Sunday dinner

One day weekends are not fun but we still make time for a big Sunday dinner; a repeat of one of our new favourite recipes - Maple Butter Roasted Chicken - and we will eat as much asparagus as we can while it is in season.

Notes from my studio and beyond

Two hikes in two days; first to the radio tower. Lots of dogs on the trail but no birds.

Second hike up to the reservoir; no people, no dogs, and just one bird.

Big lunch after all that walking; lamb chops with rice and asparagus. The lamb chops had been marinating in white wine for two days.

Flowers in my studio which was a really nice treat! And I managed to finish the lavender eye pillows and drawer sachets that Maura will gift to her sponsor teacher.

Mr. Cowboy really outdid himself on dinner; Maple-Butter Roasted Chicken with sweet potatoes and spring mix salad.

 And for dessert, Maura baked a juicy apple pie. A la mode for me, please.

Buona Pasqua

Asparagus from California, eggs from Barnhartvale, and parmigiano from Italy. Mr. Cowboy puts it all together and makes an awesome frittata.

Have hot glue gun, will travel

What do you do when the pop up handle on your suitcase breaks? Some people would rush out to Winners and buy a ridiculously priced Nautica hard back case.

But then you come to your senses, return the afore-mentioned beautiful sunshine yellow with gray accents Nautica suitcase, and cajole your dad, the infamous Mr. Cowboy to fix it for you. And fix it he does with a chunk of plywood and a hot glue gun.

This suitcase is now ready for a few more trips.

Notes from my studio

We had a couple of visitors to the studio this morning; they basically laid around all day while I worked on some projects.

I know I have had this quilt on my blog before but now it is really done; the binding is on and I have signed it. In a few days I will mail it off.

Cowboy country

Not even ten minutes from our house we are in the country; big houses, white fences that stretch for miles, and lots of horses.

Chopped salad

The Queen in our kitchen is Ina Garten. And our latest favourite recipe of hers from her Back to Basics cookbook is the Cape Cod chopped salad. It is a crunchy mixture of arugula, bacon, apples, walnuts, and cheese. We added roast chicken and pickled onions to make it an even more complete dinner salad. But the star of this meal is the dressing made with orange juice, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, and mustard plus a good olive oil and lots of black pepper. The plates were licked clean!