Meet Mike!

Meet Mike Dillinger! 

New Garden!

Got the garden put in finally! We planted 2 tomatoes, 2 green peppers, 4 jalapenos, a batch of onions, a ton of rosemary, parsley, some oregano, basil, and 2 rows of strawberry plants! And of course, Catmint...not sure if Catmint is the same as Catnip...but that's all they had at the store...so I picked it up. 

Our Garden!

Hopefully they grow fast so it's not all dirt!

Me planting the green peppers.

Planting stuff again.

My gardening helper and I.

Front lawn...finally

So big lips FINALLY came to finish the lawn. He ended up not putting pachysandra in, and ivy instead. It looks a little bare now, but hopefully according to him, these shrubs will end up spreading to most of the garden bed. And I'll still have room to put some of my own perennials.

Shot of the front lawn, where the ivy will start covering the ground.

Our azalea

The weeping cherry, and a few flowers on the bottom

Toluca was exhausted from all her work that day.

Daddy's Boy

These photos are from the night before we left for the cruise. Kris was sleeping on the couch and Brobee just didn't understand why he didn't want to love him at the current moment. Ever heard of personal space, Brobee? Not everybody loves a big furry ass sitting on their face.

Salsa is not my thing

So while Kris was watching the Pens game, I really really wanted some homemade salsa. I had tried a recipe that a friend had made which was amazing...but I never got it half as good as hers. The recipe calls for two jalapeno peppers, with all the seeds. I tried it two times before and never got it right. First time was too boring, and the second time was too hot. 

Here's a photo of what I came up with this time:

So after two unsuccessful tries, I thought the third time would be a charm. I would get two jalapenos, and seed the largest one, and keep the other half for some spice. It is STILL TOO SPICY. I was dying last night. Even Kris thought it was too spicy! 

Then, to make matters worse, I managed to get some jalapeno on the front and up inside my nose. It burned so bad so I sat watching the game with an ice cube up my nose. I endeded up looking for home remedies for jalapeno burn online, and found that milk is supposed to help. So I ended up putting a milk-soaked paper towel up my nose for another hour. It finally went away. Then genius me stuck my finger in my eye. Then, it somehow worked its way under my fingernail...it is still burning as I type this. Lesson learned...the next time I make salsa, I'm wearing gloves!  The recipe is below though...Next time, I'm only using a quarter of one jalapeno's seeds...

Ingredients

• 2 fresh jalapeño chiles (or 4 fresh serranos, 1 or 2 habaneros or practically any fresh chiles)
• 3 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• ½ cup white onion, finely chopped
• 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice, preferably fire-roasted
• 1/3 cup (loosely packed) roughly chopped cilantro
• A teaspoon of fresh lime juice or cider vinegar (optional)
• Salt

Procedure

1. Set a small skillet over medium heat. Lay the chiles and garlic in the skillet and dry-roast until soft and blotchy black in spots, about 15 minutes for the garlic, about 10 minutes for the chile. While the chiles and garlic are roasting, scoop the chopped onion into a strainer and rinse under cold water. Shake off the excess water and pour into a medium bowl.
2. Pull the stems off the roasted chiles and peel the papery skins off the garlic. Scoop them into a food processor and pulse until they are finely chopped. Add the tomatoes with their juice, re-cover and pulse a few more times until the mixture is as coarse or smooth as you want your salsa to be.
3. Pour the tomato mixture in with the onion. Add the cilantro, stir thoroughly. Thin with a little water if necessary to give the salsa an easily spoonable consistency. Taste and season with the lime juice or vinegar and salt, usually about ½ teaspoon. If not using within an hour or two, cover and refrigerate. If you're not planning to use the salsa within a few hours, wait until you're ready to serve to add the onions and cilantro.

Landscaping

So I'm really hoping that the landscaper ends up coming today. He's been putting it off long enough! I can't wait to see what the front lawn looks like when we get home. 

We're getting a weeping cherry beside the bay window, surrounded by bushes (can't remember what kind in particular), and pachysandra along the steep area. He said he's also going to make a little walkway from the front porch to the lawn with a stepping stone. 

