On Wisconsin! Or, not so much, since I've been back for a week already, and the Badgers are 0-3 in the Big Ten as of last night. Ouch. But no matter, the real reason for last weekend's trip was to get together with my long-time friends Cami and Michelle, and the three of us had a BLAST. Beautiful weather, lots of walking, drinks on the Terrace, Saturday morning Farmer's Market, dinner at Kabul, beer at the KK, and a real-deal Badger tailgate party (grilled brats with all the fixin's!) more than made up for a sorry football game. We had low expectations for the game anyhow - the fabulous Wisconsin Marching Band had been suspended from playing last weekend. Boooooooo! Camp Randall without the band? Pfffft, nothin'. Oh, the student section managed a few raunchy cheers on their own, but the pom squad had no drums to shake it to, half-time was completely silent, and at the end of the game, everyone just...left. No 5th quarter = no fun.

As is typical for me, a few nights of less than adequate sleep (and more than adequate beer) means getting sick. I knew I'd blown it by Sunday night - sore throat, raspy voice, here we go. I did my best to fight it off this week, but here I sit, coughing and sniffling, damn those Badgers! (But totally worth it!)

I even rallied to put on a bit of a feast Thursday night as we loosely celebrated Yom Kippur. John doesn't fast, and I'm not Jewish, but no matter - we invited Jewthran Suz and her family, and Stacey, Cooper, and Bowen as well, and had a lovely meal in honor of the most important of Jewish holidays. I made matzo ball soup with very rich chicken broth, beef brisket with gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, and challah. Suz made a caramel apple pie and a pumpkin pie for dessert, both to die for. It was a school night, plus we had little Coop, so we ate early (and heartily, uff), and toddled off to bed by 10:00. L'chaim!

This weekend, keeping things pretty low key. Tortilla soup for dinner last night - its spicy garlicky-ness cleared the sinuses quite nicely. Wish I had some of that matzo ball soup for today, oooh, but no, it's all gone. Sniff. I still have a spot of delicious, beefy gravy left from Thursday's meal, however; I'll have to innovate around that so it doesn't go to waste. Perhaps something a la stroganoff - whisk in a bit of sour cream, serve over sauteed steak and mushrooms, I can picture it. Yeah, I can picture it quite clearly, in fact. I'm off to the store...

Wow, what a gorgeous week, huh? Lurve this time of year, despite every sunny, warm day depressingly feeling like the last. Ugh. Well, there will be plenty of days to suffer actual melancholy of the chill - a day as hot, in fact sticky, as today is not one of them.

Nathan and I opened the day by cheering Stacey's kickass finish of the "Iron Girl" duathlon (run-bike-run) at Normandale Lake in Bloomington. Go Stacey go! Cooper was there too, to cheer on his mommy, as well as eat crackers, quack like an Aflac (race sponsor) duck, and run wild like the two-year old he is. Coop!

Stacey earned herself whatever the heck she wanted for dinner, and she chose...Wagner's Drive-Inn in St. Louis Park. A fine choice, in fact a classic, heartily seconded by myself and Nathan (even though we ran in exactly zero races today). She, we, and Cooper tucked into juicy homemade burgers, skin-on skinny fries, crispy onions rings, and creamy-thick chocolate malts, uff. I feel like I have lead in my stomach. I do have lead in my stomach. Tasty lead. Burger lead. Deeelicious.

This week, holy moly, party week my friends. A Susie Silpada Sales party on Tuesday night and the 7th grade parent party on Saturday. Hey, nothing like a party (or two) to kick one's butt into gear and wrap up numerous nagging house projects. It's always been my strategy (pure self-motivation runs thin in my veins). Works like a charm...

Moderate it: I watched someone else workout and then ate a burger. I got nothin', I'm sorry.

I think I finally dare to plant flowers and herbs. I'm usually itching to get out there; but this year, with our snowy, freezing, miserable April and May? Meh. Then I walked outside this morning... Oh, it smells like flowers! It smells like (gasp) spring! And just like that, I'm ready.

