We have at least semi-green thumbs

I can finally put some weight on my ankle today and took a quick walk around part of our yard to check on the plants. Everything is at least peeking out of the ground and we've got a lot of flowering and budding on the plants. Take a look at all the new leaves on the Asian Pear tree! Yes, I am ridiculously excited about this. I always half expect to kill any plants that come home with me, so if they thrive I'm often really surprised and happy.

The relocated dogwood tree seems to be doing well too, with a bunch of new leaves/buds of its own. Let's hope this keeps up. It'd be nice to show Willy's mom (the lady with the Master's degree in horticulture!) that we can grow some stuff!

And here are some shots of random other things growing around our house, indoors and outdoors. Note that the white orchid grows like it's on steroids. It was a housewarming gift from my cousin a couple of years ago and started out with just one flowering branch and is now up to three flowering branches with a total of about 15-16 open flowers right now. I swear it's not anything special I'm doing but, hey, I'll show it off happily (though I'm not a very good photographer so the pics don't really do it justice). And the seedlings in the terra cotta pot are the start of three little Thai pepper plants. Guess who those are for?

Progress! aka maybe I can stop hopping around like a rabbit now

This morning I can finally put a little weight on my injured ankle. The last couple of days have been pretty pathetic; either I've been crawling on all fours, scooching across the carpeted areas on my bum, having Willy piggyback me, or hopping on my good leg. I know I'm a rabbit per the Chinese zodiac, but come on! Pretty pathetic.

Gotta try to remember not to push it too much today, but it'll be nice to get some mobility back.

Getting old sucks

For any number of reasons, getting old sucks. But when your body starts betraying you it really blows. A couple of weeks ago I tweaked my back doing some simple yard work and had to take two weeks off from volleyball to heal. Of course, I did try going back too early initially and paid for it with sharp pains in my lower back.

Tonight was my first night back at our league after resting and the back felt fine. Then, less than a game and a half later, I rolled my ankle--badly. I've only rolled this bad once before, and that was probably more than five years ago. I walked off the court initially but now it's all swollen and can't really support my weight. Aaaaargh!!! Sooooo frustrating! All I want to do is play volleyball, is that too much to ask?

What color are our thumbs?

This is the question of the season. We decided to try our hand at planting some things this spring, mostly inspired by an Asian Pear tree we bought on a whim last weekend. We were out for a motorcycle ride on this great local stretch of road we found and decided to stop in this cute little nursery along the way. The staff told us that pears are great fruit trees to try; the words "more or less indestructible" were thrown out there, which is perfect for us.

So Friday night we got to work putting this guy in his permanent home. The spot we originally chose for him on one side of the house wasn't going to work since I realized it doesn't get more than a few hours of sun each day. And we didn't really want the fruit tree in the front yard, so we opted to move our existing dogwood tree from its current location and replace it with the Asian Pear tree. The dogwood had a bad winter the first year we were here and Willy's mom lopped off a bunch of the dead branches so it was looking a little sad to be in such a prime spot in the yard. So, we put the Asian Pear tree in that sun-soaked spot. Isn't it purty? Even if we don't get fruit eventually (it's possible we'll get them next year), it's still got pretty flowers.

We're still hoping that the dogwood recovers too, but it will take him a while to fill out again I think. He bloomed last year and he's started blooming this year too, so we'll see. Hopefully he doesn't throw a tantrum for losing his previous spot. He's still got a nice area by the side of the house now. Oh, and we learned that we have A LOT of rocks right under the surface of our soil. That made for some fun digging. I planted some astilbe bulbs earlier in the week too so hopefully I'll be showing off some green thumb pics later in the season and not bare, brown patches.

Happy Birthday, Willy!