Weeping Cherry (above)

Pachysandra (above)

Pachysandra close-up (above)

He claims there will be room leftover for me to plant some flowers, so I've been researching a few kinds and I really want to put in a combination of Black Eyed Susans, Russian Sage, Veronica, Purple Coneflower, and New England Asters. We'll see if I ever get around to it...

I need this

How great would this dryer rack be? I can put it out on the patio in the summertime, and I can use it inside in the winter time! It's only $20, from Ikea, too! 

My Birthday List

Well now that the cruise is over, I get to think about the next fun thing going on...my birthday! I put together a list of potential birthday ideas:

• My most wanted gift: Our home videos transferred from the camera to DVDs. I must have these!!
• A bottle, (or two) of Beringer White Zinfadel. Yum!
• A set of solar outdoor path lights to go along the new landscaping, (and if they're cheap enough, to go around the back patio and retaining wall.)
• More gardening stuff. Plants, flowers, gardening tools, garden flags, dirt, I don't care. If it goes in the garden, I want it!
• Clothes. 
• I have a new love for Paula Deen. That lady is cool. Maybe one of her cookbooks?
• Yankee candles in summery scents. I haven't gotten to go the store to smell what's new, though!
• Marley & Me on DVD!
• A nice new pair of flats (maybe black or brown) and maybe a new summery scarf!
• A giftcard to Williams-Sonoma.
• Bubble bath or bath salts. Something to coax me into using our bathtub again.

And, if I could have whatever I wanted, this is what I would ask for:

• New gas grill
• New patio dining set with umbrella
• Tucker
• Clothesline thing to put out back
• A wine cabinet/bookshelf to put behind the kitchen table
• Kitchen table

Our babies!

I was so happy to see our babies when we got home! We bought them a little sombrero from a gift shop in Mexico, but assumed it would be too small for Brobeeman's head. Well it fits just perfectly. Toluca flings it off after 4 seconds, though. She knows she doesn't have to put up with that! 

They didn't really seem to remember us the first night we came home. They were too buy playing with each other (which never happens) to notice us. I thought they had forgotten forever! But then at about 2am, I woke up to both of them sleeping on me, and Brobeeman gave us our 'baths' in the morning, and Toluca was happy to take her showers with us!

Back from the cruise...

We're back from our very, very, very long awaited cruise on the Carnival Liberty. It's so cold here in Pittsburgh and I miss the heat! I also miss not having to work...

Kris and I went to Harry's Supper Club on the ship on the 2nd Formal night and I got the lobster tail! Well, it was actually two lobster tails when I got it. And I felt horrible because I realized that this kind of place is probably one that puts the live lobsters in the boiling water. I thought about that about 5 minutes before it came and I felt so bad I almost didn't want to eat it. I was also so full when they put this in front of me, it was almost a chore to get through it. So sad.

Kris in front of our ship, the Carnival Liberty, while docked in Ochos Rios, Jamaica. A few fun things that happened in Ochos Rios:

• We got asked if we needed a taxi about 78 times. One guy asked Kris if we wanted a taxi while we were walking past. Kris said "No." So the guy came back with his second offer..."Do you want a joint?" Haha! Well, Gee, Ok!
• Big mistake stopping at the carving shop on the dock. Kris got harassed by the guy there trying to sell his stuff, and then the lady selling the T-shirts grabbed me. She showed me this shirt that said 'Jamai' on the front, and I guess they didn't plan it out all too well, because there was a 'ca' on the back. Ummmmm...I really don't get it, so I don't want to buy it. She didn't understand. She says 'You want to buy this from me' and I said 'No, thanks.' And she comes back angirly with 'WHY NOT?' GEEZ. I don't want your ugly shirt! Leave me alone! After that we ran back to the ship to our soft serve.

We got to Seven Mile Beach! The water here in Grand Cayman was the clearest ever. We did not want to leave! We are definitely going to have to go back someday.

I love the colors in Grand Cayman. So fun.

We walked around afterwards and shopped. We got some rum cake from the Tortola (sp?) factory, and our things from the Hard Rock.

My mom & dad in Grand Cayman.

Kris and I at Grand Cayman:

We also went to Cozumel, Mexico for snorkeling and clear-bottom kayaking. I didn't get any pictures though because I didn't want my camera to fall in the water. Oh wait-I think Kris took a picture of big, fattened-up cruise-Kristen laying on a beach chair, but that won't be showing up here anytime soon.