Cook Out

I put together these veggie kebabs and our spread also included brats, roasted corn salad, panko-breaded onion rings, and fresh fruit. Two of my girlfriends came over and we had a fantastic time; today Austin and I are lounging and being low key.

Creamy Leek Risotto

I made this dish shortly before I left and these are the photos I didn't get around to posting. The recipe is adapted from here, minus the fungus and with the addition of some shallots and garlic as well as white wine.

I sauteed the leeks a little in some olive oil; this makes your house smell heavenly.



Next is the unseemly amount of cream.



All the stirring was not documented by camera. I put fresh parm on the top of mine and, as always, fresh ground black pepper (the good kind).



Outta this world!

Mmmm Choucroute*

I brought some Frank's back from Wisco and Austin was delighted to see it. Even though we live in an area of TX that has some serious German heritage, we just can't get decent sauerkraut down here nor is it easy to order Frank's online. We've never had the hot dog kind, ooooh the anticipation.

*I like the French word for sauerkraut, so fun to say.

Congrats, Mr. & Ms. B!

This was the main reason for my trip back home. Congrats to two lovely people!

Quality time with my niecelet

Baby girl feet, soon to be walking toddler feet.

Grandpa's Barn

From Finals to Flying

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I think this semester ended in probably one of my most intense finals weeks; between my own papers and projects, I had 50 or so students to evaluate and grade. This is just life for a grad student but it seemed more challenging this semester. I submitted my last paper on Friday and my student grades on Saturday then finally had the time to plan for my trip home for which I am leaving today, Monday. I just could not see past finals so, while I was aware of the upcoming trip, I hadn't really planned for it or done a whole lot to get ready. I spent the rest of the weekend and doing so and now I'm off, bridesmaid dress in tow!

Austin will be holding down the fort and making sure that Stinky's cuteness is constantly being monitored. We'll be celebrating our anniversary when I get back and we've got a trip to CO schedule for the end of July for, you guessed it, another family wedding. I think all of our nearest and dearest are married so hopefully 2011 will give our travel budget a little break.

Strawberry-Lemon Crisp

Yet another unappetizing phone pic. Sorry, just no energy to shoot a good one with the Big Boy cam and then upload it, iPhone makes it too easy.

So I think this last week was really the most intense finals week I've had here so far and then the minute I finished grades, the realization that I was going to be heading home to Minnesconsin mere days later set in. No rest for the wicked. I am going to occasionally phone-blog throughout my trip and Austin has promised to send me pictures of Stinky at least once daily (cuz yeah, it's come to that).

Strawberry Pie

Austin has been craving pie (shocking if you know him) so I decided to make a strawberry pie since they are so inexpensive right now. I looked at rhubarb but the prices were through the roof- I remember picking it out of my parents' yard so I couldn't bear to pay so much for it.

I took the picture with my phone and I have to say the quality isn't so appetizing. I think it kinda looks like gore but hey, it's lovely in person and tastes great.

Finalizing

I'm pretty much off the blogosphere while writing final papers and giving final exams.