May Madness

May has definitely been a busy month around here!  Rather than try to catch up on every little detail, I’m just going to hit the highlights.

• I saw Lucinda Williams in concert with my mom and friend S. in Fayetteville.  She was awesome, as usual.  The concert ended with Lucinda telling us the news that Osama bin Laden had been killed and playing Buffalo Springfield’s “For What it’s Worth.”  Very moving.
• I finished a couple of knits – one was Tora Froseth’s design, Little Sister’s Dress, for my good friend’s baby shower.  I used Rowan 4-ply cotton in a beautiful teal color, and found really cute rainbow-colored (but mostly red) buttons for the top.  I think my friend liked it a lot!

for baby Norah

• I also finished a project I had been working on for myself – the Purl Bee’s Big Herringbone Cowl in Blue Sky Alpacas Worsted (the color is called ecru).  I had waited for a LONG time for this yarn to come back into stock because the pattern was so popular that demand just overwhelmed Blue Sky.  It was definitely worth the wait, though – this yarn is SO soft and wonderful.  I love the cowl, but I’ll be saving it for cooler weather because this baby is WARM!

Love it!

•  T and I invited our moms (plus his dad) over for a Mother’s Day brunch and had such a great time.  T made his famous Ozark hash (sweet, Yukon, and red potatoes, and onion, seasoned and pan-fried).  I made a roasted vegetable quiche (recipe available here, but I used white cheddar instead of gouda) and Smitten Kitchen’s mom’s apple cake.  We also had coffee and orange juice screwdrivers.  T’s mom brought some beautiful flowers from her garden and I bought peonies from the farmer’s market.  So pretty!

brunch

• I went on a jam-packed trip to Little Rock to visit friends and family that had many ups and downs.  First, the fun stuff:  T and I went to Memphis for my college friend K’s wedding.  It was a beautiful wedding and they had a really fun reception downtown at Central Station with a great band and delicious food.  I also got to see my cousin T since we stayed the night at her house.  We also ate some Indian food and did a little shopping.  Since T was nice enough to go to JCrew and Anthro with me, I went to TJMaxx with him, and SCORED on a beautiful camel-colored Theory suit (the whole suit cost less than the original price of the pants, and if you’re familiar with Theory, you probably know that that’s a sweet deal).  We came back to LR and did a hash run (the Little Rock Hash House Harriers was started in 1974 and is one of the oldest chapters in the country).  I enjoyed meeting all the hashers and we did a nice trail run (about 5 miles).  They are serious about their traditions!  It was a blast.  Toby and I ate dinner at the Town Pump.  I had a veggie burger with onion rings (and some of T’s hush puppies) and enjoyed the sweet 80s and 90s music they had playing.  The next day my mom took off work to help me shop for some work clothes.  We found some great deals!  It was definitely one of the most successful shopping trips ever.  We ate dinner with T at The House just off Kavanaugh.

me and Mom refueling after a hard day of shopping

my burger

I ordered the house-made vegan burger (black bean, barley, and pumpkin seed) on Boulevard Bread 9-grain with sweet potato fries and a Diamond Bear Presidential IPA.  So good.  T and I also visited the Diamond Bear tasting room to get a growler of the IPA.  Glad they’re moving to a bigger location – there weren’t too many seats, but the beer was awesome!  I also visited with my Mamaw and Papaw and learned how to make biscuits and chocolate gravy (let me know if you want the recipe; it’s super easy)!  Now, for the not-so-fun stuff.  My mom and I had to have my 20-year-old cat, Nadia, put down.  She had been struggling with pain for arthritis for a while, and most recently a bad wound on her face had not been able to heal.  The vet said it could be an abscessed tooth, a tumor, or a bad infection from a poisonous insect bite, but that given her other problems, it would be nearly impossible to give her more time with the quality of life we wanted for her.  We just didn’t want her to be in any pain or suffering at all, so we made the difficult decision to let her go.  We buried her in my grandparents’ garden with our other pets that had died many years ago.  We will miss her so much, but are glad she is not in pain anymore.

• Now I am back home, getting ready to start my internship on Monday!  I got my hair cut, reorganized my closet, donated a ton of old clothes, stocked my fridge with good healthy stuff (and am getting another CSA delivery today with lettuce, carrots, strawberries, mint, shiitakes, and beets), and I think I’m ready to start!  Oh, and last night, inspired by Katie (and the leftover pie crust in the freezer that really needed to be used pront0), I made these Lazy Girl Homemade Pop-Tarts last night.

Pop Tarts?

I made one raspberry and one brown sugar-cinnamon.  Ready for the recipe?  Here it is.  Take one already-broken pie crust from freezer and let thaw.  Make into four approximately equal rectangles.  Fill with Wilkin & Sons Tiptree raspberry jam or a brown sugar-cinnamon mixture.  Put the halves together and crimp edges.  Bake at about 450 for 7-8 minutes.  Ta-da!  Homemade (but don’t confuse that with healthy) Pop Tarts!  The brown sugar-cinnamon one was a little dry and cracked a bit at the end; I think I should’ve probably added a little liquid (like maybe maple syrup) but they were both delicious!  I ate them (yes, both) with some scrambled eggs and called it dinner.  Whoops.

Hope you guys are having a fun May and enjoying the warmer weather.  Wish me luck for Monday, and I hope to be back posting a bit more regularly!

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