Canaan 2017

Hello friends! I know it's been awhile and that was definitely not my intention. The hubby and I were staying in West Virginia with his family with no Wi-Fi. Then, as soon as we got home, I got a cold. Drat! As such, I've been feeling foggy, achy, and completely stuffed up. I haven't felt like writing, except to text the hubby to ask him for more soup or another box of Kleenex 🍜🤒

Oregon 2015

Oh my goodness. I took quite the break!

It's been more than a month since my last post. And let me tell you, time off did me good. I definitely feel invigorated and refreshed. The hubby and I got back from our Oregon trip on Thursday night, but it's taken me a while to find my bearings. It always feels like that coming back from vacation. However, the house is back in order, the laundry is all done, the fridge is stocked with veggies- which means it's time to get back to writing. 

Saturday Exploring

Yesterday felt like spring again!

It was a gorgeous sunny day yesterday, and as such, we decided to take full advantage and go exploring. As some of you may know, the hubby and I live on 2 acres that has been previously parceled off of his grandfather's 100-acre estate. Meaning, we still live on the edge of this mammoth piece of property. The gentleman that bought the hubby's grandfather's estate after he passed away allows the hubby's family to continue to visit the property and walk it, through old tobacco fields and wooded areas. Since I'd lived on the property for almost a year and a half and never walked it, the hubby figured it was time for me to see his childhood stomping grounds-

Pond on the estate. Serene and quiet, the only beings around- besides us- were cows.

Flip side of the pond.

Can you find the 2 Chihuahuas in this leaf pile? We took the dogs with us, they loved every second of exploring.

Haloti's tongue, caught on camera.

Gizzie doesn't really contain the heart of an explorer, and therefore, was carried by the hubby for most of the trip.

Headed down an old tractor road.

I'd say the plants are ready for spring.

Haloti is never happier than when exploring new things.

Love this face :)

Looking out over Tygart Creek.

My little explorer jumped on every single log he could find.

Tree stump overlooking the creek.

More logs to jump on.

I love how this tree looks like it's touching the sky.

Out of the woods! You can see our house in the distance.

Haloti was rewarded with bath time after the walk. He rolled in cow poop, and on a dead deer leg. Needless to say, he smelled pretty rank and earned himself soap and water. He may not enjoy bath time, but he smells so fresh and so clean now!

I hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend!

Sticky Toffee Cake

The hubby's birthday was yesterday!

It was a gorgeous day here. While the folks just east of us in Louisville were forced to deal with 7 inches of rain and flash flooding over the weekend, we were somehow spared any sort of weather activity. I think we had a downpour Saturday afternoon, but that's about it. Sunday, however, was just an all-round nice day, and more than likely, our last summer-like day. That's ok, we took advantage. The hubby and I took the puppies into Portsmouth to walk along the river.  We ended up trekking 3 miles, just enjoying scenery and letting the dogs indulge their sensitive noses. Haloti loved the entire ordeal, he didn't quit yanking on his leash until about the last half mile. Gizmo walked for, maybe, a mile and a half. He does have the smallest legs in the family, after all. The hubby carried him most of the time, but Giz still enjoyed himself. Sometimes I think he likes being carried better :)

After that, we pretty much holed up in the house for the day, bingeing on "Breaking Bad". We just started Season 5, Part 1. Man alive, I'm going to miss that show. I've managed to not watch or read any spoilers, so how it all ends will be a surprise. We did manage to tear ourselves away from our "Breaking Bad" marathon long enough to eat birthday cake. This year's cake choice was Sticky Toffee Cake.

I made this cake on Saturday, and I'm so glad I did. It took a long time. A really long time. This cake isn't for the faint of heart. I used a traditional British recipe (you can find it here), and it definitely required some elbow grease to get the job done. First of all, the recipe uses actual dates. Steeped in black tea, then emulsified. I'd never done that for a cake before. Second, the recipe calls for melted butter. Butter is usually where I incorporate air into the cake, by creaming it with sugar. This recipe calls for beating the eggs and sugar until fluffy to incorporate air. What the recipe didn't say is that this takes forever. About 20 minutes in fact. No joke. Third, the sticky toffee sauce is really sticky. I'm not sure why that's applicable, but it did get all over my hands- and subsequently my kitchen, hair, and body. 

The effort was worth it. Everyone loved the cake. The hubby raved. It turned out oh-so moist, and incredibly flavorful.The hubby's mom, aunt, and uncle ended up taking home most of the cake. I did use American equivalents for British items not easily accessible to me. Other than that, I used a food scale to measure the ingredients since the measurements are in grams instead of cups. I'd highly recommend this cake if you have a toffee, caramel, or spice-cake lover in the house. 

