Cryst@l's Blog

athena visits DC

2011-05-30T16:43:00.000-07:00

THURSDAY:
Athena arrived to my apartment around 8 pm on Thursday night. We sprinted out the door to meet Anne and her friend Liz for pizza at Ella's Firewood Pizza near Chinatown. Food was good but I barely noticed because I was having so much fun catching up with all three girls.

Avocado salad with veggies. Ate 2/3 before I remembered to take pix.

Eggplant rolled around ricotta and parmesean - we already ate most of it but there is one little roll left under the basil. Totally forgot to take a picture of the personal size goat cheese, mushroom and spinach pizza we split.

After dinner Athena, Anne and I walked home past the White House. Stopped for a quick photo.

FRIDAY:
I got up and headed into work. Was able to get out early and be back to apartment around 2:00. We stopped for a sweet & savory crepe at Crepeaway near my apartment.

Then we walked/explored back to Chinatown area where we had marathon shopping expidetion to H&M, Forever 21, Bed Bath & Beyond and Zara. I can't believe I've never been in a Zara. Might be my new favorite thing.

Hours later after we were totally and completely exhausted we found we were near a restaurant both Athena's boyfriend's sister (who lives in DC) and my coworker had both emphatically recommended called Zaytinya. It has Greek/Mediterranean tapas and was really really delicious.

Out front of the restaurant. It's right near the Verizon center.

View from our table.

They brought these warm light soft pita poof things that exhaled steam as you opened them. You used them to dip into really delicious hummus.

Athena concentrating.

We also ordered zucchini patties and fried squid that is hands down the best calamari I've ever had. It was lightly battered, melt in your mouth and Athena & I literally kept saying, 'MMmmmm' each time we ate another bite. (We LITERALLY said it about eight times each. No hyperbole here.)

We didn't realize that fried potatoes were going to be french fries. They had yogurt sauce on them and were probably the least exciting dish.

Seared scallops. Tasty but almost undercooked. Still really really tasty.

Philo roll with eggplant & ricotta and chicken orzo. Both yummy.

We metro'd home full and spent. We sprawled on the couch and watched an episode of Modern Family while our food settled. But then because I'm being good about p90x we put on workout clothes and did a hardcore (albeit silly) session of plyometrics & ab ripper x.

I had originally intended to take her to Adams Morgan for dessert & people watching but by the end of the dvds (probably around 11 pm) the idea of showering and leaving the house was too much. We put on PJs, chatted and went to bed.

SATURDAY:
I cooked us eggs & toast with side of blackberries. Then we got ready and headed out around noon.

First stop coffee!

Then we walked past the White House and around the mall.

Very crowded because of how gorgeous the weather was.

Sisters!

Athena in front of Washington Monument.

I got an action shot of her heading to the Museum. (She bought her skirt at Zara the day before.)

Heading into the National Gallery of Art.

Pix at rotunda near entrance.

They have free audio tour headsets!

Leonardo da Vinci's portrait of Ginevra de' Benci

We spent about four and a half hours in the museum. We needed a couple sitting breaks to power through.

This is a very scary demon filled painting. I'm making a demon claw.

Demon face.

Getting cultured.

Renoir Girl with Watering Can

Pretty pretty Athena & Renior

After we saw this painting we decided we needed to eat immediately. And it wasn't until I was looking at my camera over lunch that I even realized the last painting we looked at before we decided we were starving was of food.

We got salad bar and made veggie packed salads.

Pretty waterfall in the Cascade Cafe on the bottom floor of the museum.

Walkway to east building from cafe is starry 70s-y light show.

We had super delicious gelato after we finished our salads.

Athena got dulce de leche and I had cookies and cream. The cookie flavor in mine was shortbread and not oreo like usual cookies and cream. Very tasty.

Sister pix on the way out of the art museum.

Gorgeous day on the mall.

After Art Museum we decided to walk over to Natural History Museum and see what was on IMAX. We walked through the NGA sculpture garden.

Stopped for photo session by the fountain.

Me.

Sisters!

There were a bazillion people sitting around the water enjoying the perfect hot weather.

Athena mimicking an elephant's trunk. We did a little Natural History exploring then went to find movie tix.

We saw IMAX Dinosaurs movie.

Ready!

After the IMAX movie we were still in movie mode (after two days of soooo much walking) so we decided to walk to movie theater in Chinatown to see Bridesmaids. Athena in front of the friendship arch.

We decided we needed more food before we saw the movie and headed into hole in the wall.

They were making dumplings in the window so we were sold.

Inside posterboard menus (I assume) covered in Chinese.

We ordered two kinds of dumplings. Mmm

Next to movie theater by Verizon center. Bridesmaids had funny parts but I'd say I was really sad for Kristin Wiig for about 80% of the movie. And then end she gets the guy but still doesn't have a job, house, car or much else. Not really a complete ending just to get a boy. But it was still the same sort of funny as the typical gross out sex humor boy movies. After the movie we walked back to my apartment.

The original plan was to head out for dinner but we were pooped. So we ordered delivery food from Avocado Cafe. Never had food from there but loved that just about every item had avocado included. I love avocado.

We split lobster wrap with avocado, avocado salad and sweet potato fries. Then Athena did homework while I did p90x dvd. Then we just hung out at my apartment, chatted & went to bed around midnight.

SUNDAY:
We woke up, got ready and met Anne & John for brunch at Founding Farmers at 11:15.

Ordered fluffer nutter bread for table. Bread, peanut butter, banana, marshmallow, nuts and chocolate shavings. Yum.

I ordered eggs benedict with hash browns. Ate 3/4 of the plate and then wanted to curl up and die of fullness. Ugggh.

Anne had southern fried chicken salad. Realizing I have a picture problem when I take pictures of my friend's food and forget to take pictures of the people at the table. Oops.

It was fun chatting with Anne & John. Anne told me later she hasn't seen Athena since our senior year of HS which would have been 12(!!) years ago when Athena was in first grade.

After breakfast Athena and I walked to Georgetown. We wandered around for a few hours doing a little halfhearted shopping. But after plyometrics and three days of walking we were beat. We got some frozen yogurt and walked back to my apartment.

At my apartment we dug into working on the invitations. We got a little assembly line going where I would stamp 4 swirly inner pattern stamps and then hand it to her to cover with embossing powder and heat to a shiny finish.

For dinner we originally were going to have Founding Farmers again but decided that it was too rich and tried to go to sushi. It was closed. So we ended up at Chinese restaurant Anne & I went to a few weeks ago because I knew they had a steamed menu.

It's called "Charlie Chiang Restaurant Chalin's" but in my head it looks like Charlie Chaplin's.

Outside restaurant.

Vegetable soup.

We ordered steamed veggies - no sauce and general tso chicken with no breading to split and didn't finish it all.

Athena's fortune, "You and your wife will be happy in your life together." Good thing she got that cookie because she didn't know to expect a future wifey.

Home to bed.

MONDAY:
Put her on the blue meto to airport and I headed from same platform on orange into work. It was such a fun weekend. It was sad to see her go.

flat josh visits Washington DC

2011-04-20T20:31:00.001-07:00

Flat Josh Visits Washington D.C.

Flat Josh left Woodstock and traveled in his envelope through the mail where he arrived in Crystal's mailbox Washington D.C.

Crystal was on her way to work so Flat Josh decided to come along. Crystal rides the subway to work which everyone in DC calls the Metro.

