Dear Spring,

You came to visit a few weeks ago, and we enjoyed having you here. The sunny days of 70 degree weather punctuated with a few misty showers were really nice. The plants loved it, and we started to remember life without socks or coats. Now I’m wondering, did we do something to offend you? Why did you leave so ubruptly? Why did I look out my window the past couple days and see your old friend winter back to visit? 

Don’t get me wrong. I like Winter well enough. Snow is pretty and I love sledding and skating. But I think he’s been here long enough. We’re ready for you again, Spring. Please come back and bring the sun with you.

Sincerely,

Nicole

Devon and I went to the driving range yesterday because the weather was so perfect we just HAD to. Devon has been golfing since high school, and like everything that Devon loves to do, he’s spent hours and hours practicing until he’s really good. I, on the other hand, just took up the sport when I met Devon because he loved it so much I figured I should give it a shot. Well, for that reason and also because Marla found me a pair of cute Puma golf shoes on sale for $10. Hey, never underestimate the power of a good pair of shoes. Anyway, I really do like it, and thanks to our friend Trisha I even have my own set of clubs. (Thanks, Trisha!)

If you want a laugh, check out my expression in a close up of a picture that Devon took of me yesterday. Let’s just say that golfing still doesn’t come naturally for me.

Must. hit. ball. Must. keep. head. down. Eyes. on. ball. . .

One thing I miss about not having a Trader Joe’s out here is that I can’t buy their magic little cubes of frozen fresh basil. It really was my favorite thing about that store (though their bagged popcorn and chocolate covered peanut butter filled pretzels come in a close second and third) and I haven’t found any grocery stores out here that sell it. This week I got sick of buying those little packs of fresh basil only to use a few leaves and throw the rest away, so I decided to make my own little frozen basil cubes. Take that, Trader Joe’s!

First I plucked off all the leaves, and washed and dried them. Next I shoved them into my mini food processor with a little olive oil and pulsed until it was nice and chopped.

Then I divided the chopped basil in 1 tablespoon portions in a mini muffin pan (Believe it or not, I don’t think we own an ice cube tray. Sad, huh?) and covered with saran wrap.

I popped it in the freezer and after it froze, I scooped each portion of basil out, wrapped each in a little saran wrap and put them in a freezer bag. Fresh basil anytime! I love it.

How do you celebrate the Twins home opener (against the Red Sox, no less. The one time in the season when Devon and I can agree what baseball game to watch.) when you live in Utah?

You grill hot dogs.

You eat ballpark food.

You log in to the game on your computer, plug it into the TV and enjoy.

As most of you probably know already, paninis are awesome. They take something easy, like a turkey sandwich, and make it into a gourmet, I-can-now-serve-this-for-dinner main dish. For our anniversary we bought ourselves a cast iron grill pan with a press and we love it. It weighs close to 900 pounds, but that’s good because it squishes the sanwiches nice and flat. My favorite is turkey with pesto and artichoke hearts. Devon likes turkey with pepperjack cheese. Mmmm.

Have you ever played fantasy baseball before and been burned by a slumping player that ruined your stats for the week? Or do you not follow baseball and couldn’t tell A-Rod from K-Rod? Join us in Ryan’s reverse fantasy baseball league! Ryan has changed the scoring so that bad stats are good and good stats are bad. You actually search out players that you hope will strike out, make errors and get caught stealing. If you see an emergency call-up pitcher from Triple A going against the Yankees at home, you pick him up! If you want to join the league and test your skills at picking the worst players in baseball, just let us know before Friday and we’ll have Ryan send you an invitation.

Believe it or not, this is Devon preparing for one of his classes next quarter

Yep, his class uses Lego Mindstorm kits. Studying just got a lot more fun.

P.S. – You probably can’t tell, but that is a Twins game on TV in the background. Hooray for baseball season!

For those who couldn’t make it to free cone day the other week, try going here. It’s a one day offer, though.