Hmmm, I think I'll plant pots of basil, rosemary, parsley, sage, dill, and mint. Lots of lavender, because I love the way it smells. And tomatoes, of course, I've had good luck planting them in pots on my deck, this will be the third year. Good output, fantastic flavor and texture. Ripe tomatoes, wow, that sounds just decadent. And soon enough my LaFinca CSA veggie share will kick in (yay!) and we'll be bustin' with fresh vegetables. There is neither moderate nor epicurean without fresh vegetables. Yeah. I'm ready!

Last night we finally got to celebrate Stacey's birthday with the kids. Although it was a brief celebration (enter orthodontist, play practice, and yet another cough), we managed to sing Happy Birthday and wolf down a piece of strawberry cream cake (white cake "iced" with lightly sweetened creme fraiche and piled with fresh strawberries, I won't even post a recipe because that's all there is to it).

Oh, that reminds me, a shrimp tip (we had sauteed shrimp for din): if you've noticed that farm-raised shrimp from Thailand or other Asian countries tastes like mealy, soggy crap...it's worth seeking out wild-caught shrimp. I found frozen 1-pound bags at Whole Foods, wild-caught near Key West, Florida. They're in the shell, but it's worth a little effort to taste real shrimpy shrimp again, crisp and sweet.

With that, (take an allergy pill and) enjoy the gorgeous, sweet smell of all that pollen in the air!

Moderate it: go ahead, bake a cake for a loved one. Enjoy a small slice, then send what's left home with them!

Happy President's Day!? Actually, very happy because Nathan is home from school, always fun. We celebrated more yesterday than today, first with brunch at Stacey's with my mom. We pulled it together pretty quickly (our original plan was to go out, which we bagged when we realized how much more fun little Cooper Cuteness would have at his own house). And as often occurs under those rushed circumstances, something rather delicious happened. Stace set out for Isles Buns for the most killerest cinnamon rolls on the planet - huge, soft and dangerously yeasty, studded with soft pockets of cinnamon and dripping with gooey, creamy icing. And that was brunch, all good. Oh wait! Nope, that was the end of brunch, right, although those lovely buns would have sufficed as the entire meal, quite handily. But heck no, this is me - and the family that made me who I am - we're talking about here, so there was plenty more, plenty!

Including a pissaladiere - basically a savory French tart, but not a quiche, since it doesn't contain eggs. How did I settle on a pissaladiere? Well, I started thinking quiche, and flipped through Mastering the Art of French Cooking for inspiration and a good short pastry recipe. Then I started thinking that Nathan does not enjoy eggs (to put it mildly), and that I had some delicious sausage that could make an interesting tart filling on its own, and so into pissaladiere the concept evolved. And what a treat! Buttery crust filled in this case with browned sausage, caramelized onions, and tomatoes. No cheese, no eggs. Really rather fabulous if I do say so myself (and apparently, I do)! The crust is quite rich, so needs a good chill before quickly rolling it out. But it's worth the wait. We had it alongside a simple salad, which kind of hilariously served as a palate cleanser before... Those damn buns! My goodness we were full, not very moderate (despite my silly Valentine's Day pledge), uff. (Recipe posted in comments, below.)

Then we rushed home to greet the Shubert family! Yay! As many of you already know, wherever the Shuberts go, fun follows... In this case, they were here as a huge favor to me - the Coreman sweetly agreed to help me set up my new Mac system. Yes, I have made The Leap, this is my first official post on a Mac, not a PC. (Pause and listen to the singing angels...) I have a bit of a learning curve ahead of me, since of course we have made things as complicated as possible with our music and photo libraries, network, incompatible email, and printing with a printer that doesn't much like Macs, but we're pretty well on our way. Hey, at least I'm posting this! Much faster, much prettier (gorgeous, in fact), much more fun. And blogging was already fun! So woo hoo for additional fun! (Now I just need a kickin' new camera to take better food pics with...but don't hold your breath on that one, awww shucks.)

Suz and the kids tagged along to make for a very fun afternoon! A little beer, a little buttery popcorn, some major video-game playing for the kids, some major Mac Magic for us adults, not our typical Sunday by a long shot - as in, very productive! Hopefully today will yield the same progress, and tasties (of course), stay tuned...

Cooper! Stacey! Both kids! All my favorite things about Wild Wednesdays (you too Johnny!), love 'em. Add in some sunshine and we're jamming, woo hoo!

