Friday, March 30, 2018

Happy Birthday, Ben!

Happy Birthday, Ben! We had a pizza party at our house to celebrate. Here's a quick vid that captures the vibe of the evening.



Moss was the birthday train conductor.



TOOT TOOT! Birthday train!



Joe's twin Rob was in town for the night! TWINS!



Presents!



This was Jasper's very first party. A fun anniversary of Ben's birthday party last year at Gran Ranchero, where Vana and Joe announced that they were having a baby.



What could it be?



BIRTHDAY BEANS!



Presents!



I made a lemony lemon lemon cake! With lemon curd and lemon cream cheese frosting!



Oh, hi!



We enjoyed the cake with strawberry ice cake!



Vana's hair is dyed rainbow right now, and it is amazing.



Dream hair!



Baby Jasper!



Tiny finger, big finger! With Grandpa Dennis.



Jasper can be pretty serious.



Maybe he wants to smile? Maayyybe?



Thinking about it...



Awww! There it is!



Happy baby!!



What a great night! It was wonderful to celebrate Ben's birthday with family. I hope Jasper had a fabulous time at his very first party. What a milestone!

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Environmental Portrait

Our photography student at ACM, Maddie Hordinski, asked me if she could take an environmental portrait of me amongst the unicorns and bunnies in my office. Of course, I said YES!





Saturday, March 24, 2018

Kebabs!

The grillmaster invited us over for dinner tonight!



Shishkabobs!



Dan Erlewine knows how to cook chicken.

Saturday, March 17, 2018

Green Cooking Club

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Since the March cooking club happened to fall on Saint Patrick's Day, we celebrated with the theme GREEN. Valerie, Summer and I were the hosts, and Nancy, Emily and Yumi were our guests.



We started things off with a green appetizer, Valerie's green goddess hummus cucumber bites! YUM!



The cocktail for the evening was a Shamrock Shaker, a tart tequila cocktail.



CHEERS!



Are you seeing green yet?



Cheers! Basically in heaven right now. Besties + matching outfits + tequila = Does it get better than this?



Summer made these super green salmon tacos with green onion and asparagus salsa.



With lime crema. Green is DELICIOUS.



Valerie made a coconut green soup with celery, kale and ginger. With crispy chickpeas on top! This was amazing!



Hello, sea of green deliciousness.



I made tilapia with a coconut-cilantro sauce, and served it on green dirty rice with tons of collard greens and leeks.



We ended the night with Summer's classic Irish Car Bomb cupcakes. Can't go wrong.



Some of the cooking club crew went uptown to a rock show after dinner!! I 49% wanted to join them, but the 51% of me that was tired and full won the battle. I'm sure they had a great time! Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Saturday, March 03, 2018

Michigan Birthday Trip!

Summer and I headed to Northville, Michigan this weekend, for a birthday weekend getaway and to see Rabecca, Leighanna, and families! We totally brought bad weather with us. The Michigan people weren't even aware a storm was coming, and inches and inches of snow came FAST. Rabecca's back yard:



Fuzzy Max!






Still snowing!



He is ridiculous. Look at that pose! He doesn't even look real!



Rabecca made us dinner, and Adele made dessert. She made the entire dessert all by herself from a cookbook!



It was a delicious cookie cake. With a LOT of sugar on top. It was delicious!



After dinner, we took a snowy walk into town.



We stopped at Browndog, a boozy ice cream bar in Rabecca's neighborhood.



Don't mind if we do!!!Delicious cocktails with scoops of ice cream.



Cheers!



And a White Manhattan, featuring Two James White Rye.



All together now.



Friday morning was Summer's birthday! We started the day off with some mimosas, TV, and cuddles with Max.



We went to Lucy and the Wolf for appetizers, lunch and drinks. This is the Fall Squash Bruschetta. Delicious!



Birthday drinks!



Rabecca and Leighanna.



Me and Summer.



This WAS the Tomatoes in Cast Iron. We pretty much inhaled it as soon as it hit the table, so I didn't get a photo until near the bitter end. It was AMAZING.



Delicious Grilled Carrots!



And OMG mini smoked donuts with bourbon smoked sugar and maple syrup. They were the best best best. They were gone so fast it was like we did a disappearing trick!



After lunch, we went shopping!






We stopped at Simpy Wine wine bar for refreshments.



We met up with the boys at North Center Brewery for some beers and shuffleboard before dinner.



Then we headed to Center Street Grille for dinner. More cast iron tomatoes!! Can't stop won't stop!



AMAZING pizza.



I love the variety!



Burger with an egg on it.



We found ourselves at Browndog again at the end of the night.



Who can resist boozy treats!?



Cheers!



What a fantastic trip! It was so fun to see everybody and celebrate Summer's birthday.