First off my birthday was awesome as you can see below, and all thanks to my thoughtful hubby! Six flags was awesome, we had a wonderful day. On my actual birthday I broke my own personal rule I have always proudly and sternly abided by---- I worked on my birthday! Ugh. Say it wasn't so! It's true though. I did. Birthdays don't mean much to some people but I just don't happen to be one of those people! Anyway, it wasn't that horrible I guess; Jeff had to work also so being with my patients who like and appreciate me was better than sitting at home by myself but I don't plan on doing it again next year hehe After work Jeff and I wen to dinner and got homemade ice cream at a little ma and pa shop in Hamden called Wentworth's, it's the cutest little place and their ice cream is bomb! We rented the second twilight movie and went home to watch it but since we both get up before the sun (Jeff@0430 and me @0530) we were out before the first 20 mins so we went to bed instead. We got up saturday and watched the movie while eating our cereal and spent some time at the pool, it was lovely! My sweet mom sent me money for movie tickets and treats to see Eclipse but Jeff and I decided to go see Inception instead and wait for Eclipse to come to red box (sorry mom!) It was awesome! If you like "pay attention to and deep thinking movies" I would definitely recommend it! So good! I got two perfect birthday weekends with my sweetheart, what more could a girl ask for?!
I have been cooking like a mad woman but I don't think Jeff has minded :) I love cooking, baking, trying new recipes and creating some of my own. I actually got upset when we got invited to dinner two sundays in a row after being gone all weekend and eating out because all I wanted to do was go home and cook something yummy! Who does that??? Well, I can be very inventive in the kitchen and I like to think I'm pretty quick to action when a near disaster happens. Left over pork chops? Hello pork fried rice. The recipe calls for rice vinegar? I don't have rice vinegar... Red Bull it is! (I really truly did use this substitution and it turned out delicious. Ha Jeff was quite proud and I was pleasantly amused. I did buy some rice vinegar but I would still use red bull anyday as a sub) Anyhooskeys, (I love when Jeff says this, so cute) some things I have made lately.. I tried my hand at homemade dinner rolls, they were good I overcooked them a little and they lost some of their moisture but they still got a pretty good review. Cooking out here is a real trip. My hair isn't the only thing the humidity is taking its toll on, okay I can't really blame the humidity for this one but seriously we'll get to the monstrosity my hair has become later.... back to how hard it is adjusting to cooking/baking in this altitude. Oh boy, it's a pleasure. I undercook things by 5+ minutes according to what the recipe says and it still comes out burnt and crispy. It is getting better but don't distract me while I'm in the kitchen unless you want your dinner to be as burnt and dry as the christmas hen on Griswald Christmas!
I thought there was way too much dough to just make dinner rolls for 3 with so I subdivided it up and made a batch of delicious cinnamon rolls and a batch of cream cheese jalapeno pinwheels. Delish! I was having a lovely time in the kitchen while Jeff napped. That wasn't enough for me so I got a basic recipe for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and made them into some yummy little cookies with coconut, chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. I didn't want to add anymore butter but I knew I needed some extra moisture to counteract all of the dry ingredients so I added a some applesauce and they are moist little buggers. Yum!
Dinners I have made lately have consisted of
Hawaiian Haystacks (9/10)
Corn Chowder (9/10) Jeff loved this because it was fresh healthy and different
Pork roast potatoes and carrots in the slow cooker (7/10)
Basil tomato Linguine (6/10) not the best ever, but Jeff and I are real saucy people and it was just a little bland for us.
Meatball subs (9/10) we loved these! I got a bag of italian style meatballs and cooked them in some red sauce broiled some buns with cheese and they were so good!
I made my own version of Bruschetta and Jeff loved it more than the original! wooo for me! (10/10) I used mini french loaves and broiled them with some swiss cheese and for the tomato mix I did fresh diced tomatoes and avocado mixed with dried basil, some garlic, olive oil and rice vinegar because I didn't have any balsamic. It was surprisingly really good and I want to make some more soon!
Pork chops baked with apples and garlic mashers (no rating from jeff on this one, this meal is what started me asking for a rating after each meal. it may sound silly but it's helpful!) the pork chops were good but I would rather have them grilled and the mashers were a little too garlicky but that's my own fault. Probably won't make that again.. but I did get some really tasty Pork fried rice made out of the extra pork chops and it was pretty good. We have been married almost 3 months and I have yet to make the same meal twice! I have lots of great ideas and things I want to make but am always open to suggestions and favorite recipes of others :) I'll swap ya!
Okay on to my mop top! Since moving to CT my hair has been hating me and the humidity! I would wash it, dry it, curl it the usual, give it some hairspray for hold and it's looking good. Walk out my front door, curls=gone! sleek shiny hair=killer cottonball on my head. I got so frustrated with it I quit doing it altogether. Besides the last time I got a trim/haircut was right before the wedding so between moving, salt, chlorine, knotty ponytails and the awful friz and knots that humidity creates it was a real damaged mess! So today as part of my birthday I went and got my hair done @ the Paul Mitchell hair academy by our house. I figure it can't be any worse than letting Erika cut my hair in her bathroom with kitchen shears! haha what were we thinking?! :) I dragged my sweet husband with me after he worked a 24 hour shift telling him it would take ten minutes. "They'll spray it with a water bottle and trim it. Done and done." Well what I didn't consider was the fact that students take 3x as long as a regular beautician. Try 2 1/2 hours later!!!!!!! Ummm... what???? Yep. Jeff's haircut took an hour and a half and mine took another hour. I really didn't mind though, not at first. I love getting my hair done. We sat side by side and got nice head massages as they washed our hair and then again sat next to one another during our haircuts, I thought it was pretty fun actually! Until Jeff's haircut was done and the girl doing mine decided to dry mine strand by strand. I finally very nicely told her she didnt need to dry it all the way. That got me out maybe 10 mins sooner LOL it took a long time but hey for $12 a cut you really can't beat that plus we were together so I could have sat there all day. Jeff got a very handsome clean cut for clinicals and I got 2 inches trimmed off and tapered layers in the front around my face similar to what Jennifer Aniston has been known to sport. Jeff really likes my hair so I gave my hairdresser a nice tip and I may even ask for her personally next time ha. I'll post some pictures someday if I get around to taking some :)
a little something like this. mine aren't that drastic but I may get a little more brave next time!
Alright That's all folks!
Phew!!!
