So Romantic!

My five year wedding anniversary is coming up so I figured I could give a little hint about a gift idea. Diamonds? Nah! Pearls? No! A giant chest freezer for the garage? Top of my list! I'm telling you, when I get an itch to do something, it's all I can think about!

Not only was I so inspired by Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, but yesterday I received another nudge. I was listening to KUOW when Jess Thomson, a Seattle-based food writer and Hogwash blogger, was on discussing how she prepares for the summer months by hunkering down and cooking in the winter. There's not a lot I would rather be doing when it's cold outside than standing at my stove above a large pot of delicious ___ (fill in the blank with any soup, pasta, or comfort food recipe). She was full of good ideas of things to make now so you aren't inside cooking on beautiful summer days. She spoke about making a delicious batch of carrot and lemongrass soup, then freezing it. In the summer, let it thaw and eat cold with a delicious fresh tomato salad. As she said, what a great way to have a delicious meal in the summer without any fuss.

She also makes batches of cookies and freezes them in small bags. In the summer you can pull a few to bake. You get home-baked cookies without having to make a batch from scratch when you'd rather be at the ___ (park/pool/zoo/tennis court) with your ___ (kids/husband/friend/sibling). Love it!

So my big projects for next week are (1) go with husband to buy uber-romantic anniversary gift (2) make carrot lemongrass soup (3) make cookie dough. I can't wait!