J's 30th Birthday!

J's birthday and my birthday are about a week apart.  I actually love this since it makes our birthdays just a little bit more special.  I mean, it gives us a whole birthday week to celebrate instead of just one day ;)  That said, it can also make the gift giving a bit more challenging.  You know, if someone gives you something pricey, you feel the need to meet or beat that price with the gift you give back.  While gift giving isn't about the money spent, having close birthdays made us want to set a price limit anyway.  

I also figured setting a price limit would be the perfect opportunity to surprise J with an awesome celebration.  After all, it was his big 3-0.  So, I told him we should set a lower limit so we could save money for our summer adventures and some other projects we want to start together.  All the while thinking to myself, "This trick is working.  He has no idea I'm planning something big."  And then, his birthday came.

As soon as I woke up on March 14th, I rushed over to J's house and started his birthday off right with homemade-fresh blueberry waffles. Mm mmm good.  We love food and cooking together, so I wanted to make sure every meal was awesome.  For lunch, we went to Snow White Grill on the walking mall.  It's this small burger joint from the 50's that sells some of the best little burgers and fountain drinks.  Probably had the best Coca cola there I've ever had in my life.  So good.  Then came the opening of his gift.

Ealier, when I had J convinced we weren't spending too much on each other, I asked him to show me an electric guitar he really wanted and all the accessories to go with it.  In perfect suprise form, if I do say so myself....and I do, I saved all the links and told him maybe next year for Christmas I'd get him that.  After some research and advice from my brother B, I ordered almost everything he wanted.  And here's him opening it!!!  (I understand I probably sound more excited than him or anyone else)

The first thing he said when opening it was "What did you do?!"  Haha and then I had one more thing for him...the new Rocksmith!

See his surprised grin?

Ta da!!!

And that kids, is how you pull off a suprise.

The rest of the day we spent with his family grilling steaks and opening more presents.  And then the next day we made homemade shrimp po'boys for dinner and he blew out the candles of his cookie cake I made him.

The icing on the cake was inspired from a ticket he had to Bonnaroo 2007.  He had such fun time there I thought it'd be cool to decorate his cake from that.  Here's the original ticket:

It's not exact, but it's close enough!

Then the following day, my parents came over and took us out to dinner at Longhorn's followed by another gift (a new guitar bag!!) and more candles!

He loves this bag, and it fits everything perfectly

And of course, the celebrations continued all week long until my birthday closed it out.  But, that's all for another post.  

Happy 30th birthday babe!!  Hope it was one to remember :)

Valentine's Day

A lot of people think Valentine's Day is a holiday created by Hallmark and other stores to reel in big money.  I actually agree.  Some of those people still fall into that trap and end up spending way too much to prove they love and care about someone.  Proving your love for someone, in my opinion, shouldn't be about how much you spend on them.  I believe you show it through your actions and words.  

This reminds of a book by Gary Chapman that my sister in law B showed me a few years ago.  It's called The 5 Love Languages.  The book was originally intended as a sort of marriage self-help book, but I think it can serve in any type of relationship.  It discusses how people speak love in different languages either through words of affirmation, acts of service, receiving gifts, quality time, or physical touch.  It's your way of communicating emotionally to someone.  He says each person has their own language of how they best give and receive love.  So your heart might be filled with love from hearing someone compliment you, or maybe you don't really need that to feel loved.  You feel it more so by spending quality time with that someone.  By properly identifying which language you primarily speak, you can better communicate with someone which actions make you feel more happy and confident.  I highly recommend reading his book as a learning tool for either just you, or you and your significant other. 

I learned my primary love languages are words of affirmation and quality time.  This explains why on Valentine's Day, I would much rather do something low key and spend time with J, rather than go out and spend a bunch of money on something that doesn't even really matter.  For this V-Day, we ended up getting 18-22in of snow which made staying in even more fun.  Josh picked me up early in the morning, so we could spend the day together without driving in worse conditions.  We spent our snowy V-day playing in the snow, watching movies, baking cookies, and making home-made pizza.  He even surprised me with my favorite candy (peanut M&Ms) and these beautiful roses and infinity knot.

 Here are some of the cookies we made:

 

And here's his back porch in the almost 2 feet of snow:

And our snow angels:

So Many Cookie Cutters...

I've been itching to find more sewing projects I can work on.  I've had a lot of good ideas, but they were more so things I didn't really need.  I wanted to make something I need, something that would either be useful or help me organize all the stuff I've been hoarding around.  

