grill success

I have never been really great at grilling.  Ok, fine, I'm terrible at it.  As good as I am in the kitchen, move me outdoors and I'm an utter failure.  Still, last season we replaced our aging gas grill with a new model, with cast iron grates, a thermometer, and better burner control.  After all, there was a place on the patio reserved for a grill, and it needed to be filled.  Hmmm.

Anyway, the fact that we've been reducing the amount of meat in our diets led me to open that grill and use it very few times last season.  I think I can count the number of times on one hand, in fact.  I have been feeling really rotten about having bought the thing in the first place, and I vowed that this season I would use it more, and more creatively.

I've always been afraid to grill fish because it is so delicate, and I'm so clumsy.  But last night I tried again, and check this out.

 
 

I know, I might have snapped a photo before ravaging the thing, but do you see those grill marks?  They were gorgeous.  I was really pleased.  I used a firm fish (salmon) and oiled the fish, not the grates.  I left it on there on low heat for five minutes and then finished it on the skin side.  The fish lifted off the grates perfectly and stayed in one piece.

I hope to have more grilling successes to share as the summer progresses.

remorse

 

My husband thinks I say, "I'm sorry," too often.  After a mostly good weekend that devolved into us grousing with each other and me uncharacteristically not willing to apologize, I'm happy this morning to be married to this man who apologized when I couldn't.  This was taken at a wedding we attended a few weeks ago, and it's funny, my expression then kind of sums up how I feel this morning: happy for the ability to regret things, learn from them, and move on.

sharing

Sharing mango on a warm springtime afternoon...

guilt-free carbs

I remember well a time when I would never have put two starches in one meal.  I've struggled with being overweight my entire adult life, and even before the South Beach craze, which I joined briefly, I intuitively knew that consuming two starches at a meal was probably not helping my waistline.  However, a couple of months ago I was forced by some unpleasant health issues to adopt a wheat-free, gluten-free diet.  I've been up and down in terms of my enthusiasm for the plan.  While at times I feel as though there is nothing at all I can eat, the improvement to my overall well-being since I started eating this way has been undeniable.  And, the fact that I've lost a not insignificant amount of weight gives me the flexibility to eat polenta AND roasted sweet potatoes in the same meal.  Mmmm.


For anyone who might be interested, these were basic roasted vegetables (cauliflower, carrot, sweet potatoes--technically yams, I suppose--and turnips) that I tossed after roasting with some leftover mixed-herb pesto containing mostly parsley, some basil and cilantro.

Mister Neb

I know.  This doesn't look so happy.  He's recovering from some asthma that was brought on by an upper respiratory/ear infection a couple of weeks ago.  The asthma is gone, thanks in large part to a great invention called the nebulizer (or Mister Neb, as ours is branded), which only became available for home use within the last twenty to thirty years.  My husband didn't have one when he was a kid with asthma, and he spent a lot of time in hospital bubbles.  So, I'm super happy we have a nebulizer to use at home, and even more so that this little guy takes the treatments with nary a fuss.  Of course, he's being hypnotized by a video of Maisy and her gang of friends.  I guess I'm happy we have Maisy, too. Finally, at his checkup today his ears were all clear and we learned that we will only need to give him Mister Neb treatments for a few more days.  Hooray!  Goodbye, Maisy.  Goodbye, Charley.  Goodbye, Tallulah.  Goodbye, Eddie.  Goodbye, Cyril.  Hope we won't see you again until fall.

lazy wednesday morning

With the early-rising child on an overnighter at Grandma's and my toddler sleeping in, Mama was left to crossword in bed with the cats snoozing in the morning sunlight.  The goodness didn't end there, either: when I finally conceded that I'm stumped and it's my husband's turn at this puzzle, the boy was still sleeping, and I got a SHOWER!

blooming purple

I don't know what you purplish flowers are called, but you show up this time of year, when everything is just becoming all lush green and nearly summery, and you make me smile.  I certainly go out of my way to travel the roads whose sides you frequent. 

  
These photos were taken on a detour off my favorite route between Berks Co. and Lehigh Co.

Last weekend a family member confided that she had pulled over one day that week and surreptitiously pulled some of these beauties up by their roots in order to plant them in her yard.  Awesome.

 

I dream of living in a place where these grow abundantly, so that I can cut fresh flowers every morning to put in a clear glass jar on my kitchen table.