Finally! Garden Plans 2010...

I think it is finally time to start planting my garden! The trees have began to blossom, and the bugs are coming out in full force. Last weekend, I evaluated our new outdoor space to see what I could do, and it looks like the little bed in front of our house is perfect for a vegetable garden, it gets about 8 hours of direct sunlight a day, and is right next to our house, so hopefully only the bravest squirrels and birds will try to eat my produce.  I am going to try to grow some tomatoes upsidedown this year. I read about this in Real Simple Magazine. If you grow your tomato plants in hanging pots, you will not have to try to prop them up with flimsy wire cages! I am also going to plant my pumpkins and squash in the backyard, away from the rest, because in my experience, these will take over the entire garden if they are in a confined space.

Front yard flower bed:
Corn
Bell peppers
Jalepeno peppers
Loose leaf lettuce (field greens)
Spinach
Broccoli
Cucumbers
Carrots (I've never been successful with these before, so we'll see how it goes)
An herb garden with:
Basil
Cilantro
Parlsley
Oragano

Tomatoes in hanging pots on the patio

Back yard:
Pumpkins for carving
Pumpkins for eating
Butternut squash
Possible more corn

I will also plant a few flowers, just for fun :)
I have 2 calanchos that desperetely need potting and 2 primroses that also need a home.
Growing up, our entire porch was covered in morning glories, they are one of my favorites. It is such a consolation to me when I have to get up early to see the lovely flowers that only come out in the early morning.

I have found that the Farmer's Almanac website has a plethora of gardening advice, so I will be basing the planting dates off of their guide for my region. I will make sure to take tons of pictures as things start to pop up and grow!

Today=FAIL

Today, I had grand plans of posting about a delicious strawberry dish I made this weekend, buuuut instead I am posting about my insane morning. On my way to work today, my stick shift started feeling weird when I was changing gears, almost loose. As I was getting going after a stopping at a stop sign, all of the sudden the stick wouldn't go into gear, the stick was wobbly and felt disconnected. Luckily I was on a residential street, and only going about 15mph, so I coasted over to the side of the road, and parked.

I pulled up the leather cover from the stick shift to find that the part that connects the stick to the rest of the car was held on with DUCT TAPE and had come apart! Oh my gosh, I can't believe I have been driving a car that is held together with tape.

LUCKILY we just got a AAA membership a few weeks ago, so I gave them a call and they sent a tow truck to come drag my poor car to the mechanic. Our membership means that the whole tow was covered, so we didn't have to pay anything for it! Which is great since we just found out that it is going to cost $400 to fix the car.

Well, all I can say is that I am SUPER lucky that we got that AAA membership, and also that we have a mechanic that we can trust. I would have been feeling a lot worse right now without those two things.

I left my camera with the pics from this weekend's dish in the car...so as soon as I get it back...Strawberry Clafouti! Weird name, delicious dish :)

Pinatas for adults, and a mustache and rootbeer party

A month ago I asked my husband "what do you want to do for your birthday?" and he answered "I want to have a moustache and rootbeer party!".  So I basically took that and ran with it. For our wedding we had a DIY portrait station where people could pose for funny photos with some props and costumes I had made. The most popular prop were these felt moustaches I cut out and put on sticks so you could hold them up to your face. So my sister and I made a buch of these for the party to hand out as favors. I also asked the guests to bring a few bottles of their favorite rootbeer for a rootbeer tasting.  I love organizing surprises, so I decided to get a pinata for the birthday boy and surprise him with it during the party.

There is actually a really cool pinata store about a mile from our house so I ducked in there (underneath all the pinata dragons and ponies hanging from the celing) after work and picked out a traditional star shape. To fill it, I wanted to do something a little different, that adults would have fun with, because I didn't think our friends would want a bunch of crappy candy. I went to a dollar store and picked out the following things:

glow sticks
fake roses
mardi gras beads
mini bubbles
1 bag of candy

Once everybody had arrived, had a beer and a burger in hand, and was appropriately moustached, I told everyone I had a special surprise for Zak, and brought out the pinata. We strung it over a tree with an extension cord (I couldn't find my string!) and let the birthday boy do the honors. When everyone saw the contents they went nuts! I wasn't expecting it to be that big of a hit with everyone, but they were as excited as kids running around trying to get different color glow sticks and putting the flowers in their hair. It was so much fun!

