July Update (i.e. craziness)

Life has been crazy to say the least! 

Not only did we move July 4th weekend, but Jay also accepted a new job after 7 years with the same company. We both had been patiently waiting for the right opportunity to come along for him and it finally did. There are going to be a lot of adjustments to make for both of us - sacrifices really, but we both feel excited and confident about what the future holds with this new opportunity! 

Jay left a company that has become family to us over the years. He started at the bottom flying the smallest planes and worked his way up to management. He did such a great job, gained some great experience, and made many friends that we both will cherish for life. I was the only lucky lady invited to his little going away gig, so took a few pictures: 

There was such a great turnout and I even got a little sappy thinking about all the great memories we've made with these guys (typical me, I know). 

To Jay!

One night we went out to celebrate before Jay left for training. We've always wanted to try Coup Des Tartes and finally booked a reservation! It's the area's longest running BYOB restaurant, so we brought a bottle from our wine fridge that we'd been saving for a nice dinner. 

The food was DELICIOUS. I tried taking pictures of the food, but unfortunately they didn't turn out very good so here's what we had - picture this in your head:

Brie Brulee - Brie covered with caramelized apples and bruleed to perfection. Served with toast points and seasonal fruits.

Fire & Ice Salad - A fresh tower of watermelon dusted with cayenne pepper and topped with organic tomatoes, finished with toasted pistachios (which we did without), and a drizzle of aged balsamic glaze. (this was soooooo good. It sounds strange, but it was the perfect combination!)

Filet Mignon (Jay) - topped with fresh herb butter. Served with pesto, mushroom, and parmesan stuffed tomato and pomme frites.

Mahi Mahi (Amie - yes, I ordered fish!) - Oven roasted & topped with a green gazpacho sauce, served with a medley of Isralei cous cous, sugar snow peas, asparagus tips, and grape tomatoes. (can I tell you it was the best fish ever! I am going to crave this dish!)

Chocolate Fleur de Sel tarte  - I can't find it on the online menu but let me just say that I took a small piece of crust home that I couldn't finish and ate it for breakfast. It was divine!

It was such a perfect date night - we talked about all that the future holds, laughed, and found a new favorite spot.

...and while he was at training I bought a $100 garbage can. 

The end.

xoxo

Weekend Update: Dinner and a Moving....

As most of you know, we are in the middle of a move. It has been lingering over our heads for a few weeks now & we finally did some REAL packing this weekend. We are stacking things up where our dining table used to be & will be out by Saturday morning!

We are excited about our new place - it is bigger, closer to work, and in a nice quiet neighborhood close to all the fun that Scottsdale offers! I'll be sure to do a post once we've moved in to show you around. 

Saturday night we decided to get out of the house & use a gift card that one of Jay's pilots got him...luckily it was to the Melting Pot - a place that Jay has never wanted to try (why pay a premium to cook your own food??). I was surprised and excited that we got a reservation at the last minute. 

We started with the cheese course. Jay picked the Traditional Swiss Cheese option. Check out his dipping skills....

After our salads, we shared the "Pacific Rim" (included teriyaki-marinated sirloin, white shrimp, marinated pork tenderloin, breast of duck, breast of chicken and potstickers) and "The French Quarter" (included filet mignon, breast of chicken, and shrimp, all seasoned with cajun spices, and Andouille sausage) with the Mojo Style broth (caribbean-seasoned bouillon with garlic & citrus flavors) to cook it in. It was all very good. 

For dessert, I picked the "Cookies 'n Cream Marshmallow Dream" option which was dark chocolate topped with marshmallow cream, flambeed, swirled together and garnished with crushed Oreos. Need I say more?? We also ordered a Ruby Port - one of my favorite after dinner drinks to have with a chocolate dish. Delicious!

It was such a great night and as some people say "Just What the Doctor Ordered"...and Jay did admit that it wasn't too bad of a date night after all. 

xoxox

Weekend Update: And We're Still Alive

It has been a crazy past few weeks so sorry for the lack of updates! I've also been horrible and have barely taken any pictures so this is likely to be a quick post.