Crystal showed Flat Josh the Metro map. It helps passengers figure out which train they should take to get to where they want to go. Crystal rides the Orange line train everyday.

Crystal works at a company called Plateau. They make computer software for big companies like Starbucks and UPS.

Crystal works as a Software Engineer because her favorite subject in school was math. Flat Josh helps Crystal with some database diagrams.

After work Crystal and Flat Josh decide to go do some sightseeing around Washington. They ride the Metro again and Flat Josh helps hold the train ticket to enter the gates.

Here comes the train.

All aboard!

The train isn't very crowded...

so Flat Josh gets his own seat!

The Metro stops at an area called the National Mall and they get off the train. The Mall in Washington is not a normal mall with stores and a food court but a big green field between important buildings and museums.

The first place they stop is the US Capitol building. This building is where the US Congress meets to talk about and decide on the laws for the whole country.

Next Crystal and Flat Josh decide to go to a museum. There are lots of different museums to choose from on the Mall. They decide to go to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

As you enter the museum the first thing you see is a giant elephant. He's from Africa, is 14 feet tall and weighed 8 tons.

First they visit the Dinosaur exhibit. There is a giant Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton!

And a Triceratops.

Flat Josh gets really close to the T-Rex!

In the Ocean exhibit they see a giant jelly fish.

Next they look at the Gems & Mineral exhibit. They spot giant Crystals.

They see a big Amethyst which they learn is a type of quartz.

They arrive in a really crowded room. I wonder what everyone is looking at?

Once they get closer they see the Hope Diamond. It's famous necklace with a giant blue colored diamond.

They decide to leave the museum and walk around the Mall some more. They see the Washington Monument which is 555 feet 5 1/8 inches tall. It was built to commemorate the first president of the United States George Washington.

They see lots of Cherry trees blooming with white & pink flowers. They learn that there is a Cherry Blossom festival going on.

Flat Josh decides to climb one of the trees to see what the view is like.

Next Flat Josh and Crystal walked over to the Lincoln Memorial.

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States and he is remembered because he helped end slavery and lead the country during the Civil War.

Finally Flat Josh and Crystal walk to the place that Flat Josh is most exited to visit... The White House! They find out that President Obama is busy working and unfortunately they aren't able to go inside the White House. Instead they pose for pictures out front.

President Obama isn't able to meet Flat Josh so Flat Josh decides to take a photo with his portrait.

As they are taking photos they hear someone yell, "Hi Flat Stanley, I'm Flat Stanley too!" And it turns out there are TWO flat friends visiting the White House on the same day! So Flat Josh and Flat Stanley take a picture together in front of the White House.

Flat Stanley and Flat Josh at the White House.

After a full day of exploring Washington DC, Crystal and Flat Josh head back to Crystal's house to get Flat Josh packed up to travel home to see the real Josh!

***Put pix of myself here - forgot to upload it**
Bye Flat Josh! I had so much fun hanging out with you! I hope your class is excited to hear about your adventure in Washington D.C.!

from my momma

2011-01-22T08:48:00.000-08:00

My mom gave me these pretty little light up flowers as a going away gift.

ryan visit - saturday & sunday & monday

2011-01-18T20:34:00.000-08:00

Saturday -
After sleeping in we wandered outside to find something to eat. A few blocks away we found a sandwich chain place called Cosi. It was eh.

Roasted veggie sub on whole wheat flatbread.

After eating we took a cab to Friendship Heights to do some shopping. We spent a few hours in Filene's Basement and some other stores in the area. Then head back to apartment to dump our stuff.
We head out to watch some football & found a pretty cool place called Lucky Bar where there were tons of people watching the playoff game.

Lucky Bar

Front bar area. Big room in the back with lots of tables.

After watching three quarters of football we walked to a really cool Thai restaurant called Rice to meet Anne and John.

Rice Menu

Really delicious Pad Thai

Ryan got chicken stir fry that he really liked.

It came with bright green sticky rice. Yummy too with a hint of coconut flavor. (Sorry the iPhone pix are awful.

After dinner we decided to walk to a bar their friend owns called The Gibson.

Anne and John at beer place

Me and Ryan

Sunday-
We head out to find some food. Walking a few blocks we decide to stop into a random place called Hudson. It turns out to be really really cool. It seems Chicago-y to me with floor to ceiling windows, mental accents, a DJ (what in the world?) and a breakfast drink station. We sit at the bar to watch football and order fantastic food.

Brunch menu

Napkin from brunch.

French onion soup for app.

Crab cake benedict and potatoes for me.

Eggs, biscuit, sausage, fruit and polenta fries for him.

After eating and watching football we cab it to the Verizon Center and scalp tickets for the Capital's hockey game. We end up getting awesome club level seats for a decent price.

It was my first hockey game ever and it was really fun.

Club level has dining room instead of concession stands.

Crab dip and lobster mac and cheese.

After the game we head out to find ourselves in Chinatown. We stop at the first restaurant/bar we find and grab a seat at the bar to watch more NFL.

Bar in Chinatown.

After watching the football game we explore Chinatown for a few hours. Walking around and looking in shops. Not as big as London's from what we can tell.

Kungfoo shop.

Got hungry again so we stopped into a tapas place that turned out to be really really really fantastic.

Tapas restaurant in Chinatown.

Colored tomato medley with honey herbed vinaigrette and soft goat cheese salad.

Pistachio crusted lamb chops with green peppercorn sauce served over red skinned mashed potatoes, mar y tierra - grilled beef tenderloin baby shrimp calamari rings with thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms in sweet sherry sauce, empanadas de carne - classic beef and cheese stuffed in pastry shells, Brocheta de Pollo - Skewers of grilled chicken breast marinated in Andalusian spices with roasted red peppers, Paella de Verduras - paella with seasonal fresh vegetables.

Gambas al ajillo - sauteed shrimp in olive oil with garlic and hot peppers.

Monday morning -

Birthday Mousse

Happy Birthday!

Monday night I have a really awesome couch delivered from Craigslist. $150 including delivery! Pull out bed! Awesome.

Awesome new couch!

Random extra picture I took on Monday of the grocery store by my work.

ryan visit - friday

2011-01-14T21:28:00.000-08:00

Friday morning I head into work. My training gets done midday. So I pick up my first paycheck and leave early. Yay!

I meet Ryan in Georgetown where he's been shopping. He's just eaten but I'm starving so we go to another of Anne's suggestions Paolo's and I eat while Ryan has a glass of wine.

I order mushroom polenta and a side of mashed potatoes. Both are really really delicious. Another win for Anne's suggestions! Restaurant is nice and basic and almost totally empty at 2 in the afternoon. We chat over wine, wander around Georgetown for awhile and then walk the mile and a half through the cold to the apartment.
We unload shopping & work stuff and decide to head to the mall to go to Air & Space Museum. Take some pictures on the mall, tour the museum and then go to see the 3D Imax about the Hubble telescope. Super fun.

The video playing in this aircraft carrier display to look like a real life window view from the control area still had a mouse arrow on the screen. So I took a picture. I'm a dork.

After the museum we first cabbed to UStreet area to find somewhere for dinner. The place I looked up on Yelp had a 2.5 hour wait. So after walking around a bit we cabbed it to Adam's Morgan and ate at a restaurant called The Diner. I've eaten there with Anne on past trips and it's 24 hours and awesome. I had mini burgers and Ryan had chicken club. Both were super yummy.