Ingredients:

Cake-

400g dates, pitted and roughly chopped

2 mugs of black tea

200g light brown sugar

50g dark brown sugar

2 tbsp honey

4 large eggs, room temp

200g unsalted butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla extract

350g self-rising flour

3 tsp pumpkin pie spice

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Sticky Toffee Sauce-

100g light brown sugar

50g dark brown sugar

30g butter

2 tbsp honey

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

125ml condensed milk

Buttercream-

200g unsalted butter, softened

400g powdered sugar

half the cold sticky toffee sauce

splash of milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Grease (2) 9-inch spring-form pans. 

2. To make the cake: In a small saucepan, combine dates and tea. Bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Take an immersion blender, and blend mixture until smooth. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine eggs with the sugars and honey. Beat with a hand mixer until fluffy, 15-20 minutes. Slowly whisk in the melted butter. Fold in the date mixture and vanilla with a wooden spoon. In a separate bowl, combine flour through salt. Add dry ingredients to the wet, folding together with the wooden spoon. Stir until just combined. Divide mixture among two spring-form pans. Bake in preheated oven 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in the pans. 

3. To make the sticky toffee sauce: Make the sauce while the cake is baking. In a saucepan, combine the sugars through the salt. Stir over gentle heat, until all the sugar has dissolved. Bring to a boil, remove from heat, and whisk in the cream. Take a toothpick and poke holes in the top of the cakes. Pour a generous amount of the sauce over the tops of the cakes. Allow the cakes to completely cool in their tins before turning them out.

4. To make the buttercream: In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugar. Beat until fluffy. Add the rest of the sticky toffee sauce, reserving a couple of tbsp to drizzle over the top of the cake. If the frosting is too thick, add a little bit of milk until you reach your desired consistency. 

5. Sandwich the cakes together with half the frosting. Spread the remaining on the rest of the cake. Drizzle the remaining sticky toffee sauce over the cake. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!

I think we still look like young-in's :)

April A-Musings

It was a busy month had by all!

The hubby and I decided to build a house, Gizmo acted weird for almost 3 weeks,  I continued to practice my baking, I saved $297.87 couponing, I participated in a 5k walk for charity, we celebrated 3 family birthday's, and Haloti enjoyed every minute of the whole, crazy ride.

We finalized our plans to build a house in April. We've had multiple inspections, including by the health department and the builder. We moved dirt and laid out the flow of the house. We finalized things with our bank. Next week, we sign our contract for the house and sometime next month, we will sign documents for the construction loan. And by far the best news? On May 14th, we will have only 30 days left in the rental!!! Yikes, I better start packing!

Gizmo and Haloti got groomed on April 9th. Gizmo immediately got a skin rash that had to be treated with anti-biotics and a steroid. He sulked and pouted for almost 3 weeks, all while doing none of his favorite things. No Blue Monkey, no sleeping in his bed, no cuddling with Mom and Dad, no walks, and no desire for carrots (our version of doggie treats). After keeping him a little bit dopey on Benedryl for a week to keep him from rubbing his skin raw and licking himself raw, Gizmo began to act more like himself last Friday. The hubby and I both gave a sigh of relief to have our puppy back. It was also decided that Gizmo will never go to the groomer again.

Haloti could care less he got groomed, and to be honest, I think he rather enjoyed the social time with the other dogs, as he was allowed to hang out with the "friendly" dogs after getting groomed. When I went to pick him up, he was sitting next to a very gentle Mastiff that was the size of a horse :)

We bought these bones to distract Gizmo from his woes. It worked!

I baked a lot in April. 3 family birthday's (brother's, hubby's aunt, and hubby's mother), with 2 requests for baked goods. I made Dark Chocolate Cherry Nut Cookies for the brother's birthday and the Red Velvet cupcakes below for my mother-in-law's birthday. The peanut butter cookies pictured above? Double Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. I made these for my Dad's birthday (tomorrow!) and shipped them out to Oregon.

I experimented with yeast in April. I made Mini Doughnuts (twice) and worked on Cinnamon Roll Bread. The doughnut above is a Raspberry Filled Mini Doughnut. Experimenting with yeast this month turned out pretty delicious :)

Red Velvet Cupcakes for the mother-in-law's birthday.

Last Saturday, my sister-in-law (to the far left), also named Jessica, and I walked a 5k for the March of Dimes. Jessica's friend Shannon (middle) is a nurse at the local hospital. The nurses in her unit had setup a team of about 7-8 girls. Jessica and I both donated to her unit, and volunteered to walk. The walk was at 9 am on Saturday. I awoke that morning at 7 am to a thunderstorm right over Ashland. It was also very cold. But the march did go on, and Jessica and I powered through. Cold, wet feet and all. There was a surprisingly large crowd, despite the inhospitable weather.

Rocking a poncho at the March of Dimes! And yes, that is a Duck's hoodie under my poncho!

