The Ward Family in Washington

This summer the Ward's came to visit. The dad, Cory, was my college lacrosse coach and I immediately bonded with his entire family. I babysat for them throughout my college days, and visited them as soon as their youngest, Abigail was born. The mom, Mel, has become one of my closest friends. During college their house was a wonderful taste of home - they frequently had me over for dinner or just to hang out.

Here are some pictures from their visit:

Mel, Josh, Emily, and Abigail

Emily and Josh - not sure why they can't go on the other side of the fence.

Leave it to the kids to find the water fountains.

I had never noticed these before!

Family Photo!

Sisters Weekend in DC

Julia and Brooke surprised me in DC this summer for a weekend full on laughter. Despite rain, we had a blast. We ordered takeout, snuggled on the couch and watched movies. Fortunately the the sun broke through long enough to let us explore Eastern Market on its opening weekend.

We found huge sunglasses, even larger hats and lots of items that made us laugh. The weekend was a great time for Julia, Brooke and me to bond. We don't often get the opportunity to spend a few days catching up and sharing our thoughts. I cannot wait until they visit again!

CSA Inspired Recipe: Apple Crisp

My house is over flowing with apples! Each week we receive more than we can possibly eat in our CSA share. The are all delicious. I would never want to ask for less, but I need to find creative uses to use a whole lot of apples fast some times! My trusty dish is an apple crisp, modified from an old Real Simple recipe.

• 6 or so apples, peeled and cut into wedges


• 1/3 cup honey


• 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts


• fresh lime juice (1 lime)


• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour


• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed


• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

1. In a baking dish, combine and toss apples, honey, pecans, and lime juice.
   


2. In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and butter. Work the butter into the dry mixture with fingers to create a crumble topping.


3. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.
   
   

Enjoy!

Sushi in Easton

Shannon, Fallon, and Me at General Tanukis

One of the best parts of Summer in Easton are the free outdoor concerts on Saturday evenings. Whenever we are on the Shore and looking for something to do, gathering friends for an early dinner and some toe-tapping tunes is always well worth it. Here is one of the evenings we spent this summer after we introduced Tommy and Fallon to sushi at General Tanukis. (We had a blast, but I am not sure if they will ever go out for sushi with us again...)

The boys, making a point that carrying Baby Dillon is easy...

The boys, refusing to "pose" for my pictures.

It has been too long!

My sister Brooke came to visit. Here is a picture of us in Eastern Market with some hot shades and sad faces. This is how bad I feel about not blogging... :o)

Since I last blogged, we have been to three weddings, went on the annual Schreiber family vacation, moved across town, sent out change of address cards to most of our friends and family members, taken on new responsibilities in our housing situation, I began biking to work, Mark got stung by 12 bees and had an acute delayed reaction, which led to an emergency room visit and a follow up doctors visit to discuss this and other allergic reactions he may have, planned a bridal shower and a baby shower with one incredible baby shower game that I cannot wait to share, planned trips to Florida and Maine for 2 upcoming weddings in 2010 and firmed up our Columbus Day weekend plans where between Mark and I will we be in at least 5 states! We have also decided that we need a new computer, we are hopefully buying one today, been shopping around for a reclaimed wood kitchen table and patio/porch furniture for our new digs. During the move we sold a bunch of our old furniture on craigs list through my friend Christie's business s3v (more about that later) and oh yeah and our external hard drive, that I didn't back up, stopped working.

I have wanted to blog, I really have...I just haven't been able to well, find the time.


But today, TODAY, I am mapping out these wonderful things and planning a week or so of catch up posts to get me back on track. Including posting our LONG overdue London pictures!

I am also weighing the opportunity costs of advertising my calligraphy business more seriously and trying to decide if and when to start that. I welcome advice and encouragement on this front, as always.

Finally, our new home does not have built in bookcases...so I have three boxes of memorabilia and decorations that have significant meaning that I do not know what to do with. I am still living in boxes...what do I do?

So brace yourself, because I am back to blogging, and the past few months of our life are going to be flying at you!

CSA Recipes: Heirloom Tomatoes

This week our farm share included a wide variety of heirloom tomatoes, and I had just the recipe to use! This month's Martha Stewart Living had my mouth savoring. This recipe is truely worth it! To see article from the August issue of Martha Stewart Living, click here.

Grilled Chicken with Cucumber, Radish, and Tomato

1/4 cup white-wine vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon sugar
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1 small jalapeno chile, stem, ribs, and seeds removed, diced
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

1 English cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
5 radishes, very thinly sliced
6 tomatoes cut into 1 inch wedges (the recipe called for cherry, we chose heirloom)
1 small red onion, diced

3 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
V egetable oil, for grill

1 cup fresh mint

1. Bring vinegar, water, sugar, garlic, jalapeño, and ƒ teaspoon salt to a boil in a small saucepan. remove from heat, and let stand for 15 minutes. Strain though a fine sieve; discard solids. Let cool completely.

2. Combine cucumber, radishes, tomatoes, and onion in a medium bowl. Pour in vinegar mixture, and toss to coat.

3. Preheat grill to medium-high. Season chicken breasts on both sides with salt and pepper. Lightly oil the grill grate. Working in batches, grill chicken until cooked through, 6 to 7 minutes per side. Transfer to a platter, and let stand for 10 minutes. Stir mint into relish. Season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with vinegar if desired.

We added a slight varriation to this...we cut the chicken into 1 inch cubes and sauteed it and served the whole meal over a bed of lettuce to make it a heartier salad. It was absolutely delishious!