Memorial Day Weekend Wrap Up

Saturday was GREAT! Sunday was pretty darn good also. Monday though had its ups and downs. J slept in (the only day all weekend I let him) and I played around on Facebook and talked to my mom and sis. Once he awoke we decided that we needed to tackle the ever growing number of dishes in the sink (both sinks were full and we were being lazy). We opened the dishwasher to find it never drained. We emptied the dishwasher and began to try to siphon the water out to diagnose the problem. We found a broken wine glass and thought that the shards of glass were the cause of the problem. Running and re-running the dishwasher proved fruitless. The dishwasher wasn't draining and J and I had both sucked in too much nasty water through the drain tube to continue. We did successfully wash all the dishes because although it doesn't drain, it still washes.

During one of the attempts to get the dishes clean, J and I took a ride up to The Hills Market because of a post from Sopressata. We bought a ton of stuff. J was most excited to find real bagels - honest to goodness looked like bagels from home - bagels. We also got some Walleye fillets, mussels, cheese, wine, beer, liquor and a small amount of morels. Yes, I know a little of everything. We then stopped to get movies b/c tonight was a free redbox rental night and went home to continue to tackle the dishwasher.

After deeming the dishwasher needed a professional (I will call about it tomorrow - until a repairman can come out I think I will be filling it, running it and then siphoning the leftover water because I just can't bear to wash dishes by hand.

We then made the morels. I have read about them on the many blogs I read. I know that it is coming to an end of morel season, so I had to try them. Here is what we did. Just a simple recipe. First we melted some butter and olive oil in a cast-iron skillet:

Then added the morels:Kept stirring them:

until they were good and sauteed:

then plated them with some salt and pepper:

We both agreed they had a great earthy taste that would be great in a soup (albeit a very expensive soup). I have about as much that I haven't yet cooked so I will think of a new way to cook them later this week.

For dinner, we weren't totally hungry so we took out the cheeses that we bought and had one of my favorite dinners - a wine and cheese dinner. This is something that has taken J a few years to appreciate. But now he sure love a good stinky cheese, a creamy goat cheese and some fig compote for dinner, accompanied by a nice bottle of wine. I know this was the second time we had cheese this weekend, but its a holiday and two of the cheeses we had were leftovers, so its all good....

We watched Sweeny Todd - J didn't want to watch it and felt even more duped when he realized it was a musical. Although it was rather dark, it was a good story with some great actors. Glad I watched it, but I won't watch it again. J also rented and is going to watch National Treasure 2, but until then, he's happily playing Guitar Hero.

J's going to AC for a golf tourney from Thursday night to Sunday night, so if you have any movie recommendations for me, they are more than welcome. I'm thinking - No Reservations, PS I Love You...any others?

Memorial Day Weekend - Day 2 - Hocking Hills

So today we went to Hocking Hills. The hour drive takes you through the farm country of Ohio. You see silos, cows, horses, etc. Once there though, we were in the middle of forests. There aren't tons of words to describe this place but beautiful. I am sure these pictures don't describe the place, but we'll give them a try:

And that ends the day. J just came in from playing cornhole with our neighbors, its 9:30 and we will figure out what to do for dinner or if we are doing dinner at all?

The best day in CBUS yet

So Memorial Day weekend always sneaks up on me. Its not that I don't know its coming, as a teacher, it is always the reminder that report cards are due soon and the kids are officially checked out after this last vacation day. Its that I always have a good time and I never have any wild and crazy plans.

This Memorial Day weekend started off that same way. After walking the dog and returning an only OK movie ("...Before the Devil Knows You're Dead") I came home to a great surprise. My BFF Marci had driven down from Cleveland to surprise me. She only stayed for a few hours so we didn't do much, but it was so nice to have a face from home in our home.

We went to Target - her idea, not mine. Then had lunch at the North Market, so Marci could get some Vietnamese and her BF could get something not Vietnamese. Then we walked to Jeni's for some ice cream and ate it on the back patio.

Then Marci and her BF were back to Cleveland and it was only 2PM. So what do you do at 2PM on an absolutely beautiful day? You pack up the lawn chairs, throw on a tank top, and get Bear ready for some park time.

J, Bear and I enjoyed some much needed sun and fun. I got to read some People magazines, J played with the dog and then we played some catch. It was a fabulous way to spend 3 hours on a Saturday. J loves catch, more than he loves beer (see he is growing up) and now that we have a "chuck-it" I can satisfy his catch desires as only Figa used to be able to. I also got to satisfy some of my barefoot desires.

Bear happily enjoyed being the "monkey-pants" in the middle during our game of catch.

J said it was his favorite way to spend a Saturday. A combination of finishing a book he loved, playing catch, and even reliving some childhood mischief with the Pop-Its. He never did get to the NY Times, but that was his choice, not the lack of time.

You'd think that was all, but no! We then went to a great gourmet market we had both heard good things about - Weiland's, bought some beer, cheese, wine and pre-made burgers.

We had a great night cooking them up on the grill. See it was a fabulous day filled with no real fireworks, but total satisfaction!Tomorrow we will venture off for a hike in Hocking Hills. I have to remember to charge my camera for that adventure! Can't wait! We were also invited to a BBQ at a our next door to our next door neighbors. We really do live here.