STOP!!!!! Just for a day or two

Seriously...the problem with this time of year is that you are constantly running from one thing to the next. Rush for a gift for this person (has to get in the mail today). Dinner party? Ok, I'm throwing this together. What Christmas is in four days and I haven't bought anything for hubby?
Every year, I say the same thing. Next year I will be more organized. I'll start shopping in October like my sister. I'll create a list of ideas for people through out the year so I am not stuck at the last minute trying to remember their true likes. It all seems so rushed. What do I have to do today to get through tomorrow? We've had our tree since the 6th and I barely put the ornaments on it on Thursday! Cards? Ya, I'm looking for New Year's cards!
Anyway, that's my rant this week. I took a trip to California to visit the family the 11th through the 15th. They are just so cute. Then this last week I had business up in New Jersey for a day. (That drive gets shorter every time I do it). Last night we had dinner with 12 friends down in Columbia (almost to DC). Started at 8, 6 courses, and we got home around 2 AM. We definitely woke up with a food hangover this AM. Good stuff.
Finally, I thought I'd share a recipe from a Christmas potluck we had this week. I had heard about this recipe so I thought I would make it. Absolutely Delicious!!!! If you are looking for something VERY EASY to make Christmas Morning....here you go. Sorry for you dieters. There is no sparing the fat in this one. One piece wont kill you!

Monkey Bread

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch of allspice

1/8 tsp ground ginger

2 cans (16.3 oz each) Pillsbury Grands Homestyle refrigerated buttermilk discuits

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon french vanilla extract

3/4 cups butter, or margarine, melted

Heat oven to 350. Lightly grease a bunt pan.
In large ziplock bag, mix white sugar, cinnamon and spices. Separate dough into 16 biscuits. Cut each into quarters. Add to bag and shake to coat. Arrange biscuits and nuts in pan. Mix brown sugar, vanilla, and butter in bowl. Pour over biscuits.
Bake 28 to 32 minutes or until no longer doughy in center. Cool for 10 minutes. Flip over onto serving plate and serve warm.


Enjoy!

The power of purple

First off ....congrats to Hil and gang! You finally have that little boy. Glad to hear everything is going well.

This week's post is about the power of purple! Raven's purple. Sunday Night we went to see the Baltimore Ravens play the Washington Redskins! Big local rivalry. I haven't been to a game yet this season so it was fun. Here are some photo's you might enjoy. The two other guys are friends of ours that live downtown. Our usual posse.

..

The weather was in the 20's with winds up to 25 mph. It was cold!!! We each had on at least two hats, four upper layers, two pair of pants, several pair of socks and hand warmers in our doubled up gloves.

Ravens win...24 to 10!!

With the power of purple one can survive anything. There were 71,000 fans at this game!

Burrrrrrrr....Winter is here!

Well...I have broken out the winter coat and scarfs. Baltimore, really, hasn't been that cold. Yesterday you wouldn't have caught me saying so, however today I traveled to Chicago where there are 20 mile an hour winds with a temperature of 20 something meaning....it's colder than 20 something. I'm freezing here!!! I'm really not ready for winter, let alone Christmas. I hit a hard realization this week that I need to send out cards and at least be thinking about what I'm getting hubby for Christmas! I've go no idea.....ok, I have a few but when will I ever find the time to get it all in. Four parties already, luckily not all require me to prepare something and I want to do a cookie exchange....now accepting your favorite recipes. I made a cranberry walnut oatmeal cookie this weekend. Believe it or not, I'm not sharing this one with you. They could have been dog biscuits they were so crunchy. My genius of a husband figured out that 20 seconds in the microwave, and they were good as new! However, this one needs much modification before I share with you all. Baking is NOT my expertise!....yet.
Anyway, happy shopping. I hope you all avoided Black Friday..only my cousin is crazy enough to do that at 4 AM.
BTW..007 movie? Kicks butt..no matter what the critics say! Any man with an English accent wins my 8 bucks. Save me Bond, Save me!
Chao

Happy Thanksgiving

Well, I've been forced to take Vacation this week as we have a use it or loose it policy. Our new year starts Dec 1 so it's Turkey Time Off for me. It's just the two of us this holiday. We usually invite friends who's families are far, over for Thanksgiving dinner but this year most folks have other plans. So, D and I will spend the day with our family of 5 (two adults, two cats and one dog = 5, for those of you who couldn't do the math). I thought that this year I would keep it simple as I always make way too much food, ect. I just bought a baby turkey roll rather than a whole bird. The whole bird is so much work. Anyway, it will be fun as we will just sit around and watch movies and football!
One thing I would like to request is that if you have the time, several hours, sit down and watch The Sound of Music. Back about 10 years ago I had Thanksgiving with my whole family in MI. Everyone flew in, including my aunt from Denver. I can remember one tradition of Aunt Sandy's was to watch The Sound of Music every year. In Februray of this year my Aunt Sandy was killed in a car accident. While we miss her dearly, I would like to carry on a tradition that she always loved.

Finally, I thought that I might add this week my top 5 things I am thankful for:

I'm thankful for finding the love of my life so early on
I'm thankful for our health
I'm thankful that my father has found peace
I'm thankful that children and creatures make me smile everyday
I'm thankful that I can taste..for life without taste would be so bland!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Before & After

Kitchen Remodel...The right brown for the wall?

