Valentimes

Thank you for the Valentine's Day wishes! I hope everyone had a wonderful day! :)

I myself had an amazing Valentine's Day! I got beautiful roses and chocolates, as well as knocked hubby's socks off with my surprise...

I got home early from school, ran through the store, picked up some bubbly, made sushi (warp speed, it was like the iron chef!) and cleaned up a bit. Oh and of course put on a dress, although I didn't have time to do my hair before he got home. Lol!

The sushi was salmon or (imitation) crab *cough student budget cough* with the usual culprits of avocado and cucumber, but also a bit of carrot and bell pepper for color. I loved the crunch the carrot brought, it's definitely going in my sushi from now on since I am a self-proclaimed "texture eater". 

We ate it with some chopsticks we got as a wedding present (the Japan honeymoon theme) and drank green tea out of our little Japanese cups bought from an outdoor flea market in Kyoto. I swear people drank tea out of these bowls and I'm not making it up! I even drank tea out of these in our hotel room then, hahaha!

The bubbly was poured into our wedding champagne flutes (since that's all we own) and we both enjoyed trying to photograph the bubbles, golden liquid, candlelight, and our etched initials. Gotta love having hobbies in common!

Dessert was a warm chocolate cobbler that I added large chunks of dark chocolate to for that molten lava cake effect. I really did want to make molten lava cakes but I need to expand my ramekin collection...and remember to buy eggs next time. Hah! 

The chocolate concoction went down nicely paired with a coconut whipped cream. Mmm.

I couldn't help but be mesmerized by the roses in the candlelight. I sure do love a good flower picture!

Ah, so that was the last holiday as a married first. 

We have been doing a lot of reflection with our impending first anniversary and I must say, it's still hard to believe it's been almost a year!!

Thanks for reading! I have some scarf and hat pictures to share for next time! :)

Happy birthday!!

Shout out to Mr Man, the Breakfast King himself -- HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOVE! :)

We have spent the day mostly by ourselves, enjoying time together playing guitar hero and little big planet (I'm sure you may have picked up on the geek vibe before)... I crocheted a bit in between and we fantasized about our next trip to Japan (hopefully within 10 years, lol). 

I love birthdays, even when they are not my own. 

My crochet project at the moment. I really have been meaning to put together a post like Amanda makes. I really am starting to collect a lot of works in progress, unintentionally and to my despair. I wish I had time to finish them all and start the ones that are in my head (blankets, blankets, blankets -- in all colors!). 

Ok, so back to the project at hand. I fell in love with this yarn Novita Puro last fall when I started crocheting. It's 100% wool and each skein is uniquely dyed (the importance of buying the same dye lot). I loooooove all the colors they come in but they are a bit pricy (over 3 euros for 50g) and my tight budget just doesn't allow for such luxuries very often.

I bought the colorful skeins on sale on Friday and today I found these green ones on sale too. I was planning on making a cowl, but this yarn is like a feast for my eyes and I'd rather put it on the wall. So I guess that is what I am going to do! I hope to start collecting 2 skeins at a time, make them into squares and then when I feel like it's enough, I will sew them together and make a tapestry type thing out of it. Eccentric I know, but whatcha gonna do about it...

(that green yarn is the same one I made one of my first projects out of, linked here -- wow have I learned a lot about blogging/photography since those days!)

We ate a sublime sushi dinner -- we even made gari (pickled ginger) ourselves for the first time! Unfortunately, the store didn't have "young ginger" so we didn't get that pink color, but man, the taste is great! Better than from any jar for sure!

We had avocado, cucumber, cold smoked salmon and surimi (imitation crab), as well as shrimp in mayonnaise (something we ate in Japan!) as fillings. Super yum!

The hubby and I agreed that one birthday cake is enough, so I didn't bake one today although it did cross my mind... We decided to go to the garden for dessert and there were still strawberries and more raspberries.

 Look at that pollen!!

 The peas aren't doing too hot this year... Looks like they have some kind of pea disease. Short plants and kind of spotty... I guess maybe we will grow some potatoes in this spot next year to kind of "purify" it a bit...? We still found some random ones and they were good...

 Garden humor a la the birthday boy...

 You know me and my pansies...

 Potato flowers!

Husband and I took a little walk to the shore and sat on a bench for a minute to admire the lake... I love how green summer is, I always miss it sorely in the winter...

While we were a-walking, my mom picked us a bouquet of roses, thanks Mama!

Thanks for reading!!!