Wednesday, 11/24/2010

Ben's mom and brother will be spending Thanksgiving weekend with us.  This has been the plan for months.  The menu for the weekend has been planned, and the food has been purchased.  I am not sure why it took me until 3pm today to realize they would both be with us for dinner tonight too.  Ack!  Ok, what's in the freezer?  Thankfully, I found the big container of spaghetti sauce that I froze after the comfort food throwdown.  Oh, but we didn't have any noodles to go with it.  Spencer came to my rescue.  He kindly added spaghetti to the list of ingredients he needed to pick up at the store for tomorrow's cornbread.  For a side dish, I just happened to have a caesar salad in the fridge that was still good.  Phew!  Dinner was saved!!!

Katie must have been hungry, because she ate a lot of spaghetti. 

Tuesday, 11/23/2010

With Thanksgiving just a few days away, I didn't want to make anything for dinner which would create more left overs.  We will be creating plenty of those on Thursday:)  So, we made breakfast sandwiches.

I used some Jimmy Dean sage sausage, which was already open in the fridge, to make sausage patties. I fried them in a skillet on the stove top while I prepped toasted buns, sliced cheddar cheese, and fried eggs. Tonight, I used an egg ring to keep a round egg shape for our sandwiches. For breakfast sandwiches, Ben likes the yolk in eggs to be slightly runny. That is definitely not my preference. I always break the yolk when frying my eggs. One solid egg please:)

Katie wanted her own little sandwich. She nibbled on the bread and eventually just ate the egg and sausage.

Monday, 11/22/2010

Yikes, the weather was not nice to Seattle today.  Katie and I were supposed to go to Molbaks nursery with my friend Sydney this morning.  We go every year during the holiday season to enjoy their lovely display of decorated Christmas trees and poinsettias.  On her way to our house, Sydney's car slid on ice and hit a curb really hard.  She made it to our house, but we decided it was not in our best interest to go up to Woodinville given the road conditions.  Knowing how the rest of the day went with road conditions, that was a really smart decision.  We did make it to Downtown Seattle to return our rented photography gear.  Then, Katie and I followed Sydney to a tire shop, where she left her car for repair.  The three of us did our grocery shopping for the week, and then we delivered Sydney to her home and got back to our house safely.  

Ben had his longest commute ever tonight.  He got on a bus at 4:44pm and didn't get home until three hours later.  After spending an hour and fifteen minutes on a bus and going nowhere, he got off and started walking.  He walked for an hour and a half and finally got onto the main road that leads to our house.  Katie and I bundled up and drove our trusty Subaru WRX to pick him up.  Boy, was I ever glad to see him.  He was cold and hungry and has sore feet, but is in fine spirits.  

And for dinner, I made oven-fried chicken for the first time.  It was GREAT!  All three of us really enjoyed it.  I found the recipe in my Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook.  Here's the recipe:

OVEN-FRIED CHICKEN

Prep: 20 minutes   Bake: 45 minutes

Ingredients:
1 beaten egg
3 tablespoons milk
1 cup finely crushed saltine crackers
1 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 to 2 1/2 pounds meaty chicken pieces (breasts, thighs, and drumsticks)
2 tablespoons margarine or butter, melted

Directions:
1.  In a small bowl combine egg and milk.  For coating mixture, in a shallow dish combine crushed crackers, thyme, paprika, and pepper.  Set aside.  Skin chicken.  Rinse chicken; pat dry.  Dip chicken pieces into egg mixture; coat with crumb mixture.
2.  In a greased 15x10x1-inch or 13x9x2-inch baking pan, arrange chicken so the pieces don't touch.  Drizzle chicken pieces with the melted margarine or butter.
3.  Bake in a 375 degree oven for 45 to 55 minutes or till chicken is tender and no longer pink.  Do not turn chicken pieces while baking.  Makes 6 servings.

Notes:

1.  I am not sure how many pounds of chicken I used, but I baked two drumsticks, two thighs, and two breasts, all bone-in.

