the good life

I have been overwhelmed with gratitude lately. I am so thankful to have a job that I love, a wonderful husband, an amazing family and a spectacular circle of friends. Now that I have more time on my hands, I'm feeling so grateful for a job that I can easily get away from in order to spend more time with family and friends. And so, we've been doing just that!

This past week, Mikey went to Bowens Lodge on Lake Winnibigoshish with his dad for their annual spring fishing trip. It's a tradition that they both look forward to every year. I've been lucky enough to be able to join them for parts of their trips for the past 4-5 years. This year was no different. I joined them on Thursday night for dinner, wine & cigars. Then on Friday we got out fishing for about 5 hours. I caught a nice 14" walleye... it was a keeper.
Then, the rest of the Fudala fam (Mike's mom- Dianne, sister- Kristen, b-i-l- Jake, nieces- Sienna & Sydnie) joined us Friday night for the fish fry. It's always nice when Mike and John catch enough fish to feed us all. The Fudala fam is quite fond of freshly cut french fries, so we indulged in those as well.
Then, on Saturday Mikey and I hung back at the cabin to spend some quality time with our nieces.
Sydnie did a lot of this:

while Sienna was on the go:
It was nice to catch up with everyone.
Then on Sunday we arrived back in Duluth before noon and realized we had a whole day together and wanted to make the most of it. So, we took a short road trip to Ely. Ely has been in the running (I think like top 10) for the coolest little city in America. It's very rugged as it's an entry point to the BWCA. We scoped out the culinary scene and decided to try a new brewpub. We split the fish and chips and a cheeseburger with onion rings. We both tried their IPA beer and it was pretty good. The meal was total glut but you gotta stick with a restaurant's specialties and on Sunday it was all about the pub food.
The best part of the trip is what we encountered on our way home. The trip along Hwy 1 to Hwy 61 is absolutely gorgeous. Very woodsy with beautiful little lakes. Along the way, I saw my very first moose in the wild:

The drive got even better as we took Hwy 61 down the north shore. Dense fog was moving in over Lake Superior and so we stopped at Palisade Head to take a look:
There was a group of people climbing the face of Palisade (see them at the top?)
We had such a wonderful day and really appreciated living in such a beautiful landscape together!!

Another perk of the spring fishing trip is that Morel mushrooms are abundant in the area around Lake Winnie. The local bottle shop in Deer River was selling all of these mushrooms for $8- a total steal!
We brought a bag of morels home to make mushroom risotto. We had the risotto with grilled chicken on Monday night:
The rest of the week has been pretty uneventful. I'm looking forward to seeing the Christenson fam this weekend when I go down to Nicollet for Hannah's graduation ceremony & party. I'm just so glad I have the time to do these things now without the stress of anything waiting for me when I return. I can truly relax and have a good time.

Speaking of relaxing... it's a gorgeous night here (80 degrees in May in Duluth is unheard of... we broke a temp record yesterday). I'm thinking life is good as I sit outside on our porch and enjoy a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale while using my new laptop!!
It was a graduation gift from the Fudala 'rents and I couldn't feel more spoiled. Thanks you guys!! Have a great memorial day weekend and happy graduation to Hannah!!

graduation

I made it! Life as a grad student is over!! I had such a wonderful weekend as well as a week of good eats.
Sunday:
Mikey was working some crazy hours so I was in charge of dinner on Sunday. While I was in the cooking mode, I also did a little baking.
My first concoction consisted of taking raw almonds and tossing them with maple syrup, cinnamon and salt before roasting them for 15 minutes:

to make Maple Cinnamon Almond Butter:
I'll definitely be making that again. Next, I made these:
Don't they look like double chocolate chip cookies?
They were turned in to this:
Black Bean Burgers on a toasted bun with spinach, tomato, onion and cheese. I also made some sweet potato fries in the oven. Mikey had some chipotle mayo in the fridge that we used as a dipping sauce for the fries. The bean burgers were super easy to make and then I had leftovers for the week.
I worked pretty hard on Tuesday & Wednesday to finish up my economics homework and assignment.
The big commencement day came on Thursday. Mike's parents came up for the ceremony and spent the weekend with us.

Here I am walking in:
Getting my hood and fake diploma:
With the Fudala fam:

With Nikki & Henry:
M&M:
It was a great way to end a project that took 3 years to complete! After the ceremony we went to a reception at the Green Mill for all of the MBA grads and their families. Then it was off to the Red Star for some celebrating.
On Friday, I relished in total relaxation. It felt so good to shut my brain off for a while.
For lunch Mikey put together a really nice pasta dish.
The pasta consisted of a white wine, shallot & sun dried tomato sauce which was tossed with some sausage and then poured over bow tie noodles. It was then garnished with parmesan cheese and basil:

It was perfectly balanced with just the right amount of sweetness & spiciness.

