Garden update

One of my first big projects when we moved into our house was to get my container garden started. And I’m so excited about how successful my garden has been. Over the last few months, I’ve been doing several things to keep my garden fertilized and growing. This includes mixing garden soil with soil from my parent’s house, putting grass clippings and dead flowers into the garden for fertilization, and watering at least twice a week if it hasn’t rained.

I learned while growing my basil plant in a single pot, that I should not water it all the time. At one point, I was watering the plant every day. It wasn’t growing as well as I had hoped. Then I had my gallbladder surgery and I asked the boy to water it while I was away. He forgot/didn’t, and the plant looked 10x healthier. That’s when I resolved to water it a LOT less often! LOL

Less than three months later, my basil looks fantastic! In fact, I have too much of it. I spent nearly 30 minutes yesterday pruning and planning how I was going to use it all.
And I have several other herbs growing in my garden. My parents brought me lemon grass, green onions and mint leaves from their own garden about two months ago – and they look so good now. I’ve even used them.
AND now, it’s finally a good time to grow cilantro. Yesterday, I put some coriander in the ground.

I also went to my parent’s house yesterday and plucked several stems of a drying Thai basil plant. After a basil plant matures and flowers, the stems dry up and what’s left over on the stems are known as carpels. These dry and brown as the seeds mature. Then, you can de-seed the plant by crumbling the carpels between your fingers.
That’s what I plan to do with these stems from my mom’s garden. Then, I’ll plant them into my garden so I’ll have both Thai and sweet basil next year!

The only sad thing now is that I have no room for anymore herbs. The garden that I originally thought was going to be too big, is now just right. So excited!

Chocolate Butter Cream Icing

I am so excited to share that I made a new icing - and I can mark this one off my things-to-do before the end of the year list! I made chocolate butter cream icing, using a recipe from Baked Bree (a new favorite website for fun recipes). The texture was perfect for spreading and it actually tasted pretty good. And it’s so easy that I feel comfortable enough to make adjustments to the recipe so it lighter, less sweet and more. So fun!
And I also came to the realization that I can make amazing icing using my KitchenAid mixer. Last time I used it to make icing, it came out grainy and it did not spread well. The worst part is that I was making my standard cream cheese icing, which is super easy to make. A few ago, I bought the KitchenAid flex edge beater and so far, it has proved to be completely worth the $40 I spent on it (this was not a smart purchase; I realized I could buy this at Target for $30 afterwards – arg). At least I know I’ll be using it a lot!

Here’s the recipe for chocolate butter cream.

2 sticks of room temperature butter
2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-3 tablespoons heavy cream

Cream together the butter and sugar. Gradually add the cocoa powder. Add just enough cream to get the consistency for spreading (I used 2 tbs). Add the vanilla.
Try it, and let me know what you think!

New restaurants

We have been quite busy the last few weeks! Between our work and play, I’ve not had time for blogging. But I will try to make more time to say hello now and then!

Of course being so social has its benefits. Tim and I were able to knock out another one of my to-dos before the end of the year. We went to TWO new restaurants in the last few weeks.

Things I'll Never Say

I used to LOVE this song. And it's exactly how I feel today.



Only difference is, I'd say these things to him today... :P

Cuz he's worth it.