2.  I added a few dashes of hot sauce to the egg and milk mixture.   I gave this particular bottle of hot sauce to Ben for Christmas in 2007.  It's called "Smack my ass and call me Sally".  I don't think I added enough of the sauce to make a difference, but I did enjoy adding it to the recipe.

3.  I didn't want the mess and hassle of crushing saltines.  Instead, I used a cup of plain bread crumbs and added approximately a 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt.

4.  I used ground thyme.

5.  I had to melt a little extra butter, because I didn't drizzle evenly enough to cover all six pieces of chicken. 

Sunday, 11/21/2010

We had a nice, relaxing morning at Ben's mom's house.  She made a great breakfast for us, and then I took a nap:)  I didn't sleep well last night and just needed to get some extra shut-eye before driving back to Seattle.  Spencer drove to Centralia, and then I drove up to Seattle after lunch at Pizza Hut/Wing Street.  Lunch was kind of late; so, Ben and I didn't really have dinner.   Katie had yogurt and a spoonful of peanut butter for her dinner.  

Saturday, 11/20/2010

Happy Wedding Day Jason & Josalyn!

Ben and I started our work day at 10am.  After a quick stop at the venue, The Laurelhurst Club, we went to the hotel to take photos of the bride and groom getting ready for their wedding.  Back to the venue to shoot the portraits of them with their wedding party and parents.  The happy couple chose to until the ceremony to see each other, so our formal portraits were split between before and after the ceremony.  

And then, there was the great reception with eating, toasting, and lots of dancing.  For dinner, they offered their guests a nice buffet of appetizers and finger foods.  There were large fruit and veggie trays, cheese and crackers, deli meats, chicken skewers, and stuffed mushrooms, which I was told were fantastic.  Their cake was quite divine--white cake with either butter cream or chocolate mousse filling.  It was good:)

Friday, 11/19/2010

Ben, Katie, his brother, Spencer, and I are driving down to Portland tonight.  A family friend is getting married tomorrow, and Ben and I are the photographers.  Leaving after work is always anti-climactic.  We just get out of town and have to stop for dinner.  The easiest place to stop is in Tukwilla, near the Southcenter Mall.  We chose Panera Bread for our meal on this trip.  The menu has a nice variety, and, it goes without saying, the bread is outstanding. 

I had half of a Bacon Turkey Bravo sandwich.  It's smoked turkey breast, bacon, and smoked Gouda on tomato, basil bread with a signature dressing.  I opt out of the lettuce and tomatoes that come standard on the sandwich.  For side dishes, I had macaroni and cheese and some chips.  Ben had the Asiago Roast Beef Sandwich, also with mac and cheese and chips.  The sandwich had oven-roasted beef, smoked cheddar, and creamy horseradish sauce on Asiago Cheese Demi bread.  After snacking on turkey from my sandwich, I got Katie her own small turkey and cheese sandwich.  She skipped the bread and cheese and only ate the turkey.  And then, she gobbled down the tube of strawberry yogurt that came with it.  I'm not sure what kind of sandwich Spencer had, but I know he had mac and cheese with it.  

It took us over four hours to get to Portland, but we made it with a happy toddler.  Not too shabby:)

Thursday, 11/18/2010

We had breakfast for dinner tonight.  Yum!  I tried out a pumpkin spice waffle recipe and fried bacon to go with it.  The waffles tasted very good, but made me realize that we don't have the best waffle iron.  The waffles did not cook evenly.  The recipe, from CountryLiving.com, made more than we needed; so, we froze some to have for other meals. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cup(s) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon(s) baking powder
2 teaspoon(s) cinnamon
1 teaspoon(s) ginger
1/2 teaspoon(s) baking soda
1/2 teaspoon(s) salt
1/2 teaspoon(s) fresh-ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon(s) cloves
4 large eggs
2 cup(s) buttermilk
1 cup(s) pumpkin purée
1/2 cup(s) dark brown sugar
1/4 cup(s) (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon(s) pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat a waffle iron. Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cloves in a large bowl and set aside.
2. Whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, pumpkin purée, sugar, butter, and vanilla in another large bowl until smooth. While whisking, add the flour mixture and blend until smooth.
3. Generously coat the waffle iron with vegetable oil and cook the batter in the waffle iron as recommended in the manufacturer's instructions. Repeat with remaining batter.

