That's what she said

Because, Martha said so.

I have been slacking again, I know.

But yesterday my husband was throwing up all day. And like any good wife I had to take care of him! Soup, saltine crackers, Tiramisu cake, 7-Up, Nyquil.

Today he is finally feeling better. I don't want to blame it on the food we had the night before, but what else could it have been? I definitely called the restaurant and gave them a piece of my mind. In the nicest way possible of course :)

Last night I made these Martha Stewart, Cookies & Cream Cheese Cupcakes, for our group leader retreat tonight. Not sure how they classify as cupcakes except for the fact they are baked in a cupcake pan and Martha says so.

They are probably one of the worst desserts you could possibly eat, besides Paual Dean's butter cakes. I mean those pretty much speak for themselves. TWO pounds of cream cheese (four packages!), four eggs, sugar, sour cream, oreo cookies..but man wont they be good :) I haven't actually tried one yet because they had to chill for four hours after cooking and I didn't feel like staying up until 1am to try one. COOKING TIP: Make sure you read the directions first before you promise your husband-who-loves-all-things-sweet that he can have one! Things might get a bit ugly. Just saying.

Off to camp tonight. Not like the crazy summer camp you go to when you are in highschool, but it should be fun none the less.

I hope you have a good weekend and I will make sure to eat a Cookie & Cream Cheese Cupcake for you.

Fine dining & cupcakes

I am gearing up for a busy rest of the week!

Tonight husb and I are going to get all fancy and dolled up (well I will be the only dolled up one) and go to dinner at Sky City. Generally we don't go out much on the weekdays, let alone a fancy place like this, but they had an awesome date night promotion going on, 50% off one entree, free valet parking and champagne toast upon arrival. Yes, please and thank you! Hopefully I will remember to take my camera and I will share some pictures with you tomorrow!

Thursday is small group and dinner at the Wing Dome, which I hear is good but I myself have never been. I am pretty sure my brother is a regular there!

Friday we are headed to a group leader retreat until Saturday. Which I have to make a treat to share...I am thinking of making these coconut cupcakes w/cream-cheese frosting

I got this mix from my sweet sister Leah as a present for my wedding shower and have been wanting to make them! Except I don't have a muffin pan yet...it seems to be the one kitchen item I don't have! But if I do get a pan before Friday and make them, I will let you know how they turn out. I can't imagine the Barefoot Contessa will dissapoint though :)

That's all I got.

Looking forward to a busy,yet fun rest of the week!

Monday Monday, can't trust that day

Monday Monday, sometimes it just turn out that way....

I had a great weekend, relaxing and hanging out with friends. Friday night husb and I went out to eat at the Wallingford Pizza House Their deep dish has nothing on Giordano's pizza, but it was good none the less. We went in starving and after having their cheesy garlic bread as an appetizer, barely made it through two pieces each. Try it out and let me know what you think, just make a reservation before hand if you can.

Saturday was nice and relaxing. I took a trip to Crate and Barrel to return a gift and wound up finding this beautiful ribbon bowl and table runner instead. (Sorry I couldn't get the pics to post!) I can finally fit all the fruit in it! That night we went dinner to & bowling with some good friends of ours. It was ladies vs men. Men 1 Ladies 1 Let's just say it was a very competitive hour of bowling. Hey, the stakes were high! :)

Sunday went to church in the morning, grocery shopping, nap, olympics and made Pan-Grilled Pork Chops w/Grilled Pineapple Salsa for dinner.

(Photo courtesy of Cooking Light Magazine)

Monday Monday, so good to me, Monday Monday, it was all I hoped it would be.....

My Friday

6:00am alarm goes off

6:05am alarm goes off a second time, finally get up and out of bed to take a shower

6:30am wake up the husb

6:45am make my daily (sense Monday) cinnamon dulce latte

7:20am kissed husb goodbye

7:26am Caught the bus

8:00am Begin the daily grind

12:51pm Took a late lunch & caught Tiger Wood's playing the victim heartfelt speach on cnn.

3:00pm My work load is finally starting to slow down and I can breath and eat a banana :)

3:01pm Looking out my window that faces the train tracks and can see a hint of sun still peaking through

4:30pm Out of here........

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock

There it is. A day in my shoes. I hope your day has been more exiting than mine.

Cinnamon dulce latte, please.

My sweet husband kicks himself cringes a little inside every time I spend $3+ on a soy latte. So, with some of our wedding gift cards I convinced him that we needed an espresso machine at home. I will admit, I was a little intimidated by that machine at first and it took me a few months to finally start using it. And after much trial and error and more than one bitter cup of espresso, I am proud to announce that I have finally mastered that beast!

Now for the best part, I am going to share some tips & tricks with you and hopefully you will not have to endure as many bitter cups of espresso as I have. :)

1. Pump, pump, pump it up! If you don't already have one, spoil yourself and get a pump for your syrup (if you use syrup that is.) It was only $1.85 at Cash n Carry. Now, pump 2-3 pumps (whicever your preference) of syrup into the bottom of your traveling mug. DISCLAIMER: I am not responsible for my husband your husband/wife/friend who goes pump happy and squirts the syrup all over their shirt.