(pix from their website)

After dinner we walked around Adam's Morgan. We find a coffee house, bar, lounge place with tons of couches.

ryan's first visit - thrusday

2011-01-13T08:25:00.000-08:00

Thursday - Ryan arrived around 9:30 pm and we went to Founding Farmers restaurant that Anne recommended near the apartment. It's a super ecofriendly restaurant. Everything is farm fresh and local or transported with carbon offsets.

Here's the blurb from their website:

The Founding Farmers name represents a combination of ideas: it is a celebration of the land and the American family farmer; it is a nod to the founding fathers of our country, many of whom owned and farmed land that surrounds Washington, D.C.; and it is a place where true, sustainably farmed, grown, and harvested American foods are brought to our guests—reminiscent of traditions from across the land.

The rich history of American cooking tradition is celebrated throughout the menus at Founding Farmers, with a philosophy to promote sustainable agriculture and the ways of the American family farmer at every turn. Each season, new choices reflect the best of what's available from our sources. At Founding Farmers, it isn't always about "local", or "organic"–sure, when it makes sense, those are great things; but local doesn't always means the smallest carbon footprint, and "organic" can also refer to broccoli that comes from China. Our top mantra is quality and natural ingredients, if we find a product we love from a family farmer in California, we buy it…if we find a bio-dynamic vineyard in Chile, we love buying that wine…carbon footprint you ask? We buy carbon offsets to ensure that regardless of the distribution distance, Founding Farmers is walking its talk that the planet matters.

The restaurant atmosphere was contemporary and warm. Lots of flickering light.

Drinks:
Fraise Fling - A unique blend of fresh strawberries, lychees and Snow Queen Organic Vodka then finished with a sparkling brut Prosecco topper. Perfect on a hot summers day!
(This was so so so fresh and good.)

Appetizers:
BBQ Oysters
Clam Chowder
(The Clam Chowder was phenomenal.)

Dinner:

I ordered super duper yummy Rotisserie Chicken with mashed potatoes & green beans - Lemon-Herb Cage-Free Free Bird Farm Chicken Ryan got Filet Medallions and Enchilada - Spinach-Chicken-Cheese Enchiladas, Chimichurri Sauce, Guajillo Sauce, Cotija Cheese

Yum yum yum!

After dinner we walked through the bitter cold back to the apartment.

family going away party

2011-01-10T08:24:00.000-08:00

valerie's 30th birthday party

2011-01-07T15:22:00.000-08:00

new years in key west

2011-01-05T13:51:00.001-08:00

christmas day

2010-12-26T12:14:00.003-08:00

christmas eve

2010-12-26T12:14:00.001-08:00

dc interview trip

2010-12-06T12:16:00.000-08:00

dinner, a fire & my two boys

2010-11-08T18:26:00.000-08:00

best BFF ever!

2010-11-04T17:39:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my dearest BFF for the super delicious & decadent birthday
strawberries! You're the best! Love youuuu!

martha stewart dinner at home - fall menu 13

2010-11-04T17:07:00.001-07:00

Here is my next installment of my Martha Stewart Dinner at Home adventure. You can see all past recipes here.

Menu:
Green Salad with Apple Dressing
Bay Scallops with Lemon Butter and Herbs
Celery Root and Potato Puree
Jam-Glazed Hazelnut Mini Cakes

Why & Who:
Me and Ryan. Easy peasy recipe for a weeknight dinner.

Rating (1-10):
Crystal - Salad - 8, Scallops - 10, Celery & Potato Puree - 8, Mini Cakes - 8
Ryan - Salad - 8, Scallops - 9, Celery & Potato Puree - 8.5, Mini Cakes - 8

MSDAH Photos

Mini cake photos.

Ingredients for salad.

Chopped up granny smith apple, shallots, olive oil and white wine vinegar.

Toss with romaine lettuce and add some beets (supposed to be baked from fresh but I just used a can) and add salt and pepper.

Salad close up.

Salad thoughts: Nice & basic. Ryan liked the salad even though he's not a beet fan. Nothing super exciting out of the ordinary but pretty yummy.

Ingredients for puree. I've never purchased a celery root before.

Crazy celery root ball thing.

Peel potatoes and celery root and boil. Then add to food processor.

Puree the root veggies with garlic, milk and butter. Think you were supposed to 'stir to just combine' hot milk but I just dumped cold milk and pureed away. Much easier.

Lovely consistency. Like fluffy mashed potatoes.

Scallops in a hot pan.

All cooked up.

Scallops on top with some liquid from the pan mixed with lemon juice.

Up close and yummy.

Scallops & root puree thoughts: The root puree had a interesting and unusual flavor. Ryan and I both liked it with the scallops. It was like mashed potatoes but different. More complex. And scallops with butter and lemon juice are always lovely. The only thing Ryan suggested would be to add a little more zing with seasoning. I didn't add the random herbs on top the recipe called for so that might have been it or I think a little more salt and pepper would have gone a long way. Very good. Love seafood. Would make this again.

Went out on the town and decided to cook the mini cakes about 2:45 am after having quite a few beers. Surprised that I was able to add the right ingredients in the right amounts! Butter, flour, egg whites (Ryan separated them & was proud of himself), sugar and salt.

Supposed to be fancy with the butter and 'skim foam from the top' in a saute pan but I just nuked it in tupperware and dumped it in.

Also couldn't find hazelnuts in grocery store so I used macadamia nuts.

And also was supposed to let mixture sit at room temperature for 20 minutes. Um, bor-ring. I had a living room dance party for one calling my name.

Into the mini muffin tin and into the oven it went.

13 minutes later cute little cakes popped right out of the pan. Nice almost pound cake textured little cakes. Very yummy.

Melted some raspberry jam in a pan with some water and drizzled on top. Not too melted because I want to eat them right then.

Mini cakes thoughts: Came out delicious. Not sure what they would have tasted like with hazelnuts but macadamia nuts were a pretty awesome substitute. Nom nom nom nom!

oregon - day 7

2010-11-03T18:06:00.001-07:00

orgeon - day 6

2010-11-03T17:53:00.001-07:00

oregon - day 5

2010-11-03T17:47:00.001-07:00

oregon - day 4

2010-11-03T17:42:00.001-07:00

oregon - day 3

2010-11-03T17:40:00.001-07:00

martha stewart dinner at home - fall menu 6

2010-11-03T17:30:00.001-07:00

Here is my next installment of my Martha Stewart Dinner at Home adventure. You can see all past recipes here.

Menu:
Skillet Rib-Eye Steaks
Broiled Peppers with Melted Cheese
Broccoli with Garlic and Anchovies
Molten Chocolate-Espresso Cakes

Why & Who:
I haven't done this in months and months. So I decided to dive into the fall section for simple dinner with me and Ryan.

Rating (1-10):
Ryan - Steak - 8, Peppers - 6, Broccoli - 7.5, Cake - 9
Ryan - Steak - 8, Peppers - 6, Broccoli - 6, Cake - 7
Pictures:

MSDAH plated dinner.

Molten Cakes.

Season steaks.

Broil peppers.

Broccoli ingredients.

Cake ingredients.

Chopped up anchovies. I have never opened a can before. Very salty and fishy.

Broccoli with anchovies & garlic. Cook until broccoli is slightly softened.

Add asiago cheese to roasted peppers and cook again until melted.

Add balsamic to broccoli and serve.

After cooking on both sides let steak rest on cutting board.

Chop it up diagonal-wise & serve.

Plated dinner.

