Nook

We went to Nook last night. I haven't been for quite some time, so I was excited to try it again. They usually have a menu that changes with the seasons, which is one of the reasons why I love it.

I haven't been there since the fall so I was quite surprised that the menu was basically the same. They changed some of the items, but the waiter told us they had a late-summer / early fall squash soup??? Really. Today is the first day of summer. Why the late-summer squash now? But the table next to us had a different waitress and she called it a zucchini soup. That is totally different. Plus I would have tried the zucchini soup. Sigh.

We ended up trying two salads instead - the squash salad - with heirloom apples, lentils and goat cheese. It didn't mention any greens so we go another salad as well. But it ended up having greens with it. The waiter knew that was our issue with the salad, too, so I was surprised when both salads came out being nice and green.  Our other salad was the Nook Salad. The summer squash salad rocked it. It was amazing. The Nook salad was okay. Nothing to complain about, but def nothing to rave about.

I had great luck with the pork chop last time and got it again. I waffled between that and the halibut. The waiter suggested the pork chop over the halibut. I should have known better -but didn't realize how off he was until the dinner had gotten started. The pork chop was BORING. The salad that came with it (yes, I had 3 salads last night) was great, but the pork chop itself was much better in the fall. The woman next to me got the halibut and I was so sad I didn't get it.

My DH got the spicy shrimp over grits entree. It is really good - too spicy for me, but I kept nibbling on his grits. So good!

For dessert we tried the key lime pie and the strawberry clafouti. DH liked the key lime cheesecake better than the clafouti. But I loved the clafouti. It was really good - and different from what I would normally try. I've seen so many recipes lately for clafouti so I was excited to try it w/o having to make it first.

Anyway, although I'll still go back there again - I'd say I was not as happy as I was the last time I left there. I was still wanting for more. Oh well. Next time, right?

I'm excited to try to the new restaurants in SLC that friends have referred me to while I'm there. Can't wait for good food!

Drop Dead Diva

http://www.mylifetime.com/shows/drop-dead-diva/video

I don't know how I happened on this show. Oh, wait. Last year it was right after Project Runway... after PR had been off air for over a year due to problems with Bravo vs Lifetime. Anyway, I was sick as a dog with morning sickness (aka 24-hr sickness) and watched a lot of TV. This was one of the shows that I stumbled upon and quite enjoyed watching it.

It's not something that I would normally watch either. But for whatever reason the characters in this made me laugh. It's a knock-off from one of my favorite movies, "Heaven Can Wait," so I'm sure that's partly why I love this show.

Anyway, it just started up again 2 weeks ago and the 3rd episode in the 2nd season airs tomorrow night and I can't wait.

I'm lost without LOST so this gives me a new show to watch for the summer. I have a stack of books that I'm reading this summer .... plus the 2 rugrats to entertain so I don't have much time for much else. But this is a cute show that I def recommend. It's like a fun beach read, except it's for TV.

Enjoy!

I want this!

http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/baked-good/recipe-blueberry-banana-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting-119567

I saw this the other day on one of my new favorite food blogs: the kitchn ... and man, oh man, i want it so badly. It looks so good.

I don't have any banana's though and I keep eating my fresh blueberries faster than I could bake with them. So we'll have to see if it happens this weekend. If not I think it would be a fab cake for the 4th of July.

My problem, however, is with bananas. I read a very interesting article in the New York Times about bananas and how they're quite horrible for the environment. So I haven't been buying as many as I used to. I have such food guilt about eating food that is bad for us and for the environment. I need to get rid of the guilt. But once you know how horrible it is to buy them -- how do you go back?

But I miss bananas. We've always been good friends. I'll let you know if I break down and buy them anyway.

Supporting my friends

I have a lot of friends. And I love to support them in whatever way I can.
I have two friends who have recently (within the past week!) published their 3rd novels. So fun.

So I recommend two books:

"29: A Novel" by Adena Halpern

"Lifted" by Wendy Toliver

They both arrived today via amazon.com. I can't wait to read them both. I'll review them on goodreads and amazon.com. I also couldn't help myself and I ordered a fun book for me to read to my little ones: "Fairy Tales and Fables" by Gyo Fujikawa.

Speaking of Gyo Fujikawa... she also illustrated a book called "Oh, What a Busy Day."

My sister and I used to read that book over and over and over again when we were little. It was our dream to be able to live in the pages that she created. We would sit for hours and discuss what page we would like to live in most that day, what we would do if we got to live there and how much fun it would be. My sister's favorite page (if I remember correctly) was the mud puddle page. Mine switched between the tree house and the wild animal page. I loved the tree house page. Who hasn't always wanted a tree house? A secret hideaway to run away from real life and play? But I had hard time choosing between that and the 2nd to last page -- the wild animal page. On that page the children are hanging out with all different types of animals. My sister and I would pore over that page and discus which animal we would like for our pet and why. I usually chose the mountain lion as it reminded me of our cat, Tigger -- just a lot bigger. But sometimes I would choose the bear. Who wouldn't want a bear to snuggle up to at night?

I read from the "Fairy Tales and Fables" book tonight. It's great. My kids enjoyed the many stories and the beautiful illustrations. A great purchase, if I say so myself. I have forgotten about a lot of the stories she illustrated. My daughter loved "The Real Princess" about the Princess and the Pea... my son loved "The Dragon and the Monkey." I loved them all. I can't wait to read "Cinderella" tomorrow night to my princess. Oohh la la. I am in love with books!