2. Steam your milk first! (you will find out why further down) If you have a food thermometer drop it in the frothing pitcher until it reaches 160 degrees. Unless you are one of those people that orders their's "extra extra hot!" I never understood that, then go ahead and heat the piss out of it.

3. Make your espresso. (1 shot for a 12oz mug). Now here is the tricky part that I didn't know....after your espresso is done, you have TEN seconds to get that shot into you mug and mixed with milk. Apparently it spoils if it is left by its self for longer than that. I don't know why, it just does. Trust me. So, dump your espresso shot into the mug and top it off with your frothed milk (fill to the top.)

4. Yum.

5. Try the brown sugar & cinnamon syrup by Torani. You will thank me. 

Goodwill Hunting

I think I found a new hobby. Can you guess what it is?

Here are a few clues....

1. It is recommended, you hold your breath or pinch your nose when entering, so as not to get a taste of the lingering odor in the air

2. It can get a bit overwhelming at times

3. You might have to push people out of your way find the good stuff

Did you guess it?

It's thrift store shopping! Let's be honest, I have never been a big thrift store shopper, the musty smell mixed with the thought of people buying soiled used underware is enough to keep me in a twenty-eight mile radius, but Katie over at BOWERPOWER always seems to find such cute stuff and so I thought, why can't I? I went to a near by Goodwill on Monday in hopes of finding some new items to decorate the apartment with. Being as it was President's Day, they had a big sale going on, 40% off green, pink and orange tags and all red tags for 99 cents. A sale on already cheap stuff? Yes, please!

It was a scramble in there! Who knew a thrift store could be so busy, but I guess we are in tough times right now. It was a bit of a struggle, pushing my way through the aisles, but in the end I wound up finding these beauties

 
A pair of crystal candlestick holders for $1.29. How's that for a shopping trip husb?

I am looking forward to going back soon to see what new goodies they have waiting for me to find :)

Have you been to a thrift store lately? Any good finds?

Valentine's Weekend

The weekend went by way too fast! But we still had alot of fun! Saturday night I cooked my husband a yummy, man-pleasing dinner; new york strip steak, twice baked potatoes, broccoli w/cheese sauce, garlic bread and Molten lava cakes. "Your best dinner yet!"

 
 
 
Wow, is it just me or does that gravy boat look HUGE? I think this is my husband's "stuffed and can't eat one more bite" face :) And he gets full credit for the beautiful steaks above and the photography! He also got me this sweet gift!

We spent the night in Seattle on Valentines Day.

It was a little cloudy but still a beautiful view from our room! Monday morning we slept in and grabbed spinage, egg & cheese piroshkys at Piroshky Piroshky for breakfast. Delicious :) The perfect end to a long weekend.
  

  
 
  
   
  
  
  

Spiced Chai Tea

This is a delicously simple recipe I got out of Real Simple magazine. (no pun intended:)

INGREDIANTS

8 cloves

8 cardomon seads

4 black peppercorns

2 cups whole or 2% milk ( I used 1% and it tasted good but anything less would be too watery)

sugar to taste

2 cups water

2 cinnamon sticks

1 inch piece ginger skinned and sliced

4 black tea bags

DIRECTIONS

Begin by putting the cardomon, cloves and peppercorns in a plastic bag. Use a heavy skillet to crush spices up.

Places crushed spices, milk, ginger, cinnamon sticks and water into a sauce pan. Slowly bring to a boil. Once boiling, remove from heat, add tea bags, cover and let steap for 10minutes. Use a strainer to remove the spices. Add 2 teaspons sugar to each cup(or to taste) I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Feb 14, 2009

Last year we had been dating for less than two months. It was our first Valentine's Day together as a couple and the nerves had definitely kicked in, do I get him a gift? How much should I spend? What would he want? What if he doesn't like it? What should I wear? Oh, the painful painful joys of dating :) Friday he emailed me an itinery for the big day. If I remember correctly it went something like this,

9:00AM Come over and I will make you a big hearty breakfast

10:00AM  Greenlake/Starbucks Coffee

10:30-11AM Run around greenlake as fast as I can to really impress her!

11:00AM Lunch/Hang Out

2:00PM Laugh Lover's Ball (A comedy show designed especially for V-day)

6:00PM Hoping I have done enough at this point she will offer to cook dinner. Cook dinner for you

Wasn't he sweet? I loved it. We had a wonderful time hanging out and laughing at the comedy show.

This year it is my turn. And while I can never outdo or want to relive the nerves of our first valentine's day together, this year will be good..steak, chocolate lava cake, night out on the town...all I am saying, is next year babe, you better step up your game ;)

Happy two month aniverssary, babe!

And if you were wondering if I got him a gift? I made him a big pan of cheesecake bars. Yes, even early on I knew the way to my man's heart. :)

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