Dinner thoughts: Each item individually was pretty good but overall it was too greasy of a meal. The cheese on the peppers was too spicy for my liking and Ryan thought it didn't bond at all with the peppers. There was a sheen of oil on the top of them. The broccoli was tasty in a greasy salty sort of way. But since the peppers were greasy salty too the broccoli could have been good really plain. And the steak came out really tender and yummy. This was the first time I have ever prepared rib-eye. It is a fattier cut of meat so again greasy. And this is from a lover of greasy. So to make this meal again - I would use different cheese for the peppers, make the broccoli more plain and leave the steak exactly the same!

Mix up flour, espresso (didn't have espresso powder so I used a little bit of coffee grounds - prob not the same but I'm not a huge cake that tastes like coffee fan anyway), salt, butter, sugar, eggs. Supposed to be in specific order and beating until things are certain consistency but I just dumped everything in.

To melt the chocolate chips I don't do the double boiler thing. I just put it in the microwave on medium and stir occasionally. Seems to work.

Mix in.

Bake until middles don't jiggle when tin is shaken.

Ooey gooey middle!

Cake thoughts: This cake was much better then I expected. Light and moist and not too sweet. The only thing that would have improved it was a little vanilla ice cream on the side. Ohh and maybe a bit of raspberries or strawberries. Mmmm!

martha stewart dinner at home - spring menu 8

2010-11-03T17:29:00.001-07:00

(Should have been posted in May.)

Here is my next installment of my Martha Stewart Dinner at Home adventure. You can see all past recipes here.

Menu:
Tomato, Rice and Sausage Soup
Catfish Po'boys
Tangy Coleslaw
Bananas with Caramel Sauce

Why & Who:
I have had these pictures since Mother's Day. My Mom, Dad, bro Joe and sis Athena came over to eat and celebrate Mother's Day. It's been awhile so I don't remember the feedback but luckily I wrote down the ratings. I do remember that everyone gobbled everything down and pretty much loved it.

Rating (1-10):
Crystal - Slaw - 8.5, Sandwich - 9, Soup - 8, Bananas - 6
Mom - Slaw - 9, Sandwich - 10, Soup - 8, Bananas - 7
Dad - Slaw - 8, Sandwich - 9, Soup - 8, Bananas - 7.5
Athena - Slaw - 7.5, Sandwich - 9, Soup - 8.5, Bananas - 7.5
Joe - Slaw - 8, Sandwich - 9, Soup - 8, Bananas - 7
Ryan - Slaw - 8, Sandwich - 8.5, Soup - 8.5, Bananas - 5

Tangy Coleslaw ingredients.

Close up in a bowl.

Colesalw mixed up and up close.

Soup ingredients.

Browning veggie sausage for Mom.

Browning andouille sausage for everyone else.

Puree tomatoes.

Add celery, peppers and onions to sausage.

Add tomatoes, chicken stock & rice. Boil & simmer.

Soup simmering.

Dad chopping up catfish.

Seasoned.

Seasoned catfish.

Mayo & mustard for sandwiches. (Supposed to be whole grain mustard. but honey had to do.)

Catfish in buttermilk.

Then into cornmeal & flour mix.

Into the hot oil!

Um turns out the top that came with the deep fryer isn't supposed to go on the deep fryer while it's hot.

Yummy fish out of the fryer.

Plated food.

Up close with my sandwich.

Banana ingredients.

Whipped up some cream.

Sugar and water waiting to turn into caramel.

Sugar water starting to boil.

Turning brown after forever.

Browner!

Bananas with nuts and whipped cream.

Plus the hard earned caramel.

Dessert up close.

What I do remember is you should always buy caramel sauce. It takes forever and is boring and hot to make. Also use deep fryers outside because your house stinks like fried fish for weeks if you do it in the kitchen. :P

manatee springs with mom

2010-08-20T18:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my mom and I went to Manatee Spring together. I can't remember the last time we did something just the two of us. It was really nice to spend the day with her.

As we pulled up there were the most docile deer I have ever seen.

They were right in front of our car.

Manatee Springs

Mom jumping in.

Me swimming. (My scrunched up face gives me more respect for the America's Next Top Model girls who have to look pretty in an underwater photosession.)

They had a boardwalk to the Suwannee River.

The sun was doing amazing ray of light things through the crystal clear water. This picture doesn't capture how pretty and sparkly it was.

Mom.

Me.

Mom packed us delicious lunches of avocado wraps and grapes. After swimming we sat in the sun eating and reading our books. Lovely.

cruise pix

2010-08-07T18:35:00.000-07:00

Day 1 - Port of Tampa -

Watching the safety demo at our 'mustard' station.

Our fun room.

Ready to explore the ship.

Leaving rainy Tampa.

Down to the casino.

They were having martini tasting.

Very very strong drinks. Not delicious or fruity. I still drank most of them.

Learning craps. Spent the night drinking and playing blackjack until wee hours. Then late night room service. Too silly to remember to take food photos. Fun.

Day 2 - At Sea

Yummy breakfast buffet.

Rainy day at sea.

Hung over but happy.

After naps we ate lunch in the dining room.

Chilled avocado soup. (Tasted like guac - sorta wanted sour cream and some chips with it.)

Fish with potatoes and green beans. Yummy.

Ship was called Legend. Art that said "Athena" in the stairwell.

Spa waiting room. After lunch Ryan booked us spa appointments. Full body exfoliation, facial AND massage. Heaven.

Exploring the ship.

Late afternoon snack of tuna melt.

First night sit down dinner was fancy. Dressed up in my little sisters prom dress. Gorgeous gown that is totally covered in beads. Loved to have a reason to wear it. It had a train!

Stuffed mushrooms.

At dinner.

Lobster was SO GOOD. Perfectly melt in your mouth cooked. I got Ryan to order me a second entree. Hee hee.

Chocolate lava cake and ice cream.

Showing off my train.

Bathroom pix.

Changed into more comfortable dress before comedy show.

The comedian kept asking everyone in the audience what they did for a living and then would make pretty funny off the cuff remarks. I had quite a few drinks and after the show talking with Ryan I thought I was the funniest person ever for saying, 'He was funny but I didn't know we were going to the career fair!' And almost falling off my chair laughing.

Long stumble home.

Day 3 - Grand Cayman

View from our room. Pirate ship sailed by and fired a cannon at our ship. Weird.

Taking the tender to shore.

Snorkel boat.

Snorkeling Cayman Island reef.

After snorkeling the reef we moved to another spot called Sting Ray city.

Cayman beer.

Early night. We were exhausted. Ate some room service and conked out.

Day 4 - Cozumel

Sinkhole that connects to ocean. Mayan's would sacrafice girls in the water to become afterlife queens.

Mayan caves. They used them to hide when there were hurricanes.

Margaritas at the dock. Very Mexico.

Buffet for dinner. (After fancy night we never made it back to sitdown dining room lunch or dinner again.) BRIE mashed potatoes were SO GOOD.

Cute little towel animal on our bed. Crazy night of drinking and gambling and meeting new friends and running around the boat being silly.

Day 5 - Honduras

Unfortunately we planned a beach day so we thought we could be a little extra silly the night before. Turned out to be so silly we never left our room for the entire day. Sad I missed Honduras. Sort of fantastically lovely to spend the day in bed with room service, your honey and a book.

Day 6 - Belize

Took a 1.5 hour bus ride to rain forest and mayan caves for 'Raiders of the Lost Mayan' adventure. Hiking, exploring caves, crawling through little openings, rappelling down into caverns, rope suspension bridges and zip lines! Sign me up!

