boeuf bourguignon

Beef stew in red wine, with bacon, onions, and mushrooms.

Well now that I have promised to do a fancy dinner weekly. I have bucked up and decided that next week I must make this. I have to make this before school starts. So I will. Next week it is on! It will take me all day, maybe even longer, but hopefully it will be worth it. I will let you know how it goes. Hopefully I will make Julia Child proud.

school lunch weird girl

Since we still don't have a dinner table, we eat off our coffee table. This is bad for me. I am a horribly messy person when it comes to food. When I was little I was super messy. My dad would just wait during every meal for me to spill all over myself; and every meal I did. Well for a few years recently, I got good at eating. I rarely spilled and was quite proud of myself. But now it is back. And now instead of my dad, Kevin waits for it. Every meal I spill on me and on the floor numerous times.

All throughout school I had my mom make me lunches. I refused to eat school lunches. I had a horrible fear, and this really was horrible of me, of the down syndrome kids licking their lunch trays clean of the ketchup, fry sauce and anything else left. I told myself I would never eat off of those or the utensils. I was such a prejudice little girl. I had a hard time even walking by the "resource" or "special" kids classrooms. Well my mom fortunately made the best lunches. I was always known as the girl with the weird lunches. She would pack stuff like hearts of palm, whole cucumbers, apples stuffed with peanut butter, cucumbers in vinegar, tuna fish mixtures , sandwiches wrapped in parchment paper... and the list goes on. For little kids- these foods were weird. But I loved them and I would eat it all, and there always was a lot to eat. I would sometimes try to sneak food out onto the playground because all my friends would get done before me and get anxious; but I always got caught. Back to the meaning of this... My mom would put the cucumbers and vinegar and other concoctions of sorts in plastic baggies. After I was done eating it, I would bite a whole at the bottom of the bag and drink, yes drink, the vinegar. Well today at our picnic lunch I did that same thing. Except I was out of practice. The whole bag of balsamic vinegar dripped down my neck and hair and onto my lap. So that was my messy, little-girl move of the day.
I also remember watching this fat kid eat bananas and chocolate pudding all the time in the cafeteria and I told myself I would never eat those.
I was a funny little girl.

Tonight I made wedge salads with this blue cheese dressing which is to die for. This is the only blue cheese dressing I will ever eat now. But be careful this wedge salad is messy! Well it was for me. I spilled more than usual.

Blue Cheese Dressing

1/4 pound crumbled blue cheese
2 tablespoons sour cream
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons buttermilk
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1-1/2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
2-1/4 teaspoons white sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
ground black pepper to taste
Combine all in a bowl with a hand mixture.

Wedge Salad:
1 head iceberg lettuce, cut into 8 wedges
1 roma tomatoes, diced
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 pound crumbled blue cheese
I also added:
crumbled bacon
sliced apples
homemade candied pecans

the new weekly fancy dinner

Since I am surrounded by fancy food and drink at Tiburon now, I somehow think me and Kevin now deserve that. So I have decided to do a weekly fancy dinner. For last nights menu:

Artesian Bread w/ oil and balsamic vinegar

Cherry Tomato Caprese Salad

Chicken Cordon Blue

Non-alcoholic Champagne

Sadly, I didn't make the bread. I suck at making bread, well actually I would like to blame this on my oven. So this was just a Walmart special. But everything was absolutely delicious. I have made this chicken recipe too many times to count, and it is delicious every time. It is amazingly rich. The caprese salad was a first, and required some time to do, but was completely worth it. I love love love the combination of basil, mozzarella, and balsamic vinaigrette. And since you cook and reduce the dressing, it makes it that much more delicious and savory. I bought the mozzarella cheese balls at Pirate Ohs and they were the bomb. I also got the non-alcoholic champagne at Pirate Ohs. I have never tried it before but it was so good! Its just like sparkling cider but with a bit more bubbly. Kevin loved popping the cap off. Im so glad he did it outside because it FLEW into our neighbors yard. It definitely could have put a hole in our ceiling. And the popping sound made it all the more fancy. Ha us mormons...
We finished the night with Inception. We rarely go see movies at the Real Theater. Real as in $8.50 a pop real. We have a really hard time spending $17 for a movie, but maybe being fancy got us in the mood. Well it was worth it, very worth it. It was a very creative and intelligent movie. Christopher Nolan has a gift and I think he needs to keep on sharing it. We want more Christopher!

