A couple of weeks ago there was a giant stainless steel pan sitting on a table in the lunch room at work, with a note saying there were 35 of them…free for the taking.  With lids.

Of course, I just had the have one.  Or five.  For…uh…well…hmmm…I had no idea.  But my building of about 50 people cleared them out that day. 

As people would walk by with their giant pan, I’d ask what they planned to do with it.  With varying degrees of defensiveness, everyone admitted they didn’t have a clue.  But when they saw it, they just had to have it.

They tried to put it in the oven at work.  Good on width, but the oven wasn’t deep enough.  So no massive cakes.  Portable fire pit?  Giant pan of chips and salsa?  Beer and ice for a party?

Here’s what I did with mine this weekend. Herb garden.

Even as we were drilling the drainage holes, my father was lamenting the destruction of such beautiful vessels…but he couldn’t come up with a better use.

I’m on my way to LA to visit a friend this afternoon.  She used to be one of my customers when I worked in NY.  Tonight I’m going out with her and her ex-boss.  Tomorrow we drive to Solvang for a wine tour.  Back home Sunday night.

We have a secret trip to Legoland in San Diego planned for Easter weekend.

Mark and I go to San Francisco on April 17th. 

After that, we’re stuck at home for a while. But we have our tickets booked for the summer.  The kids and I arrive on 7/11.  I fly home on 7/15.  The kids fly home with grandma on 8/1.  And grandma flies back to NY on 8/8.

See you all then.

Last winter, I found this amazing looking recipe for jerk chicken on Serious Eats.  The recipe didn’t intrigue me, so much as the technique.  As they explain in the accompanying article, traditional jerk chicken is cooked on green pimento wood.  They have you cooking the chicken on a bed of bay leaves and allspice berries.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about it ever since.  I even bought big bags of bay leaves at the middle eastern supermarket right after I moved to Phoenix.  But I never made it. 

Finally, a couple weeks ago, I decided I’d had enough thinking about it.  We decided to invite a bunch of people over, specifically to give me the motivation to try the chicken recipe.

We called it an-excuse-to-try-a-new-recipe party. Mine is jerk chicken.  Evelyn’s is a pineapple upside down cake.  Mark’s is a rum punch.

I wrote out 20 invitations.  We invited everyone on our end of the street (except the lady who wouldn’t come to the door).  And the kids invited 4 school friends each.

This is the second time I’ve tried to have a party, so I was more well prepared for the results this time.  People are HORRIBLE at RSVPing.  I have had 6 responses and only 3 yeses.

I decided to send out a broad invitation at work.  5 thanks, but can’t make its. 1 maybe.

The party was last night. 

I had 1 midday cancelation.  1 no show.  1 of the husbands ended up having to work.  But we had 3 families over, including 1 work family.  There were 7 kids, plus 2 babies…so the kids didn’t feel it was underattended.

Mark wanted to be prepared in case we had people come who didn’t RSVP.  We cooked 40lbs of chicken.  Holy smokes….that’s a lot of chicken.  The chicken was fantastic. 

24 habaneros for 20lbs of chicken.  Plus another 3 for the vinegar sauce.  It was that perfect hotness that is right on the edge of being too much.

I made rice and peas and coleslaw, cut up a pineapple and some strawberries.  Evelyn’s cake was great and almost completely devoured last night.  The lady across the street brought a tropical ambrosia style salad. 

So, I’d describe it as a very enjoyable evening, but a complete failure as a party.  Still, I’ll probably try again.

Now I have to start planning Owen’s party.

This past weekend, Mark and I helped his friend out by taking a few lemons off his hands. 

The tree was loaded.  Really loaded.  It is a full size, thorn-covered, 20 foot tall lemon tree.  The fruit load was so heavy they had props under the branches. 

It took us about 10 minutes to gather our fill.

We juiced the brown and blue baskets.  Mark freezes the juice in Solo cups.  It’s the perfect amount for a half gallon of lemonade.  I think we got 38 cups.

I took about half of the green basket. 

