Happy Birthday To Me

I had a rather nice birthday weekend. First, I celebrated with a little fondue party on Saturday. Our good friends came over and the 4 of us went on a Central Market shopping spree to get ingredients and munchies for the party. Going to Central Market seems to be a tradition for me on my birthday. I don't really know why I gravitate towards there on my birthday but, it just seems right. I got the table all set up an ready to go before our friends arrived.

Then, when they arrived, I opened my gifts. But, there was a bit of a halt in my gift opening. See those candles on the table? Well, this is where I opened my gift. I sat the tissue paper right on top of one of the candles and of course it went in to a blazing inferno. So, I picked the tissue up with everyone yelling at me to go put it in the kitchen sink and turn the water on. I just stood there with a huge fire in my hands slowly thinking to myself how am I going to walk to the kitchen with fire in my hands without making it go up in flames even more and also most importantly, not setting myself a blaze!?! So, with my slow thinking and standing there with fire in my hands, of course they were still yelling at me. "Go to the sink! Go to the sink!" See, about 8 years ago, my sister inadvertently started a fire in our old apartment. It really was not her fault. She sat a brown paper bag on an electric oven burner and then Ficus set it a blaze by turning on the stove. He walked across the top of the stove and pushed one of the buttons to turn it on. Ficus was her cat...may that little mischief maker rest in peace! So, with the hot burner and the paper bag sitting on top of it...it caught the kitchen on fire. But, our friend Jess was there to save the day. This is the same Jess that was sitting on my living room couch yelling at me to go put the burning tissue paper in the sink. I had flashbacks of how he rescued my sister and our apartment from going up in flames. So, really, I was thinking...Jess is going take care of this. But, when I still had the inferno in my hands, I realized that I needed to move before I caught the whole house on fire.

So, I started walking at a brisk pace and much to my fear, the fire got worse. I think we all learned in elementary school how when you move with fire you create oxygen to fuel the fire. Yeah, then stop drop and roll came into mind because the tissue started to break off and fell onto my new (and very cute) shoes. So I started screaming "Jeff, I am on fire. Jeff, I am on fire!!" Have you ever looked down to see bright orange and yellow flames surrounding your feet? Well, I never had, not until Saturday. So, I immediately threw the burning tissue in the sink...and forgot to turn the water on so it continued to burn, but hey..I had a lot going on with being on fire and everything. I kicked my cute and flaming shoes off and was about to stop drop and roll. Then, Jeff running behind me, turned on the water in the kitchen sink and somehow after that the darn fire went out on my shoes and jeans. Fortunately not the shoes, jeans, or myself were injured! After I collected myself, we all started to roll on the floor laughing. Yes, It was a rather hilarious event when I look back on it. I only have a few burn marks to prove it! Too bad we did not get shots to post on the blog!

So anyhoo, back to the gift opening. After we regrouped. I opened my gift and it was a 5 piece turquoise fiestaware set to add to my collection!

Jeff was so sweet to me, as usual. He thoughtfully went to a local wine specialty shop and got me this fantastic wine aerator. I love it. It makes the wine have a more pure taste and it makes me feel fancy! He also got me a nice bottle of Pinot Nior and an insulated wine carrier from that has a bottle opener attached to it. We are going to take it with us on our honeymoon!

After all the fire excitement settled down we fon-do'ed it up. It was delicious!

Well, speaking of honeymoon, have I mentioned where we are going to honeymoon? We are going to Victoria, BC and I can't wait! It was Jeff's idea and I am pleasantly surprised. He found the greatest little B&B, Birds of A Feather. It is the neatest B&B I think I have ever seen. It is on a lagoon with a view of the Olympic Mountains. We have access to their canoes, bikes, and paddle boats and we have our own balcony! We are staying in the honeymoon suite. Eek, I can't wait! They have wireless Internet so I will be able to blog everyday. Jeff will love that, ha!

Cheers to the BIG 31!

S*N*O*W

When I woke up this morning and looked out side, this is what I saw. Everything was quiet and still. It was beautiful.

You may even think that I woke up here!

These are the marshmallows I made. I made them pink for Valentine's Day. Perfect in a cup of hot cocoa on a cold day!

Ah, a winter wonder land.

Cheers!

Shoveling Snow In Texas, Seriously?

This winter has been a winter to remember! It has snowed at least 4 times, which is a lot for us down south. The snow has been insane too! I think we got about 7 inches so far, the most we have had in 30 years. It is still snowing, it has been snowing since 3 am, and it is not expected to stop until midnight!

So, I ventured out in my Jeep to go to work this morning. I was proud of my Texan self being able to successfully make it to work despite the odds. But really, I don't mind driving in the snow. It actually puts me in a good mood. I love to see the huge snowflakes hit the windshield of my car. They are so magical and they make me wish I wish I were in Santa Fe!

I got off of work a little early today and the drive home was not bad either. The hard part was getting up my driveway. I tried but had to park it on the side of the street while Jeff and I shoveled snow. Out of all my almost 31 years, this is a first for me. It was fun.

The dogs love the snow too. I guess Millie was not too keen about the depth of it, it is the first she has seen snow this deep too. But, Luna loved it! She tried to get Millie to play along but she was not having it. I have a video of this but am having trouble posting it, I will try to post later.

By the end of the day, the Chiminea was covered in snow!

Snow put me in a cooking spirit so we had raspberry grilled chicken on a bed of almond rice pilaf with roasted broccoli. Yum! The chicken was very good. Here is the recipe for you (perfect Valentine's Dinner!):

1/2 c. raspberry vinegar

1/2 c. red wine

1/4 c. worcestershire sauce

1 tea. black pepper

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 lbs. boneless, skinless, chicken breasts

4 cups cooked brown and wild rice pilaf (I used near east toasted almond pilaf)

fresh or frozen raspberries for garnish

In a large baking dish combine, vinegar, wine, worcestershire, garlic and pepper. Place chicken in dish turning to both sides. Cover and refrigerate for one hour, turning after 30 minutes.

Preheat the grill. Grill chicken over medium-hot heat turning halfway through and brushing frequently with marinade, for 15 minutes.

Arrange chicken on the hot pilaf and garnish with raspberries. This is a South Beach Recipe!

I also made marshmallows this evening to get in the spirit of Valentine's Day. Perfect with a cup of hot chocolate on a snowy day! I will post pictures tomorrow after they are done setting over night.

Here are some action shots of Jeff dusting the snow off our satillite. There was so much snow built up on it that it kinda went on the fritz this evening risking our visual stimulation for the rest of the night!

Despite his efforts, it did not work. I suggested he take the water hose to it. So, he braved the cold and it worked! When we thought that the satillite would be down all night I tried to get him to watch The Lost Boys with me instead but he was not having it. My poor parents had to rent a hotel room because they lost power!

Ah, the woes of snow. I love it!

Cheers!