Jay's friend Shawn came to visit from Denver last week. It was so nice to see him and he & Jay had a great time working out, catching some rays, and drinking beer :) We had some great dinners and even made our homemade pasta again but this time with homemade pesto (and homeGROWN too - our basil plant needed to be trimmed!) and chicken. It was very good!

I was outside reading on Sunday afternoon and glanced over at our tomato plant to see this tiny little fruit growing! It was very exciting and I couldn't wait to show Jay that all his watering has been paying off!! I can't wait until we see a few more pop up!

Last night, Jay's cousin Erin and her friend stayed over. They had spent a few days at the Grand Canyon and were flying out this morning. It was a very short (too short!) visit, but so nice to see Erin's smiling face and to make plans for a longer visit! 

This morning after saying goodbye to Erin, I headed to my first day at a new job. I'm very excited about this new opportunity and had a great first day! Of course it was overwhelming with all the new information to absorb, so I'm sure to sleep like a baby tonight. 

We hope everyone is doing well & I promise to be back to the regularly scheduled program soon - I have a From our Kitchen post up on deck!

xoxo

Weekend Update: Easter

We started this weekend off with some grocery shopping & errands on Friday night. It was great getting the errands out of the way so we could relax the rest of the weekend! One of the stops we made was to the library & Jay picked out this book. We got home & he made himself comfortable on the couch for most of the night reading about everything from building a 1-acre farm to canning to composting to raising pigs. 

I got The Help and am really enjoying it! Today I looked forward to going to the park to read a few chapters!

Saturday we had a pretty lazy morning before deciding to go for an afternoon drive. When heading out to the car, I noticed that birds had built a nest up under our roof. You can barely see it here (of course the birds put their heads down as I was taking the picture!), but it's right under that top branch of the bougainvillea up in that corner. I'll have to check back some other time to see if I can get a better picture. 

So, we decided to head south and check out Casa Grande first. There really isn't much there except for some outlet stores that we stopped in. We picked up something perfect for a future "From our Kitchen" post. Anyone have any guesses? 

Next we headed to Eloy to relax a bit at the airport. Can you believe from this sign that it's one of the busiest in the world? 

Well, for this it is:

Can you see 'em now? 

Just as we arrived, 20-30 skydivers jumped out of a plane above us. 

They look really slow until they speed past you in the landing area. 

According to Jay (as you know he's usually right w/these things), Eloy is one of the (if not THE) busiest skydiving airports in the world. Both of us used to fly down to Eloy during flight school for various training flights (hi Ryan!).

We had a beer and appetizer at The Bent Prop Saloon and then sat out on the lawn for a while just watching all of the activity while another round of divers made their way down. It's definitely a hang out spot for people other than skydivers - it's most likely the only place where anything is going on in this very small town!  

Next we headed to Coolidge - another town we've both flown into. Let's just say there wasn't much going on in downtown Coolidge on this Saturday afternoon. I wonder if everyone goes up to "The Big City" on the weekends? It was like a ghost town. 

We also went to Florence which might as well be the same picture as above. Florence had a bit more character though as (I think) it's a bit closer to Phoenix. 

Sunday morning, Jay slept in (till 9!!) while I got up at 7. Talk about role reversal! Due to that, we went to the 10:30 mass. Well let's just say that next Easter, we're going to the 7:00 or 8:30 options! It was crazy packed & we had to stand the whole time. It was a beautiful service & we both really enjoyed the homily. 

We saw Erika & Raelyn along with the Coy family in the courtyard afterwards. Erika was gracious enough to invite us over for a bit and it was so nice catching up! I wish I got a picture of Erika & Raelyn but did snap this great picture of Kelly, Chris, Lyla and Jacob. 

As soon as we got home, I got to cooking. We made ham, corn, these homemade rolls, potatoes, and for dessert, Pioneer Woman's pineapple upside down cake!

Lets just say the cake didn't TURN OUT quite as we planned. Get it? TURN OUT. (I know, I'm hilarious).

