Wonderful Weekend

Whew! What a great weekend! It was fast (aren't they all?!), but really wonderful. It sure didn't hurt that the weather was absolutely outstanding!!

We started the weekend off on the right foot with friends and the Twins vs. Royals game at the brand new Target Field. Such a cool night [literally and figuratively]!

{our seats}

{scoreboard} {our view} {Hrbek's} {batter up}

{Minnie & Paul}

Saturday morning we woke up and started about our day. Twenty minutes later, Malin's face looked like this.

{poor swollen puppy}

A dose of Benadryl later, he was on the mend. And after a few hours of surveillance, Rich and I left to check out a newly opened restaurant in the neighborhood.

{five guys burgers and fries}

{fries}

{burger}

It was delicious!!! The menu reminded me of In-N-Out burger and the food was really, really tasty.

Here are the perks: bulk peanuts available while you wait in line to order and as you wait for your burger to be prepared and the toppings (excluding cheese and bacon) are F-R-E-E!! I'm talking lettuce, tomatoes, onions, grilled onions, mushrooms, pickles, fresh jalapenos, ketchup, mustard, mayo, BBQ sauce and A1. And you guessed it - everything in bold was added to my burger. Yum.

Did you see the fries?! There are two varieties: Cajun and Regular. They are from fresh-cut potatoes and scrumptious! [Frankly the fries are like the ones from the State Fair and they have malt vinegar on hand, which made for some tasty dipping. BTW - the fry portion is huge, we could have done with one order, but I insisted on getting the Cajun too. While they were good, next time I'd stick with the Regular and douse them in malt vinegar followed by ketchup.]

After our yummy lunch, Rich did yard work while I put on a sundress, grabbed a few magazines and caught some rays on the deck.

{sun city}

Post-sun [and sufficiently feeling like a bum], I changed clothes and helped in the yard for a few minutes before transitioning to indoor housework. Our evening came to a close reclined in our Adirondack chairs, me with wine, Rich with beer and Malin lapping up water. Lovely.

{our family, including a cured dog}

Sunday was equally splendid, but not as eventful. We slowly woke up, no impromptu hives this time, reviewed the paper. I ran some errands, came home, painted my toenails and then left on more errands. I came home again to Rich making his famous charcoal chicken.

{the chef and his grill}

Our friends stopped by to pick up a crate we used when Malin was just a pup [they bring home their own puppy this Saturday!]. We chatted about summer plans and dog play dates while snacking on pretzels and dip. Before long it was 9:30p, our friends departed and it was time to clean up, get ready for work and head to bed. Another delightful weekend come and gone.

Mystery Meal à la Rich

Earlier this week Rich and I celebrated five years together. I've mentioned it here before - but I've been working a lot of hours. So on the day itself, when I got home at 6:30p Rich asked who I was, because his wife is usually at work until 9p. (An exaggeration, yes, but not terribly far from the truth.)

He mentioned he had wanted to make a special dinner, but wasn't sure when I would come home so he hadn't picked up the ingredients. Right then and there I promised that on Friday I would leave work no later than 5:30p and from then on referred to the dinner he was going to make as his "mystery meal."

Man, this guy does not disappoint! I arrived home to him chopping, slicing and dicing in the kitchen. And everything was a surprise. I had no idea what we were having. I asked prodding questions that led nowhere.

Until... our Appetizer:

{fresh coconut}

The coconut was a huge clue - we were revisiting our honeymoon!! (I told you Rich is good!) He made our favorite Tahitian entree, Poisson Cru!

Poisson cru is similar to cevice in that it consists of raw fish, quickly marinated in lime juice to "cook" the fish. Coconut milk is added, along with diced and seeded cucumber, tomatoes, chopped scallions, salt and pepper. Interested in the recipe? Check out this link.

{Rich taking a picture of our meal for his Project 365}

The dish itself was terrific. It was a first attempt and I must hand it to Rich, it was a fantastic replica of our initial poisson cru experiences!

{Lime+Coconut+Fish=Fresh+Simple+Tasty}

{that's me in the background, chowing down}

To go with our French Polynesian meal, we also opened one of the bottles of rum we bought during our visit. {I guess we'd been saving the rum for a special occasion too, because this was the first time we'd opened a bottle.}

{ice, liquer banane, oj}

What a fun way to celebrate love and bring the tropics to us. Great work, babe! ♥

731 days ago...

Mr. Jones and them, they're gonna be big stars...

{Hangin' around}

Rich and our friend Heidi love Adam Duritz and his band the Counting Crows. I am not sure that Rich is a bigger fan of anyone else on the planet.

Earlier in the week Heidi had sent an email that read, "Does anyone else think that there is a decent chance of Adam being at the game on Saturday? No concert scheduled, so I don’t see what else he would do with his day." And sure enough: Adam really was at the game!! [Adam is a huge Cal State fan and apparently he has an "All Access" pass, per the tag hanging from his belt loop.] I am soooo happy that Rich and Heidi were able to pose for a photo with him!! They just adore him; it seriously brightened everyone's day!!

*Final score: Golden Gophers: 21, Golden Bears: 35

Meet Rich, the crafter

Since I was a craft-slacker in July {I still haven't done anything to change that status...}, Rich has stepped in to fulfill the crafter role in this household.

Based on the picture, I'm sure you will agree that his craft likely has a more "manly" edge than mine usually do.

{I'm not sure if his "craft" is a secret, so I purposely excluded any photos of the project}

Do you like the artwork in the background? They are seriously the only things we have hung so far at our house. Can you guess what room these are in???