Notes:

1.  I didn't have buttermilk, so I used the following substitution:  For every cup of buttermilk needed, start with 1 tablespoon of white vinegar and then fill up the cup with milk.  Wait for 5 minutes before using in the recipe.  2.  In most of the recipes I use, 2 or 3 of the following spices are used:  cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves.  Rarely do I see all 4 included in the same recipe.  I think they worked great together for this application.  
3.  I used left over apple cider syrup from Halloween weekend on my waffles.  Ben used Mrs. Buttersworth.

Wednesday, 11/17/2010

We finished off the left over pork chops and couscous tonight.  I admit, we were too lazy to fix veggies to go with the meal today.  Again, Katie wouldn't try any of the pork and would only eat the couscous.  She is adorable when she says "couscous":)  She is adding more words to her vocabulary every day.

It is impossible to keep track of the words she can say.  She is still only saying a couple words together, and most combinations include the word "it".  For example: have it, want it, need it, hold it, take it.  I'm sure it won't be long before she is stringing more words together.  She is also trying to sing a bit!!!  When we listen to songs on the iPod (high-pod in Katie-speak), she will randomly shout out words she knows.  There are even a few "la, la, la's" during her favorite Caspar Babypants songs:)  What a joy she is!

Tuesday, 11/16/2010

We hosted our PEPS group tonight.  It was a really fun evening.  The kids played together nicely, for the most part.  I particularly enjoyed the end of the evening when they were all wearing and sharing Katie's Mardi Gras necklaces:)  And, the adults were able to have good conversations.  

In the past, the hosting family would provide the complete meal.  Tonight was the first time we tried making it a potluck.  We are going to give it a full rotation before we decide to stick with the potlucks or go back to the other option. 

Ben grilled chicken drumsticks and thighs, that I prepped in a lemon and herb marinade, and we provided beverages.  The rest of the group brought the rest of the meal: a green salad, pasta salad, bread, snacks for the kids, and a spice cake from Macrina Bakery.  We got the chicken marinade recipe from Ben's brother, Spencer.  He used it several months ago when we had dinner at his house.  In order to marinate 14 drumsticks and 8 thighs, I tripled the following marinade recipe.

LEMON HERB CHICKEN MARINADE

Mix together the following ingredients.

1/2 cup Canola Oil
1/4 cup White Vinegar
1/4 cup Dijon Mustard
1/2 cup Lemon Juice
2 tbsp Lemon Zest
1 clove Garlic, chopped
1 tsp Lemon Pepper
1 tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Salt
1 tbsp Thyme
1 tbsp Oregano

Marinate for 2-6 hours.

Monday, 11/15/2010

We had marinated pork chops, roasted garlic and olive oil wheat couscous, and a green salad for dinner.  I marinated the pork chops in Stubb's Pork Marinade for six hours.  I broiled them in the oven on high for 7 minutes on the first side and 6 minutes on the second side.  They were cooked perfectly according to Ben:)  Couscous continues to be a big hit in our house.  Katie loves it, but it is even more messy than rice.  It gets everywhere.  I like how quickly it cooks--only five minutes after the water boils.

For our green salad, I added diced pears and glazed walnuts to sweet butter lettuce.  I dressed the salad with a delicious homemade balsamic vinegar and honey dressing.  A little of this dressing goes a long way.  I have historically used too much when I have made this salad.  Tonight I used less than normal, but it was still too much for Ben.  Even so, he gladly finished his salad.  

Sunday, 11/14/2010

Katie is the only one in the house who ate dinner tonight.  We had our good friends Melissa, Dave and Lucia over for a big lunch after church.  It was so very nice to catch up with them.  The last time we saw each other was Easter weekend.  Yikes...that was a long time ago.  For lunch, we recreated the delicious bacon, chicken sandwiches we made a couple months ago.  We couldn't find the same marinade mix at the store, so we opted for a carne asada chipotle marinade.  It said it was good for beef, chicken, or pork.  Thankfully, it truly was good for chicken:)  We made a banana, mandarin orange, and mango fruit salad to go with the sandwiches.  