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Dinner for 20

A week late but Saturday was AWESOME!!!! Every year, McCormick puts together with celebrity chefs a flavor paring called "flavor forecast". McCormick publishes this "Top 10 flavor parings to come in the next year". With this publication comes recipes of the pairings.
On Saturday, a friend and I coordinated a dinner party of 20 of our friends where each couple was assigned a recipe. Here is a snapshot of what was made. Now if you will recall we were suppose to also pair wine tasting on top of this but we didn't quite get that far. Maybe next time!
Lychee Lemongrass
Lychee Lemongrass martini
Orange and Wood
Maple wood Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Applies and Tart Cherries
Wood Smoked Chicken Burgers with Orange Peel Aioli
Chili and Cocoa
Braised Mole Beef Mole Tacos
Heirloom Beans and Oregano
Scarlet Runner and tomato orzo Salad with oregano Lemon Vinaigrette
Cuban Spiced Heirloom Bean Soup with Mint Crema
Poppy seed and Rose
Rose infused Goat Cheese with Caramelized Onions and Poppy seeds
Red Curry and Masa
Red Curry Chicken with Masa Dumplings
Rye Whiskey and Sage
Butternut Squash Ravioli with Whiskey Sage Cream sauce
Vanilla Cardamom
Vanilla Cardamom Milk Shakes
Shrimp with Vanilla Buerre Blanc and Cardamom Coconut Rice
Vanilla Bean and Cardamom Whoopee Pies

Let me know if anyone wants recipes!!

A child's intuition

I know that I don't need to tell you all this but sometimes I wonder if the things children say are meant to mean so much more than the words that actually come out of their mouths. They are so honest and we know that often that honesty is not meant to hurt our feelings but tell us something in the most direct but kind way.

Near our home on E. Baltimore downtown is a huge park, Patterson Park. The best in the city, it's about 5 blocks by 8 blocks. In the evenings and on weekends it is filled with people playing sports, running, and walking dogs. During the days however, it is rather quiet with a patch of kids here and there walking in groups either to and from school or off to the children's fenced in play area or the duck pond. Giggly, laughing and hitting one another, they couldn't have a care in the world. Here and there is a college student sprawled out on a blanket or park bench studying. Today, being a Friday, Halloween, and the afternoon before my big dinner party tomorrow night, I decided to take the afternoon off. It has been a beautiful day, finally reaching into the 60's after a very cold week. I decided what better time to take advantage of a three mile run in the park. Running casually by myself, smiling at dogs and children, I came across a woman who was clearly a nanny of some sort walking with three children about 3 to 4 years old. The oldest was at the front holding onto a rope that had at it's end, the youngest child, a cute little blonde girl. As I ran passed them, I smiled at the woman and which point the young little girl said..."look, it's a mommy!"........"Hi", I waved back. Now it probably holds true that the little girl's mom was a runner in a pony tail, however, I couldn't help feel that somewhere, deep down, someone was trying to tell me something. The warmth in my heart filled for the little girl as I ran the rest of my run with a smile. To think she actually thought I could be a mommy....

Much like when Sally played "I spy", I guess children are always trying to tell you something. Enjoy your little messages in costume tonight. Just today, I may look at them a little bit more sweetly.

(P.S...for all your wondering minds...I'm not p.g., for now we will leave it to the experts!)

Freezing Softball, Pumpkins & Apple Pie

So every year I like to get out for a beautiful fall hike. This year, I am not sure if I'll get to it before the fall comes and goes. This weekend fall colors are said to peak in Maryland, however today is filled with a forcast of thunderstorms. Tomorrow, being the only nice day, is set for installing a new door on the third floor. Therefore, the fall hike, I hope to accomplish next weekend will likely be too late. We will see. In talking with a friend up in Toronto Canada he sent me some beautiful photo's. One I have used for my screensaver at work, the other I have posted here. Just beautiful. I am not sure why death of leaves is so inspiring too me.

Anyway, last weekend Darrell and I "went to the country", an Apple Farm a friend recommended. Filled with little kids riding hay rides, picking out pumpkins, and running through a straw maze, it was fun to pick out apples for apple pie and pumpkins to carve together. It was difficult to pull Darrell out of the city but I think he was happy once he got out there.

All the fall docorations are out in the house. I have more fall decor than Christmas! My house is pretty much filled with these colors anyway. We painted the kitchen a couple weekends ago and I am trying to figure out a way to delicately tell D that I want to do it over. The color is just not what I want. I saw this kitchen picture in a magazine with a really dark brown (almost cherry wood color). This is what I want. The color now is just too tan. I have three days vacation left and I very well may just take a couple days off and redo it myself. Darrell is a MUCH better painter than me. It must have been all those days in college when he worked for a painter, painting Victorian homes in Davis to make extra money for us.

Inspired by fall and working for a spice company, I thought that I might share a spiced apple pie crumble topping that I created. Inspired out of a recipe from a cookbook from G.Fish! Even better, throw in a cup of fresh cranberries in with the apples...Yum!

Dutch Apple Pie Crumble Topping

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 rolled oats

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1/8 tsp ground clove

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1:41:10...

Well, another one down. Completed my fourth Half Marathon this weekend in 1 hour, 41 minutes and 10 seconds. My second best time overall.

Here is a lovely shot of me taken by my better half.

It was a good race. Having run the course before as a last leg of last year's relay team it was nice to know the course finish. Fun day. I'm not quite up to 100% yet. Sitting for more than 30 minutes is a little difficult on the quads getting up and do not ask me to go down stairs. Going up is fine but down..yikes! a little stiff still. Should be fine tomorrow. The excitement of it all is placing 9th in my age group. Here are my stats..302 out of 6224 overall runners, 65th woman out of 3673, and 9th woman in the 35-39 year olds..this is the only good thing about getting older! Tonight it is off to the same ol' same ol'..softball. We are pretty much a wreck as the whole infield either ran the half or is suffering from some injury. Should be interesting!

Hope you are all well!