It's been a busy but very fun weekend. Friday night I took Willy out for dinner at a nice local restaurant, No. 9 Park. We had some really delicious dishes, like prune-stuffed gnocchi with foie gras, hake (it's like cod), duck, and these two amazing desserts--an apple creme brulee and this liquid chocolate thing that I'm not even going to try to describe in writing. Suffice to say I stuffed myself silly (not that that's anything new). I just wish I had to brought his gift with me because it would have been perfect to give it to him while the table next to us was having their cheese course presented to them (Cheese, Gromit! Cheese!). We did have some laughs over the two really drunk, loud women at that table too. One of them actually almost fell over as they were leaving the restaurant. Klassy.

Saturday afternoon we invited some friends over for a BBQ and had a great time. We totally lucked out with the weather, our first 80+ degree days! It was a little scary inviting a bunch of people over for the first BBQ of the season since it's been kind of wet and rainy the last few weeks, but the weathermen ended up being right this time and we've had a gorgeous couple of days, officially transitioning from winter straight into summer. Typical no-spring New England.

That same night we went out for dinner with my family for our usual family birthday celebration, which is always fun. I couldn't eat though after all those hours of BBQing. Then my family decided to invite themselves over for BBQ leftovers tonight (Sunday) so we did some more socializing. I've got some serious cleaning up to do tomorrow.

Crocheted blankets

Recently I crocheted a bunch of blankets to give away as gifts to various friends and family. I think everyone's received their packages by now so I can finally post some pics of the projects.

I started out with baby blankets and sent these to two different friends, both of whom are due this summer. The green one turned out a little smaller than intended (~16.5" x 26.5") but I've been told it can still be used as a stroller blanket, which I hope is true. I gave it to the smaller couple thinking they might have a smaller baby :) The yellow blanket turned out a bit better at ~27" x 24.5".




Then I got to work on an adult-sized blanket for my sister as a birthday gift. She had asked when I would make one for her and I had enough lead time to make sure it was done on time. I gave it to her over the weekend and I think she really liked it.


I am totally addicted to crocheting at this point. I will say that it's a lot cheaper than my beading hobby, which I haven't picked up in months. It's also easier in that I don't need to come up with my own designs--I'm such a crafty poser, haha!

Hair donation pics

My friends Dave and Jo at Allegro Photography took some really fun before and after pictures for me of my hair donation process. What do you think?

Before:

During (yikes!):

After:

Restaurant Review: Mistral

We had a much belated "holiday party" date night over the weekend, courtesy of Willy's company. Every year they give us a stipend for a night out because they don't fly him back to headquarters for the company party. It's a nice little perk for us, and usually we use the money to have dinner and see a show but this year we decided to just have a really nice dinner with the $75pp budget.

We chose a restaurant called Mistral in the Back Bay and had a very tasty evening. Our first bit of good luck was finding a free parking spot only a block away from the restaurant--score! To put it in context for those of you in S.F., imagine getting a spot right in the financial district or finding a space in the Richmond or Sunset :)

I'll try to give quick reviews of what we had.

APPETIZERS
W: Mistral Winter Black Truffle Macaroni with Madeira & Parmesan ($32)
K: Seared Foie Gras with Confit of Duck in Brioche, Tart Wisconsin Cherries ($22)
Yeah, so Willy's app cost more than entrees do at a lot of restaurants. What better time to splurge on it though than when it's on someone else's dime? :) You could call it a fancy mac & cheese, but that wouldn't really do it justice. Who knew truffles were so flavor-packed? It's the first time either of us had tried them and they didn't disappoint. It wasn't as cheesy as a real mac & cheese is, either.

The foie gras and duck were delicious, though I could have done without the brioche which was a soft, doughy, stuffer that I mostly left untouched on the plate. The app was significant enough that I probably could have had it as a small entree. All I know is I was already pretty full after having just my appetizer, and that is soooo not like me. I guess it didn't help that the bread at the start of meal were these huge pieces and I just had to finish a whole slice :P

ENTREES
W: Herb Roasted Wild Striped Bass, Butter Poached Vegetables, Black Truffle Whipped Potato ($38)
K: Pan Roasted Native Cod, Maine Lobster & Asparagus Risotto, White Asparagus Veloute ($39)
Both of these were very good, though I think I slightly preferred Willy's dish. His potatoes were to die for, too. Must have been those truffles again! Seriously, even just a small taste of the potatoes were so flavorful...yummmm! And the bass was also very well done and yummy. The cod was perfectly cooked and slabs of it just slid off; it was much lighter in flavor than the bass, which isn't a bad thing. The risotto was very good, and I'd say overall my dish was very good, though not excellent. I put in a poor showing though as I was already so full that I could only eat about half of my entree--boo on me!

