A Food Kind of Day

i've made pesto, salsa, D cut up two melons and I made this amazing lentil/potato/rice soup. I also cut up three peaches and put them in the oven with some butter and brown sugar for dessert.

Tonight was my first lentil ever. I hadn't tried them before :)

My Lentil Soup Ad Hoc Recipe:

I cooked some onions in butter, then some potatoes, carrots, celery, and bacon. cooked until tender. covered with chicken stock. cooked some rice and dumped into it, dumped in about a cup each of frozen corn and peas, then added lentils and boiled for 15 min. Serve with crusty bread.

Here are the pics from the food today.

Pesto


Salsa


Soup


Tomorrow we get to hang out with my friend Kimberly and her family while she helps me be crafty. And we get to shop together :) I'm pretty excited. I haven't seen her in what seems like forever! And I'll get to see her like 3 times in the next two weeks!

We're watching Hero now. I'm not getting into it, but I rented it for D and he's glued to it :)

I leave you with two cute pictures of the cats from yesterday morning.

Maci being a camera hog.


Mica hugging Maci.


Hope everyone is well!

Food and fun update :)

THURSDAY

First off, Thursday I left work early, as I had planned, cause I was feeling pretty shitty, and decided to go shopping. While I was on my way to the big mall, I passed the amazing FARMERS MARKET that I used to visit when we lived in that part of town. I got a great parking spot, and was super excited, so I started walking through the farmers market. I was so happy and felt amazing buying from a farmers market.

All the stuff looked so great, and all the stuff was grown locally. It made me feel great to be able to buy from these local farmers. Buying locally not only helps the local economy, but also helps cut down on oil dependency, as less energy is required for transportation.

The farmers market is one long block, so I walked down to the other end first, keeping an eye out for good deals. At the other end were fresh-grilled foods which were really cheap. I got a $1.25 grilled hot dog, ate that, and worked my way back. I ended up coming home with one amazing big tomato ($1), a ginormous bunch of fresh basil, fresh cilantro, and fresh rosemary ($1 each), all picked that morning. I also found one cucumber and three different squashes for $1 total.

I left there, happy with my booty but very warm. I headed to the mall. There I found a very cute pair of black shoes that were somewhat casual but still work appropriate -- originally $30, marked down to $7. Next I got a nude bra from Victoria's Secret to replace the one that had broken that morning. Feeling a little sluggish, I decided a caramel macchiato from Starbucks would wake me up. It did.

Having walked all through the mall, I headed to Target -- of course -- so I could get padded envelopes and peruse the shoe department. This is a requirement. So I ended up finding amazing cute chocolate brown pointy-toed mule heels, marked down to $8.50 from $30. I'm in love. I also picked up some great gifts for my new penpal, that I'm very excited about.

The chocolate shoes looks like these, but don't have the back strap and are a bit pointer and have some cool metal accent right behind the bow:


The black ones look like these. (but in black obviously!)


That evening, my D and I went to a free screening of Little Miss Sunshine and had a great time.

FRIDAY

Today I woke up a little late due to the soporific effects of prometrium. Finally made it to work at 10am, and was very quickly bored and annoyed. The A/C at work was broken yet again, so I decided to work until around 2-ish so I could get to the bank in time to deposit my paycheck.

Went to the bank, deposited the check, and then headed to Jo-Ann's -- as has become my normal Friday routine. I was looking for some batting to go inside the bag I want to make this weekend, and it was $6. I decided I would pay this, but after walking around I saw some thin fleece in the remnants bin for $1.87! Since no one will see what this looks like in between the layers of my bag, I decided it was the better deal.

Came home and kidnapped the husband, and made him close his eyes for a secret adventure. First I took him to turn in all of our change that we'd been saving at a CoinStar machine -- where if you turn in the change for a gift card instead of cash, the normal 8.9% charge is waived. We walked out of there with an Amazon gift card for $105!!!! All from change we'd been saving in a big plastic bottle. We were so excited, and can't wait to see what we can get (although I really have my eyes on a Kate Spade bag with this money. Sorry hubby.)

After that I took D to Best Buy to get Guitar Hero, using a 10% off coupon, since he's been wanting it so badly.