The first of my favorite season

So by now you all probably realize that fall is by far my favorite season. This week was full of fall firsts. Here are just a few:
Brisk cold mornings with dew on the car
Sipping coffee outside while waiting for a concert
A big cold, windy rain
Falling colored leaves
Sitting at a baseball game in a sweatshirt
Playing football & baseball in a sweatshirt
Mums!
and finally........I have a cold and we are having soup and bread for dinner!
Here is one of my favorite recipes. Serve with buttered french bread.

Mediterranean Chickpea Soup

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup diced onion
1 1/2 cups water
1 (16-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 (15 1/2-ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced Italian tomatoes, undrained
1/2 cup uncooked ditalini (very short tube-shaped macaroni)

Saute onion in olive oil in soup pan until tender. Add water through tomatoes. Cover and let simmer 5 minutes. Add pasta and simmer until pasta is tender, about 9 minutes.

Enjoy!

The Answer is "Yes"

Happy Birthday Darrell!!

And "yes" I have fallen off the edge of the earth!...head over heals in love with my honey who turns 35 today.

A busy week last week. The weekend was full of painting the kitchen and the finale of the baseball season. Here is a picture of our final day at Camden Yards. A little dreary and a loss..Oh well, maybe next year.


For now...Go Cubs!

Off to the Beach

Darrell is off to NYC to see the second to the last Yankee's game at Yankee Stadium (vs. Orioles) and I am off for a girls weekend in Delaware. I haven't been to the beach once this summer!

Stay Tuned for photos posting either Sunday night or Monday.
No worries..you won't be seeing me in a swimsuit!

Have a good weekend.

Yummm..going to a football party? Try this.

Alright, so I made this recipe last year at Thanksgiving and I have been thinking about it ever since. It is a great thing to take to a football gathering. If you think the garlic will be too overwhelming, don't worry, once roasted it is not nearly as strong. Cooking Light Nov 2007.

Roasted Garlic Sun Dried Tomato & White Bean Dip

1 head of garlic
1 cup water
1 (3.5 oz) bag sun dried tomatoes, not packed in oil
2 Tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 tsp fresh chopped rosemary
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 15.8 oz can great northern beans (rinsed & drained)

Preheat oven to 375.
Remove papery skin from head of garlic but keep the last layer on that holds all the cloves together. Wrap in foil. Bake for 45 minutes or until soft. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, separate cloves, and then squeeze soft centers out into a bowl, discard skins.
Bring water to a boil in saucepan. Add tomatoes. Cover and remove from heat. Let stand 10 minutes for tomatoes to soften. Strain tomatoes from water, saving a 1/4 cup of the liquid and tomatoes.
Place the garlic, tomatoes, 1/4 cup water, oil and all other ingredients in food processor and process until smooth.
Can be stored for several days in the refrigerator. Serve with bread rounds or crackers.

Welcome to Football Season!
Steph

Things are getting better...the new me (a sore one).

Hey something good always comes from things...that is what I always say!! (ok most of the time).
Today, while I am doing work at home at 8 PM, I am not stressing about what I have to deal with tomorrow when I get to work. In addition to working more closely with my boss, I have the opportunity to take on fewer projects. I am looking forward to the new move broadening my experience with one more food company. It should let me do the extra stuff that I like.....in addition, one never knows where my wonderful husband will take me. While I am not one big on women's lib, I am resigning myself to gaining experience and not bringing home the big pay check. So many people told me that you don't stay at McCormick for the money...I see that now, but I don't regret the move. D has gotten so much out of it!!!...and me too. I truly love what I do but if my brilliant husband finds a position in Chicago, no holding back...go for it! FYI...blue box company is headquartered there, ironic only..... but D LOVES!!!!!!! Chicago. It is a little close to my family however. Don't get me wrong, I love the family. It is just a pain mustering up the travel guts to go to family for holiday's when you really just get used to sitting around watching movies all day when it is just the two of you. If we had kids it would be different. Also, Chicago is sooooooooooo cold! I am not sure I can deal with that.
Anyway, just wanted to post and say things are going well this week and I have found the new me. FYI...Monday the slave driver brought in Panera Bagels and Starbucks Coffee for everyone for breakfast as a thank you. I am sure that some of the folks found no appreciation in such offering but you know I can only do so much...now get back to work!!!
Also, this week we start touch football and fall softball in addition to 6 more weeks of training for my half marathon (13 miles for those of you who don't commonly study distance running) . Holy cow, I could hardly move yesterday. 8 miles on Sunday with Football practice in the evening. Then Monday, softball. Tuesday another run. Tonight I am taking a night off.....man I am sore!!.but getting skinner! Gotta love that silver lining. Seriously..how is it possible that my breast bone could be sore from throwing a football, in practice even?
First softball game??? 22 to 4! We kicked butt. Thank goodness, spring and summer were a total downer! Darrell is doing Football, Softball, and Volleyball. He eats a ton anyway and has a metabolism of a 25 year old so...whatever...it frustrates the hell out of me. But then again, I do eat for a living which is likely not helping. One wonders why I have to have three sports to keep me in shape.
Anyway...til Sunday...SAD.

Everyone Needs a Fresh Start

Start A-New.

