It's a PowerSful Life

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Tea for Mothers

Today Rob and I took his mom out for lunch. We drove up to Millerton, NY to the Harney & Sons Tasting Room and Restaurant. Rob took me here on one of our first dates, we came here the day after our wedding, and now we come for Mother's Day. It never disappoints. We visit the tea room for our refills and to try new tea. This time around I got Chamomile and Raspberry - going to need the decaf for awhile still and raspberry leaf is supposed to be good for late pregnancy and postpartum. After tea we shop a bit and then have lunch. The sandwiches are simple. They have other food, but I always get the same thing. I should expand, I'm sure it's all great. The best part of lunch though is the pot of tea and the scones. Oh, the scones. Even if you don't like scones, you will like these. They are light and fluffy and like no scone you've had before. I took my camera along, you know for a nice Mother's Day picture, I even charged the battery. But I left it in the charger...oops, can we just blame the baby?

In the shop Rob asked if I wanted to get anything besides tea, and I said I'd like to get something pretty. I fell in love with this painted pitcher. So I went to get it, and Rob said if we were getting the pitcher we needed two cups (one for each of us you know). And if we were getting the cups we might as well get the matching platter. So we did. They didn't have two of any of the cups so one is coordinating. Maybe someday we will get two more. For now, I imagine our summer balcony evenings encompassing iced tea in the pitcher (it's metal, so will hold cold well) and the baby next to us in the swing.

Also, to note, we found out last week that Harney & Sons opened a tasting room in SoHo. They don't have a full kitchen, but they do have the scones. I think I found our new Saturday excursion in the city snack place.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

May Day

May 1 came and went - and that means summer gardening time! It is still a work in progress. I still have a few more herbs to buy and plant in the large flat container (the bottom of the rabbit's old cage) and the pots won't be sitting on top of one another or all in the corner.

Cherry Tomatoes, Peppers, Rosemary, Thyme, Parsley (to be planted) Strawberries

But we are having some work done on the building facade, so this way the plants are out of the way. I'm excited about all the herbs, and we also added some peppers to the mix along with tomatoes. And of course, there are Rob's strawberry plants, which have done amazingly well.

Parsley, still missing two plants on the right

I also read somewhere that Marigolds keep the pests away - not that we get so many on the sixth floor balcony, but if I see some nice ones, it could add some color to all the green. I love to look at flowers, but I am so much better at keeping the food-plants alive.

lots of Sweet Basil this year

PS - this is my 300 post on the blog. I kind of wish it were more exciting.

I am 31 weeks pregnant. Simon weighs just over 3 pounds (according to the books) and besides some crazy third trimester symptoms (leg cramps, loose/sore hips, OMG I'm actually having a baby hormones) I think this is my favorite trimester yet. I mostly feel good physically, I have more energy than have had thus far, and I can feel him moving All. The. Time.