A story...

I was just thinking about this little story I heard about an old married couple. The man was crotchety and gruff and completely pessimistic, and his wife was nagging but in an endearing way. One day they went on a boat cruise that also happened to have a fishing contest going at the same time. Now in order to actually win you would need to have purchased a raffle ticket. So even if you caught the biggest fish, if you had no ticket, you received no prize, which in fact was around $5000! So the man and his wife boarded the boat, and set out for a day at sea. Now the husband wanted nothing to do with raffles and the like, and told his wife, “I don’t want to buy no damn raffle ticket”, which the wife replied, “Fine, but don’t come crying to me, when you need one.” The gruff old man went fishing and low and behold he caught the largest fish of the day. When he went to show the judges, his prize fish, they said to him, “You have indeed caught the largest fish, but do you have a raffle ticket?” The man hung his head regretfully and was about to say no, when his wife came forward with a raffle ticket she had gone on to buy, regardless of what her husband had said. And as the judges handed over the money to the couple, the wife looked at her husband and said, “Eat Crow!”
And so this couple tells this story with a glimmer in their eyes, and a smidgen of a smile on the old man’s face. And you know without a doubt that this grumpy old man loves his wife, and the wife loves her husband, not despite of his crotchetiness, but because of it.

Friday night laid back...

I am finding that more and more, and maybe it is my age, but i really like to just chill on a friday night. Not that i wouldn't pass up an opportunity to shake it up on a friday, but i try purposefully to not make plans. And really, i have no problem being home alone on a friday... I mean where does it say that you HAVE to be doing something all weekend long! During the week, I get up early, work all day and almost every weeknight i have something going on! so who's to say that friday can't be a chill night? I am not ashamed! I made some delicious thai noodles with crunchy carrots, that made my heart skip a beat! Hey I even busted out a set of chopsticks I purchased in China over 5 years ago! Life is too short not to use the good kuàizi! (chopsticks)

Crunchy Thai Noodles

Serves 6, (the recipe called for snap peas, bell peppers & scallions, which i had none of, so i used carrots, which tasted just fine!)

Kosher salt

1/2 pound thin spaghetti

1 cup sliced crunchy carrots

1 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1/3 cup soy sauce

3 tablespoons dark sesame oil

1 tablespoon honey

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

2 tablespoons white sesame seeds, toasted

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the spaghetti and cook according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
For the dressing, whisk together the vegetable oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, garlic, ginger, 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, peanut butter, salt, to taste, and the pepper, in a medium bowl.
Combine the spaghetti and carrots in a large bowl. Pour the dressing over the spaghetti mixture. Add the parsley and mix again.

Birthday & Slumber Party

Answer: NEVER!
What is: When are you too old to stop having slumber parties?
Saturday was a busy day of preparation for a fun evening with the girls. I spent the morning baking and decorating a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting for Tabitha... I love baking cakes, and I love to decorate them, but the problem I have is that decorating a cake takes patience... which sometimes I lack! I hurriedly wrote "Happy Birthday Tabitha" on her cake, when I realized that I spelt Birthday: BIRDAY! UGH! So I had to clean up the mistake, wipe the palette clean and start fresh! Which funnily enough, often mirrors how my life works! Thank God that frosting is forgiving, which then i guess i should say that thank God, He is forgiving too!

Anyway, make the cake, get everything together, head over to Bonnie's and wait for Tabitha to arrive. We went all out on making this the most girly birthday she has ever had. We're talking, candles, bubble bath, bath salts, earrings, bathrobe, slipper... and a tiara that we made her wear all night. I love other people's birthdays!! What fun it is to celebrate someones arrival into life!

After that celebration we had over some of our girlfriends for an all out slumber party! Chick flix, smoothies, mud masque facials and lots of laughs. I had such a great time, and I hope we make this into a reoccurring tradition!

Next weekend I will be in Michigan with my BFF Rachel, with a slumber party of our own!

Happy 7th Anniversary to my wonderful cousins Kyle & Kelly! Way to go on 7 great years!!

Cinnamon Toast Crunch

wasn't that the song for the cereal? I can hear it in my head! I used to be addicted to that stuff when I was kid. My mom raised us on goats milk, wheat grass shots and everything that equals healthy. But for a season, my mom got lenient and she would buy me cinnamon toast crunch cereal. Oh mom, you are the best! Speaking of cinnamon toast, when I used to live in NH, I would make breakfast almost every morning for up 75 people. Usually it was oatmeal, pancakes or cold cereal. But there were times, when the stars would align and we would get a donation of cinnamon bread, and if it was in the budget to purchase cream cheese; I would make cinnamon bread french toast! Holy Moly was that delicious. Yesterday, I knew that Bonnie and Paula were coming over. (No Tabitha though, cause it was her birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TABS!)
So I polled B & P and asked them what they were craving for dinner, and the response was French Toast. So then I thought, OMG I could make the cinnamon bread french toast! And it was decided. I jazzed up the recipe with chunks of honey crisp apples, and it was like a moment of heaven in your mouth.

