spring weekend

Yesterday we went down to Reg and Amber's house to help plant the tree we gave them for a housewarming gift. It's a Minnesota river birch like the one we have in our yard. It's a beautiful tree and should give them some shade in not too many years. It was Amber's birthday so they cooked some burgers on the grill once the tree was in the ground.

The sun felt great in the afternoon so I sat on the patio for a while. I almost slept but the mail carrier delivered the junk mail just as I closed my eyes. Yeah, it would hurt a lot to give up Saturday delivery.

We made a new recipe for chicken bites last night. They were kind of messy to make but tasty. I ate mine with Tabasco since I've had a hankering for wings. Patrick's doesn't have the boneless wings on the menu regularly although I'm thinking maybe I could convince them to keep a bag in the back of the freezer for me. They're lightly breaded and that's what I like...not all the dough. Regis made a nice balsamic vinaigrette for the salad we had with the chicken. Delicious.

I have cookbooks piled around me again today. We're making the transition from winter food to summer food so some meals require grilling. I bought a couple vegetable grilling cookbooks since we bought a share of the Living Land Farm. Tonight we're making scallops on the grill and a small steak.

Peter will be 23 on Tuesday so we're taking him out for dinner. He wanted to go to Red Lobster but yuck. Fast food fish. I might try to change his mind.

The birds are back to our feeder. Yesterday I saw gold finches all over the tube feeder. They're still sort of dirty yellow but it's nice to see them back. We have had a small flock of red-winged blackbirds in our yard the last few years. They must be on their way through to somewhere else because they don't stay long. They have a call that sounds like a cell phone ring. There are also lots of robins and mourning doves.

 Today, I'll put out the grape jelly hoping we can attract some orioles. Last year, they were fussy about jelly. Mom says her orioles will eat anything but maybe our neighbor uses a better quality jelly, giving our birds options. Why eat jelly from the dollar store when you can eat Welch's?