Cooking spree

My first week of 2017 has been a cooking spree!

I've always loved banana bread, but I had never made it until now. The hardest part was waiting for the bananas to overripen. We ate slices for breakfast, which is relatively healthy because we normally don't eat breakfast. 

Making tomato bisque was easier than I thought, especially because the immersion blender did all of the work. We ate the bisque with quesadillas that Matt melted on his cast iron skillet. 

Someone mentioned tortilla soup at work, so I made a batch that night! I even made freshly baked tortilla chips. Again, the immersion blender was very helpful.

Matt requested chicken noodle soup because he's sick. If I had a bigger dutch oven, I wouldn't have had to use a stock pot! 

Carrot raisin bread smells like cinnamon rolls and tastes like carrot cake. I LOVE how moist this bread came out! I think we'll be alternating between this and banana bread for our weekday breakfasts. 

I'm going to need to get a recipe binder soon! This loaf pan is really coming in handy. 

Christmas & NYE 2016

I never understood what "baking season" was until now. With this winter being especially cold and snowy, the warmth from oven cooking is a welcome feeling. 

For our beer and cheese white elephant exchange, I made a parm and rosemary loaf with a garlic butter. It was a hit! I also think I got THE BEST gift at the exchange because my beer came with brie and salami (my faves). 

Most of us wore festive sweaters, and we had a great friendmas. I like being able to host these kinds of gatherings, even though I miss hosting at our last house. We had SO MUCH space there! 

Matt and I spent Christmas Eve at church with is family and then we all ate dinner at his sister's house. For the dinner, Matt cooked up a bunch of butcher steaks, and we brought sundried tomato basil bread with garlic butter. And Pokemon snickerdoodles! When I was making the royal frosting for the cookies, I was horrified at how much sugar the recipe called for. No more frosting in 2017! 

The dinner was delicious, and I've been having so much fun playing with Matt's niece. Matt's sister gave me a LC loaf pan for Christmas, and I am so excited to use it! Another one for the collection. Between the Keurig that Matt's sister gave him, the Anova sous vide that I gave to Matt, and the hand blender that Matt gave to me, I think this Christmas has successfully maxed out our kitchen space. 

On Christmas Day, Karen, Sam, and Melissa came over to hang out and watch basketball and movies. Melissa made dokkbokki and I made another rosemary loaf. After we finished eating, we watched The Secret Life of Pets. It was a very relaxing day after what felt like an exhausting weekend!

After Christmas, I made a roasted garlic and rosemary Le Poulet Rouge in my dutch oven. The skin was buttery and the chicken was perfectly sized for my 3.5 qt. pot. A few days later, we used the drippings to make fried rice, and I think it was the best fried rice I've ever had. 

For NYE, David, Matt, Charles, and I headed down to Portland to meet up with other Charles who was visiting his cousin. 

When we got to Portland, I caught up on email and saw a message from my mom about my uncle passing away. It was a really shocking moment, and I thought how sad my cousins must be this NYE. I can't imagine what they went through over the weekend, and what they are going through now. Growing up, we spent many holidays at my uncle's house and he was always kind and welcoming. Since moving away from home, I haven't seen my uncles much at all. It makes me sad that I've lost touch, and it also makes me feel guilty for not going home for the holidays. 

For the rest of the Portland trip, I stayed in touch with my mom via email to make sure she was okay. I couldn't do much else about the situation. Ringing in 2017 at the Midnite event was a huge hit. The venue was gorgeous, people were nice, and music was on point. Most importantly, I got to spend NYE with my closest friends and we all had a great time. My uncle's passing reminded me to live in the moment and enjoy all that is around me. It's easy to get caught up in life and forget that tomorrow is never promised. 

For 2017, I want to be more present in my day-to-day life and appreciate every moment. I'm going to be more thoughtful and more connected. 

Reppin' for that loaf life

I can't believe how quickly the past six months have come and gone! We're all settled in at the new place, and we've even had snow already. Forrest is finally off of his diet because he's back in shape. Work is still pretty awesome. We've had a few team activities and co-worker outings over the past two weeks. And I'm about two weeks away from being done with school.

