USO Run

Bucket List:  Do a 5K.

Check!

Please note that I did not say 'run' a 5K.  Baby steps thank you.  Himself came along for support and encouragement even tho this distance is nothing for him.

Got my number on and I'm ready to go!

I knew the run had different levels for all who wanted to participate...

... but I don't know about these characters!

Actually they were leading the family 1 mile fun run/walk.

Some of those kids had energy to spare.

But then... so did this mom.  Yes, that is THREE kiddos that she is handling beautifully.

You go girl!

First through the gate were the 10 mile runners.  These people are serious!

Me?

Ummmm... no thank you.

NOW it's my turn!  The 5K-ers line up.

Since 'time' wasn't my objective (finishing was what I was aiming for), we let all the runners go ahead of us.

Crossing under the gate.

Found out that our race numbers had a chip embedded that took our start and finish time.  That cat looking pictures all around the gate are the receivers (I think).

Along the way folks were waiting to cheer on the participants.  This is "Team RBW".  See the blue haired lady on the left?  That would be Skye, our teacher from the granola class.  LOL

A little farther along was the 101st Airborne jazz band.  They were good!  Had to laugh, on the way back they were playing "Eye of the Tiger" (the "Rocky" theme song).

5K... that's ME!

At the 5K halfway point.  Bless their little ol' ears... they had water to drink! 

By my 2 mile point the first 10 miler lapped me.  That's OK, I was still walking.  I think I was the only 5K that was there to walk, not jog/run, the course.

I joked that I was guarding the rear flank.

What was really cool is the encouragement given to me by the runners.  

Under the gate and DONE.

And I have the medal to prove it!

Now I know I can, and I will again!

Brass Buttons Up Close (#urbanjunglebloggers)

Let the spring planting begin!

We've picked up our first new plants for this spring, these to go in the trellis planter on the front porch.  The plant is called "Brass Buttons".  It's a low growing perennial that spreads... a lot.  I think it will look nice in the planters with the runners hanging down.

What caught our eye is the fern-y looking leaves.  But don't let that delicate look fool you.  Brass Buttons are tough enough to stand light foot travel.

The deep brassy purple and green are a plus.  I think I'm going to go with a purple theme for the porch this year so this is a good start.

The flower buds are so interesting!  The flower will be a bright yellow.

Doesn't it look like a miniature Jurassic Park?

I'm looking forward to seeing how it works out.  

Recipe Chaos Under Control

Finally finished a chore that I have been putting off for way too long - sorting my recipes.

I pulled out this tub, which was FULL.  And this tub was the improvement!  I started out with the next size larger crammed full of recipes.

It's taken a long time to go through them.  They looked soooo good but I had to say to myself, "Are you seriously planning on making this?"  Some had too many ingredients, some had too many steps. 

And a few I had no idea why I had saved them!

First pile I tackled were my recipes from classes I've taken.  That pink card is my registration for my very first cooking class.  September 1983... bread baking.

I pulled the recipes that I really liked and tossed the rest.  Even with that the recipes I kept almost fill a 3 inch binder!

Lots of tabs so I don't have to hunt too much.

The next notebook has my international recipes.  It still needs some work as I want to organize it by tabs with the various countries of the recipes.

My last notebook has my canning recipes.  I'm going to decorate the other two notebooks like this one, using my photos.

For those recipes that I have clipped and pulled to try, I used two pretty accordion folders.  That was my biggest mess of sorting.  I strictly limited myself to no more than 12 clipped recipes per category.

I threw a lot away.

Here are the results.  My organized recipes on the bottom (the magazine holder is to catch class and clip recipes for putting away).  The top has the cookbooks that I use all the time, plus my recipe box.

Done!

Persian Food in Nashville - House of Kabob

For many years I had an Iranian girlfriend who lived close by who introduced me to the wonderful Persian food.  Oh my goodness!

She moved years ago and outside of a rare meal while traveling, I have been without the distinctive flavors of Persia.  (Whole Foods did a class but it didn't turn out so good...)