Here he is playing it already:)


We came home and I decided that I would make a special dinner with the goods from the produce market. On the menu tonight was chicken kiev (from Alton Brown), rosemary-roasted potatoes, and corn on the cob with herb butter. OMFG SO GOOD. It was truly amazing, and here are the pictures to prove it!

Here's some of the pictures! :)



Homemade Chicken Kiev, Rosemary Roasted Potatoes and Corn on on the Cob with Herb Butter


Roasted Potatoes Before


Roasted Potaotes After


Chicken Kiev

Difficulty: Medium
Prep Time: 35 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 2 hours
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning chicken
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus extra for seasoning chicken
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
2 large whole eggs, beaten with 1 teaspoon water
2 cups Japanese bread crumbs (panko), plus 1/4 cup for filling I used regular bread crumbs
Vegetable oil, for frying

Combine butter, parsley, tarragon, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper in the bowl of a stand mixer. Place mixture on plastic wrap or waxed paper and roll into small log; place in freezer.

Place chicken breasts, 1 at a time, between 2 pieces of plastic wrap. Squirt chicken lightly with water and squirt the top of the plastic wrap as well. Pound to no less than 1/8-inch thickness. Season each piece of chicken with salt and pepper.

Lay 1 chicken breast on a new piece of plastic wrap and place 1/4 of the compound butter and 1 tablespoon bread crumbs in the center of each breast. Using the plastic wrap to assist, fold in ends of breast and roll breast into a log, completely enclosing the butter; roll very tightly. Repeat with each breast. Place chicken in refrigerator for 2 hours, or up to overnight.

Place egg and water mixture in 1 pie pan and 2 cups bread crumbs in a different pie pan.

Heat 1/2-inch of vegetable oil in a 12-inch saute pan over medium-high heat until oil reaches 375 degrees F.

Dip each breast in the egg mixture and then roll in the bread crumbs. Gently place each breast in oil, sealed-side down, and cook until golden brown, approximately 4 to 5 minutes on each side, until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F. Remove to a cooling rack set in sheet pan and allow to drain for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Now we are going to play Guitar Hero, so I hope everyone has a good weekend. I'll be around for most of the weekend. Thanks again for everybody's support and love. It means a lot to both of us!

Here are a few pictures from Loretta's wedding too. It was SO nice! And even a few pictures of us :)





Sexy husband!


Cute me :)




Beautiful and yummy cake!


And then a couple of silly cat pictures :)

Maci being adorable


Mica being alert


How much cuter can Maci get?!

Breakfast for Dinner

Here is breakfast we made for dinner the other night! It was Yum-O!

Weekend Update

Boy, what a busy weekend!

At work the student employees were told no more internet at all except for lunch. Including AIM. So that sucked.

Friday was a fun day! I had to go into work for a few hours and it was our company picnic. Like a picnic for anyone who has ever been affiliated with John's Hopkins! It was massive! D worked from home like usual until noon and then we headed into my office. We got there and D went to the bank to cash my check and run some errands. He came back around 330ish and hung out at my desk doing Soduku while I worked. This was nice to have his company :)

At 5pm the picnic started and by the time we walked back there, there were hundreds of people already. We both pigged out on burgers and brownies and D drank lots of free beer and then we left. We had to stop out at this Target a bit out of the way because I picked up a prescription there last week and forgot to give them the coupon for my free $10 gift card. So they told me to come back before this weekend. While we were there I got some very cute shoes for over 60% off! Here's a pic of them :) I have become obsessed with heels lately. I *love* wearing them to work and such now :)


After we left Target, we headed over to Best Buy b/c D and I are OBSESSED with Guitar Hero for the PS2. I mean, D *rarely* asks for anything and he is dying to get this :) They have it set up there, so we sat there and played for about an hour and then headed home. We might end up getting it next weekend b/c Best Buy sent us a coupon :)

Saturday we got up early to see one of my good friends, Loretta, get married. It was a beautiful wedding in this small homey feeling church near Annapolis, MD. And then the reception was on this very neat restaurant on the water that was so nice! She only had about 50-75 people there and it was so weird since I haven't been to too many smallish weddings. It was so intimate and beautiful. (Except, all me to rant for a moment...There was this toddler in the back of this church, that was maybe 50 feet long and 20 feet wide, talking THE WHOLE TIME! I was *horrified* that her mother let her continue that way and didn't either shush her or take her outside. I understand it's hard to keep a toddle quiet, but this mother made NO effort. And I'm not just talking about little noises, but I couldn't hear any of the vows over her! Seriously tho, this was a very intimate wedding in a very intimate space and you just don't let that happen.)