Good walk-before-the-snow this a.m., keeping food simple and relatively light for the day. Steak fajitas for dinner, as light or decadent as you want to make them, garnished with jack cheese, sour cream, guacamole, tomatoes, and lots and lots of grilled peppers and onions. Think I'll spice up some black beans to go with our ubiquitous Wednesday rice (oh how everyone in this house loves rice, the white version, they've refused my attempts at passing off less-processed brown, sigh) and call it a meal. Easy. Spicy. Nutritious. Tasty! Done.

Little exercise, plenty of veggies. Make sure to take good care of yourself today!

Well, no empanadas after all. In fact, I experienced temporary Food Disorientation as our plans shifted from mmm Latin/Caribbean (El Meson - too busy), to mmm Japanese (Fuji-Ya - too busy), finally settling upon mmm Greek (It's Greek to Me - where were just able to slide in). Despite the cold and bluster, Lake & Lyndale was hoppin'!

And so were we - in fact, we were flat out running - as John, Stacey, Nathan, and I dashed from the crowded, warm (!) Flanders Gallery, over ice and through evil, bitterly cold wind, and tumbled into the marvelously crowded, warm (!) It's Greek to Me. Whew. As we slowly thawed - gingerly peeling off layer after layer of wool, fur, and fleece - we ordered a veritable feast of plates to share... Melitzanosalata (eggplant spread), kopanisti (spicy feta cheese spread), spanikopita (spinach pie), moussaka (beef and eggplant pie), gyro with tsitsiki, mountains of warm pita bread, and heavenly galaktoboureko (custard in phyllo drizzled with honey) to finish. Opa. Uff. Major, garlicky, warm (!) fullness. Delicious meal, excellent service, It's Greek to Me is a jewel - and on a cold Minnesota night, as warm as Greece itself! (OK, maybe not quite, but we take what we can get this time of year and cherish the heck out of it...)

John kindly retrieved the car so that Stacey, Nathan, and I could just slide right on in, ahhh. Nice husband, thanks honey! After safely delivering Stace to her snug home, we made our way here to ours, rolled our ridiculously full selves in piles of thick blankets, and called 'er a night.

And so today? Sunny, crisp (-12 F), and breezy (windchill -25 F). Ah, Minnesota. What can I say? I could pretend that I'm heading out for a walk today, but in reality - no friggin' way! Definitely more of an eek-out-some-exercise-downstairs-then-read-by-the-fire kind of day. Followed by a feast of Greek leftovers! (In fact, Nathan and I already hit the pita, eggplant spread, and gyro pretty hard for a late, savory breakfast. Nice!) I may even whip up a late-afternoon batch of easy, delicious Greek Egg Lemon soup to add some warmth to the offerings. It is most definitely a Soup Sunday.

And tonight, some hijinxing with my minxes, Always Warm, Always Fresh! I'm quite sure we can convince The Coreman to throw a coupla logs on the fire for us chicas. Sip some red, giggle with my girls, I can handle that. The only downside is that I have to leave my house! Thank goodness for heated car seats, one of the best inventions evar, evar, evar. Warm Buns, Happy Heart!

A definition:

Stomach: a saclike distensible enlargement of the alimentary canal located between the esophagus and small intestine; it stores food, adds gastric juices, begins the breakdown of proteins and churns food into a liquid mass.

Um, ew. Liquid mass? Way to make eating seem
totally disgusting (ha). Perhaps I should read that (Webster's) definition every time I get hungry for things I shouldn't be eating. It's definitely way ruder to imagine pizza or a burger as a liquid mass in the middle of my body than say, strawberries, which just sounds like a smoothie. A semi-digested rather acidic stomach smoothie.

Sorry. I've been in a wicked sh*t of a mood the last few days, John too, we've written it off to prolonged lack of sunlight. The post-holidays, post-birthday, snow-sucks-after-Christmas blues. You know it, too, I know. Meh. I've even been trading emails with Suz bemoaning the idiocy of the masses and chatting over coffee this morning (Friday Morning Coffee with Suz!) about the Holocaust. Egads. But I'll admit, I'm not opposed to using the saclike distensible enlargement of my alimentary canal to cheer myself up, namely through the filling of it with lovely (at least before chewing into a bolus) foods and the occasional sip of wine and/or bubbly.

