Nostalgie.

Perhaps it is the fact that my in-laws are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary in France (!!!), but I have been so longing for France these days...longing for the food, the people, the atmosphere...Oh, I miss it so!  

Here's a recipe for a deliciously light, summery peach and blackberry galette which I made to console myself...

Crust

1 1/3 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

3 tbs. sugar

1/2 c. vegetable shortening

3-6 tbs. cold water

Filling

2 ripe peaches

8 oz. blackberries

1 tsp. lemon juice

1/4 c. sugar

1 tbsp. cornstarch

**Note: I should have made an egg wash for the crust (as you can tell in the picture), but I was a wee bit too lazy...

Preheat the oven to 375 F.  Whisk the flour, sugar and salt together in a large bowl. Add the shortening and cut it into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the water and stir with a fork until the dough is moist enough to gather into a ball.  Roll out dough and place on a cast iron skillet.   

Slice peaches and place in bowl with blackberries.  Add lemon juice, sugar, and cornstarch, and mix to combine. 

Pour the filling into the centre of the dough, and fold the sides of the crust over the fruit.  Bake for 40-50 minutes. 

//

And forgive me if I photographically reminisce about my trip to France a few years ago with my sister...

Paris: 

Rouen: 

Dieppe: 

I loved you from the get-go.

On April 9, Alex and I celebrated our first "engage-aversary".  I suppose I saw it coming when three months previous (New Years, 2013) he told me that he was going to hike from Georgia to Maine and "slip a ring" on my finger.  So much has happened since that he asked me that Very Important Question under the rose canopy, and thinking of it all, I cannot express how blessed I feel that God was so good to put such a wonderful man in my life.  I am so happy that I will experience everything life has to offer standing side by side with this amazing husband of mine--the truest, kindest, most intelligent, handsomest man the world has ever seen. 

Winter Remedies

Overall, I've been pretty good about handling the winter blues.  

Until Saturday, that is.   

I woke up in a nasty funk in which I wanted to be anywhere but cold, snowy Chicago.  Any (warm) country, town, street, corner.  Well, mostly, I wanted to be back in warm, sunny New Orleans with Alex again, but I would have taken pretty much anywhere.

How to banish such stormy clouds?

Alex, who excels at leading me out of the occasional dark mood (ain't nobody got time for that!), suggested that we go to the Orchid Show at the Chicago Botanical Gardens.  It was exactly what I needed, and I am so grateful we went.  On a related note, Here is an interesting article on the positive psychological, mental, and physical effects plants have on people.  Guess we should get some more plants ASAP as possible...

If you're in Chicago, do go!  It's exceptionally lovely, and raises the spirits so.  

Evangeline Camille Burch!

Our perfect little girl!

(She's kicking SO hard as I'm posting this.  I think she knows we know!)

22.

Warning: There is a lot of shameless bragging in this post.  So if you don't want to read about how awesome my birthday was, or how amazing my husband is, that's fine.  I understand.  I don't really care for internet bragging.  But I figure, hey, I can get away with it every so often.  Especially around my Birthday.  

But in all honesty, this was the best birthday I've ever had.  

I suppose I've never been super enthusiastic about birthdays.  Yes, they're exciting I suppose, but I've never really had one that was that stupendous.  Enjoyable is the better word.  Which is perfectly acceptable to me.  I loved having just plain old enjoyable birthdays as a kid.  No pony rides, no blow- play-houses...just family, Olivia (my best friend), cake, and presents.  I didn't even go to a bar on my 21st birthday.  So what? 

But this birthday threw my entire birthday-world-view for a loop.   Golly, I never realized birthdays could be so fun before.  And all because my husband is super amazing.  Thing I've learned since being married: husbands make everything better.

Alex's Super Cool Boss told him he could go into work a little later which was wonderful.  I was brought breakfast in bed (delicious, fresh, warm chocolate croissants), and we were able to spend a good portion of the morning together which was so so lovely.  When Alex left for work, he beckoned down from the sidewalk for me to go to a window in the pantry.  Sitting on the windowsill was this iphone case:

and a note informing me that he had set up a special Birthday Treasure Hunt with one clue leading to the next (22 clues for 22 years).  I LOVE TREASURE HUNTS.  Each and every clue was very well hidden and cleverly worded.  I had to go digging in the salt cellar for one, and opening this pen for another: 

(see that little piece of paper in there?)

Every few clues there was a little gift to go along with the clue, like these lovely patterned tapes I'd been lusting over for weeks: 

There was a clue stuck to the back of this butterfly's frame, and one in our corkscrew...  (Did I mention that on the other side clue paper he had written a dear memory we had shared together?)

There was a rather tricky step involving some invisible ink.  I had to warm the paper with a flame, and, as you can see, the entire paper almost went up in flames in the process.  The word I eventually discovered was "Laurie". 

Laurie had given us this awesome silver urn that we have up on a shelf.  Inside the urn was this GOLDEN shimmer sugar (all I've ever wanted!) and a fortune cookie. 

Yes, the fortune cookie had the clue inside it.  He's just that good. 

This was one of my favourite clues.  You can read it for yourself.  The letters seen through the holes were V, O, D, and A.   

Add the K? Vodka. 

(Inside this wine cooler there was a Wusthoff Knife Sharpener.  EEE.)

There were clues hidden in the oddest places, like in the peep hole of our front door...

And the glass globe on the light fixture.  

Part of the hunt took me on a walk to Trader Joe's, where Alex had hidden clues on bags of Raw Almonds, Christmas Jingle Jangles, and under the shelves of the Honey Nut O's.  

Those clues brought me back home to the coolest chalk pencils!

The tile clue led me to a beautiful orchid, and an even more beautiful love letter.  Thanks, best husband ever.  

One of the most amazing things was that one of the clues led me to this cashmere J.Crew sweater:

I owned this sweater in the past (J.Crew stopped making it long ago), and it was my favourite sweater of all time (isn't it just perfect? Look at those lovely sleeves!).  Somehow I lost it at college, and I've been mourning its loss ever since.  I cannot tell you how many times I've looked on eBay or craigslist for this sweater but to no avail.  Leave it to my husband to find the exact same sweater and hide it in our bathroom towels as part of a treasure hunt.  Did I already say he's the greatest?  

The rest of the day did not fail to disappoint.  Luckily, Baby Burch cooperated all day so I was feeling good enough to go downtown.  We stopped in at the Art Institute for about an hour or so (free for Chicago Residents on Thursday nights!), and then went skating at the Ice Rink in Millennium Park.  Alex, for being "really bad at skating" did a remarkable job.  I hadn't been on skates in so long, and it was delightful.  

(What's extra awesome about this place is that it's totally free if you bring your own skates!)  

After skating, we went home, ordered in Thai Food (another one of my favourite things), and watched a period drama.  Best Day Ever.  Thank you, Alex, for being the most thoughtful, kind, wonderful man I've ever known.  You make me feel like the luckiest woman alive.  

       

"Because Who is Perfect? Get Closer."

Please take a minute and watch this video.