DESSERT
Vanilla Crème Brulée, Fresh Raspberries, Ginger Cookie ($10)
Even though we were stuffed of course we had to try a dessert. Every part of the creme brulee was delicious, including the ginger cookie bowl that the raspberries were sitting in and floating on top of the caramelized sugar of the creme brulee. I also had a cup of decaf coffee to go with it (why do restaurants have such a hard time bringing out the coffee and the dessert at close to the same time?), and the coffee was so, so good. It's the best cup I've had at a restaurant in a while. I probably should have asked them what it was. Great way to end a very good meal.

I am a decorating failure

OK, maybe not a failure but I'm definitely a little slow. We went over to say hi to our neighbors earlier this evening and I had no idea what great taste they had. Their whole place is totally set up--curtains on every window, photos and artwork on the walls, accessories--and it looks fantastic. They've been in their place at least six months less than us and their place is so much more put together than ours.

And it turns out Becky is super crafty! They're having a baby in a couple of weeks and we got to take a look at their nursery. She made the artwork and the mobile in the room--they were amazing. The artwork were three large canvases, maybe 3' square, and she had freehand drawn animals onto them and painted them onto bright backgrounds. The first was a mother and baby giraffe, the second was an elephant (can't remember if that was mother and baby too), and the third was a mother and baby penguin. They were seriously awesome. And the mobile was so elaborite--lots of ribbon, painted wood squares, swirly patterns--just so, so cool! I had no idea she had such skills! I was totally impressed and jealous.

I just can't believe how far they've taken their place (they even painted literally every room in the place) and how much further behind we are. *sigh* someday we'll get there.

Hair Donation

I've been wanting to do a hair donation for some time now. In the past I was either too impatient to let it grow or I was in an office setting where having hair that long just didn't look professional. The organization I wanted to donate to, Pantene Beautiful Lengths, requires a minimum of 8" and you need to leave a little on your head after the fact too so it does take a while to grow out, even for someone like me whose hair grows pretty fast.

I'd already let my hair get pretty long over the last year or so, and once I got laid off I didn't have to worry about the latter issue either. Then came the patience part. It was starting to get annoyingly long but I wanted to make sure I had enough to make a good donation. Willy measured my ponytail for me last week and he said I had about 8.5-9" available, leaving the resulting hair at just about or slightly above chin level. Time for the big chop!

I went to the salon this morning with a photographer friend in tow to do some before and after shots. This friend was also my wedding photographer so I was lucky to have a pro. Hopefully she'll have the pics ready to send me soon and I'll update this post with a few shots later. The lady at the salon was so nice and she told me that I had 10" to donate! Wow, I had no idea.

Now I'm sporting a cute (if I do say so myself ;)) little bob that's longer in front and shorter in back (it's about an inch below the very base of my head). My hair looks so much healthier coming out of the salon. I haven't had hair this short in a while, but surprisingly it doesn't feel that weird. And I haven't even needed to use a scarf yet like I thought I would--I've been insulating my neck with my hair on the cold days out here and thought I'd be freezing after the big chop :) The salon is so organized that they're going to send my donation in for me along with another lady's donation that's being cut later this week.

Final note: the reason I chose to donate to PBL rather than the better-known Locks of Love is that PBL focuses on wigs for cancer patients, whereas LoL primarily creates wigs for people suffering from alopecia, which researchers believe is an autoimmune disease where the body attacks its own hair follicles. Alopecia sufferers are often completely bald, including women. While this is also a sad and, I imagine, demoralizing condition I personally wanted to focus on cancer sufferers, hence my decision to go with PBL.