcome home Rupert!

Donovan's Foray into Cooking

Yesterday afternoon, Donovan decided it was time to come up with a fun recipe to make for dinner.  This is not unusual, we love cooking together on weekends.  However, this particular time, he declared that he would be doing the cooking and I could just relax.  Wow!  No argument on my part.  So we chose a recipe we've been wanting to try for awhile, "Bucatini All'Amatriciana with Spicy Smoked Mozzarella Meatballs" (recipe here), and after a lovely bike ride to our neighborhood grocery store to get the ingredients Donovan got to work.  I stayed nearby to photograph the experience and answer any random questions he might have.

First, he got all his ingredients chopped up and ready to go...

But grating the onion wasn't very fun...

Next, it's time to mix up the meatball mixture...

"Wait, I seriously have to mix it up with my hands?"

We couldn't find smoked mozzarella, so we used regular and they still came out delicious. 

Time to make the sauce!  Start by frying some pancetta in a little olive oil...

Then add tomatoes, onion, garlic, and spices, and stir with a smile...

Meatballs are done!  And they look super yummy...

Time to mix the sauce into the pasta, and then laugh about the gross picture it makes...

And voila!  Dinner is ready...