Cherry Tomato Caprese Salad
(My Kitchen Cafe)

2 pints cherry or grape tomatoes, quartered
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
8 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes and patted dry
1 cup chopped fresh basil

In a large bowl, toss the tomatoes, sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt together. Let the mixture stand for 30 minutes so that the tomatoes give up some of their juices. Transfer the tomatoes and any accumulated liquid to a salad spinner and spin to remove the seeds and the liquid. Then pour the accumulated seeds and liquid into a fine-mesh strainer to remove the seeds, reserving the liquid. (I don’t have a salad spinner, so I dumped the all of the tomatoes and juices into a fine mesh strainer set over a liquid measuring cup and pressed on the tomatoes lightly to give up more of their juices. I picked out a few of the seeds but didn’t worry so much about eliminating all of them.) Return the tomatoes to the original bowl and pour the tomato liquid into a small saucepan (you should have between 1/3 and 1/2 cup of liquid).

To the small saucepan, add the vinegar and garlic. Simmer over medium heat until the mixture is reduced to about 3 tablespoons. This will take about 5 minutes. Cool to room temperature and then whisk in the olive oil.

Add the mozzarella cheese, basil and cooled dressing to the bowl with the tomatoes and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Serve

Chicken Cordon Blue

6 chicken breasts
ham
swiss cheese
1 tsp paprika
3 Tb flour
6 Tb butter
1 bouillon cube
2 Tb corn starch
1 1/2 cup water
1 cup heavy whipping cream
toothpicks

Flatten the chicken breast and cut an insert. Add slices of ham and swiss cheese. Secure with toothpick (you might need 4 or 5 in each). Mix the flour and paprika and coat chicken on both sides. Melt 6 Tb butter in a large saucepan and brown chicken on both sides. Add 1 1/2 cup water and bouillon cube and simmer on medium for 30-35 minutes, don't cover.
Mix the cornstarch and heavy whipping cream in small pan and boil for 2 minutes. Then whisk and cool. If it is not thick enough, add more cornstarch.
When chicken is done, add a slice of swiss cheese on top, and spoon over whipping cream mixture. ENJOY!

appletini's & bombay's

Last night I started my first server training shift at Tiburon. What a doozy. It is NOTHING like my previous serving job. I have to learn about meat, cuts, food, sauces, herbs, vegetables, their garden, WINE, BOOZE, BEER, everything! Makes me tired just writing it all. But don't worry they just threw me right in. They have a bar, but no bartender-the servers are the bartenders. I cant believe how much hard alcohol and wine they have. But having a mormon bartender is such a great idea. While I was concocting 5 appletinis, and 3 or 4 bombays for this couple (oh how they could put drinks down!) the vodka and triple sec was dripping down my arms. Im sure anyone else would love to just lick that expensive stuff up. The server I was shadowing was luckily the only other mormon there. She told me my husband will just get used to me coming home smelling like booze. Mom and Dad arent you so proud of me?....
But I really do like this job, everyone that works there is so generous and nice. The gardener told me I can go out and pick whatever I want. The chefs make a special dinner for the servers before tables start arriving. Last night it was a delicious pizza. Then all through the night they are making things up and having you try them. They made us a fruit salad, a smoothie that was delicious that had so many ingredients in it, duck with a special sauce, and at the end of the night they made me my very own New Zealand Elk plate. Oh man was it good. It was hard for me to save some for Kevin but I did. I think Kevin is going to like this new job of mine...

birthday boy

Ok we all know I suck at birthdays and Christmas. I get too excited. I just cant wait. Well dont think this birthday will be any different. Kevins birthday isnt until August 3rd but... I couldnt wait. I got his mazagine publishments (I know thats not a word but I am keeping it) framed. I also got our bridal one framed for me. I wanted them all nice and classy looking for our kids. I know there will come a time when they think their parents are soooo lame. Well we will show them when we whip these bad boys out. We will go Hazaah! look how cool we were and still are!! That'll show em.

