Spring has sprung in Charlottesville. These beautiful things live on my front steps, where they make me quite happy.
We've managed to accomplish quite a lot in the last week, despite the rapid approach of the end of the semester (we can gauge how close we are to the end by my husband's mood - the worse it is, the closer we are and this morning he was just miserable - happiness should arrive again in early May). The garden bed that used to have hostas in it is now cleared and ready for its next incarnation and the herb garden and just needs its dirt. That's one of the funny things about home ownership and gardening - buying dirt. When you were young, did you ever imagine that you'd actually buy dirt? Cool clothes, lots of make up, books and airplane tickets, sure, but dirt? And not just dirt but top soil, compost, peat, mulch, sand and on and on. I do compost, but that only supplies a small fraction of the inputs we need to be able to grow anything at all in our very dense red clay.
Today is not supposed to be as hot as the last three so I'm planning a day of errands with the Little Diva. I need new oven mitts - I've come perilously close to burning myself too many times - and some of those summer-time bobo sneakers. The Boy Wonder also needs sneaks, but I'm becoming disheartened at our inability to find some that don't scream "made in China by happy Folun Gong volunteers". I guess it never hurts to look. Anyway, I'm also hitting the library, the kids' consignment shop and maybe the new needlepoint shop to see what they have. Tonight will be dedicated to work-for-pay activities. One of my clients needed some writing and she thought of me - yay! It's very nice to have that kind of relationship where we trust each other and she knows I'll get the job done quickly and well.
I am actively soliciting ideas for warm weather cooking. We had chicken ceasar salad for dinner the other night (made with that pre-cooked and sliced chicken breast stuff) with bread and it was really nice. The night before that I made a big tray of nachos, which we drank with lemonade. Very simple and easy to clean up. Last night, however, I broiled up some chicken breasts that had been marinating in a kind of chipotle sauce. It took, what, 10 minutes to broil them but the kitchen was H-O-T. (Which reminds me, I need to check out our propane situation for the grill.)
Send your ideas for easy cool kitchen meals to me at HotWaterBath and I'll compile them to share with our little readership. Be sure to include your name and your approximate location so I can give you due credit. Many apologies to our friends in the southern hemisphere who are heading into winter - I haven't forgotten about you and I hope you'll send one of your favorites, even if it's not something you're making at the moment.