It's Friday, Love

{ Bubbles }

It's been a busy week but I feel like I got a lot done so that's good. Miss A is getting her spring haircut tomorrow and I always dread dropping her off. She starts shaking and looks at me like mommy, please don't let them take me. My heart brakes for about 10 minutes and then I get over it. I think she'll be happy once she's had a bit of a trim anyway. Hoping to do a bit of planting this weekend and -don't jinx it- go for a bike ride! Been forever. Hope everyone has a great weekend. See ya next week!

{ Thanks for the shout out Style Weekly }

{ I really hope this is the last week I can wear flannel }

{ A souvenir from the Irish Festival }

{ Spring petals }

Church Hill Irish Festival

The Church Hill Irish Festival is always one of my favorite weekends of the year. I mean when else do you have an excuse to eat a Reuben sandwich fried in an egg roll? The fact that I am so fond of our neighborhood's annual event made it even more special that Church Hill Music Co. got to perform this year. We had the luck of the Irish with us and enjoyed perfect weather and a great crowd. Hope we can make it back next year. Enjoy the photos!!!

A Skillet Full of Dreams

Ok, ok....... it's a corny title. But my brain is operating on about 50%  power at the moment due to the time change. It always amazes me how much one hour can make such a huge difference. It usually takes me a full week to acclimate to the new normal. Anywho....most of Saturday was taken up with a show for the band so I was planning on making something fun for you on Sunday. That didn't happen. Whatever motivation and/or eagerness to cook I had last week quickly vanished when I woke up Sunday and instantly felt discombobulated. I did make it to the gym, but laying on the couch was the only other thing that managed to make it on the agenda.

What I did manage to accomplish while I was sitting on said couch was a lot of Pinterest pinning and recipe dreaming. Sometimes that's a good thing, dreaming. Cooking can get a little boring, especially if you're trying to be healthy, so getting excited about new recipes was just what I needed. Enter my new(ish) cast iron skillet. A friend recently gave it to me because he has a giant collection already and took pity on the fact that I've never had one. Thanks, David!

I'll admit the instructions to clean it sound daunting because I'm not a good "step rememberer" by nature, but I'm going to do my best to keep it in its pristine, seasoned condition. Now what to make? I have lots of ideas.....

When I make my famous chili next, I'm going to try a recipe I found for sweet potato cornbread. I always manage to dry out cornbread so the addition of the sweet potato sounds like it will fix that problem while also adding some interesting texture and sweet flavor.

The first warm weekend night before the bugs descend I'm going to make a coq au reisling - the coq au vin's spring cousin - and eat dinner in the backyard......

Super easy recipes for making your own bread in a cast iron skillet are plentiful and although I make a mean pie crust I've never tried to make my own bread......

Traditional English breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, mushrooms,tomatoes, and beans on Christmas morning....cause, duh. Anyone own a portable defibrillator?

Cobbler.....blackberry...no raspberry...both! Sometimes being indecisive is a good quality.

I also found a cool recipe for paleo, vegan chocolate chip skillet cookie so I'll throw that one in for good measure....

Now I'm hungry.

Dammit!

Jammin

This weekend I was introduced to the concept of a "jam". There's scheduled performances to be sure, but then all around you these small groups of musicians pop up and start jammin together. Sometimes they know each other and sometimes they don't. Sometimes they know the songs and sometimes they don't. But they're all such good musicians that with a quick chord review they pick up the rhythm and off they go. It was so cool. Church Hill Music Co. had a great time playing well and hope to be back next year for the Annual Richmond Bluegrass Jam!

It's Friday, Love

{ Sweet Potato Fries from Pearl }

This week's It's Friday, Love is dedicated to chocolate. I've been trying really, really, really, REALLY, really hard to get back on track since session ended. The good news is its working. The bad news is we're still a few weeks away from normal. But that's ok, I'll get there. That being said, I'm really - apparently one of my favorite words- bad at depriving myself or just telling myself I can't have something. So after lunch most days I do like to have a tiny piece of chocolate or a bite of something sweet. It's like a little cherry on top and it makes me feel like I've had a complete meal. 

At the office we have a candy bowl for this very reason. When I'm there I'll generally pick out a piece after lunch to satisfy my aforementioned craving. Satisfy, that's an interesting word. Randomly, I picked up some high-quality super dark sea salt chocolate the other day and that has been my treat the past week. Just a square. Just enough. Enough, that's also an interesting word. What I've noticed this week is that little square of wonderful ingredient-filled goodness has been enough. I haven't even thought about having a second square. 

With the Snickers Bite Size it's a totally different story. I won't even be hungry, but I'll stare at the bowl. I won't pay attention when people are talking. Eventually, I'll break down and go get a second or maybe even a third piece. I'm never satisfied. I get so mad at myself when I grab that second piece. I don't even feel very good afterwords- my body doesn't necessarily crave sugar. No offense meant to the Snickers, please don't sue me. 

It's just funny how these little coinkidinks in life can have broader meanings, broader implications. I was reminded that I can shove all of the crappiness I want to into my mouth, but it will never satisfy me as much as one small piece of lovely treasure. I'm talking about chocolate......... but I'm not. See ya Monday.......

{ My hydrangeas are already blooming }

{ The right curling iron can change your life } 

{ Refining our set list for tomorrow's show at the Richmond Bluegrass Jam }

{ Always handy to have a copy of the Constitution around }

Cauliflower Pizza

As you can see there isn't any actual cauliflower on this pizza. That's because it's not on it, its in it. The crust is made from cauliflower. So I'll be honest, I won't call this a fail, but it definitely didn't turn out like I planned. I was imagining a thicker, crispier crust, but this had way too much liquid in it and it couldn't stand up to the toppings. It tasted really great though, so I'm willing to give it another try. After some research, turns out I should have pressed the liquid out of the cauliflower after steaming it and shouldn't have spread it out so thinly on the baking sheet. I also might try adding some almond or coconut flour next time which will help give it some more umph while still being a healthier alternative to regular dough. You can find the recipe I used here. I added marinara after the crust baked on its own for a bit and then topped it with dairy free- mozzarella, tomatoes, garlic, and fresh pesto. We'll put this one in the willing to give it another try category.

An Early Spring

The weather seems to be waging an internal battle with itself these days. Happy mediums are in short supply. Actually, happy mediums seem to be in short supply everywhere. 2016 was a year of extremes and I think I was looking forward to finding myself in much calmer waters this year. Some areas of life have calmed down but most things still feel like all or nothing and I don't even like going on Facebook anymore, it depresses me. Miss A and I didn't watch the news at all this weekend and instead spent time cleaning the house and throwing out things that are simply taking up space for no reason. We walked and walked and walked. Miss A liked the sunshine despite the cold temps. It was a nice, simple weekend. The end.