Pie and thai and more pie and other things

Jeff and I have been working our way through the second season of Twin Peaks and besides being generally awesome, it gave me a major hankering for some pie. The characters are always going to the local diner and having pie and coffee at random times of the day. Not only are they all strangely good-looking, they apparently also have amazing metabolisms. Long story short, I wanted some pie. Of course, I had to make things wayyyy harder and pick this Martha recipe for Cheddar-Crusted Apple Pie. Apart from the crust being really really annoying to make, I was also a little annoyed with myself when I realized about half way through making it that I really didn't like the combination of the sweet filling with the cheesy crust. I like savory THEN sweet, not savory and sweet together. I developed a strategy which was to eat all the crust first, which, as expected, made me want something sweet, which, you know, HOW CONVENIENT, because I still had the pie filling left. It was pretty good, but I've eaten so much pie the last week it is kinda grossing me out to think about it. I guess I should have taken Jeff seriously when his response to my pie-making announcement was "Nooooo pleaassse don't make any pie, I beg of you...." Obviously, his self-control is greater than my own, but he wasn't the one within smelling/viewing distance come lunch time every day.

As you know, Beau Thai has sorta of fallen from favor so we tried a new thai place this week in Henley-in-Arden. It is closer than Beau Thai so we were hoping for the best, but it was total crap. I really wanted it to be good because Henley is pretty cute, and it is nice to have a stroll down the main street while we wait for our food. We've been there twice now and can confirm that the first time was definitely not an off-night, the food is legit bland.

I've been meaning to straighten out the nightmare jungle that our back garden has become but it is so easy to pretend it isn't there when the part of the yard where we normally hang out is so pleasant. It is only when I'm sitting at the kitchen table looking out the living room window that I'm slightly embarrassed at how bad it has gotten. Not that I didn't accomplish anything yesterday. The white outdoor chairs were getting a little nasty so I gave them a good car-wash style clean. Then, the garbage bins caught my eye so I cleaned them too and it was sooooo satisfying. That's my problem with cleaning. I get distracted deep-cleaning random places, like the area under the sink or the utensil drawer. Don't look now, but how does it get so gross in there?!?!

My sister Kate just started school and soccer at Baylor after transferring from Santa Clara. I'm no expert but I'd say she looks damn good doing whatever she's doing.

And finally, Margann turns 23 today! This seems as good excuse as any to post this photo (of a photo) of the three of us back in the day, featuring Margann looking particularly sassy. Happy Birthday!!