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I’m married!

Jim and I got married last Saturday in the Syracuse, NY area. Here are a few pictures from the rehearsal dinner, which took place at the Wellington House in Fayetteville.

My husband and me

My siblings and me

Some of us about to eat

 Here are a couple of pics from the ceremony, which took place at Immaculate Conception Church in Fayetteville:

And some pictures from the reception, which took place at the Lafayette Hills Golf & Country Club in Jamesville, NY.

The wedding was so much fun (at least I had a blast)! I can’t wait to see the professional pics!

8-Ball Zucchini, stuffed

8-Ball Zucchini, stuffed (made by my fiance!)

 Have you ever heard of 8-Ball Zucchini? Don’t worry– I hadn’t heard of it either. Until our friend brought one over from his garden. This is what they look like before you cook them:

flickr.com/photos/krossbow/4882371688/

According to this farm website, it’s a hybrid variety of zucchini squash that’s become much more popular over the last several years; the size and shape make it ideal for stuffing. We had no idea how to cook this thing, so my fiance went to Google. He came across this Soupbelly.com recipe, and gave it a whirl.

First he  hollowed out the zucchini; then he mixed the guts, chopped tomato, chopped onion and cooked ground turkey (a replacement for bacon). He sauteed the mixture for a few minutes, removed it from the heat and added bread crumbs, cheese, salt and pepper. He spooned the stuffing into the zucchini, covered it with cheese and baked it for 40 minutes.

The result: fantastic. Such a perfect blend of flavors. I highly recommend this recipe to anyone!

My fiance is the best

He cooks for me often. Check out these recent meals:

Shrimp and spaghetti with a white wine, garlic and butter sauce and garden-fresh corn on the cob

Chicken with herbs and a lemon sauce, Spanish rice and garden-fresh squash with cinnamon

Chicken, rice, beans and spinach with salt and pepper

The best hidden secret in Watertown’s Arsenal Mall…

…is definitely Coffee Traders, a family-owned coffee and wrap/sandwich/salad business. Every time I go to the mall or am in the vicinity of the mall, I stop there for a mozzarella and basil wrap.

The mozzarella and basil are always super-fresh, and so are the tomatoes that are also included in the soft pita. I like how the pita is nice and thin, so you don’t feel too full after eating it. You can have them add whatever sauce you’d like (including ranch and blue cheese), but I always go for their staple sauce: olive oil, salt and pepper. Perfecto. Today I introduced my sister to this hidden gem.

I got my usual mozzarella and basil wrap:

And she got a buffalo chicken salad:

She got her salad with ranch dressing (and buffalo sauce of course), and loved it. According to her, it was nice having grilled chicken instead of the usual fried chicken. She felt nice and healthy, which is a big reason why I love this little joint. It’s definitely much healthier than the other eateries in this food court (including Regina Pizzeria, a Mexican place and Burger King). She also liked how the buffalo sauce was less spicy than what she’s accustomed to.

If you can, try to support this business! It’s nice knowing the money goes to a family versus a big corporation. And they have ice cream and a wide variety of coffee drinks.

A Saturday in Portsmouth, New Hampshire

On Saturday my fiance and I decided to go to Portsmouth, New Hampshire– a supposedly cool city just an hour’s drive from Boston. We got there around noon, walked around for a few minutes and then stopped at the River House for lunch. Although the restaurant’s on the water, we decided to eat inside because it was so hot out. The highlight of the meal was certainly the seafood chowder, which is shown in this picture.

It contained lobster, scallops, shrimp, clams and haddock, and was so so good. I guess that’s no surprise considering it won first place awards at the 2009/2010 Portsmouth Chowder Festival. The above picture also shows my fiance’s tasty lobster roll and hand cut potato chips. I had a lobster Lorraine quiche with a house salad.

Everything was fantastic! And they even gave us a free bowl of chowder (sort of an accident, but we gladly accepted)! After lunch we got some coffee at Breaking New Grounds in Market Square. We vowed to return later in the day (they had tons of delicious-looking pastries and gelato), and we did. Look at these gelato flavor combinations we came up with.

Hazelnut chocolate and strawberry chocolate

It would have been nice to sit outside of the coffee shop and people watch, but alas it was too hot. These photos will give you a feel for Market Square:

We walked around for a while, went shopping and saw some cool things.

A mural

A bridge going up

A fountain

A church

A quaint restaurant nestled in a back alley

Frogs doing yoga

Nice streets like this one

A physic studio

I got a couple of shirts for super-cheap in this consignment shop.

And we discovered a beautiful garden area.

My fiance in the garden area

Me in the garden area

Turns out this area is called Prescott Park. It’s right near an old cemetery, with gravestones dating to the 17th century.

It’s not far from the water either.

On our way back to the car we came across the Oracle House, one of Portsmouth’s oldest homes (circa 1702).

And the Liberty Pole, a flagpole commemorating our freedom from British rule. At this location in 1766 colonists hung a banner reading “Liberty, Property and No Stamp” to protest King George’s Stamp Act (it imposed taxes on newspapers, stationary and documents).

We saw this just before leaving. It pretty much sums up our experience in Portsmouth.

Walking around Somerville

While walking around Somerville yesterday, I made a few observations unrelated to Tropical Storm Irene. Like that crews have finally started working on 270 Cedar St. (check out an article I wrote about the property a few months ago):

And that there’s a Museum of Modern Renaissance on College Avenue:

And that Jesus is hanging out on Hall Avenue:

Tropical Storm Irene hits Somerville

Yesterday Irene struck Somerville, Massachusetts and the rest of New England. Although it was just a tropical storm (not a hurricane as everyone predicted), it still caused a fair amount of damage. Here are some pictures I took in Somerville during the late afternoon.

A damaged car on Murdock Street

A snapped tree on Broadway (near Trum Field)

A fallen tree on Hall Avenue

We didn’t lose power at our Cedar Street apartment, but folks in Magoun Square did. Inside Olde Magoun’s Saloon staff were sitting in the dark, and across Medford Street (around Status Boutique, Marcelino’s Exotic Birds and Churrasco) a generator was running.

I love our new china!

Perk #948 of getting married: receiving beautiful china! A couple of months ago my fiancé’s grandparents had us pick out a style of china we like, and today it was delivered! We had a blast opening all the packages and discovering the gorgeous pieces.

Boxes full of china

My fiancé opening one of our packages

Me opening another one

Don't you love the pattern?

Better close-up of a teacup

Holding a plate

Opening more

Table covered in china

China in our cabinet

I can’t wait to use it!!!

A great way to start a Sunday morning

My fiancé and I have a friend named Charlie who’s been cultivating a garden this summer in Woburn, Massachusetts. We saw it for the first time this morning, and were quite impressed. Check out my pics:

The garden is 54 by 54 feet.

Tomatoes

Jalapeno peppers

Cabbage

Asian eggplant

Rosemary

Radishes

Lettuce

Brussels sprouts

One entrance to the garden

There were lots of bees pollinating flowers.

Cucumber

My pics don’t even begin to show all the produce that was there, including spinach, tomatoes, onions, Brussels sprouts, squash, zucchini, lettuce, eggplant, rosemary, basil, snow peas, green beans, cabbage, radishes, parsnips, cucumbers, jalapeno peppers,  corn and watermelon. We ended up with a bunch of veggies to cook this week!

My fiancé , Jim, and Charlie in the garden

Here are a few pics showing the garden’s surroundings:

There's a swan in the distance!