Mash-up

This is a mash-up from last year: Halloween, Thanksgiving, an autumn visit home, and a handful of other get-togethers. (I forgot to post it when it was originally written.)

Max Fischer from Rushmore and Maggie the Cat from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

At home over Thanksgiving

Lombardino's with Laura

I'm still playing catch-up from fall. These pics are from a dinner at Lombardino's with Ms. L. For my taste, the tricolore salad would've been better without the bleu cheese, but that makes sense because it's not my favorite. It was grand, however, to have more exotic greens: radicchio, frisée, and escarole.

tricolore salad

Autumn Visit Home

In the fall, I visited home, and we went to a hoedown at one of the local apple orchards. We also hiked at Perrot State Park and got hopelessly lost. (They changed the route of our favorite, the Ridge Trail.)

Happy Birthday to Me!

at Lombardino's

For my birthday, I went out for Indian at the Taj with Crystal and Jason, had dinner at Lombardino's with Jim and Mike, and had a swanky deluxe pedicare at AniU Salon and Spa (thanks, Laura!). I completely indulged myself at the Taj, and ordered the orechiette with Fraboni's sausage and rapini, and I must say that the pedicure has been the longest lasting one I've ever had.

My pedicure

Laura's pedicure

The Garden's Last Gasp

Before I broke everything down, cleaned, and put the garden to bed for the winter, I wanted to share a few snippets of it with you.

Lavender

Rosemary and thyme

Chiles

The last of the Nyagous that escaped freezing

Same tomatoes transformed into a caprese salad

Curiosity Killed the Greek Cat?

I have a new feline companion, Saffron (named for the daughter in AbFab) or Chickpea or Ceci (Italian for chickpea). On a recent weekend morning, I heard a crash from the kitchen and watched Saffy bolt under my bed. Assured that she hadn't killed herself, I drifted back to sleep.

Milwaukee

Hue Vietnamese

I'd never had spring rolls with grilled pork sausage, so I was a little skeptical; the ones at Hue in Bayview were delicious, so I shall never doubt the wonder of sausage in a spring roll again.

Spring rolls with pork sausage

Go west, young (wo)man!

After a little bit of finagling and jogging, I made my connection in Detroit and landed in Phoenix in the afternoon, as planned. We relaxed a bit and then headed to Crudo for dinner with a few friends. Matt had been before, but for the rest of us, this was our maiden voyage.

Crudo means "raw" in Italian, although only one of us opted for something from the raw portion of the menu. (I figured we'd probably hit up one of Phoenix' marvelous sushi spots at some point in the trip.)

We started with the yummy smoked olives.

Smoked olives

Sona + Aaron over for din-din

Making peanut sauce in mini processor

I couldn't find the original recipe I used for this spicy Thai stir-fry, but here are a few similar ones from Bon Appetit and Food and Wine:

• http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/panang-tofu-curry

• http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/thai-style-tofu-and-vegetables

Broccoli + garlic

As usual, I omitted any sugars (e.g., brown sugar, honey, agave). I also used broccoli and carrots instead of the veggies outlined in the above recipes. I wish I could find the recipe for the peanut sauce. The one I used was made with roasted, salted peanuts instead of peanut butter like the one from Cookie and Kate below. (And if I had used the latter, I would've opted for crunchy.) I also used Sriracha sauce, but I could've thrown in some red pepper flakes.

Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce

• ½ cup creamy peanut butter
• ¼ cup reduced sodium tamari
• 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons honey (or agave nectar, to taste)
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons water

The finished product

Spicy Cootie-patootie + Kickass Mold

I'm very proud of installing up this spice rack solo.

And this was a cute outfit.

And this is some kickass mold that I inadvertently grew on some artichokes in my fridge. I'm usually pretty good about avoiding disgusting stuff like this in the fridge, but it was in the far back. I overlooked it until it became impressive. It's actually kinda pretty in a way. ;)

Evensong Spa

Laura and I channeled our inner divas and went to the Evensong Spa in Green Lake a few weeks ago.

At breakfast

Sorry for the wretchedly dark photo. The sunny landscape wasn't doing us any photographic favors, but it, plus the bare trees and the snowy lake, made for a lovely view.

Labyrinth

This time, I didn't walk the labyrinth, but L. did. It seems a little cheesy, but it really is very soothing. And the bank of windows affords a lovely view of the surrounding landscape.