Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mamas!

Bud vases are the new rage! says my Mama, regarding the little gift she designed for my sister-in-law in honor of the holiday, filled with flowers snipped from her garden.

In other news, hi! How was your weekend? Ben and I kicked ours off with a little homemade Moscow Mule action on Friday night, muwahaha!

Moscow Mules are my all time favorite summer drink, and are a mixture of vodka, ginger beer, and fresh lime juice poured into a copper mug to stay ultra cold. They are SO refreshing.

This was our first crack at making ‘em at home, and we didn’t love the ginger beer I picked out at Trader Joe’s (UBER gingery – needed a little more sweetness,) but we look forward to perfecting the recipe throughout the summer.

I laid out a spread to nibble on while we sipped, including red grapes (less vodka in that recipe, me thinks…)

English Coastal cheddar cheese, Fontina cheese, buttery crackers, and apples and pears. It was a nice little night!

The next morning my Mom and I headed to the Downtown Farmer’s Market bright and early to “beat the crowds”.

We thought there was no way it would be as busy as it was last weekend, opening weekend, but it might have been even more crowded!

This weekend was all about tender asparagus, and oodles of fresh flowers. I wanted to buy it all!

Instead I picked up the last bit of plants for my vegetable garden – some sugar snap peas, and parsley.

This morning, for Mother’s Day, Ben and I surprised my Mom by sliding in next to her and my Dad in their pew at church (priceless,) then we all headed out for our favorite brunch in town at Granite City.

GC’s Mother’s Day brunch is simply redonk, and seems to grow bigger and better every year. I filled my plate with their signature garlic mashed potatoes (I know,) cheesy hash browns, strawberries, eggs, bacon, and THE BEST FRENCH TOAST I HAVE EVER HAD. Ahem! That is to say, it was very good.

My brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew are visiting other family today, so it was just the four of us!

Ben hit the buffet one too many times – bahaha! I can literally feel his pain through this picture. Poor guy stands no chance against unlimited quantities of garlic mashed potatoes.

He and my Dad are working through the aftermath with a snooze while watching golf, while my Mom and I just got back from a nice walk. It is absolutely gorgeous out today!

The rest of the family is due back in town later this evening, and a BBQ is on tap before we wrap this Mother’s Day up. Gosh this weekend went fast!

Custom Knife Block Giveaway

Congrats to Harshee Day for guessing the correct number of wooden skewers in the wood knife block from avenuetwo:design on the dot – 1,179! Harshee – email your full name and mailing address to iowagirleats@gmail.com, and we’ll get that out to you.

Thanks to everything for entering. Have a SUPER rest of your Mother’s Day Sunday!