Spring is here ... well for one day, anyway!

Rumor has it we may hit 70 degrees today!  Do I believe it?  Well, for today anyway, you can call me Charlie Brown and I really believe that Lucy will not pull that football away.  I have a true need for it to be a spring day!

The younger Hinkelgruber son came home from college this weekend (I'll say it's to spend Easter with his Mumma - he'll say it's to open an new bank account) and the elder Hinkelgruber boy went to Vegas - oh, we all have our priorities (and, good for him).

Mr. Hinkelgruber and I are going to have a much welcome few hours (more likely, several minutes) on our deck - have I told you how much I love spring?!?

Here comes Peter Cottontail...

One week until Easter and while the temperature isn't really as warm as I'd like, at least the sun is making more appearances.  I planted a pansy and some Sweet Williams today - I'll drag us into spring, if necessary!
I'm getting to watch the Cubs play nearly every game, and that's helping my attitude (well, when they don't throw the game away).

The menus seem to be somewhat lighter fare (spring is coming, you know!), and I now have some fancy, fancy gourmet baking chocolate to begin baking with.  Wonder what I ought to make?

Vegas, Spring and Everything's Good!

Have I told you how much I love spring?  No, really, really love spring...

Mr. & Mrs. Hinkelgruber had a wonderful time in Las Vegas - plenty of alcohol, really good food and enough gambling to remember why we don't consider it a job but a really, really decent form of entertainment! We came back to Portland to a couple of days of the seemingly never-ending January only to be pleasantly surprised by the most lovely spring day in a long time!

This week's menu seems to be a particularly centered on Italian cuisine and, you're not hearing me complain!

Spring has sprung....really???

So spring arrived, but from what I can determine, only the calendar says so.  The weather is still wet (and cold!), the daffodils are blooming, but the hyacinths are nowhere to be seen and the cherry blossoms seem to be at least three weeks behind schedule.  In light of that, Mr. and Mrs. Hinkelgruber are going to Las Vegas to find some sun!

Mr. Hinkelgruber received the entire collection of our newest cooking magazine, in bound form, so it appears that while all our meals are very, very good, we won't be having a regular "rotation" of meals for probably the next year.  Oh, well!  It's a tough job, but I'll make do.

It really is better in HD!

So, after ranting that television is television is television - the Hinkelgrubers finally succumbed to buying a HD television.   And, yep, it is easier to watch... And, yeah, the picture is clearer... And, OK, the colors are brighter... And I'm told that Brian Williams is really, really dreamy to look at... (I'll have to wait until Monday's NBC Evening News to watch and decide for myself!)

So, as if we didn't watch enough television already, this afternoon you'll find me in front of a new one!

Finals' week and other things college

It's Finals' Week at Oregon schools, and that means soon the college boys will be home!  Yep, you read it right - boys - with an "S," because our British son, Sir Watson of Westminister, will be accompanying the youngest home for a week of what I'm sure will be drinking and debauchery.

In anticipation, I will be mixing cookie dough (chocolate chip, of course) for the freezer, a lemon merengue pie (well, maybe/maybe not), and whatever else my "Big Boy" mixer decides is needed.  Spring's coming!

Mardi Gras!

That means "Fat Tuesday" for those of you who don't know and that means King Cake!  Need to find a baby for the cake, and I think that instead of Tuesday, I'll be serving it Sunday for dessert - we'll just have to see how it goes.