Like last night. Date Night! Movie followed by dinner with John at (Uptown) Campiello. I know it's not all about Campiello the way it was when the place opened, but it was still festively hopping on a Thursday night and the food - D'Amico knows what the heck they're doing - was delish. We particularly loved the king crab appetizer - pieces of butter-tender crab tossed with julienne carrots, jalapeños, and scallions, served alongside a horseradish panne cotta. Unusual and spectacularly delicious, with a cool-creamy, sweet-spicy-crunchy thing going on. Our entree was a bit more traditional - ziti tossed with lemon zest, dried peppers, garlic, olive oil, and Parm. Simple, chewy-spicy deliciousness. Nothing makes a cooler (smoother?) bolus than king crab and ziti. Rad.

And lunch today, yum. At Yum Bakery, my mom treated Stace, Cooper, and moi to a post-Stephanie-is-41-(sigh) celebration. Yum Bakery is the perfect girlie lunch spot - sunny and buzzy, with a long list of spot-on comfort food tasties. Mom and I chose the salad sampler - good ol' fashioned tuna, egg, and chicken salads (with modern twists all of them, top-notch) spread on fresh foccacia bread. Cream of mushroom soup. Stace and Coop shared beef stew. We all dived into frites (but of course). And Happy Birthday to me...coconut cake. YESSS! Sooo good, a real, buttery scratch white cake, filled with coconut custard and iced with white icing and showered with sweetened, flaked coconut. Just exactly how it's supposed to be, ridiculously sweet and rich. Love, love, LOVED it.

Tonight? Uh, I'm not very hungry? Funny thing, ha. What to eat on a not-hungry night? Well, there's always the option of nothing, but that's not very weekendy. Or moderate. So I'm leaning toward a simple quesadilla - two French Meadow (Fat Flush, worst product name evar) sprouted grain tortillas, sprinkle of cheese, toast in a pan until melty and dip in some spicy Salsa Lisa. Few hundred cals, five minutes to prepare, tasty (essential), done.

Happy Sunless Weekend! (Grumble.)

And oh! Another reason to eat monounsaturated fats (as in avocados, olives, and nuts.)

Happy 2nd Birthday Moderate Epicurean Blog!

And hey, it's a very Happy 41st Birthday for me as well - very happy. As I celebrate, I can't help but be incredibly grateful for a pretty awesome year. Oh, plenty of ups and downs of course, of the usual variety...but for now, the gratitude abounds. In leaps and bounds! Sniff. I'm living my life's current passion - cooking, sharing food with friends and family, and writing about it all. I'm making exactly zero money doing it, but hopefully that won't be true forever. Right here, right now, It's All Good. Thanks for sharing this little adventure with me!

My first official birthday present was this stunning portrait (above) from - who else? - my sister Stacey. A Stacified Stephanie, YESSS, I love it! I brought it home New Year's Eve and waited until today to post a pic. How many of us actually have our portrait painted? And so beautifully! It's so, so...WASP-y, which as Suz would point out, is totally metal! And of course it makes me look much more fabulous than I actually am, bless my sister's heart. I told Nathan that when he's an old man, and I'm long gone, he can point it out to his grandkids and say, that's your great-grandma Stephanie, back in the day. A little slice of immortality. Now that's a birthday gift!

As was brunch at Lucia's this morning, with Nathan, John, Cooper, and Stacey, a sunny, quiet celebration. Which, given this holiday season, is all I was up for, truly. Nathan and Coop played superheroes while I played poached eggs over sausage hash alongside salad greens. I do love warm eggs with crisp salad, delicious. Oh, and I scored more bling (YES!), and flowers from Nathan, and had just the loveliest time.

Dida!

Merry Christmas again! Last night we had our very last Christmas celebration, with Dad & Susanna and David & Etta, home from NYC. Stacey & Cooper were there too, as well as John & Nathan. And of course Jake-a-saurus (my parents' adorable spaniel). We opened presents right away, as we're learning (remembering!) that it's tough for a one-year old (Coop!) to face all that excitement post-dinner, dangerously close to bedtime. The star gift was Dida, an orphaned baby elephant that Dad & Susanna sponsored in Nathan's name through The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. Four-week old Dida had fallen into a man-made water hole, poor little sweetie, but is now healthy and settled at the orphanage with other young elephants. Nathan will receive monthly updates on Dida's progress, as well as photos of her with her caretakers. Read all about her and her lucky rescue here.