This week, although only a four day work week, has been extremely long and eventful. Tuesday began with an announcement with a department reorganization...with me taking on new responsibilities and me moving on from my old accounts. Kraft is my new focus. With that comes one person reporting me too. A good move and much of the business supporting me in my new move, yet difficult to give up my previous accounts to someone who lacks the 60 hour work week and the motivation to put in the extra effort. However, now is not the time to jeopardize one's career advancement. It seems that it is an opportunity to take the advantage to work on less project load and focus on people, with home life and work-life balance included. I have always been a singular person, developing products, working with customers, and organizing customer visits, etc all on my own. Now, the actual number of projects should be lower with more complexity and longer time lines on each, allowing me the time to come home at 5 pm with more travel here and there. This will also give me time to develop and work on my, obviously, much needed people skills. Unfortunately, it has hit home this week that our technicians think I am an unsympathetic slave driver. A quality that I must improve, in my opinion, both at home and at work. I need to focus on people's feelings more. Hopefully this new position will give me the opportunity to focus on what I need to advance most, my ability to be a nice person, professionally, believe it or not, not- not one of my strengths. My goal in life.....NOT TO BE LIKE MY FATHER!!!! (While externally percieved as a wonderful person, internally, a mess and a psycological mind game to those who he was closest to). As a recent personality analysis so blatenlty put it- "if you are not valuable to me- I'll cast you aside"- extremely harsh but until I heard it, sadly very true. Now you can see where the work-a-holic part comes in. Here is where a fresh start, a turn of life, and new "me" comes into play......Cheers- Here is to personality improvements! If that is even possible. Stay tuned for the ability to truly take a step back and look at where are we in life? Where do you want to go? What do you hope to accomplish?.....P.S....I go through this phase every 9 months or so...but never get the guts, nor courage, to actually change jobs, update my resume, consider a second hobby, ect....just bear with me..it will pass. I'm taking advantage of the true idea behind a blog, except you guys actually know me.



Stay tuned for a new background next week. A 1/2 marathon theme? A 911 theme, Or a Rain theme?



It is raining cats and dogs here with tropical storm Hanana.....so far...not worth the hype!.

Scattegories Continued

First off- Congrats to Jen & Matt!!!
So it's been a whirl wind of a week.
I've had a customer in two weeks in a row now. Thank goodness that project is about done...Stay tuned for your next new convenient meal snack.
Training for a half marathon in October...humm 4 out of 5 workouts accomplished is better than I thought I would do. How I ever had time to train for a full before is beyond me.
Saturday we had another house hop. Several houses, each has a theme. People host with their house as a stop, some sponsor and bring the food. This time around we did traditional picnic type items. Of course we were house two (Infamous Watermelon Salad and a Fresh Berry over Nillawafers with Whip Cream). Clean, clean, prep, shower, walk a dog, people here!...crap there is a load of laundry still on the bed (shove that back in the drier), cat puked..great,...clean that up...crap, forgot to put make-up on! Yikes! Let's not try and scare them all away.
Sometimes these are more work than it is worth for people to say "your food is great and your house is awesome". I am steering clear of hosting the next two! Man did I have a headache by the end of the night!
Anyway, this coming week is also packed. Second customer in from Tuesday through Friday. A's in town Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Monday is our first Fall Softball Game.
Looking forward to doing nothing on Monday..except a 7 mile run!

Inspired by Misty, Scattegories Continued. ...dare you to try it yourself!

What's my name: Stephanie
4 Letter Word: Shop
Boy Name: Steven (My name if I were a boy!)
Girl Name: Samantha
Occupation: Saleswoman
Color: Sea Blue
Something you wear: Sandals
Beverage: Sangria
Food: Strawberries
Something Found in a Bathroom: Scrunchie
A place in Illinois: Shoe Store (you didn't say it had to be a proper noun!)
Reason for being late: Slept late
Something you shout: S*IT (unfortunately, I should think before I say this as often as I do!)

My Friend Teddy

Theodore Roosevelt once said....

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorius triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

This is my short post for this week. When caught in a cross roads in any matter, at any point in your life you must remember these wise words. What is the worst that could happen? If you never try, you'll never know.

I first heard this quote from my college rowing coach. If you try your hardest when running, rowing, or swimming the worst that could happen is that you end up last. Is that such a bad thing? In my opinion it has only made you stronger for your next challenge.

If you have a dream, don't sit by and watch t.v., do a little bit of what you love everyday.

August is Awesome!!

Well I survived...I turned 35!!! yesterday. Yikes! and yes...I know the clock is ticking. Someday I'll be able to decide on that important commitment. Although seeing Darrell with Tyler and Zac at my sister's wedding reception proved that he is just a kid at heart. They gravitate to him. It sounds silly but I had a great day. I worked til 6 but got word that my job will be changing in the near future, for the better. Darrell treated me to a glass of champagne, a very funny Hoops & Yoyo card (if you know me, you know I love these guys), a new Nike i-pod pedometer, and an awesome Strawberries and Cream Cake from CakeLove. I can't even describe how good this cake is. Then we ordered pizza and watched the Olympics. Tonight we will go out to dinner.......ahhhhh he is such a keeper!

So this is such an exciting month...Happy Anniversary Grandma and Grandpa. You are awesome role models for us. You are such wonderful people and we all aspire to be with our other halves so happily for so many years. It starts as best friends, that is for sure. We love you both!

Then Big Al...Man Happy Birthday. Lovin' your classical music stint lately. Hoping that So. Cal is treating you well and soon you will find that lucky gal. I know we are all lookin'. You're brilliant.

Who else? My sister, as you know. My brother in law. I know we have a few kids in there too.
We share birthday's with the likes of Madonna and Napoleon Bonaparte are know for being creative but demanding people that love to be the center of attention..me...nooooo...shocker!

The end of my Cheer's for the week....love you all.

Happy Birthday Laura

It is not too often that my sisters check out this site, however I thought I might let everyone know that my baby sister turns 31 today! Happy Birthday..Megee.

This was taken last year but you get the idea!

Alright, the chaos continues but what ya' gonna do. It has been a busy week of concerts. Sunday's Coldplay concert was so awesome! I can't even explain how much fun we had and I was VERY thankful that I had arranged with my boss to take my Friday summer hours on Monday AM. Here are a couple shots from the concert. My husband managed to get me incredible seats about 15 rows from the stage! They were all over the arena. At one point they left the stage and went all the way across the arena and played in the middle of a second deck of fans. Wow, they didn't know what to say. They were shocked.