Ryan slept.

Peek a boo.

Even though he wasn't supposed to Ryan wore flip flops so the guides taped his shoes on.

All fixed.

Into the forest!

Zip lines!

They served us a really delicious lunch of chicken with green peppers and onions with tortillas and baked beans.

Kids in a doorway on the ride home.

Caught some rays after we got back on board.

Day 7 - At sea

Spent the last day bumming around. Finished my second of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo books. (Good!) Signed up for fancy steak house dinner for our last night with a Canadian couple we hung out with almost every night.

Fantastic view from our table.

Cute.

Doug & Ryan

Crystal & Nicole

Zucchini and bread with caviar?

Escargot bourguignon (had to look up that spelling!)

Shrimp cocktail.

Surf and turf. Steak was excellent. Lobster was overcooked.

Mini chocolate sampler desserts. Soo good. But I was about to die from overeating.

Last night had a heart towl. Cute.

Lovely lovely trip. Very glad to be home. Happy to see puppy. Ryan's sister was our housesitter. She cleaned the whole house and washed all the towels and sheets by the time we got home. So lovely to come home to perfect house! Thanks Cecelia!

Oregon Day 2

2010-07-12T17:06:00.001-07:00

Day 2:
Tillamook Cheese Factory & Air Museum, Lincoln City Mo's & Beach, Otter Rock Cape Foulweather, Agate State Park Overlook, Seal Rock, Devil's Elbow State park & Heceta Head lighthouse, Reedsport elk viewing

Breakfast

Everyone enjoying breakfast.

Cheese factory!

Air museum!

Diving south we see a cow giving birth and pull over to watch for a few minutes.

Stopped in Lincoln City for lunch at Mo's Restaurant and a walk on the beach.

Driving...

Cape Foulweather

Agate Beach State Park

Devil's Elbow State Park

Reedsport

Crashed at a casino that night.

Oregon - Day 1

2010-07-12T17:04:00.001-07:00

Day 1:

Gainesville to Citra: midnight - 2am
Citra to Tampa: 4am - 6am
Tampa to Denver: 7am - 9am
Denver to Portland: 12pm - 1:47pm (4:47 EST)
Portland to Tillamook: 3pm - 5pm
Visiting and sunset: 5pm - 11pm
Bed: 12am (3am EST! Phew loooong day!)

I was on a different flight then my parents and brother. They arrive to PDX after flying through LA at 3:30 PST.

Waiting in the Portland airport reading Chelsea Handler on my iPad while eating German food. Lovely.

Excited we got our rental car. Begin driving to the coast.

Waterfall somewhere outside Portland.

Arrive in Garibaldi/Tillamook area. Meet up with both of my mom's sisters, one uncle, three cousins & grandma.

View from our rental balcony.

Aunt Jackie brough Aunt Jeanine a fun 50th hat. Can't you see how much she loves it?

I walk in to a bedroom and my mom and both my aunts are sticking their heads out the window clucking over the garden. I don't see my aunts very often and it cracked me up because it sounded like my mom talking to herself multiplied x3.

Joe decided to sketch the pier.

Evening feast as everyone arrives.

Food.

Sunset walk over the tracks to the pier. It's SO COLD!

Coast guard station with cute little birdie.

Sunset.

View looking back at our rental. Grandma in blue on the balcony waving.

Everyone was super chilly. What is this weather in JULY?

Mom and her two sisters.

Sunset. 10:00pm PST (1am EST!)

athena's graduation

2010-06-05T14:42:00.001-07:00

Here are shots from Athena's graduation.

We look like a crayola box!

martha stewart dinner at home - summer menu 5

2010-05-06T16:01:00.000-07:00

Here is my next installment of my Martha Stewart Dinner at Home adventure. You can see all past recipes here.

Menu:
Tender Shredded Pork
Mexican Corn Cakes
Red Beans with Cheese
Tequila-Soaked Lemon Sorbet

Why & Who:
We have two house guests this week and it happened to be Cinco de Mayo. So I decided to try out a Mexican themed summer menu.

Rating (1-10):
Mike - Beans - 7, Corn Cake - 5, Pork - 7, Sorbet - NA
Dave - Beans - 7, Corn Cake - 5, Pork - 6, Sorbet - NA
Ryan - Beans - 7, Corn Cake - 4, Pork - 6, Sorbet - 8
Crystal - Beans - 7, Corn Cake - 7, Pork - 6, Sorbet - 8

Pictures:

MSDAH picture of the corn cakes and pork.

Picture of beans and sorbet.

For the Red Beans and Cheese you simmer kidney beans in chicken stock with bay leaves, onion, jalapeno and cumin.

Drain the beans and remove all the extras but reserve a bit of liquid.

Mash in some cheese with a potato masher until about half the beans are broken and half are still whole.

Bean thoughts: The recipe calls for cotija cheese but says feta can be a replacement. I went with feta. Everyone was surprised by how much they liked this dish. I mean beans? How exciting are they? Even Ryan who doesn't love feta really liked the beans. I think this was (very surprisingly) everyone's favorite part of the meal. The tangy salty feta flavor with the smooth chicken stock infused beans was a great combination.

For the corn cakes you mix cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt, cheese (feta again) and corn.

You slowly mix in water until the mixture just holds together.

You make 1/3 cup patties and fry them in an oiled pan for about 4 minutes a side.

Finished corn cakes

Corn close up

Corn cake thoughts: I really like corn breads. Especially if they have whole kernels of corn. So I think I'm inherently biased to these cakes. The boys didn't love them. I think 4 minutes per side overcooked them because they were a little hard. Either that or the boys would just have preferred a more bread-y and less corn meal-y texture. Ryan (who doesn't love bread anything) said we should have just had tortillas.

Pork was cooked in chicken stock, onions, jalapeno chile, cilantro, cumin and bay leaf for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes you are supposed to be able to shred the pork with a fork. I couldn't and ended up cooking it for another 10.

After it was boiled you shred it with a fork on a rimmed baking sheet with more onions, salt & pepper and a drizzle of butter. And then you broil the pork for 7 minutes.

Pork close up.

Pork thoughts: The name of this recipe is tender shredded pork and it was indeed shredded pork. But not tender. If I were to make this recipe again I would hands down use a crock pot. The meat wasn't tough but it wasn't that perfect tender fall apart on your plate and melt in your mouth sort of composition that meat sometimes achieves. It was okay but not fantastic. It looked pretty though. Nicely browned on the edges and sprinkled with pepper. Just needed that extra tenderizing magic that a crock pot can provide.

Chopped up cilantro and tomatoes for toppings along with sour cream. The avocado that was supposed to be sliced prettily on the corn cakes had turned totally black so it got tossed out.

Here's my plate.

Close up.

For dessert there was super simple lemon sorbet with tequila and lime zest on top.

Sorbet thoughts: Lovely. It was light and fresh. I was worried that tequila might be too strong a flavor but the sorbet compensated and it tasted like a lemony margarita. Simple easy and delish!

bowling

2010-05-06T12:31:00.001-07:00

martha stewart dinner at home - summer menu 1

2010-04-28T07:59:00.000-07:00

Here is my next installment of my Martha Stewart Dinner at Home adventure. You can see all past recipes here.