blessings

You know when you receive a blessing and you know you don't deserve it? Well that has happened to me twice in the past few weeks.
Number one. I recently got a new calling in my ward (I have had 3 in the past...6 or 7 months)- Relief Society Secretary. I could not believe it when I heard it. Really? ME in the relief society? Were still pretty new in our ward and I just bet you most everyone thinks I am still a laurel in Young Womens. I had told Kevin after I got my 3rd calling that there was no way I was going to say "yes" to another calling that was in a two month span of my old calling. I was sick and tired of being the new person in Achievement Days, then Cub Scouts, then Primary... But when I was asked to serve as the RS secretary, I had a calm feeling overcome me and I knew I had to say yes. Oh you should have seen Kevins face when I said this, he knows how stubborn I am with things. He told me he got nervous for the counselor who extended the calling to me; he thought I was going to give him a piece of my mind. Well with being so scared and nervous for this calling, I have completely loved it. It is the perfect calling for me right now. I am getting to know the women in my ward. And I love the presidency I work with; I feel blessed to work with them.
Number two. I got a new job! I went job hunting last week and went to Tiburon to drop off a resume; really just for the fun of it. I thought this place was too nice for a mexican server like me. Well it just so happened that the owner was right there when I walked in. Perfect!! I told him I would love to serve for him and had experience, and for some reason he liked me! He told me he didnt have any openings at Tiburon currently, but was opening up a new restaurant in October- so I could start serving there. He gave me his email so we could keep in touch. Well the next day he called me and hazzaah!, one of his servers wanted a month off, so he wanted to start training me for his position. I went in the next day, he didn't even interview me, and we just talked and he officially hired me. So I should be starting to train either this week or next. So this was blessing number two. The timing was perfect. And I wasn't interviewed - Heavenly Father knows me all too well. Blessings, blessings, blessings!

good job guys, good job...

Our taxpayer money is being used to promote how taxpayer money is being used...

obama hates goat cheese empanadas

Well I know that obama hates goat cheese because he hates anything and everything good. Well these are good. Real good. My mom bought me a subscription to Real Simple magazine, and I would recommend everyone getting this magazine- I love it! I found this simple recipe in this months issue and decided to try it out for todays picnic lunch with the hubby. We have loved these little lunches at the Draper dome park. Its a beautiful and cute little park with the best shade. Today I decided to make it a fancy and romantic lunch with these fancy (well I think they are fancy) goat cheese empanadas, corn salsa to dip them in, and sparkling cider.
These reminded Kevin of Ecuador; he ate a lot of empanadas there. I love making things that make him reminisce about his mission. I never get tired of hearing his stories.

goat cheese empanadas

2 refrigerated rolled piecrusts
fresh goat cheese (I made sure to get the local utah cheese, its much better)
corn salsa

Cut 3-inch circles out of the piecrusts ( I just used a lid to one of my nalgene water bottles). You decide on how much goat cheese you want in each empanada. I bought 10 ounces of the cheese and used half of it. Lightly dot the edges of the dough with water (oops I forgot this part!), fold in half, and press with a fork to seal. bake on a rimmed baking sheet at 375 until golden, about 20-25 minutes. Serve with corn salsa.

Well our conversation while enjoying these scrumptious treats was about obama. Kevin listens to Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck while working and always has new information on our government and obamas workings. People are starting to learn that the whole Toyota problem was a government ploy. The number of problems with the cars were much less then advertised by CNN and other liberal stations, and the problem was to do with the retarded driver- slamming on the gas believing that it was the brake; what idiots. Why would they be lying about this problem you ask? Well obama wants us to believe that big businesses that are a big part of our economy will fail and that the government should take over. He wants us to believe that we are helpless without our government. Rush believes this is what is now being done with Apple and the whole argument with their bad antennas. This is another big company- and obama would LOVE to have control over it.
In China, their has been talk about all of the suicides within this huge company (Is it Apple? Im not sure) that makes ipods. This advertisement is just another government ploy. The Chinese government has thrown this information into the media to show that this company is not taking care of its employees and it will fail. Their government, like obama, wants to take control over big businesses so their government gets bigger.
So why is obama trying to make our government like China? That is one government I know we dont want to be like.
Well I know everyone has their own beliefs and political feelings, but this is my stance on obama: I think he is a fool. And I hope that everyone that voted for him is crying now.

The WORLDS biggest adventure and sports photography contest!!

Shout out to my husband who is the best skier around. He has two, not one but TWO, photos in the semi finals of this Red Bull world photo contest. 22, 764 photos were submitted from 112 countries. They are down to 250 and my husband has two. Quite amazing. Here are the photos:


I am so very proud of him.

