Maple Bacon Pancakes

Somehow this taking off from media has resulted in a lapse in my writing. There's just more doing, more reading, more time off the computer and away from the tv. Don't get me wrong: more than anything I miss reading blogs and the new york times. I didn't even know Princess Catherine was pregnant! But I do love the evenings with Brian spent reading on opposite ends of the couch, our feet meeting in the middle, or playing cards (he trounces me, every time).

I haven't gotten very far in the December "to-do" list I put together. I thought I'd be more bored without tv? But I don't miss it all that much. I've spent many many happy hours in the kitchen and yesterday it started early in the morning with these pancakes. It continued later on prepping mini meatloaves for tonight's dinner, a gingerbread-cranberry cake and my chocolate-gingerbread snowdrop dough, for holiday cookie deliveries this weekend.

Maple - Bacon Pancakes
Adapted from Ratio, by Michael Ruhlman

Wet:
8 ounces milk
2 ounces veggie oil
2 ounces maple syrup
2 eggs

Dry:
8 ounces (a heaping cup) AP Flour
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1-2 crumbled piece of bacon

I cook mine on my double burner griddle, brushing melted butter on for each new pancake, then keeping them in a 200 degree oven until we're ready to eat.

These came out so sweet and yummy, already tasting of butter and maple syrup, I ate them completely dry. Brian covered his with more butter and syrup, of course.

7 Month 4: Media

Month 3 of 7 was anticlimatic for me. I pulled stuff out of my closet, I pulled books off my shelves, but the truth is, Brian and I did a huge clean-out when we moved in together in August. We just don't have a ton of excess stuff and therefore didn't hit the 210 item goal. However, I do like how this month has changed my thinking: as we move forward into the Christmas season, I'm having a hard time thinking about presents that would really benefit us and not become more "stuff." (Somehow this mental block isn't in place about the Christmas decoration shopping I'm going to do tomorrow...)

Tomorrow starts Month 4 of 7: Media month. The idea is giving up 7 forms of media, as a way of letting go of distractions and focusing on family and God. Frankly, I think this is amazing that it falls in December. What's a better time to pull away from blogs & tv to focus on the Christmas spirit of generosity and giving and spending time with my husband & family?

Here are the 7 forms of media I'm giving up:

TV except sports & movie nights w/Brian

iPhone apps: twitter, facebook

Non-work web use: thepioneerwoman.com, tvwithoutpity, gofugyourself, people.com, blogs

All web use at home except looking up a project or a recipe

Facebook

Twitter

Radio in the car (I decided I was allowed to have music on at home & work).

In preparation for turning off the tv, I've made a list of projects to tackle this month, as well as stocking up on books from the library. It includes decorating & crafting for Christmas, painting our bedside tables (I've had the paint since August), ordering our wedding pictures, framing, writing Odne in Haiti, organizing my file cabinets, making holiday treats, etc.

I'm not giving up blogging (see how I did that? It's not reading a blog, it's writing one!) It's creative. Plus it keeps me honest. I'll keep you posted on the projects! In the meantime, I'm off to make sure all my shows are taping all month!

Being Present in Thankfulness

I do an awful lot of looking forward. Brian and I joke and dream about our "future" family. We look forward to spending time with our parents. We get excited about seeing our friends on the weekends. My dear husband has been gone all weekend at a conference and I can't wait to have him home tonight. I'm almost off to my new in-laws for Thanksgiving vacation and I can't hardly wait.

We have so many blessings in our life, which I'm reminded of every day, every week, every happy month that goes by. I can look back and trace our relationship, every moment of it sweet in a different way. I can see how happy we were at the very beginning, figuring each other out. How much fun we had getting to know each other's families. The anticipation of being "pre-engaged" (and the stressed tears that came with that). The whirlwind of a four-month engagement. I can look back and see all the happiness in each stage, but I also remember always looking forward to what was coming next.

This year as I'm thinking about thankfulness, I'm thinking about being thankful in the moment. Instead of looking forward to Brian coming home, being thankful for time spent with my parents and sitting in church with a dear family I don't get to see often. Thankful for some quiet time spent in my kitchen, making delicious gifts for family. Instead of thinking, "oh how much fun will the the holidays be when we have kids?!" enjoying the freedom that comes with traveling just the two of us.

This season, as I continue to try simplify my life and celebrate the spirit of the season, my goal to be present in my thankfulness.

5 Foods

 

 

Only five??