I had a day off in the middle of the week and decided to get off my behind and spring clean my kitchen.  I realized I have cookie cutters out the whazoo.  AND I don't even keep them all in one place.  That is unlike me.  I like things organized.  When I want to use something, I like knowing where to find it, and I like having the comfort of knowing everything is together.  That day, I just decided I would put all the cookie cutters together in a gallon ziploc bag.  That bag was so full I couldn't even zip it shut!  Ugh.  I put the bag away in disgust since it wasn't really the way I wanted it.  It just looked ugly on my shelf like that.  Then I thought DUH! I can finally make something cute and useful to hold all these things and keep them from getting dusty (since I couldn't close that gallon bag).  So began my trek to JoAnn's.

Before I went, I looked online for ideas.  I found this tutorial showing how to make a simple drawstring bag.  Perfect.  It was easy to do and would hold all my cookie cutters.  I went to JoAnn's to pick out fabric and what not.  I was in there forever!  I kept going back and forth on different patterns trying to figure out which I liked better.  If you know me, you know I can be indecisive sometimes.  And, this was definitely an indecisive moment.  After about probably an hour I settled on a faded dark red cotton fabric for the inside and a kitchen tool patterned fabric for the outside.  Then I chose a khaki colored thread and drawstring.  

Here's what it came out looking like:

And here's what it looks like filled with cookie cutters:

In retrospect, I should have made the drawstring longer.  I measured and cut it at 18", like the tutorial said.  However, I found afterwards it wasn't quite long enough.  It could have just been the type of material I used.  I'm not sure.  But, either way it's cuter than that gallon ziploc, AND it holds everything in one place.  Such relief.  It's the little things, people.    

Pizza Night!

Like I've mentioned in my previous posts, J and I often make dinners together for our dates.  One of our favorite meals is pizza night.  Who doesn't love a fresh, homemade pizza?!  For Christmas, his parents got him a Pampered Chef pizza stone and a new pizza cutter.  Lucky me since it's not really mine, but I still get to use it! Ha! :)

The other night, we went to the store to get everything we needed: pizza dough mix, pizza sauce, cheese, pepperoni, sausage, peppers, onions, and mushrooms.  Ugh, mushrooms are gross, so obviously those were for J.  I love the dough mix we bought.  It's so easy to make and it tastes better than restaurant/store bought dough.  If you've never made pizza at home, I definitely recommend trying it.  Ours cost about $10 to make.  On top of that, we have a blast making it together and it's scrumptious!

Here are some pics from the other night, along with the how to's of making pizza yourself:  

1. Dusting your pan/stone with cornmeal is up for debate.  Some people like it, some people don't.  I strongly recommend using it.  It prevents the dough from sticking to your pan/stone, and the taste really pairs well with your pizza.  If you choose to use it, make sure you dust it on well though.  Not enough will leave you hanging with an unevenly baked dough.  And who wants that?  

2.  This next step varies on which type of dough you use.  We use Betty Crocker's Pizza Crust Mix.  For this mix, you just stir in hot water and let it rise for 5 minutes.  (We found a steal on this at Sharp Shopper, a local discount grocery store, for 2/$1!)  Once that's done, you can start spreading it on the pan/stone.  We like to oil our hands with olive oil to keep it from sticking to our fingers.  Then, just bake for a few minutes to help it puff up.  As you can see, we made ours thin.

   
3.  Next, add your sauce and toppings.  We do sauce, then pepperoni and sausage, then cheese, then veggies, and then more cheese.  Can never get enough cheese.  One of the best parts of making your own pizza is choosing what toppings you want and where you want them.  We did half mushroom/half none, since I'm not a fungus fan.   

 4.  Now, you're ready to bake!  Get ready for an awesome smelling kitchen.  We bake ours at 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  When it's done, just let it cool and then slice it up!  We, personally, like square slices. :) 

All done and ready to be eaten!

And, that's it!  Pretty simple.  Fun to make with your family and kids, and in my opinion tastes better than any restaurant pizza.  Have fun with it and enjoy the quality time it creates with your family!  

Who Wants Waffles?!

Since I got a new waffle iron for Christmas, and it's a snow day :), I thought I'd share with you my first attempt at making waffles.  Most days either J or I have to work late and aren't able to spend much time together at night.  On those days, we like to get together before work and make some brunch.  I went to the store earlier in the week and found some Krusteaz Waffle Mix on a BOGO sale.  Of course, I had to get it.  Especially since J and I were planning on Friday to play with my new gadget.

