I titled my last post March, even though I posted it halfway through the month and we certainly ate after that.


So some more things from the end of March and April that we made: 
  • I made a lamb and barley soup with mint for friends with a new baby from the New England Soup Factory Cookbook. Lemon and mint were intended to make it a "spring" soup, but I thought it was only ok. I think this is the first time I haven't loved a recipe from there. I do love lamb, but it's so rich, the lemony mint was almost too much of a contrast for me. 
  • I tried my hand at sweet potato pancakes a few times and they were awesome. I used this "recipe" to make cinnamon honey butter to go with them and to add to toast later. 
  • Kyle made grilled pizza twice--once for dinner with our neighbors and once for visiting family. He bought pizza crust dough from Trader Joe's and then did all kinds of toppings: pepperoni, sausage, caramelized onion, homemade goat cheese (!!), mozzarella, tomatoes, pesto, sauteed mushrooms, and arugula. Grill the dough, add the toppings. It is way too yummy.
  • I made a frittata with left over pizza toppings, and it was pretty darn good too. 
  • I made the strawberry lemonade cake from the April cover of Southern Living. It was good. But I'm not sure I'll venture that way again. 
  • I wanted to take advantage of our fresh sage and rosemary, so I made this super easy, super yummy pork tenderloin stuffed with herbs. So moist and flavorful! Only changes I'd make--the recipe called for salting both the herb stuffing and the outside of the loin. I'd cut back on the stuffing salt next time. I served it with mashed sweet potatoes with sage and brown butter. It was good, but I should have had more sage/butter to go with the number of potatoes. 
  • In another attempt to use our sage crop (I love sage), I made this easy butternut squash and sage pasta. I didn't blend/food process the squash into a proper sauce, but it would be really good that way. My lazier version was a lot easier than the butternut squash stuffed shells I've done before. 
At the end of March I had a work dinner at Husk and it was great. The Nashville and Charleston restaurant is located in a home built just after the Civil War and serves only ingredients sourced from the South. The menus change daily, and our options all looked great. Our waitress was actually a transplant from Connecticut, but she did a laudable job of staying "Southern" and asking us what we wanted for supper. 
At the beginning of the month, we had a proper date night at Boscos and then went to see the Vivian Maier documentary. Vivian Maier was a nanny and Chicago street photographer who was completely unknown before her death and I've been obsessed with her work since 2011. 

My first email to Kyle about her said, "This woman is rocking my world. Her portfolio is like Joseph Mitchell in photography form. Which is to say I am stunned." The documentary on her life and work was shown at the Belcourt Theater and I loved it!

And finally, Kyle got cupcakes for my birthday from The Painted Cupcake. And they were divine.