And there’s something truly satisfying about watching your little plant babies grow up before your eyes.

I woke up this morning to a nice breeze blowing into my bedroom, and uncharacteristically hopped on out of bed without trying to sneak another five, ten, fifteen minutes of snoozing.  Even through the shades I could see that we were in for a bright, hot day.  The kind I dig.  Why not get up and get a head start?

My herb pots are right outside my bedroom window, so when I opened the shades, my herbs were there to greet me.  Basking in the sun.

The sage and mint have had a major head start on the other herbs, being perennials and all.  They are growing full bore.

My chives and basil are newer.  I just planted them three weeks ago.  Today, they both looked taller, fuller and greener than they did even yesterday.

The great thing about planting and growing herbs is that there is NO WAY you can’t be successful.   If you stick them in good dirt and give them enough water, they will produce for you throughout the warm weather.  And I can always find young plants CHEAP at my neighborhood grocery store, so I don’t even bother with seeds.

And I use them for all sorts of yummy purposes.  And just to name a few:

Omelets and Frittata: Add basil or chives.  My favorite frittata is made with basil and parmesan.  My favorite omelet is the classic cheddar and ham, with chives added.

Everday Drinks: Add mint to lemonade, iced tea, or ice water (remember my citrus water?).

Pasta Sauce: Basil is my favorite herb for two of my favorite simple tomato sauces, which you can find here and here.

Salad: I love to add fresh basil leaves to a green salad dressed with a simple vinaigrette.

Herbs are just the beginning for me, though.  I’ve planted a variety of tomato plants in a plot shared with my neighbor, and I’m getting ready to do two pots of chili plants this weekend.

Stayed tuned for more of my gardening nirvana

If you’re like I am, you can’t do without your morning coffee.  If I try to go without, I have a screaming headache by the middle of the day.

Guess that makes me an addict.  But there are definitely worse things to be addicted to, right?

As spring has arrived and the weather has gotten warmer, I’ve started replaced a cup of hot coffee in the morning with a glass of iced coffee.  If you’ve never tried iced coffee, I’m here to recommend it.

I haven’t invested in any fancy iced coffee maker (yes, there are such machines), and just follow a simple routine for my iced coffee.

Since the hubby gets up the earliest in the household, he always brews a pot of coffee for us before he heads off to work.  When I get up in the mood for iced coffee, I just pour a tall glass half-full of black coffee, add a couple of teaspoons of sugar to dissolve, and let it sit until it reaches room temperature.  This usually takes about as much time as I need to get my youngest out of bed and ready to get to school.

When the coffee is at room temperature, I add ice to the coffee in the glass until it’s full.  That’s it.  Simple and about as refreshing as coffee can be.  Add milk or cream to your iced coffee if you like it that way.

Citrus Water

I can’t think of anything better on a hot day, after a nice long run, than a glass of citrus water (except maybe a Sonic Limeade).  This is so simple and refreshing, it seems almost not right to be able to enjoy it so conveniently.

I get my citrus water prepared before I even leave for my workout, so the citrus can thoroughly flavor the water.

I fill a large plastic water bottle with ice and water.  Then I add a slice of lemon, lime or orange OR a combination of these.  Now that my mint is growing in the backyard, I add a sprig or two of mint, as well.

When I return from a nice hot run in the sun, my citrus water is waiting for me.  And I keep it with me all day long, topping up the water and ice as needed.

White Wine Spritzer

This is one of the perfect warm weather cocktails.  Just perfect for sitting on the front porch and chatting the evening away.

Just half-fill whatever size glass you want with ice.  Add 2 parts club soda to 1 part white wine.  (The size of the glass and the amount of wine is up to you!)  Stir and serve.

Currently, I’m enjoying either Moonbuzz Chardonnay or Sokol Blosser Evolution in my white wine spritzers.

I found that, beyond basketball, it’s a damned good quotation in general, because it speaks the truth in pretty simple and practical words:

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

Whatever you want to do has to be done in spite of the fear of failure.

Post it!

Muller-Thurgau? Sylvaner? Never heard of them. And I don’t generally like Reisling or Gewurztraminer. I’m no wine expert, as you can see.

But I know what I like, and this I very much like!

Personally, when I first ran across it, I was intrigued by its name, so I asked the owner of my local wine shop about it. He recommended it. Told me it seems gimmicky, but is really actually good.

He was right. This is a fruity, but dry and not at all sweet, wine, with a citrus edge to it. The blend IS something special (although I have no idea what the percentages are and assume it’s kind of like Kentucky Fried Chicken’s spice and herb/batter recipe — corporate top secret!). So, Evolution shot right to the top of my favorite affordable white wine list, at $15.00/bottle.

