Girlfriend Time with Lori

Some days it seems like friends just read your mind.  Lori sent a message yesterday asking if I could get out a bit today.  Absolutely.  I am kidless and need to keep my mind occupied right now.  I have memberships to play with so the cost is kept down and off we go.

The Arboretum is a great place to just walk and talk.  That's what we do.

Jon's Here!! Fast and Furious Time Together

21st - The exchange has been made and Jon is in the car.  We are heading back into Dallas right smack dab in the middle of 5 o'clock traffic.  Yay!!!  The normal 1 1/2 trip takes a little over 2 hours and we are ready for some dinner.  Grandpa is all into Jon's idea of Thai and soon we are seated and enjoying the delicious treats from Thai Opal.

Pear-Mascarpone French Toast

My grandson, Jon, loves to cook.  He enjoys being in the kitchen and learning how to do things and how ingredients play with each other.  We have a very short time together this year, but at least one project is underway.

Our brunch today is Pear-Mascarpone French Toast.  I learned how to make this back in 2008 from a Country Woman magazine and save it for special occasions.  Today is one of those.  Shall we get started?  Step one is to assemble all of the ingredients.  We stopped at the store yesterday to pick up the items we were missing in the pantry.

We are making four servings today so my ingredients are according to that.  Peel  and core one pear.

Jared's Here -- Teenager Fun

Half of June has come and gone and I'm into Session two with the grands.  Jared is here for a few days and this teenage sleeper loves his down time.  I'm okay with that and we'll just take the days calmly and quietly.  I spend the morning cleaning the bedroom and readying it for a visitor.

Meeting Jen off halfway to Abilene, the boy is in the car and I return the trek back to the house with Jared.  Stopping at Central Market, groceries are purchased and then all that is required is a short wait for Mister to finish work while Jared settles in and dinner is at In N Out.  Yep, pretty fancy, but I am too tired to cook.

Evening spent just chatting and finding out all that is going on in his life.

Garlic Dill Refrigerator Pickles

SIX months since I shared a recipe.  SIX.  Oh wow.  How does that happen?  Well, today I am making Garlic Refrigerator Pickles and thought you might like to make some too.

We stopped at Central Market for groceries the other day and they had these great cukes.  Let's get started.

To make 3 pints, you will need about 2 pounds of pickling cucumbers.  I have about 2 1/2 and am working with quarts, so we'll see how it goes.  I love that it's not an exact science.

Just Us Two -- SipStir, Dallas Zoo, Mom, OHB

It's a Just Us Two type of day.  Well, at least for part of it.  Come along and let's see what all we can see and do.

We're starting out with a new to us coffee shop called sip/stir.  I think it's super cute and a great play on words.

It has a nice open floor space with lots of great places to sit, both for group and individual needs.

Killer Storm

What a great morning!!!  I rearranged furniture in the house to bring in the family heirloom that we picked up yesterday.  It now has a new home in my room.  Mister mowed the yard and we just feel so good about it all.