I feel sort of achey and so accomplished! I had a sudden urge to try out a new apple pie recipe this evening (it is still cooking, but so far the smells emanating from the oven are buttery and cinnamon/nutmegy and absolutely Autumnly amazing!!!), as Jason and I were on our way home from a day in Uptown Charlotte. Its the anniversary weekend of when we began dating and when we became engaged a year later. We have such happy memories of both weekends that we did everything we could to make a special day of it.
We had a lazy morning, and made our way to Panera for warm Everything Bagels and whipped cream cheese. (I got a FREE Cobblestone pastry just for being a Panera Member!). Then we decided to go check out the Charlotte Library uptown. It was a glorious, sunny, crisp and cool day; we walked about 20 minutes from our parking lot to the library and I enjoyed every minute of it (though my pregnant feet are not so sure at the moment). The library was busy and comforting, as every library should be. I am very proud of my selections - I got a 20 cd Audio book on Reagan's presidency (which I discovered is written by a liberal Democrat, so makes for an interesting listening experience, as I am a conservative Republican; however, the author was a very well-educated liberal, so he refrains from emotional rants and sticks to snide little descriptive adjectives here and there, and mainly does a good job just telling the facts - as he declares his objective to be in the Preface. He did have the goodness to declare his admiration of Reagan as a "doer", and as a very important president in American history.) I also found an awesome collection of 33 essays by very important and intellectual people on why we read Jane Austen :). And then I decided to start the Mitford series again by Jan Karon (perfect for the Fall).
Whew. So my adorable husband carried all of my finds for me back to the car. We drove around through beautiful old Charlotte neighborhoods we will probably never be able to afford to live in, and helped each other pick out our dream houses.
About every other hour or so throughout the day we played a little, ridiculous (and therefore wonderful) newlywed game - "What were we doing this time last year?... and two years ago??" - it was very romantic and love-inducing. I'm glad no one had to overhear it - they would probably have vommed.
We had a nice little early dinner at around 4:30 at Lebowski's, our favorite restaurant in Charlotte when we're in the mood for a burger on the patio. Its right near Dilworth (my most favorite section of Charlotte, with lots of old trees and 3 story brick houses). We love sitting at the high table in the corner so we can look out at the trees (and in Jason's case, the M3's passing by).
We took our time driving back - and that's when I decided it would be perfect to make an apple pie from scratch. We had to stop by Bloom for the ingredients, and then we got home and I had to shower and take a little TLC time for my pregnant body.
I ended up not starting on the pie til 8 when Jason turned on a football game... but I can be a pretty stubborn person when I get an idea in my head, so I was determined to see this through. We are now about to watch Harry Potter (the Prisoner of Azkaban - my personal fave), as I thought it would be the perfect accompaniment to Apple Pie. It's not done yet, but oh it looks so golden and crispy and delicious! I'm very glad that I am a cooking woman. It is really an art form to me - I love perfecting the seasonings, and learning to add my own; I won't even try a recipe unless I think the seasonings sound sophisticated and gourmet enough.
Today was so simple - and very cheap, anniversary-speaking. But I felt so special and so loved, and most importantly, so present to Jason all day. It is very nice being a wife. And being a newlywed too - with so many daydreams to share with each other; so much hope in the limitless horizon of our future together; so many vivid memories to dwell in and make together.
I should probably go check on my pie.Labels: apple pie, eating, fall, food, football, harry potter, memories, panera, pregnancy, something beautiful