May 21, 2013

Garden Update

Just a little garden update for your Tuesday morning!

Crazy looking caterpillar on our knock-out roses. Anyone know what this guy will turn into?

Our raised beds from a distance.

Close up of our tomatoes.

Playing with the manual focus on Wheat’s camera (I got my own this weekend! Next week pictures should be up using it, but let me tell ya – it’s pretty sweet!). That tan blob/blur in the last one is Harold racing toward me at top speed to come see what I’m doing.

The squash plants are all getting bigger, and blooming too! You can see how I made the garden stakes here.

All of the oak leaf hydrangeas I transplanted from my MIL Nancy’s yard are doing really well, and one of them is already blooming! Oak leaf hydrangea is one of my favorites – I wanted to use them for my wedding bouquet, but got married too early in the season. Le sigh. I’ll enjoy them in my yard instead!

Finally, this is a rose rooted from one I dug up in high school from a friend’s family farm. It’s my favorite thing on the patio right now!

Hope that brightened up your Tuesday!

Have a good one!

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May 20, 2013

Wallace

If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you already know this… but if not, let me introduce you to our new kitten… Wallace!

Pretty cute, right?

We found Wallace by Wheat’s office door Saturday morning. His littermates scurried away, but he just laid there and looked up at me like, “sup?” I picked him up, he started purring, and shortly thereafter he came home to casa de Kirbo!

He seems to be pretty content here with us, and has made it through the first couple of nights with no problems. We are hoping he will grow up to be the guardian of the garden, because we have a serious squirrel problem! He is getting more and more comfortably with us and exploring the yard a bit more now. He’s just the sweetest little guy around.

Harold still isn’t too sure about him. He’s never even been around a cat before, so this new little critter is sort of wigging him out. He’s getting better though, and he likes to go check on Wallace every now and then.

I’ll be sure to keep you updated on Wallace’s acclimation into the family!

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May 17, 2013

Friday Find

Happy Friday!

Today’s “find” isn’t a thrift shop treasure, but I decided to classify it as a “find” because we will definitely be going back!

Monday night Wheat and I ventured down to Tallahassee for a nice anniversary dinner out at The Front Porch. It’s been on my radar for quite some time now, and we were so pleased, I thought I might start including restaurant reviews (on the rare occasion we dine away from home!).

I wore my Lilly wedding shoes for our anniversary, naturally.

The Front Porch is in the same location Chez Pierre used to be. I loved Chez Pierre all throughout college and law school for outdoor dining and happy hours, so I couldn’t wait to see what they had done with the place!

The ambiance outside was wonderful, and I was obsessed with the chandeliers! Excuse the iPhone pictures – I’m not brave enough to whip out a DSLR at a restaurant yet – not sure I ever will be!

We were so tempted to create our own ceviche, but it was a little overwhelming, so we just went with the Chef’s Special Ceviche du jour. Monday the special combination was shrimp and scallops with mango, cilantro, roasted red bell peppers, cucumbers, and pico I believe, marinated in the Florida Orange & Mango dressing. It was delish! But I would swap the pico for the jalapeno next time for a little bite!

After the ceviche and a delicious glass of the house sauvignon blanc, I had the seared tuna entree with basil mashed potatoes and fresh green beans, with an olive caper sauce on the side. It was great! Everything was REALLY fresh. The sauce wasn’t my favorite, though. I would have liked to have seen an asian type sauce for the tuna. Wheat’s blackened snapper with an arugula-pistachio pesto was definitely the dinner winner! And we both raved about the basil mashed potatoes! Going to have to try to recreate those at home this summer.

I’m guessing they infuse an olive oil with basil and add that to the potatoes? There was no trace of actual basil in the dish – just a subtle basil flavor that was amazing!

For dessert, we decided to split a piece of the cheesecake. The flavor of the day was an orange cheesecake, and we were expecting more of a fresh orange flavor, based on the freshness of the rest of the meal. Instead, the cheesecake tasted just like a Flintstone’s push-up pop! While I love push-up pops, and the cheesecake was good… it was not my favorite dessert ever.

Despite the push-pop cheesecake, we LOVED The Front Porch, and will definitely go back. It was a delicious first anniversary treat! Hope everyone has a great weekend. We will be at the Downtown Bainbridge Art & Wine Walk on Saturday – if you’re interested in joining, contact the Bainbridge Downtown Development Authority office (City Hall) at dita@bainbridgecity.com – it sounds like it’s going to be a great time!