Monday, April 29, 2013

Family Visit: Robert is Here

This past weekend I was lucky enough to have a visit from my parents. They drove down from Maryland, spent a couple days in Disney, then had a weekend in south Florida seeing sights with David and I.

Friday afternoon when they arrived we stayed in and I made dinner; but Saturday was packed with lots of different events and sights.

The first place I decided we needed to visit was a fruit stand called Robert is Here. The fruit stand specializes in amazing milkshakes and smoothies made from special tropical fruits. At the stand you can buy all kinds of strange tropical fruits that are difficult to find elsewhere in the US. I need to keep going here year round because the special fruits keep changing with the season.

Mom and Dad enjoying fruit smoothies outside of Robert is Here

I live about an hour north of here, but sometimes I travel down this way for work. I need to make a point of stopping by every time I am in the area. 

Me standing next to a jackfruit tree

Supposedly Juicy Fruit gum has a flavor that was inspired by jackfruit. 

Dad: Being a good sport and posing for the 800th picture of the day. That is also a jackfruit, its hard to believe that the don't fall off the trees. 

So much honey!

There was even a honey tasting area off to the side. The store also has lots of fun different jams, jellies, and sauces. This is one of the places I think I need to take everyone who comes for a visit. I'll for sure be stopping by here a lot during my time in Florida. 

One more thing- we bought a special berry called Miracle Fruit at the stand. It makes sweet things taste sweeter and sour things taste sweet. The four of us did an experimental food tasting and we each ate a quarter of a lemon that tasted very sweet. The miracle fruit works! 




Saturday, April 27, 2013

Disc Golf Champion

Okay, that might be exaggerating a bit. But this picture documents my best disc golf moment. Ever. 

Though it looks like I am pointing to the tree, if you look to the left of the tree near the left side of this photo, you will see a little yellow spot. That spot is my disc in the basket. I got it from where I was standing. 

As someone who has never been good at any type of sport/athletic thing/aiming, this was a big moment for me. Watch out world!


Friday, April 26, 2013

What's cooking?

I think that I've actually been eating fairly well lately. These recipes will not reflect that.

Here is a peanut butter sheet cake I made for the going away party for the students from Honduras at David's research station.


Not the most beautiful cake ever, but very good! I got a lot of compliments on it from people who said they aren't big fans of sweets. Its very moist and not overly sweet. Quite a good combination. Here is the link to the blog where I got the recipe http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2010/03/how-you-can-get-pregnant-from-eating.html 


This past Sunday David and I went to a later church service than usual so I had time to try a breakfast that was more exciting than cereal or granola bars.
I made cinnamon pancakes with a frosting as the syrup.

All of my plates were in the dishwasher. Had to use paper, but I won't complain about the easy clean up.

My future husband applying the frosting/syrup

Again, this recipe worked well, or I wouldn't have shared it on this blog. What has really changed my pancake making experience is the griddle that my brother Erik (Hi Erik!) got me for Christmas. After years of trying I still cannot make a perfect pancake on the stove. But the griddle is changing my breakfast making life. 



Wednesday, April 24, 2013

You know you're in Florida when...

You get to hold your first baby alligator


You make friends with an alligator trapper

You might actually see a manatee

And all the ducks look like this. Seriously. I have yet to see a normal one. I call them the ugly ducklings. They have no fear. 





Monday, April 22, 2013

Audio Books


I live about a mile away from a wonderful library, and I have been taking full advantage of it ever since I moved to Plantation. I stop by at least every week or two. The time I actually spend sitting down to read a book hasn't been excessive, but I do a ton of driving for work and I have learned to love audio-books for this reason. The audio books keep me entertained and it gives me a chance to listen to some books that I might not actually take the time to read. Here is what I have been listening to so far:

Blink- Ted Dekker. Fun fast paced story. Kept me entertained while driving to and from Gainesville. 

Home- Bill Bryson. This book had a lot of interesting information but was very dry. Probably not a book that I would have easily gotten through if I had actually been reading it. He described in detail just about everything you could think of in a home. The origin of kitchens, bedrooms, hallways and more. He also described the history of many things you find in rooms. A lot of what he said was really interesting but I honestly didn't retain much of the information. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson is one of my favorite books, but other books by him just haven’t drawn me in quite so much.

10 Tips to Transform Your Marriage- (Or something like that, I don't remember the exact title). Since David and I are doing premarital counseling now I like reading/listening to anything about marriage.

Happier at Home (I’m not intentionally going with a "home" theme)- Gretchen Rubin. Loved this. The author is married and a mother of 2 in NYC. She made a school years’ worth of resolutions and focused on something different each month. Her idea behind this is that since we spend so much time at home and with family, we should try to make it the best/happiest/most comfortable place possible. I like setting different goals and making mini-projects for myself, and her book encouraged me to do more of that. She also wrote The Happiness Project which I have not read yet. I hear that they are very similar but I’ll probably read/listen to it sometime soon.

Grayson (Currently listening)- Lynne Cox. Story describing a girl’s encounter with a baby gray whale. Describes her experience as the baby whale started following her during a swim; to helping the lost whale find its mother again. Pretty short, only a couple hours to listen to but very detailed. And it’s a true story!

On Deck: My Life in France by Julia Child

Have you been reading or listening to anything good recently? I love new suggestions.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Harvest


This past weekend was harvest time for David and I. We did some weeding and other maintenance of our garden. We made ourselves do all the weeding first and then pull out the vegetables that were ready at the end. There is something so fun about harvesting homegrown foods. I'm beginning to think you haven't lived until you've pulled a turnip out of the ground. 

The "before" weed wacking picture. I forgot to take an after, so just imagine a more cleaned up garden.

However I did get an "after" weed wacking picture of David. 


Our harvest for the day. We made zucchini bread that evening with the giant one pictured.

On Sunday we started our wedding registry. I did enjoy picking out all kinds of kitchen and dining stuff in the stores but it was actually somewhat exhausting. It must have been boring for the lady at Bed, Bath, and Beyond helping us around the store to listen to us discuss the pros and cons of one pair of tongs over another, etc. At Kohls the highlight for David was definitely using the scanner. He kept shooting me with it and making Star Trek jokes. 


Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Gardening and more

 Here are a few snapshots of what I have been up to lately




This is me mulberry picking after a meeting. One of the many moments that makes me love my job.


David and I on top of a lighthouse on Key Biscayne, we had a day where we went to the beach with all the grad students and interns from his research station.


We were happily surprised that the day we visited Key Biscayne there were historical people and exhibits around.



This picture represents one of our most inventive moments of the day. We played Bocce Ball with coconuts and other round shell things we found on the beach. With the supplies we had we needed to use the coconut as what is traditionally the small ball. This almost ended in catastrophe when one of the guys nearly hurled the coconut into a couple that was peacefully tanning on the beach.


Here is a look at one of our garden beds!

David and I are currently learning the ins and outs of gardening in south Florida. (When I say "David and I" I really mean David, he does all the work). There are raised beds available for anyone's use at his research station. This winter to spring we are growing: green beans, zucchini, yellow squash, cheese pumpkins, hubbard squash, basil, cilantro, parsley, kohlrabi, 2 kinds of peppers, green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, turnips, and flowers. 


Our turnips! I think they are such a pretty color.


Harvesting


The first yellow squash


Plants are cool.


Do you recognize these two beekeepers? David is now managing several of his own hives.