We're Back!

Welcome to my new and improved blog! I felt so bad for not posting in over a month (!), that I decided to completely re-vamp the look and feel of my blog. I'm loving the warm colors right now, especially since it is so cold outside. In my defense, part of the reason I haven't posted is that my computer's power cord died, and I've been sharing with my husband. I like mine better (his is a mac, which is fine, but i'm not used to it), and it has all my pictures and software on it. But fear not, a new cord is on it's way!

Here's the crash course on what I've been up to lately:

• Seattle was a blast - everything and more than I hoped for/expected. Canlis, the restaurant I mentioned, was fantastic. Possibly my favorite anywhere. Seattle as a whole is my current favorite big city, beating both DC and NYC. It was a big city, but it still had an approachable feel. Check out Jen's blog for pictures.
  
• Thanksgiving was wonderful - Bran and I made dinner for us and Jen and Rachel. We had so much fun cooking, talking, taste-testing, etc. It was a beautiful way to have our first Thanksgiving together.
• December has been a blur. I wrote our "Family Newsletter" which we're sending out in lieu of Thank You notes for our wedding. I decided that I deserved a break on thank-yous because of the move, etc. So we're going to give everyone a communal "thank you" and an update on what we've been up to. I love the letter, and hopefully will get to mail it soon.
• SNOW!! When Bran and I got married, he told me that if we moved to Idaho it would snow. So, I agreed that we could move on that condition - that there was snow. But, alas, there was NO SNOW for the LONGEST time! We got flurries for 10 minutes one day in November, and I was all excited, but no. Nothing. So I went to Bran about this little agreement we had about moving here because of the snow, and he said he'd see what he could do. Being the amazing man that he is, he was able to somehow convince the powers that be that we really needed some snow. So today around noon it started snowing! And it looks like its just starting to stick to the road and parts of the driveway. This makes me very very happy. We're supposed to get somewhere in the ballpark of 6-12" which should be easy at this rate, since it's not supposed to stop until Sunday. Yippee!!
  

So that's what my life has looked like for the past month or so.

I can't hide my excitement about the next few weeks. Jen, Rachel, and Tyler leave for home on or around the 20th. I'm so excited to have the house to myself, though I'll miss them! I realized that as much as I love having a house full of people, it makes it so hard to make time to do what I want, like sit on the couch and read, or even using the kitchen without being in someone's way. I'm looking forward to having a quiet house, but I know I'll be ready for them to come back when it's time.

Right now is one of those rare moments when I'm home alone. Bran is at work and everyone else has class. I have a load of laundry in the washer, one in the dryer, two waiting for their turn, and one folded next to me. I drank a cup of hot cocoa that my mom sent us with our christmas card (the really good williams-sonoma kind!), and got the new Real Simple in the mail. Right now I'm sitting on my couch, with my beautiful Christmas tree to my right, and the beautiful snow to my left. It's perfect!

Oh I also have to tell you about my cooking experiences (this is for you, mom!). I only had to work Tuesday this week, which meant that I got to make dinner on monday, wednesday, thursday, and tonight. On monday I made spaghetti carbonara, which was fantastic and a hit with Bran. Wednesday I made my aunt Cate's recipe for Italian chicken which was also wonderful, and I think our favorite so far. Last night I tried my first Roast, with potatos and shallots. The roast turned out to be pretty tough, which Tyler thinks may be because of how we sliced it, but the potatoes and shallots were yummy, as were the baby carrots I made to go with it. I might try the roast again sometime.... Tonight I'm making baked pasta which should be yummy. As you can tell, I love Italian food, and especially any kind of pasta. But don't worry, we get more than just carbs! I'm hoping I'll get to cook lots next week too - its so much fun trying out new recipes!

Here are some pictures to hold you over until next time...



I took this photo just before I started to write this post, and I took the second one just a minute ago - that much snow in less than 30 minutes!




And finally, my Christmas Tree, Real Simple, and Hot Cocoa!

I'm still here...

Things have been mucho busy lately, what with the Seattle trip, followed by Thanksgiving, followed by Tyler coming home and Jeff visiting. I promise, promise, promise to post some pictures and do some real updates in the near future!