 

1. Avocados

2. Dumplings

3. French fries

4. Cheese

5. Peaches

7 Month 3: Possessions

This month of 7 is pretty easy in theory: each day give away 7 possessions. If you do 4 weeks, that equals 210 possessions. I have to say, this idea feels pretty awesome, but I'm not positive I can come up with 210 items. Brian and I gave away a lot of stuff when we moved in together and really streamlined our house. Plus, I can't seem to convince him that he should pare down on the number of books he owns. They're for "work" or something.

Even if I can't hit the magic 210 number, I'm still taking this opportunity to clean out the excess and the clutter (the whole point of this exercise, really!). This week I've donated 35 items of clothing to a shelter that my church is involved with and pulled 30 books off my shelf that I don't need. They aren't children's books, so I can't send them to a school, but I will be donating them through a library program.

This weekend my girlfriends have organized a clothes swap where a bunch of us are getting together to swap out clothes we don't wear very much. I have to say, I prayed about this a lot over the past couple of weeks. Part of the 7 project is giving to those in need, and while none of us grad student wives have a huge clothing allowence, I wouldn't necessary call us "in need." But I craved the fellowship of getting together with this awesome group of women, so I made a compromise: I pulled out a number of cute items to take to the swap and offered to take anything unclaimed to the shelter. I figured if I can increase my contribution and receive some fellowship in return.

I have to say that this is challenge is not only making me think "what do we really need in this house?" as it relates to getting rid of things, but as it relates to shopping. I'm heavily depending on my awesome library for books and movies and things like guitar music as I decide to take that up again. I've never been good at sticking with it, so instead of buying a number of expensive music books, I'm checking them out from the library! Genius! Also, whenever I take a trip I stock up on novels to read on the plane, usually forgetting until the last minute and buying them at the airport bookstores = the most expensive place possible. Now I've requested a number of books to take with me and bring back over Thanksgiving.

I love the way this challenge is changing my thought around possessions and I can't wait to see where it leads.

6 Places

1. Dallas, TX
2. San Francisco, CA
3. Chapel Hill, NC
4. Milwaukee, WI
5. Chicago, IL
6. Boston, MA

I choose formative places. There are stories from all of these cities.  

Prayer Changes Things

A good friend recently gave us our wedding gift and the front of the card that came with it said "Prayer Changes Things." (Between you and me, I'm pretty sure it was a consolation card pulled from a stash :-). To their credit, it was perfect for us.) When I opened the card, I was so struck by how true that statement was- not just in general, but especially when it comes to Brian and I.

You see, before I met Brian, I was praying hard for him. I was praying sitting in my old church in Evanston, asking God to deliver me out of the life I couldn't seem to extricate myself from. I was praying when I moved home, acknowledging that I was completely failing by modern standards, but knowing I was in a better place for myself. I was praying when I was dating other people, knowing they weren't the right ones, asking God to help me practice opening my heart for the man who would be right.

I knew that at 22, 23, 24, I wasn't giving of type of love I needed to sustain a lasting relationship. My heart was unkind, would pick small petty fights, didn't understand the concept of unconditional love outside of a family member. Relationships were trials, something to be worked through. But all the while, I was praying.

 When I moved home, I told God "Send me a man at church, please. I'm not looking elsewhere. That sounds tiring and futile." Now, we all know what happens when we give the Lord ultimatums, right? I know I remember what happened when I informed God and anyone who would listen that I was going to college in Boston and then I'd move to New York after graduation. He promptly up and sent my snooty butt to Texas. But perhaps He decided I'd been through enough, or I really was looking in the right place, but a year after I moved home, I met Brian -- at a Young Adults fellowship dinner arranged by our pastor. It was exactly what I had been praying for.

The other side of this story, of course, is Brian's. He had also been praying- through the end of a bad relationship, far away from his family, living on his own. To me this is most amazing part: not long before we met, he had been praying for me! That God would lead him to someone kind. Thank goodness I had learned how to be kind! (Although I argue that Brian brings it out in me.)

Note from Brian:  I wasn't simply praying for someone kind.  Kind doesn't even begin to do justice to the type of amazing woman I was praying for, and the type of amazing woman Amy is.  She's right, I was praying for someone--someone not only kind, but faithful, light-hearted, intelligent, and beautiful, with a big heart and a strong sense of humor.  Even though I didn't know it yet, I was praying for Amy.

Thank goodness for prayer. Maybe the card wasn't technically a wedding card, but in our case, it was absolutely the right words, because prayer really does change things.

7 Wants

1. A passport

2. Real leather cowboy boots

3. Children (listed after the cowboy boots? sure, why not?)

4. To live near family, in the South.

5. A vintage red pick-up truck. It would be awesome!

6. A house with a porch and porch swing

7. An involved church life 

8 Fears

 

 

1. Snakes

2. Heights- it's not paralyzing, but being super high up gives me the willies!

3. Scary movies. I don't watch them.

4. Having to move to someplace REALLY COLD and far away from our families next year. Crossing our fingers for one of the Virginia/North Carolina jobs.