Menu:
Balsamic Mushrooms
Tomato, Basil, and White Bean Salad
Pancetta Cheeseburgers
Coconut-Topped Cupcakes

Why & Who:
On Sunday afternoon Ryan and I had our first party guests over to the new house! The idea was to BBQ outside but the weather didn't agree. We moved inside and had a great time despite the dreary rainy day.

The best part of this recipe session was the variety of opinions on the exact same meal. We all have our preferences to flavor, texture and ingredients. So interesting to me to see the different responses to the same food.

Rating (1-10):
Rob - Mushrooms - 6, Tomato Salad - 8, Burger - 7.5, Cupcake - 9
Josh - Mushrooms - NA, Tomato Salad - 5, Burger - 6.5, Cupcake - 8
Ryan - Mushrooms - NA, Tomato Salad - 7, Burger - 7.5, Cupcake - NA
Crystal - Mushrooms - 6, Tomato Salad - 6, Burger - 8, Cupcake - 7
Noelle - Mushrooms - 7, Tomato Salad - NA, Burger - 7, Cupcake - 5
Tracy - Mushrooms - 6, Tomato Salad - 6, Burger - 7, Cupcake - 6

Pictures:

MSDAH picture of the pancetta burgers.

Picture of the mushrooms and cupcake.

Cook mushrooms with olive oil.

Stir in balsamic vinegar, red pepper flakes and salt & pepper. I was a little heavy handed with the red pepper flakes so they had a bit more kick then they should have.

Mushroom thoughts: I think mushrooms are a love 'em or hate 'em sort of food. I happen to love them and would eat their fungi goodness all day long. Josh and Ryan politely declined the dish. So for a big group, where there are usually quite a few people who are less then enthusiastic about mushrooms, I usually will pass on recipes with them as a main ingredient.

As far as this specific dish... eh. I personally thought there wasn't enough interesting flavors to be a stand alone side (Even though I think the flavor of mushrooms sauteed in just butter is 'interesting' enough to be eaten by the bucket.) but it was just fine along with the rest of the meal. I think the ratings of 6s, 7s and NAs reflect that.

Next the tomato, basil and white bean salad. Cook olive oil and garlic until fragrant.

Mix beans, basil and tomatoes in a bowl with salt & pepper.

Add garlic and oil to bowl and toss with salt and pepper.

Up close with the salad.

Salad thoughts: The description for the salad says that it is inspired by a caprese salad with the beans in place of the mozzarella. Um, replace the cheese? Is that ever a good idea? I thought that the salad tasted fresh and summery. Everyone liked the salad but there was no wow factor. The basil, tomato and beans combination was tasty. The beans were a nice creamy yet mild addition but everything is better with cheese. I could see myself making caprese salad with the beans added for additional bulk to the salad.

Burger time. Ground beef chuck with paprika and chili powder.

Pancetta on a baking sheet ready to be toasted in the oven.

Meat made into 1/4 lb patties and cooked on medium for about 4 min per side.

Pancetta came out of the oven crispy, greasy (positive adjective in my book) and sooo delicious. I had never eaten Pancetta before. The flavor was saltier and had a more complex flavor then bacon. (I just looked it up on wikipedia and it says it's made with salt, nutmeg, pepper and fennel.)

The burgers were topped with fontina cheese. Fontina cheese is one of my favorite cheeses. (Again from wikipedia: Fontina has a mild, somewhat nutty flavor, while rich, herbaceous and fruity. It melts well.)

The burgers were put together with no additional condiments. Just the patty, fontina, pancetta and buns.

Macro shot.

Burger thoughts: I forget about hamburgers for long periods of time in every day life. (Guess growing up vegetarian will do that to you.) Then every so often I'll eat a good burger and realize they can be really really delicious. This one was really really delicious. Everyone enjoyed them and the addition of the pancetta seemed to go over really well. I don't eat burgers often enough to compare this one with a really good restaurant one but I was thrilled with the salty, seasoned flavor of the pancetta mixed with the mild melty cheese and hot juicy burger. Mmmm.

Finally the cupcakes.

Mix butter & sugar until fluffy. Then add eggs and vanilla.

Add flour, baking powder and salt.

I am terrible at spooning batter into cupcakes. I always fling it all over the pan trying to fill the cups and it turns into burnt smokey crud in the oven. My solution is the pour the batter into a ziplock, clip the corner of the bag and then easy peasy pipe it into the cupcake liners.

Macro batter shot.

Bake until knife comes out smooth.

For the icing mix cream cheese, butter, confectioners' sugar and coconut extract.

Tracy was nice enough to frost the cupcakes and top them with shredded coconut while I cooked the burgers. Picture perfect result.

Macro cupcake.

Maco bitten cupcake.

Cupcake thoughts: Cupcakes were very popular. Think there were some sweet teeth (Can that be plural? Sounds weird.) in the group. The texture of the cake part was light like angel food cake. The texture was mentioned both as a positive and a negative by different people. Personally I was sort of neutral on them. They were great and yummy and they were gobbled up. But I can't help but think they weren't absolutely extraordinary. Very delicious and a decent go to recipe. But not exactly a recipe to be handed down to my grand kids as the best thing ever. (I was also surprised that no one disliked coconut. I thought that was another common dislike.)

house progress pix

2010-04-27T13:14:00.000-07:00

Here are some progress pictures of some of the stuff we've been working on. I have so many photos that at the end of all of this I'm going to make a before and after construction book. But this is a little peak of some of the things that have been happening.

Bedroom originally.

Hardwood flooring being laid in the master bedroom.

Beautiful finished floor!

There is permanent construction dust that reappears overnight regardless of how frequently I sweep. I cannot wait until all cutting & sanding has ceased so we can do a top to bottom cleaning of the house and not constantly have a layer of dust on everything.

Start of patio area.

The lawn guys cleared out of weeds and ground somewhat leveled.

But they ran out of time and so Ryan and I decided to finish the patio on our own. Dug down four inches, patio frame built and lower layer sand being leveled. Ryan finished digging out a 20 ft long x 13 ft wide x 4 inches deep area that used to be overgrown and crazy looking. Then created a wood border and shoveled and leveled two layers of different kinds of sand into the area. Sounds easy enough but it was sooo hard.

Ryan made a leveling tool to get the sand just right.

Second finer sand was added as top layer.

Patio paver start. It was like working on a very heavy puzzle.

End of a long day. Pavers almost completely finished.

Ran out of daylight on Saturday night. We're putting the mortar sand in around midnight.

The final happy product. We added two 16 foot palm trees against the fence. You can see them perfectly out the window of our bathroom over the soaker tub. It's such a lovely extension to the pool deck. Now we're in the market for a fun BBQ to set up. Can't wait to sun & grill outdoors!

Concrete floors in Ryan's office.

New hardwood flooring going into Ryan's office.

New floors finished. Original floors are the slightly darker ones before the door opening and the new flooring is in the office. We are super pleased about how well they match. The slight color differentiation looks even less noticeable in person. Yay no more carpet!

Ryan's office starting to come together.

Bar area became the catch all for tools.

Start of the drywall in the bar.

More drywall shots. Sliding doors out!

Here's a shot of the same door but from inside. Living room originally.

Throughout the house we had new white baseboards installed and painted all the door and window casings white to match.

Now we have five new french door sets replace the aging sliding glass ones! Absolutely love them!

french doors in livingroom & hall

2010-04-23T20:53:00.001-07:00

Exciting!

bedroom open to the elements

2010-04-23T19:18:00.003-07:00

bedroom prepped for french doors

2010-04-23T19:18:00.001-07:00

view from library

2010-04-23T19:17:00.000-07:00

martha stewart dinner at home - spring menu 13

2010-04-22T21:59:00.000-07:00

Here is my next installment of my Martha Stewart Dinner at Home adventure. You can see all past recipes here.