Cinnamon Bread French Toast
serves 4

2 Tablespoons of butter
8 slices of cinnamon bread (with raisins optional)
4 oz of cream cheese
1 half apple chopped into small chunks
3 eggs
2 Tbls milk
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Heat griddle or pan on low and melt butter. In a small bowl mix cream cheese and apples together, set aside. In another shallow bowl or dish, whisk eggs, milk & nutmeg together, set aside. Take 2 slices of bread and spread cream cheese mixture between them, follow likewise with the other slices. Dip each sandwich into the egg mixture and coat thoroughly. Follow with the other 3 sandwiches. Place on griddle and fry sandwiches until they are golden brown on both sides.
Serve with your favorite toppings. heaven.

It's Not Delivery, It's Sabrina!

Awww... cooking and delivering food is so much fun. I had the urge to make one of my favorite meals: Shrimp Stew with Israeli Couscous. Now since its more fun to make food and share, I made the stew, packed it up and headed over to kelly, who still remains a medical mystery with her ankle. We enjoyed the meal and then watched ANTM... Kelly is in the lead with the most points, but i predicted that last night Kimberly would go home and by golly she did!

Goodbye to blog?

I've been thinking about my blog and I was wondering if i am getting bored with it? Maybe i am, maybe this is silly to write about my life? I don't know, I haven't had anything to really say the past few days. Not that I haven't been busy, or have had memorable moments, but sometimes I just get sick of hearing myself think. I think too much. Way too much. Not too over analytical, but i just think about things and people and situations and circumstances... hopefully not obsessively, but i do think a lot. Anyway what is my point in all this? I don't know, for now I will keep the blog going.
Last night i met with the girls i do bible study with and we are now in the midst of covering Philippians. Somehow i ended up being the leader this round, though I'm sure i am doing ok, i always assume i could be doing better. We were talking about grace and peace last night. And i was saying how God measures out to us the amount we need to get you through. This year has been a big down pour of grace and peace, and the payoff of receiving this bounty has been more freedom then i have ever experienced in my life. Although it comes at a cost, and i hope i never have to relive this year again, but I like who i am now, better then in all 30 years of my life, and that is a good thing. Soon I will be 31 (3 months!!!) and I think it will be a very good year, I just have a feeling about it...
After my group ended i snuck over to kyle & kelly's house to drop off some "dinks" (little gifts of silliness or fun). I didn't plan on staying long, but that is the splendid thing about good friends, you mean to stop by for 3 minutes and you stay for 30... PTL Kelly has found out that her ankle is not broken, nor tendons pulled, but an infection. Soon with some antibiotics and grace, she will be back to her cooking extraordinaire self! Meow!
Tonight i am making one of my favorite meals: Shrimp with Israeli Couscous. And of course I will be watching ANTM... ah how wonderful! AND one week from tomorrow I will be with my best friend Rachel! Happiness.

Bloody Mary

At 3:00am(!) I get a text message from Jaime, inviting me for bloody marys and the Vikings game Sunday afternoon. Cindy called me in the morning to confirm, and after talking to my mom, I decided to kill two birds with one stone, kinda literally that is. I have been bird sitting for my mom and so I brought the bird out to my parent's house and then i met up with cindy & jaime for bloody marys and to watch the Vikings play and lose. I never thought i would be a bloody mary fan, but i think they may be one of new favorite drinks! Probably the reason I didn't like it was the thought of drinking V8 tomato juice as a kid, and that has always grossed me out. But my palate and tastes have changed. And so the bloody marys i drink have delicious flavors like Tabasco, pepper, celery salt and other great flavors. They don't even need to have the alcohol to be tasty either.

We hung out and ate pizza until Andy and Magnus showed up. Magnus was a foreign exchange student from Sweden back in the day, and Andy is my friend Heather's little brother. Well not so little anymore, andy is a chef in sweden! How cool is that! So both andy & magnus are living in sweden, but happened to be back to visit. We had a fun time playing pool and drinking the place out of bloody marys... I only had one thank you very much, (ok and half of Jaime's, but they are soooo good!) After all that I stopped back out at my parent's to say hello and to see my mom\dad\brother before i headed back to the big city.