After a long week of packing, moving and unpacking, eating mostly instant foods or takeout, it was refreshing to have a day off to enjoy the weather and some fresh, unprocessed produce before returning to work tomorrow. Because we noticed many of the cherry blossoms in our neighborhood blooming, we thought it would be a good time to head down to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens for hanami and beat the crowds at Sakura Matsuri (the annual cherry blossom festival) next week. We took some croissants (fresh from a trip to Costco yesterday) and an assortment of raw vegetables and the books we are currently reading.

The cherry blossoms in the main esplanade have not quite popped yet, as it was a week too early (BBG is really great at timing the festival so that the blossoms are in peak bloom), but they were still gorgeous. Many trees were blooming all over the grounds, including some crabapples and magnolias, and of course, rows and rows of tulips were opening as well. We had a wonderfully relaxing time walking from one end of the garden to the other. We secretly munched on our veggies and laid out a blanket and read under a half-blooming tree. Then we were asked to move as apparently blankets are not allowed on the lawn (despite the 2-3 dozen other groups I saw with blankets throughout the day, and the fact that we’ve done it every other year without issue). Regardless of the fact that the groundskeepers seem to want to keep all the visitors moving constantly and not sit on any of the lawns (that display no signage forbidding it), nature’s calming effect wound down an incredibly hectic week.

Now that our new kitchen is all decked out, I expect things on Get Cooking to resume as usual. Just wait until I post the chicken gyros I made before the move!