My email inbox

The daily grind includes a massive flood of information coming at me via email. This is the norm for just about anyone in a typical 9 - 5 office job.

Most are work related, some are life-related. This life-related email is courtesy from Jolene who is watching Max these days while my mom has a break:

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From: Jolene Iverson
To: Jennifer Jensen
Sent: 10/8/2009 1:31 PM

Subject: max wants a treat

Poor Max, he wants a treat of chocolate with gold on it. I have told them they are all gone. which makes him sad. :(

So, we are on the search for an adequate stand-in.

So far, a good potty day. :)

Duluth

To no one's surprise, a good time was had by all. We stayed at what Cate calls "the treehouses", a.k.a. Mountain Villas.

We did a lot of the things we usually do and ate at most of the tried-and-true places...Taste of Saigon Restaurant, shopping, Gooseberry Falls, Betty's Pies, more shopping, throwing rocks into the lake, Canal Park, more shopping...you get the idea. Bonus: no one fell into Lake Superior this time, which is always a good thing.

We did manage to try a couple of new things this visit: one new restaurant we've had our eye on since last year and we thoroughly enjoyed it. And on Sunday, we hit the Great Lakes Aquarium which we haven't done for a few years. An extra bonus at the aquarium--we got in on the Halloween fun they had going on that day. The kids had so much fun.

The view from our treehouse

Max and Kyle on trail at Gooseberry Falls State Park

Getting Max up on "Jolene's Rock"

Cate, our rock climber

Cate and Max coloring while we shopped
The lighthouses at Canal Park

Max and Cate throwing rocks in Canal Park

The Aerial Lift Bridge

Presto Pesto!

This summer is the first time we've grown herbs and vegetables in our garden. I'm generally all about pretty flowers and that's it. We have cilantro, rosemary, basil, San Marzano tomatoes, fajita peppers. I feel that's pretty ambitious considering we don't cook so much and have no idea how we'll be able to use all of it.

Jen came over today and taught me how to make pesto. I had no idea how easy it would be to make something so very tasty and "gourmet-ish"? Cate even got into the action and trimmed basil, supervised the browning of the pine nuts, and pulsing the Cuisinart. We used the tiniest Cuisinart ever made, but it worked out just fine.

While we were prepping the ingredients, Jolene called, so we invited her to join us for dinner. Kyle grilled shrimp and chicken that topped our pesto and noodles. We also had more caprese salad and fresh veggies with dip. And beer bread. I know, it doesn't go with anything else, but I just felt like making it. To finish it off, we had a kid favorite--s'mores for dessert. Mmmm.

Pesto Recipe

Cate watching Jen brown the pine nuts

"Jen Squared" cooking in the kitchen

Cate pulsing the Cuisinart with one hand, covering ear with the other hand

Jen whisking the mixture

Can Max's face be any messier?