garden | kimberly ah

Jul 08 2013

Boston: Part 1

Boston seems like a lifetime ago. I guess that happens with vacations…you wait so long for them and then they’re gone and you’re left with good memories and the desire for another vacation (one that doesn’t end with the flu, hopefully!)

Naoto and I had a super-early flight on Friday (5:30AM!) so our first day in Boston was LOOOONG! We stayed with Naoto’s college friends, Mark and Lauren. They were gracious hosts and wonderful tour guides! They took us to all of the touristy things we wanted to see and to some amazingly delicious restaurants and bars…We felt lucky to have such adventurous local hosts!

After a hearty breakfast, we did a ton of walking on our first day. We saw every part of the city on our weekend visit, and I would say most of that happened on Friday. We spent most of the day downtown Boston (pictured above: looking way up at the John Hancock Tower, and the reflection of Trinity Church in the Hancock Tower) and then exploring the sights along the Freedom Trail, a route you can walk along to see many of the historic places in Boston.

We went to the Boston Public Gardens and looked at the gorgeous flowers and the ducks and swans in the pond. (pictured above: George Washington was sporting a Bruins jersey in the Boston Public Garden, in spite of the fact that they lost the Stanley Cup to Chicago, and Naoto having a ride on the ducklings)

Next, we went to the Paul Revere house (pictured above). I love, love, love seeing homes of historic people. These “museums” are usually small and have a handmade quality to the exhibits. I love seeing old kitchens and thinking about how much work it was to make a simple meal each day. I love looking at the simple furnishings and dishes. I love walking up old stairs thinking that Paul Revere walked up those same stairs back in the 1700s. I love reading the little mundane details typed on card stock and listening to the docent’s simple speeches about the house. I wish I had lingered longer.

We walked along the path to the Old North Church and the Copp’s Hill Burying Ground, checking out little bits of history along the way until we were all walked out and decided to head home and get ready for dinner.

We had dinner at Stella, which is right in Mark and Lauren’s neighborhood. The food was amazing (I had the Braised Short Ribs & I’m dreaming of them now!) and the cocktails were fun. (That’s my Mango Vesper up above.) It was the perfect ending to day one.

I’ll be back tomorrow with Day Two!

Tagged adventures, cocktails, food, garden

Jun 19 2013

2 Comments

Forest Park, Oak Park, gardening, summer manifesto

Garden Update: We Have a Tiny Tomato

The garden is booming with excitement this week. We went last night to water and check on the progress and I found a teeny, tiny Juliet tomato!! (Pictured above in the center of the picture…isn’t she a beaut?) I couldn’t contain my giddiness! All of our other tomato plants (the two Big Boys, the Brandywine and the three Early Girls) have blooms but so far the Juliet is in the lead.

Everything else is doing well, except the loofah that never grew and the slug-devoured limas are still up in the air. We’ve harvested a few daikon and they are pretty small…tasty, but small. We want to buy another pack of seeds and try them again.

This weekend, when we aren’t eating and working, we will be gardening. We can’t wait very much longer to get a handle on our vining plants. So far they are behaving, but it’s only a matter of time…

Tagged food, forest park, garden, gardening, summer

Jun 08 2013

3 Comments

crafty adventures, summer manifesto

#30DOC Week 1

I’ve been working through my 30 Days of Creativity Challenge all week. Like a champ. Of course, it’s only the first week–the real challenge will be keeping up the momentum all month. Here’s what I’ve been working on:

From the top: 6/1 plant markers, 6/2 handcrafted cocktails, 6/3 two handmade thank yous, 6/4 one handmade envelope and three more pieces of mail art, 6/5 this (free) pattern from Wild Olive (I loved making this! Thanks, Mollie!), 6/6 water colored stationery & envelope (I’m really enjoying playing around with water coloring things lately!) and 6/7 a kitty donut in honor of National Donut Day (from this Wild Olive Donut Shop pattern) I’m a little disappointed in my execution of the kitty pattern…I think I might need to re-do some of the stitches…I don’t feel like my interpretation is fulfilling kitty’s cuteness potential!

I’ve just been winging it each day, but the next two weeks are looking much busier, so I might have to plan out my creative projects to ensure I’m carving out the right amount of time for them. Also, I’m finding myself sticking in my comfort zone and not stretching myself…the whole purpose of this project (for me) is to get a jump start on a few artsy things on my Summer Manifesto…I must try harder!

Tagged crafts, diy, garden, gardening, rubber stamp, summer

Jun 07 2013

3 Comments

crafty adventures, gardening, homemaking

Plant Markers for the Balcony

We still have a few herbs growing on the balcony this year. It’s easier to use the herbs in our “daily” cooking when we can just pop outside to harvest them, plus we wanted to save all of our space in the garden plot for vegetables.

I wanted to make some plant markers for the herbs, similar to those I made for the garden. For the balcony herb makers, I gave the craft sticks a simple watercolor wash (using my cheap set of watercolors from Michaels), let them dry, and then stamped them with my letter stamps in StazOn ink. I love how they look so “official” poking out in the pots!