That vampire/scarecrow in the background was a wedding gift from zak's bff, so we set him out as an honorary guest.

After everyone had settled down from the pinata frenzy we had a little bonfire in our landlord's fire pit...

I am the fire Master!!

Everyone decided that since there was a pitchfork, we just had to do an "American Gothic" photo, please excuse my horrific hair, the wind was blowing!

Finally, we all went inside and had some strawberry shortcake :)

haha, looks like someone was caught having 1 too many servings of dessert :)

Mr. Birthday boy was falling asleep by the end of the night, now that's a good party!

Old Family Photos & My husband's birthday!

My grandfather was a well known horse trainer, he invented a special kind of saddle and wrote a book on his method.  It's is my family's one and only claim to fame! He was also a pretty good photographer and has passed down these great photos to us. My grandparents had a horse ranch in Texas before moving to Colorado in the late 50's and building the ranch that would later become my home.

This is my grandpa

This is my grandma

Here they are in KS where my grandpa was stationed in the army

On the ranch with my uncle as a baby

Apparently hats are a great way to scoop up and drink water while hearding cattle!

I don't know who this is but he's pretty badass!

My dad and his big brother on Christmas day, this photo cracks me up :)

This is my dad doing some fancy tricks!

My dad is on the right, the other guy is some dude who came to our ranch to study with my grandpa.

                                   

Yet another un-named badass.

This was a road trip my grandma took before she was married, I LOVE these because it reminds my of "On the Road" a little bit :)

I am currently working on scanning all the old family photos onto the computer so we can have them forever. I think these are the best heirlooms, I just can't imagine anything more wonderful than seeing what life was like for my amazing grandparents. I feel so lucky to have these photos!

Also, today is my dear husband's birthday. He is 27 today, and it is our 5th birthday together :) We have been together since I was 19 and he was 22, and we have really done a lot of growing up together. This quote pretty much sums up how I feel about our relationship:

"We had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two." - Captain Corelli's Mandolin

He is the love and light of my life. I am so lucky to call him my partner in crime for life!

Halibut with lemon and paprika

I love the delicate texture of halibut, it's one of my favorite types of fish. I was super excited to get some on sale over the weekend. Last night I made it for dinner with a salad and a little pasta.

When I cook, most of the time I don't really have a plan, I just look in the fridge and see what looks good. When I'm seasoning food, I also let my intuition guide me. This is how I've learned to cook, through trial and error, and, for me, trying new things is what makes cooking so much fun.

Sorry I don't have any pictures, I really need to get better at taking pictures to post here, I will get better I promise!

Halibut with lemon and paprika

Fresh Halibut fillets

Half a lemon

Sea salt

Pepper

Garlic powder

Sweet paprika

Take the fillets and dry them off on both sides with a paper towel. Now squeeze the lemon over the fillets, making sure the juice coats each of them completely. Next, cover the fillets with with a few pinches of salt each and a little ground pepper. Then lightly sprinkle with the garlic powder and paprika, you don't really need to measure this, just go with your intuition of how much is enough. Finally, sprinkle some of the zest from the lemon over the top of the fillets, and let them sit for a few minutes while you get the skillet ready.

Heat a skillet over medium high. Once the skillet feels hot when you hold your hand just above the surface, add a little olive oil, just enough to coat the bottom of the fish so it doesn't stick. Once the oil starts to give off little whisps of smoke, add the fish, skin side down and cover the skillet. Cook the fish like this until the fillets feel firm when you lightly squeeze the sides, and the flesh is completely opaque.

This comes out beautifully! The fish is bright white, with the vibrant reddish orange of the paprika, and the bright yellow of the lemon zest, it is a very colorful dish.

