not all things baby

Our life may revolve around Hartley and her 3-hour schedule (or 2.. or 1.5).. but we make time for other things.

Like Maddie! And Sassy, too. We still take our daily walk to the mailbox. Let the girls sniff where unleashed dogs poop on our yard. Argh.

Maddie wanted to be silly and camouflage into the "grass." She so silly.

We've also made time for dinner. This is a must for everyone. It's a Cajun Steak Sandwich with Sweet Potato Fries. O. M. g. (courtesy of Better Homes and Gardens)

We made a few tweaks.. since we rarely have all the ingredients required. We used brown sugar instead of molasses, and swapped lettuce for green onions. I had the last sandwich for lunch today and used ranch instead of the dressing.. and added pepper jack cheese. Yumm-o. Of course, Wal-mart nor Bi-Lo had frozen sweet potato fries so we made homemade ones. They weren't as crispy as we wanted.. but we were so ready to eat!!

But we can't leave without a new video of Hartley. She was following Marshall with her eyes the other night and we got it on tape. Or digital?

Marshall obviously didn't want to be in the video.. but Maddie sure did.

Happy Anniversary to US!

We've finished the second year of marriage, 67 more to go. More or less.

Today we celebrated with a nice dinner.. tomorrow the real celebrating starts. Marshall is on call tonight, so we have to play it safe and stay home. He's already had one call.. hasn't gone in (yet).

Tomorrow we're heading to Savannah (the 3rd time for me this week) and enjoying a "Great Date Experiment." We're gonna have dinner at Firefly Cafe.. apparently it's pretty good. And free dessert at Sonic (FREE ROOT BEER FLOATS WEDNESDAY!).

In the meantime, I made a delicious 2 course meal.

Table for 2 anyone? Everything was on the table when Marshall got home. I've been really good about having dinner ready right when he walks in the door from work. What else am I supposed to do all day? Sleep?

Tonight's menu: Peppercorn Pork Tenderloin, Roasted Potatoes, "Fancy" Green Beans, and Sauteed Mushrooms; Dessert: Lemon-Berry Granita

We really call the green beans "fancy" green beans. They're frozen, not canned. I steam them (in the bag) then saute them in EVOO, garlic, and teriyaki sauce.


Lemon-berry Granita.. homemade.. made the man come back for more. Granita is like Italian ice. Easy. Fairly quick. And so delicious.

For the granita, I picked some fresh blackberries out of the backyard and pureed them with some frozen blueberries. Then mixed the puree with a room temperature sugar syrup (1cup sugar + 1cup water; zest and juice of 2 lemons; boiled until sugar dissolved). Poured into a baking sheet and froze. Checked and stirred every 30 minutes for about 2-3 hours.

Then to complete our Anniversary Night, Marshall connected our new home theatre and he's watching Jurassic Park. Our flat-screen should be arriving any day now!

The night's not over.. and we'll see how tomorrow goes!

surprise!

The other day I was anticipating this summer's abundant fruit supply.. well.. Marshall walked in this afternoon with a handful of the tartest blackberries.. from our backyard.

Oh delicious berries.. how scrumptious you would be in a tart.. mmm.

Or on top of ice cream..