First time this year

What we call the "back 40"—the extra lot we bought behind our house—always looks great after the grass has been cut. It was pretty high, almost enough to stall our electric mover even when I cut only a strip about 6 inches wide. So it took a while.

Right now the flowering crabapple on the left is just starting to bloom, while the peach tree, at right behind the red planter, may be a dud this year. The big snowfall on Easter killed its blossoms.

It was sunny all day—perfect weather for cutting the grass and making dinner outside on the grill...

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Grilled cheese, no sandwich

After having a shish kebab at Nighttown that included a sheep and goat's milk cheese called "halloumi," I asked for it at Meister's, the cheese stand we always go to at the West Side Market. I bought a small package of it to try. Now I have to say I think I'm hooked.

We'd planned to grill peppers, onions, and portabella mushrooms for dinner tonight anyway, so I googled "halloumi grill" and got a quick and easy recipe from 101cookbooks.com.

We had the green beans on hand, which you just saute lightly. Then, get this: you put wedges of lemon on the grill, along with 1/4" thick slices of cheese. Grill for 5 minutes per side, put the beans on top, squeeze on the lemon juice... yum.

And believe it or not, it looked almost exactly like the picture above from the website. For a change.

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