Individual Highlights from May

L. walking like a crab in karate. (A in the background.)

L. at a friend's house.

L. in a friend's yard.

Peek-a-boo A.

A. driving

A. strawberry picking.

May Fab Five

My favorite pictures of the girls together from May.

Playing in the water fountain.

Drinking for the fountain.

Water taxi in Baltimore.

Playing "baby".

Post hair-cut princesses.

Bacon Broccoli Salad

I made this for a potluck earlier this week. Since I've been asked for the recipe and had it typed up anyway, I thought I'd share it with you. This was a result of last minute prep. Necessity is the mother of invention, right? I looked into my fridge to see what was left from last week's vegetable share and saw a ton of broccoli. Sure, I could have just steamed it, but everything goes better with bacon. This is just a variation on a German Potato Salad recipe.

4 heads of broccoli, cleaned, de-stemmed, and chopped
(or one bag of frozen petite broccoli)

6 slices bacon
1 onion, diced
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 tablespoon sugar
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup vinegar (I used cider vinegar, because it's what I had)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add broccoli; cook until tender but still firm. Drain and cool.
2. Place bacon in a skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside. Reserve 1 TBSP bacon fat.
3. Add the onion to the skillet with the reserved bacon fat. Saute until tender. Add the crumbled bacon back into the skillet.
4. Add the flour, sugar, salt, & pepper to the skillet. Stir until well-combined.
5. Add the water and vinegar to the skillet and cook over medium heat until dressing is thick and bubbly.
6. Stir the cooked broccoli into the dressing. Serve hot or cold.

March Link Love

My favorite links from March:

The William James' quote from Lee continues to resonate for me, especially since my to-do lists have to-do lists. I too am a victim of Distractadon.

Both Lee and my friend Christine got me following the Happiness Project. Here's a thought from Christine.

As a mathematician and a librarian, I've gotten this question a lot.

I'm still interested in Jeremy's budget and financial advice.

I'm salivating over Marie's bread. How can you go wrong with Bacon!?

Getting ready for summer, GovGab did a nice post on Drive America's Byways, and then moved to a new blog site and forgot to migrate the content. Here's a direct link to the Byways program. Routes on the list include Historic Route 66, California's Big Sur Coast Highway, Colorado's Gold Belt Tour Scenic and Historic Byway, Alabama's Coastal Connection, Minnesota's Paul Bunyan Scenic Byway, and the Las Vegas Strip.