For the Gardener: Chipotle Spiced Lamb & Kale Tostadas

In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt. ~ Margaret Atwood

You can't see me right now but I'm totally doing a little happy dance.  Well, little wiggles in my chair, but that still counts.  Nope, not drunk (though I did have the best mango margarita this afternoon), but insanely happy that I've officially started gardening.  I busted out the garden gloves and the trowels and got friendly with some dirt today.  It felt good.  After what seemed like the longest winter in the history of the universe, I never thought I'd be so happy to uproot dandelions.  Just watching earthworms slither along the freshly turned over soil made me smile.  I'm a total weirdo, but after the winter I've had, you'd do the same thing.  I'm also super happy to have my post-surgery strength back, which means I don't have to be so paranoid about lifting anything over 10 pounds.  (Um, my cats are fat over ten pounds so I can finally squish them to bits.  I think this pleases me more than them).  Being strong again means all I want to do is make my yard pretty.  Which kinda means less time is spent in the kitchen, so food has to be quick and dirty.  And that's why today we are talkin' tostadas.
 

Just Waking Up: Breakfast Tacos with Avocado Salsa

 

"Springtime is the land awakening.  The March winds are the morning yawn."  Lewis Grizzard


Give it up for being officially into Spring!  While there are still bits and pieces of snow scattered here and there, and the night-time temps are well into freezing, the big melt is on.  I even dug out my blue rubber boots, and almost teared up from the sheer joy of pulling them on, once again.  Yep, total weirdo.  I've seen life, in my flowerbeds - glimpses of green beneath the mulch of dead leaves.  It's subtle, but it's there.  Earth is beginning to turn over, and shed Winter's dead weight.  I'm crazy in love with this time of year.  I felt the warmth of the sun on my back today and thought of this song.  Always a sucker for fresh starts and a general rebirth of well being, Spring is my time and I dig it.  Hardcore.