Sadie's Veggie Friends

Every trip to Ikea is a new adventure for Super Sadie.

Marco Island Seafood Festival

We spent a few days on Marco Island hanging out with Grandmom. We hunted for seashells, watched the sun slip into the sea and built castles in the sand. The last day we went to the Marco Island Seafood Festival and filled up on crabcakes, fish n chips and fresh Jonah crab claws. Somehow, the camera never came out while we were gorging on seafood so I posted this sunset picture instead. :)

And they called him Bacon...

Sadie made a new friend!

Say hello to this 4-day old piglet named Bacon!

Corned Beef Hash

Corned beef has got to be a savory breakfast lover's best friend. Sausage and bacon have the morning market covered but they better watch their back. A good fresh hash is hard to find so I started a new family tradition this year. After our St. Patrick's Day feast, I took the potatoes, turnips and carrots that had been soaking in the brine and seared them in pan with cubed pieces of the remaining corned beef. The results were remarkable. The outside was a crispy golden brown and the inside was concentrated and tender deliciousness. A few fried eggs on top and the world was a better place.

Seaweed Snacks

Sadie and I made a special trip to Phuoc Loc Tho Oriental Supermarket to track down our new favorite seaweed snacks. They are light and crispy like a long paper-thin Cheeto but with a briny, seaweed and umami savoriness to them. I've found 8 flavors so far including kimshi! Delicious!

After Sadie tried on a few hats, we picked out some new candy. I don't know what this is called but it is truly the best candy ever. Its part Brach's jelly bean nougat, part starburst and part gummy bear. We need to find more of these!

Spring Garden 2011

We had a blast planning out and planting our spring garden this year with the help of my dad (aka Papa Wu.)

First we raked up the rest of the leaves from winter - why didn't they blow into the neighbor's yard like last year? Mysterious Mother Nature...

Papa Wu helped us pull out any weeds and rake in the new soil.

I stapled down the guide string to help us know where to plant the seeds. If you are thinking about gardening in small space, check out squarefootgardening.com/

We planted our favorites like sugar snap peas, golden beets, rainbow carrots and lots of salad greens.

We also added some new veggies to try including purple string beans, asparagus, swiss chard and Sadie's new favorite, Brussel Sprouts!

All the seeds are in and the soil is patted down. We put the tall, fast growers in the back and short, slow growers in the front so everyone gets some sun.

Lillie cleans up the last few stray leaves.

Sprinkler fun after a long day of planting!

Ok, we did our part...what choo got, garden?