Meanwhile Darrell spent the weekend at Lollapalooza in Chicago. Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against the Machine, and Radiohead just to name a few. He had a great time with the guys. Here is a photo of some of the insanity of this three day event.

Then...yes...one more. Saturday night (last night) we went to the Virgin Mobile Music Festival at Pimlico Race Track here in B-more. Highlights were definitely Offspring and Foo Fighters. Both had some incredible energy and their sound didn't skip a beat. Foo Fighters have gone through a little bit of an instrumental phase but didn't hold anything back last night. Man they let it all out! Sooooooooooo much fun. Imagine me singing at the top of my lungs and you got the right picture in your head!

and now we are broke....jk.

Have a good week! Stay tuned for a new recipe next week.

Sisters

So it has been a very busy two weeks since last post.
On Wednesday of last week I left for Michigan to join up with my family to go to my sister's wedding reception. She got married back in March in St. Lucia. Wed through Friday were full of planning and visiting with family. Darrell joined us on Friday night. My sister from California brought along her two kids....total cuties. Here are some shots from the event. It was a long five days but a ton of fun!








The rest of this last week was packed with events every night. Monday- softball, Tuesday- softball, Wednesday- Dinner out with Darrell's office mates (It's restaurant week!), Thursday- softball, Friday- Restaurant week for me and a girlfriend and Darrell left for Chicago (Lolapoluza with the guys!)
Week before last I fertilized all the indoor and outdoor plants and flowers. The basil is just awesome right now. Therefore, I thought I might share one of my favorite pasta salads!

Pasta Salad with Mozzarella, Sun dried Tomatoes and Basil
Dressing:
6 Tbs Olive Oil
1/2 cup drained Sun-Dried Tomatoes in oil (cut into strips)
1/4 Balsamic or Red Wine Vinegar
1 Tbs drained capers
1 crushed garlic clove

Salad
1 pound box fusilli pasta
12 oz cherry tomatoes halved
8 oz mozzarella cheese (fresh water packed is awesome) cubed
1 cup (packed) fresh basil, thinly sliced
1 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 minced pitted kalmata olives

Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water just until tender. Drain. Transfer to a bowl. Mix dressing in and allow to cool. Stir occasionally to evenly coat. Stir in fresh tomatoes, cheeses, basil and olives. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to 6 hours.
Enjoy!

Tomorrow night....off to see COLDPLAY!!!!!....I'm so excited. They were awesome in San Jose back in 05!

Inspired

This week I have been inspired by several different things. First, last weekend I went to a BBQ where I brought this watermelon side dish. Everyone thought it was awesome and seriously it was so easy. It took my creative brain and about 15 minutes and we were good to go. Try it the next time you have to bring something. This was an all adult affair so I am not sure if kids are cool with green in their watermelon ...but it's worth a shot.

One medium seedless watermelon..scooped into balls either with a melon baller or a 2 Tsp measuring spoon...which is about the only use I have for this crazy size spoon.

About 2 to 3 tablespoons minced fresh mint leaves (currently growing on my deck!)

Juice of half fresh lime (depending upon the size of your melon you may want more)

Toss gently, refrigerate or serve immediately!

Alright, the inspiration for this comes from Big Al. Al turned us all onto Blogging recipes last week and I thought...what a great way to share. This one got such rave reviews by my friends that I thought you might like it.

The second inspiration of the week came on Tuesday night. A large Mac & Cheese producing customer of ours...we wont say who they are....blue boxes...were in town and we wanted to wine and dine them, showing just what a fabulous company we are......please let us make your seasoning blends??!! Anyway, our executive staff put together a wine and food tasting/paring. The food was created and designed around our Flavor Forecast. Our chefs and food insight folks get together with about 15 well known chefs around the country, including some of those that you see on the food network to come up with what the next great flavor pairings will be. Orange and wood smoke. Hummmm can you say BBQ sauce? wait...on a mini BBQ chicken slider with provolone cheese. Yum! Alright now train my mind how to pair an awesome big and bold Syrah from California with that and man....I was in heaven. It made such a difference. Pair acidic iwth acidic, sweet with sweet, smoky with smoky....How to pair things completely changed how the two tasted together. By the end of the night I said to myself. "I love this stuff!" Awesome food and how it is all put together and then the wine paired up so beautifully. What a dream to go around doing this type of thing for a living. What would I have to do to do this for a living?...um other than have a degree in wine making and 10 years experience in the food industry.....check. Well, motivation to leave my current job for one...anhh...let's take some baby steps first. So, baby step one. Meet up with all my foodie friends and start learning, tasting, pairing, and teaching. Once a month a girlfriend and I are planning said experience. There is already one group that does something similiar to this but to this point I have not yet been included. We are just not that close of friends, however, I hope to be able to incorporate myself into the group if mine fails miserably! Stay tuned.

God Bless America....a week late but...we shouldn't need a day!

This last weekend was filled with so many activities that Monday was here before I knew it, and then the work week, and now it is Friday and I am just getting to posting. We had a last minute BBQ on Friday, posted an Evite as many friends had nothing going on. Above is a shot of the most handsome host. How I love this guy! It is amazing how we come to the East Coast to advance my career and he is doing so awesome with his! Darrell just got rave reviews for managing his staff of 5 and the fact that he has passed every project against the city council that he has presented to them. He is so meticulous with financial details and presenting his reasoning! How can they say no. Sure genius! Love this guy! Anyway, "The Fourth" was a hit. We live on "the hill" so the view of the fireworks downtown are great from our deck. We had about 15 people over. A few showers but none-the-less people were fed and happy. I told the story of the Fish celebration and see that photos have been posted......thanks Sarah and all. I do miss the awesome personal show that comes with being a Missouri relative! Next year we should seriously consider coming out...although I still have scars from my last visit to the chiggers!!!!

