Tuscan Pinenut and Rosemary Shortbread!

Jeanne made this shortbread today. It is absolutely delicious! And, surprising SUPER SIMPLE and EASY! You start by melting butter on the stove, then add the pinenuts, salt, sugar and rosemary. And then the flour - and you're finished! Here it is on the stove - ready to be pressed into the pan and baked.Ready to be put in the oven.......and now finished. YUM!

The Hafers came to see us!

We had such a nice visit with our friends, Danny & Diane Hafer. They are very special and it was a pleasure to introduce our daughter to them and spend the afternoon together!

Saturday, March 21

An evening filled with friends. This is our first evening party since Lia was born. We were too busy having fun to take many pictures, and therefore missed several of our friends in these shots.

Spring is here in Cincinnati!

Officially Spring begins this Friday, March 20th. However, when we see crocuses and mini daffodils & hyacinths blooming in our garden, it feels like it already! They started blooming last week. Welcome Spring!

This tree is across the street and very beautiful!

Asparagus - just in time for Frank's birthday!

Jeanne walked into Biggs and the first thing she saw was a huge table of beautiful, delicious, tender asparagus - for 99¢ a pound! Welcome SPRING veggie! So, we had roasted asparagus with Frank's birthday meal of blackened fillets and Pommes Anna (added parm-reg. cheeese to these also). OH! Since it was Frank's birthday we had to have a champagne toast! And, can't wait for our very own asparagus to come up this year!!!

Jamaican Oxtail & Beans

Oxtail you ask? Yes, oxtail. We've been to JA many times - where it is on lots of menus - but never tried this dish. Jeanne thought it was about time we did, so she pulled out one of her JA cookbooks and cooked us up some!

Oxtail (occasionally spelled ox tail or ox-tail) is the culinary name for the tail of a beef animal. Formerly, it referred only to the tail of an ox, a castrated bull. The oxtail of a steer typically weighs 2 to 4 lbs. (1-1.8 kg) and is skinned and cut into short lengths for sale.Oxtail is a bony, gelatinous meat, and is usually slow-cooked, often stewed [1] or braised. It is a good stock base for a soup. Oxtail is the main ingredient of the Italian dish coda alla vaccinara. It is a popular flavour for powder, instant and premade canned soups in the United Kingdom and Ireland

Browning the oxtail...
Lia was helping Jeanne in the kitchen!

These smelled wonderful - even in the browing stage!

Simmering...

We had guests for dinner - 2 of our favorite people to share a Jamaican meal with, since we were all in Jamaica together!

The finished pot with onions, tomatoes and spinners (Jamaican "dumplings") - a truly delicious hearty meal!