Caitlin's Birthday and Easter

Hello!  It was a busy weekend with Caitlin's birthday on Friday and Easter following so close this year. I think this is as close to Easter that her birthday has fallen in a long time. Because of this I felt very thrown off and really wasn't into the groove of decorating for Easter this year, just the table.  I got carried away and bought a bunch of flowers for the table. to make some really simple  flower arrangements in interesting bud vases and keep it sweet and light. I bought that really cool bulb vase at Tale of the Yak in Berkeley,(They don't have a web page, so I linked a write up of it.) I was annoyed that I bought my flowers too soon, and when I started to arrange them, they looked a bit fatigued. They looked and felt like I did yesterday. I made the mistake of taking an allergy pill and drinking extra strength Sleepy Time tea with valerian root in it. I was a tired mess, and I'm still surprised I was even able to cook dinner and set the table! I made a leg of lamb with yukon gold potatoes that were roaming with the lamb drippings, asparagus, and Chuck Williams favorite carrot soup.  The lamb recipe is my favorite from Fine Cooking magazine. Lots of chopped up mint, garlic, lemon zest. For dessert this year, I was going to make a strawberry rhubarb pie, but because the laziness seeped in, we bought a chocolate ice cream cake from here.  Every time we go to this ice cream shop, I get their chocolate, and have made the comment that it tastes like the best melted chocolate Easter bunny. So that's what we decided to have for dessert this year. Yum, and there is some left over for tonight :)

 On Caitlin's birthday we checked out the John Muir mansion near by our house. We have been several times, but not in the spring. It was such a gorgeous day! All the trees and flowers were at their most beautiful. Cyrous had never taken the infamous field trip that most of the kids living in this area do, so it was his first visit. We poked around the house and then walked up to the very top to the bell tower. It's a huge piece of property with orchards of fruit trees, and an adobe styled house. David recently found out that you can pick some of the fruit if you ask! I saw huge quince trees and got excited because the ranger said that no one knows what to do with them, and I could probably pick as many as I would like. I plan on doing just that! Later in the evening we had a beautiful dinner at Chez Panisse, always such a  nice place to end up for your birthday. The dessert course was my very favorite this time around. They made a pixie tangerine soufflé served with the best creme anglaise I have had in forever! The wine pairing with this was a match made in heaven. Great evening to celebrate my little chickadee.

Leading up to Easter I had a big special order that kept me busy. I had a customer buy a pair of Liberty of London bloomers from me, and then contacted me to make more times for her. She also bought one of my all time favorite pieces that I have made. I was very sad to let it go, but when she sent me an email to say how excited she was to get everything and wrote that her mom had handmade clothes for her when she was little, and that she wanted to do the same for her daughter, this made it a bit more easy to let that piece go.  I know she will treasure it the way it should be. These are the kinds of customers that I love. I have been lucky I will have to say with people who approach me for orders, which makes what I do all the more fun for me. 
Speaking of the shop, that sweet little dress I wanted to complete for Easter, is almost done, and now possibly could be cute for a flower girl. This too is one of those garments, that will be tough to let go because I LOVE how it is coming together. Stay tuned for pics on it. 

We just bought a new area rug for our living room, so I'm off to go do that. 

Have a good week!