My husband and I enjoyed an excellent day together.

We biked over to Yorktown to have a picnic lunch there because it was supposed to be sunny and warm. Well, it was sunny. Turns out that the weather didn't hear the part where it was supposed to be WARM. So my Raynaud's had a field day with my hands and feet while we were riding along the section of the Colonial Parkway that follows along a laaaaarge stretch of water. The wind off the water was majorly cutting through my two pairs of wool socks under hiking boots, two pairs of leggings, and 3 pairs of gloves. (My flannel-lined wool hat and fleece scarf held up pretty well against it, as did my long-sleeved t-shirt, two flannel outdoor exercise tops, and heavy wind-resistant winter coat...yeah I TRIED to be prepared for the cold!) It wasn't even technically freezing - low 40s when we left, probably mid-forties by the time we left. But it was cold enough that my fingers and toes were DYING of numbness (what a weird concept) and I almost cried from being cold when we were out in the wind - and I'd even brought a change of clothes so that I could take off my wet, sweaty stuff and be dry for the ride home! I'd been planning on going inside the visitor's center to warm up if I needed to, but it turns out that there wasn't much of an indoor area to warm up in unless I wanted to lurk in the gift shop with my massive backpack and I thought that might look suspicious. (The bathrooms were accessed outside, and they were SO COLD!) Plus my extremities don't warm up on their own very well - they need a heat source directly near them, and there were no heat vents I could find. So basically, my fingers and toes spent about 3 hours being super numb, until I got rolling on the way home (exercise helps restore blood flow) and got away from the windy shoreline.

Still, it was fun!

Then my mom and cousin stopped by for a visit, because they were passing through the area on their way back from seeing another of my cousins at college. So that was nice.

And I tried some new produce before dinner! Today's attempt: passionfruit. Turns out, it is NOT very good. Maybe I just picked some unripe fruits (I had no idea what to look for; I just happened to see some at Farm Fresh and thought WHOA I've never seen these in a store before, I have to get a couple!)...but they were super tart and acidic. I couldn't even finish mine, not even with some sugar added to it. So that might be a baking fruit for me in the future. :)

(Farm Fresh also had some fresh quince, which I'd never seen before and have no idea what to do with, and these thingies that look almost exactly like the gumballs my dad used to make me and my sister pick up in the backyard so he could mow the lawn...no idea what they are either, but I'm looking forward to figuring it out!)

And finally, I made this "Aloo Paratha" recipe from my Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day recipe book. I used a whole wheat dough that incorporates a little olive oil into the dough, and then you roll it out and stuff it with mashed potatoes (I used sweet potatoes) and green peas (didn't have any, so I subbed zucchini) seasoned with curry powder. It was REALLY tasty. I tell you what, I am loving this book. Fancypants breads that are HEALTHY and really really easy to make. If you like bread but don't have/don't want to mess with a bread machine, this is a phenomenal book.

LOL sorry for the lengthy play-by-play of my day, but I was having a good time reliving all the fun stuff. :)