Menu:
Spicy Stuffed Celery Sticks
Baked Flounder with Lemon and Onions
Saffron-Tomato Rice
Bread and Butter Pudding with Strawberries

Why & Who:
Ryan and I watching the draft while bar room is being drywalled.

Rating (1-10)*:
Ryan - App - 5, Rice - 6, Fish - 6, Bread & Strawberries - 8.5
Crystal - App - 6, Rice - 7.5, Fish - 7, Bread & Strawberries - 8.5

Pictures:

Work going on in the bar room. Putting in french doors and drywalling over the wood paneling.

MSDAH picture of fish and rice.

MSDAH pictures of celery app and bread dessert.

First the celery app. Mix softened cream cheese, horseradish and tabasco.

Playing with my super macro setting on my camera. Took lots of really up close pictures. Fun!

Loaded up the celery sticks with the mix and devoured.

Super macro shot.

Celery thoughts: I liked the mixture of flavors of horseradish and cream cheese. I associate horseradish exclusively with oysters and celery with eating wings - since I love both those foods the app made me pretty happy. Ryan liked it too but after two sticks he said that it became too rich to eat too many of them. Both of us enjoyed it.

Next the rice. I have never purchased saffron before and it took me forever to find it in the spice section. Um, $6.95 for an itty bitty container.

Up close with the saffron.

Boil the rice with saffron and seasonings.

Cut up tomatoes and oregano.

Mix in with finished rice.

Super macro rice.

Rice thoughts: The rice was a great spring dish. The rice was nicely buttery and the addition of oregano and tomatoes made it fresh and flavorful. Yum. This dish will never be the star of dinner but it makes a nice sidekick.

For the fish you slice onions and lemons with butter and seasoning and bake at 400.

Macro shot of lemon and butter.

After onions and lemons have baked for 40 minutes you add flounder, cover it with goodness and bake for another 15.

Plated food.

Macro shot of fish and lemon with rice on the side.

Fish thoughts: The fish was also a nice light dish. I liked the baked onion and lemony flavor. Ryan ate two large pieces and didn't feel full so I wouldn't serve it as a substantial meal. But it was an easy weeknight sort of dish.

Bread Pudding ingredients.

Mixed together milk, cream, eggs, rum, vanilla and sugar.

Poured over buttered bread slices and let sit for an hour. (Ryan walked by at this point and skeptically asked if dessert was strawberry sandwiches.)

Sprinkle sliced strawberries with sugar and let macerate to make delicious juice.

Bread pudding puffed up in the oven!

It came out toasty with crunchy sugar glaze and moist pudding middle.

Sugar deliciousness.

Dessert assembled. Make sure to pour the strawberry juice onto the pudding.

Up close with strawberries and bread pudding.

Dessert thoughts: YUM. The bread came out crunchy in parts and ooey gooey in others. The entire thing had a crystalized sugar glaze and it was oohhh soooo good. In general I'm a few bites of dessert kind of gal but I went back for a heaping pile of seconds. Ryan also thought it was delicious. He was especially surprised how much he liked it considering most of the dessert was bread.

*To clarify our rating scale, we've decided that a rating of 1 is 'barf', 3 is 'a little weird', 5 is 'nothing exciting but good food', a rating of 7 is a 'great' and 10 is 'best thing I've ever eaten!'

dix's wedding

2010-04-22T20:05:00.000-07:00

Outside the church. Ryan, me and his eldest brother Mike.

Ryan, Richard & Mike

Ceremony.

Best wishes for the new couple.

Ryan's family shot. I'm really trying to scrunch down because my cute tall shoes make me about 6 feet tall.

The newlyweds.

Big present.

Appetizers.

New porch decorated for dinner.

Pretty table set up.

Jerry (the best man) gives a toast.

Delicious dinner.

Smiling before cutting the cake.

Cake on each other's faces.

martha stewart dinner at home - spring menu 12

2010-04-15T10:43:00.000-07:00

Here is my next installment of my Martha Stewart Dinner at Home adventure. You can see all past recipes here.

Menu:
Pan-Roasted Chicken Pieces
Wilted Dandelion Greens (ended up mixed greens)
Lemon-Thyme Spoonbread
Raspberries with Honey and Buttermilk

Why & Who:
Ryan and I had a big day on the house. Flooring 1/2 installed in his office (finally found almost matching hardwood!), major backyard cleanup crew, deep cleaning inside, fixed paint screwup in the pool table room and finished skim coating the third bathroom. Yay! Found some time for a big grocery run so I bought ingredients for two different spring menus and decided to go with #12 first. Major day! :P

Rating (1-10):
Ryan - Salad - 8.5, Spoonbread - 5*, Chicken - 7.5, Raspberries - 7
Crystal - Salad - 7.5, Spoonbread - 7, Chicken - 7.5, Raspberries - 8.5
*(Said he doesn't like any bread except sandwich bread.)

Pictures:

MSDAH picture of chicken, spoonbread & greens.

Pictures of recipes & raspberries.

First the salad. Chop up bacon (supposed to use slab bacon but I used regular bacon) and cook it up in a pan.

Remove bacon and cook shallots in about a tablespoon of leftover grease.

When shallots have softened, add bacon back in with red wine vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper.

Toss dressing on greens. I couldn't find dandelion greens so I went with mixed greens.

Salad up close. Ryan really liked this salad. He kept saying, 'Mmmmm this is good!' He said the red wine vinegar cut the bacon flavor just right. He also liked that it was warm. I liked the salad a lot too. But I'm super hard to impress with salads. I think I would cook the dressing a little longer so that the red wine flavor was a bit more mild. But all in all mustard, bacon & onion make for a pretty delicious salad dressing.

Next the spoonbread. Heat up butter, milk and cream.

Wisk together cornmeal, baking powder, thyme and lemon zest.

Add milk mixture to cornmeal and then add 3 eggs.

Pour into pan and bake until jiggly but not wet. Let rest for 15 minutes. Ryan says he's not a bread fan in general. I liked it okay. I personally always like cornbread to have whole kernels of corn. I did like that the lemon and thyme gave it a nice subtle unusual flavor. The one thing that was weird was that even though I mixed it like crazy the bread had an eggy layer on top and a bready bottom. Think it's supposed to be more uniformly incorporated.

Next the chicken. Sear chicken skin side down.

Turn the chicken and add whole pan to the oven.

After baked to 165 degrees remove chicken and use pan juices to mix in white wine, chicken stock, butter and lemon juice. Mmmm.

Finished chicken and sauce. Pour on top and serve on the side.

Up close with chicken and sauce. Ryan said he loved how moist the chicken was. I love my chicken super flavorful (read: salty) so I had to add a bit of salt. It was very tasty but I like recipes with a bit stronger flavor. Maybe more lemon next time?

Finished plate of spoonbread and chicken.

Dessert - raspberries, honey and buttermilk. I had no idea what buttermilk was or tasted like. Ended up tasting a lot like plain yogurt. I really like plain yogurt, Ryan not so much. I could eat piles and piles of berries sweetened with honey and sitting in yogurt. Mmmmm. Light and fresh and the milk was slightly yogurt-y tart. Loved it.

easter

2010-04-07T10:58:00.000-07:00

Ryan and I headed to my parents house and then to Sarah's family's house for Easter breakfast and lunch. Lovely day with friends and family. (Or more accurately my first family and my second family.)