A peek inside my grocery cart

I think we all like to look into other people's lives a little bit, and that's why blogs are so popular. That's also why it's so much fun to look into other people's carts when grocery shopping and see what kind of stuff they buy (or at least...it's fun for me...maybe I'm a freak...). In celebration of a much needed shopping trip, and to give some ideas to those who are less inspired while grocery shopping, here is what was in my grocery cart this weekend:

whole wheat pita bread
flour tortillas
hummus
shredded chedder
shredded mozzarella
a ball of pre-made pizza dough
whatever fish is on sale that week (this week, halibut)
ground beef
local made pork beer brats
round steaks
chicken breasts
no bone pork chops
broccoli
field greens (salad mix)
sweet potatos
small red potatos
cilantro
avocados
baby carrots
cucumbers
tomatoes
apples
oranges
bananas
lemons
limes
grapefruit
light vanilla soy milk
half and half
yogurt with no hf corn syrup, and active cultures, my fav is Cascade Fresh
butter...sweet amazing REAL butter. I gave up on the smart balance type stuff because, taste wise, it just does not compare. I do use it sparingly however :)
eggs from a local eco friendly farm
granola with whole grains and low sugar
dark chocolate covered orange sticks (so delicious)
tortilla chips
organic salsa
coffee
when Zak is with me: diet pepsi :)


These are basically all the items we need to buy about every other week. Things like fresh produce, meat and dairy, not to mention treats! For these things, I go to Sunflower Market, it's a grocer that specializes in local, and natural food. Their meat is all hormone free and mostly comes from local farms, that treat the animals ethically. The things I buy at Sunflower are very affordable, some things are just a few cents more than what you would buy at a regular store (like safeway or target) their produce and meat are actually cheaper (seriously, 2 steaks for $5)!

For other staples like flour, spices, zip lock bags, parchment paper, and toiletries I go to King Soopers because they are the cheapest in my neighborhood. When I shop, I look for what's on sale, then base all my meals around that. This way you can save A LOT of money. I also always look at the lables of what I am buying to quickly check to make sure there is no hf corn syrup, low sugar content, and to make sure the ingredient list isn't full of stuff I can't pronouce.

All in all, we spend a little more on groceries (about $300-400 a month) but it's worth it for me, and I compensate for it by going out to eat very rarely (once or twice a month), and going to starbucks very rarley (once a week or less).

Stay tuned this week, I will be posting some awesome old family photos of my grandparents and their horse ranch!

Homemade Pizza and Irving

Holy cow! We got 10 inches of snow overnight, soooo I am working from home this afternoon. Now the sun is out and there are huge clumps of slushy snow falling all around the house, I feel like I am working in and ice cave!

This weekend, my mom, my sister, and Zak's brother came over for dinner, and to wach the premier of Life on the Discovery Channel. We LOVED Planet Earth, we still watch the dvds every now and then, so we were so so so excited for the newest project from that team. My mom also brought over her new puppy Irving, a bichon friche. I usually don't really like small "lap" dogs, but he is so sweet I couldn't resist him :)

What a cutie! Oh yeah and my sister's pretty cute too ;)

For dinner I made Margherita Pizza. There was some very enticing pepperoni at the market, so I decided to throw them on too :) I like to make my own pizza dough, but in a time crunch I buy the uncooked dough from Sunflower Market (the Colorado equivalent of Trader Joes).

Margherita Pizza

Pizza Dough (I like this recipe from alton brown)

Extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
Fresh tomatoes sliced thin
Salt
Pepper
Paprika
Shredded mozzarella (you could also use slices of fresh)
Fresh basil, cut chiffonade style

Pre-heat the oven to 425, Roll the pizza dough out onto a pizza stone* or pan (I love my stone because the bottom of the pizza never gets soggy). Rub a little olive oil over the dough and scatter the garlic across evenly, leaving enough space around the edge for a crust. Let the garlic sit for about 5 minutes, this will season the oil a little bit and also maximize the nutritional value of the garlic. Now add the tomatos, use as many as you like, but make sure to leave about 1/2 an inch of the dough showing so you have a crust on your pizza! Season the tomatoes with the salt, pepper and paprika. Now cover the tomatoes with as much cheese as you like (you can also add any other toppings like pepperoni, or my favorite, green olives!). Cook the pizza until the cheese is just beginning to brown, and the edge of the crust is brown as well. Then you're done, enjoy!

The pepperoni were GIGANTIC, and delicious! 