5. Our little family being under employed. Right now we're employed just fine, but I remember the days of single-girl paycheck to paycheck living and it's a fear.

6. This is highly material, but I'm always a little scared one of the gems will fall out of my engagement or wedding ring on its own.

7. Kitchen/oil fires. I love my gas stove, but that's always a little scary.
8. Spooky noises at night. Praise the Lord I have a husband who doesn't mind investigating.

 

This was a hard one, I don't have a lot of big fears, like flying in airplanes, and try not to live in "fear." Hence all the teensy fears. 

Halloween Weekend

Brian and I try to make the most of our weekends and this one was no exception. I may or may not have bought a ton of Halloween decorations at Kohl's a few weeks ago, so to justify the purchases we (I) decided to throw a Halloween party! We had about 20 friends over, mostly in costume, for rum-spiked cider, soup and assorted dips -- the best kind of party. The soup was definitively a hit. I made a riff on The Pioneer Women's Corn Chowder with Chilis. I crossed it with my mom's Chicken Corn Chowder, something I grew up eating. I added potatoes and chicken to the soup and let it sit overnight with the chicken bones so it got good and thick. I also made this Cuban Black Soup from The Kitchn blog. I switched green bell pepper for red bell pepper and added plenty of cumin, but do not skip the vinegar at the end! It's definitely the necessary secret ingredient. Brian and I decorated the apartment on Thursday night, putting up torn cheesecloth and bats cut out from black construction paper. Friends ate, drank and hung out until after 11.

I dressed up as a Country Singer and Brian dressed up as Clark Kent. 

With my best friend, the Ballerina.

I made shrunken heads out of apples to float in the cider (Martha Stewart).

Our friend Jodi brought "Monster Eyes."

The Ballerina and her husband, a Trama Patient.

On Saturday we woke up late, donned our Carolina gear and headed downtown to meet up with the Carolina Alumni Association for the UNC vs. NCSU game. We had so much fun meeting new folks and cheering on the Tar Heels. Still exhausted from the party we headed out around half time, but thankfully were able to watch the rest of the game at home, including that amazing run by Gio Bernard for the win! UNC has lost to State the past five years, but this year we took it back. The rest of the day included napping in front of the football, saying hello to friends who stopped by, making granola and catching Talladega Nights.

Sunday included seeing friends at church, watching the Bears Panthers game and continuing my attempt to cook my way through Screen Doors and Sweet Tea. This time I tried the Cornbread Crusted White Chili. Brian loved it, I more loved the idea of it. In reality it had too many tomatillos for me. We handed out candy to trick or treating kids and settled in for a lazy evening. Unfortunately I woke up Monday hit with the nasty cold I've been fighting off so it's blankets and the couch for me for a couple days.

Fast Train to California Salad

I wrote this piece probably three or four years ago, while I was still living in Chicago, dating my ex and working my old job. It somehow popped up in a list of files saved off my old laptop and I couldn't resist reviving it (I never posted it on my old blog). I couldn't tell you which apartment I was living in or remember the exact meal, but it reminds me of a sweet moment in those dark, unhappy days. 

Recreating a dish I’ve had at a favorite restaurant can go only two ways: fantastic or disastrous. The second often ends in a pile of dirty pots and pans, empty take-out containers and a horrendous hangover the next morning, after an attempt at drinking my frustration away.

But if I get it right- the flavors meld instead of collide, textures compliment instead of combat- my entire evening mellows and I bask in the glory of a job well done. This salad came about as a result of a fantastic meal at UnCommon Ground. If you’re in Chicago, this is a must visit restaurant. Local food, seasonal flavors, spot-on cooking. I’ve eaten through a good part of the intentionally small menu. I’ve never, however, had a salad there. Steak and pork loin and handmade pasta always tempt me away. But finding myself less ravenous than usual, I couldn’t resist their winter salad- baby arugula dressed with pecans, goat cheese, cranberries and a blood orange vinaigrette. Blood orange! I love any citrus fruit, especially the unusual flavors. My palette bends towards that sweet-sour tang. A heaping plate of dark green arugula studded with crimson cranberries and blood orange segments arrived at my plate and I proceeded to eat every. single. bite. I managed to refrain from licking my plate, as I go to UnCommon Ground fairly often and don’t want to get a reputation.