I’ve enjoyed it with a few of my favorite dishes: Lemon-Rosemary Roast Chicken, Hubby’s Grilled Salmon Steaks, Linguine in Garlic-Parsley Sauce, and Grilled Rainbow Trout, for instance. It’s been great with all of these dishes.

So get yourself a bottle and enjoy it with a nice meal. Let me know what you think!

photo credit: Clearly Ambiguous

Let’s look at our guilty pleasures in a different light, though. I prefer to think of guilty pleasures as the things I do for sheer enjoyment, just to savor the experience. These pleasures are pure gratification. And I think we all work hard enough to justify indulging in our guilty pleasures, don’t you?

So let’s embrace our guilty pleasures. We all have ‘em. And, truth be told, I don’t want to take the guilt out of these pleasures for you. After all, part of the fun is feeling like you’re getting away with something. A little something for nothing.

So I’m going to post regularly about guilty pleasures.

The guilty pleasure I’ll share with you today is one of my favorite treats: my Decadent Baked Brie.

An appetizer-sized portion of this rich treat wouldn’t classify it as a guilty pleasure. For me, though, the guilt comes in because I find it literally impossible to stop eating this stuff, despite the combination of butter, cheese, and almonds — not to mention the heavy garlic. If I was a little more dainty, I’d have a few bites on sliced baguette and then move on. But no. My husband and I will finish one of these off between us, leaving me wishing I could lick the butter off the serving dish. Hell, I’d eat the whole wheel by myself, but he always seems to be underfoot when I prepare this treat. Yum. Guilty as charged!

So I’m compelled to share a recipe for fresh-squeezed lemonade. This recipe involves some moderate preparation, but, in my opinion, the effort you put into it pays off big when you sit down to enjoy this simply delicious lemonade.

Keep a pitcher of it on hand during the warm months to enhance your everyday nirvana!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon fine grated lemon rind (optional)

1 1/2 cups fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 8 lemons). To get the most juice out of your lemons, keep them at room temperature before squeezing. Also, wash and rinse the lemons thoroughly in warm water (then pat dry) before squeezing, because you’ll need to reserve half of the rinds to go into the lemonade.

5-6 cups of water

Preparation

Mix the sugar, grated lemon rind (optional), and lemon juice in your serving pitcher. Add half of the squeezed out lemon rinds you just juiced and let them macerate in the sugar. This will draw out the oil from the rinds, plus extra juice. This equals extra flavor! Let this mixture sit for 30-60 minutes. Then. . .

Boil 2 cups of your water. Once the water’s boiling, pour it into the pitcher with the lemon/sugar mixture and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Add 3 more cups of your water and stir thoroughly. Taste. Add another cup of water if you need to dilute it any further.

Chill completely, then serve over ice. I also like to add a slice of lemon to my glass when I drink it.

To turn your drink into a cocktail, simply add a shot of chilled vodka to your glass before pouring the lemonade.

I’m just craving some sun, and even though the forecast calls for sun and temperatures in the 70’s by Wednesday, it still seems a long way off after all the wet and cold. . So what’s a girl to do?

For the most part, I’ve been spending time daydreaming about sunshine, willing the weather to turn, so I can venture out onto the patio and bask in the sun for the first time this year.

Sunbathing is ingrained in me, and one of the pleasures I look forward to in the hot weather. This goes back to my childhood. As a girl and into my teens, I spent summers at the local pool with my friends (and, later, with boys we had crushes on). We’d arrive when the pool opened at 1:30PM and stay until dinner time. It was THE summer activity. On cool, cloudy or rainy days, we were at loose ends. What to do? Where the hell is the sun? I remember sometimes venturing to the pool in spite of cool, rainy weather, shivering under our towels and reassuring each other that the sun would be out soon. Lucky for us, Kansas in the summer tends to be pretty consistently hot, hot, hot and sunny.

Long after the warnings from the medical establishment, and my mom and dad and husband, about UV exposure, I still love a good sunbath. After all, why would the sun shine if it isn’t good for us? Why would we all be in such a damned good mood when the sun comes out if it isn’t good for us? Why do we all look so much better with tans if the sun isn’t good for us? It’s a cruel irony, I say.

And, for me, the feel of the sun on my skin is just too wonderful to give up entirely. Luckily for me (I guess), the time constraints of a full-time job and parenting three kids keeps me protected from my own worst desires to loll about in the sun. BUT. When I do get a chance to indulge, I like to do it right.

So. . .

Let me tell you about a perfect day I had in the Florida sun not so long ago (the very day I’ve been fantasizing about). Our family was in Orlando, Florida, for an AAU basketball tournament. We went down a couple of days early, to do the theme parks. Then, on the first day of the tournament, when the teams were registering and holding their pre-tournament practice, I blocked out pool time for myself, taking a brief break from my basketball mom duties. The family rolled their eyes when I told them my plans, but I wasn’t deterred.