Family Easter picture. Other then my head being a little too tilty - I love this shot. Even Buzz is looking at the camera.

Mom's Easter breakfast. Stone crab quiche, roasted potatoes, rosemary bread and fruit salad. Yum! After eating everyone headed outside to enjoy the weather.

Uriah cleaning fish that he and Dad caught on Dad's birthday fishing trip.

Mom checking on the last of the cabbage.

Dad decided the top of the orange tree needed pruning. Tractor bucket and Joe to the rescue.

Joe took a picture of the girls. He is stupid tall. The camera angle looks like he's on a ladder or something.

Joe, Mom and Athena. (My Mom is 5'8" tall and Joe and Athena are even taller. I'm the shortest in the family at 5'7". Boo.)

Next Ryan and I headed to Sarah's family's house. Ate a ton and relaxed with everyone. Got to hold Karlie a lot. Lovely!

Cutie Karlie wearing my gift dress. Adorable!

Me, Karlie and Sarah. Yay. Lots more of these pictures when she lives 2 hrs away!!

Elaine's Easter spread. Rolls, sweet potatoes, green beans, corn, cheesy potatoes, chicken and deeeelish ribs. Mmmm.

Dessert. I brought lemon squares with meringue topping. (They didn't travel as well as I had hoped. Need to invest in some travel tupperware or something.)

st. patty's day

2010-03-19T10:58:00.000-07:00

Drinking green Grey Goose Red Bulls. :)

martha stewart dinner at home - winter menu 9

2010-03-16T22:09:00.000-07:00

Now that I have all of my cooking equipment out of storage I've decided to work my way through the beautifully photographed Martha Stewart Dinner at Home cookbook. It has 52 menus that are divided into four seasons. To try expand beyond my normal cooking routine I'll aim to make about a menu a week over the next year. Basically, it'll be me doing a less ambitious imitation of the Julie & Julia movie. :)

Ok. Need a format for how these reviews will go. Need what I'm making, a rating, why I chose the menu, who ate it and pictures... anything else?

Menu:
Butter Lettuce with Brie and Pears
Curried Vegetable Potpies
Spiced Lemon Cookies

Why & Who:
Tonight my little brother Joe was coming over to watch Lost and I wanted something in the neighborhood of comfort food while the weather is still cool at night. Decided to go with winter menu 9 on page 239 because of the potpies.

Rating (1-10):
Joe - salad & potpie - 7.5 and cookies 9
Ryan - salad & potpie 7.5
Crystal - salad - 7.5, potpie - 7 and cookies 9

Pictures:

MSDAH picture of potpies.

Pictures of salad and cookies.

First the salad. I put the lettuce, brie and pears on the plates.

Next I mixed up mustard, lemon juice, honey and salt & pepper.

Topped the salad with almonds and dressing. Tah- Dah. Dressing was especially delicious. Pretty lemony tart. Mmmm. And I always love a hunk of cheese anywhere.

For the potpie I melted butter and leeks. (Forgot parsnips and got frozen carrots so didn't add either of those.)

After the leeks are nice a cooked you add flour, milk and one peeled potato.

Added curry powder and a bit of salt and pepper. I think the whole dish should have had more salt. More tasting by me next time.

Brought to a boil and then simmered for 10 minutes. Added frozen peas & carrots. Also tossed in some steamed chicken to give it some meat.

I don't own ramekins so I bought little mini bread loaf pans. Spooned mixture into each one and topped with puff pastery dough. Forgot to poke holes in the top.

But I think they still came out nice and pretty.

Here's mine crunched in to see the yummy insides. They were pretty tasty. Like I said earlier I would have added a bit more salt and maybe a touch less curry. But still surprisingly delish.

Finally the cookies. Flour, butter, corriander seeds, zest of 1 lemon and confectioners sugar. Super easy. Although I forgot to whip the butter first and just dumped everything together. Oh well. I just mixed everything a little extra.

Roll into tablespoon sized balls with your hands.

Then coat when they come out with more confectioners sugar. These were by far my favorite part of the meal. And while I enjoy sweets it's usually savory that is my favorite. These were really good. Sort of like lemon shortbread. Mmmm.

Yay! This was fun. Can't wait to pick out the next one!

great grandmom's 90th

2010-02-23T10:56:00.000-08:00

On Sunday Dad, Joe and I drove to St. Augustine for my great grandmother's 90th birthday party at her church. First we visited my grandmother in the hospital and then we went to the beautiful church for the after service celebration and cake.

Church is really pretty.

90!

Me, Mom, Grandmom, Dad

She is the cutest & sweetest little thing.

Joe is 10 feet taller then her. She is telling him here he is handsome.

Grandma Joan (Mom's mom) made GrandMom photo boards of the 1920s, 1940s & 2000s.

Grandmom telling us stories about petting a shark.

With her girlfriends in the 1920s.

She was an only child and they dressed her up as a puffball.

Mom and my great aunt.

Mom helping set up.

Joe and Grandmom.

Me & balloons.

Joe in front of a pretty tree in the church's courtyard.

home improvement

2010-01-28T20:24:00.000-08:00

This is only a fraction of the pictures of work that we've done!

Closing day!

Starting billiards room.

Removing wallpaper in the billiards room.

Removing wallpaper in the billiards room.

Finally no more grass wallpaper!

Trying to choose a good green for above the chair rail.

Finally went with 'Frasier Fir'

Decided to do granite in the bathrooms and on the wet bar so we drove the Palatka to visit the granite shop.

Looking at slabs.

This ones nice!

Starting Master Bath

Master bath horrible brown wall paper removal.

This paper was the worst in the house to remove. Plus there was a peach layer of paint that came off in some places and refused in others.

Master Bath debris

Unfortunately still dealing with the peach paint.

Aftermath. Notice the light box in the upper right hand of the picture?

No more wallpaper/paint! And light box is removed to reveal the nice window. Getting new cherry cabinets. Ordered beautiful dark granite with blue flecks. Exciting!

No more fluorescent lights or horrible brown light box!

Starting Guest Bath

Me removing floral in the guest bathroom.

Wallpaper gone in guest bath!

After removing wallpaper, we decided on new granite tops and new cabinets - so we now have a totally demoed bathroom! (Metal shower door is coming out too.)

Starting Living room

Living room prepped to paint

Living room painted beige

Starting Crystal's Office

Goodbye trees!

Nice soothing grey.

Starting Ryan's Office

Now painted a nice shade of grey. Working on getting the baseboards to a nice white.

christmas morning

2009-12-26T10:10:00.000-08:00

Headed to Orange Lake for Christmas. Mom put up ornaments at the front of the driveway.

Uriah making waffles

Blueberry pancakes, fruit salad & waffles

Cutie pie

Joe bringing in his gifts for everyone

Opening presents

Opening presents

Ryan gets a shirt

I get a MacBook from Ryan!

Going for a walk

Playing in the bamboo

Mom and Grandma Joan

Mom & Dad (I got a label maker and gave everyone green nickname tags hee hee.)

Sibs

Me & Ryan

christmas eve dinner

2009-12-25T09:53:00.000-08:00

Ryan and I went to my parents house to finish wrapping gifts and have a fun little Christmas Eve dinner. My grandmother was in town and it was a fun night with family.

Stone Crab

Polenta with cheese & olives

Caprese

Dad and his girls

Three generations