I then thought about this salad all day Thursday at work. I twittered about the salad. I researched blood orange vinaigrette recipes. I thought about how magnificent blood oranges are. I looked at flights to California. I invited my California born and bred best friend over for dinner, since she’s an overworked graduate student who I’m endlessly trying to feed. I thought to myself “I doubt there will be blood oranges at the Jewel. If I had time to get to the Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s, I could get some, but not the Jewel. Stupid sucky Jewel produce section. Do Not Wish For The Blood Oranges.” So you can imagine the squealing that took place when, lo and behold, my Jewel had a display of deep, deep orange Moro blood oranges! I looked around me – I wanted to shout- “they have the oranges! Do you see? Do you see the oranges??” I grabbed two good-looking ones, a bag of baby arugula and hoofed it home to attempt recreating my meal from the night before.

Success. As we ate every. last. bite. of that recreated winter salad, we imagined that perhaps we were in Santa Barbara and tossed around ideas of leaving our boyfriends and opening up a yarn/wine store somewhere on the coast. (NB: I well remember this dream. We were going to call it the Redhead Asian Girl Winery. Happily for both of us, she married her boyfriend and I left mine for greener fields.) My friend was relocated to the frozen landscape of Chicago against her will, and desperately misses the California sunshine and its citrus. This salad is named for her, a small bit of brightness in the middle of winter.

Fast Train to California Salad
Inspired by UnCommon Ground, Chicago

Baby Arugula
Cranberries
OJ
Pecans
Crumbled Goat Cheese
2 blood oranges
Raspberry balsamic vinegar (or regular)
Olive oil

Toast your pecans. Plump up fresh, frozen or dried cranberries in a little orange juice, until they get juicy enough to eat. Segment 1 blood orange, squeeze the juice of the other. This is a good exercise in tasting as you go- start with the juice, add a little of the vinegar. I found it needed more citrus, so I threw in a splash of orange juice. Whisk in a little olive oil, continuing to taste. You could also use a much more proper vinaigrette recipe, this worked for us. Toss all the ingredients together and serve. We ate it alongside some spinach ravioli slicked in olive oil and parmesan, with a little California white table wine.

7 Month 2: Clothes

 

 

In September my friend Emilia put this book up on her blog. She had just finished reading it on vacation and wondered if there would be a seven women to read through the book with her and do each monthly fast as team. She got more than 25 women eager to cut the excess crap out of their lives for seven months, including myself. Emilia blessed each of us by sending us a copy of the book and I started reading it over our Labor Day vacation with my parents.

 

It is a life changing book. I haven't watched Food Inc. because I'm scared of how it will change my life, but this book? Blew that out.of.the.water. Brian and I had been married three weeks when I started reading 7. Fifteen pages in, I turned to him and said "We're going to need to adopt kids from Africa. I'm serious." And to his credit, my sweet husband looked at me and replied "Ok."

 

So what is "7?" about? What's that weird food thing I did in September? How come I'm writing down in my dinner journal what I'm wearing every day? The author, Jen Hatmaker, is a pastor's wife in Austin with three biological children and two adopted children. (They were going through the process of adopting as she wrote this book. Somehow reading about that frustrating, long, expensive process lit a fire in my soul for adopted children.) In looking at her comfortable middle-class life she realized that their family was drowning in excess. She put together 7 fasts, each a month long, designed to cut excess out of her life.

 

Our not-so-little facebook group is doing the months in the order that's in the book, and we started in September. We are currently in the last few days of Month 2: Clothes. Some of our group is following what Jen did in the book: wearing only 7 articles of clothing for the entire month. I felt that with a job to get appear presentible at everyday, this wasn't feasible, so I took the example of a different route. I'm writing down (in my dinner journal) what I'm wearing everyday, so I can see exactly how much of my closet I'm wearing. How many too tight skirts (thanks, Southern food blogs) do I need? How many sorority t-shirts from 6 years ago do I actually need for the gym? Do I really need 10 pairs of gloves? This journal will inform the 3rd month, Possessions, where we're encouraged to give away seven possessions a day. This totals 210 possessions. I'll write more about that in November, but I'm excited to try.

 

The fasts:

 

Month 1: Food (September)

Month 2: Clothes (October)

Month 3: Possessions (November)

Month 4: Media (December)

Month 5: Waste (January)

Month 6: Spending (February)

Month 7: Stress (March)

I'll be posting on how each of the months go- the challenges, the joys. 

9 Loves

 

 

1. My husband (Duh) (No, but for real, he's the absolute best)

2. Our "crowds" -- the grad school crowd, the church crowd, my work crowd, our families. They're great and I adore all of them.

