Sashimi doesn't get much fresher...Kamalame Pt. 2

I requested one thing from the gentlemen as we left Miami: 

Catch me some tuna for my birthday, 

please and thank you!

They happily obliged.

The island, Kamalame, is managed impeccably by David and his lovely beau Michael.  After the guys caught the tuna, David and Michael came over with some Sauvignon Blanc, or was it Riesling?


(All I know is, the switch back from beer to vino made my heart very happy!)


They also brought the fixings for the tuna. 


While yellowfin obviously is amazing as is, they added sweet chili sauce, garlic, some crunchy wonton bits and some herbs and created what can only be described as bliss. 

Utter.Total.Bliss 

 In 100% typical fashion, I completely interrogated them on how they met and fell in love. They humored me and it made my night to say the least.


It was such a treat meeting them, and I hope our paths cross again one day.

Life Lately

Tasty Flat Bread Pizzas: 

Brush whole wheat pita with olive oil or your favorite pesto, layer torn baby spinach, sauteed onions, mushrooms and asparagus and top with diced tomatoes and feta. Broil at 500 until pita crisps a bit. You can switch up the toppings however you please :) 

Bacon wrapped baby asparagus:

Fry bacon for 5-7 min, until they begin to shrink but don't cook all the way. Wrap around 2" lengths of asparagus bundles. Try to make them all the same size. Broil at 450 until bacon cooks fully - when they start looking like they are close, roll them to make sure the other side gets cooked as well. 

It's the Little Things: New Blooms, Grilling & the HUNGER GAMES!!

This week's weather did well by my new plants! 

The transplants took beautifully. 

My tulips have already started blooming. 

The snapdragon has tons of new buds, ready to burst! 

The dahlias and morning glories have poked through the ground with lots of little sprouts. 

Everything looks great so far! 

Don't you just love projects with such tangible results?

My mom always says that it is so much more rewarding to clean a dirty house than a spotless one!

Also, I'm spoiled. 
I enjoyed dinner outdoors twice this week! 
It was a very strange feeling - relinquishing control of the cooking. Have I mentioned yet that I'm a bit of an control freak avid cook?
I did it twice though, and the results were...well...


 DELICIOUS! 


Chris grilled up a tasty dinner for us on Sunday. 
He grilled marinated pork and shrimp with butter and Old Bay -and now, I'm hungry again just thinking about it! 
My parents grilled shrimp and served it over my mom's famous Caesar salad with homemade croutons and dressing. 


Spring Break should happen more often than once annually...I'm just saying...

I also chopped off 8 inches of my hair this week. It feels FANTASTIC. Chris has only ever known me with long hair, so I was interested to see his reaction. I didn't tell him that I was getting it cut or that I had a surprise or anything.  When he got here, he told me I looked pretty twice, and then 5 minutes later realized what I had changed. 
Success! 

AND, to SAVE THE BEST FOR LAST!!!!!! 

Nothing beats the midnight premiere of the Hunger Games on a school/work night with my little sister!! We got there over an hour early and it was jam packed! We barely got seats together. They did such a great job with the movie. Obviously, they had to leave out several small things from the book, to fit it into a reasonable amount of time, but honestly, they captured the characters and the storyline very well. I wanted to start from the beginning and watch it a second time as soon as it ended! 


May the odds be ever in your favor!

What little things made you happy this week?

Garden Makeover & St. Patty's Day

My favorite holiday has always been St. Patrick's Day. I love the history of it, the food and the celebration. This year we lucked out with great weather. 

Chris' friend is in town and had never been to Annapolis! We couldn't have asked for a better day to show it off. 

We ate lunch at Pussers, out on their deck. Crabcakes, Oysters on the half shell, Maryland Crab Soup and Oyster shooters...YUM! These little ducks loved the crumbs we threw them.

We swung by McGarvey's for a green beer and headed up to Baltimore for the evening.

Sunday, we attempted to salvage the disaster that was our back yard. Our neighbors had their roof redone this year and the roofers kindly threw all of their waste off of the neighbor's roof and into our back yard. My housemate had removed all of that debris, but in the midst of that chaos, she discovered that terrible awful harbor rats had invaded our garden. She set out poison for them, but they left quite the mess. Check out the damage below!

