The more time I spend at home with my family, the less I want to leave when Sunday evening rolls around. 

This reminded me of a scene I saw in Downton Abbey; in which one character says to another that being homesick isn't something to be ashamed of, because it means you come from a happy home. I don't know any of the characters' names, because there are far too many of them and I've only seen three episodes so far, but that exchange stuck with me.

I am a sometimes anxious and often strange young woman full of quirks that confuse even myself. But I'm not ashamed of much. And I'm certainly not embarrassed to admit that I started crying in the passenger seat as soon as we drove away.

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Most of the pictures I took this weekend are of food. 

My brother and his friends were on Spring Break this week, so on Friday they all came to the lake. I rode with my mom from Charlottesville, and Rob came to meet us from North Carolina. Together, we ended up having a wonderful time and sharing some really good food. My parents' house has always been the perfect place for magical little gatherings like this.

Spring is coming. I have never been more ready.

First of all, it's been like 60+ degrees around here the past few days. So that was weird.

I wore this ModCloth dress and walked to work on Friday. No leggings needed.

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This weekend, we ate.

It was Restaurant Week in Charlottesville, which means that a handful of nice restaurants had a special menu that offered three courses for $26. My friends and I chose Maya and had dinner there on Friday night. Despite the manager being a real asshole on the phone, we had a lovely meal and the service was surprisingly wonderful. The food was delicious.

Then on Saturday my parents came to have lunch with us. So we ate again. And took more pictures.

I slept until 11 AM on Sunday morning. We headed to Chipotle and ate.

Good weekend, good food. 

I went to Twitter yesterday for some help deciding which of the Paleo recipes I have up my sleeve should be the first on this here blog. I was sort of looking forward to sharing an awesome muffin recipe with you or talking about my latest adventures with bacon, but Jackie insisted that she needed some chocolate. (Consider this an engagement gift, Jack).

This is how you make the most wonderful dessert/snack in the world. 

In the world? 

That's what I said.

Here's what you need:

9 ounces of good quality dark chocolate. 

(It needs to have 85% or more cacao content if you're concerned about making it Paleo).

About half a cup of macadamia nuts.

(You could use any nuts you want, but peanuts aren't Paleo! Next time, I'm trying hazelnuts).

Half a teaspoon of salt.

Here's what you do:

In a double-boiler (that's a bowl on top of a pot of hot water), melt the chocolate.

Chop the nuts and stir them into the melted chocolate.

Add salt.

Pour the mixture onto a parchment-paper lined baking sheet. Make sure the paper covers the sides, too.

(If the baking sheet is small, you'll get thick bark. 

If it's larger, the chocolate will end up thinner. That's up to you).

Stick the thing in the refrigerator and let it harden. This could take more than an hour. No biggie.

When it's hard, take it out and break it up! Try not to eat it all in one sitting.

We're such good friends, that chocolate bark and I.