3. The Lord. We'll go ahead and be honest here.

4. Food. If I don't lump it all together, it'll take up the whole list. Avocados, queso dip, bbq, etc.

5. Road trips

6. The holidays, all of them!
7. Picnics
8. Brian and I's Sunday evening movie night tradition
9. Sitting quietly in church



10 Secrets

 

 

 

My college roommate started this on her blog and I'm shamelessly copying it. So, ten secrets, in no particular order:

 

1. We go through a pound of butter a week, just the two of us.

2. I have to read at least a few pages of a book before I can go to sleep. It doesn't have to be a book I've never read before, but I can't go to sleep without reading.

3. I assumed everybody went to church every single Sunday morning like my family did, until sometime in middle school.

4. Seventh grade was the absolutely worst. (Not really a secret, this happened for every girl, right?)

5. I can stand under a hot shower for well over 3 minutes without doing anything productive.

6. My files are work? Impeccable. My files at home? In a box somewhere.

7. I never buy gas until I absolutely have to (which drives Brian nuts).

8. I really need half an hour in the office doing my own thing before coworkers can start talking to me.
9. Brian pays our bills, keeps tabs on the account, and lets me how much we've got left every few days. And I love it. #sorryfeminists
10. I really wish we had videotaped our wedding. There. I said it.



Date Night: Dinner & a Movie

Since getting married, Brian and I have had a Date Night every week. For us this involves dinner (either out or a nice dinner in) and usually a show. Thanks to my job at an arts nonprofit I get tickets to lots of shows either free or heavily discounted. In the past few weeks we've been to the Symphony twice, seen a couple fantastic musicals, a horrid play, and last night we attended a showing of our local Film Festival. It was, appropriately, a collection of short films titled "Date Night."

Since this was a work-night Date Night, dinner had to be on the table pretty fast to make it to our movie. For a fast dinner, I always make a plan and cook ahead. So, we decided on pizza and I planned accordingly:

For toppings, roasted red bell peppers were in the freezer, a jar of caramelized onions in the fridge. (My secret weapon. You know, if I were a kitchen super hero -- which I kinda am.) We bought sausage and mozzarella during our regular grocery trip this past weekend. On Wednesday night I threw together my favorite pizza dough, spiked with olive oil and white wine and let it sit in the fridge overnight. I also opened a large can of crushed tomatoes, minced 3 large cloves of garlic and let them reduce and thicken on the stove top, for a super-easy red sauce. On Thursday morning I pulled out the pizza dough to let it rise all day.

Fast forward to Date Night! When I get home from work and know I'm going to baking something relatively soon, I turn the oven on the minute I walk in our back door to the kitchen, before I've hung up my keys, shrugged off my coat and kissed my husband hello. Because everything was prepped, we opened wine (red for Brian, white for me), and he crumbled and cooked sausage on the stove top while I rolled out the pizza dough. Within 15 minutes the oven was blaring hot, the pizza was topped and we were good to go. We stood around and chatted while the pizza baked, then sat down at a cleared off dining table with candles lit and gave thanks for all the many blessings in our lives -- then dug into hot, delicious pizza!

The rest of the night was a success- the films were a mix between funny, adorable, tear-jerking and downright bad. We stopped for frozen custard on the way home (Mint chip for Brian, rocky road for me.)

As newlyweds, it seems like a no-brainer that we would go out all the time, laugh together, smooch inappropriately in public, etc. But we're kinda homebodies and now that we're living together, there's nothing we like more than snuggling up on our comfy couch (aka Sunday Movie Night). So to balance all the couch snuggling, we force ourselves to get a little dressed up, leave the house and hold hands in public, over drinks or ice cream (or frankly, both). We both want kids, sooner rather than later, so we're consciously taking time to enjoy this pre-children part of our lives. We're grateful for how much fun we have together.

Required Reading - 1

Since getting married and moving to a different part of the city, I've renewed my love for the local library. I currently have 8 books checked out, with 1 more cookbook waiting to be picked up. I thought I'd start a list of which books make me carry them around in my purse, looking for spare moments to turn a page.


My Berlin Kitchen is a new kitchen memoir written by Luisa Weiss, the clever author behind the blog The Wednesday Chef. I love reading memoirs that incorporate recipes and this has to be the best one I've read lately. Luisa writes about her childhood, lived between Berlin and Boston, in a way that makes you want to take every plane ride with her. Once I started this book I couldn't put it down. I sat in the kitchen on a Thursday night, stirring stew and reading. I stole ten minutes in bed in the morning before making myself get up. I can't wait to put her spicy mexican meatballs on my to-cook list next week, the perfect antidote to the cold weather that's officially settled in.