Charles and Huey finally visited! We had a nice, long weekend of eating and drinking. Matt and Huey definitely bonded over Vietnamese accents, and we all bonded over the birthday meat at Radiator Whiskey.

I got a Le Creuset and a KitchenAid last week, so I'm really into baking bread right now. I can't believe it's so easy. Like ridiculously easy.

My first loaf was simple; I only added rosemary and Maldon flakes.

My second loaf was roasted garlic, rosemary, and Maldon flakes.

Both loaves were SO DELICIOUS fresh out of the oven. I had some difficulty getting the dough into the oven the first time, but on the second try I started rotating the dough out and it was much easier. I'm excited to make olive and raisin bread next. I should probably start going to the gym again...

July 4th

Given the year that this country is having, WOW -- WHAT A YEAR TO BE AN AMERICAN! But politics aside, I love the USA and July 4th has become one of my favorite holidays. 

Forrest and I got patriotic AF!

Eric and Jen opened up their home to a huuuuuge party, and there was a ridiculous amount of food! The dogs were all happy to play and run, but the fireworks changed everything. Eric's neighbors do a legit fireworks show, and the dogs were so spooked! Forrest is usually fine with fireworks from afar, but I guess this year it was too loud for him.

Forrest and Walla hiding out in the house

The fireworks show was absolutely amazing, and I'm glad we got to celebrate the holiday with all of our friends! Next year, we'll bring Forrest's bed along so he'll be more comfortable. 

Country Western Bee-day

For my birthday this year, we had a FEAST at the house! Unfortunately, the chosen day was a dreary and overcast setting for a BBQ. Fortunately, it didn't rain the entire time. :) 

I got to wear my awesome Stetson all day, with my denim overalls!! I actually wasn't planning to dress up, until Gavin and Lisa arrived in their country attire. And then Mike showed up dressed like a cowboy... so then I went upstairs to change, and it was immediately more fun.

My faves of the day:

• Dinuguan
• Chili and cornbread
• Crawfish
• Poke 
• Ginger molasses cookies  
• Pistachio and taro froyo
• Chicken pasta salad 

And there were a LOT of other dishes. We ate so much that we could barely drink! That was probably a good thing.. 

I'm really sad that I didn't get any pictures with my strawberry cheesecake, which JR made from scratch!! Hopefully by next year I can train Matt to take my birthday pics. I'm incredibly thankful to have so many friends in Seattle, and I was delighted to help others find friends here. Nick and Steph just moved up, and I was so excited to introduce them to everyone - especially to Wilson because he's also from the Bay. 

Looking back at my previous birthdays, I sure have simmered down over the past few years. I'm happy to be where I am now, though, and am an even more firm believer that everything happens for a reason. 

Clam Jam 2016

Another clamming adventure for the books! We went back to Double Bluff beach on a gorgeous summer day with the tide below -3. The trip was very last minute, but we ended up having a very rewarding day.

In the morning, Forrest was so excited to leave the house... that he had crumbs all over his face from inhaling breakfast. He was a hot mess, with his harness all in a twist. 

This year, we went further out than usual. The area that we chose was really rocky, but there were whole clans of clams under the sand!!!! Forrest was scouting the area and greeting the other clammers for us. 

While we dug and dug some more, Forrest wandered nearby and sniffed just about everything. He even ate a crab! I guess he doesn't remember last time, when got nipped in the nose. LOL

Eventually he got tired and wanted to lay near us. He's not a young chicken anymore! 

After cleaning and prepping our catches, Mike made us clam ceviche! It was DELICIOUS.

Next, JR sauteed some clams with garlic, onions, and butter.

The main course was a heaping pile of butter clams in a white wine sauce.

And the clam finale - baked clams with Ritz cracker crust.

With Tambi and JR to share their culinary genius, we had quite the feast. It was a lot of work, but we also had more hands to do the prepping and the cleaning. Last year, Matt and I only trusted ourselves to make chowder... and it took FOREVER to clean the damned horse clams! I'm glad we got some butter clams this year, too.

I think my clam fix has been satiated for the year. Because we dug so far out on the beach, the walk back to the car was extra brutal. And these clams were NOT light. 

Can't wait to go crabbing next!