Weekend Basics

1 We were thrilled to find our little celery-growing project featured over at theKitchn and are honestly humbled by all the new traffic and followers who've graced us with their presence over the weekend. We were flat out stunned when we saw the post reach the #1 position in theKitchn's top posts list and to each of you that may have found your way here via theKitchn, we welcome you to our little corner of the world and hope you will make yourselves at home.

2 Mary and I were invited to brunch at Stella's for a Virginia Bloggers meetup — we'd been wanting to get over to the new Stella's location since they re-opened and had a great time chatting with familiar and new-to-us faces. Find the full brunch write-up, a photo of yours truly and links to several other awesome VA bloggers on the Virginia is for Bloggers site.

Can we just say the fried dough served for dessert at Stella's was amazing? The best way I can describe it is like a fancy version of funnel cake.

3 Both my parents and Mary's mom paid us visits and brought beautiful plants with them — do they know us or what? My parents brought us this incredibly beautiful hanging basket filled with big blooming red geraniums. We hung it up in our back patio area where (as you know) we spend lots of time and just love having something to brighten up the space (yes mom I watered it).

Mary's mom brought us a unique variety of Basil called "Pesto Perpetuo" which is actually a patented organic version that can only be regrafted and sold from Lavender Fields Farm here in Virginia. This farm is actually Central Virginia's largest grower of USDA organic herb and vegetable plants — Mary's mom raved about the place and we're thinking we'll soon need to pay a visit. For now, we transplanted the Basil right into the bed of our front yard since it's beautiful on it's own as a plant and are looking forward to also being able to use it in future recipes.

4 We stopped over by the other house to pick up a few things and check on the plants over there. Our mulberry tree was literally weighted down with mulberries beginning to ripen. We'll try to pay them a visit again before the birds get them so we can bring a basket-full home to cook with.

While at the house, we were able to check on the progress of the garlic we planted last fall and we even dug up a few herb varieties to bring back with us. More on this adventure later.

We had a full weekend, but a quiet one too — Mary's grandmother passed away late in the week last week. She was 100 years old and an extraordinary woman. Mary would like to put together a post honoring her memory once she has time to process it all, so this week we are keeping content light.