Shrimp, salad and a BIG BUD

another fantastic weekend in the bubble! the weather was more fall like which made it a great weather to be outside and feel the dirt in my hands. I bought some blood meal for my veggies and after *massaging* them, I decided to massage the roses beds also :-) i think they all enjoyed it. I also did MORE sweeping of the tree in our back patio area that has been relentlessly dropping both leaves and some other pollen filled parts for weeks now. When it started dropping the pollen a few ago, everything out there was covered in yellow snow. Luckily I am not allergic to it!

We have a new baby that will arrive... well, not sure when, but the BIG BUD is quite a sight! I don't remember what kind of plant this is btw, if someone knows, please tell me.

On Friday night I decided to try another shrimp taco recipe and OH MY! It was definitely a winner! I made a pistachio-cilantro pesto, slathered it on some shrimp and then skewered and grilled them. They were decadent and they melted in your mouth! If anyone wants the recipe, I will surely share it. I would today, but I didn't bring it with me to work. I was skeptical when I read the recipe and even when I tasted the pesto raw, but after grilling, I was sold.

Last night I threw together leftovers (roasted cabbage and asparagus) and some new salad fixins.Here's the salad greens and spinach with pepitas, garbanzos, roasted garlic, fresh basils and tarragon and some goat cheese = YUM!

We also continued our brick making, but I'll wait and post photos of that when we've given them away to their new homes (birthday girls), I don't want anyone to see the finished product and ruin their surprise!

maintaining

My last 2 Saturdays outside have been all about getting the front garden and back patio whipped into shape after winter (although who knows if winter is really over!?), this Saturday and Sunday sure felt like summer! I think we got to the mid-80's both days. Last weekend I tamed the Bougainvillea bushes and cleaned out all the weeds along the driveway so the ivy could breath, and this weekend I cleaned out one of the front flower beds. Both needed attention desperately but boy was it a lot of work... or maybe I'm just getting older and crawling around on the ground is getting increasingly more difficult :-P  And, sorry, no pics of either of these tasks, maybe I'll take some of the Bogey when they bloom.

My Saturday morning started out with a nice bowl of fresh fruit:

The dish is a handmade gift that I received a number of years ago from friends that live in Utah.

K and I also made a couple of bricks on Saturday. We have a kit that contains letters to press into the bricks and then give them away as presents (we also press in stones, shells, etc.). I'll take some shots of those later because my hands were too dirty to use my camera. Have I said how much work it is to make a bucket of cement? Evidently, I like hard work :-D