For "chick-lit," Mary Kay Andrews is my favorite, hands down. Her books are always set in the South, packed with interesting women and full of juicy twists & turns. Spring Fever was slightly slow in taking off, but soon I couldn't put it down. If you're new to her books, congrats! There's a dozen or so for you to catch up on. I envy you.


Jen Lancaster is the queen of the humorous memior. Her latest book, now that she's tucked into the quiet suburbs, far away from the Logan Square neighborhood, rife with crime and other juice gossip, might have been boring. It's not. I was sitting in bed, giggling to myself for nights on end (or so it seemed to my poor husband, trying to sleep. He asked what was so funny. He's now reading it.)

Those are my favorites from the past couple weeks. (I read fast.) Thankfully I've got a score of new library books just waiting for me at home...

September Hits and Misses

I've started keeping a dinner journal, ala Dinner: A Love Story, so picking out hits and misses is relatively easy- my notes either say "ehhh" or "yum! again!"

Hits:

One of the fantastic wedding gifts we got was a breadmaker. I've found a couple recipes that I like, but the one I love are these easy garlic dinner rolls. I've made them 3 times in a week. I add a good shake of rosemary for a garlic-rosemary twist. We've eaten them with salmon & pasta, and stew with friends and tonight with glazed ham.

Haiti Bloggers 2012. Jen Hatmaker, the writer of "7," a book/project I'll explain in its own post, is going to Haiti this week with a number of other bloggers. Our family will be praying that their trip is safe and harmonious. They'll be blogging all week about the trip, the link above has their posts. I've developed a soft spot in my heart for Haiti since my Uncle Tom recently made a trip there to work on building a school. A couple weeks ago Brian and I started sponsoring a 4 year old boy in Haiti through Compassion International.

This grilled pork tenderloin, glazed with molasses and bourbon. It didn't last long in our house!

These fake facebook quarterback conversations are priceless, and the sequel.


Misses:

A chicken-veggie-pasta soup. I cooked all the pasta in the big pot of soup. That was dumb and it just turned mushy over time. Next time, just hit up each batch with it's own tiny serving of pasta.

Rolls that I won't even link too, but I was at my parent's house and without a couple crucial ingredients for the garlic-rosemary rolls. I tried a new recipe and they were horrid. We're completely spoiled for all other dinner rolls now.

The fact that it is now still dark when the alarm goes off. Boo.

Newlywed Life

There isn't much of an excuse for missing the better part of a year, and how I wish I had captured that year better. Not long after February, there was talk of getting married and a trip to scout rings with a girlfriend. A month later, a proposal fittingly in a kitchen, a story to be told later. Four months later, the wedding, an event that obviously deserves its own post. And now, neatly tied up in one short paragraph, we're newlyweds, living in our beautiful, two bedroom, top floor of a duplex across from the local middle school. The whirlwind summer is over and we're solidly into fall. Our living room windows line up with the tops of the trees and the leaves are harvest gold and pumpkin orange. It's become a fun, busy life grounded in the comfort of coming home to each other every night. We also eat really well. But before I get into the meals, just a few tidbits of life I'd enjoy remembering someday:

The wink of my double circle of diamonds on my left hand
B pulling me out of bed in the mornings, resorting to tickeling if necessary
The quiet of the apartment when he's out teaching
Breakfast, reading to each other interesting bits from our magazines:
B- Discover, Wood, Sports Illustrated
A- Southern Living, Our State, Garden & Gun
My breakfast constantly changes
He consistantly eats peanut butter and apricot jelly toast
Lots of cuddling
Lots of talk about our future children
Episodes of The Office to wind down at night
Lots of football all weekend
Lots of smiles

February Hits and Misses

A round-up of February Awesome:

Brian offered to make dinner one night a couple weeks ago, and asked for my opinion on what to have. Unfortunately for him, I offered nothing useful, so he came up with some easy dinner like any man, right? WRONG. I walked into his apartment the next night, after a long day at work followed by a workout at the gym to the smell of beef. Specifically, brisket. Specifically, Homesick Texan's all-day brisket, which Brian adapted for a slow cooker, and chopped up, and put on sandwiches with coleslaw.

The thoughtfulness and time behind this meal, which he made for us, blew me away, as it always does. You think I would have learned my lesson when he made gumbo on our first date, but I like the constant surprise of pleasure in our relationship.

Speaking of a pleasurable surprise, this song came on at the end of a Hart of Dixie episode a few weeks ago. It's fantastic. I can't wait for their album to come out.

