We're back!

Fourteen days of no rain - it was glorious!  But, really, the best thing about a vacation is coming home.

I like having my meals planned for me (no menus that require a decision to be made), living in a truly quiet place (ships have weird creaks and pops), and sometimes I really don't want to be nice to people (dining with different people each meal requires energy).

The living room and hallway walls have been retextured and now the only room left is the dining room.  Oh, and my Tuesdays with Dorie group is going to be making two new recipes - I can hardly wait!

See you at the end of the month....

Well, not to belabor a point, but this is the last entry for about three weeks (ah, maybe two).  But here's what you should know:

• All the wallpaper is stripped - yep, all of it!  I had forgotten what the mint green that was on every wall in this house looked like until now.  (For one room, not so bad - the entire house?  Atrocious!
• No one, but no one can make a better breakfast than Mr. Hinkelgruber - think the cruise line will give him a "back-stage pass" to the galley to allow him to prepare me breakfast every day?  Not likely...
• A homemade Fig Newton is heavenly - even if it's more work than I care to discuss.  
• And, Kindereggs aren't just a European phenomenon, anymore!

It's a limited menu this week, but we're on a limited schedule, too!  So, if we don't see you before, 

BON VOYAGE!

Well, maybe I won't starve...

So, you all know that Mr. Hinkelgruber does all the cooking in this household. (I do the baking, but that's not cooking!) Yesterday, though, to fulfill my "obligation" to a new internet group I've joined ("Tuesdays With Dorie") I made dinner:  Pizza Rustica.  Wow!  It was delicious - if I do say so myself! And, it looked just like the picture in the appointed cookbook (Baking With Julia). Today's dessert, "Lemon Loaf Cake," is also April's assignment for baking, and I've made it already since we'll be off on another ocean-bound adventure on the assignment's due date.

The music room is gorgeous and the piano finally back in its home. And that means that this week will be the week for stripping wallpaper from the living room walls...room-by-room...chunk-by-chunk...

Computers are a girl's best friend....

Those of you who know me well (and if you're reading this you probably do) know that after my family and friends, one of the most important things to me is my computer. So, when earlier this week it started acting a little funky, I was a tad bit panicky - to say the least! Fortunately, the younger Hinkelgruber lad has returned home from college and put his brilliance to work at restoring its workings. (I really only need another two years out of it and I'll feel I fully got my money's worth...) Anyway, I'm treating it with kid gloves for the time being.

It's spring break, although with the younger Hinkelgruber in his final term at university, that really just means that there are more loads of laundry being done. On some level, that's a relief to me.

On the food front, this week has some comfort food, some new dishes and some baking to be done.  Woohoo!

Mail Call!!!

We're re-positioning our mailbox! I talked to two different mailmen this past month:  the regular one (Jeff) and one of our utility carriers, and both agreed that moving the mailbox to a spot where they didn't have to bend down was a good thing. (Currently, it's in our door.  And frankly, the dog tears up the door as she tries to get at the carrier - not Jeff - but every other carrier who has come to deliver our mail.) So today, Mr. Hinkelgruber, is installing a new slot. It still comes into the house (something very important to me), but now doesn't have to compete with the door opening and the dog going nuts.  (She'll likely still go nuts, but at least not on the door!) And, this means that this summer, I can get a screen door for the front door.  Yahoo!

So, my Tuesdays with Dorie (TWD) hobby yielded a lot of egg whites from one of the recipes during the week, so this Sunday's dessert is chocolate French macarons (well, I'd spell it macaroons, but the website from which I got the recipe spelled it with one 'o', so there) filled with chocolate ganache.  In Mr. Hinkelgruber's words, "Anything with ganache can't be bad," so we'll see.  Oh, and a French macaron has no coconut - just in case all you coconut haters were wondering.

Baseball's Back!!!

OK, so really it's just pre-season - but I got to see my Cubs play. Oh, I love those boys! (They won, by the way!) Favorite new player? Sczcur...and it's pronounced "Seezer". I can hardly wait to see his name on his uniform.

Have a new hobby, "Tuesdays with Dorie." Twice a month, I get to prepare a recipe from the book Baking with Julia and then blog about the experience with bakers from all over the world. (Oh, yeah - one woman from Switzerland read the last recipe (Rugelach) and said her hips were broadening just reading the recipe!) This week's dessert is from the first week:  Chocolate Truffle Tarts. Reading others' blogs say it's to die for. We'll see tomorrow! (Oh, and the rugelach was really, really tasty - not pretty, but really tasty!) Irish Soda Bread is coming later in the week, and while I've never been a big fan of soda bread - in for a penny, in for a pound.

Spring is on it's way!

I keep a daily push-up log on the family calendar and noticed today that daylight savings time arrives a week from this Sunday. You know what that means?  Well, besides that we'll lose one hour next week, it means that spring is coming! The yard guys came yesterday and applied some sort of fertilizer, so it must be true...spring is coming. At last!

The music room is on its way to being re-done. The ceiling has been over-layed (no longer popcorn) and the walls primed for new texture. No, we're not moving - merely getting the house redone after 25-years. Some people redecorate/paint every three to five years. Not us - for us, decorating is like cars: get what you want and hold on until it either fails or you're finally tired of it. As for our decor, 25-years means it's both failing and we're tired of it (well, I am!).

A new pie recipe this week:  think Almond Joy in-a-pie! We'll see if it's as good as the picture makes it look. Then, I've joined an online group, "Tuesdays With Dorie," that is working its way through the book, Baking With Julia. First recipe:  Rugelach - a cinnamon-roll type pastry filled with nuts and dried fruit.  I'm excited!