Her and I have been friends since my first semester at Towson over 2 years ago and she and her then boyfriend/now husband were at our wedding. I really value her friendship, but we haven't been able to keep in touch much since our wedding. Soon after we got married, she started her student teaching and was busy all the time, then she got engaged and here we are now :) But we all agreed to get together soon after they get back from their honeymoon at Beaches in the Turks & Caicos. She even suggested dinners alternating at each others houses! How exciting!

But one of the biggest hurdles to going to their house is The Bridge™. I have a huge fear of bridges and the fact that they offer an *ESCORT* across the bridge does not make me feel comfortable. I still don't know how it compares to the Sunshine Skyway Bridge which scared the shit out of me on our honeymoon. I seriously had a major panic attack and thought we were going to die.

Here's a picture of them being silly at our wedding almost 2 years ago.


After the wedding, we went to the Annapolis Mall and walked around for a bit. Didn't buy anything except two magazines. But we had Panda Express, which is truly LOVE. Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd, I have this huge weakness for dreamsicle flavors. So last week we went out to dinner and went by Cheeburger, Cheeburger to get another Dreamsicle shake and they had already closed! So today we were at the food court and they had an Arby's! (we don't have many around here) And Arby's has a new dreamsicle shake. So I was so excited, I went up to the counter and their SHAKE MACHINE WAS BROKEN! No one wants me to have a dreamsicle shake :(

Oh, the one thing we did get at the mall was Comcast's VoIP (Voice over IP). This will combine all of our cable/internet/phone into one bill *and* b/c we have all three, the bills will be lower! Yay us! Our phone number will stay the same tho.

Sunday night we watched Sahara and it's okay. But we drank coffee and were silly together :)

Sunday we went going grocery shopping, produce marketing and then went to see Superman, which was tons of fun!

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

4th Of July Trip in DC

We got up early on Tuesday morning, packed up the car with our *stuffed* backpack, and headed towards DC. We found out that we could park for free at a Metro station on the 4th and take the Metro into the city proper. So D found us a station that was 50 miles from our house and a 10-15 ride into the heart of DC. We bought our tickets and headed to the train. It was pretty empty as we left the house early to make sure we made it. (We boarded the train around 845am).



Waiting for the parade to start!



Washington Monument right behind where we're sitting


The Metro dropped us off literally 2 short blocks from where we needed to be for the parade! Boy was that nice. So we found a spot on the curb by this street light, so I had something to lean back on. Then we just kinda hung out for a bit there. We read some, and chatted and just waited for the parade. As we got there around 945 and the parade started around 1145, by the time the parade started, we were feeling pink and very warm. We watched most of the parade and then looked at each other and decided to hit a museum now.

Parade pics!








































We decided to head into the American History Museum. We had been here once before, but there were a lot of new things that we hadn't seen there. And they are closing the museum in 2 months until Summer 2008! (renevations and some amazing new exhibits!)

Once we got through the check point, we headed straight for the cafe where we proceeded to scarf down burgers, fries, grapes and soda :) YUM! Then we wandered around and saw some really great stuff! We were very excited about the Jim Henson/Muppets exhibit and also the Disneyland one. Here's a map of the museum and we saw most all of it :)


Here are some pics from the American History one.

Muppets exhibit







Julia Child's Kitchen


Original Sesame Street Sign


Mr. Rogers Sweater


Howdy Doody


In honor of Nipplegate!


Massive dollhouse


The flag that was hung from the Pentagon right after 9/11 happened.


