green garden goodness

Some how I've managed not to completely kill my little garden. In the weeks leading up to the wedding I completely neglected it. I'd pretty much completely forgotten all about it.

So, when we came back from the wedding and had opened all our gifts and gotten settled again I finally remembered that I had a garden. I was quite happily surprised to find that the foot-tall pea plants that I remembered having were now over 4 feet tall. My beans had managed to get bigger despite their early bout with earwigs. The lettuce was growing strong and even a couple carrots were actually starting to grow. It was definitely a happy surprise.

Now the peas are really coming in. Last week I picked this bowl-full of them. They were so sweet and crisp right from the vine. It made me so happy to be out in the summer evening sun picking my peas. I couldn't even bring myself to cook them up for dinner they were just so tasty raw that I saved them for my lunch time snack. And on Monday I picked another bowl-full and there's even more out there now.

I'll be bummed when the peas are done growing. But for now I'm loving all the yummy garden goodness.

he cooks!

While the picture doesn't prove anything... I'm telling you now, Lukas cooked this scrumptious dinner. All it took was a new set of kitchen knives to get Lukas excited/interested in cooking.

The other night he got excited looking through my stack of Everyday Food magazines. He had fun dog earing just about every other page - "mmmm, that looks good". When I commented that gosh, he was marking about everything and maybe he would want to try cooking he scoffed at me, but only momentarily. I think it sunk in that to ensure that some of this yumminess made it to the table he'd have to do the cooking. I was more than happy to say "sure!" when he said, "Well then you'll have to do the dishes."

Lukas's first menu in our new home was steak sandwiches with sautéed mushrooms and wilted spinach served on lightly toasted ciabatta rolls with grainy mustard. Veggie was roasted bell pepper with garlic and fresh basil - yum! The peppers were the highlight of the meal. The steak could have used more seasoning, but was tasty none the less. And who doesn't love sautéed mushrooms?

I, personally, rate this meal a success. And having to clean up... no big deal. Somehow, and I don't know how he did it, Lukas didn't turn the kitchen into a war zone. When I cook EVERYTHING gets dirty! I create a disaster in the kitchen, even when I try hard not to. But Lukas... it was like he hadn't even cooked. Only ONE cutting board was dirty, ONE frying pan and the plates we ate off of. Amazing I tell you, amazing!

Here's to many more man-cooked meals!

mr & mrs

It's official!

The first order of business was the ketubah signing. We wrote our own ketubah and it was quite a stretch from the original, traditional wording. Instead of saying... "on blah blah day, we are signing this in the presence of blah blah blah" and it would have gone on to say the bride would get this or that. That is traditional, but totally not "us". Instead our wonderful rabbi Naomi suggested that we consider the attributes of our relationship that we would like to keep and grow. So, instead of the traditional wording we wrote a letter to our future selves to remind us of all that good, mushy stuff. Lukas's cliff notes version, "we like sweets and get lost frequently."

I was going to read it, but only made it through the first few words before I got completely choked up. And then there was no stopping the tears. Lukas took over and did splendidly and I was able to get ahold of myself.

We mingled a bit with our guests after signing the ketubah. This was great because we got to relax and see everyone. Then after the wedding we weren't mobbed as much because we'd gotten a chance for hugs and such before.

Then the wedding started. I walked in with both my parents. See, my mom's not crying too much yet.

Under the chuppah Rabbi Naomi and her son Bernie {who I went to Hebrew School with} sang us a beautiful love song. It was filled with gorgeous harmonies and such great emotion.

Afterwards Lukas whispered to Naomi, "That was good!" Her reply made us smile, "We practiced." They were good!

Following the love song my dad sang a song he had written with the help of my sister - Yehi Shalom. He explained the song as "there will be peace." And not just peace when everyone is getting along, but peace when we are all doing what we are meant to do to make the world a better place. We love to sing this song with my parents on Shabbat when we're up there.

Bernie played and sang along with Otis the violinist. Wow! It was great. Towards the end of the song Otis played a solo and it was amazing. I think he hadn't even heard the song until that moment. That kid was amazing!

We exchanged rings and it only took me two tries to get through the vows. More crying. At the end everyone came up to me and told me that once I started crying they cried too. Glad I wasn't alone in my tears.

Naomi blessed us. She gave us the sweetest words, but already they've faded from our memories. Still the intention is there.

And then...

We did it!

something shinny

Ok... I know this is NOT the post you are all waiting for. The one with lots of pictures and stories from the wedding. Instead, I'll tease you with a couple pictures of some wedding loot.

I've been thinking a lot this past couple months how without realizing it was happening I've grown up {mostly}. You know, getting married probably has something to do with that. But another step in the growing up process... grown-up pots and pans!

These came in the mail while I was down in Southern California for my good friend from the fifth grade's wedding. And... Lukas didn't tell me they came! Tonight I went to fry up our steaks for ginger steak salad {thanks PW} and I looked in the cabinet for the frying pan I usually use. I opened the cabinet where the all-clad was first but in my haste of looking for the pan I'm used to the shinny new pans didn't even register. Instead I was thinking, gosh Lukas moved everything while I was gone! But when the pan wasn't in the other cupboard I looked into the first one again. Ooooooo pretty pots and pans! It registered then.

Ok... enough about pots and pans. Next post I promise will be more exciting.