spring weekends

 Spring weekends can't be all yard work, right? Time for another day trip! At first, we considered going to an antique and garden show in Wisconsin, but good thing I looked on Facebook beforehand: There were many posts about how crowded the place was. The police even shut down the main intersection near the farm and were turning people away. So, we chose to go to Evanston - one of our favorite day trip towns. 

We started out with a stop at Hewn. I got a strawberry muffin and Brian got a walnut scone. We sat outside in the sunshine and enjoyed our goodies while people-watching. We also bought a loaf of their homemade bread to bring home. I think it's a good thing we don't live close to this place. We could really get into trouble! 

From their web site..."Everything at Hewn is made in-house, from scratch daily. We source local and seasonal ingredients from small, local farmers when their flavors are at their peak. All of our breads are hand-mixed, hand-shaped and naturally fermented without commercial yeast. Allowing bread to ferment with wild yeast allows a richer, more complex flavor to develop. It also allows the gluten proteins to slowly and naturally break down over time. The starter (levain/sourdough) was initially created by Ellen (owner) several years ago. Our bakers all work to feed and maintain the starter every day.

Each day our bakers mix the dough by hand, turning it every 30 minutes over a four hour period. The dough is then shaped and placed into bannetons, where it rests overnight to rise naturally. In the morning, the bakers fire up the oven and bake the bread. From the start of the mix to the bake, the bread is fermented approximately 20 hours."

We walked around the neighborhood, popping into different shops and stopping to listen to a street band. I loved this planter I saw in front of one of the stores.

Cool street art...

We also visited a farmer's market. Not much going on just yet at farmer's markets here...mostly a lot of plants and spring veggies such as rhubarb and kale. At one booth, I pointed to the rhubarb and mentioned to Brian that "my rhubarb isn't this big and beautiful." The lady in the booth overheard me and remarked, "That's because you don't know what you're doing, my dear." Quite presumptuous, don't you think? Needless to say, I didn't buy anything from Rude Rhubarb Lady. ;-) I did buy a pound of fingerling potatoes from another vendor, which I roasted with olive oil, salt and pepper last night. Then I tossed them with some of my fresh herbs. We agreed that they were the best potatoes we'd ever had. Garden-fresh makes all the difference. I also bought beef bones from another organic farmer so that I can make bone broth. 

We saw this sign on the side of the library and loved it. We talked about how kids merely go through Google and click on links to do research nowadays. And how we used to have to go to the library, use the card catalog (remember those?) to look for appropriate books and periodicals, then look through and read said material. This banner is part of a project from Libraries Transform if you're interested in reading more about the Libraries Transform campaign.

I've mentioned before about Evanston that one of the many things I love about this town is the gorgeous houses. This one is the Oscar Mayer mansion - currently undergoing renovation.

Our last stop of the day was the lakefront. This has always been one of my favorite views looking toward Chicago. See the tiny building on the far right? That's the John Hancock Center. 

We spread out a blanket in the grass area of the park in front of the lake. We brought our books with us, too ~ after all, our intention was to relax and read. Well, intentions are just that. I think my body wanted to nap off the Indian cuisine we had for lunch. ;-)

It was back to the yard work and gardening on Sunday and most of the day today, too. We've been blessed with beautiful weather, but looks like rain is moving in for the rest of the week. Catch you later with some garden updates!