I've subscribed to Garden & Gun magazine. I can't explain it. Well, I can. It's published in Charleston, focused on Southern food and culture, and well -- there's this too:

If you want a taste, their website has glorious writing. (I like that the hue of the wood on that rifle matches my hair!)

Everyone's seen the video where Kristen Bell flips out over a sloth, yes?

Some misses:

I made these Peanut Butter & Banana Breakfast Cookies, but something didn't taste quite right. For the record, I truly believe this was operator error. I've made lots of delicious recipes from this website in the past. But it was disappointing- I was very much looking forward to eating cookies for breakfast!

Carolina lost to Duke, in a buzzer-beating shot. It was horrendous. And heartbreaking.

A Birthday Trip to Door County

For the past few years I've taken a trip for my birthday, either to a far away warm-weather spot: San Francisco & Santa Barbara, or just a quick trip home when I was living in Chicago. My birthday falls in what feels like the dead middle of winter here and a short vacation always brightens the dreary early February.

This year Brian and I decided to head up to Door County (the "thumb" of Wisconsin, if you will). While it was by no means "warm" we're having the mildest winter I can remember and it stayed mild this past weekend as well. We ate some delicious food, drank local wine, swam at the hotel, drove through a very quiet state park and took in a small town winter festival (fireworks included!), amidst lots of sleeping. Here are some photos (mostly of ice!) - Ready?

The Fish Creek winter festival was held on Saturday and had all sorts of fun games...

Bowling on the (muddy) ice:

 Yes, that is a sign for a toilet seat toss.

 Brian trying his hand at the "cannonball." He didn't win.

 Some photos from our drive around Peninsula State Park:

 Horseshoe Island as viewed from the Eagle Tower, a 75 foot tower. I shoved my fear of heights down as we climbed up, up, up and this was the reward:

 The little town of Ephraim.

 (Aren't we the best picture takers, me with my shadow in the way??)

 We couldn't get over the shapes of the ice. These photos were taken in Gill's Rock, the small village at the tip of the Peninsula.

Despite a lack of palm trees and 60 degree temperatures, in my opinion this was the best birthday trip yet.

Waffles, Sweet and Savory

My sweet parents got me a waffle maker for Christmas, knowing full well that we have a working waffle marker at our house. They knew that this waffle maker would be headed to live with Brian. Since Christmas we've enjoyed more than our fair of waffles on lazy, sleep-in mornings where kitchen rustlings don't start until at least 10 am.

Waffles, Sweet
Waffles: The classic, Bisquick
Topping: Strawberries: a bag of frozen TJ's strawberries, tossed into a pot and heated up. Since they're not fresh, they need a pinch of sugar, in my opinion.
Sausage: My friends at the farmers market make delicious Maple sausage links, with real Wisconsin maple syrup, and that's what we had with these sweet waffles.

Waffles, Savory
Waffles: Cornmeal and Chive Waffles, by Joy the Baker.
Topping: Sausage gravy, with my friend's Savory sausage links. I'd never made sausage gravy before and it turned out fantastic! Lots of black pepper is your friend, and don't be afraid to keep messing with it: a little milk, a little flour, a little pepper, a little taste...

The savory waffles were the perfect fuel for taking advantage of the winter sunshine with a walk through Lions' Den Gorge. (No Lions' Den. Yes Gorge.)

First Date Gumbo

For our first date, Brian asked me if I'd like to come over to try a gumbo recipe he found. Awesome, right?

But, if we back up a bit, you can see that I actually engineered this. The weekend before, I happened to have one of my favorite cookbooks in my purse at church, from cooking dinner with a friend the night before. While chatting with Brian after church, I happened to mention that this was one of the my favorite cookbooks and asked if he'd like to borrow it. While flipping through it, he casually said "oh this soup looks good," to which I responded "if you make it, you better invite me to dinner!" With a flip of my pretty, curled (on purpose, duh) hair, I then sauntered out of church, my devious plan having been set in motion. Two days later, ta-da, the gumbo email asking me to dinner!

(If he were writing this, I know he'd contend that he would have asked me out anyway. Whatever. It's my blog and I'm totally the brains behind this operation.)

The date itself was fantastic- the gumbo was delicious (a 30 minute roux. He made a 30 minute roux.) I whipped up some cornbread in the cast iron skillet I had tucked in my purse, Mary Poppins-style, and then pulled out blueberry cobbler. Neither of us stood much of a chance after that.

