Hobbies

Carlos and I are still cultivating our love of cooking. Last night, we made:
Shaved Raw Asparagus with Parmesan Dressing (very good!)
Mushroom Meatloaf (bland - but I have a solution for next time)
Garlic Mashed Potatoes (ditto)

We are hosting our Monthly Family dinner next Sunday (May 2) so are trying to perfect the menu. I think we'll serve all of the above, working on the seasoning. Carlos is going to come up with a nice dessert that mixes well with the other dishes.


I have picked up two new hobbies recently.

New Hobby #1 - Genealogy. During our Katrina evacuation, I bought a family tree program, but never took it out of the box. I finally did earlier this month. My dad's mom (who had 8 brothers and who died at 98 in 2003) kept great family records. I added all her research into my program.

Then I started with my mom's dad, who died in 2004. I was able to trace back to my great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather (Christophe Mequet) who was born in 1700 in France. My method: Using the relatives I already knew, I searched the internet for other people who have published family trees with my relatives included. I found my great grandfather (Hector Mequet) in this family tree.

My next goals:
1) Find out if any of my relatives fought in the Civil War.
2) Prove or disprove the long-standing family legend that my grandfather's grandparents were first cousins.
3) Prove or disprove the long-standing family legend that, along those same family lines, that we have black relatives.
4) Find pictures of as many relatives as possible.


New Hobby #2 - Gardening

I have had "Start a garden" on my To Do list for many years. This past weekend, motivated by my brother-in-law Jeff who planted a tomato garden when I was in Atlanta recently visiting, I finally got around to it. Here are pictures on Day 0 - before anything was started, and Day 1 - minutes after everything was planted.




The garden consists of:
Cucumbers
Green Bell Peppers
Red Bell Peppers
Yellow Bell Peppers
Orange Bell Peppers

According to the packaging, I'll have food in 75 days. I'll post updated pictures soon.