It tasted real good but what a sticky mess to clean up! That cast iron pan is just so heavy & next time, instead of trying to help Jay do the flip, I think I'll just let him do it all himself :) 

We hope you and your families had a wonderful Easter weekend and took some time to remember the reason we celebrate it every spring!

xoxo

Weekend Update: Home Sweet Home

On Thursday night, Jay and I looked at each other in shock once again realizing that we'd be home together for another weekend. I know it's probably sounding old to you by now, but for us it really is nice to be home together! Especially after last year. 

Friday night after work we headed directly to Chino Bandito to meet up with not only Jeff, Tara & Alistair but also our friends The Jarmans who were in town from the L.A. area. We had yet to meet little Liam, so it was such a treat getting to meet him and to catch up with Angie & Chad. 

Liam & I got along very well!

The must-take photo with Chino's mascot

Saturday morning after relaxing at home, we headed to the local nursery to find ourselves some pepper plants! My dad made us some hot sauce last year and Jay wants to try to make (and grow!) his own! It was a beautiful day to be at the nursery - being there reminded me of family trips to Claussen's in Vermont when I was growing up!

Look at the smile I caught on Jay! He was strategically trying to avoid the camera, so I think this is a pretty good catch!

The flowers were beautiful! I look forward to the day we can have our own gardens. Flowers out front and a big vegetable garden out back! 

We ended up coming home with a habanero plant and a tomato plant. We were told that both would do well in big pots since we don't have a real yard to plant them in. The other pots in the below picture include seeds (that I found in my storage - they're old though, so not sure if they'll "work") for cilantro, green onion and rosemary. 

Look at Jay tending to his habanero. The guy at the nursery gave him some tips as to how to make them extra hot, so we'll see how that works out!

Remember this post from a few weeks ago when we got cheese curd at the farmer's market? Well lookee what we made here for dinner on Saturday night! I call it Arizona Poutine since we used jalapeno cheese curd. I think it turned out pretty good - not a huge fan of the gravy as I've been spoiled with the homemade stuff my whole life, but overall, I say it was pretty successful! You definitely can't buy this in Phoenix!

And from the farmer's market this week, here's our bounty:

I have decided to do a few "From our Kitchen" posts related to what we get at the farmer's market throughout the week. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with all the yummy things we make!

Until then though - you know it's fresh and local when you get oranges that look like this! It's pretty enough to be in a Sunkist commercial or something!

Can you believe we went to church, enjoyed the annual Knights of Columbus Palm Sunday Pancake Breakfast afterwards (we love it), AND hit the farmer's market all by 11:00am? It was so nice to be up & out and have a full day ahead of us afterwards! We ended up enjoying some sun at the pool for a bit and then got in a workout at the gym as well. We actually worked out both Saturday and Sunday evenings. And tonight too. It feels good to get in some exercise! It also makes me feel less guilt when eating things like this delicious homemade pesto & chicken pasta (made with our very own basil!) that Jay whipped up for dinner last night:

We did a bunch of other cooking this weekend as well so I'll get some fun posts together for those soon! 

Have a great week!

xoxox

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

I thought of the perfect title for a blog post yesterday when I was coming home from work. Ready to hear it?

"No Christmas Tree, No Christmas Tree"

Isn't that clever? You see, it was December 11th and we were treeless. I was to the point where I had come to terms with the fact that we weren't going to have a tree this year. My lovely new computer and desk were now in the only space we had for a tree in our living room. I was thinking of picking up a tiny potted tree to use instead, but never got around to finding the right one (you see, Christmas trees, no matter what the size, must be real in my book).

It didn't really matter though. I came home from work to this beautiful sight:

This 2009 photo ornament (it's our tradition) was tucked inside:

Photo Source

I was so happy that I cried tears of joy. Anyone surprised? Jay sure wasn't when I called him at work to thank him. :)

I had the tree decorated and lit up before I went to bed. And here I sit peeking over at it every now and then, reminded of how simply sweet my husband is.

From Our Kitchen: Ok Well, Not Really

Why hello, Folks! I figured I'd get out of the "Weekend Update" rut and post about something a little different for once. We do fun stuff on weeknights too ya know!