Last weekend we decided a repeat of the gumbo was in order. The cookbook that I lent Brian is Cooking Up a Storm, Recipes Lost and Found from the Times-Picayune of New Orleans, edited by Marcelle Bienvenu and Judy Walker. I love this book and think it would be a wonderful addition to anyone's kitchen, so I'm not going to post the recipe outright. However, here is a chicken and sausage gumbo recipe from the Times-Picayune website that is basically exactly the same. I don't use the file powder.

Trinity being stirred into the roux. 

Chicken rubbed down with salt and cayenne. Don't skimp on the cayenne. 

We didn't have a pot big enough!

Playing bananagrams while the gumbo cooks. (Brian wants me to tell you he won. I don't remember that part.) 

Pictured: Gumbo, hard cider, Carolina cup and 8 month cake. (Coming soon!) 

Hits & Misses, Early 2012

Hits
Pinterest has become, outside my google reader, my favorite spot to find new recipes. There are more than a few pinned to my Edible Inspiration board. A couple recent hits? A quick after-gym dinner of Veggie Laksa, a spin on these Orange-Ginger Margaritas, and these prep-heavy but so worth it, man-pleasing, new parents surprising Creamy Baked Chicken Taquitos.

Still to try: Key Lime Pie Ice Cream, Homemade Potato Chips with Avocado Ranch and Hot Fudge Bourbon Milkshakes.

Also tried & loved, this time from the ever expanding "Starred" folder in my google reader, Jennie's Toasted Vanilla Bean Muesli. I can attest that you can totally make this while tipsy on a Saturday night, with your boyfriend "helping" with some moral support. Whole vanilla beans are not in my grocery budget, so I put a little regular vanilla in the melted butter. I made this with oats & sliced almonds toasted and dried cherries & apricots. 

Things that are not food but are awesome anyway
I'm (happily!) not getting married anytime soon (probably), but I've been reading A Practical Wedding since nearly it's inception. This post neatly lays out what it's like to be in a happy not engaged relationship and watch 18 billion people get engaged on f*cebook over the holidays. Also, how it makes you a little annoyed when your relationship is so awesome people expect you to run off on your lunch hour and get hitched and then they feel the need to comment on it.

Ok, so a second thing about getting engaged, but whatever, it's got food and Legos. This is the sweetest video so far this year.

Misses
This Cream of Tomato Soup with Rice is incredibly delicious. I started making it when I was living in Chicago in my cute little single girl apartment. I urge you to not be stupid like me and make it with rock hard winter tomatoes, and sub whole torn pieces of basil for the thyme. The tomatoes will not roast and become all yummy, and the basil will blacken and become bitter. Pay up for tomatoes that feel ripe and smell good. Even if they're the overpriced "on the vine" tomatoes. Also? It's only one soup. Don't use half and half.

The Knicker Twist. I thought since B always has apricot jam in his fridge, this would be fun to make. It's not. It's just kinda weird.

Christmas in Carolina

Brian and I spent Christmas with our respective families, but on December 26th I flew to North Carolina to spend some time with him and his family. We had an awesome playing games at the kitchen table, eating delicious food and enjoying the glorious sunny 55 degree days.

Here are some of the trip highlights:

Seeing the cows at Brian's high school. We weren't sure they belong to the Ag club, or just lived next to the high school, but they were very pretty. This my favorite:

Going to Brian's grandparent's house on Lake Norman. It's beautiful out there.

 Halfway through the week Brian and I drove to Chapel Hill to take in my first Carolina basketball game.

 On our way back from Chapel Hill, we stopped at Maxie B's bakery in Greensboro, NC. I had the most divine vanilla cake with strawberry filling and Brian had vanilla cake with pineapple filling. If you're ever in with 50 miles, I highly recommend it. I may or not have lead Brian seriously off the beaten path for this bakery, but even he admitted it was worth it.

Another bakery recommendation? Scratch, in Durham. We attempted to eat at Allen & Sons for a second time (they continually elude us!) and ended up eating in Durham instead. I had just read a Southern Living article entitled "The South's Best Bakeries" (road trip, anyone?) and Scratch made the list. Forgot to get a picture, but had the Mexican Chocolate Pie: smooth, spicy, deeply chocolaty. Again, if you're within 50 miles or so...

Allen & Sons: Last time we tried to go, we found out they are closed on Sundays. This time they were closed for the week between Christmas and New Year's. 

The day we got back all the cousins on Brian's Mom's side got together to shoot guns.

Yup. 

Shoot guns. Cause that's what you do in the South. I've never touched a gun before, much less shot one, so this is a major improvement:

Firing Joe's rifle.

Brian with his Dad's shotgun. 

After everyone got their fill of shooting guns we settled in for a night of pizza, cupcakes and games around the kitchen table. 

A fantastic trip and I can't wait to go back!