Today I am making a masterpiece from my garden.  It started with a nice crop of tomatoes from my deck.  

I had it in my mind to make salsa, but when I asked Rich if he would prefer salsa or pasta sauce he wanted the pasta.  Soooo, then I decided to see what else I could harvest from the garden to make a healthy and delicious sauce for some whole grain pasta.

It was all there for me, or mostly anyway... I did have some onion and garlic that had come from the store that needed using up.  

Here's what I found in the yard and patio in addition to the tomatoes that I made into a pesto of sorts as the flavor base with the garlic-  a large beet leaf, some kale leaves, basil, oregano, zucchini, tomatillos, parsley, thyme... hmmmm, maybe that's it.  I put all of the leafy kind of stuff in the blender and grated up the zucchini and heated it in the microwave for a minute or so, then dumped that in.  I chopped some of the tomatillos in half and a couple of garlic cloves and microwaved them for a minute to soften and added it to the blender with the leafy stuff and some olive oil and salt and pepper.  (They say on the Food Network to season each layer).  I came out with a green sauce that smelled awesome!  

Next, I poured it in a pan to wait for the roasting veggies that were coming.  

Oh yeah that,  I chopped the tomatoes in half or pieces with the onion, and added some more garden goods- bell peppers, one jalapeño,  and 

Valentine's Day 2008

I had a 3 day conference in Ogden that happened over Valentine's Day. The first night I spent with friends Julie and Ryan Taylor in South Weber. The 2nd night Rich and I met in Salt Lake City. Our plan was to go on a special cruise on the Great Salt Lake and then spend the night at a bed and breakfast . This is something I had wanted to do for several years, but had never been able to. Unfortunately, early that afternoon the people from Salt Island Adventures called to cancel and re-schedule due to ice on the lake. This was pretty disappointing, but Rich made the best of it and took me to dinner at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. I had never eaten there and it was delightful and a beautiful un-real scene. It was a popular evening for Valentine Dating and we were lucky to arrive just as they were opening so they snuck us in without a reservation. After the enjoyable meal we took a ride in a carriage around town. We had both always wanted to do this and though it was really frigid had a fabulous time!