I started a limoncello experiment.  Results at the end of March.  They’re stuck in a dark closet until then.

Lemon hammocks…

…versus…

Pithless rind in the liquor…

Of course, the lemon rind version doesn’t consume the entire lemon, so those guys are sitting, bald/naked, in the fridge waiting to be juiced for lemonade.

I used a couple pounds to make lemon marmalade. 

Evelyn nibbled at it and said it was OK…she’s a terrible judge right now because she’s sick.  Owen doesn’t like it.  Mark, who is a marmalade hater, says it too sweet and too sour at the same time.  I happen to think it’s delicious.

I still have a third of the basket sitting in my garage.  I have to figure out what to do with them soon.

And I need to get moving on my orange tree.

My birthday blizzard came early.  I hope.  Because otherwise, we’ll be having a lot more snow this March.

Yesterday morning we could see our lawn.  Today, it’s tough to see the car.

And our dog fence went on the fritz while the neighbor was plowing his “driveway” (which includes large portions of his yard).  I have a sinking suspicion that our wire got plowed up and cut.  And is now buried under a few feet of snow.

I actually pulled my camera out yesterday to take some pictures of the kids and realized that Evelyn has hit the point where she won’t let me take a photo unless she’s posing. Then, after I snap each shot, she needs to approve it. What was life like before digital cameras?!

(Something about this picture reminds me of a photo I’ve seen of Chloe.)

A couple of weeks ago, Owen got into the sifter I’d used for cocoa and, later, found the batter spoon while I was baking and not paying close enough attention.

This is my first attempt at winter sowing – planting seeds out now, in mini makeshift greenhouses and letting nature have its way with them.  I have heard nothing but good things about it over on the GardenWeb forums so I thought I’d jump right in.  And while it may look like a pile of junk in the yard until spring it should be worth it when I have a ton of baby plants.  Plus, this place can’t possibly look any worse than when we got it.  Unless we start collecting tires and planting in those.

I want to get another 50 containers done sometime this week, but they’ll just be multiples of what’s already out there.  I wouldn’t mind finding some more lower growing flowers for the front beds either, but I doubt that will happen. Here’s my list for today.  The (WS) after a plant name means that seeds were free from  http://www.wintersown.org/.  I’m planting up my mother’s Wintersown.org seeds for her, since she’ll be out of town soon.
Anise Hyssop
Wild Bergamot
Echinacea/Coneflower
Lady’s Mantle
Lemon Mint
Broadleaf Sage
Earl Gray Larkspur
Blue Spire Larkspur
Elka Poppies
Large Lavendar Poppies
Balloon Flower
Bellflower (short ones – 8″)
Persian Catmint
European Columbine
Mrs. Scott Eliot Columbine
Blue Skies Delphinium
Foxglove (WS)
Hibiscus (Southern Belle)
Hibiscus (Yellow – WS)
Jacob’s Ladder
Rose Mallow (WS)
Blue Flax (WS)
Mexican Hats (WS)
Lavatera
Lupine (WS)
Chinese Houses (WS)
Celery (Del valadarno – WS)
Switchgrass (WS)
Purple Prarie Clover (WS)
Evening Primerose (WS)
Bleu de Solaize Leek
King Richard Leek
Space Spinach
Bright Lights Chard
Broccoli Mix
Piracecaba
Kale Mix
Spring Onion (WS)
Speckled Trout Back Lettuce (WS)

And did I mention I start work in two days…after approximately 1,256 days off?

The African violet that the doula gave me after Owen was born has started blooming again.    I’ve just learned that it could be blooming up to nine months a year if I take care of it properly.  I think it needs a slightly brighter window and to be replanted in a larger pot.  I have a nice one that someone gave us as a housewarming gift that would be perfect.

My bird feeder is not squirrel proof.  They leap from the trunk to the feeder, catching it about nine times out of ten.  They disappeared for a little while when we had all the snow, but since the thaw they are out in force.

I’ve seen dark eyed juncos and a tufted titmouse at the feeder now.