For dessert, we had butterscotch, orange oatmeal cookies in bar form.  The directions said to bake the bars for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown.  Well, after 18 minutes, they were quite golden.  Unfortunately, they didn't set up very well.  Luckily, they still tasted delicious and held together better a day later than when relatively fresh out of the oven.  

Oh yes, dinner.  Ben and I just weren't hungry for dinner after such a large lunch.  We snacked a bit, but had nothing formal.  Katie was hungry around 5pm.  She had chicken nuggets, dipped in ketchup, of course;) After a quick Skype with my parents, we took her to bed.  Hopefully, an extra hour of sleep tonight will make up for the missed nap today. 

Saturday, 11/13/2010

We finished off the rest of our spaghetti sauce tonight.  Katie took a super long nap this afternoon and woke up in a fun mood.  When we got downstairs, she asked for her mittens, hat, and sunglasses.  The resulting outfit was hilarious.  It inspired Ben to set up a mini photo shoot while I cooked up the spaghetti noodles.  Unbelievably, she was a good sport and stood still so that he could take her photo.  Here are photos from her photo shoot, followed by a couple from dinner.

Friday, 11/12/2010

We ate out at Cactus tonight.  Ben and I both had half orders of nachos with chorizo and chicken.  They remain my favorite nachos ever.  We ordered Katie a grilled chicken breast, which came sliced.  Knowing her like we do, we asked the waiter to bring her a bowl of ketchup.  Sure enough, she was only willing to eat the chicken once it had been dipped in ketchup multiple times.  She also ate a good helping of olives from my nachos.  I just order them on the side so that I can give them to her to eat.  

After we got Katie down for the evening, we watched the movie "An Education."  It was the last movie nominated for Best Picture in the 2010 Academy Awards that we needed to see.  Yes, I know that the Oscars were in March, but it just takes time to get through 10 movies when you stop to watch TV series like Mad Men:)  It was a good movie that I am glad I watched; although, I don't think I would watch it again.

Thursday, 11/11/2010

Ben got back from his trip to Huntsville really late last night.  I think he was in bed by 3am.  And then the smoke detector in our room started chirping at 4:30.  UGH...poor Ben!  He got up for a 7:30 conference call and then went back to bed for an hour and half.  It is not a surprise that he didn't feel well today.  We kept dinner really simple so that he could eat and rest.  We finished off the rest of the Lemon and Herb Chicken Helper and then watched Elf with Katie. She thought Buddy the Elf was funny and really liked the singing. It's a good thing we watched it after dinner.  If we had watched before dinner, she might have expected syrup on her noodles;)

Wednesday, 11/10/2010

My friend Lauren came over for dinner tonight.  We haven't seen each other since her wedding in May.  It was so nice to catch up:)  We had spaghetti with a side salad for dinner.  Katie barely ate anything.  Dinner is definitely not her favorite meal of the day.  I've still got enough spaghetti sauce to last a couple more meals.  Sorry for the repetitive posts;)

Katie entertained us for an hour or so after dinner.  When it was time to put her down to sleep, she let Lauren read her a book.  It was very sweet.  Hopefully Lauren and I won't take so long to catch up the next time. 

Tuesday, 11/9/2010

I had left over lemon and herb chicken helper for dinner.  Katie wouldn't even taste it.  Surprisingly, she would eat applesauce with cinnamon in it. That is usually something she won't eat either.  Not much else to say about our meal, but here is a cute photo of my girl:)

Monday, 11/8/2010

Katie and I made Lemon and Herb Whole Wheat Chicken Helper for our dinner.  Well, I made it and Katie observed.  She wants to "see" everything I am doing when I am cooking.  When I am patient enough and when I remember, I show her what I am doing each step of the way.  Ben flew to Huntsville, Alabama, this morning for work, so it was just the two of us tonight.  Here are a couple fun photos of Katie from dinner tonight.