I brought it over on Friday morning and we had fun figuring out how to use it.  The Krusteaz mix made it really easy to just whip up the batter and get it cookin'.  All we had to do was plug the waffle maker in, wait for it to light up and beep that it was ready, and spray it with cooking oil.  Once that was done, we just used the handy-dandy measuring cup that came with the maker and poured the batter in the center of iron.  Then we flipped it and waited for the next beep saying it was done and ready to be demolished.

Here you can see my handy new machine cooking the first waffle.  See the handle?  I love how it doesn't stick out like the knobs on most other machines.  In the batter is the measuring cup it came with.

      
J is helping me get the last waffle out below.  I thought I only made enough for 2 waffles, but we somehow got lucky and were able to make 3! Score!

Here's the last picture for you - a lil' somethin' to make you want a waffle right now!

If you're curious about how I like the waffle maker...I love it.  Plain and simple.  It so easy to use.  The cord stores right on the bottom so you never lose it and it never gets in the way.  The iron has browning settings from 1-8.  I used 4 in the pictures above, and it was perfect.  Cleaning up afterwards was a breeze too.  I just had to let it cool and then wipe it down with a damp cloth.  I think the best part though is the light and beep signal when it's at the right temp. and when it's done cooking.  Love it.

Mmm Biscuits

I received so many wonderful gifts during Christmas, I'm still writing about how each one was used first!  My mom and J's mom must have been on the same wavelength when it came to my gifts.  They complimented each other so well. 

From my mom, I got this awesome southern cookbook.  It's called Callie's Biscuits and Southern Traditions.  It has so many recipes I want to try.  But, the one I wanted to try the most was the biscuit recipe.  After I opened this gift, I received a new baking pan and new biscuit cutters.  What a coincidence! ;)  Perfect, since the first recipe I wanted to try was the biscuit one.  A few days after opening those gifts, I opened gifts from J's mom.  She gave me a new apron and a new pastry blender.  I thought it was so funny since I could use it so well with the gifts from my mom.  I should also mention that J got me a gorgeous apron too and my Aunt S gave me a marble rolling pin!  Yep, I'm one spoiled girl.  

I mentioned in an earlier post how I was sick with the flu.  Once I was feeling better I decided there was no better time to play with my new toys.  I brought all the things mentioned above over to J's house.  We often make dinners from scratch together, and that night he wanted to use his new crock pot to make a pot roast.  What a great meal to make homemade biscuits with!

Since the recipe is not mine, I won't post the exact measurements.  Instead, you can read it on Pg. 14 of the cookbook.  The ingredients included self-rising flour, cubed butter, cream cheese, buttermilk, and melted butter.  

When I first mixed the flour, butter, and cream cheese, I didn't realize I had my measurements off.  I'm not used to using J's measuring cups, and his are a little different.  I thought I had grabbed the cup, but apparently I grabbed the 3/4 cup.  Needless to say, my biscuits didn't have all the flour they needed.  They still turned out pretty good though.  And if you're wondering why I didn't just add the extra flour in, it's because I didn't even know I had the wrong measuring cup until it was all said and done.  I was just standing there like an idiot wondering why the dough wasn't quite right. LOL  

Here's some pictures of the process.  The recipe called for the dough to be rolled to 1/2inch thick.  I did this and felt the dough was too thin.  I ended up stacking the dough forming a sort of layered biscuit.  Next time I won't roll it so thin.   

Can you see my awesome gifts?

Buttering the biscuits on my new pan before they go in the oven

Biscuits all done and me wearing the apron J got me!

Even with the hiccups I had, they came out tasting great!  I can't imagine how they'll be when I can read next time and add the right amount of flour.  And just to tease you before I go, here's a picture of the pot roast J made.

J's Pot Roast

Every Seamstress Needs a Pincushion

That day I went to JoAnn's with my sister and sister-in-laws (day after Christmas), we saw some pincushions by the register.  I realized I needed one, but I didn't really like the ones they had or their price.  S got the idea to make one for me instead.  

She used some fabric left over from the pacifier/toy clips I made, cushion material my mom already had, a jar my dad found around the house, and a glue gun.  Putting the cushion on the jar was a neat idea.  It could be used to hold so many loose objects - buttons, thread, etc.  Here's a picture of it:

    S wanted to tie some ribbon around the top of the jar, but we didn't have any on hand.  I'm planning to pick some up at JoAnn's later and add it.  Thanks so much S for my pincushion!  As you can see above, it's already been used :)