It started so simple... (or an introduction for SL's Readers)

me*my flower bed*my niece & nephew*a small vase I made* Hubby-Poo*his kids* girl-scout cookies*sushi

It started simply enough. Cousin Sarah Louise & I were discussing books. She said, come on over to my blog, I usually talk about what I'm reading there. So one day, in the dreariness of February I popped over to say "Hi," in order to say "Hi" I had to name myself. So since my favorite little redhead (the precocious 6 year-old daughter of one of my best friends) had renamed me Kiki once upon a time, I started with that. I have spent a lot of time in the kitchen the past 9 months, so that is where that came in. So with a name, I said "Hi."

Once I had a name, I thought, why not give this a shot. I'm not nearly as forthcoming about parts of my life as SL. I have had a very difficult year, but really don't want to write about that. I talk about it enough, with my husband, my friends, my family, my therapist, my lawyer, and total strangers who think they know me. So I thought here I would talk about things that I'm doing that are for the most part the lighter side of life. Oh, the occasional rant will show up, but hey, it's my blog, I can talk about whatever I want.

The "Kitchen" part started off as a pure function of needing to eat & not being able to afford to go anywhere. I have always done a lot of cooking in my house, though my husband was primary cook for a short time, before we were married. He will still cook sometimes, but he says I'm much better at it then him. Sure honey, you'll say anything to get dinner on the table. We enjoy good food from a lot of different cultures. I don't eat red meat, so I have to be creative to avoid the chicken-fish-chicken-fish rut. We have compromised with turkey thigh, which I have found a number of creative ways to cook that become more "meat like" for him and costs very little. We still do the chicken-fish-shrimp thing a lot, but during the winter I was also creative with some soups & stews. I will say that 95% of what I cook is edible. I have completely thrown away a few recipes, but since I tend to improvise a lot, there isn't really anything to throw away. I am often inspired by other recipes, and will sometimes follow them to the letter. Ok, maybe not to the letter, but to a reasonable facsimile. So anyway, if I'm talking about dinner, or some other food item and you want to know what is in it or how it is made, feel free to ask, I'll do my best to replicate it. I also like wine to go with my dinner, sadly it isn't currently in the budget.

The "Clay" part. I am a novice potter. I love the clay & creating things with it. I am very ok at this, but am still working on it. I have found clay to be a wonderful therapy, but have been away from it for about a month due to other life interruptions. I hope to get back to the wheel very soon!

I like to take pictures, but I never have my camera when I want it and am terrible about posting them. Currently on my computer, I have all the pictures from our (HP & Me) sushi making adventure. The grapes that are currently the background of this blog (that SL doesn't care for), are a photo taken by me when I first moved in my house, before the hubby & kids when it was just me, a big house (3-storey brownstone) and my back yard. I have a 3 picture series of those grapes framed on my wall.

I love my yard, with the grape arbor, and the path of peonies. In the summer the honeysuckle drips over the fence and the lilac and wisteria fight for space. The small garden shot on my header (between me & my masked ((but still unbelievably adorable)) niece & nephew) is my front flower bed. When I moved in it was an ivy bed. I dug it up (with some help from a friend) and planted. It has lavender, Monarda, black-eyed susans, tulips (from Holland, MI) in the spring, mums in the fall, some snap-dragons, a little spider-wort, some other little flower that I don't remember the name of, and some delphinium (because I love the color) but since my shade tree had to be severely trimmed after a truck hit it last summer, I don't know that that will return. I love the look of it, but am a little lazy on the maintenance. (see previous post on being all talk)

Occasionally I will talk about random silly things that I find on the world wide web. For some reason, I become intrigued by random consumer items. I call them the "I Want One" things, but I'm not sure that I really want a lot of these things. Except the Viking stove!

So welcome to anyone who stops by. I cleaned up & put on a new "outfit" so I could be all spiffy for Sarah Louise's friends. (I didn't want to embarrass her) Although, she liked me just the way I was. Isn't it great to have people like that in your life?