Milana

I love kids.  I don't think that's news to anyone who has ever met me.

I've been babysitting since I was 12 years old and been pointing out babies in stores with my mom since before I can remember.

Since I'm not yet at the point of having my own, I fill my days with these cuties to get my monthly fill of baby-time.  Hope you enjoy these cute faces as much as I do...ok probably not quite as much as I do, but that's ok.

Tough Baby

Remember when I mentioned a couple weeks ago that my Man was home randomly for a weekend at some point this summer...?  Well, he wasn't actually "home" for the weekend, he was home for Friday night, and then Saturday morning we headed to Vermont together, with a friend.

Why were we going to Vermont you ask...?

We were going to Vermont so My Man and his friends could run in a 11 mile military grade obstacle course on a mountain of course!

Yes, that's right Ladies and Gentlemen, my husband is officially a Tough Mudder!!

 

And I couldn't be prouder of him!

They finished in exactly 4 hours, and to my amazement, could actually walk under their own power the following day!

Love you Babe

Remember When...

All thoughts and prayers gathering around the greatest city in the world!

12 Years ago today, the world was changed forever.

Here's to remembering the aftermath of this day and how a nation pulled together to Help and support the survivors and families of the fallen.

And to all those who continue to fight and have fought overseas to protect our Freedoms here at home, we Thank you.

God Bless America!

Culinary re-cap

At the start of this year I had a goal.  That goal was to try a new recipe at least every 2 weeks for the year of 2013.  Well, we are now 8 months into 2013, and I'm not sure I can claim 16 truly new recipes (which sounds kinda sad when I put it like that actually) but of the ones I have tried there hasn't been even one Flop!

 

I will also admit that while I absolutely Love to cook, I definitely Love it just a little bit more when I have other people besides just me to cook for, even if it's just me and my Man.

 

This roasted scallion & corn with crispy chicken thighs was a hit, and compared to other recipes I have pulled together, very simple.

 



This pork made its appearance one night where I was lucky enough to have a family friend visit with her daughter, And to have my hubby home the same night!  (I'll be back with an update as to why Hubs was home soon.)

 



 

Very rarely do I use any type of food (besides pastry dough) that's already made for me in the frozen section at the store, but for this recipe I made an exception.  Fish sticks from the store, and chopped avocado, tomato, and celery made awesome fish tacos when paired with a simple cilantro & lime sour cream.



This one was the most recent culinary adventure in my kitchen.  I did have friends coming over, so I attempted to put together a clam-bake type meal.  Cubed potatoes, carrots, & onion, 1lb of Mussels, a few steamers, and Shrimp to cap it off.  All those delicious items steamed in a garlic wine broth, and made an amazing meal for us to enjoy together!

oh, and roasted corn cooked in foil with butter in the oven!

 

Summer...?

How can it possibly be August 22nd already?!?!

How can I simultaneously be wishing all my wishes for it to be October for my Hubby to get home, and wishing for August & these last precious moments of Summer to last longer.

Life was supposed to slow down somewhere in there, and I still feel like I'm going full-tilt.

Hope you all are out there enjoying your summers and family & friends before it gets so cold that no one wants to leave the house anymore.

I'll leave you with this image from my summer, and be back soon with more updates.... Promise :)

Culinary Adventures

So, by now we all know that I love to cook.  I'll admit, I may not have held up my end of the bargain with my goal of a new recipe every week or every other week, however.... when I do get my culinary brain going, it's hard to stop me.

My mom and her friend come up once ever few months, and I use that day as my incentive to challenge myself the most.  The first time they came up I was living in my apartment, and I made Alfredo sauce from scratch.  That seems like ages ago now.  Between then and now I've made tomato marinated swordfish, stuffed artichokes, stuffed chicken breasts, and many others.

This visit sparked a brand new technique inside of me...Pasta Making!  The show Worst Cooks in America gave me the idea, and it actually worked better than I could have thought.  Without a pasta machine (don't worry I'll have one soon) I had to roll it out by hand so it was a slight bit thick, but it was still yummy.

It was kinda too bad that these Cherry-Glazed Chicken Thighs from my now-famous-on-this-blog Bon Appetite cookbook got overshadowed by the ravioli because it was so delicious on it's own!
And have you ever just roasted red onions in the oven with a drizzle of olive oil and salt & pepper?  Well, if your answer was no, then you should try it, they were Delicious!!

Have I made you hungry yet....? ;)

Friends Come to Visit

I am a huge fan of friends coming to visit, and this past Memorial Day Weekend I was honored with a visit from friends I hadn't seen since our wedding day, just about a year before.

Our morning was spent catching up on our year apart, then the afternoon we got to explore Provincetown.  Always a treat to spend time exploring the craziness of those streets and people watching out the windows of a local restaurant.

Lobster Rolls epitomized out Cape Cod day.

Me and this girl know each other because our moms went to college together, and man, am I so glad of that!

My Man of course had to show off his muscles a little bit by picking us both up at the same time to cap off our awesome day!

Thanks so much for visiting Nicole & Angela, I can't wait to return the favor and visit you next!!