Landscaping...

Turns out it looks a lot better than just having dirt in your "yard!" Go figure on that one. I will let the pictures (before and after) speak for themselves (a thousand words each). Suffice it to say that we have been waiting a small lifetime to get approval from our two HOAs on this project, and when I called the landscapers (WaterWise Land Design) on Thursday, they said, "Can we do it on Saturday? We'll show up at 9:00, and it should only take about 3 hours." Wow. They were awesome. Okay, time to let the pictures speak for themselves like I said I would!

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So there you have it! What we now have for flora in the backyard is a Wilson Fruitless Olive Tree, a Cape Honeysuckle Staked Vine, two trailing lantanas (one yellow and one purple), two Autumn Sage plants, and one red Yucca. So exciting! I'm off to enjoy the beauty of the green things in our yard!

Pizza Venti

One of the many benefits of home ownership is that there's nobody around to tell you that you can't grill. Nobody, that is, except for one's own desire to stay cool and not slave away over a hot grill when the air temperature in the backyard is over 105. Luckily for everyone involved, I've managed to cram a sock in that desire's mouth, and have grilled pretty much every day for the last month on our new real-boy-sized Weber grill.

I've done some red meat, some excellent scewery-type meals, and, of course, pizza. My most recent attempt at capturing the essence of The Noble Pie came in the form of a two-stage experiment. Stage one: grill chicken smothered in BBQ sauce. Stage two: use newly-grilled chicken on a pizza. The results were extraordinarily good, and you can see a delightful picture of the finished product below.

Yum! The best part about the recipe I use for the crust is that it makes enough dough for four individual pizzas, so, if one was to have company, everyone could easily choose whatever toppings they liked. Although we haven't done terribly much entertaining yet, we're always on the lookout for recipes that might make it easier in the future. Za, anyone?