Baby B and Food Remixes

I'm picking up Braden from daycare this week, and I'm pretty happy about it.
Him being the coolest baby in the world and all.

And being such a good picture-poser-for-er.

Then we had some tummy time! I ♥ him, he's awesome.

I wasn't going to be home when Ricky got home from work, so when I got home from work I went ahead and made dinner, covered it in foil, and left the heating instructions in a cute little card for Ricky.
Last night we had chicken, and I had some sauce leftover. I combined that with a couple of diced, cooked, chicken breasts, prosciutto, herbs, my one leftover zucchini, and red pepper flakes, tossed all of that with cooked penne, topped it with parmigiana reggiano and mozzarella cheeses, and that was it.
All Ricky had to do was heat the oven to 450º and bake it for 25-30 minutes.

Yes, it was chicken, pasta, and zucchini again, but it was hardly the same meal, and I think it was awesome for something that I needed to prep and leave in the fridge.

Buuut I got home earlier than expected, and ended up cooking myself anyway. Hahaha, at least I was there to take a picture!
Maggie May (smaller of the Westies) had a vet appointment today to get some medicine for her ear. Poor dear has some nastiness going on in there, and I got three different medications! A wash, an oozy cream medicine, and some anti-inflammatory pills. I also had them check out a pump she has on her side that Ricky and I just noticed; turns out it's a little skin growth, and it needs to be removed. The vet recommend having it taken off when the dogs get their teeth cleaned, since she'll be knocked out anyway.
Ricky and I are both off today, and we're off to Lowes to look at more house crap.
Hope everyone is having a wonderful Wednesday!
And that it's packed with amazing, awesome, alliteration!

Not Quite Cacciatore

Busy day! After work I had lots of vegetables to plant, scads of laundry to do, and two workouts to fit in. By the time Ricky was home I had totally spaced on dinner, all I had was some chicken thawed out. So I threw this together.

Chicken in a sauce of bacon, red bell pepper, onion, garlic, tomatoes, and red wine over whole grain rotini along with some sautéed zucchini. Not bad for last minute!

I just finished up these little lovelies!

Yeah, so I make short pastry from scratch and fill it with homemade Meyer lemon curd at 10 pm on Monday nights, what of it?

There's something seriously wrong with me.

The lemon curd is some of the best I've ever had. I've never made it myself before, but this was super simple. With the Meyer lemons being offered at the grocery store, I thought it was about time to give curd a try. Meyer lemons, egg yolks, sugar, and butter. And elbow grease.

Recipe to follow shortly on Ever So Sweet.

I'm off to bed. Goodnight interwebs!

Tea cupcakes, Mexican food, and spider cat

This, my friends, is a stiff peak.

It is important to achieve stiff peak status when making, say, Earl Grey meringue icing for some vanilla bean lavender angel food cupcakes.
A-like these.

Some big, some small, all adorable and delicious.
These were a snap to make, as was their egg-whitey icing. I'll be posting the recipe soon at Ever So Sweet.Dinner tonight was... awesome.
Skirt steak with my homemade salsa with pepitas, queso fresco, peppers, onions, and mushrooms, and our favorite Mexican beverages, Negra Modelo and Horchata.I finally found a pre-made Horchata that I love! Rice Dream Traditional Horchata. I don't know if this quart will make it through the night.
Now I just need to do dishes, work out, shower and do my hair, vacuum, do some reading and then go to bed! Sheesh!
I leave you with this:
Spider Cat, Spider Cat
Does whatever a Spider Cat does
Can she swing
From a web?
No she can't, cause she's a cat
Look ooooouuuuttt
it's Spider Cat.

Nahrung!

Last night's dinner: Chicken curry with basmati rice, naan, and cucumber raita.
My chicken curry is my mother's recipe, although it's probably more of a British curry than an Indian one, as it uses curry powder.

My favorite breakfast: Nonfat Greek yogurt topped with granola, agave, dried cherries, and flax seeds.

Tonight's dinner: Red potatoes roasted with herbes de provence, tilapia, and green beans in a brown butter-hazelnut-pepita-caper sauce.
I worked a 9.5 hour day today, and I didn't feel like making anything special. I love being able to pop some potatoes in the oven and finish the rest of the meal during the last 10 minutes of cooking.
I'm off to finish up housework and exercise. Woot!

Spring in full swing.