Sunday, 11/7/2010

Well, we definitely did not need to make three batches of spaghetti sauce for last night's throwdown.  We ended up bringing home at least one batch.  Half of it was frozen to use in the future, and we kept half in the fridge to use this coming week.  Tonight we had the sauce over whole wheat rotini noodles.  

Katie had a little bowl of noodles and then an even smaller bowl with pasta sauce in it.  Katie ate pasta just fine while she was dipping in the sauce.  And then she asked for a spoon.  Once she got a spoon and started to dump sauce over the noodles, she wouldn't eat any more of them.  Just when I expected her to say "all done", she asked for some peanut butter. Spaghetti sauce and peanut butter are not a good flavor combination for a meal.  But, it just doesn't matter much, as long as she is eating. 

Saturday, 11/6/2010

Our church supports Family Promise, an organization that helps homeless and low-income families achieve sustainable independence.  Ben and I have prepared several meals over the past couple of years for the families staying in our church.  The program in our area had to stop operations a couple months ago due to a lack of funding.  The hope is that it can be started again after enough funds have been raised to sustain it successfully. 

Tonight we competed in a Comfort Food Throwdown to benefit Family Promise.  Individuals in the Family Promise network paid $15-20 to attend the meal.  And then we, along with 9 other churches or individuals, prepared our favorite comfort foods to serve to the masses.  We volunteered to bring spaghetti, using Ben's family's secret spaghetti sauce recipe.  We were supposed to be able to feed 100 people, so we made three batches.  It took us all day to prepare the sauce.

We took dry noodles and a large stock pot with us to the hosting church and cooked the noodles there.  It was a little chaotic and a large burner was not immediately available for us to use when we arrived.  The noodles were finally done cooking just as we were supposed to start serving.  We chose to dish up the plates of spaghetti in the kitchen and bring them out to the serving table.  It worked okay while people were getting their first servings.  But then, the pasta just sat on the table, waiting for people to want it.  And, it got cold.  I decided to make up a new batch of noodles and then serve on demand at the table.  It worked better and everything stayed warmer.  Oh, and I garnished each dish with a parmesan crisp that I made earlier today.

We did not win, but we were beat by an young gal with an excellent chicken soup from Guam.  Money was raised for Family Promise and the people were fed.  It was a good night.  Katie spent half of the evening on my back in the Ergo carrier and then played with two cups of water instead of eating for the second half.  

I'm not going to go into all the details, but there were a lot of things that could have been improved with how it was organized and promoted.  But, since no one asked for my opinions or my help in planning, and I didn't volunteer to do so, I need to keep my mouth shut.  I might volunteer my services next time:)

Friday, 11/5/2010

Our friend Sydney babysat Katie tonight while I joined Ben for his alumni dinner at the Bellevue Hyatt.  When I left the house, Sydney was heating up chicken nuggets for Katie.  Katie dipped the nuggets and apples in ketchup.  Yes, she dipped her apples in ketchup.  It is gross, but I guess there is technically nothing wrong with it.

Ben and I pre-ordered the chicken meal for dinner.  It was a roasted chicken leg in a bed of orzo with some kind of gravy-like sauce around the plate.  It was delicious!  For dessert, Ben had flan and I had chocolate cake.  The cake was good, but nothing compared to my dad's cake:) 

Thursday, 11/4/2010

Ben was at a conference today that ended with a dinner banquet.  That left Katie and me on our own for dinner.  I did my best to salvage the charred grilled turkey from last night. Once I cut off the charred parts, it wasn't so bad.  Again, the best part of the meal was the left over rice.  Katie ate a few pieces of turkey, but really only wanted rice.

I wish rice wasn't so messy to feed a toddler.  It ends up everywhere.  It is in her clothes, all over the high chair, and all over the floor around her chair.  But, at least she is fun and happy when she eats it:)

Wednesday, 11/3/2010

Ooh, tonight I had a dinner fail.  I purchased turkey tenderloins pre-marinated in a lemon and peppercorn marinade.  The package said to grill them on medium heat for 35-40 minutes.  I looked in several of our cookbooks, including some specifically for grilling, for additional grill temperature instructions.  I didn't find anything that said indirect or direct medium heat.  We cook boneless chicken tenderloins and breasts on direct heat--why would turkey be different? Since the packaging didn't say indirect, I assumed direct was the best choice.  Well, it appears that I was wrong.  The turkey was charred on both sides and the meat barely retained any moisture.  Too bad it was enough for two meals.  Ugh!

