Cooking Adventures

With the cookbooks I received for Christmas, I have decided I must try new recipes. One of my first recipes was quite optimistic...I mean, I've never even eaten a scallop before, let alone cooked one! But oh well, at least I tried...and I must say, it was quite good! The Basil Scallops with Spinach Fettucine recipe from the Cooking Light Superfast Suppers cookbook seemed quite easy. Just 17 minutes total prep and cook time! Well, let's just say that wasn't quite the case for me...more like an hour! But it was delish, and pretty much worth the time. The scariest part was trying to figure out if the scallops were cooked enough...but we lived, so I'm assuming they were fine :)

Shoulda Been a Wedding Planner

I love trying to be creative, so with the recent engagement of one of my best friends ever (Congratulations to Christa & Jay!), I eagerly volunteered to help with her wedding planning. First things first, you gotta pick a color scheme, right?! Thanks to co-worker buddy, Katie, and her own wedding planning, I made a wonderful little "Inspiration Board" for my Christie...

Do You Hear What I Hear?!?!

Christmas was wonderful with the fam down in Katy! We ate lots of sausage (baked ziti, summer sausage, sausage balls, etc...). I was very thankful that we were all (almost all) able to be together. At the Christmas Eve candlelight service, they played one of the funniest videos ever! Do You Hear What I Hear? "People get mad when you sing about baby Jesus with a tail!"

Davy and my family spoiled me rotten with too many gifts :) I got lots of new cookbooks, Anthropologie aprons and candles, a mini-muffin tin and an adorable cupcake tree! I also received my new favorite perfume, Very Hollywood, and a beautiful jewelry stand (along with a few new pieces of jewelry!)...and of course some new clothes!

This was the year of book giving for us...we gave Granny P. the final two Twilight books!, we gave Dad a new Bible, and Neil the last Harry Potter book. Vampires, God, and Wizards...hmmmm.

I made the new favorite dessert of the family - Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake. It's a homemade, from scratch, layered chocolate cake with peanut butter-cream cheese frosting and a chocolate-peanut butter glaze...so delish! (And it only took me 2 days to make! lol) Definitely worth it!

Coincidental Birthday Presents

Happy birthday to Mom! (Dec. 5th) The "Hillbillies" came up to the Big D for shopping and birthday celebrating . My sis-in-law and I each separately and individually picked out presents for Mom. "I got your Mom some really pretty earrings," she says. "I got her earrings, too!," I say. . . The ones she bought are in the catalog picture, and the ones I bought are sitting on the page (the francesca's ones). To this day, I'm still speechless that we picked out earrings SO similar! Oh, and this is the yummy birthday cake I made:

ThanksBlackTurkeyFridayGiving

And so the extra winter weight begins! We had a great Thanksgiving in Tyler with the Cook family. It was a great day full of food, football, and more food. Tradition in my family on Turkey Day has always been to look at all of the ads from the newspaper and scope out where the best deals will be on Black Friday. And of course, on the Friday after Turkey Day, my mom and I wake up super early and hit the stores. Since this was the first Thanksgiving I spent with David's side of the family, I of course had to recruit someone to go Black Friday shopping with me! So my sister-in-law, Mallory, and I woke up at 4 AM to go shop! We went to Target for $10 pajama sets and $7 puffy vests...NOT! I actually scored a luggage set for only $35...pretty good deal! We were 2 seconds too late for the good lap top deal at Office Depot :( But it's ok! We went to Old Navy and Bath & Body works for a few more items, went to Chick-fil-A for a chicken biscuit and were home by 8 AM! So much fun!

Mother-Daughter Weekend

My sister-in-law, Cerissa, and I voyaged down to Houston for a wonderful weekend with Mom and her good friend, Shaun. We went to the Women of Faith Conference at the Toyota Center, where we got to hear from many wonderful speakers and musicians. It was a very refreshing and revitalizing weekend, and I'm so glad that I got to spend it with the special women in my life!

For dinner on Friday night we ate at Quattro. It was a very nice restaurant, with very strange words on the menu. It took us 45 minutes just to decipher the menu! We were not accustomed to items like "Parmigiano Reggiano Carpaccio, Aged Balsamic, Salted Walnut, Pear" or "Carpaccio Di Manzo – Natural Beef Carpaccio, Cipriani Dressing, Celeriac, Black Truffle Salad!" We even had to use dictionary.com to help translate! Going the safe route, Cerissa and I ended up sharing Petto Di Pollo – Rosemary-Roasted Chicken Breast, Eggplant Capponata, and Natural Jus. Mom, being a bit more brave ordered Salmone Al Vapore – Truffle-Scented Poached Salmon, Caramelised Endive, Asparagus Tips, Butternut Squash Cream, while Shaun was the bravest of all, going with Carre D’Agnello – Ciabatta and Basil-Crusted Rack of Natural Lamb, Coffee-Scented Salsifi! Even though all the names seemed foreign, the dishes were delectable!

On Saturday night, Dad made the most amazing, different enchiladas I have ever eaten...Butternut Squash Enchiladas . Hot from the peppers, but sweet from the squash...a truly wonderful combo!

Before making our voyage back home to our hubbies, we got to stop and eat lunch with Ryan and the rest of the family at the Manna House. It was so good to spend some quality time with the family!

A Good Cozy Fall Weekend

Last weekend was lots of fun with a few family and friends! Friday night David and I, along with Meghan, Rebecca, Sarah, Matt, Mallory & Claire and their two dates went to Billy Bob's Texas, the world's largest honky tonk, in the historic Fort Worth Stockyards. We got to enjoy a free concert by JOSH TURNER!!! (For those of you who are not familiar with Josh, go here: http://joshturner.com/index.htm?id=12409) We danced, people watched, and enjoyed some good music.
Saturday was a beautiful fall day. It was extra cozy since we had friends over for dinner and a movie. Micah and Brittany came over bringing their famous Turkey & Black Bean Chili. We watched Transformers II and then had my Homemade Banana Pudding for dessert! It was a southern comfort food feast!