Beach Trip 2015

The week before Labor Day we went to the beach. As a family of 3! Going into this trip I had no idea what to expect. Would we enjoy it at all with a 7 month old around? A friend had told us while we were pregnant that taking a baby to the beach is miserable. We didn't listen, obviously, and scheduled our trip to overlap with my parents and brother. Our thoughts were that if it was terrible at least we'd have a few days with extra hands around to help out. 

We left on a Wednesday, planning to break up the trip. We wanted to get as far as Atlanta if possible. 

We broke up the trip more than we would have without the baby. You don't normally stop for tummy time as adults.  We did make it quite far and stopped for the night in Statesboro, GA. 

The next morning we only had 2.5 hours to go! We made it in time for lunch. 

We put Charlie down for a nap after lunch and Bryan and I headed for the beach. Mom brought Charlie out for the first time. 

NUDE PICTURE WARNING!!!!

Charlie had been struggling with some diaper rash for a few days at this point so we thought it was the perfect time to air it out. 

That night, Thursday, Mom sent Bryan, Trey and I out to dinner. We ate at Brett's which always has the best view. 

My aunt Julie and cousin James came and spent Friday evening and most of Saturday with us. 

The tents were crowded. 

One morning it was rainy so we made games with Charlie's toys. Dad won. His winnings were the fruit from our sangria pitcher. 

How cute is this kid?

The best family picture we got this trip. 

We set Charlie up in this inflatable boat. It was perfect for him. He'd sit and play with toys (or empty water bottles). When he got fidgity we'd fill it with water so he could splash around. No sand in the eyes for this little one! 

My parents left on Monday and so we had four days to ourselves. 

Charlie's favorite part of the trip was spending time in the pool. He loved it. 

Overall I think this baby had a pretty fantastic trip to the beach. 

We spent nearly two days getting home. Traveling with small child forces many stops. But we embraced it on the way back and enjoyed seeing more of the small cities we always pass through. 

We stopped for a diaper change in front of the house where my grandfather grew up. 

Friday night we stayed at the Crash Pad in Chattanooga, TN. Bryan had won a free night's stay at a race a few months back, so we cashed in. 

On Saturday we stopped at the Unclaimed Baggage place in Scottsboro, AL, and for ice cream in Florence, AL. We also had a fantastic lunch at Big Bob Gibson's in Decatur. 

I'm a little sad our vacation is behind us, but we had a great time and I am so thankful that we were able to get away. 

Garden Update Monday

Good morning. It's been a few weeks since an update. We were out of town for 10 days just before Labor Day. It was great to get away and gave me the push I needed once back to get the garden cleaned up and ready for fall. 

The photos above were post vacation, pre clean up. I spent several hours over the last few mornings working the garden. I cleaned out a couple of beds and did a bunch of weeding. I also planted spinach, beets and carrot seeds for fall. I didn't purchase anything new this year. Just used up what I had from last year. 

Here we are this morning. My hard work is probably not even noticeable at these angles, but oh well. I love having photos from the same spot so I can see the gardens transition. 

 

In other news the asparagus is looking great. 

LuniTECTS: University of Memphis Health Sciences Building

Last week Bryan, Charlie and I toured the newest building on the University of Memphis South Campus. It will be used by the nursing department as well as the speech and hearing program.



Our first stop was the anechoic room, a totally sound-proof room that will be used for research.



Above is the floor. It was a wire floor suspended over more of the sound-proof panels.



Charlie was probably the first infant in the infant testing room.



One of the labs for nurse training. These mannequins were pretty freaky.



On the third floor there was a roof top terrace looking out onto Park and Audubon Park.



Charlie enjoyed being the center of attention for a few minutes while we were in the library.



A play/research room in the speech and hearing department.

Initially I was not excited about this tour, but it ended up being a pretty interesting experience.

Porcellino's Butcher Box

For a couple of months now we've been receiving and cooking meals from a local restaurants "butcher box." On Mondays when we opt in, I head to Porcellino's and pick up a bag of prepared or partially prepared items. Each week they provide the ingredients and sometimes the completed dish with instructions. There is usually enough food for a meal or two and a dessert item. I took some pictures from a recent box.

This week's bag was lamb ragu, lyonnaise salad, and monkey bread for dessert.

I started off making confit chicken for the salad because it took the longest. For this portion I seasoned the chicken and then put the provided ingredients in the pan. There was a ton of lard for this (that's the white stuff.)


And after two hours of cooking:



Holy shit, ya'll. This was the tastiest chicken I've ever eaten. I mean seriously. I died. Then I licked my fingers and told Bryan not to touch it.

One of the great things about the butcher box is that it teaches you methods of cooking that you might not have tried yourself. Like confit, which is cooking in fat. It will be happening again soon.



This is the finished lamb ragu. Sometimes the boxes are more hands on. This dish was all made by me. Other weeks all I have to do is heat up the sauce and cook some pasta.



