Spring is Springing

The bulbs are pushing out leaves in the front yard, and we have our first blooming flower. It's so refreshing to finally see color in our otherwise gray and brown landscape.

Can anyone identify these? I'm hoping for tulips and daffodils!

This last week has been a good one. We spent Thursday-Saturday at the Inn at Walnut Acres in beautiful Bellefonte (pronounced bell-font), PA. This is a tiny historic town near State College, and it is full of beautifully preserved Victorian houses and antique/country clutter shops.

Obligatory toy store hilarity

The inn is a bit odd because it is actually a modern large house in the country outside of town, rather than the usual drafty creaky-floored Victorian manse. The house is also home to a large family including younger adults/teenagers, so the fantasy of a world populated only by adults was somewhat compromised.

On the bright side, the rooms were large and comfortable and we had a steam shower! The grounds were extensive and included interesting animals.

Exhibit A: Misty the friendly guard dog

Exhibit B: Cowgoat

The restaurants we dined at were also very good. Dinner on Thursday at the High Street Pub where we encountered an art opening also presented a clean, modern pub dining experience, however, the Guinness was served in a bottle. Waffle lunch at the Waffle Shop was as advertised, but Dave didn't get enough chocolate chips on his waffle. Cool Beans coffee shop was a surprisingly cozy hangout, which we did while sipping lattes and playing cards. Dinner at the Gamble Mill was not all it was hyped up to be, but the restaurant is very nicely decorated and the food wasn't bad.

The week ended with me doing laundry and cleaning out the guest room (getting it ready for whoever might drop by--HINT HINT), and both of us got some crappy mild upper-respiratory illness.

This week I'm back in my office after finally finishing the cleanup after the floor debacle. Now I'm thinking about gardening and trying to figure out what to plant after I clear up all the old dead weeds from the beds. Any ideas?

The Winter Months

Whenever I stop a regular activity for awhile, such as an exercise program, it's so hard to get started again. First there's the feeling of guilt that I'm letting myself down by not doing this thing that is good for me, but feeling too tired to really get started again esp having reclaimed that time to watch more HGTV, and knowing that I'm going to be so sore and exhausted for awhile until I get stronger. Well, I guess blogging is kinda like that too, so this is going to be a quick catchup since I don't want to be too sore tomorrow. :)

Back in December my Grannie died about a week before Christmas, so I rushed down to help sort her things out and be there for the memorial service. It was a huge turnout of her friends and neighbors. I returned with a carload of Christmas decorations, silver, and china. It was sad at first seeing Grannie's things in my house, but I am really enjoying having them now.

At Christmas we went to NJ to visit Dave's family where wee had a traditional Italian dinner at Aunt Jeanie's, then we spent a couple of days in Cape May in a sort of timeout, then on to DC for New Year's Eve with my family where we went ahead with the dinner party Grannie had planned. It was really good seeing everyone and feeling connected with so many people during a sad time for me.

Enjoying a Cape May day

When we got home from our Christmas/NYE trip Dave found that one caster on the guest bed had gone through the creaky old floor boards, so we had the fun of communicating this to our Chicago landlord, and hiring a contractor to repair that and some other weak areas in the floors. I was so glad when the work was done and the workmen were out of the house, but they left me with a huge amount of cleanup and not a little bit of aesthetic detail to repair as well. I now know much more about house construction and floor refinishing that I ever wanted to know.

January and February were a blur of getting cable TV (so we could watch Awards shows and the inauguration), and getting a Wii (so we would have something to keep us active during the dark snowy days). Since we got cable I've become addicted to HGTV and keep it on all day while I'm working. Dave very quickly went pro on Wii Tennis and now is over 2000 points. I recently got to pro, but I don't play as much.

Dave goes pro

We saw as many Academy-nominated films as possible leading up to the Oscar show (which I could barely stay awake for). There were a lot of good films this year, but we were disappointed that Dark Knight didn't get more attention.

I've recently taken up baking using recipes from a wonderful Amazon find: Small-Batch Baking. The recipes work very well, and I'm really enjoying what I used to do a lot of as a kid, but dropped when my bird-like metabolism slowed down. It's great to enjoy a batch of only 6 cookies rather than face dozens.

Chocolate-dipped chocolate-almond biscotti on Grannie's china
(and on Grannie's coffee table)

We've gone to a few new restaurants over the winter. Not too many notable ones, but a few of the highlights were:

Max and Erma's--this was a family favorite when I was a kid and Dave had never been to one, so we tried the Shadyside location and it was everything I remembered, even the sundae bar is still part of the experience. We found the food to be of good quality, and the fresh baked chocolate cookies were awesome.

Kaya--this is one of the Big Burrito Group restaurants that serves a Caribbean fusion sort of fare. The menu changes a lot so we were unfortunate to get there on a heavy seafood day, and everything was very spicy. I don't think Dave will be back but I'd like to go with anyone who likes spicy seafood and try some more adventurous dishes.

DeLuca's--this is one of those truckstop diner type places where you can get a big pile of pancakes and bacon while sitting at the counter watching the hustle and bustle as the staff and the tiny kitchen try to keep up with the massive line forming at the door. The food was everything you'd expect and more, but the service was spotty because the crowds they get are much to big.

Whew, well that was quite a workout. Hopefully it gets easier from here. I'll be back! Promise!

The Omega Fontega

Virg insisted I blog about this. Our favorite sandwich place is Panera, where they consistently put together sandwiches with great combinations of ingredients. And whatever you order, they seem to be done making it before you can find a table.

Last week I stopped at our local Panera and ordered a Fontega Chicken Hot Panini sandwich. Ten minutes later, one of the people making sandwiches called out my name, and told me they were out of that sandwich. This confused me. I can understand being out of a particular ingredient, but how can you be out of an entire sandwich? So I asked, "Did you just say you were out of Fontega Chicken?" The woman replied, "Well, we only have half a sandwich left. But we can give you half of any other hot panini sandwich." From this, I learned two important facts about Panera:

1. The hot panini sandwiches aren't made fresh. They're pre-made.
2. The people at Panera are unable to assemble new hot panini sandwiches. (This is mysterious, because they clearly possess chicken, mozzarella, tomato, and focaccia.)

The implication is clear. Panera does not make hot panini sandwiches. A long time ago, Panera explorers came upon the remnants of an ancient society of super-intelligent aliens, who, deep within an intricate network of underground crystal caves, hid a stash of hot panini sandwiches. And since 1981, Panera has been mining those sandwiches and selling them to customers for $6.79. Except that now, I have eaten the last of the Fontega Chicken sandwiches, and it's only a matter of time before the world's supply of Smokehouse Turkey dries up, too!