in an effort to use all my zucchinis, i've been cooking this rapidly-growing squash like crazy. i'll add it to anything these days. i guess a. should consider himself lucky it's not in his cereal.
a. is a relatively picky eater (actually, he'll eat anything as long as there's meat in it), so trying to find a veggie-based entree can be a bit challenging. last weekend we had some friends over for game night and i decided to use them as my guinea pigs...like any good hostess should.
i found this zucchini soup recipe and ironically had everything i needed to make it in our fridge. i was a bit short on spinach and cilantro so i added a bit more lemon to make up for it. everyone really enjoyed the soup & we had enough to freeze for a later date (or game night). enjoy.
i just saw this amazing video on elise's blog. since a. and i just had our own homecoming after a year-long deployment, it really struck a chord with me (he'll be home 2 weeks sunday!). homecomings are so incredibly emotional & words can't begin to explain what you're feeling. this video is the closest representation of the happiness and excitement and joy we felt the day we saw each other.
luckily, we'll never be going through another deployment again, but if for some reason things change, i'll be copying this- for sure.
and as a. said, this homecoming was so much cooler than his.
last night i surprised a. with tickets to the avett brothers. a few years ago, we discovered them and thanks to this song, have been fans ever since. the concert was about 2 hours from home at ommegang brewery, so on a school night, it was a bit of a haul.
on our way to the concert we drove through a torrential downpour and when we arrived at the venue, the rain was just getting started. surprisingly the venue was packed & with great beer and an awesome line-up (brandi carlile opened), it was amazing.
the rain never let up and everything turned into mud soup. but it was totally worth it. & even though my poor shoes got ruined- the music, waffles, beer made it the best date night ever.
it's been one week since a.'s been home. and it's been wonderful. it's so nice to have a partner in crime and someone to just do nothing with. so i guess you can say, it's been a great week.
sadly, i missed a.'s homecoming. in true following of murphy's law, our largest conference was held in san antonio the same weekend of his arrival. to anyone else, it might seem silly that i wasn't there- and yes, the decision to miss it was hard. when we found out about the conflict, we talked about it a lot & together decided it would be better to miss the initial hello than be forced to say goodbye a day after he came home.
so we chose for me to go. i spent three very long days keeping my head down and working my butt off. meanwhile, a. started his travels across the globe and our friends planned a killer homecoming party in his honor.
the pictures are: 1) my call from san antonio to tell the gang a's homecoming information and pick-up details. it was also when i realized it was actually happening. honestly, i had a mental breakdown. it was the only time i regretted our decision. 2) the party growlers 3) homecoming formation 4) katie, a. and rick 5) a happy pup 6) a sushi platter rick made for a.
the next day (the first full day a. was home), my colleagues surprised me with an early ticket home. i wanted to keep it a surprise, but between my excitement and knowing that he probably would decide to go golfing or mountain biking for the day, i thought better of it. so i hopped the first flight out of san antonio on monday. miraculously, i made each and every connection & arrived to syracuse on-time. a. was waiting for me and it was magical. & for the first time, in 365 days, i finally felt happy.
my garden is over flowing with zucchini. there was a time, about 3 weeks ago, when i was convinced my garden stopped and boycotted the growth of fruits and veggies. so imagine my surprise when i moved a few leaves and found a zucchini the size of a small animal.
i spent the better part of the evening scouring the internet for zucchini recipes and after considering fritters and stuffed zucchini, i settled on an oldie but goodie: zucchini bread. i've never made zucchini bread. in fact, up until my bread making craze these past couple months, i'd never made anything more than banana bread.
so i picked this recipe from smitten kitchen and went to town. a. was shocked because i don't bake. i generally despise it. there's something about precisely measuring and doing things in a specific order that drives me crazy. i prefer a freestyle form of cooking- where anything goes.
substitutions: i didn't have enough sugar and added a 1/4 cup of white sugar and a 1/4 cup of brown sugar. in my opinion, this ended up being more than enough. i also added 1/8 cup of chai seeds for a little extra fiber and dried cranberries.
review: overall, i think it turned out pretty good. the bread is very moist and has a ton of flavor. next time, i'd add walnuts and a bit more zucchini.