Tagged crafts, decorating, diy, garden, gardening, homemaking

Jun 06 2013

5 Comments

Forest Park, Oak Park, gardening

Garden Update: Things Are Growing

Naoto and I spent some time at the garden on Saturday afternoon and again last night. We are both amazed at how much the plants grow within such a short few days. Here are a few shots of our garden, complete with my homemade plant markers:

And, in the most exciting news of all, our Juliet tomato already has a blossom!!

It’s so weird to me because the Juliet was the last tomato we planted (just last weekend with my dad).

And, now that the vining plants are growing (except for the loofah…the loofah is doing nothing), we have to come up with a plan for handling the vines. We’ve seen some good ideas in other garden plots, so we just need to buy our materials and build something simple.

And, in our first gardening challenge, our limas are being eaten by…something…a rabbit? A bug? Who knows. But the whole crop is not looking good. I still have hope that maybe one or two plants will produce some good ol’ lima beans…

One thing that’s been fun and helpful for me so far this gardening season is participating in #SeedChat (with @SeedChat & others) on Twitter. It happens on Wednesday nights at 8pm CST and it’s a great way to “meet” other gardeners and ask questions (if you’re a newbie like me) or offer advice (if you’re an experienced green thumb). If you’re into gardening, check it out!

Tagged community garden, forest park, garden, gardening, summer

Jun 03 2013

4 Comments

celebrations, Forest Park, Oak Park, gardening

Our 7th Anniversary Weekend

Naoto & I spent the whole weekend together celebrating the every day of seven years of marriage. We did nothing exceptional, we just enjoyed each other’s company and lots of good food. Naoto popped out on Saturday afternoon and brought back this huge bouquet of flowers “from Presley”. It was such a sweet surprise and I’m enjoying having them at my desk (for maximum enjoyment and minimum Presley “enjoyment”.)

After relaxing on the balcony with breakfast and coffee, we headed to the community garden to check on the plants. We did a fair amount of weeding and watered our plot. (I will talk more about the garden later this week…we are both amazed and thankful to see it’s growing!)

After relaxing out on the balcony and watching it rain, we headed to the Golden Steer for our traditional (since moving to Forest Park) anniversary dinner.

It was our fourth year going there and it never disappoints. I always fill up too much on the cracker basket, the French Onion Soup, the salad and the baked potato to eat much of my steak! And the lone button mushroom floating around on the steak plate makes me giggle every time…

After the Steer, we went to the Marion Street Cheese Market for dessert. Naoto had a chocolate dessert with a homemade chocolate marshmallow and some snicker doodles and I had a strawberry rhubarb dessert (sweet pastry layered with strawberry rhubarb and topped with meringue).

Sunday was our actual anniversary. We slept in, had coffee and exchanged gifts (more on that later). Then we reluctantly went to the gym together. So romantic, I know.

After the gym, we headed to the Little Goat Diner. This was Naoto’s choice, not that I needed any arm twisting. I did a little research and realized that it’s an easy trip on the el (too easy…I think we might have to get pie and coffee at least once a week now!)

Little Goat was busy, but they could seat us right away at the counter, so we decided to try it out. We’ve sat in all of their seating options now (communal table, booth and counter) and while the booth is nice and quiet and private, we both really enjoyed the frenetic people watching at the counter. It was neat to see the orchestration of the orders and to hear the cooks interacting with each other.

We ordered the Smoke Fries…and I don’t think I will ever NOT order the Smoke Fries in all future visits. They were skinny and perfectly crisp and savory…my idea of the perfect fry. (My passion for these fries will now rival my love for the pie.)

Naoto got the Tonkatsu sandwich, which came with this tasty-creative pickled daikon radish, zucchini and rhubarb salad. I decided, since I always feel too full for pie, to get a CUP of the Tomato Apple Soup, which now comes with a tiny Monte Cristo sandwich on the side (instead of the original, reeeeallllly good cheesy toast from our visit in February). I was super disappointed…until I took a bite of the Monte Cristo…it was like eating a tiny ham and cheese sandwich in between two savory donuts…

And for dessert, of course I got the pie (Blood Orange Meringue) and Naoto got the Miso Hungry Banana Split…ice cream covered in a miso sauce with miso chips on top. Weird? Not at all…it was amazing!

(I just realized that I spent most of my anniversary post talking about Little Goat Diner…no regrets!)

When we got home, I made us two Blue Hawaii cocktails (more on these later) and we lit our unity candle and toasted seven years.

It was the perfect ending to the weekend.

Tagged adventures, celebrations, food, forest park, garden, gardening, memories, wedding

May 31 2013

3 Comments

crafty adventures, Forest Park, Oak Park, gardening

The End of Mays…

I’m just going to say it: May FLEW! (I know you’re thinking it, too.) I’m excited for June, I’m excited for summer (even though I’m currently melting from the heat because I’m trying to be a hero by refusing to turn on the air conditioning!) and I’m excited for the weekend. Our anniversary is Sunday and we have no solid plans for the entire weekend except for our traditional anniversary dinner at Golden Steer, Forest Park’s most famous steakhouse.