Here is the finished lyonnaise salad. I shredded the confit chicken and then browned it in a skillet. I also had to make the dressing and poach an egg.

This bag was definitely one of the more intensive bags, but it was also the most rewarding. Oh dear Lord, what I wouldn't give to eat both dishes again.

For dessert they sent us monkey bread with a bourbon butterscotch sauce. We had it for breakfast the next morning.  Yum yum!

If you are interested in signing up for the Butcher Box, let me know and I'll put you in touch with the right person.

New Orleans without the Kid

Last week Bryan and I were able to get away just the two of us. My mom was kind enough to take Charlie off our hands so I could accompany Bryan to the Crescent City. He had a few events and a sales call to make, which gave me some much needed alone time.



We stopped at Brent's Drug Store in Jackson on the way down. It's an old pharmacy soda shop. Best decision ever: getting a banana nutella shake to go.



Bryan had to make a sales call at 5 pm, so I did this. Glory!

Once he was finished with his meeting he came back for me. We decided to walk around the Quarter and get a bite to eat before our dinner reservations.



Gotta have the Southern Antipasta plate at Sylvain. I think this is the third or fourth time we've had it. Always a winner.



Pro tip: when you see a couple taking a selfie offer to take their picture for them. Nine times out of ten they are willing to do the same for you. We have about two pictures of just the two of us so far this year.



We had dinner at Peche the first evening. We ordered a sampler dozen oysters. They offer oysters from five different areas and it was fun to try them all and decide which was our favorites. Mine: Champagne Bay, Louisiana.  Bryan: Daulphin Island, Alabama.

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel which was delicious. After showers and getting dressed at our own pace we headed to St. Roch Market.



This market reopened in April of this year, although it was originally opened in 1875. They had 15 different vendors selling various things you could consume.



We consumed these and boudin from Skank.



And the shrimp egg rolls and fried gulf shrimp tacos from Koreole.

Bryan had an event and was busy most of the afternoon. I read in the hotel room for a couple of hours then took the streetcar down to the Garden District.



No trip at New Orleans is complete without a trip to St. James Cheese in my mind. And also a meal at Cochon where we had dinner.

It was a great trip. A little walking, tried a new place, but also visited our favorites. Most importantly we had our first trip away from Charlie.



Don't get us wrong, we love this kid and missed him. But it's good to get a break too.

Garden update Monday

The garden is at the sweet spot of late summer. Finally producing tomatoes and peppers! The heat has eased up a little bit which enables me to spend some enjoyable time exploring and playing. And doesn't require a constant water vigilance. In other words things are pretty great right now. Here are a few photos. 

Roma's 

Sweet peppers

Can you spot the cucumber hanging from the tree? 

North Mississippi Day Trip

Last week Bryan needed to call on a store in Oxford. Charlie and I decided to accompany him because a) we needed to get out of the house, b) we love Oxford, and c) we could use this as a little test to see how Charlie does in the car for long periods.  Once Charlie was up, changed, and fed we hit the road.

Oxford is just over an hour from Memphis and is one of our favorite places to visit. They have great shopping on the Square and amazing food for such a small town.



First stop was breakfast at Big Bad Breakfast. Charlie tried a few bites of my grits and didn't hate it! Bryan declared that they had the best bacon he's ever eaten.



After visiting with Matt at Full Motion Running and Cycling, Charlie had his lunch on the Square. It was a rainy day so we stopped under an awning to wait out a rain shower and feed Charlie. Not a bad way to kill some time.

The rain and cranky baby didn't stop us from doing a little shopping. We got our first Christmas present at Nielson's. Bryan also got some swanky boat shoes there 70% off! Then we went to Square Books, Jr. to look around. Charlie got two books and I picked up another Christmas gift. Tis the season! My only regret is that we never made it into the original Square Books. Probably better for our wallet.

Bryan and I were still feeling full from breakfast so we drove to Water Valley, MS to check it out and have lunch. After last month's feature in Garden and Gun we were intrigued. It was about a 25 minute drive from Oxford along back country roads.



We had lunch at BTC Grocery.



I ordered the daily special which included a garden salad, crawfish ettouffe, fried squash, and tea. Ya'll, the garden salad was truely a garden salad. It had fresh blackberries (not pictured because I ate them all), cherry tomatoes, and cucumbers from a local garden. I loved the addition of grapes and the homemade dressing. Mmmm... The fried yellow squash was also really good. I didn't eat much of the etouffee because I was still full, but we brought it home and Bryan enjoyed it the next day. The locals were super sweet and doted on Charlie.

Charlie did okay in the car. On the way back I moved to the back seat mid ride to help entertain him. He napped twice for thirty minutes. Not great when he normally naps for an hour and half two times a day. But he did pretty well and we can't complain too much.