My pool day started with a light breakfast, then a workout in the hotel gym room. (So I could say I did something productive in defense of the impending laziness. ) Then I went back to the room and gathered my pool gear: towel, ipod, baby oil (ooops, I mean sunscreen lotion with SPF 570 or so), iced water. Then down to the pool area.

It was hot, so I jumped in the pool first thing. Then I found a chaise longue and placed it near the pool in an area of maximum sun exposure, spread my towel on the chaise, rubbed down with oil (I mean sunscreen), plugged in the ipod and relaxed into my nest. Once you get out of the water and under the sun, it’s wonderful feeling. You’re still refreshed from the water and the sun warms your skins slowly as the water is evaporating. It felt luxurious. And I know part of the luxury for me was the fact that I was doing NOTHING. For a brief time, I had myself to myself, alone with my thoughts and feeling about as physically good as I possibly can.

It was August in Florida, so the sun was working overtime. I got up every twenty or thirty minutes and splashed around in the pool to refresh myself. There was a snack bar near the pool, so I went there twice to get fresh fruit cups and once to get a frozen lemonade (Yummy!). These were the little indulgences added to my day that made me feel pampered.

By the end of the day, I had a wonderful sun-soaked feeling. My skin was warm, but I hadn’t burned. My body felt totally relaxed.

Mmmmmmmmmm. . .

So I’m sitting here in my slippers and sweats, reliving that day in the sun, and looking forward to some sunshine nirvana.

I also taught it to my sons as a way to relax their muscles after football or basketball games.

Total Body Relaxation

To begin with, lie on your bed. You can also lie on pallet on the floor, if you like, but not if you’re using this as a pre-sleep routine.

Raise your arms above your head, and stretch, pointing your toes and pushing in one direction while reaching with outstretched fingers in the other direction. Hold for 10 seconds (but don’t hold your breath!). Release.

Bring your arms to your sides.

Start with your feet. Your feet always pay a big price by the end of a day, don’t they? They carry all the weight of everything you do, just by virtue of being on the bottom. That’s why they get to go first. Consciously relax the muscles in your feet and let them sink into the bed. As your muscles lose their resistance, you’ll be able to feel your heels and then your ankles pulled by gravity. Next. . .

Relax your calf muscles. Let them sink into the bed.

You can see where this is headed. You’ll move in progression through the major muscle groups, relaxing each and letting them sink into the bed (or pallet). Follow this order:

Knees. Visualize your kneecaps floating as they relax.

Thigh muscles: this is a big set of muscles, so I spend a few minutes letting them relax, front and back.

Rear end and Pelvic muscles (and pelvic floor for women): These groups of muscles are so closely related that I find it easy to relax the whole works at the same time. From the pelvis up through the stomach can be a very tense area of the body, so the release of these muscles is a powerful relief.

Stomach muscles: As above, an area that can get very tense. When you get to the point of consciously relaxing this muscle group, you may be surprised at how tense it is.

Back muscles: Relax your lower back muscles first and then move to. . .

Mid-back: Feel the middle of your back sinking into the bed.

Shoulders and chest: Again, a group of muscles so interconnected that I think of them as their own group. It’s easy for me to relax them together. Pay a little extra attention to relaxing the muscles between the shoulder blades. Next, you relax your. . .

Neck muscles and the inside of the throat: When the neck muscles are tense, the inside of your throat is effected. As you relax your neck muscles, think about opening up and relaxing your throat, as well. Then move on to . . .

The jaw muscles: This is another hot spot for stress. Clenching the jaw is a classic symptom of stress. And letting these muscles relax is a very liberating feeling. You’ll want to sing opera — but don’t just yet. Finish up your routine by relaxing the . . .

Face muscles and the top of the scalp: Again, simply a wonderful feeling to relax all the muscles around your face and head. Think of all the movements your face muscles make in a day — by the end, they’re exhaused. Spend a couple of minutes letting them loosen up.

Finally, once you’ve relaxed yourself, toe to head. . .

Let your mind free to wander. A lot of people will tell you that you need to keep your mind focused on relaxing, and try to keep your thoughts from turning to the daily issues that can stress you out. I think this is a mistake. It’s MORE stressful to try to control the path of your thoughts than to just them come. I’ve found that once I have my whole body relaxed, it’s safe to let my mind wander in whichever direction it needs to go. So, don’t worry about keeping your mind focused on relaxing once you complete this routine. It’s better to let your mind play. After all, there’s a reason for what your brain tells you.

If you’ve used this routine simply to rejuvenate before getting on with your evening, then enjoy the rest of your evening and don’t let anyone stress you out!