Recently I was poking around on Yelp looking for different ethnic restaurants in Nashville.  To my surprise, "Persian/Iranian" was a category with 'House of Kabob' the listing!  Well alrighty then!  Better yet... it was a very short drive from where the Lawn and Garden Show was being held.

We stepped into the restaurant with our noses tingling with the scent of exotic (and familiar) spices.  

After we seated ourselves, our waiter appeared with the menus and this little appetizer.

I have to admit... greed jumped on our heads.  (It didn't help that we were really hungry too).

Himself ordered the appetizer Sample Plate.  It had hummus (bottom right), kashk (grilled eggplant spread) (bottom left), musto-moosir (a yogurt dip similar to tzatziki) (top left), taboli (parsley salad) (top right), 2 flafel, and 2 dolmeh (stuffed grape leaves).

Everything was excellent.  Best flafel and dolmeh I've had in Nashville.  And the kashk was perfect.

Shrimp Sultani

A skewer of seasoned shrimp, a skewer of kubideh (ground beef), with yellow rice and a chopped veggie salad.

I had Lamb Sultani.

A lamb skewer and a kubideh skewer (Nazzi... it was almost as good as yours).  Mine came with white rice.  The little pile of saffron rice makes it look like an egg.  LOL

And oh-my-goodness!  They had tahdig!!!!  I haven't had tahdig since you moved Naz!

For those who don't know, tahdig is crunchy (but not hard) brown rice that is formed along the edge of the pan as rice is prepared the Persian way. 

It is sooooooo good!

It was a wonderful meal.  I have a new favorite restaurant.

After our meal, I picked up a take-away menu as we left.  Driving to our next stop (a tile shop), I read to Himself the desserts.  We were both kicking ourselves for not thinking of them when I said, "We can go back when we are done."

Oh yes.

Back we went.  Our waiter looked puzzled to see us again until I said "We forgot dessert."  We both laughed.

We each got a bowl of Persian ice cream.  Himself had Turkish Coffee ice cream and I had Rose Water ice cream.  We shared a piece of 'milk cake'.

Yep... we have a new favorite restaurant!

Spring is in the Air! Nashville Lawn & Garden Show

Our harbinger of Spring is the annual Lawn & Garden Show in Nashville.  Although sometimes it doesn't seem so 'spring'... like last year when it snowed 4 inches the day before the show opened.

This year was perfect.  Temperatures in the low 60s, a gentle breeze, and the trees are starting to bloom.

My favorite thing at the show this year was this pavilion.  Isn't it just an overload of cuteness?

I bet I could make one of these!

The framing is simple.  I have the windows.  And there are plenty of places I could pick up some old tin roofing.

Hmmmmmm...

The fireplace is wonderful too.  That would be a bit harder to pull off though.

This type of roof would be easy to do.

There were MANY lovely water features.

Who would have thought to use a cypress bucket?

I like the way they used the rocks.

Oh yes!  Wouldn't this be perfect on a patio?

I really like the drilled boulder fountains.

A nice small waterfall.

And a larger waterfall.

There was even a pond!

This was a very interesting display.  A tiny fountain makes a stream through a cut stone.  How unique!

These stone fire pits are so neat.  I like the balls set in this one.

Wouldn't this be a cozy sitting area?

Other displays were definitely full of whimsy.

Recycled EVERYTHING.

A Hobbit home.  I think it was constructed from a piece of large culvert pipe.

And a giant fairy garden.  There were about eight different fairy houses in the area.

I always find some DIY projects to do...

This would be so easy to make.

So would this bench.

I'd like to learn to make these.

There was so much eye-candy to see.

A small Zen garden.

Lovely.

Beautiful color on these tulips.

Cute but I'd be afraid of the hive being knocked off that bench.

Nice landscaping.

Great outdoor fireplace.

And finally, a lovely idea for a bird bath.

So... are you ready for Spring?