Finally back for a Berry fun summer!

Well, it's been far too long since I last wrote a little ditty. Much has happened...finals ended, we moved into a new home, friends and family came to visit (and offer manual moving labor!), and I started a Maymester class. Whew, I'm tired thinking about it, haha. Our house is a slew of boxes, 10 days after the move, but *no surprise* the kitchen is almost finished.

Thanks to Mom, every cabinet and drawer is filled with fun red and white shelf paper. (Thanks, Mom!) We ended the moving weekend with a fun brunch at Cafe Cappuccino, the downtown location. It's the best breakfast place I've found in Waco, mostly because of their pancakes that amount to plate-sized flat, spongy bits of heaven. My favorite is the gingerbread pancakes, but the blueberry banana pecan ones are quite tasty, too.

So I realized that "relaxing" and "summer" mean that I still work 45 hours a week and am taking this May class, but it WILL be more time for cooking/baking, hopefully learning how to sew, learning some Espanol, and reading...lots of reading. I have a stack of books to get into, 3 of which I started this week. (Am I nuts? Yes, probably...)

Here are a few fun things we've been eating here at the new house:

1) Berries, berries, and more berries...Matt's gettin really good at picking out the most perfectly ripe and pretty strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries at the grocery store. I boil them for a sauce to top on vanilla ice cream, add them to oatmeal with raw granola and soybeans for crunch, eat them atop plain yogurt, eat them raw anytime, and basically go nuts for them. They're so tasty and so good for you, it's just so great. (wow, obsessive...)

2) A spinach fettucini pasta with bacon, zucchini, and asparagus on top. Pesto/olive oil light sauce brought it together, with some fresh basil (from our patio!) and parmigiano/reggiano shavings for a little cheesy punch. Mm, tastio Italiano!

3) Healthy stuff, like this poblano black bean Gardenburger (left), with a whole wheat bun, topped with bean sprouts and edamame. The side was sliced cucumber and Italian dressing for fun. This is about as healthy as I go, but it was SO TASTY! The Gardenburger had some fiery kick, so do be prepared.

So that's all for now. This is starting to look Christmas-y, so I'll stop now. Happy beginning of summer!!