Well...either way I love you guys and we will have to see the little ones sooner or later, whatever excuse we want to give the husband! Thanks so much for Natalie posting her love of the Star Spangled Banner. Written at Fort McHenry, I might add. Just about 3 miles away. Any time you want to come visit the home of the actual making of the flag (D and I have actually been there) or Fort McHenry, where it was written, just holler! Some serious great American History here on the East Coast. Next year, if we don't come to Missouri, I am considering going to D.C. where you can watch the fireworks to a full symphony orchestra overlooking the Washington Monument Fireworks Spectacular! You can't love freedom more than that!!!!

Miss you all- Cheers!- Steph

Stealing from Amanda

Alright, so I understand that the game is probably that I am supposed to be tagged before I lay out the three things about me but I just thought it was such a great way to tell about yourself, at least for that moment in time. So here it goes:

Three Joys

*Cooking (shocker!)

*Taking Fall Hikes with my wonderful husband and dog

*Snuggling my cat

Three Fears

*Heights

*Going fast (either in a ride, water skis, downhill skiing, etc.)

*Motorcycles

Three Goals

*Manage a product development lab

*Reach a 50 year wedding anniversary

*Complete another marathon under 4 hours and be able to walk the next day!

Current Three Obsessions

*Softball- In particular, avoiding making a fool of myself.
*Farmer's Markets on the weekends

*Not working over an extra 4 hours a week....not an easy one for me.

Three Surprising Facts

*I don't like Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Icing or Chocolate Ice Cream.

*I am completely uncoordinated and go through several injuries a week.

*I have to be reminded to drink water.

Three people I tag....I'll skip this one since I wasn't really tagged in the first place.

So that is me this week. I thought I might share this cute picture of Diana. Most of you haven't seen her since we adopted her two years ago. She is in love with Darrell!

Cheers!

Steph

I knew that!!

Alright, so it's back to work, play, and entertaining. How I get myself wrapped up into doing so many things, I don't know. Or do I and just didn't know it? Currently I am playing on three softball teams. One on Monday night, one on Tuesday and the other floats between Tuesday through Thursday. One team is really good, which is challenging and intimidating. One is so-so. And the third is "just for fun" and we are really pretty bad, although we have a winning record, meaning the other teams are even worse. Darrell refuses to play with this team as his competitive nature finds it completely frustrating. D and I only play on the Monday team together. We are both average players. Anyway, where am I going with all of this?
For work I set a personal goal to determine what makes me tick. I picked up this book- Now Discover Your Strengths. It is a great book to determine what it is that makes you who you are. Rather than focus on fixing your weaknesses, take a look at your strengths and make them work for you in the future. Ok so it requires you take an on-line survey. Once I saw my results, it was completely obvious. Achiever, Arranger, Focus, Analytical, and Significance. Ah...ya. Hello. Why did I need a book to tell me that!...anyway. I thought it was interesting that sometimes you need someone, even a book, to tell you things that you really already know. Just like Jen and her Whinny the Pooh survey. Ya I am totally Rabbit.
Well. Must go. Hope everyone is good and not getting too uncomfortable in this heat and water. Will catch up on everyone's sites soon and sorry to have missed last week's post.
Love you all.

Paris in the springtime....is COLD!!!

Paris in the springtime....is COLD!!!

Well we made it home safe and sound. Not without a few stomach and headaches on the flight home. A 23 hour long journey from the time we got up until the time we went to bed....way too much work for the last day of one's vacation. It was a lot of fun. Having never been to Europe and not being able to speak a word of French was interesting....Darrell speaks it well enough to get by. I thought what might be the best way to describe our trip is to go through a list of highlights that I wrote down as the week went along. Enjoy. A few photo's above..I would post more but they seem to be coming out fuzzy.

Eric Cartman Grafiti on the subway wall

Acordian playing on the metro

The Eiffel Tower at night and twinkling at dusk

Eating Chocolate Creps at the Eiffel Tower at night

600 + Steps up the Eiffel Tower during the day

Seeing men scaling the outside of the Eiffel Tower

Seeing the water lily garden of Monet at the Musée de l'Orangeries des Tuileries

Ordering a Salad Nicoise and getting a ham and cheese sandwhich..with an egg on it

Spilling half the shaker of pepper (white pepper...I hate white pepper) on my first meal

Buying a $5 umbrella to walk in Paris in the rain

Seeing the Church of Notre Dame and it's awesome stained glass. No wonder it took over 100 years to build.

The open grocery market with fruits, vegetables, fish, and cheese

Sitting in chairs lounging in the Place de la Concord

Riding bikes up the The Champs Elysées

Turning a 10 minute bike ride into a three neighborhood 45 minute bike workout

Shopping in Les Halles

Searching for an Irish Bar because the French don't believe in TV in their "bars"

Magners on Ice?

Seeing Napoleon's Tomb

Deciding not to actually go through the Luve and then realizing later that it was FREE!

Starbucks in the Luve??? Now I have seen everything!

Waffles with powdered sugar at Roland Garros

Seeing John McEnroe play tennis in senior's doubles with a Sweed! Darrell couldn't decide who to cheer for.

"Little Chef" made of chocolate..if you have seen the movie, you know what I mean.

Luxembourg Garden...Incredible.

Dinner with the Scottish and Lunch with the Ausie's

The view of the city from Sacre Coeur Basilica at night

Walking the hilly streets around the Moulin Rouge in high heals

Harry's New York Bar

Red Geraniums EVERYWHERE...in windows, in gardens and at Roland Garros.

Flower stores were just awesome and everywhere. Not a dead flower to be found..my favorite thing about Paris.