The best part of the meal was the seasoned wild rice I made to go with it.  We all had a second helping of that:)

Tuesday, 11/2/2010

Tonight we had dinner with our PEPS friends.  Sara, Aaron, and Ari hosted.  We had lasagna, caesar salad, and garlic bread with ice cream sundaes and chocolate cupcakes for dessert.  As usual, the food was great!  Sara also put out bowls of crackers for the kids to munch on and a cheese plate for the adults.

Since we weren't able to get together at a pumpkin patch two weekends ago, we decided to take our group Halloween costume photo tonight instead.  And by group, I mean the kids.  It is always entertaining trying to get them to sit still long enough for a group photo.  The easiest one was definitely when they were all still 5-6 months old:)  Here are the kids in all of their Halloween finest. 


Jackson as Thomas the Train.
Ronan as a frog.
Katie as a kitty.
Ari as a giraffe.
Oliver as a vampire.



Monday, 11/1/2010

I stopped by the seafood counter at Fred Meyer this morning, just to see what was available.  I was pleased to see talapia fillets crusted with crushed tortilla chips, chili, and lime.  They looked good enough that I purchased three fillets for tonight's dinner. 

I heated olive oil in the bottom of a "stick" frying pan.  Once the oil was hot, I put the fillets in the pan.  Only one side of each fillet was coated in the tortilla crust.  I put the non-crusted side down in the oil first.  I cooked them for 3-4 minutes on the first side, flipped them, and then waited until the crust started to turn golden brown before I removed them from the pan.  It was an excellent preparation for talapia, which is a pretty bland fish in my opinion. 

We had sauted bell peppers as a side dish.  Ben got me a mandolin for my birthday, and I used it to slice the peppers.  It wasn't the best application for the mandolin, but it was fun to try it out.  I can't wait to make potatoes au gratin with it!  Anyway, I used a non-stick pan for the peppers.  I heated olive oil with a touch of sesame oil in the pan until it was hot.  I then added the sliced peppers and a teaspoon of minced garlic.  They cooked in the oil until the peppers started to char a bit.  

Katie wouldn't eat the fish, but she did eat several slices of pepper.

Sunday, 10/31/2010

Happy Halloween!  Katie wore her pink kitty costume to church this morning.  All of the kids, big and small, were encouraged to wear their costumes.  During the children's moment, they marched around the sanctuary while our music director played "Thriller" on the piano.  Katie was adorable walking around the church with her daddy:)

Our parents left this afternoon after lunch.  Katie cried when they left.  What a sensitive little girl:)  After her nap, we made up some penne pasta and finished off the roasted red pepper and bacon sauce left over from last night.  Instead of pasta, Katie ate a little beef taco meat.  We were all full and happy when the meal was over. 

We decided to end our Halloween festivities with church today.  Katie still doesn't get what the holiday is all about; so, we didn't push it.  We kept our porch light off, put her to bed on time, and enjoyed some quality time in front of the TV with some chocolate candy.  It was a great day and a wonderful weekend. 

Saturday, 10/30/2010

My parents, our friend Gail, and Ben's brother stayed at our house last night following my concert.  Ben's mom drove up from Portland, Oregon, this morning to spend the weekend with us too.  After she arrived and we had lunch, we drove up to The Farm at Swan's Train in Snohomish, Washington, to check out a pumpkin patch.  It was raining, but we didn't have many other options since Halloween is tomorrow:)  We had a great time despite the rain.  Katie tromped in the field, tried to pick up large pumpkins, and looked adorable in her raincoat and mittens.  Here are a few of my favorite photos from our pumpkin patch outing.

