Cooking update!

Last night I prepared cornish game hens. I never thought I'd do that. But the Baddass saw them for a good price at Kroger and I was intrigued.

It's just like chicken. They were delicious, succulent, and adorable. But over all, nothing earth shattering.

I just like the sound of it, I prepared cornish game hens last night. How was your lean cuisine, bitches?

Ahhhh!!!!!!!!!!!

Cars and car parts are expensive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my... why can't parents pay for that kind of things even after we're married and one our own?! Its a protection thing. I'm still too young and innocent to know how mechanics rape you in prices... sob!

Baby Girl

(Okay, so I know this is an excessive amount of posts for one day, but I've really been meaning to do this post and am finally getting around to it)

Meet the newest addition to our family!

From Welcome to the family Bosco!

Bosco Baddorf

Reasoning

My husband works at a running store. They are having a sale today... better than the managers discount. Since I'm hanging out in the back and dying of boredom, the husband mentions I should look to see if there is anything I want since there are such deals to be had. Not being one to turn down an opportunity to shop, I did.

Now, I'm not a runner... I hate to sweat. I don't go to the gym, despite the fact that I have a (free) membership. But I've got some great workout/running gear. And today I add to it:
- One long sleeve t-shirt... because I don't have one. I've got a thicker turtle neck, but not just a plain, thin-ish long sleeve shirt. This one also has the longer sleeves and a thumb hole. I love thumb hole. That's reason enough to buy it.
- One men's small short sleeve shirt. Women's shirts don't fit me, the men's are longer, baggier, and I can wear a smaller size which makes me feel good.
- Two large women's running shorts. One of them is green, which is my favorite color. The other is black and grey, nice neutral colors. I need a size large right now, so that I can work out and then fit into my old shorts I already have.

See... I need these things!

Cellular

I feel like currently my life is just a series of noises that phones make. Last night we had both of our phones on the chargers in our bedroom. Someone called Bryan after we went to bed and his phone continued to make a noise every 5 minutes to let us know he had a missed call. He believed that it was mine and I knew that it was his, so neither of us did anything about it. I didn't sleep well needless to say. He said he never heard his phone make that noise before, which I believe since he always has it on vibrate.

Currently I am in the back of the Baddass's store. Some employee's phone keeps making the low battery noise. Its driving me crazy.

This blog doesn't have a point, just needed to rant about cell phone noises and how they are out to send me to the Betty.

Couscous Casserole

Last night I made a couscous casserole from my new cooking bible. It was delicious. Tomato sauce, meat, fresh veggies, coucous... what can be better?! Well... it might have been better with a little onion in there, but someone I know doesn't like onion. They also don't like tomatoes or squash, but if I left those things out it would have been beef and couscous and not have nearly the delicious flavor that this casserole did.

The only negative was that it required a couple of pans. One to cook the tomato sauce and one to brown the meat. But once I got the casserole assembled and in the oven I could wash the pots and have the kitchen spotless in time to mess it all up again.

I do love a casserole when having company over. Mainly because I like getting the kitchen as clean as possible. Making it all look effortless is as important as taste to me. I don't know why. Its probably an ego thing. I should get over that.

My concession to hostess last night was wearing a t-shirt (no bra!) and jeans. I don't have to make it all look effortless, delicious, and look good too. Its too much work. Also, I just didn't feel like it.

Spring has sprung!

Spring has officially sprung in our neighborhood.

The vines on the trellis are flowering.

From Spring 2009

I purchased ferns to put in the pots next to the door. Its amazing what having a living plant really does for the area.

From Spring 2009

When we bought the house, the previous owner left us this pot on the front porch. I thought the plant might be dead, but turns out its not. Still not sure what kind of plant it is, but a little mystery makes it a little exciting.

From Spring 2009

We even have flowers blooming in the backyard. Maybe more pictures to come... maybe.

Domesticity

Sometimes I feel so domestic I want to shout it from the moutaintops. And since this is my blog and I can do whatever I want, consider this my mountaintop.

This morning, I got up early, started a load of laundry - which I sorted according to type of clothing (running/t-shirts and actual clothes), started on a tomato sauce for dinner tonight, cooked a breakfast of scrambled cheesy eggs, grits (never mind that they were left over), and toast. The husband made the coffee. And then we loaded the dishwasher together. I love it when I feel super productive.

Tonight we make another addition to the family. Yes, we are crazy. And no, mom, we do love each other enough.

Cooking update: Eggplant is delicious... or at least I think so. I broiled them for about 10 minutes. So tender and delicious I can only compare it to the wonderfulness of filet mignon. Maybe that is stretching it a bit, but the test and texture just felt that luxurious. The Baddass wasn't as impressed. Typical.

Yesterday a second house on our block went up for sale. Even though I haven't had the chance to get these neighbors, its depressing. Our friends need to buy them so we can hang out all the time and have block parties. Won't that be fun? Sigh...

The Baddass is very particular about his shoe laces... he's currently ranting about it. Its sorta cute.

11 months

Today marks 11 months of being married. It has gone by so fast, and yet it also hasn't.  At what point are not a newlywed anymore?

In other news, I'm cooking with eggplant tonight. Don't tell the Baddass, I'm not sure how he feels about the vegetable. For that matter, I'm not sure how I feel about it either. Other than the fact that my grandmother makes the best fried eggplant ever which I haven't had since I was in 7th grade. Sigh.

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Creamed Corn

I tried my first recipe from How to Cook Everything last night. Creamed corn with cheese. Bryan said it was the best corn he's ever had in his whole life. And I'm not exaggerating. 

I think I may have found a new best friend.

Cooking

I got this this weekend!Woot!

I've started flipping through it page by page, but am only halfway through. The recipes are simple and yet offer many different ways to spice it up and customize it to your preferences. I cannot wait to get started!

Sweet

The Baddass bought me flowers for the third time yesterday. Because he knows that I like to have fresh flowers when we have guests over... I don't know what is sweeter. The fact that the bought me flowers, or that he bought flowers because he knows that I like to have them to impress people with? Hmm...

Either way, its sweet.

Progress

We made a lot of progress on the house over the weekend. We got the kitchen finished (well mostly, still need to do a few cabinets and the ceiling) and started on the bathroom. Its nice to look back and see what all we've accomplished and to know that the end is in sight. At least with the painting.

From 1952 Court

Culinary Explorations

So I know I promised a while back that I was going to do more experimental cooking and I haven't, until yesterday.

One of our favorite dishes to get out is Bibimbap, a Korean dish we get at a local restaurant. We want to love the restaurant, but the service seriously sucks, so we refuse to go back. We have serious cravings for this dish and every once in a while I consider going back. But now I don't have to! I came across a recipe the other day in my daily readings (http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2009/03/dinner-tonight-korean-bibimbap-recipe.html) and decided to try it. Mainly because my husband loves oriental food and I had promised him something "sexy" after refusing to make dinner the other night.

It was expensive to make this first time since I had to purchase sesame seed oil, rice vinegar, and chili paste along with the rest of the ingredients. But it won't be as bad when we make it in the future. The dish is rice based with meat, veggies, and an egg on top. The beauty of this dish is that there are so many possibilities and you can cater to your likes (or in some people's cases, dislikes). And its probably healthy. A lean meat, veggies, and an egg... that's healthy right? It was also not difficult to make at all. Very easy for beginners like me.

I was very proud of myself for trying a dish that is out of my comfort zone. I promptly called my mother to boast of my success. The husband was very happy and impressed as well. I will be definitely be trying more new and "sexy" dishes in the future.