Bridge Club...seriously this place was packed on Friday night with people playing cards.

Three old English women commenting on Rafa Nadal picking his underwear (a nervous habit of his)..man we couldn't stop from laughing.

Two awesome days of tennis. One in the rain and the other with some sun.

Four hours of tennis..at least..in two different Irish Pubs...routing with the locals.


Coming home to three creatures who couldn't wait to see us! It feels great to be loved even when the vacation of love is over.

Gearing up for Paris

Well it surely has been a while since I have posted. Sorry for the delay. I was off to Michigan for a long weekend for my Aunt's funeral. Strait into three days of softball and a night of bowling for charity. Finally the long weekend to get ready to go off to Paris. Checking itinerary, hotels, exchanged rates and watching the French Open that started this weekend. The funeral went fine. I was glad that I was there for Mom. There are some good things that come from a funeral 5 months later, you don't do nearly as much sobbing and crying as it has pretty much already set in. Above is a picture of all of us. My grandmother (little on in front in flowers) is awesome. She had us all pretty crazy! I can see where we get our controlling "always on top of it" nature. Go figure.

This week it is going to be short...sorry about that. Darrell is wonderful...hummm I think I said that last time. Last week we celebrated our 15 year "togetherness" anniversary. Friday we leave for Paris. I don't even know where to go first while there. Top of the list is a trip to their open farmers market. Cheese, bread, and a glass of wine! Too bad I don't know a lick of French. This is going to be fun, either way. Darrell knows the sites and the language so I am going to take a vacation and not worry about any of it! If possible I will try to post while there. Love you all. Stay tuned for some great stories.

Ta Da!!!!

I take no credit. well...ok, maybe a little. Once again, Al comes to my rescue! I was half way there with Jen's blog and some help on line but I couldn't have gotten there without Al- Thanks little buddy.


First off we have to say Happy Mother's Day to all of you- since you are all Mother's..Amanda I count us too since we have creatures & husbands to take care of. Not quite the same but in my book it counts! Thought you might like to see a photo of our gang above. Taken last year on a trip to see my family. Thought it spoke to our personalities pretty well! She's such a nut! I remember some great things as a kid. Weekend mornings walking to the Swedish Bakery and then taking the day down the road to Harbert Beach on Lake Michigan. Sitting out all day and then going home to BBQ and play in the trees. All within in walking distance. Then there was the only time I was hospitalized. The neighbor boys and I were trying to swing from tree to tree. Below us were old mattresses in the event that we fell. I did, only not on the mattresses. I never even started swinging before I let go of the rope and landed on the maple tree root with my head. Mom to the screaming bloody murder rescue. I tried so hard to be one of the guys. Still to this day, I suppose, I am doing that. I currently have the biggest black and blue knee from trying to catch a softball- and missing I might add. So sexy, I can't even tell you. My revelation for this week is that I just treat my body as a tool not a sacred vessel (until I have a reason to, that is). As long as it still functions, I am good to go. As D always tells me, I fix up well! Ha! Cool stuff. Poor Mom who wanted a cute little pretty girly girl. She got that in Erin, not me. Laura (my half sister) was somewhere in between. More like me, I think, than a girly girl. It's good that we are all different.

Mom has had a tough life, no doubt, but she has come such a long way in the last 5 years. Re certified Nurse, Church Board, Every one's friend, and recovering from two years of loosing some of this world's greatest people...Dad, Aunt Sandy, Mr. Jernigan (mom took care of him for years), Mrs. Pryor (our neighbor), Dr. Peterson (A long time family friend and colleague) and two of her dear kitties (hit by a car following each other). It has been a rough time but through it all she has stayed positive.... and sober! We love her and some days it so hard to be all the way across the country from one of your best friends!


All- Enjoy this special day for one day your kids will speak so proudly of you as well.

Getting There

Alright...Thanks Misty. I am not quite there yet but still working on it. This is a little different than I had before but soon I will master my own background. This is the view from our top deck off the back of the house. A somewhat clear day...you can see most of the harbor. To the right is downtown but not very visable here.

Cheers-
Steph

I used to think I was tech savy, not any more

Well, I decided that it is time for a change. I searched on the web for like an hour, found a great background of flowers and leaves. It fit my mood perfectly...then..for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to change mine to it. I tried reading the help thing...hummmmm not a good idea. That was like trying to read french. I, at one time thought I was fairly smart computer-wise, although nothing compared to Big Al or even Darrell for that matter but enough so that people in the office would swing by my cube to ask for advice, of which nine out of ten times I could help them. Now I am stuck. Any advice? I just want flowers on my backgound. Is that so hard. I'll cut and paste it, I just don't know where. I tried once and had a whole page of flowers, just nothing else!
Cheers..it's too nice outside to monkey anymore, I'm going to get some sun!

Pals having fun

Thinking of you all hanging out, talking, playing games, ect. So sorry I couldn't join up for the girls weekend but it actually worked out fine. All caught up after a busy earth day, more like an earth week. I have switched to a wash cloth to do dishes with and I only ran the dishwasher one night this week. Well that is primarily due to the fact that we were out of half and half so I had coffee at work like three days, rather than make it at home. And we had softball on Monday and Tuesday night. Either way, little by little, I am feeling a little better.
Big news!!! We got our tickets for the French Open. So excited. The exchange rates are getting out of control so it will be a lot of farmers markets and crep stands. Bagettes and Cheese, you can't go wrong. It is real. One month to go. I am so excited. Our tax return will go for paying 1.5 times the amout for everything but you only have one 10 year wedding anniversary (actually last Oct) but in May will be together for 15 years so that is a good enough reason for me. Love this guy more and more everyday. The other day he was off to a meeting in his suit and I just smiled. Such a cutie and he is all mine!
Love you all.