For dinner, Dad shot and Susanna prepared - I'm not kidding - Christmas goose! Not a roasted goose per se, but something rather more fabulous - a Julia Child, rustic French preparation of goose breasts over whipped potatoes and sauteed cabbage, napped with a rich, long-cooked brown sauce of onions, vermouth, and salt pork. Gorgeous, festive, and of course absolutely delicious, especially with crusty, grainy bread to wipe up every drop. Of that amazing sauce! For dessert, I made an old stand-by, cream puffs filled with whipped cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce. Pretty darn tasty. (Recipe posted in comments, below.)

After lots of goodnight "kisses" for Cooper (you can tell he's tired when he starts "fuzzing" his little earlobes), and a very interesting look - on Nathan's new world map - at exactly where in Germany our family is from (Ostfriesland), we packed up our spiffy new gifts and made our way home for an early bedtime. Had to try for extra sleep because...

...tonight, we gather yet one more time, but more on that next year...

More brunch! This time here at the hacienda, with a group of Santa's Little Elvettes, aka The Merry Miladies, aka The Brunching Beyotches (ooh, bad one, sorry): Kim, Suz, Polly, Kasey, and Stacey. I've found it quite relaxingly festive at this time of year to host a casual little brunch, a sit-down and put-up your-feet affair. No kids, no hubbies, just girlie chat, a few sips of prosecco, Christmas music, and simple brunch classics like eggs and pastry and cured meats and a new addition this year - cheese grits. Puffy and golden browned and creamy decadent...I'm all about cheese grits, dang (recipe posted in comments, below). I'll have to toss what's left because John and the kids aren't the grits/polenta types, which leaves just me and the grits (shiver), baaad idea.

I made several of my favorites, in fact. Mini-popovers to start (with Hope Creamery butter, natch). Then a crustless quiche with spinach, tomatoes, potatoes, and mushrooms; Neuske's Canadian bacon; cheese grits; and Mom's Almond Puff Pastry with coffee to finish.

Fullness! Fortified for last-minute shopping! Merry Christmas ladies!

Yay for Friday Morning Coffee with Suz! Well-timed, loads to talk about, things have been so crazy-busy I feel like I haven't seen her for a year. We sipped our yummy joe, ran into a few old neighbors, gossiped some more, and cackled and shrieked so loudly we damn near chased away all the other customers. Woops! Man, good friends are worth their weight in gold (or in this case, much more, since Suz is pretty tiny and doesn't weigh very much at all)!

I had to tell her about the blast of a night I had last night - my mom invited me along to her office holiday party at The Chanhassen Dinner Theater for their production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I admit, I'm not a big Broadway musical fan of the Andrew Lloyd Weber variety, but I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Joseph. I first saw it in oh, 1983, it was my high school's spring musical production. I remember going in with low expectations...and walking out completely charmed. I went at least another five times (hey, I was 16). I had last seen it in the mid-90s, the big-time Donny Osmond version at the State Theater, very fun. And then not again until last night, almost 25 years after my first viewing (ouch!) - still fun, still charming. Good stuff.

While I was out, John was wrapping up the two-month-long celebration of our 5th anniversary. Huh? Well, back at the beginning of October, after much brain-wracking in an attempt to come up with a gift worthy of my sweet husband, I birthed two pretty friggin' awesome ideas. Idea One: a surprise dinner with his boys, his long-term buds, at 20.21. I got emailing right away, tossing out dates, and came up with...December 13th?! Ack, so far away from October 19! I felt I needed something else too, something closer to the big day, hmmm...

And then, Idea Two: I commissioned my coolicious sister Stacey to paint a portrait of Sigmund, John's dear, sweet dog who passed away last March (and who he's been missing mightily, sniff). An entire painting obviously couldn't be ready by the 19th either, but Stace thought she could have it done by Thanksgiving, so I told John he had two kickin' gifts coming. And so...Stace did her thing and delivered the painting on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. It is, as you can see, completely amazing, a fabulously Stacified Siggy Roo, John was (is) absolutely blown away. BIG time hit. (Yesss!) Then last night...finally the dinner with his boys, total blast, a bawdy feasty feast that had the guys thanking me for thinking of it. (Yesss again!) So there. We are really, truly, absolutely done celebrating our anniversary.

