Those who know me well know I am a girly-girl. And as a child, I despised dirt. I momentarily appreciated the chore of using the riding lawn mower to cut our 1/4 acre. But I was uncomfortable with weeding, dirt, and bugs. I have tried hard to change. While I still have an odd fear or hatred of lizards (which I'm trying to get over), I have learned to appreciate the dirt involved with gardening and weeding. After all, they get me out in the fresh air and provide a bit of exercise--two very important things for sustained quality of life.

Happy Valentine's Day! And tomorrow, Happy Birthday to Me! The problem: I'm just a little busy to get it together enough to make a nice meal for either special occasion. Celebrations will just have to wait until after papers are graded. Lucky for me, I have a very patient husband.

It's been so long since I posted a menu plan--not because I didn't have one, but because there were other things to talk about. Plus, there were the holidays when you generally just think of leftovers for every meal.

You might call this a replay, but it didn't matter because it went over so well. I made kabobs alternating in new particular order carrot slices, sweet potato slices, Redi-Burger chunks, sweet pepper slices, and chunks of onion. It is recommended to pre-cook the carrots and sweet potatoes. Grilled would have been much more fun, but I was running out of time. Instead, I brushed the kabobs with oil and broiled them. Hence the crisped skewers.

To make a really long story short, we misread our ticket and arrived only 40 minutes before our plane departed for Denver. Naturally, our bags didn't make it and we had to wait for the next plane from Orlando to deliver our clothes for the week and. . .more diapers. Paul did some research and found a vegetarian restaurant in downtown Denver where we could spend our time. Although the GPS took us an odd way through a not-so-nice area of town, we eventually got to Uptown and had no trouble parking near this amazing restaurant.

My garden has not turned out as well as I had planned. But, I don't beat myself up. I'm new to this. It just kinda feels like a waste of money. I'm happy to hear advice if anyone wants to assist in my cluelessness.

I was playing around with the concept of how much Paul loves roasted red pepper on Sunday. Being so near a cleaned-out kitchen food-wise, I came up with this little dish that would make for a nice appetizer or a "sampler platter" with other items for a light lunch.

I stepped outside my back door on Friday and to my surprise, I see positive changes in my little plants in our container garden. I was so excited, I called my parents immediately. I'm so glad to know that growing our own items really isn't as hard as I expected. In fact, it's quite a lot of fun. And what a blessing to watch the plants grow and change. I've included just a few pictures so as not to bore you.

At the risk of sounding like I'm trying to convince myself, I repeat: I did not want to post my child all over my blog. However, it was evident today when it took me much longer to deal with the container garden than it should have that Nora will continue to be involved in every chore I do. And therefore will sneak into pictures here and there. I will just try to make sure they actually have a correlation to the story.

Our first night eating local started off pleasantly in at a great little restaurant on Orange Ave. in downtown Orlando. Virgin Olive Market used to be on Clay, and I think the change in location surely must have increased its exposure. There was a nice, steady stream of customers during our entire dining experience. Virgin Olive makes the grade in a couple of areas. First, it is a fast, very friendly, and significantly cheaper restaurant than the two restaurants it's sandwiched in between.