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!