Return of the Margarita

Sunday pretty much consisted of sitting out back watching Riker play in the dirt and rip weeds out of my herb planters from last summer. Watching him sit down and start grabbing fistfuls of dirt to transfer from herb pot to charcoal starter was so cute, but so sad at the same time. He's such a little kid now!

A little kid who likes to not only play in the dirt, but eat it too. I turned around for one second to throw a stick to Butters, and he shoves a whole handful of the stuff into his face.

Don't let that sad look fool you. I spent half the afternoon trying to keep mud out of his mouth. Apparently it's delicious.

The weather was so beautiful I was hoping to go to the park for the day while Matt was out fishing with his high school fishing club, but I realized both my strollers are broken - one needs a new tire and the other got run over in the driveway (yep) - so I settled for the back yard. Butters was thrilled we decided to stay since I can't usually handle taking both him and Riker out by myself. That dog can chase a stick in the yard for hours.

Midway through the morning I made a late breakfast with the farm eggs I bought in Vermont last weekend, which were surprisingly really bright in color. I cooked up a large omelet with arugula, sautéed broccoli and smoked cheddar cheese, and split it with Riker.

I'm a sucker for smoked cheeses, and the smoked cheddar seriously amped up the flavor of this omelet. So good!

Matt arrived home early evening and I felt an itch to get out of the house, so we took a drive in the evening sunlight to do a little window shopping, and then stop at a fish market in Toms River we'd been told to check out. Gregory's is a tiny seafood restaurant and fish market at the far end of town that we never even knew existed; it was not fancy by any means, kind of reminiscent of an old New England lobster shanty, but it had a pretty good selection. We came home with two pounds of fresh mussels for a steal, and I had big plans for them.

I've been really into mussels lately. Not sure why since they used to gross my out, but they're a healthy little mollusk so I'll roll with it. A few weeks ago I bought a jar of all natural curry from Trader Joe's, and thought curried mussels would be delish.

I just scrubbed them, steamed them in a little clam broth, and then doused them with the curry. We ate them at the bar with some garlicky broccoli rabe and a few chunks of rosemary bread I had stored in the freezer. You simply can't eat mussels without some kind of bread to dunk in the broth. It can't be done.

***

Monday came all too early and today was a really busy day. Every time I looked out the window it seemed to get sunnier and sunnier, and by the time I was done with work I'd decided I didn't want to stay home and cook dinner. You know those really warm spring days when you just have to get out of the house (especially when you work from home most days) and enjoy the weather?

Today was definitely one of those days. The minute I shut down my laptop I declared, I want to go sit outside somewhere. And eat sushi. And drink a margarita. Good thing I have a husband who always says yes to those three things. ;-)

The only place nearby that has outdoor seating and sushi is The Office Lounge, a sport bar in Toms River. I actually don't like the inside of the restaurant since it's really dark, but the outside area has a water fountain and is pretty relaxing.

Matt and I each ordered a seaweed salad to start, and then we shared a bowl of pepper tuna with jicama and two spicy tuna/salmon rolls with avocado.

Love that bright green seaweed!

Unfortunately Riker didn't much feel like sitting in a high chair and dinner ended up being pretty rushed and decidedly not relaxing. I think someone's entering their Terrible Two's early. Womp womp. Guess we'll have to stick to family dinners at home for a while.

I'm exhausted and watching Matt and Butters lay on the living room floor dozing off to some black hole show on the Science Channel is making me crave my PJ's and comfy mattress. Time for book & bed! :)