So Ricky has been home for a little over a week, and we're already busy with the house. We've chosen our new flooring (see the blog a couple down) and we're purchased half of it. Yes, half, as we don't have space for 123 cases of Pergo, ha. We're doing the whole shebang, all 2,000 square feet, including the kitchen and bathrooms. Quite an undertaking, but since we own the house we're thinking about resale value as well as the aesthetic aspect for us. I can't wait until it's done, the dusty blue walls in the living room will look so nice with hickory floors. Pergo was a good choice for us, what with future renters and present pets. =)
My garden has been started! Tomatoes, eggplant, yellow squash, zucchini, several different pepper varieties, sunflowers, cucumbers, lots of herbs, and lavender. I'd also like to start a trellis for green beans. I'm starting small, as I don't know what this Florida weather will permit as far as growing goes. I wonder if I can try my hand at a citrus tree again? Here's hoping.
The Spring cleaning has been done for a while. I spent a couple of weeks scrubbing floors, deep cleaning carpets, moving appliances and washing walls and windows both inside and out. It's nice to have it done so early, so that we can focus on other things (floors and lawn care, for example) now.
I want to find a good evergreen shrub to plant in front of my house. Three or four, something hardy and attractive. Any ideas, fellow gardeners? I was thinking maybe Indian Hawthorne...

Ricky and I have a busy summer coming up! In May we're driving down to the Florida Keys, as well as stopping by the Everglades and Manatee Beach, we have family and friends coming to visit in June, and then at the end of October we leave for Costa Rica. Speaking of which, I need a new passport. And to learn Spanish.
Beth! How much Spanish did you need to know?

I've been faithfully sticking to my workout routine, and I recently added Jillian's cardio DVD to the mix. Now I'm doing The 30 Day Shred 6 days a week and the cardio one 5 days a week. So on five days out of the week I'm working out for an hour and fifteen minutes. I love it. The 30 Day Shred is only 24 minutes, so it's perfect to do in the morning before work, although working out with Jillian Michaels at 3:30 am isn't the BEST way to start my day, hahaha.
I'm off to finish dinner, and I'm making some adorable surprise cupcakes tonight, too!
♥

Ballard Designs...

...I love you.

Ballard Designs.com

The way I see it

(for funsies)

Don't decorate your home with tons of things with faces.

Whipped cream does not belong on a morning beverage.

Cook your own meals.

Unless you've actually been to Paris, stop decorating with Paris and France-themed things. It's overdone and tacky.

Don't wear a concert tee from a show that you didn't actually attend.

Yes, you need to vacuum at least twice a week. I don't care, make time.

If you aren't a skinny girl, there's nothing terribly wrong with that, as long as you don't try to dress like one.

Reading a recipe does not make you a good cook.

I don't care how much you hate dishes, good food should not be served on paper plates.

There's never an excuse to be fat. Yes, that sounds mean, but it's unhealthy and it isn't hard to get off your ass for 30 minutes a day. Seriously.

Sequins don't belong on your jeans.

Always read the book before you consider seeing the movie.

Never skimp when it comes to things you eat, put on your face, or wear on your feet.

Parmesan cheese in a can is not food.

Neither is a chicken McNugget.

Audrey Hepburn does not belong on t-shirts or wall art.

American beer doesn't belong in your refrigerator.
Nor does Mike's Hard anything.

If you stir your caramel macchiato, the gods of coffee will smite you.

On an unrelated side note, I saw that someone on Facebook posted something that said, "I'm glad there have been physical attacks against the idiots that voted for health care reform." These are my countrymen. Awesome. Seriously? How sick does that make you? Who's the idiot?
What are your views on this statement? Whether or not you agree completely with what's being done, is it really ever okay to be thankful for violence? Narrow minded? Uninformed? Just plain stupid, maybe?

A day off, together.

Ricky and both had the day off today, which rarely happens. We went to Starbucks (because I'm not there enough?), Ann Taylor Loft, Gap, Pensacola Beach, Lowes, and out to dinner at The Slippery Mermaid.

At Ann Taylor Loft I purchased a tee and a cute cardigan

This is the tee, which I also have in this color:

And here's the cardi

I quite like them.
At Gap I bought the first pair of size four jeans I've ever purchased for myself. I mean, I'm sure that in school I was, at some point, a four, but all of my adult life the smallest I've been is a six. It was an exciting purchase.

