New water pitcher

I just found out one of my friends can’t come to my wedding, but she did send me this lovely water pitcher.

I absolutely love it, and even used it for dinner tonight. My fiance and I attempted to make meatballs with tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, breadcrumbs, and anchovies, but we forgot to add the breadcrumbs and accidentally bought sardines instead of anchovies. So yeah, they weren’t as good as they could have been. But they were still pretty tasty (guess mozzarella will do that!).

 

 

 

My new Eiffel Tower bag

 

A birthday gift from my fiance's mom!

Made some more cards last night

This time I attended Liz Ballard’s class in Arlington, Mass. Here’s what I made:

I made cards today!!!

Thanks to card maker extraordinaire June Lee, I made some nice cards and a card holder today. June, who lives in Malden, has been making cards for the last few years. She holds classes at her home once a month. Here’s what I came up with today:

Card holder

Inside of card holder

Inscription inside card holder

First card

Inside first card (Translation: Happy birthday, Let me know when the cake is ready)

Envelope for card #1

My second card (Translation: Many thanks)

Envelope for card #2

My third card

Envelope for card #3

My fourth card

Envelope for card #4

This chopstick company could use a copy editor

While out at the new Scholars Bistro in Boston last night, we noticed this funny language:

I’m in Charleston, South Carolina!

My fiance and I arrived in Charleston, South Carolina yesterday evening! We are spending five or so days here for vacation. It’s so sunny and warm (high of 75). We left Boston on Saturday morning, and headed toward Connecticut. Connecticut traffic really slowed us down (as a result of this horrific accident), but we eventually made it over the border to Westchester County, New York.

We had lunch in charming Tarrytown, which sits right beside the Hudson River. We chose the Tarry Tavern, a Main Street locale prioritizing locally grown ingredients. I wasn’t that hungry, as I had enjoyed a calzone and yogurt in the car. So I just got some acorn squash soup, which was amazing.

My fiance had a “TT Wagyu” burger that he called “one of the best burgers” he’s ever had (the meal included bacon onion jam, white cheddar, and hand-cut fries).

Before out meals arrived, they served us rolls with butter.

Here are a few photos from Tarrytown:

This phone booth was in someone's front lawn.

The Hudson River is in the distance.

From Tarrytown we headed over the Tappan Zee Bridge.

We drove through some more of New York and New Jersey; then we crossed the Delaware Memorial Bridge to Delaware.

We went through Delaware, Maryland and part of Virginia, before stopping in Ashland, VA. After getting prices from several hotels off the rest stop (including a somewhat sketchy hotel with a glass barrier protecting the concierge), we settled on a Quality Inn. Ruby Tuesday was right across the street, so we went there for dinner.

My fiance had lobster macaroni; he said it was rich and very good.

I had one of their tilapia specials. It included a bruschetta sauce, grilled green beans, and white cheddar mashed potatoes. I must say, Ruby Tuesday has really improved their offerings since I was in high school.

The next morning we stepped outside and it was gorgeous out (about 60 degrees and sunny). We decided to take a picture so we’d remember this moment.

We got back on I-95 and drove until Wilson, North Carolina. There, we stopped at a Cracker Barrel for lunch. We had yet another fabulous meal! My fiance had meatloaf with mashed potatoes, green beans and macaroni and cheese.

I had grilled chicken pieces with green beans and steak fries.

Our meal came with corn muffins and biscuits.

While we were in the car, we played the state license plate game (where you write down the names of all the different state license plates you see).

I fell asleep somewhere in North Carolina. Before I knew it, we were in South Carolina. My fiance and I loved the lush greenery on the side of the road.

We stopped at a McDonald’s for coffee (by the way they reacted to our request you’d think no one drinks coffee in South Carolina), and then got back on the road. Around 7 p.m. we arrived in Charleston. We drove by an industrial part of the city that wasn’t so nice. However, things improved as we got closer to downtown.

I thought we were staying at the Days Inn but my fiance completely surprised me. He had booked a room at The Anchorage Inn, an adorable bed and breakfast on Vendue Range right by the Waterfront Park.

Just so you have an idea of how cool this place is, each day they have a continental breakfast, a 4 p.m. wine and cheese, and an 8 to 11 p.m. sherry. Not bad, huh?

Smoked salmon and fingerling potatoes

I had smoked salmon, and I had fingerling potatoes. So I googled “smoked salmon” and “fingerling potatoes” and found this awesome appetizer recipe. Basically, you cut the fingerling potatoes in half lengthwise, roast them in olive oil until they’re golden brown (for me it took about 40 minutes), and let them cool.

Then, atop each potato slice you add a piece of smoked salmon, some creme fraiche or sour cream (I used veggie cream cheese instead), and some caviar or capers ( I put a caper on top of each potato).  Here’s the finished product:

For dinner I had a bunch of these with broccoli.

The broccoli I ate

I would highly recommend this salmon recipe. Trader Joe’s fingerling potatoes work quite well (they are amazingly tasty). If I were to do the recipe again, I would use sour cream or creme fraiche (as the recipe suggests) instead of cream cheese. I think cream cheese (especially the veggie cream cheese I used) is a little too heavy/strong.

My fiance knows me well

This is what he got me for Valentine’s Day:

Peanut M&Ms

Russell Stover chocolates

A 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon made by Midnight Cellars in Paso Robles, California (We've already finished it off!)

I got him “Atlantic” by Simon Winchester, which I’ve already blogged about.

Dog sitting again

Let’s hope my sister doesn’t get stuck in another land this time. At the moment she’s in Puerto Rico, soaking in the 80-degree weather sans humidity. So far Jack has been superb, with one exception. I won’t get into the messy details of that incident, but I will focus on the good stuff. He let me sleep in (a change from last time I watched him), he hasn’t barked (another change), and he continues to be extremely loving and playful. Here are some pictures I took this morning:

Gotta love the tongue!

So cute!

In between fetching toys

Checking out the toys in his bed

Up-the-nose shot (I'm so mean! haha)

He turns 2 years old tomorrow! I think doggy ice cream is in store!

Valentine’s Day is on its way

Well I’m not really thinking about it (yet), but my neighbor is! I love these lights!