I can't believe April is over, this year is flying by. Hopefully I will blink, it will be October, and we will be in our new house! Hey, a girl can wish, can't she? :)

And, oh yes, the hubby and I put back $297.87 into our couponing account. On to May!

Starting to Feel Better

It's been a pretty rough week for the Gizzard. The last 2-3 days, however, little parts of his personality have been shining through. His rash is completely gone, but the traumitization (I made up that word. Why isn't that a word??) from the grooming remains. To the best of our dog mind-reading skills, the only thing the hubby and I can figure is that he doesn't like the way his groomed belly and butt feel. He is still rubbing his belly and butt all over the place, but the behavior is lessening. Plus, we've learned that we can distract him from thinking about his shaved areas with toys, treats, or the invitation to bark at something. Oh, doggies. What goes on in those heads?

He finally has returned to laying on the heating pad...

And sleeping in his bed...

We caught him with a toy last night... Finally!

He's also returned to snuggling with his brother. It's hard to believe he went a whole week without doing any of his favorite things.

Another couple of things we missed during this week that he either laid around or was scurrying through the house like a weirdo? Barking at the mailman, barking at the dog next door, biting Haloti's ears (I can't say for sure that Haloti missed this one), trying to attack me if I go near the hubby, and attacking me at bed in night. All of these behaviors made sound like bad habits, but it's funny. The hubby and I missed him doing all these things. They are what makes him...well, Gizmo.

We are hoping that the rubbing stops in the next couple of days, that he wants to go on walks again, and that he returns to the Blue Monkey. These are the only things that he hasn't returned to...ummm... doing. Haha!

It has also been decided Gizmo will never be groomed again. To say the least, sheesh :)

If You Can't Take The Heat...

Get out of my house!

Well, we made it March 13th before having to turn on the air conditioning. I just can't take more than 80 degrees in the house. Not to mention that somehow, inexplicably, the temperature on that thermostat keeps going up.

The good news is that while it's hot in the house, it's also beautiful outside! 75 degrees and sunny today. Spring is definitely here! I took the boys on 30 minute walk this morning and they were in heaven. They were also exhausted by the time we got home, since both are carrying a little extra winter weight around :)

Gizmo enjoying the sun from his watch post

A wee bit hot from the temperature in the house

An update on the house hunt- We spent a couple of hours yesterday touring houses with our real estate agent. Another unsuccessful day. All the houses we looked at needed major work. As in, thousands of dollars of work. The one house we looked at that didn't need work was small and completely overpriced. We looked at one gorgeous house that had one heck of a mold problem. Holy moly, did it have mold! I can only imagine getting behind the sheetrock and what exactly you would find. I have a feeling it would be seriously scary. We are talking the stuff nightmares are made out of kind-of-scary. The house was nestled against the side of a hill, so I'm guessing water that has been draining down the hill has been damaging this home for quite some time. We won't be taking that one, thank you very much. It was a beautiful home too, just a shame. We're just gonna keep on truckin'.

The hubby is working the day shift this week and requested Cream Cheese Danishes for breakfast. I was happy to oblige. I whipped up a small batch to last him through the week.

Tomorrow was going to be a cookie day, but now I have a hair appointment in the afternoon (I'm seeking professional help to get the dark color out of my hair, updates to follow!). The cookies will have to wait until Thursday. I'm still working on the brother's birthday cookies, I will be glad once I've gotten them perfect because I am dying to try other recipes. Hopefully Thursday's cookies will be the ones and I can move on!

Happy Tuesday everyone :)

Thursday Randoms

I can't believe it's Thursday already! Where has the week gone? Here's what's on my mind today:

1. Couponing

Thursday Goal

I have gotten in the bad habit of not cleaning out my coupon binder and cutting up my inserts on Sundays anymore. This is how people get disorganized and I have never been a disorganized person. I also got my monthly 'All You' in the mail yesterday so one of my goals today is to clean the expired coupons out of my binder, cut up my inserts, cut the coupons out of 'All You', and mark the recipes I want to make in the magazine. I really need to get back in the habit of doing this on Sundays when I get the inserts.

Another goal I made at the beginning of the year was to go through all my food magazines and tear out the recipes I want to try. I want to get a gigantic binder and laminate sheets and organize all my recipes and then recycle all the magazines. This is daunting as I have hundreds of magazines around the house but I do want to get around to it at some point.

2. New Year's Goal Breakdown

Why do you have to tempt me?

I am not proud of this one but... on Monday, I had Taco Bell. Ugh. The hubby and I were running around, far from home. We left early in the day and I had brought some light snacks but of course, I was hungry later in the day. We were miles from home and hours from dinner and we had to go to his mom's to help her with some paperwork. We were starving so we stopped to get food and I gave in to temptation. I had a chicken burrito. I did fall off the wagon, but it could have been worse. I felt pretty guilty, but I did go 2 months without fast food. My new goal is to see if I can go 3 months without fast food. I am trying to let the guilt go, there is nothing I can do but move on. There is no point in beating myself up over it now.