*I usually do not buy so-called "kitchen gadgets" that have only one specific use because they will more than likely end up forgotten, collecting dust in the back of the deepest darkest cubbard in your kitchen. The pizza stone is not one of these gadgets. I use mine for baking cookies, bread, scones, you name it! The stone provides constant, even heat, and keeps the underside of your baked goods from becoming soggy. I also place it in a warm oven when I make pancakes, french toast or waffles, transferring the done items on to the stone to keep them warm until I have used all the batter. That way you can have them all at once, and warm none the less! 

New Blog Background!

I am so proud of myself! I figured out how to change the background of the blog! I got it from shabbyblogs.com. They have lots of awesome (and free) things for blogs on their website, check it out! I also added a list of some of the blogs I follow under the blog archive.

I have so much more to blog about this week, but I need to edit some photos first! Hopefully I will have time after doing taxes tonight. I made some pizza this weekend, and I must welcome the newest furry addition to my extended family: Irving, my mom's new puppy!!!! Stay tuned :)

Life List so far...

I have been keeping a life list inside of my head since I was a teenager. I was recently inspired to write it down and actively try to make it happen by four outstanding young men, and their quest that has been made into a show on MTV: The Buried Life.

I have come up with 40 things so far, some of them are life long dreams from when I was a kid, some are brand new. I will keep adding to this list as I cross items off, and will begin my journey to number 1 on May 8th!

I am fortunate enough to have already been able to cross off some items from my life list, things such as go hiking in a rainforest (in puerto rico), see the Rolling Stones live in concert, see a live sea turtle, go to a Regina Spektor concert with my husband (she's our fav), backpacking through eastern europe, road trip through Mexico inspired by the Motorcyle Diaries (years ago when it was safer). Writing down my list has been so theraputic for me in dealing with a less than perfect job, it reminds me that life can still be an exciting adventure and it gives me something to look forward too. Also, I believe that if you write something down, it will happen, try it!

My Life List (so far)...

1. Become a yoga teacher

2. Attend a Holi celebration (Color Festival) In northern India

3. Swim with great white sharks (in a cage)

4. Learn how to make a really good parisian macaroon

5. Give birth naturally, without an epidural, outside of a hospital (laugh all you want, I think I can do it!)

6. Travel somewhere awesome with my grandma, mom, and sister

7. Roadtrip across North America

8. All out food adventure in France

9. All out food adventure in Italy

10. Guest host/appear in a cooking show

11. Get a black belt in a martial art

12. Become a registered dietitian

13. Experience zero gravity

14. learn how to SCUBA dive

15. Do the voice for a cartoon (don't care if it's in a movie, just something for myself)

16. Gain more self discipline

17. Participate in some kind of cooking competition

18. Go whale watching

19. Learn how to sew

20. Be more physically fit than I ever have been

21. Eat fresh seafood in New England

22. See penguins in antartica

23. See polarbears in the arctic circle

24. Brew my own beer

25. Preform an awesome action/fighting sequence like in a movie (I think there is some company that does this in Japan)

26. Travel to all 7 continents

27. Meet a real geisha in Japan

28. Read all the Harry Potter books to my children

29. Get a half sleeve tattooed on my upper arm

30. Live on a little farm in the country

31. Volunteer/work closely with animals

32. Build my dream home with my husband

33. Successfully quit a bad habit

34. Learn how to swing dance

35. See Metallica in concert

36. Stop being jaded

37. Have a group of close female friends

38. Volunteer on a regular basis

39. Become an expert gardener of vegtables and fruit

40. Swim with dolfins

Spring in Colorado

Today I read many a blog post about packing away the heavy coat and boots, starting the seeds for the spring vegetables, and all the blossoms that are apparently appearing on trees elsewhere in the US. Here in Colorado, it has been heaviliy snowing since late last night. I yearn for the sweet sunshine, green grass, and that first day you can leave the house with a sweater instead of a jacket. I do love the snow though, I always feel a little excited when I wake up and look out the window to see big fluffy flakes coming down and a white blanket over everything. These late winter/early spring snow storms do make me grumble when I have to get out of bed and go to work though. Today my husband sent me this to make me smile, and it worked :)

Zak is such a positive minded person, and that is one of the many things I adore about him. Here's to seeing the positive in everything!