I don't know about you, but in my mind, rats are probably the most disgusting, vile creatures that have ever existed. The thought of them rooting around my plants, in my living space, totally freaks me out. 

Chris and I made a Home Depot run and got to work. First, we salvaged a couple plants that had hung on through the winter, transplanting them into pots temporarily. 

Then, we emptied a ton of dirt from the raised bed and  replaced it with fresh soil, filling in all of the tunnels that the rats left behind.  

We planted dahlias, viola pansies, snap dragons, moon flowers, and morning glories and replanted the lavender we had transplanted. 

We also put out some strongly scented powder that supposedly is safe for plants but deters rodents. It contains bobcat urine...YUM!! 

(ugh, if I never have to deal with rats ever again, I will be very happy! I didn't even have to see the one that the poison killed! My housemate's boyfriend had to finish it off because it wasn't all the way dead, SOSOSOSO GROSSSSSSSSS)

Here's the after picture. Please ignore the wire going across the top of the picture! That was one of the presents we received from the neighbors' roofers. Chris climbed onto our roof though and was able to move it back where it belonged.

In the pots, we trimmed some herbs that survived the winter and planted a tomato plant. Chris surprised me with the hanging flower bed :) I love it! We filled it with violas and I'm hoping they end up growing over the edge and hanging. 

We planted some tulips in pots as well. I'm too impatient to wait for summer for blooms! Spring bloomers are necessary!

I was thrilled to see that my gerbera daisies are coming back this year. Luckily, we had such a mild winter! I really hope they make it. Next to hibiscus flowers, they are my favorite. They are just so bright and vibrant when they bloom!

Chris' hanging basket.

I started some more herbs and veggies from seeds, inside. Once they sprout, I'll bring them outside as well. 


What are you planting this season? Do you garden? If you don't, but would like to, what would you plant?

Yes, that's Will Ferrell - Happy Mardi Gras!

Just got back from a great weekend in New Orleans, where Will Ferrell made an appearance as the King of the Bacchus parade. 

We sampled hurricanes, king cake, shrimp and grits, alligator, catfish, jambalaya, pulled pork barbecue, many flavors of the local Abita brew and po'boys, which in New Orleans are a must. Every bit of food we tasted was delicious! I need to spend some time learning how to make Cajun food! 

People got really competitive trying to catch some swag. Contrary to popular opinion, you do not have to reveal yourself to get beads, you only have to wave your hands like a loon and cheer loudly. We came home with more swag than we know what to do with! 

Everyone warned us that Mardi Gras gets really crazy - it actually wasn't nearly as bad as what I expected! The city certainly knows how to throw a good party though. 

The amount of trash leftover after the parades was mind boggling. The streets were overflowing with waste. Apparently, the city can get an estimate on revenue generated by Mardi Gras based on the pounds of trash collected after the event.

 The most amazing part: the city had each parade route sparkling clean by the following morning. 

Inmates on good behavior worked through the night and everything was ready for the next set of parades the following day. 

New Orleans fascinates me. 

Much of the city is still blighted from Katrina and many residents still suffer the effects of the BP oil spill. 

I've never seen more abandoned buildings in one place. 

The parades included school marching bands and dance troupes and they were completely racially segregated. 

The poverty in the city is very apparent. The roads are a mess and because the city sinks at different rates, the sidewalks are chaotically uneven. Crime is rampant and the government is corrupt. 

However, the music, art, architecture, food and climate are all incredible. 

Contradictions abound.

Lower 9th Ward: The red marking is where the water line was on this house on September 10, 2005. The  marking was made as rescue workers searched for bodies - the number announces how many were found and if the house is clear. 

You can still see kids toys on the floor. 

Many homes haven't been rebuilt.

Brad Pitt has built many sustainable and affordable homes in the area for residents who have returned. Some bemoan the architecture chosen as it does not resemble the shotgun style of the original homes. However, he has contributed a significant amount to the area and to the people who did not have means to help themselves.

The blue posts mark the water levels. 

It really was eyeopening to see that the recovery process is this far from over.

"Whenever you feel like criticizing any one…just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had."

— F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Chapter 1