Flu season is so upon us....

My delay in posting this week was due to my husband's coming down with the flu, shortly followed by my own struggle against the nasty virus. I thought about just quarantining him and telling him that he was on his own, but being the good wife that I am, I was there for him, and then when I inevitably got it myself, he was there for me :).

Friends of ours (the Andersons - I babysit their daughter everyday) got it before we did and shared it with us, which actually turned out to be a good thing, because Michelle was sick at the same time that I was, meaning that they didn't need me to babysit when I was unable to. We're all feeling much better now.

Bran got it on Wednesday and was wiped until late that night. I got it at 3am on Thursday, and was on the couch unable to move except to puke into the bucket we had next to the couch until about midnight Thursday. It was a long day.

I'm so thankful that we got sick now, and not next week, because I'll be in Seattle! We leave Monday (the 24) morning, and check into our hotel at 4ish. I got us an awesome deal at a Best Western right downtown because of being a Best Western employee. So for $40 a piece we get a 2 night stay (it's $60 a night, and there will be 3 of us - Jen, Rachel, and myself). I'm so excited about the trip, as I have never been to Seattle, and because Domino Magazine just did a spread about some of the best places to shop and eat.

On Monday night, one of Rachel's friends (whom Jen and I don't know) is having a party, and so while Rachel parties it up, we're going to go out on the town for a fancy "just us sisters" dinner at a place called Canlis. It looks like the food will be amazing, and the Restaurant is beautiful. As for the rest of the trip, there will most definitely be lots of shopping and sight-seeing. I'll be sure to post pictures!

Chesterton on Women

Woman must be a cook, but not a competitive cook; a school-mistress, but not a competitive school-mistress; a house decorator, but not a competitive house-decorator; a dressmaker, but not a competitive dressmaker. She should have not one trade but twenty hobbies; she, unlike the man, may develop all her second bests. This is what has been really aimed at from the first in what is called the seclusion, or even the oppression, of women. Women were not kept at home in order to keep them narrow; on the contrary, they were kept at home in order to keep them broad. The world outside the home was one mass of narrowness, a maze of cramped paths, a madhouse of monomaniacs. It was only by partly limiting and protecting the woman that she was enabled to play at five or six professions and so come almost as near to God as the child when he plays at a hundred trades. But the woman’s professions, unlike the child’s, were all truly and almost terribly fruitful.

- G.K. Chesterton, from What's Wrong with the World.

Ashley's Recent Cooking Adventures

One of the "Marriage Requirements" my parents have for Jen and I is that we must be able to cook 20 meals before getting married. Being the guinea pig as far as the whole marriage thing goes, I was still burning microwaveable mac and cheese when Bran and I tied the knot. I baked a lot when I was little, and could read a recipe, but had little experience with actual cooking. I have since then taken it upon myself to cook from scratch whenever possible (which isn't very often right now, since I work until about 9pm three or four nights a week). On the nights when I don't have work, however, I spend hours in the kitchen.

My sister had a wonderful idea that has since helped me in my cooking endeavor. She knows that I love to collect and organize things, and so she suggested that I cut out any recipes that look good from my many cooking magazines (everything from Real Simple to Taste of Home and Bon appétit). My plan is to eventually make a sort of recipe scrapbook with recipes that I have made and ones I want to make, along with what Bran and I thought of them, and whether I want to make them again. Thus far, I have made several different kinds of pasta dishes (lasagne, homemade macaroni, etc.), lots of chicken dishes, salmon, steak, garlic mashed potatos, etc., and even more deserts (pumpkin pie, pumpkin cupcakes, cake, cookies, custard pie, and my absolute favorite, along with everyone else's, molten lava cakes).


Having my brother-in-law/culinary afficinado live with me has been a tremendous blessing in my own cooking adventure, as he often likes to comment on my uninformed cooking style. His advice is sometimes a little too late ("yeah I would have added the milk much slower and wisked while doing so, which would have prevented such and such and so and so"), but when it is given at the right time, I find it incredibly helpful.

I have once again neglected to upload the photos I wanted to post, but promies to make some grand efforts to do so either today or tomorrow.