Although for dinner tonight perhaps we could....

Ah, Sunday, a day of moderation. I was due, I'm sure you'll agree, after a week that included dinner at Debbie & Stu's, dinner with Zim & Rishia, brunch at Lucia's, and roasted chicken not once, but twice. Uh, ack! So today - a gorgeous, cool, sunny day, just like I'd been wishing for - I took a long, lovely walk, and ate lots of veggies (cooked and raw) and dreamy Colorado peaches (perfect right now) and drank lots of water and just got myself back on track again. Felt good.

I also took in a heck of a long baseball game - yes, Nathan is at it again, "fall ball" this go-round, which is nicely low-key and chill (thank goodness). Stacey and Cooper stopped by for awhile, but there's no way Coop could hack an almost-three hour game. Nor could his mommy, not with him wanting nothing more than to splash in dirty water, pick up random pieces of trash, climb on the bleachers, and run into the middle of a pretty rowdy group of kids playing catch. Heart attack a minute, busy one-year olds! Luckily they're so irresistibly cute!

And so, off to bed. It's not truly a day of moderation without a good night's sleep. Clean jammies, clean sheets, ahhhhh... 'Night!

I think it takes a drought to fully appreciate a fabulously dark, chilly, rainy weekend like this has been. Oooh, so cozy, truly. I've made brunch twice - TWICE! - for John and me (I hardly ever make brunch). Yesterday I made little pizzas, topped with a bit of bacon, fresh rosemary, fresh tomato, garlic, onion, a drizzle of olive oil, and a sprinkle of mozzarella and freshly ground pepper. Totally hit the spot, next to an over-easy egg (yes!), especially followed by a whole-afternoon's plant in front of the fireplace. My God we were slugs, listening to music and reading all damn day...I'm reading Julia Child's memoir of her food-formative years, My Life in France, which as you might imagine, I'm enjoying immensely. I keep the famous Mastering the Art of French Cooking - her masterpiece cookbook - at my side for cross-referencing as she describes the hilarious and painstaking (!) detail she put into years and years of hard work, translating such French classics as decadent beurre blanc, perfectly roasted chicken, and a true, French baguette, for American cooks.

In fact, Julia inspired today's brunch of pan-sauteed sole filets (her descriptions of sole meuniere would make anyone crave a little buttery fish, rarrr...), finished with a bit of browned lemon-tarragon-butter from the saute pan. Alongside arugula tossed with (more) lemon juice and olive oil, it was lovely. And you know, I was ready for a warm meal after venturing out into the drizzle this morning to cheer my sister Stacey on as she completed a sprint-course triathlon near Lake Phalen. Yay, Stacey! Yeah, nothing like watching someone else work their ass off to work up your own hearty appetite...

Oh, a fabulously restorative dose of Cooper Cuteness this weekend, Mr. Busy himself, in a constant state of motion-giggle-chat. John, Nathan, my dad, and I settled into my sister Stacey's (check out her new website!) lovely home this evening for an early Summer Sunday Dinner. Stace and I put the low-maintenance menu together via email and it worked out beautifully. I brought a salad, full of as many veggie-share veggies as I could cram in there, ha - mixed greens topped with roasted green beans and tomatoes, fresh dill, thinly sliced kohlrabi, sauteed corn, chopped onion and green pepper, and a crumble of feta cheese. Pretty and tasty. Stace made Cucumber-Mint Raita, I brought garlic bread, and we borrowed a genius page from my in-laws, Dot and John, by purchasing deli fried chicken (in this case, the Kowalski's version, delicious) earlier in the day and then grilling it for a few minutes just before serving, to re-crisp and warm it...works like a charm. Stuffed, we somehow made room for brownies topped with Blue Sky Creamery Double Chocolate ice cream (incredible stuff). Yeah. Uff.

After a a bit of digestif swinging on the picture-perfect, front-porch swing, Cooper was ready to run again, wearing his Birthday Party Hat, no less, for maximum cuteness. And then...when his (and Nathan's) running reached the edge of almost-frantic-silliness, we took our exit cue. (Why is it that the more tired children grow, the more energy they expel? So not fair...) After clear-as-a-bell "bu-bye" and "nigh nigh" wishes, we moseyed on home and left Coop to his soft jammies and cozy crib and a Good. Night's. Sleep.

