The last couple of days have been filled with some really good food. Mark made dinner on Wednesday night – a salad and some awesome Buitoni mushroom ravioli. I picked up a loaf of rustic bread. Mark made garlic and butter toast to go with our meal. Yum:

I love these raviolis, just so you know. I love mushroom ravs and I hardly ever order them in restaurants because I am nervous as to how much and what kind of cheese might be in the fillings. WIth the Buitoni brand, I know exactly what I am getting and I love them! Usually we make a pesto or a cream sauce, but tonight we just decided to go with a Trader Joe’s (no salt added) sauce. It did the trick!

On Friday my mom returned from nearly three weeks in Tennessee. We were all so happy that she was home! Mark made a great dinner to celebrate, and my sister also came home from Boston to eat and have some family time with us.

Mark made two burgers and two veggie burgers on the grill. Mom brought back several of my grandmother’s home grown tomatoes:

Nothing compares to homegrown tomatoes. I truly wish I had an endless supply. With dinner, Mark made great potatoes. They are called smashed potatoes (and I was thinking of the smashed / mashed but Mark had another plan!)

Here is what my plate looked like:

Green beans were also from Tennessee. I have to say that when I was a child, I did not like green beans at all. I am even sadder to say that even as an adult I do not love what I call Southern green beans. I do love French green beans though. Isn’t that strange!? Mark grilled his asparagus to perfection!

My smashed potato:

Mark baked the potatoes in the oven. Then smashed each potato with his hand, added grated cheddar and parm cheese, and then put back in the oven. The potatoes were topped with sour cream. I loved it!

We all had salads, too:

Saturday morning I made myself breakfast of an egg and a piece of toast. It was rather simple and good 🙂

Even though it has been soooooooooooooo hot for the past few days, I was able to eat outside because I had breakfast at 8:30. I ate under the umbrella on our deck. It is amazing how much cooler life can be under an umbrella!

This weekend I finished American Wife . I have just started The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Has anyone read this book?? I’m only on page 20 – and I know it is supposed to be great. I guess I’m just having a hard time getting into it, especially after just finishing American Wife which will now probably go down as one of my all time favorite books. I loved it!

Hope you all are staying cool and drinking lots of water! It’s so important to keep hydrated during these horribly hot days! See you tomorrow.