Porcupines and other things...

I've been M.I.A. lately! Sorry about that.

I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend away to visit my husband. Fredericksburg was a neat town. Our cabin was wonderful and like a little world away from everything. I think one day I would love to own a bed and breakfast. I just think it would be so rewarding. We ate some good food and saw some neat things.

It was unbelievably hard to leave. I just feel so good when I'm with him and it's like I'm incomplete without him. I know that sounds really sappy and maybe a little anti-feminist (not that I care about either), but it is true for me.

This past weekend was a good distraction because three of my college friends came all the way up to Ohio to visit me! It was nice to sit around and talk, show them around town and just have some company from people I feel truly comfortable around. It is so hard making new friends because I always feel an uneasiness until you really get to know the person and they get to know you. I've known these girls for close to ten years now (which blows my mind).

While they were here, I took the opportunity to make a recipe from my childhood. I asked my sister to email it to me a while back and had not made it yet. The recipe is for Porcupines (aka meatballs). Unfortunately we ate them all without taking any pictures, but they were delicious and super easy. I stole the picture below from Google. 

Ingredients

Quick tomato sauce (recipe below)
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 cup uncooked rice (I used brown rice)
1/4 cup minced onion
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

Lightly grease a 2 1/2 qt. casserole dish. Prepare and set aside tomato sauce, adding 1/2 c water. Meanwhile combine beef, rice, onion, salt and pepper. Mix lightly and shape into 1 1/2 inch balls.
Put in casserole, cover with sauce. Cover with lid or foil and bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour or until rice is tender.

Quick Tomato Sauce
2 Tbsp butter
1/4 c chopped celery
2 Tbsp finely chopped onion (I didn't actually have onion, so I didn't add this)
1 1/4 c (10 1/2-11 oz) condensed tomato soup
3/4 c water
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp dry mustard (I also didn't have this)
1/2 tsp. salt
pepper to taste

Heat butter in small skillet, add veggies, cooking until soft, remove from heat and add everything else. Simmer uncovered for 5 minutes or until warm. (I somehow missed the simmering direction, so my sauce came out really thin and watery...oops!)

My sister suggested that if you want to avoid the canned soup in case of MSG or other reasons, you can use canned tomato sauce with a couple tablespoons of tomato paste. I was lazy and just used canned tomato soup.

A Saturday hike

For Charles' birthday last year, I gave him a bunch of "coupons" to redeem for various things throughout the year. Yesterday he redeemed two coupons, so we had a fun Saturday! One coupon was redeemed to visit a state park in our area and hike. The other was to go to Young's Dairy which has mini golf, a driving range, the best ice cream and more.

The day was perfect for a walk in the woods. It was sunny, but not too hot. It was great on the trails through the trees because we were in the shade and kept cool. We were hoping to see the waterfall, but must have chosen the wrong trail. We never saw it.

At Young's, Charles and I played a round of mini golf. I was ahead for most of the game, but ended up losing by 1 point. That's probably the closest I have ever come to beating Charles. Then we tried our luck at the driving range. I didn't do too horribly. And we finished off the time there with two scoops each of ice cream. I picked my usual--chocolate peanut butter. Yummy!

I love days were we have fun things to do together that are out of the norm. We usually go to the mall or do stuff around the house. But we got out in the sunshine and spent the day together.

Our MN Trip

For Memorial Day weekend, we traveled to Minneapolis and Northfield, MN. My sister, Courtney, graduated from St. Olaf College this weekend which is the main reason we visited.

Our flight was delayed about an hour getting out of OH due to bad weather over MN. But we made in to MN with very few bumps on the flight. We stayed at a nice French hotel chain, Sofitel. I highly recommend this hotel chain. The room was comfortable and the hotel was very chic. Lucky for us, we had a great deal from Priceline.

Friday was spent sightseeing. We ate breakfast at a neat little local place, the Zumbro. I had french toast and Charles had pancakes. We headed to the Mall of America and walked around that for a while. They had an H&M, so I was very happy.

After the mall, we visited a sculpture garden with the iconic spoon with a cherry sculpture. They had a bunch of neat pieces of art and a garden.

To end the evening, we went to a Twins baseball game. They played Detroit and since my Dad is a Michigan native, I was secretly cheering for them. They have a very nice park.

On Saturday, we spent the day in Nortfield. We visited my sister's school and the downtown area. We were going to listen to a lecture, but the chapel was packed. We ate lunch in the Caf; St. Olaf supposedly has the best cafeteria food in America. It was pretty good, but I think the selection was not as fancy as some of the things I've heard they have. They had a very nice "Illumination Ceremony" that we attended before going back to the hotel.

On Sunday, we had a full day. We woke up early for church. Then we went to an art reception at St. Olaf. We saw some of Courtney's artwork and some various other pieces. Afterward, there was a Jazz Brunch with some very tasty food. And after that was the big event--graduation!

St. Olaf holds their graduation outside. Unfortunately, this year's weather was sunny and quite warm (90+ degrees). For most of the ceremony, we were in the shade, but the sun moved. It was a nice ceremony. For dinner we ate Indian food and then got popsicles and ice cream at a local eatery.

We flew back to OH on Monday afternoon after a stop to walk around Lake Harriet.

We thoroughly enjoyed our weekend in MN. I would recommend a visit for anyone. They have quite a bit to offer in Minneapolis from art to sports and many things in-between.

Depression Glass

Last night, after already breaking another glass, our kitties broke my husband's favorite drinking glass. I'm not sure what about this cup he loves so much, but he took it from his parent's house and it has moved with us several times already.

I got online and tried to find this glass since he liked it so much. Turns out the glass is an antique tumbler. Who knew? Here's what the cup looks like:

We learned that it was made by Anchor Hocking. It is considered Depression Glass. According to Wikipedia, Depression Glass is clear or translucent glassware that was distributed for free, or low cost, in the US around the time of the Depression. It was kind of an incentive to buy another product. I remember reading about it last night and it gave the example of a movie theater offering some with a purchase of two movie tickets.

I actually found one for sale on Ebay! I think Charles was really happy I was able to find another one. Now if I could find a few more then we would be safe in case of another breakage. That is my mission now.