Tonight I got together with Kiera and Tara for another session at Dream Dinners. You may remember me mentioning this in a Weekend Update post a few weeks ago. This time instead of making one meal, we each made 12!!

Our session started at 6, and all the ingredients were ready to go! We rotated around the stations and made all sorts of yummy dinners. Each month, they have a new "menu" to select from so the food never gets boring. Wanna hear what I made?

*Bruschetta Chicken Skewers

*Huge Sausage & Pepperoni Calzone

*Mango Chutney Chicken with Jasmine Rice

*Chicken with Honey, Garlic & Orange

*Savory Grilled Pork Chops with Sweet Potato Fries

*Garlic Balsamic Marinated Steak

*Chicken Mirabella

*Arroz con Pollo

*Classic Chicken & Dumplings

There were a few items that sounded real good, so I made 2 of them. The great thing is that it only took us a little over an hour to make it all and it is super easy to bring back home & store in the freezer.

And what would be a post without a picture? Check out the top shelf in our freezer - all stocked & ready to go for a night I don't feel like cooking!

And, in case you're wondering, the bottom shelf is our meat shelf. Jay is AWESOME at finding great deals, so we have a nice stash of pork chops, steak, chicken, sausage, and bacon for the nights that I feel like chopping, peeling and measuring.

The best of both worlds. Here in our very own freezer. How about that?

Weekend Update: Lots of Fun

We had a great weekend!!

Girls night kicked it off with Tara and I getting pedicures. We had decided last month that we'd like to get each other pedis for our birthdays, so we went to Cloud 9 Spa and got pampered! It was fantastic & I think we both needed a little relaxation. Next, we met up with Kiera, Kathy and Krista for an introductory to Dream Dinners. We each made a dinner that we took home & froze for a night that we want something easy and tasty to cook without much fuss. It was a great time & really easy! We liked it so much that we set a date to go back in December to make more meals :)

Saturday, Jay worked in the morning while I slept in (aaaaahhhh) and did a little fabric shopping. After our mid-afternoon naps, we went to the World's Toughest Rodeo - a division of the Toughest Cowboy series that I worked on earlier this year. We took Shane & Erin to the event at Jobing.com arena and enjoyed the VIP treatment as well as some tough competition. As you can see, Jay and I also sported our Halloween "costumes" so as to fit in as much as possible.
Soon after we got up Sunday morning, we headed to Jay's work for a little bit before hitting Ikea for breakfast & desk shopping. I had to get the Swedish Meatball deal - it was on sale this week for only 99 cents! 10 meatballs, mashed potatoes, and some lingonberries on the side. Delish! Jay had bacon, eggs, french toast sticks, and potatoes for $1.99 - gotta love a good deal!
Here is what we picked up. It's nothing fancy, but we just wanted something that will work until we move to a new place (hopefully in the next year or so). It fits perfectly in the corner and we now have our coffee table back!!
That afternoon we got a call from Shane saying that he & Erin snagged some free tickets (and parking passes!) to the Arizona State Fair. It was the last night of the 3+ week event, and the big Demolition Derby was going on, so how could we resist? But seriously, who am I kidding here? We really went for the food. Fried food & lots of it! Some new options this year were Fried Tiramisu, Fried Cookie Dough, and Fried Butter (though we couldn't find the latter - probably a blessing in disguise):

The Fried Cookie Dough was ok, but the Fried Oreos didn't fail us:
Shane and Erin got a Texas Donut - Erin & I were quick to grab the first bites:
And now here's the kicker. Chocolate covered scorpions. People pay for them. To eat.
Guess who wanted to try??
Shane & Jay chewed up every tiny bite. They both agreed that it tasted like they might have "pickled" them in some sort of alcohol before coating them in chocolate. Kinda like some sick sort of chocolate cordial. I say no thank you.
And finally, before heading to the Derby, we got the required turkey leg, some frilly fries, and grabbed our seats.
The Derby didn't disappoint. Car #7 took home the bounty.

Until next year, State Fair. Our bodies are thankful you are only once a year. I don't think I could handle Fried Oreos available at the local drive-thru.