July 30th, 2010 by Heather
So I haven’t blogged in a looooong time but I recently joined an online group who has a baking challenge once a month. I decided to join because I love to bake and I think it will be fun to be a part of a group who shares the experience. I have to bake the given recipe and post it on my blog every month.
I think I’ll definitely be using the new gym membership more.
I can’t wait to get started! Wish me luck.
April 8th, 2009 by Heather
Back when Emery and I first started dating, he took me to a very nice place in Birmingham called Bottega Restaurant. It was Valentine’s Day so he wanted to impress me. I remember looking at the menu and the first thing that I saw was oxtail. Ummm, no thanks. I don’t remember what I chose, but it was probably just the steak. And I say just the steak not because steak isn’t delicious, but because that was before my adventurous dinner days.
There was another young couple sitting at the table beside us. The girl asked the waiter if they had chicken fingers. I secretly wanted chicken fingers too, but I would never have asked. Of course the waiter snickered and said no and her date laughed at her. How embarassing! I’m glad I didn’t ask. When E ordered, he asked for the veggies to be left off. He is allergic….. Our waitress told him that his parents probably wouldn’t like that. I’m glad I didn’t ask for no veggies.
I guess that’s just the kind of treatment you get when you are too young to know better. It’s such a shame.
We went back to Bottega a couple of weeks ago for our 2 year anniversary. I’ve heard great things about the chef and since we’ve gotten older, our tastes have grown up too, even though E is still allergic to vegetables. For appetizers, we had the parmesan souffle with mushrooms and proscuitto and fried oysters. Both were great choices. For the main course, I had the venison with quinoa and roasted carrots. Emery had the seafood pasta with a light tomato basil sauce.
I can’t believe we missed this last time we were there! It was so so so good! We finished off with coffee, creme brulee and pecan biscotti. We will definitely be back soon. They even have a cafe if you just want a casual meal.
Before dinner, we stopped by Birmingham Botanical Gardens because it was such an awesome day outside. They have a ton of acres with different gardens: rose garden, herb garden, vegetable garden, southern living garden, crape myrtle garden, and many others. The conservatory housed tropical plants like banana, coffee, cacao, and desert plants. There are so many paths and sculptures that we could have spent all day roaming around. 
Our favorite was the Japanese Garden. It even had a little tea house and a koi pond.
The flowers were blooming too.
E was so sweet to walk around the gardens with me. We had a great day! Happy anniversary to us!
March 22nd, 2009 by Heather
Starting new things is almost always a challenge. The beginning of a book is so hard for me. I always just want to know the end. But I can never force myself to read the last page. That would be cheating!
The beginning of the house process feels like it will never end. We’ve only just signed the offer and there is still so much more to do: inspection, appraisal, improvements, etc. I just want to move in already!
And now I’ve decided to start a garden. Honestly, I have no idea how to do it. But how can you ever learn if you don’t try? Lucky for me, E did all of the hard part. He shoveled all of that dirt just for me!
And Dakota helped too.
Then he got tired.
All I have to do now is buy the plants. I’m going to try all sorts of fruits and veggies. I’m trying to decide if it would be easier to just buy them from the grocery store because I don’t have very much patience. 60 days to maturity? Uhh, maybe it will be faster. I want my fresh salsa now! See. The beginning is tough. We don’t have a farmers market here, so I think it will be worth it to know that my tomatoes are free of chemicals and pesticides. I’ve heard it can be therapeutic…we’ll see.
Lately we’ve been spending a lot of time outside. The weather is amazing! And life is much slower here, which we are totally embracing.
At the Grove.
They love honey buns. Who doesn’t?
Rebecca and Sarah. I think.
Dakota likes their poo.
Tuck and Dakota.
I think Snoops won the staring contest.