We found the Vibram Five Fingers shoes that Ricky has been wanting at a shop in Pensacola Beach, he looks like Mr. Deeds in them.

And we finally decided on a flooring for the house. This time next month we should have our entire house (kitchen and bathrooms included) done in Pergo's Handscraped Heritage Hickory.

We decided to go with the laminate because we'll be renting the house out when we leave, and because of our pets. Pergo has a 30 year no scratch guarantee, which just makes sense for us.
I'm off to bed! It's already 10 pm and I have work in the morning. I hope everyone had a lovely Friday.

Seriously?

Lavender 2 Love

This is a site filled with lavender products... tons of them. Internet, are you reading my mind? Someone buy me that lavender lamb. For realz.
And this soap.
Okay thanks.

today

Today was a nightmare and a half.
But.
There's backyard kayaking.
(yes, that's me)

There's digging up garden beds in the yard.
(Yes, that's Ricky from the waist down)

There's buying seeds, seedlings, watering cans, and gardening gloves.
There's lavender and Westie pups.
(Yup, that's Maggie May)
And there's the bird in the birdhouse making a mean face.
(Her mate is astonishingly blue, and I've vowed to get a photo of him)
There's sunshine, soft breezes, the smell of the earth, finding tons of lizards, and playing with my dogs.
There's spending time with my mustache-free husband.
There's forgoing cooking and dishes and ordering pizza.
There's making myself work out, because I know it will make me feel good after.
There's a lot of good, even when it all seems bad.
Not a total loss.

Monday, but hardly manic.

I love my job. I love my job because of the little things, like getting to see Darth in the mornings when I work the drive-through.
He's a sweet pea. Look at that face. His siblings are two very large labradoodles, you can sort of see them there in the background.

Then there are the not-so-nice little things. For example, yesterday someone came through the drive-through and told Daniel, "Hold on a second, I have to call someone to see what they want."

Really?
(that's Daniel's "really?" face)

Last night I made pork for dinner. Why does the smell of pork cooking away in the oven make me think of Germany? Well, for obvious reasons I suppose.
I made a roasted pork tenderloin with a Pinot Noir, thyme, shallot, and wild mushroom sauce topped with shiitake mushrooms, along with steamed green beans, a nice tomato and bell pepper salad with parsley and German herb dressing, and some creamy goat cheese polenta.

The mushrooms in the sauce were reconstituted dried wild mushrooms, and the mushroom broth produced from soaking them went into the sauce as well. I wish morels were available fresh around these parts. The sauce could be made with any red wine, but I think that floral thyme and woodsy wild mushrooms just beg to be paired with Pinot Noir. Perhaps that's just the Washingtonian in me. Simply sauté your shallot, add the mushrooms, then about a cup of wine and 1/2 a cup of the mushroom liquid, and allow it to reduce. Slide in about a tablespoon of butter and a dash of red wine vinegar just before serving, and don't forget to season it with salt & pepper.
I was off today, so Ricky and I got up early and went to Bon Appetit, a French-style bakery and café, for breakfast.

I love this. A rich, buttery croissant filled with marzipan and dusted with powdered sugar, and a fabulous latte. The café was adorable, and really made me miss Europe and the lifestyle there. I love the idea of getting up early and walking down to the local bakery (there was one about 2 minutes from my front door in Orenhofen) and getting a nice pastry and a cup of good coffee. No, this almond gloriousness wasn't the healthiest of breakfast choices, but it sure wasn't a heaping plate of bacon, eggs, and biscuits covered in gravy either. I felt sated, but not full or uncomfortable. I just got up, why would I want a meal that makes me want a nap?
They also have an impressive bake case.

I adore little fruit tarts covered in sugary glaze. Not so much eating them, but making them and looking at them.

I picked up a bottle of tarragon vinegar, something I've been trying to find for quite a while. They have a small selection of French and Lebanese groceries, which made me very happy. Bags of Za'atar (Lebanese roasted thyme, though the word can refer to many different herbs) and cans of eggplant, along with French oils, vinegars, and other condiments.
We went to Destin today to get more Nielsen Massey vanilla from Williams Sonoma, as I was out. How does someone run out of vanilla? I don't know, but I managed to. The weather is crap today so I'm going to occupy myself with housework and trying out my new Jillian Michaels cardio DVD.
Yes, I'm excited.