Spring Rain

On a cold and rainy Friday, what is one to do but have a relaxed morning and then join hubby to meet two friends for lunch.  Hubby has one dish he loves, a chimichunga, so he always orders it.

 Typically, I order a shrimp taco salad without the tortilla, but today decided to try their house salad with steak.  It was good, but not as good as my regular salad.

We left in the midst of a downpour and ran a few errands; hubby is now downstairs watching Passenger while I'm upstairs sewing on a binding. We desperately need the rain, but next week shows 4 days of it. Our spring is typically very wet and as long as there is no flooding, I'm o.k. We also get rain during the summer months-usually in the afternoon or evening.  That means that during the summer, when our old town  in no. Ca. is brown and dry, we will have green grass and abundant plants.  I do hope we get some warm weather though.  Our weekend is pretty quiet and on Monday I'm joining 8 friends and going on a mini-shophop.  For those non-quilters, this simply means that we are picking out 6-8 quilt stores in different towns and going to them.  We will also go to the Quilt Museum in Golden, someplace I've never been before and that I'm excited about; we have a ball when we are together!
I hope you have a glorious weekend!
Blessings~
Noreen

Time With Old Friends

Good Morning to you! Last night on the news, the forecaster said that May is always our wettest month~so why does it seem that the rain has been falling every day and more than in past years.  I know we've had some nice days and starting this weekend, we are supposed to be entering a warm phase, but seriously it seems like we are in Seattle. Yesterday a friend came over, she is one of the first gals I met when we moved here over eight years ago. We did a lot of things together back then; her kids were still in junior high and it was a different season on life. Now she is preparing to move cross country. She had hubby and I over several times, years ago, but somehow it never worked to have her and her hubby over. I wanted to have a nice lunch for her to celebrate the times we spent together. I made this delicious Quinoa salad; it has cucumbers, onion, tomatoes, black and garbanzo beans, basil ribbons and feta cheese. The dressing was lime juice and olive oil. It's one of my favorites.

I put out baked Parmesan crisps, french bread with olive oil and pesto.  I also made a berry salad with coconut yogurt that was the perfect dessert.

We spent several hours catching up and it was delightful. I'm so excited for them and yet it is bittersweet~for although we didn't spend time together in recent years, it was nice knowing she was around.
I'm off to a quilt meeting this morning and then home to sew afterwards.
Stay warm and dry; seems like there is heavy rains all over.
Joy to you!
Noreen

Yesterday I had two girlfriends over for lunch and we had such a fun time visiting.  I made a hamburger, onion, mushroom, cheddar cheese quiche and served it with a green salad. For dessert I made one of my favorite gluten free cakes-a Magically Moist Almond cake, the recipe is on the back of Bob's Red Mill Almond Meal/Flour package.  If you like the taste of Almond flavoring, you'll love this cake.  It also uses a bit of Coconut Flour and I substitute the Vanilla extract for Almond Extract. If you don't like Almond you might not care for this; it reminds me of Marzipan candy.
I served it with fresh berries as you can see.  My friends and I usually go out for lunch, but I may have changed that.  The quiche was a big hit and actually made two, so hubby had it for dinner last night and probably lunch today.  I was so glad Ruth got a photo of the dessert!  After I cleaned up, I had a bit of time downstairs; I still have one more heart to make today.  Tomorrow we get another pattern.  Right now, I'm heading out to meet another friend and walk with her; if it is too cold outside we will head into the Senior Center and walk their indoor track.  I've got a couple of errands to run afterwards; I've got two grands coming over this afternoon for sewing.  Hunter is wondering why his momma hasn't been walking him-it is simply to cold.
May your day be blessed!
Noreen