Cider-Braised Pork Butt

The mister and I celebrated 8 years of wedded bliss last week and, as you can probably guess, we prefer to celebrate special occasions with good food and not gifts. And when the food is this good, who needs a present? 

***Disclaimer- The mister actually bought me a lovely letterpress card and a gift card to my favorite local paperie, Wild Ink Press, and I didn't buy him a damn thing. But I did spend all day cooking for us, so that counts for something, yes?

Johnson's U Pick Farm (Gridley)

Hello there.

I am still here.

And I have been busy!

slow cooker korean grass-fed short ribs

I am basically throwing this recipe up while the toddler inhales his breakfast so it will be a quickie!

Llano Seco Unit (Wildlife Refuge)

Have you ever visited the Llano Seco Unit? It is a scenic place to take a leisurely walk, with or without small humans. The toddler had a great time running up and down the wooden ramp/platform area. There are plenty of birds to watch and listen to and its a pretty sweet place to watch the sun sink slowly into the horizon.

Cauliflower + Spinach Bites

This is going to be a lickedy-split QUICK post because I am doing this while the toddler sleeps and I still have lunch/shower/resting to attend to before i hear his cries of, " mama, mama, mamamamama!" when he wakes.

So, onward.

cheddar bay biscuits and the day i ate 4 biscuits and really wanted to eat 3 more

i want you to know, dear friends, that what i said in the title of this post is true- i inhaled 4 of these and may have just kept on going until there was nothing left but crumbs, but my good sense came back and told me that was a bad idea. i had already posted photos on facebook and my husband would have found out the truth.

yes, that is all that stopped me.

soft banana oat bars

you know how toddlers can quickly get obsessed with one specific food and then latch on like there is no tomorrow? nixon has been mildly (ok, not so mildly) obsessed with belvita brand banana bars lately, and though they are a decent snack (low in sugar, high in fiber), i felt like i could save a little money and make a copy of them that had a better texture and a more pronounced banana flavor.

and i did!