Happy 30th Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to my good-looking and stylish parents! Look how good-looking they are:
Check out my dads bell-bottoms. My parents at Prom. I just love the wicker chair and background.

what I like

I love this movie. Its weird and I really like the music in it. I also think Coraline is adorable in her little yellow raincoat and rain-boots. Anyone who knows me knows I am a fan of boots-any boots. I also like the name Coraline. Kevin didnt like this movie at all- it scared him just like Alice in Wonderland. This could be the reason he doesn't think Coraline is the cutest name for a mini-Mal.

This is our favorite show to watch together.
This chick-flick was made in the 70's. I really enjoyed it. Its not like the pathetic ones made these days such as Valentines Day; which was horrible, horrible, horrible.

our new tent!

Yeay for our new tent! We have been borrowing the in-laws tent ever since we have been married (sorry!). So I decided it was time for us to get our own. We have been looking for a while but last week found a great deal online at steapandcheap.com. Its lightweight so we can use it for backpacking too. I love the look and colors of it. Its small! But fits us perfectly. Were excited to go and try it out. Im ready for happy uintah campers number ll.

"puke hill"

Yesterday me, Kevin, Patrick, and Mark went on a biking fun trip. We decided to go bike the Wasatch Crest trail in big cottonwood canyon. Kevin failed to tell me "puke hill" was a part of it until pretty much right before we left. The name scared me. But we drove up and it was crazy busy. There was a huge dead elk on the side of the road and were not quite sure how it got there. I mean if someone would have hit that thing, im pretty sure they would be dead too. And if someone did hit it and miraculously didn't get hurt; how on earth would you drag it into the ditch on the side of the road? It will forever be a mystery. Well we started the trail and puke hill made me want to puke. No it wasn't all that bad. I only rode my bike up half of it, then pushed it up another half. Which let me tell you, pushing the bike up is no easier. There is no easy way to go about this puke hill. There was a bit more uphill to do, but then came the 10 miles of downhill! We climbed through sun-dappled woods, cross luxuriant basins, and hit tricky sections that required a full repertoire of bike handling skills. But when you're not riveted to the trail, you'll be captivated by the alpine architecture of these majestic mountains. Ok we all know Im not that good of a writer, I stole that from Utah.com.... but it explained it well! It was a beautiful trail. The weather was perfect: 66 degrees and a light breeze to cool you down. Why would anyone want to live anywhere but here?! We all had a lot of fun. We ended it with a delicious lunch at Silver Fork Lodge where the boys got their hamburgers and I got a fresh mozzarella sandwich, yum!

happy uintah campers

smart car people are so smart, and sometimes funny

For the 4th of July we decided to go camping with our good friends Josh and Ashlee. We went up to the Uintahs, and I have decided that is my favorite place to camp. The scenery is beautiful. Somehow without making a reservation we still got the best camp spot in the whole place. We were right on the lake. We brought up nummy tin-foil dinners. We put ground beef, potatoes, carrots, onions and then Kevin wanted to top it all off with bacon and butter. And it was delicious! Camp food is always good. Maybe because it wasn't ready until 9:30 pm, but give me that and some ketchup and I am happy. We then stayed up talking by the campfire with some peanut butter s'mores. We talked about dating and married life. We talked about all the poor poor girls who badly wanted to marry our husbands, but lost to us in the end. It was very entertaining to just listen to all our funny dating stories. It wasnt until 2 or 3 am did we decide to go to bed. And that bed was so nice. Me and Kevin both slept so great. Thanks to 2 blankets, yoga mat, sleeping bag, pad, and remembering to bring our pillows this time.

The next morning we had bacon and cookies for breakfast. I made friends with our neighbors dog Desi, whom they seemed to forget whenever they went somewhere. Josh and Ashlee did some fishing, and me and Kevin watched. Kevin tried on some fishing wear and loved it. The boys chopped up logs, which gave us way to much firewood.

We all then packed up and said our goodbyes, and me and kevin went up to the pass to see if his plane would fly. It kind of did. But there was a lot more hiking involved to go and find it. We had to do some all-out rock climbing to get this plane back.

We then went and got philly cheesesteak sandwiches from Davanzas (I love this place) in Park City and went and watched the water jumps at the Olympic Park. So cool.

Our fun weekend didnt stop here, oh no. We then went and did some shopping at the outlets. Kevin got his yearly shoes from Nike, therefore designated his old shoes for biking. I got some all-in-one hiking, biking, running shoes from Columbia that I really really like.

By now we were pooped, so we just ended our saturday by a roasted chicken from Walmart, which never have as much chicken as you would think, and Arrested Development.