Lordy, Lordy, looks who's 40! Someone other than me or Suz, no way! In this case, it's my neighbor, Dave Polyak. He and his lovely wife (and co-Badger, woo hoo!) Lindsay threw a hell of a party tonight to celebrate. That's why I'm up at, oh, 2:30 a.m., ouch. John, aka Mr. Not Party, honorably made it until around 10:00 p.m., then moseyed on home to our comfy bed while I stayed and did my usual - chat and chat and chat and snack (great food!) and drink beer. How fabulous! And I met Lindsay's bro Kevin, and his wife Kristi, who are major foodies and wine lovers and who happen to check in on someone's blog occasionally... NICE!

And in the same party vein - and let's face it, it's been a whole week of par-tay-ing - I must mention the lovely, lovely cocktail party we had on our neighbors the Hatzungs' patio last evening. Again, my favs - snacks (like an amazing black-bean salsa) and drinks and sunshine and chat. A fantastic way to launch into the weekend...

As was a visit from my aunt Marge today, with an easy lunch on the deck (steak quesadillas, salad, and strawberries with whipped cream) and some time in the pool with John, Stacey, and Cooper. Dang, friends, a mighty fine summer's day. Now, since it's officially quite Saturday, I must go to bed. G'night!

Happy 4th of July!

Looks to be a lovely day for barbecuing and hanging by the pool - good thing that's our plan! Stacey and Cooper, and Suz, Cory, Vivian, and Sullivan are all coming later this afternoon for some food and fun before we head out on the golf course for fireworks. We didn't know there were fireworks right here in the 'hood the first summer we lived here, but we figured it out pretty fast as we were driving by the entire neighborhood walking toward our house! It's so sweet - no parking, no traffic, just a bag of chips, a cold beer, some bug spray, a chair, and we're out the door, yeeaah.

Simple food today - guaaaahcamole with chips and raw veggies (a nod to moderation; there, I'm done) at the pool; Suz's deviled eggs (she's the deviled egg queen, yum); grilled burgers and dogs with all the fixin's (including a little guac that I set aside, there's is nothing like guac on a burger, The Kill...); a big salad with grilled tomatoes and onions; and Suz's blueberry kuchen for dessert. How fabulously, patriotically red (tomatoes), white (eggs), and blue (kuchen), eh? Hope you have plans for a tasty, Festive 4th as well!

What can I say? Another lovely summer day. Sometimes Minnesota sneaks up on you and is a damn nice place to live. Sun, sun, and more sun! Visits (and jumps into the pool) with our neighbors the Hatzungs, and Nathan's friend Emmett (who spent the night last night after the close of our baseball season), and Stacey Pooh and Cooper too - all good. At some point I whipped over to Byerly's for, yes, more great steaks...and this time I didn't over-grill them - yay! - so they were juicy pink-n-prrrrfect. We ate 'em on the deck, with nothing more than a big salad. When you've got perfect steaks, it's worth keeping the rest simple.

And for dessert? 'Cuz you've got to have dessert to honor such a gorgeous day...strawberry shortcake, oh my. Everyone loves strawberry shortcake, including The Coopster! No secret recipe here - Pillsbury (frozen) Buttermilk Biscuits, hot out of the oven and filled with lots of fresh strawberries sweetened with a pinch of sugar, and lots and lots and LOTS of freshly whipped and sweetened cream. Summer Heaven...

Swimmin' & swimmin' & swimmin' some more. Splash! Wow, what a hot streak, days in a row of sunshiney hotness and we're taking every advantage. We had my nephew Cooper Cuteness (aka Triple T, or Teeny Tiny Turducken) in the pool on Wednesday, and Cooper and Stacey and Etta in the pool on Thursday, and my friend Polly and her son Charlie in the pool today. Splash! NICE! Nathan's getting positively blonde and I'm getting downright tan (which is not my favorite thing to be, but it's happening anyhow). Somewhere in there I DID offer food, namely to Polly and Charlie who were here for lunch. Hot dogs and salad and my Grandma Meyer's uber-moist and sweet sour cream chocolate cake with berries and whipped cream (recipe posted in comments, below). And then, yep, back into the pool... Splash!