Today I got to celebrate my birthday for a second time. Lucky me!  We went with an Italian meal for our dinner.  I made bucatini pasta with my KitchenAid pasta attachment.  Bucatini is a thick spaghetti-like pasta with a hole running through it.  Ben was in charge of making the roasted red pepper and bacon sauce.  We had a caesar salad and soft breadsticks on the side. 

For dessert, my dad brought his blue ribbon winning whole wheat chocolate cake.  It was delicious and definitely deserving of a blue ribbon.  We had mint chocolate ice cream to go with the cake.  Katie wasn't very interested in cake, but she could have eaten twice as much "hih-cream" as we let her have. 

Friday, 10/29/2010

I perform in a quarterly concert series, called Sweet, Sweet, Music, with my friends from church.  Tonight, our theme was "Stage and Screen".  Ben and I needed to get to the church around 6pm; so, we ordered pizza for ourselves and Katie's babysitter.  We got a large pepperoni and sausage pizza from Garlic Jim's.  We all sat at the table and ate together while we gave our sitter the scoop on Katie for the night. 

We had a great crowd at the concert.  There were close to 150 people in the audience.  My CD release was very successful.  I sold more CDs than I expected to.   After the show, the performers and their families went over to Endolyne Joe's for some food and drinks.  Ben and I shared a plate of Mob Boss Mama's Mozzarella and a plate of Marco's Torta della Salsiccia. The fresh mozzarella was pan fried with herb breading and marinara sauce. The torta was a pastry stuffed with house made Italian sausage and ricotta salata with an herb cheese sauce. Both were outstanding dishes. 

Katie, bless her soul, was busy and excited "talking" to her sitter during dinner.  She didn't eat much, which resulted in her being wide awake and hungry at 3:00am.  We had a house full of guests, so she was sleeping in our room.  There was no avoiding her:)  She washed down a half a banana and crackers with milk for her midnight snack.  Thankfully, she was willing to go back to sleep after her snack.  Ben and I didn't go to sleep until almost 1am; so, Katie's 3am wake up was quite rude.  We were disoriented, cranky, and almost sick from it. 

Thursday, 10/28/2010

They are here!!!  My first album, Favorite Things, arrived this morning.  Whoo Hoo!!!  Katie and I went to Ben's office during the lunch hour so that she could show off her pink kitty Halloween costume, and so that I could sell some of my CDs.  It was surreal to see my photo on a professional CD and to be asked to sign it.

After leaving Ben's office, Katie and I ran errands until 3pm.  That is when the Halloween party at my office began.  I was very thankful for Judy and Danielle who provided non-candy treats for the little kids.  Katie picked up a toy ring, jelly bracelets, bubbles, and play-dough.  After the party, we picked up Ben from work and headed home.  Katie did not nap today until we were .25 miles away from home.  It was not a quality nap:)  After a day with no break from Katie, I was exhausted.  Ben took on Katie and dinner duties while I took a quick nap.  Thanks Ben!

We had beef burritos for dinner, and they were goo-ood.  We used non-lean beef, which always improves the overall flavor.  Ben made one burrito a little thicker so that we could cut off the end and give it to Katie.  She did a great job eating it, but the hot sauce did a number on her little lips.  They got all swollen and red:(  She didn't seem to mind it too much and just licked them a lot.  I was thrilled that she was willing to eat something with a lot of flavor. 

Wednesday, 10/27/2010

Tonight we grilled the pork chops that I didn't defrost in time for last night's meal.  The pork chops were part of the bulk meat purchase I made at the beginning of the month.  They were beautiful, bone-in chops that were full of flavor.  We dredged them in Char Crust's roasted garlic and peppercorn dry-rub.  I've been very pleased with how long the dry-rub has lasted us.  It was definitely worth the purchase price.  The pork chops came off the grill moist and delicious.  

We each made an iceberg lettuce wedge salad to go with our chops.  Ben used blue cheese dressing and blue cheese crumbles.  I used Italian dressing on mine.

Note: It's been a busy week since I updated the blog.  I remember what Ben and I ate each day, but can't remember what Katie ate each day.  Forgive me for leaving her off of a couple posts while I catch up:)