Amber Dusick

fiddlehead ferns make your pee smell funny

No really, they do.  I couldn't find anything online about this, unlike how well known asparagus pee is so I figured I'd better use it to title my post.  Chances are, someone, someday will try fiddlehead ferns and have this same experience and look for answers to see if they are just imagining it.  

I hadn't ever eaten them until last week.  Apparently they are hard to come by and only available a couple weeks a year.  I felt a little weird about it too, and asked my husband, "Isn't it a bit like eating fairy fingers or something magical that you should leave alone?"  I mean, look at them!  

They tasted a bit like bitter asparagus I'd say.  They were very tasty with bacon and garlic...but hey, what isn't?  

 

 

comment (but not here) to win this pretty dress...

I'm hosting a dress giveaway over on MakeBabyStuff, all you have to do is comment over there.  I pretty much never do those types of giveaways (the comment ones) even though I get asked pretty often, so this is a bit of a test.  I really just couldn't say no to hosting this one for Shabby Apple though.  I really do love their dresses.  And especially this one that is being given away.  Given away...but not to me, sniff. 

Green is the color and I love it.  And the petal neckline.  And how it is fitting, but not too fitting in those places can be trouble for a mama of two, you know?  Pretty much perfect.

So if you like it too, go comment!  Again, NOT here.  I'm just telling you guys about the contest cuz I like ya'll.   

I'll be back in this space with normal bloggy posts soon I hope!    

more dress up fun...wigs!

My son got a letter from Milo, the son of Wendy/BirchLeafDesigns which included a photo of him wearing an incredible rainbow clown wig.  My son was fascinated of course.  "Is that his real hair?"  No, just a wig.  "What is a wig?  Is it like a hair hat?"  Pretty much.  "Can we get one?"  

So naturally, a trip to the costume store was in order.

Honestly, I dug this one on me.  A lot.  To the point where I'm considering chopping my hair just like this.  I wish I had the bravery required for this color but I think I just couldn't pull it off at this point in m y life.  I had purple hair in my teens.  I don't think I could do it in my 30s.  Well.  Maybe.

Babies in wigs.  Okay, I get it.  I can totally see the hilarious appeal of this.  

This pink one was awesome.  I'm amazed by how the long hair + pink combo really makes him look, well, girly. 

My son said Papa looked like "Ponyo's father" with this wig on.  So funny.  

We let them pick two and this spikey punk black one was the first pick.  Complete with black lipstick so he can look just like the guy on the package.  Says his name is Pood and he is in a band called Shodeye or something like that.  Who knew the goth stage started at age 4?  

He plays drums of course.  Oh boy, I think I miss the chimney sweep days.

The other one they took home was this fuzzy purple one.  Sort of an 80s rocker style.  Makes them look like little muppet monsters.  

So hilarious to see these two running around the house wearing these.  

The dress up box I made is overflowing.  I think I better make another one because this is just too much fun! 

 

 

home depot for the birds

So our garden is coming along nicely, with wee little tomato plants transferred into the ground.  The other day though I heard such a ruckus near them, with a couple of birds just flipping out.  It was like they were attacking the tomato cages. 

I feared for the plants until I realized that they were frantically trying to pull off the strings that were left on from last year.  They just wanted the cotton string!  To build nests with!  The poor dears.  

So we made a little cardboard nesting supply center for them.  And I'm happy to say that they went crazy over it!  Pretty much all the strings are gone after just two days but they only took about half of the wood shavings.  

I remember finding bird nests when I was a child and seeing the different threads and strings woven in them.  This still fascinates me.  I'm happy to have helped them out with some cozy string.  Just as long as they stay away from my tomato plants.    

 

dining outside season is here! German feast

We love eating dinner outside on our patio (which is still on my to do list to revamp) and last night we had our first official one of summer.  Yeah, it is spring technically, but with a temp of 87 degrees today I think we've skipped straight to summer as usual.  

My table cloth is a vintage twin, fitted bed sheet that I thrifted last year in Wisconsin.  It fits perfectly on my patio table and the fitted corners keep it from blowing off.  I'm going to keep my eye out for more twin fitted sheets just for this purpose.  

We recently discovered a little German deli and shop just a few miles from our front door and we love this place!  Mostly hard to find German goodies but there were some other scattered European delights in there as well.  So we headed there to gather yummy things.

A little of this and a little of that.  We even pulled out beer steins that my husband brought back from Germany two years ago.  Full disclosure: the spready, soft cheese is Italian, not German. 

As is the orange soda that we got for the boys to toast with.  

For dessert we had a spiced wine on ice, which is apparently (according to the label) the way you drink it in summer.  In winter you serve it hot in a mug, which we've tried before during the holidays but honestly I think I prefer the iced version!

The boys dessert was some special German chocolates of course.  Oh, the packaging!!!  And so delicious! The store has a whole aisle of European candies, including incredible German chocolate bunnies for Easter.  I think I know where the bunny will be shopping this year.  

In case you are local, the place I'm talking about is this little hole in the wall, called German Cold Cuts International.  Like so many great LA area places, you would have no idea what a gem it is on the inside unless you go in.  We drove by for a year, making fun of the name before venturing inside.   

Cheers!  And have a great weekend!  Ours will include more outdoors dining and hopefully digging our toes into the and at the beach.  I love it here.  So much.