Easter

As a bunny-obsessed, little girl, Easter was one of my favorite holidays. I still have a special place in my heart for it and dream of the day when we get to host an egg hunt at our house.... and of the day when I will have chickens that lay their own colored eggs.... just have to convince husband that he will enjoy having chickens for pets.

I end up dying eggs about every other year or so, and I'm very interested in new ways of achieving unique colors, textures, and patterns. The last time, I experimented with using silk tie scraps for dying.

Last week a facebook friend posted an article about using natural things to dye eggs. So that's what we did.

I didn't want to get all crazy with it so I just chose a few items to experiment with - blueberries (frozen), spinach (frozen), turmeric, and paprika. The blueberries and spinach I boiled for a while. I only used the juice from the blueberries but there was still a lot of debris in the liquid. I left the leaves of spinach in the bowl to see what kind of texture effect they would have on the egg. The spinach barely worked at all on its own (maybe because it was frozen), but there were some unexpected things happening when an egg was first soaked in the spinach mixture then another color. Some of them were soaked for more than an hour.

1. Turmeric and Paprika
2. Spinach then Turmeric/Paprika
3. Blueberries then Turmeric/Paprika
4. half of the egg in Spinach then the whole egg in Blueberries
5. the whole egg in Spinach then Blueberries
6. just Blueberries

Another perk of the exercise was utilization of the egg cup collection from my Aunt Lori, and one I purchased in Chinatown on Easter. My mother-in-law was visiting and in addition to eggs and Chinatown shopping, our weekend included korean bbq, manhattans, movies, bathroom sink shopping, antiquing, Glen's Diner, yard work, and an Easter dinner of pork tenderloin (cooked to perfection by my dear husband) and this. I can't believe we did all that.

Now who wants some egg salad???

30 recap

I had a great birthday weekend (last weekend). Probably the best in several years, mainly because it did not snow or rain or any combination of the two and I was not sick. The weather was cold, but it was bright and sunny and there were very few clouds in that big blue sky. It went a little something like this.

Friday:
- ordered take out from Pita Kabab for dinner with some dear friends.
- they brought me Taste of Heaven cupcakes *yum*

Saturday:
- had a dutch pancake breakfast with Jasmine.
- purchased Neil Young tickets for next month *yay*
- made this for lunch
- ate a cupcake
- snuggled with cats & hubby and watched a movie
- had a lovely candlelight dinner at Uncommon Ground with some wonderful people and drinks afterward at Cunneen's on Devon. had a great time but wasn't a completely wild party animal, which was fine.

Sunday (birthday)
- slept in.
- made myself 2 fried eggs AND oatmeal for breakfast.
- phone calls from my family.
- went shopping at Old Orchard and got some treats for myself at anthropologie and Aveda.
- took a 2 hour nap.
- bibim bap for dinner at Solga with hubby

I also received many unexpected gifts including jewelery, gardening supplies, a flowering cactus, more camping supplies, more cupcakes, and a beautiful copy of a rare book The Encyclopedia of Needlework by Th de Dillmont (see photo above). I haven't been able to look through the entire thing yet, but I did notice an unfamiliar cast-on method in the knitting section using 3 strands of yarn. The best card that came in the mail this year was from Aunt Kathy and Aunt Dar, along with some drawings I had made for Dar at age 6.

So far, 30 has been pretty nice.

A Cold Spring

Today and over the next couple of days the temperature will hover around freezing. We awoke this morning to a faint dusting of snow on the ground. March 24th. How irritated I was with the weather. And then I thought of something.

A memory.

A tiny, urban, postage-stamp-size back yard that was a wild forest to a small girl.

The promise of a birthday, Easter bunnies, jelly beans, and fluffy, white coconut cake.

A delicate and deep amethyst colored crocus thrust up from the earth, surrounded by a mound of fluffy, white snow.

I'm looking forward to new beginnings this season. My garden. Spring at Francisco Nyktas. And turning 30 soon....

Surprises

I just wanted to note all of the lovely things that have made this evening:

* Knitting with some of my favorite ladies at my new LYS Windy Knitty (check it out!) It was their first day of business. Afterward, pizza and tea with sweet Ms. McMillan.

* Husband bought me some early bday gifts - camping supplies for our upcoming camping trip.

* The weather is promising to be more spring-like this week. I loved the little tiny drops of rain that were falling on me as I walked up my street.

* When I arrived home there were more surprises! Erin sent me David Lebovitz's Ice Cream book!!! I can't wait to make more ice cream.

* I received my asparagus and strawberry roots from Kroehne Plant Farm in Michigan.

* My cousin sent me a photo of her baby wearing the booties I knitted. I love love love when I get to see people wearing things I made for them.

* One of my turnip seeds has sprouted.

Tonight I'll be counting my blessings instead of sheep.

Let's start at the beginning

From a tiny seed I will grow some food for myself and my family. Ok - from many many many many seeds, we will begin making food from scratch! From real scratch. I am incredibly thrilled about my first vegetable garden, and today I received these lovely little packets of seeds. (from a website called EarthlySeed.com) I still can't believe that these tiny little specks of organic material can be nurtured and coaxed into succulent vegetables for my meals. There is so much wonder and excitement in planning a garden. I am using the methods discussed in a book called Square Foot Gardening.

So I'm going to start some of these seeds indoors asap. Never done this before. Do I need a grow lamp or will a sunny window suffice? I will appreciate any tips or tricks from the experienced gardeners out there.