Happy Easter

Today's post will be a mish-mash of events. We had a lovely Easter meal, having become quite the...well, chefs is too strong a word. Quite the novice chefs, then. We pull out the cookbooks on Friday nights, along with our schedules, and plan meals for the week. I'd say we're  cooking 3-4 full dinners a week. Vegetarian Paella, Salmon & Asparagus Quinoa, Vegetarian Chicken Fajitas, and even ramping up simple dishes like spaghetti with marinara sauce by adding white beans and broccoli (recipe from Runner's World magazine.) It's fun, as most of the recipes are turning out to be not only edible, but tasty. Quite the new experience for me. We have two folders now in our kitchen. Green folder = recipes to try, Red folder = Tried & liked.

We just got back from hiking around our "mountain" property. I haven't been there all winter and I'm glad we went. It reminded me of why I want the cabin. Everything on the 38 acres is raw, natural, unvarnished. We climbed over huge pine trees uprooted by recent windstorms. We jumped on rocks to cross the creek as the wooden bridge we used to use now resembles an ancient Mayan ruin near collapse. We watched monarch butterflies trace the path of the creek and we got ambitious and scaled the hills covered in rotting logs and leaves to reach the far end of our property. It was beautiful and exhausting and nurturing, all at once.

Now we'll collapse on the couch, pull the leftovers out of the fridge, and eat more food than we need to while we watch the Carolina game.  The sun is shining, it's a cloudless 55 degrees, we have the windows open, and I'm going to go make hot tea and beg Blair to tell me where he's hid the dark chocolate.

Happy Easter, everyone.