That's what she said

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. :)

Listen

Winter in Hawaii?

I need a vacation. Like now. I can't wait until July! Perhaps it has something to do with my obsession of always wanting to to wear sandles or the luxury of being able to stay outside in the daylight later than five. I've never been to Hawaii myself, but I've heard many a story of the long, sandy beaches, beautiful sunsets and sipping mai tais on your private balcony. It's enough to make me buy two, one-way tickets to Kaui right now! Yes, I said one-way tickets. I haven't asked my husband yet, but I think he just needs a gentle nudge... ..

   

**SIGH**

Toilet Update: Still clogged. Doesn't look like it will be fixed until next week. Yeh, not happy about that one.

Toilet:4 Me:0

What can I say?

I got an email from my husband this afternoon, gently reminding me, "babe, you are slacking on your blogs!" 

 

Forgive me?

 

In addition to being busy at work, I had a busy weekend! So, let me try and catch you up a bit. 

 

Friday: We got Pho for dinner and then (after a sweet suggestion from Lindsay!) hit up B&O Espresso for dessert & coffee. Let me just tell you, their desserts are just lovely. And yes, lovely is the perfect word to describe them. My sweet husband may try and tell you otherwise, as his tiramasu was not quite sweet enough to his liking. However, please do not let this detour your plans to go, as I would like to point out that his plate was squeeky clean within a matter of minutes!

 

Saturday: Woke up to a very clogged toilet, made pancakes for breakfast (my hopes of making them from scratch crashed when I realized I only had one egg), lounged around the house, got my hair cut, went to Trader Joes, made lasagna for dinner and watched The Hurt Locker with my husband. Good movie. If you like man movies. With lots of blood, shooting & swearing. Which reminds me, babe you owe me, big time. Did I mention I already got us tickets to Valentines Day for Friday? ;) 

 

Sunday: Church, made this awesome dip for our Superbowl party, saw a few decent commercials, watched football, came home to a still clogged toilet (despite my sweet husband's multiple attempts to unclog it), watched Shark Tank and as if I hadn't eaten enough junk food for the day, ate a big piece of cake for dinner, fell asleep early.

 

Monday: Layed in bed until the last possible minute, drug myself into work w/ two shots of espresso & milk in hand, and was greeted by a co-worker with a maple-bacon donut. Now, generally the sight of a large slab of meat on any kind of sweet would just about make me want to vomit, but this one was different. The bacon was crispy and salty, the perfect partner to a sweet, puffy, pastry! (What do you think? Would you try one?), two hours left before I get to go home, make dinner and watch 24. Decent start to the week.

 

Tuesday

I woke up this morning, confused as to what day it was. Sadly, it was only Tuesday, which also meant four more days of work until the weekend. Boo!

Last night for dinner I made Leah's lentil & bean burritos. They were yummy, thanks for sharing Leah! Flyn even ate them not knowing they were 100% vegetarian! He had seen chicken defrosting in the fridge that morning so he figured there was chicken in them. Ooops. After he found out he pretended argued that he didn't like them anymore and preceeded to tell me, "I am a Man, I eat meat!" Imagine what would happen to his reputation if this information got into the wrong hands...;)

On another note, tonight is Leah's birthday celebration! I am excited to see my friend and eat some yummy mexican food with her :)

I have been on a new recipe kick lately and so I will share a few recipes I have found that I want to try. Let me know if you get to them before me!

Chana Masala

Onion Soup

The Mushroom Soup

Peanut Sesami Noodles

Five dollar pizza

There is nothing I like better than finding a great happy hour and then sharing it with friends!

 

Friday for date night we checked out a restaurant, via a recommendation from a co-worker. The restaurant is called Via Tribunali or Café Via. (They have five locations around the Seattle area).

During happy hour you can choose from one of three pizzas for $5 each, which are regularly $16 during dinner. One pizza per person can easily fill you up. We chose the salame; thin crust, sweet tomato sauce, a thin layer of cheese and topped with mini salami slices. Delicious!

 

Despite the small table we squished into, the place had a beautiful, rustic old tavern style feel to it.. The service was fast and pleasant. If you are looking for deep dish, chicago style pizza you won't find it here.

 

TIP: The place was hopping when we got there around 5:30 so I would suggest you show up early if you can! (Happy Hour from 4pm-6pm daily)