3. Gizmo

"I'm Not That Innocent"

Don't be fooled by that adorable face. True to his name, he is another creature after midnight (not that we feed him or get him wet!) He is ferociously territorial in bed at night. I am a tosser and a turner and inevitably, one of my limbs will approach him in the middle of the night. At this point, I get a Gremlin-like growl/bark and bite on said limb. Where does this behavior come from? And every night? No matter how much I scold him, he still does this! Granted, he doesn't have enough jaw strength to hurt me but geez! I was having an especially hard time sleeping last night and the Gremlin came out a couple of times.

4. Cabin Fever

I think I see some sun!

For the last couple of weeks, the weather has been bad. Very, very cold with some snow here and there. And now for the last week, the weather has been very "Oregon". Cloudy and rainy. Today though, is actually fairly nice. At least right now! As you can see, it is not raining and there is some sun. I am definitely going to take advantage of this and take the dogs for a 20 minute walk because I think they are sick of being stuck inside as much as I am.

And finally, I am whipping up a nice, big batch of Pasta e Fagioli today. Pasta e Fagioli is an Italian bean soup that is very tasty. It uses dried beans so it takes a couple of hours to make. I usually have to start it early in the afternoon to have it ready by dinner time. It makes a ton so I have lots for the freezer. Checking my inventory of the freezer however, I think next week will be time to use some of my freezer meals. Less work for me, which means next week will be also be a good time for some deep cleaning around the house :)

Oregon Trip 2011

It has been awhile since my last post but with good reason! I took 9 days off to travel 2700 miles back to Oregon to visit my family and friends. I must say that while the weather was awful, my time spent there was not. I did the worst job taking pictures, I think my camera remained at the bottom of my purse for the entire trip. When I arrived home I discovered I took a whopping total of 16 pictures! Wow, that is a new record of awfulnes! Pictures aside, it was a jam packed trip!
The trip did not have a smooth start. My travel day to Oregon was stressful. My flight schedule was Huntington, WV to Charlotte, NC, have a 3 hour layover, and then a flight from Charlotte to Portland landing in Portland at around 10:30 pm. First off, the flight to Charlotte was diverted due to a tornado warning. We were diverted to an express airport that only flies to Charlotte. Stuck there for almost 2 hours, the airlines loaded people back on the planes with clearance to land in Charlotte and I made it to Charlotte with 10 minutes to make my connecting flight! And on the wrong side of the airport! I sprinted to the other side of the airport and made my flight with no time to spare! While I may have made the plane, my suitcase did not. When I arrived in Portland, I found my suitcase was in Phoenix and went home empty-handed. The suitcase finally showed up at about 8 pm the next day.
The next couple of days were action packed! My first day in Oregon my mom treated me to lunch out and a pedicure at a salon in downtown Albany. The following day, Friday, I spent in Portland. I visited my old workplace and was able to visit with old coworkers, and then went to lunch with my old boss. After spending an afternoon shopping, it was dinner and drinks with one of my little sis's from my sorority, Kristin. It was great catching up! Saturday was my 10 year high school reunion and I am seriously wishing I had taken some pictures! Sunday my parents had a barbeque at their house, which happens to be the only day I took some pictures, shared below.

My brother Jeff, my Dad, my Mom, and me

My brother's girlfriend Katie, Jeff, and me

Dad and me

Mom and me

Good friends Sean and Kim and me. Kim is an old sorority sister of mine and Sean is her fiance, a good friend of Jerame's. Sean and Kim actually are the ones who introduced Jerame and I.

Jeff, Sean, Kim, and me

Kim, Mom, and Me. All alum's of Alpha Chi Omega.

Dad, Mom, and me

On Monday, I headed south to Eugene to visit one of my oldest friends, Megan. I got a tour of the new place she is working at and then we headed to the Duck Store because as I explained to her, it is impossible to find Oregon Ducks stuff in Kentucky. Go figure, lol. After the Duck Store we had dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant, El Torito. I devoured my whole plate along with 2 margaritas and a truckload of chips and salsa.

Me and Megan outside El Torito

The next couple of days were relaxing, without activities planned. There was one beautiful day when I was there, which was Wednesday, the day before I flew back home. Figures! My dad and I were able to make good use of this nice day, taking my parent's dog on a 3-4 mile walk.

My dad and my parent's dog, LB. It was such a gorgeous day, I wish the weather had been this nice the entire trip!

Later that night, my mom treated me to after-dinner drinks at a martini bar in downtown Albany, the Vault. A surprisingly nice bar for the Albany scene!

Me and Mom at the Vault

A picture of our delicious drinks, Pom-Tini's!

It was a great trip and went way to fast! 9 days were gone before I knew it. I love where I live now, but there is nothing like being with family :)