A Few New Favorites

I thought I would share a few random recent discoveries that have made me smile lately...

1. 24

 How did I miss this show for so long? Clearly we are behind the times here. Let me preface this with saying that Andy and I are not big TV watchers and don't really have any shows that we follow regularly. We tried watching Lost for a little while, but then it just got too weird for us. We had thrown around the idea of watching 24, but then just never started. Well, Andy got an Apple TV for his birthday so we signed up for Netflix streaming and 24 was one of the only tv show options that sounded appealing. 7 episodes in 4 days later we are addicted!! It is hard to watch just one...I am glad we waited to start watching until all the seasons were out! Maybe we should start taking bets at how long it will take us to finish the full series.

2. Mini Food Processor

Photo Compliments of Amazon.com

We received a full size food processor as a wedding gift, but I found that I rarely took the effort to take it out and use it. Then when I tried to use it once or twice to make a sauce or salad dressing it didn't work very well because I didn't have enough liquid in the bowl to bring it up to the depth of the blades. Then one day I was at Bed, Bath, and Beyond and saw this guy and decided it was well worth $30. I have definitely gotten my money's worth! It is so quick and easy to pull out to make salad dressings (my current favorite is garlic, lemon juice, rice wine vinegar, EVOO, and salt/pepper), pesto, etc.

3. Books by Robert Whitlow on my Kindle

Photo compliments of Amazon.com

I have always loved mystery books and old John Grisham novels, so this has been right up my alley. Whitlow went to Furman, which is obviously a fun tie. The stories are legal thrillers set in the South, and they are quick fun reads. I went through 2 this summer and am looking forward to downloading another one soon!

4. Vietnamese Food

So this isn't really a recent find, but I haven't blogged about it before so I thought it would be a good time to mention it. Andy and I tried Pho Que Huong (be careful how you pronounce it :) for the first time probably a year ago following the recommendation of Mike Wilson (of Saw's BBQ). I am a big fan. The food is great and lighter than Chinese food or even Thai food. It is in a very nondescript shopping center, so we usually just pick it up to go. Definitely worth trying! My favorite is #21 with pork (Bun Xao Gia??) which is vermicelli rice noodles with seared pork topped with a light peanut sauce, green onions, bean sprouts and lemon grass.

Week in Review

The weekend has flown by, but overall it was a GREAT one! After a laid back dinner with friends on Friday night, we headed to Tuscaloosa for the Bama game on Saturday. Somehow we managed to avoid all traffic and had the easiest trip in and out on a game day that I have ever experienced! It was my first time in Tuscaloosa since the tornados so it was heart wrenching seeing all of the damage. There really are no words to describe it. We have a service day at work on Wednesday and are helping out in Pratt City which was one of the other areas hit hard in the storms, so I am looking forward to the opportunity to give back.

On a brighter note, it was an awesome game, and we had a great time cheering on the Tide. After the game, we headed home where we had a fun dinner with my parents, Andy's parents, and my aunt and uncle. Andy grilled some wonderful steaks on the Green Egg, and we all thoroughly enjoyed being together.

Just wish the weekend wasn't over yet, but here is a little bit more that has been going on around Manhattan...

First up, our garage - it has seen quite a change over the last week. It was just a little over a week ago that it looked like this...

Then they gradually tore down the existing structure and cleared out the space...

Three short days later we have this!

Still plenty to do - staining the boards, painting the storage room, etc - but it was amazing to see it go up so quickly! It will be very nice to be able to park both cars back there before too long.

I've been doing some cooking too...

Here is a quick and easy appetizer recipe for Sundried Tomato and Feta Dip from Real Simple. I've made it several times now, and it always seems to be a hit. The best news is that it really only has 3 ingredients (+ salt and pepper)!

Also made another pizza this week...this time with just homemade marinara, fresh mozzarella, caramelized onions, cherry tomatoes, and feta.

Lastly, I made a new pasta recipe tonight - I just sauteed a diced eggplant in olive oil until it softened (10-15 min), then added homemade marinara, basil, and fresh mozzarella. It was a hit here, even with Andy who doesn't love eggplant. Just a quick picture of the sauce before I added the noodles (I used a medium size shell pasta, but a penne or any medium size noodle would work well I think.)

That's all for now - hope everyone had a great weekend!

You Know it is a Monday When...

Your computer screen suddenly gives you this:

The blue screen of death...

Luckily it decided to work after I forced it to shut down and gave it a break!

Change of Scenery

I've been on the road for work the past 2 weeks, making it difficult to find time to blog (and things to blog about...) Luckily I'm back home for a few weeks though with just a few day trips planned so hopefully more to blog about over the coming weeks! 

Here was the view outside of my hotel room window last week...

I took this picture the morning I arrived in the midst of the typical gray London weather, but over the rest of the week the sun actually came out quite a bit! It was actually the nicest weather I've ever experienced in London. One thing I did not enjoy...drying my hair every day with this!

Really? It is a silly complaint I know, but the extra 30 minutes required every morning to get my thick head of hair dry was not fun! Glad to be back to the comforts of home. 

Speaking of, I came home to this in the front window:

Remember our storm damage here? Well, after lots of negotiations with the insurance company and finalizing plans with the contractor, construction of our new garage is finally under way! They have torn down most of the old structure and started framing the new storage room. When it is done, we will have a true 2 car garage! 

Excuse the overgrown garden - we kind of let it go after the storm, but funny enough we have still salvaged a few tomatoes and cucumbers! 

That's it for now. Have a great weekend!

Happy Labor Day!

I tried to post this last night but our internet went out just as I was pushing post. Better late than never though, right?

Just checking back in after my brief hiatus to say happy labor day. Hope that everyone had a relaxing and restful long weekend. We spent the weekend at the beach, where thanks to Tropical Storm Lee, this was our view for most of the weekend...

Despite the rain, we had a great time just relaxing and catching up with family. We watched a lot of football Saturday (Roll Tide!) and cooked a lot of good food all weekend long (but sadly no pictures). Looking out on the beach throughout the storm really was pretty, but the winds were pretty intense today leaving the beach then we caught up with the rain once we were back in Alabama. This was the view as we were heading over the 331 bridge.

. Once we got over the bridge, the waves were starting to wash up onto the causeway. I can only imagine what it must look like in a real hurricane hitting head on!

We are back home safe and sound now though. Have a great 4 day week!