Today I finished Naoto’s gift. It is imperfect, but filled with love (and a few swear words). I will share it next week.

I also finally made some simple plant markers for our garden. I just stamped some craft sticks with my alphabet stamps and StazOn ink. It took about five minutes (most of that time was spent searching for the elusive R stamp!) in between loads of laundry. We are going to the garden this weekend for sure (it’s been raining again, so I’m dying to see the progress and stay on top of the weed growth!) so I’ll show them “in action” next week.

Have a good weekend!

Tagged crafts, diy, forest park, garden, gardening, rubber stamp

May 28 2013

3 Comments

adventures, Forest Park, Oak Park, gardening

Grandma Visits Forest Park

This weekend my parents and my grandma drove up to visit us and to see our apartment. I haven’t seen my grandma in for-everrrrr so it was great to spend time with her and to know she is as spunky as ever. I really don’t think she has aged a bit since I’ve seen her last! We gave her the tour of our apartment (including the dreaded spare room!), took her to Portillo’s for an Italian beef, checked out our community garden and stopped by Trader Joe’s for some snacks. It was pretty much a run-of-the-mill Saturday with the extra bonus of spending it with my family. Nothing fancy, just quality time together.

At the community garden we all did a little weeding and I planted a new Juliette tomato plant from my dad. The garden is looking really good! Thanks to all of the rain lately, everything is popping up except my loofah. My mom and grandma sat on the garden swing while we finished planting and weeding. (I joined them, letting my dad and Naoto take care of the rest of the weeds!) After garden and shopping we came home and indulged in some Portillo’s chocolate cake for dessert. Yum. Then, Mom, Dad and Grandma got all packed up to leave…I’m so glad they could come.

Tagged adventures, food, forest park, garden, gardening

May 24 2013

1 Comment

adventures, Forest Park, Oak Park, gardening, home is a 1970s apartment

It’s GROWING!

It’s been a rainy week here in Chicagoland, so gardening has been put on hold…the rain takes care of the watering, but we need to get in soon to pull weeds! BUT, we visited the garden quickly last night before the sun went down and I’m happy to report that WE HAVE PLANTS! And not just weed plants (hmmm…you know what I mean…) we have daikon and watermelon radishes, lettuce and cucumbers peeking out of the ground! Many a high fives were exchanged in the car after this picture was taken. I know we have a lot more growing to do, so don’t think we are getting over-confident around here, but it’s good to see things popping up. Thanks to Mother Nature for all of the good rain to help things along!

We have a busy, busy weekend planned. Tomorrow my parents are bringing my grandma up to see our apartment for the first time! I’ve been trying to clean and get our place into “show mode” and failing miserably. So the rest of my Friday night shall be spent mopping floors and dusting and trying to pretend the guest room looks okay (even though it is the retired furniture graveyard and full of Honor Flight Mail Call stuff!) I haven’t seen my grandmother in so long and we’ve never hosted her in our neighborhood, so I’m really excited to see her and my parents, too! We’re taking them to see our garden and to Portillo’s for an Italian Beef. Then Sunday we both work, then we are going to a potluck BBQ at the community garden and then we are hosting cocktails for our friend Karen’s birthday. And on Monday (Memorial Day here in the US), we both work (boo)…

I’m looking forward to a quiet week next week. Our wedding anniversary is coming up and I still need to finalize my plan for Naoto’s gift. I am wishfully thinking of making something for him…something out of wool or copper. (Those are the traditional gifts for the 7th anniversary.) I’ll keep you posted.

Have a good weekend! I’ll be back Monday

Tagged adventures, food, forest park, garden, gardening, parents

May 22 2013

3 Comments

gardening, homemaking

Geranium Troubles

Do you remember this geranium from last year? Well, it’s back outside again this spring–it’s the tall, skinny, flowerless one right by the gnome above. Last year, it lived with a couple of annuals and an ivy geranium (which, sadly, did not make it through the winter). This year, I planted a couple of fresh new geraniums with it. It looks nice and colorful in the hanging pot. The trouble is, I have another hanging pot filled completely with last year’s geraniums. It looks sad. See?

It’s just hanging out…not producing any flowers…last year, my old geranium didn’t bloom until August…I don’t want this pot to languish without blooms until then. Is there anything I can do to hurry it along?

It’s too late for this year, but it looks like I should take a different approach to overwintering my growing geranium collection. (I just leave them all in their pots in a north facing window…not much overwintering there!) This article from the Iowa State University Extension Program was informational on the proper way to overwinter geraniums…I’m hoping next year, my plants will be ready for blooming in the spring!

Tagged decorating, garden, gardening, home, home improvement, homemaking