And tomorrow? If we're lucky and the sunshine holds, Napa Pals Stu the Wine Genius & his wife Debbie and Rudy Maxa & Ana Scofield here for MORE swimming. And wine. And snacks and big steaks and all sorts of tasties. Splash! Yeah, baby!

And Father's Day? Yep, more pool time, this time with Johnny, whose Father's Day desire is to plant himself poolside, with his music, and a book, for the entire afternoon. I think we can oblige... Splash!

Happy Birthday Stacey!

My l'il sis (aka Cooper's mommy), all growed up, ha. Her birthday was actually yesterday, but we're celebrating it tonight with a deja vu dinner at Duplex Restaurant & Wine Bar with the whole fam. Gorgeous day out there, perhaps we can even eat outside on the porch! Oh, how I love almost-summer - sandals and dresses and warm sun and rosy sunsets. Dang, good times, good times.

So no cooking for me! Not last night either, since John and I snuck out for a romantic lunch at La La Lucia's. I had the farmer's salad - loads of lovely Lucia's vegetables, hard-cooked egg, tossed with herb vinaigrette. And John, oh boy, he got the open-faced burger, sitting on a thick slab of juice-drenched toast and topped with a pile of buttery, sauteed mushrooms, my goodness it was incredible. And since our rule is, If There's Chocolate Cake at Lucia's We Order It, we had to split a slice of yesterday's version - chocolate spongecake with homemade spumoni ice cream. Heavenly. (Other amazing choices - lemon layer cake, rhubarb pie, and almond custard - all looked equally fab.) And then. Of course. We had to head over to Lucia's To Go for more food, ack, so that we could have bites of wood-fired pizza and curried chicken-broccoli salad for dinner. Yeah, I Do Lurve Lucia's.

Friday Morning Coffee with Suz! It had been a few weeks again so I was very, very glad to pull it off today. Not our usual light-hearted fare, which made it even more important to get together. (Wo)manning one's way through the intracacies of life without the ear and support of good friends would be a very lonely endeavor indeed. My friends keep me energized, balanced, and grateful for the many blessings in my life. Sheesh, I just realized, my friends are like CHURCH! HA! (Isn't Suz looking every bit the Jewthran minister she never knew she was? Amen!)

After coffee, I whipped by Byerly's (shocker, huh?) and picked up some walleye for dinner tonight. Total whim, didn't have a plan as I walked in, other than thinking "fish," hmmmm... Not even sure how I'm going to prepare it. Of course nothing is better than walleye dredged in flour and fried in butter 'til crispy - damn, that's good stuff, and a Meyer Family tradition, so near and dear to my heart as well as tasty. However, trying to keep things on the lighter side, I think I'll just brush it with a bit of butter and run it under the broiler until lightly browned. That's pretty darn good too. With roasted asparagus, and a big salad, we'll be in good shape.

These culinary adventures are for after happy hour, however - yes, Baseball Moms tonight, it's been awhile, and the ladies are ready to get together for some beer and chat! (Anyone want to place bets on whether I really cook that walleye tonight? I can see some pizza with that beer and my cooking ambition going right out the window...stay tuned...)

Oh, some Happy Birthdays are in order! Happy Birthday John (4/18), my aunt Marge (4/19), and John's bro Tom (4/20) - all took place while we were in Napa. I know John's birthday RAWKED (our first night in Napa, dinner at Cyrus), hope Marge's and Tom's did too! And Happy Birthday today to my cousin Kelly! And a pre-Happy Birthday to my aunt Mary, on Sunday, and to Stacey Pooh, mommy of Cooper Doo (and my lovely sister!) on Tuesday the 8th. (Can you tell that Spring is as expensive as Christmas in this family?!) If I were with y'all right now I'd serve you (and me!) a big ol' piece of Suz's Fresh Lemon-Coconut cake!!

On a less upbeat note, if you love Fugaise as much as I do, check out Andrew Zimmern's blog today. We were introduced to Fugaise by Stu & Debbie (here getting their Fugaise on!) and have enjoyed several knockout meals there. I hate seeing my favorite restaurants (Auriga, I miss thee, sniff) go down - hopefully Fugaise can rally. Go Don Saunders, go!