We spent the afternoon taking the dogs for a walk on Park Point. Anna frolicked in the lake and was a soggy sandy mess by the end. Here she is sporting her mohawk:
She needs a haircut BAD!
Per usual, we got back to the house in time to start thinking about the next meal. We decided on the Scallop and Asian Soba Noodle Salad that Mikey made back in February:

It was a total hit!

On Saturday Mikey had to work so the Fudala 'rents and I took the dogs for a walk. Once Mikey got home we headed out to play tourists for the afternoon. We did some shopping at Fitgers and Canal Park.
We gave Mikey a break from cooking on Saturday night and went to Gronks in Superior for dinner. It was the epitome of a typical WI bar and restaurant. The food was good and I can see why people rave about the place. In comparison to the Anchor bar (which also serves greasy hamburgers and cheap beer), we all agreed the Anchor was better. None the less, we were glad we tried Gronks.

That brings us to today (Sunday). We all chipped in to help make brunch. And what a brunch it was!
Crabcake & Egg Benedict:
There were hash browns as a base. The benedict was made with sourdough english muffins, homemade crab cakes (which were phenomenal), a poached egg (below) or scrambled eggs (above), and homemade bearnaise sauce.


I thought I had died and gone to heaven! I thought I hated bearnaise and hollandaise sauces. Turns out I love bearnaise. I've really become a lover of all things with tarragon in them (remember the smoked salmon cheese spread?). The bearnaise was made from an Emeril cookbook and had shallots, white wine, dry vermouth, butter, eggs, lemon juice & tarragon in it. What's not to love? Wowsa, it was fantastic. Better than Pizza Luce brunch... which says a lot!

So, the party is over and I start the next phase in life. The phase of healthy eating, regular (and more intense) exercise and more "me" time. I can't wait! Cheers to summer!

catchin' up

Three cheers for my last weekend class in Rochester! Graduation is this Thursday!!
I'll be blogging more regularly once I'm done with school. In the mean time, here's what we've been up to.
May Dinner club was hosted by Kaija & Dean. We were in charge of the appetizer this month. Mikey had a work meeting and so we picked something that was "easy" for me to make.
I started by mashing these fennel seeds in to a powder (side note: I hate using a mortar & pestle almost as much as I hate stirring risotto for 30 minutes):
Next I chopped half of a red onion and gave them a quick rinse to take the edge off:
Meanwhile the goat cheese and cream cheese warmed to room temperature. Then, I added the zest of one lemon, chopped tarragon, salt, pepper and fennel:
After a bunch of whipping, I had a nice cheese spread. I cut up a baguette and brushed olive oil on both sides of the bread. The bread was baked at 375 for 5 minutes on each side.
Next I spread the cheese mixture on the bread and sprinkled on the red onions:
Next, I added some Coriander & Black Pepper Smoked Salmon from Northern Waters Smokehaus. The crostinis were garnished with lemon peel & tarragon sprigs:


The combination of the fennel, tarragon, coriander & lemon was fantastic with the salmon! Recipe can be found here.
Upon arrival, Bruce presented K&D with a bottle of Akvavit- a traditional Scandinavian liquor! After a "Skol" to toast the evening, we enjoyed a lovely CA Chardonnay that Nikki & Henry brought with the appetizer.

Kaija & Dean had a wonderful spread of food. The meal was inspired by their favorite Scandinavian cooking celebrity, Tina Nordstrom. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures until after the meal so these are the leftovers.
Arugula salad with pears and prosciutto:
Smoked salmon, egg, potato & dill salad:
The entree was Lake Superior white fish with herb encrusted shrimp (no surprise... there were no leftovers to photo). It was so good and so fresh! We all enjoyed a couple Zinfandels (Marietta Old Vine & Sin Zin) that we brought as well as another bottle of Chard from K&D. K&D's house is so cozy and cute!
Nikki & Henry brought dessert. It included a whipped tofu and lemon "smoothie" that was topped with walnuts, blueberries and cinnamon. It was so light and so delicious!
Then we retired to to the living room to have coffee by the fire:
Cute and super cozy, huh?
We had tea, coffee and then a mini whiskey tasting.

It seems like we drank a lot but when you consider that there are 7-8 of us splitting a bottle of wine, there ends up being a lot of just tastings.
Even the kitty joined us! Dinner clubbers- help me out on the kitty's name, please.
Per usual, the couples photo shoot:
N&H:
Bruce & his "date" David (Nellie was working on a paper for school):
The gracious hosts, K&D:
We really enjoy dinner club!!

Now on to this past week...
I got to meet our new niece. I took Wednesday off of work and Mikey and I headed down to the cities to do a photo shoot with our new family member.

Sydnie May was born on April 15th so she is now 3 weeks old:
Such a doll:
Precious:
Snuggle bug:
I also got to meet Kristen & Jake's dog. Her name is Maya and she is really sweet:

Proud parents:
M&M:
It was also Homegrown Music week in Duluth-Superior this past week. So, it's been a good couple of weeks. The next post will be featuring my graduation. Hooray!