Save my planet!!

Can you believe that 75% percent of every household's trash can be recycled? Think about this every time we take out the trash can. How long will it take for this disposable plastic cup to degrade in the landfill. Why would I not just use a cup that I can throw in the dishwasher or rinse out and use again in two hours. We throw so much stuff away that can be reused! Did you know that between Thanksgiving and New Years American's generate an extra Billion pounds of trash a week! Most of which is wrapping paper. While I am a terrible offender of buying my favorite cute wrapping paper from the kid down the street, it kills me to think about killing trees to get it. We should use reusable bags, baskets, ect. or reuse the paper itself (of course this is hard when it is torn into five million pieces in the excitement of it all). There are so many friends that don't even recycle cans, bottles, and plastic containers. We should all just take an extra two minutes everyday to think about the number trees killed when throwing any paper into the trash rather than the recycle container or the water wasted when running it while brushing your teeth or shaving in the shower. While I am sure we have enough dishes in our households to run full dishwashers but why would you waste the energy (ie oil used to generate the power) to run half loads of laundry or dishwashers.
Alright, there you have it. My rant for the week. Sorry I missed out on last week and have no great shots for this week. We are all over our colds, ect. Although we were pretty sure that Darrell had walking phenomia this week but the Dr. just said he was generally broken from allergies and stress. He will live just fine. Will post photo's later. For now this is my rant.
Remember Earth Day Tuesday, April 22nd. Do what you can to change your life now to protect the earth and it's natural resources for our children!

April Showers Bring May Flowers

The sound of rain tapping on the roof. Birds chirping. I hear a dove call. It is finally the time of year when we can sleep with the window open and wake up to such beautiful sounds. Cough, cough, sniffle..(ok more like snort), the beauty is gone. Lovely, just lovely. I have a cold. Tuesday afternoon Darrell came home from work with what I had cracked up to be allergies, however, two days later with a sore throat, then a runny nose and now a full on head cold, I am miserable! Oh well it will pass. Monday's O's home opener in the freezing cold was probably not a great idea. We were dressed well but again it was raining. Dry and underneith the overhang, three flights up we watched them loose. Shocker! Actually I shouldn't start in on them so soon. They have started out not half bad. The A's are 3 and 3. I'll take it- Boston and Cleveland are no joke to beat.
This week starts the first of one of our softball teams. I will miss the first game due to customers in house. Gen Mills...what's new! Week after will be a busy one with city softball team on Monday, my work softball on Tuesday and the last of the Volleyball games on Wednesday. They actually asked me to be on a beach volleyball team but honestly, while I love it, I am just not as good as everyone else. Darrell will play for them while I play on the work softball team instead. While my skills are likely not that much better in softball, I do enjoy it more and it is a good opportunity to get to know the McCormick crew a little better.

Big news of the week is my sister got married on the 14th in St. Lucia. Here is a beautiful shot of her and her new hubby. Long engagements are our thing. They have been together now for something like 8 years. Yikes we like to string those guys along!
Enjoy the rain.

Bring on the Baseball!!! Spring is Here.

Who in their right mind will get up on a Monday and Tuesday morning at 6 AM to watch baseball before work....transplanted A's fans. A's vs. Red Sox in Japan. A's split 2 game series. One true advantage of being on the East Coast rather than the West Coast...I would have had to get up at 3 AM if I were still in California. The baseball season brings thoughts of warm evenings, free baseball tickets, the roar of the crowd and the crack of the bat. It is in integral part of our relationship and sanity come the summer months. It is a way that brings us together with our colleagues and our friends. Unfortunately, most of my girl friends have a different meaning to getting to third base than I do and aren't really connected to the passion behind this fun sport. But the guys think it is pretty cool that I actually know what is going on half the time. It is difficult being an A's fan on a 3 hour time difference. We miss most of the weeknight evening games due to the sheer fact that baseball starts at 10 PM. I rarely make it through two innings and have to catch up in the morning. We have XM radio so I think I may set up a little system in the bedroom so that we can fall asleep to the game. I don't know. Many books on Chi of the house indicate that the bedroom is for sleeping only -hence my push for no TV. Radio may be breaking the rules as well. One knows that we already have a cat and a dog on the bed making it difficult to maneuver around at times. No reason to push them around to have to get up to turn it off at 1 AM. Anyway, truly looking forward to watching/listening to a season full of losses and "rookie moves". This team is so young. I have no idea who half of them are!

While it isn't exactly warm today..Tucker and I did some serious bird watching out on the deck this morning. The pansy's have survived the winter and are beautiful. Last weekend I put out a feeder in hopes to attract some gold finches. I have a purple finch already. I will put out the syrup feeder soon hoping to attract some beautiful Orieole's. I haven't actually seen one around here. Only at Grandma Fishes and she lives in Missouri!.

Looking forward to a week where I think I can catch up on things at work and get home before 6:30. Don't place any bets!

Have a good one!

Nothin but time on a Saturday Night

A Chilly 40's today by the Chesapeak Bay. Tucker and I took a walk around Historic Fort McHenry along the water front and realized that despite the fact that my tulips, dafodils, and crocuses are coming up....it is not quite spring here. We have had a very mild winter so I can't complain but we aren't quite up to planting my flower boxes just yet!
Darrell is off with friends this weekend celebrating March Madness in Atlantic City. I don't even want to know about all the shenanigans going on. Boys will be boys. Tonight I will do some work and set up this new thing called a blog. Once I get the style I like...which I think is the hardest part.....I'll be in business. For those of you who email us go ahead and continue using the regular email, I set up a separate one for me so that I can have this "thing" separate from the rest of the business of the house. No need for getting yelled at for creating junk mail!
Well once I see how folks like it, I will check back in.