Coffee, and date night, anyone?

On Sunday, Osei and I took Palesa to a church in Denver.  After the service, I held Palesa in my arms rather than put her back in the Moby wrap, because we were headed to the car.  A woman came up to me to admire the Moby wrap.  She said nothing about the adorable baby in my arms, but asked where I'd bought the wrap, and went on about how stylish it was.  And then she exclaimed, "and the great thing about it is that you don't even need a baby to wear in the wrap!  You can just wear it out and about!"  Hmmm, I don't know about that, but I'm glad that we can both agree that the Moby wrap rocks!

Afterwards, we went out to lunch at Noodles and Company.  I'm proud to report that despite eating with chopsticks (while wearing Palesa in the Moby), I didn't drop any food on her head this time!

Later in the afternoon, we met up with a Smithie (and Fairview) friend of mine, Makenna, for coffee.  We enjoyed hearing about her adventures around the globe, and all of the inspiring things she is doing!

Finally, Sunday night Osei and I had our first "adults-only" date while Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Ralph watched Palesa.  It was mostly a dinner date.  Except we drove to Whole Foods to pick up prepared food, which we brought back to my mom's house to all eat together.  We were maybe gone 40 minutes, but it was the first time we've both been away from her!

Date Night with the Hubs

Now that we're married, we don't get out as often. Date night becomes a big deal. We decided to get dolled up, take some pictures, and have a good ole' fashioned date. We went to the "Cheesecake Bistro" as my hubby calls it, and then made out like teenagers on the edge of a fountain. It was fantastic.

And then we bought me a bike helmet. I was so excited to try it that I wore it the whole car ride home. Safety never takes a holiday.

Yes, it was as delicious as it looked

I love cooking dates with my husband. Tonight we sipped wine while cooking up this delicious summer feast before a few games of gin rummy (let's just say I had an endless flow of good cards, though one of my wins was a technicality, but our card games are another story). Anyway, the wine was an organic Semillon from Yorkville Cellars in the Mendocino County highlands, a delicious wedding gift from a dear college friend, Naomi. We'll have to pay her a visit out west sometime soon!

Salad was spinach, corn, celery, orange bell peppers, almond slices, and golden raisins. In retrospect, I would have added at least half a pint of blueberries. This week at our Friday-and-Saturday-only produce market here in Boston, called Haymarket, I snagged four pints of blueberries for $5. Except they call them "Blubes." Trust me, Blubes truly do taste better than Blueberries. Anyway, there you go, blubes to be added to the remaining salad.

Our second salad was two sliced tomatoes, courtesy of our next-door neighbors and their vegetable garden layered and stacked with fresh basil, and a light drizzle of olive oil and a few shakes of crushed sea salt. We live on a very impressive block as far as back-yard veggie gardens... quite the peer pressure standard to live up to! Next year at this time we expect to be eating our own fresh-picked produce, but for the moment we're simply picking the brains of our green-thumbed neighbors and gladly welcoming the sample delights they share with us.

And now this baby... mmmmm mmmm mmmm! We like to keep this whole wheat pizza dough from Trader Joe's on hand in the freezer, which we defrosted for a few hours in the fridge, and then at room temperature for the rest of the afternoon.

We sliced an organic onion (thanks again, Haymarket) and slowly cooked on super low heat with a splash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, a few shakes of brown cane sugar, and about 2 branches of fresh rosemary until the onions caramelized and turned transparent.

We started with normal red pizza sauce (Trader Joe's!), a layer of basil, and then a blend of shredded cheeses. Don't ask me which blend though. Next, we added seven sliced figs, one sliced avocado, and a small head of broccoli. My hubby added sliced green olives with pimento to half of the pizza. I love olive oil, but plain olives... um, not a fan! Anyway, we cooked about 9 minutes at 425 and then proceeded to enjoy the most delicious summer meal.

Once again, I absolutely adore cooking dates with my groom. We both tend to become super creative in the kitchen, and it is so romantic and satisfying to together create a tasty (and colorful) meal that nourishes us both.

Anyway, it's finally a decent enough hour (woke up ridiculously early this morning) to justify a slice of leftover pizza for breakfast...