New herbs, new goals and Cooking Italy

First and foremost - except for one day where I had this weird bout of nausea and had to stay home from work - I haven't had a day off since the Monday of Memorial Day and I found myself looking forward to this weekend much like a dehydrated man in a desert looking for the closest oasis. (How's that for a visual?) And I'll be honest - I was not disappointed. In fact, this was one of the best weekends I have had in a very long time.

Ryan's brother Kyle and Kyle's wife Amanda showed up on Friday to hang out with us over the weekend. Amanda indulged me and let me take her (in the rain, no less) to Rochester's Farmers Market where we shopped for deals, dodged raindrops and avoided stepping in goose poop. (Nice, I know ...) In my quest to indulge my inner Ina, I picked up a rosemary plant and a basil plant and look forward to many months worth of fresh herbs if I don't accidentally kill them. (I'll show you pictures later - I transplanted them this evening to their permanent homes and it was too dark to show you my latest buy.) On Saturday night, we grilled chicken breasts, potatoes and baby carrots in foil packets and fresh asparagus. I even tried my hand at grilling peaches, but made all of my guests try my latest culinary effort before I dared to try it myself. (Always the consummate host.)

All in all - it was a wonderful weekend.

Next up ... new goals. I don't think that I'm the first food blogger to realize that with an expanding repertoire of recipes, I have an expanding waistline to match. So after much thought and consideration - I've decided to *gasp* try to eat healthy. I'm still mulling in my head what this is all going to entail, because for the most part I do cook healthy foods, but the hubby and I both have a fondness for large portions and second helpings. That's going to have to change.

How will this affect you, dear reader? I don't think it will that much. Because I've vowed to cook one decadent thing a week and to immediately ship the leftovers to my husband's office. :) But I'll keep you all posted as to how things are going.

And finally - the one decadent thing a week is probably going to be in the form of a new group that I've joined in the food blogging realm called "Cooking Italy." It's been started by Angela at Spinach Tiger and revolves around Marcella Hazan's book "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking." One of the things that I've really wanted to do in my food blogging life is to join a group like Tuesdays with Dorie, Barefoot Bloggers or Tyler Florence Fridays (hey ... I might still join these groups. :) ) Right now, the Cooking Italy group is my speed and something that I'm really interested in learning (I freakin' LOVE Italian food.)

And of course, the first recipe is due tomorrow and I am still waiting for my copy of Hazan's cookbook, but no fear - I'll be doing this at the last minute tomorrow, I am sure.