There is nothing quite like a picnic. Yesterday was a hot day, but with great friends to brave the heat with me and the family, an impromptu picnic sounded like a great idea. With little time to prepare, we decided to split the provision responsibilities down the middle. The hubby and I were assigned the main dish and the drinks, our friends the side dish and dessert. I have to say we did a great job. I suggested paninis from Panera for the main dish. I picked several different sandwiches from the menu--portobello and mozzarella panini, chicken frontega, the chipotle chicken sandwich, peanut butter and jelly... My mouth waters as I type this. We took the baby boy with us and I thought he was going to short circuit he was getting so excited about the food. Our friends chose to bring a yummy sesame pasta salad and ice cream from Graeter's
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Graeter's, I must say that I am sorry. With limited dairy intake allowed in my diet, I allow few indulgences. Today, I indulged in a few bites of cheesy Panera sandwiches and creamy, dreamy spoonfuls of Graeter's ice cream--bourbon ball and chocolate coconut almond fudge to be exact. The little guy has limitations on his dairy intake as well, so he could not stop bouncing up and down with every bite I gave him. I really wish I had caught it on camera. Maybe next time. Unfortunately, our fun was cut short by an invasion of mosquitoes. Even with my friend's lavender mosquito repellent concoction and my "family friendly" OFF wipes, we were being devoured. The scene could have played in a B grade horror flick. Here is a picture before the mosquitoes spoiled our party:
Today was equally full of inspiring moments. We had a nice family day of church, an outing to the store to prepare hubby for a business trip, and a nice evening meal of autumn beef stew and biscuits. The recipe comes from the most recent Cooking Light, my most favorite cooking magazine--well, maybe next to Saveur, but it is much more weeknight, family meal friendly. I've been cooking out of it for nearly five years now, and I've failed to ever make a recipe that we did not devour. This stew uses whole berry cranberry sauce to give a nice sweet-tart kick. The recipe also calls for a much welcomed pint of Guinness. Yum! Autumn in a bowl with biscuits.
With all of this going on, I still had some time to sew. I sat down with my newest project which involves wings:
and this fabric:
I'm in love with this particular fabric. It reminds me of lollipops and candyland, though I'm not sure why. I just listed some fabrics on eBay tonight as well and hope to sell off some fabrics for which I cannot seem to find use. I'm getting ready to scope out some new fabrics--as though my stash is in any danger of running dry--and new inspiration. I do have a ton of ideas in my little Whimsy Patch sketch pad, but I don't like the creative juices to get even close to running out. Fresh fabrics always bring fresh inspiration. Anyway, the wings are for my newest Patch resident, but I won't give any hints to what she is except that she is NOT a butterfly. Hmm.... What can she be?
I guess the nearing of midnight signals time to wind down the blog. Though I could probably keep typing for a while, I will certainly regret it when my baby boy beckons at 7 in the morning. He's slowly becoming more and more of an early morning baby. Mommy is not so much of a morning person, at least not until 9 a.m. Agh! I'm already in pain thinking about it. Signing off...
