Grams' Birthday

Today we celebrated my Grandma's 77th birthday! Her actual birthday was the 17th but we were all only able to get together today. Because she recognizes Lent she was unable to eat meat today (Friday), and unfortunately for her, every year she gives up sweets/treats/snacks, so there was no dessert as usual. That being said, J and I put together a wonderful 2-course dinner that everyone thoroughly enjoyed. Both recipes are from one of my favorite cookbooks, Sunday Suppers at Lucques, by Suzanne Goin. The fish recipe we adapted a bit as to what was available ingredient-wise. See pics below:

^Swiss chard tart with goat cheese and currant-pine nut relish

^Wild Alaskan halibut marinated in fresh thyme, parsley, and blood orange zest, served over red and black rice risotto with blood orange reduction

I'm always worried the food I serve won't be enjoyed but everyone seemed to truly enjoy both courses which made me really happy.

Sorry for those of you who are not into Valentine's Day, but I am going to get a bit corny here... I actually wasn't sure if I even wanted to post about this because I'm not usually the guy who does the typical cheesy love stuff and I know some people get bugged by it but... Yesterday was another good food day; since our V-day celebration was put off due to J's family visit, I decided to make us a nice dinner yesterday instead. I heard this great idea a while back to recreate (at home) a meal you and your special someone had on a first date or past Valentine's day at a restaurant out. I decided to make the dishes we each had on our first date at a local restaurant...a Cobb salad and chicken piccata. Without sounding full of myself, I must say the food I made turned out better than what we ate at the restaurant. J was super surprised and loved it so I was very, very happy.

^J's chicken piccata

^My Cobb salad

Shall we move onto some great mail? OK then...Two days ago the following letter from Belen came, and totally brightened up my mailbox! This is one of the coolest envelopes I've gotten; it is made from see-through vellum scrapbook paper. Enclosed was a great, long letter and the smallest most perfect little paper crane! So neat!

Last piece of mail for this post came today as part of my Mix CD Scavenger Hunt on Swap-bot. This package came from Canada and had the track list on the coolest stationery! Of course I forgot to take a picture but oh well. Cute stickers on the package, no?

^I really need to start building up my accessory collection...stamps, stickers, etc. They make such a difference in making a package more special!

Speaking of stationery, I think I want to try making my own stationery. I was thinking I could just cut and paste magazine/newspaper/etc. clippings on plain paper and photocopy or scan them and have great original writing paper? Anyone have suggestions on other ways to do fun stuff like that, or have examples to share?

That'll do it for this post. Thanks for everyone who's reading!

Till next time,

Aaron :)

Happy [Early] Valentine's Day

Hello, hello! This is going to be what I consider my first 'real' post. I have finally taken some good quality photos of some incoming and outgoing mail, edited it properly, and am ready to roll! This will be a mail-only post, with a culinary club post [hopefully] soon to come. We had an amazing dinner the other night and I can't wait to share our menu and photos from the evening. I have an amazing group of friends... Now, on to the mail!

I started making valentines about a week ago and finally got around to finishing them up tonight by writing out the cards, putting stamps on the envelopes, and sealing them up, ready to go in the mailbox. Most of my effort went into the making of the envelopes, so I bought some simple, cute handmade cards at the store - hopefully people will enjoy them! Before I started making all these, I had this epiphany that I should use paper grocery bags to make envelopes! I know, I know, there's no way I'm the first one to think of that, but it was the first time I had thought of it and had never seen it anywhere, so I was pretty proud of myself after that one! Haha... ok let's get to the pictures!

This is the whole bunch together. Pretty cute bunch, don'tcha think?

Close-up of one that I thought came out particularly well, going to my dear friend Sean.

This one goes to my co-worker Maria; it is her birthday on Valentine's, so her envelope was a little extra special! :)

So that's that for Valentines. What do you guys think? Onto some more outgoing mail, non-Valentine...

This is another grocery bag turned envelope, already delivered to my [long-lost] cousin Colleen. I think the last time I saw her was when I was about 8 or 9 or 10...we reconnected on Facebook and discovered each other's love for mail...how perfect is that!? BTW, I love how the 'REUSABLE RECYCLABLE' words on the bag came out [pretty] perfectly on the front of the envelope! Very apropos, no?

Reply to Belen, a fellow blogger who has become a regular correspondent. It has been great finding new pen-pals who share the love of mail! The envelope is another I made from a children's Beauty & the Beast book I bought at the thrift store.

Zoom-in of the recipe I sent Belen. She's trying to eat healthier and make a positive life change so I thought I'd help her out with a healthy go-to recipe of mine.

Replies from Belen, both envelopes I love, made from scrapbook paper. I especially love the labels she cut out on the black envelope. I recently sent a reply to her on an envelop I made out of scrapbook paper myself. (no picture...)

Reply from another blogger named Lauren I wrote to a week or so ago. I don't think I ever took a picture of what I sent to her to begin with, but her letter back is great, no? Whoops, didn't take a photo of the back either, which was great. It had a great 3-D sticker on it that I loved...oh well...I'm still getting the hang of all this...

My favorite postcard I've received from Postcrossing so far. It is from South Africa and was FILLED on the back with a great message from the sender. I loved it too because it reminded me of all the postcards I sent and received from my BFF Madison when she was studying abroad in South Africa.

Phew! That was a lot of work. I don't know how some of these bloggers do it with all their numerous amazing photos and multiple blog posts in a day...kudos to you all! Signing off for the night...I hope there is more to come soon.

Aaron :)

Song of the moment: The Sound of Music

Artist: Julie Andrews

Album: The Sound of Music Soundtrack