The Disneyland Exhibit :)






The Ruby Slippers worn in Wizard of Oz


From an exhibit on time


We felt like we had seen most of what we had wanted to see and we're getting hungry. So we decided to head outside to the Folklife Festival. We had read all about the interesting foods they were serving there and it seemed like a once in a lifetime experience. As we were leaving the museum we noticed that the sky was getting a little dark, so we pulled out our umbrellas. Walking out to the National Mall for the festival, a cop was announcing on his loudspeaker for everyone to "get inside NOW! *muffled noises* Large Hail *muffled noises* Dangerous!" OH SHIT! So we turn back around and what used to be a line about 10 people long to get back into the museum we just left, was now like 300 people long. Thinking quickly, we run to the next museum over. (Because who wants to be stuck in a museum we just spent the last 3 hours seeing almost everything in?!) As we are running to the Natural History Museum, this MASSIVE dust storm catches us with like massive wind gusts that are sweeping me off my feet. Ok, most people don't like dust storms, but with asthma, they are my ENEMY! So I'm running (also not good with asthma) and there is shit flying so badly that i can't see 10 feet in front of me and dust getting into my lungs (ouch! breathing feels like shards of glass in my lungs at this point!) We finally make it to the museum and they stopped checking bags and just let people in. Once inside life is immediately better.

Here's a map of the museum :)


We decide to head down to the cafe there, since we originally left the other museum b/c we were hungry! I ordered chicken noodle soup, a rice crispy treat and a soda. D eats beef jerky from home. As we're eating, and it's extremely crowded (imagine the mall full of people and there are only 4 buildings for them to take shelter in!), some people ask if they could share our table, and we gladly let them. It turns out that there were from CERT. We chatted for awhile and I was still hungry, so D went to get me another bowl of soup. He went and stood in the horrible line again without complaint, and came back with not only my soup but GUMMY DINOSAURS!!! Best. Husband. Ever. As he was gone, one of the girls who we were sitting with, offered me her other half of her (completely wrapped, untouched) Panera bread turkey sandwich! I took it and split it with D and we loved it!

We then got up and saw a few really cool exhibits here.

Here is a picture of looking into the Hall of Mammals


Manitoba!!!!!


By this time it was close to 7pm and the concert was starting at 8pm and the fireworks at 915. We started to walk towards the Capitol building and we were like, "What do they have all over the steps?" "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! IT'S PEOPLE!" The steps were already completely covered in people for the concert and it didn't look like we would be able to see the concert. So we stopped walking and found a nice place on the mall to lay down our new picnic blanket in the wet grass and watch the fireworks. Then we just hung out and chatted and read and ate some more food before the fireworks started. And took some pictures as the sun was setting.






(you can see the crowds on the steps in the next one)


The Smithsonian Castle


Awww, Love! Tired, tired love.


Right before the fireworks


The fireworks started right on time at 915 and lasted until after 930. They were spectacular to say the least. These pictures don't even begin to capture how amazing it was to be in our nation's capital and seeing these. There was a moment when I let a few tears fall for Bean, but mostly I was just in awe. It's weird, but that moment to me felt like the beginning of moving on. (that sounds so insensitive) We were so impressed with how *big* the fireworks were. It's hard to tell in these, but they were ginormous!

I uploaded a video onto YouTube.com for everyone to see!!!!! It's so pretty :)

Fireworks pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!











































After they were over, we walked to the Metro station along with 500,000 other people (probably an accurate count actually) and waited to get down to the train station. The escalator kept shutting off b/c there were so many people cramming onto it. There were cops there and they helped minimally. Once we got down there and on hopped on our train, things went downhill for me, and fast. See, I had been walking and outside most of the day. Pushing myself as much as I could. But then we got on the train and it was crowded and I had to stand. I wanted nothing more than just to sit or have some fresh air. I started feeling very nauseous and ill. I couldn't breathe very well and I surely couldn't sit anywhere. So I was sweaty and feeling just horrible. It seemed like 3 hours until we got back to our car. Once there, I had some fruit punch and felt better enough to start driving home.

We got home and passed out! It was an amazing time and I wouldn't have changed a thing (ok, maybe the train ride home). Danny and I had an amazing time and would easily do it again.

I hope that you all enjoyed the story and the pictures and I didn't break Teh Internets with all my pictures!