Finishing up the Break

Doesn't this look heavenly? It's Rockfish with sun dried tomato risotto, and lemon butter sauce, some lump crab meat, and wilted spinach.

And this is an appetizer of two big, luscious scallops on a bed of wilted spinach with a saffron sauce and a topping of phyllo straw. Oh, my. So yummy.

I ate these delicious things at Carrol's Creek restaurant this afternoon for an early dinner with Ben. It's on the water in Annapolis so we could watch the boating action from your table. I particularly loved the little sailboats. It was a very warm day, just perfect for getting out on or near the water.

There's been lots of water activity around our house the past few days as we've been making friends with our new fish, rescuing the tadpoles from the pond skimmer, and admiring the toads. Tonight we spotted three; this one was singing his heart out hoping for a lady love, while two others merrily swam around the pond without making any noise at all.

We got our stand of outdoor lights from Pottery Barn up and on last night, making the pond particularly festive for a visit from Ben's brother's family and some of Paul's friends. We had the good idea to hang them from Shepherd's hooks placed at the edge of the seating area.


Clever Ben used zip ties (always so handy to have around!) to fasten each light to a hook.

While the adults sat around chatting and drinking wine, the kids played lively games of hide and seek and flash-light tag. To rest, they looked for fish or just flopped down in the lounge chairs.

Today we did the first lawn mowing and had the first family bike ride of the season.

Tomorrow we head back to school to start the end-of-the-year countdown!