Visit Paddy’s at Misqaumicut Beach

Before celebrating Barbara’s birthday, we all came to the Misquamicut Beach on Rhode Island to relax. So if you ever find yourself there, you absolutely must go to Paddy’s. Besides having some of best lobster risotto ever, they also serve drinks in these delightful glasses… that you get to keep! I can’t wait to use Mr. Monkey again.

Celebrating a 60th Birthday!

It was Ryan’s mom’s 60th birthday last week (hi, Barbara!) and we went to Connecticut to celebrate. His father Jack threw a huge party in Barbara’s honor, but I managed to sneak in these photos in the calm before all the guests arrived of just the Healy family and some neighbor kids.

Party preparations:

The birthday girl and my fellow virgo:

Big Jack:

Stocking the bar:

Ryan’s Aunt Alicia:

Ryan’s Brother Dan:

Delicious ceviche:

Flowers out and about:

Ryan and his dad:

Grandma Bee:

The Babenco women:

John, the neighbor boy:

Everyone ready?

My favorite of Ryan:

Concert on the Square

Concert on the Square is over for the summer but is a favorite tradition in Madison. The chance to be quiet , to talk , to be with each other face-to-face, not have to talk if you don’t want to or can’t – the chance to listen, to indulge in a bottle of wine, cheese and dinner.

Does your city have any great summer traditions?

Friday Night Movie

Ryan and I are easily entertained, so movie critics we are not. However, it’s rare that he will admit to liking chick flicks (even though he will chuckle and hold me tight at all the right parts). But we both really enjoyed New York, I Love You.

I wasn’t expecting much (I guess it’s based off of Paris, Je T’aime which is supposedly fantastic), and we watched it last Friday night in. I loved the vignettes by different filmmakers, and felt like I had gotten a glimpse into each character’s life, kind of like how you imagine a person’s life in the moments they walk by you on the street.

Gotham

I am not sure what’s better and more deluding to your health than a delicious bagel sandwich.

Gotham Bagels in my neighborhood are New York style, and if you’re in the city, you should defniitely give them a visit. This particular beauty, called the “V”, is scallion cream cheese, roasted poblano peppers, tomato, arugula and avocado on a bagel. Ryan picked it up and hand-delivered it to me a few weeks ago. Have I mentioned I’m a lucky girl?

The Almost Moon

One day I went out with my best friend and when I came home, she had given me an armful of books to read. This is the first of them, and I have been letting it sit a while before talking about it.

The book received mixed reviews, with many people saying things like, “This entire book is just way too bizarre and weird for my taste,” or “The characters were wholly unsympathetic, their decisions and actions incomprehensible, and the plot implausible.”

But despite what might be an extremely uncomfortable reading, The Almost Moon deserves your attention. While the main character Helen does little to engender compassion, it is precisely her dysfunction that I spiraled down along with throughout the book.

Yes, it’s not a book for optimists. You’ve been forewarned.

The Almost Moon, $6.

Rainbow

On Friday, there were numerous severe weather watches and it had been raining all day. Ryan and I ordered in and just as our food arrived, we saw a rainbow. There were actually two of them!

Broiled Bread w/ Zucchini, Goat Cheese & Basil

You must start this meal (Ryan would call it an appetizer, I will call it a meal) with a delicious extra virgin olive oil, the kind you wouldn’t mind dipping your finger into just to taste…. this variety came to me from Sicily via Alice.  You can see how much I’ve used already and the bottle only recently arrived at my doorstep. Ah, Sicily!

Now that you’ve found a quality olive oil, here is the rest of the recipe:

Broiled Bread w/ Zucchini, Goat Cheese & Basil
Adapted from The Dabble.

Ingredients

• Sliced french bread
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Zucchinis, thinly sliced
• Fresh basil
• Red pepper flakes
• Sea salt/ground pepper
• Goat cheese, garlic and herbs flavor

Preparation Instructions

Drizzle your olive oil over slices of french bread. Pop the slices under the broiler while you fry up some thin slices of zucchini, in more olive oil, and ground some salt and pepper to taste. In a bowl, mix a healthy handful of basil, red pepper flakes and even more olive oil. Add your thinly sliced fried zucchini when they’re lightly browned and tender. Mix ‘em up, then take out your lightly broiled bread, add the zucchini mixture and top it off with your favorite goat cheese (try garlic and herbs – divine!).

It will seem like a simple dish.

But it will taste so good.

Women, Wear Red for Influence

I am going to get to why you should wear red, but I first want to tell you that Ryan has been exercising and eating right like a madman lately. I blame it on his ex-roommate who obsessed his way into a completely new body. Ryan is well on his way. I keep telling him to stop counting calories and he keeps telling me that my metabolism is too high to comment. So, okay.

When I offered this delectable treat to him at first, he gave a face. This is a man who believes that going without meat for one meal is bad. Very, very bad. Even when on a diet. But I had faith he would really like my simple treat. So I foisted it upon him. And guess what? Now, when goes to buy his lean pork chops and ground turkey, he picks up some blueberries and yogurt as well. The non-fat kind of course.

Blueberry Yogurt Snack & Dessert

Ingredients

• Fresh Blueberries
• Dannon Light & Fit Vanilla Yogurt (Quart-size)

Preparation Instructions

The vanilla yogurt is key to this treat as well as the quart-sized containers, which match up well with the blueberry’s containers and will last you the week. I also suggest cute ramekins. Red is a good color. In fact, when women wear red, men pay more attention and think they’re more attractive. So it stands to reason that putting healthy food in red ramekins has to be a smart move as well.

Place spoonfuls of yogurt into a red ramekin all the way to the edge. Dip your spoon in. Add blueberries until they start to overflow over the top. Enjoy the creamy, fruity goodness.

Taliesin

For the 4th of July weekend, Ryan and I went to Taliesin in Spring Green, WI, which was Frank Lloyd Wright’s home during the summer months. This was my third time there. I wrote a bit about my fascination with Wright here. We weren’t allowed to take interior shots, but I took some good exterior photos using my iPhone camera.

This is Romeo and Juliet in the background.

The meandering entrance to the Taliesin home.

Back of the house.

Some of the gardens. This is looking towards Wright’s bedroom.

You get a bit of the sense of how the house is built into the hill here.

Gorgeous, calming views.

Bye, bye Mr. Wright.

Afterwords we drove back to Madison for dinner, drinks, and a cigar and new sunglasses for Ryan. Then we headed to James Madison Park for the fireworks show. It’s a day I will remember for a long time.