Mother's Day

I had the privilege of hosting mother's day brunch last weekend for my mom and dad, mother and father-in-law, Dylan's brother and sister-in-law, and a good friend, Jen. It is incredible to have such a gracious, loving family (thanks to amazing moms). It makes being together and entertaining such a joy. Not many people can say the perfect Sunday morning is spent with parents and in-laws.

Sunday morning was a blur of cleaning, cooking, and baking. Dylan and Jen were the best side-kicks and prepped and cleaned as I made a mess. I'd never cooked bacon before, and my mom stepped in to save the day sure it crisped <3

Here's the menu (thanks, Martha Stewart) and recipes for things that are worth making again:

• salad with salmon, goat cheese, heirloom tomatoes, & champagne vinaigrette
• asparagus and leek/spinach and feta quiche (substituted a 1/2 cup 1% milk to lighten the quiche a little. I could not tell a difference.)
  
• fresh raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries
• brown sugar-glazed apple-smoked bacon
• raspberry scones (added a tsp of lemon zest and a lemon glaze)
• white sangria, iced tea, OJ, coffee

Overall, it was a wonderful morning. Just before my parents headed back to Cincinnati, we walked along the Walhalla ravine, which is a beautiful, wooded oasis in the middle of Clintonville. It's Matilda's favorite walk with lots of squirrels, a creek, and gorgeous houses. Fingers crossed my parents might someday make Columbus home-base :)

Frozen Meal Co-op

me and dad circa 1985.

I come from a family (i.e., father) who gets excited about living on a tight budget. We purchased food, office supplies, and housewares in bulk; mom cooked dinner from scratch nearly every night; Dad recorded/cataloged movies off the satellite dish instead of renting/buying/theaters; we packed snacks and meals for road trips instead of stopping...

Of all the thrifty habits my family developed, my favorites by far are the frozen lunches in our deep freezer. For as long as I can remember my parents have had a deep freezer containing milk crates filled with ziploc bags of frozen soup and chili. To avoid the costly (for $ and health) habit of eating out for lunch, Mom would (and still does) make 1-2 big pots of soup a few times a month for him to take as lunch. Dad bags, labels, and freezes the bags flat and then "files" them in crates. At any given time there are 6-8 types of soup, chili, and pasta in their freezer. I've always planned to follow suit when I grow up and have a deep freezer. Now I'm excited about doing more than just soup.

My friend Jess just pass along the following story about a freezer meal group, and it has me daydreaming about all the freezer-friendly meals I could be making and sharing... (click the picture for the site)

anyone interested?

Sweater and Snow Walk

Matilda has a cardigan. It's a human cardigan altered just for her. I'm a far way away from perfecting clothes for her, but I guess I've got to start somewhere. She's really proud of it, as you can see in the second photo :). She's all dressed up for a major family snow walk.

































Dylan and Matilda in the Wahalla Ravine

Meisters

I know this is a little ridiculous, but one of the reasons I haven't blogged as often as I wish is because I created this from my lauradolle account. I don't use that account anymore. I use a meister account. And every time I think about blogging, I know I have to sign out of my meister account and log into dolle. Well I finally fixed that. And added another Meister to the mix. Dolle-made is now a group blog with Laura Dolle, Laura Meister, and Dylan! I'm not sure if we'll hear much from Dylan, but he has the ability to blog now. We been discussing starting a new blogger for our adventures as Meisters, but for now I can't part with dolle-made. And meister-made will never sound as good.

Lazy Blogger

I want so badly to be a regular blogger. but life is so hectic, sometimes.

Big news:
Dylan and I were blessed with a sweet-tempered, vegetable-loving puppy in October. Her name is Matilda and she's wonderful. Here she is in her homemade scarf (XL sweatshirt arm). We recently poked ear-holes in it. She rarely leaves the house without it.















Other news, last week, for the first time, I poached something other than eggs. Quick dinner for 5 friends= tilapia and salmon fillets over sliced onions, zucchini, and summer squash. With thyme and white wine. Baked covered for 25 minutes. And mashed potatoes.