Sundays in the city

Another week, another Sunday!

After being gone last weekend, and a busy week – it’s been a weekend of getting things in order. You know that feeling when you’ve been absent from your home and while you don’t notice it, things keep piling up? Clothes, dust, dishes, (and your fridge is empty because you haven’t been home enough to cook). Everything needs a reset.

That was much of the weekend. We’re doing a mini-Whole30 this week and I spent much of the morning at the store and prepping food for the week. My feet are tired!

As The Knot keeps reminding me – we only have XXX days until our wedding! This didn’t really stress me out until this past week when it suddenly seemed like we were behind. I know it will all get done and it will be fun and no one will notice if all the details we planned aren’t finished, but there are definitely some things that have to be done sooner rather than later.

We managed to tick off a few of those things this weekend – like getting Z’s suit, scheduling a cake tasting, eyeing up some invitations, looking at flower shops to make appointments and registering (which was really fun). I know that there is more to come, but so far – we’re just having a lot of fun.

If you’ve been married – what was your favorite registry gift? And was it something you’d registered for or something you just got?

Before I sign off for the night, a few things to check out in the Mpls/St. Paul area that are rapidly becoming favorites:

Heirloom in St. Paul – cozy, delicious food, fantastic wine list and great bartenders.
Minnesota Orchestra’s Symphony in 60 (we saw the Rite of Spring last week and I forgot how intense it is.) I have been so impressed with the way the orchestra has made a concerted effort to get people into the hall – especially now, we need to be patronizing the arts. It’s important and good for the soul.
Mucci in St. Paul – prosecco on tap, need I say more?
Baseball starts tomorrow!

Cheers to a great week – happy April!

 

Sundays in the city

Home from a much needed weekend getaway with a few of my best friends. Returning back to your own bed and the familiarity of home after being away – even for a short time is always strangely lovely and sad at the same time.

The unpacking, the memories, the sudden panic when you realize that you’ve got a busy week ahead and it’s late on Sunday night. The laundry, the grocery shopping, all of it.

Oh well. Tomorrow is another day.

We had a great weekend in Davenport, IA – eating, drinking, laughing uncontrollably, getting pedicures and doing facial masks, watching lots of Chopped. Perfect girls weekend.

A few pictures with the promise to write more about a few of our favorite places this week!

Monday night dinner inspiration

Last fall, we did an adventure with Whole 30 – which was not nearly as difficult as I thought it was going to be. And I LOVE cheese. And wine. It definitely took some adjusting, but we’ll be doing it again – we felt great.

One of the things that came out of it was my renewed obsession with roasting veggies and sheet pan meals in general. SO EASY. Easy to make, easy to clean up!

I thought I’d share one of our favorites for easy Monday night meal inspiration:

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Ready to roast!

Toss sliced zucchini (I used three small zucchini), potatoes (I used two large baking potatoes, but sweet potatoes or squash work well too) and small tomatoes (one lb of mixed size tomatoes) in olive oil, salt and pepper and then throw them on a pan (I use parchment paper to line the pans) with some sausage (pictured are not Whole 30 compliant, but definitely paleo compliant and I got them at our local meat counter).  Roast at about 430 degrees until they look done.

I usually check at about 20 minutes, flip/toss them around a bit, (make sure to switch the pans from top to bottom if you have more than one) and then finish it up for another 15-20 minutes.

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Yum.

The first time I made this – I was in awe of the flavor of the tomatoes. Roasted tomatoes are seriously tasty. This would also be good with garlic/onions, just about anything you can think of to roast!

A great meal for late farmer’s market season because you can get just about everything local. Prep work is super fast, and you can work, work out, read, watch the news or whatever you want while it’s roasting.

We usually have leftovers – perfect for lunches the next day and it reheats perfectly. OR, you can throw a fried egg on it and have it for breakfast!

Good comfort food for a rainy (!) February evening in Minnesota.