Happy Birthday Rachael

Today was a wonderful day. The weather was horrible, but the day was great. The highlight of the day was going to a birthday party - Ray-ray invited us to share in her festivities. It was super duper fun. We had a wonderful meal (thanks Margaret) and we had a fun time hanging out and playing games. It really was the most fun I've had in a long time. And, since today is the last day of my "30 Days of Food" we ended with a really good meal. I didn't have to make it, which was nice, and it was amazingly delicious. We had Artichoke Dip and a Cheese Ball for appetizers, then we had Beef Tenderloin, Baked Potatoes, and Bruschetta. We also had birthday cake (made by Alex) that was a special cake for Rachael...it was a Tri-Force Cake (from Zelda) or something like that...I don't know about all that but I know it was tasty. The whole meal was YUMMY! I forgot my camera tonight - but I have a few pics to share thanks to Sarah.

It was a very fun birthday party. Thank you for inviting us, Rachael. We hope you have a wonderful year and maybe we can join you for another birthday again sometime.

I've reached the end of my food saga. I hope you have enjoyed seeing our tasty treats each night. I don't think I have the energy to keep posting every night, but I'll try to be regular. And, don't worry, we will continue to eat good food...although it might not be as pretty and we might occasionally resort to eating cereal for dinner. Right now, I'm looking forward to starting my Christmas baking, and I promise to share pictures of that too. I love Christmas cookies. Until then, Happy December!

Another Creative Use

Today was a full and busy day. We slept in, of course, because last night was our big pizza night and we were tired and full. So, our full and busy day didn't really start 'til about 11:00. But, then we were really busy. We ate a yummy breakfast, ordered some Christmas presents online, and then we began our fun...we got all our Christmas boxes out of the store room. Yup, that's right, we set up the Christmas tree! Very exciting! We put up the tree and put on all the ornament and got other various decorations out. We didn't put up the Christmas lights on the balcony because it was raining...but we'll do that tomorrow.

Next, we made dinner. I was creative yet again and we used more leftover ham. This time, I made scalloped potatoes and ham. I love ham (did I mention that yesterday?) and I really love potatoes so this was pretty much a perfect meal. It really was delicious and we will be eating it for a couple days. We even had some peas on the side for color and to be healthy.


After dinner, we rushed out to catch the bus so we could go bowling. A friend of ours was having a birthday bowling party so we couldn't miss it. It was a lot of fun - even if we aren't very good. Now our day is ending and we need to get some sleep because tomorrow is going to be an equally full and busy day!

Good night!

Pizza

The day after Thanksgiving - most people are eating turkey and green bean casserole and pumpkin pie. Not us (well, I did finish off the pumpkin pie), oh no, we are having an even better "leftover" meal. Because I didn't make the turkey yesterday, I didn't have any leftover for turkey sandwiches or turkey pot pie or any other creative uses. Instead, I had ham. I love ham, so its easy for me to think of unique and different ways to eat it. Today, I impressed even myself! This was not your typical Thanksgiving leftover meal. Nope, we went all out! Using my leftover ham and my new bread machine and my sister's recipe, we made pizza. Oh my goodness, it was so delicious! My sister makes pizza every Friday night with her bread machine and since my goal in life is to be just like her, I've started my own pizza tradition. I used her recipe and made the dough in my bread machine. It was amazing - so easy and so yummy (the smell is great!). Then, we made a ham and cheese pizza (my personal favorite) - a Pizza Americana, as they call it in Peru. We even made bread sticks, just like big sis. It was the most amazing meal ever. I ate so much pizza, I'm uncomfortably full again. Almost as good as Thanksgiving itself! I will definitely be making pizza again. And next time we're going to experiment and make different flavors. It promises to be a fun tradition (though, we might change it to Saturday night). I will have to invite each one of you for pizza some day. It really is THAT good!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all. I hope you all had a wonderful and delicious thanksgiving. Since most of my family is celebrating thanksgiving on a different day (yes, they have good reasons), I have to share my pictures of our feast today! We had 30 people for our big event and we had plenty of food...in fact, we had too much. But, that's expected on Thanksgiving! Of course, I ate way too much and I feel uncomfortably full, but it was totally worth it! I was only the co-host of this shindig, we had it at Bonnie's house, but I made a bunch of food. I was responsible for the ham, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, rolls, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, dressing, pumpkin pie, pecan pie and a pumpkin trifle. It was a lot of cooking - but it was fun and I enjoyed it. Here are some pictures of our delicious meal.

Our beautiful table

Ham

Sweet Potato Casserole

Green Bean Casserole

Fresh Baked Rolls (they were SO delicious)

Pumpkin Trifle (I've never made this before, but people liked it)

Pumpkin Pie (I had two pieces, they were small)

I am very thankful for the wonderful food we had today. I am also thankful for my family and friends - I am blessed to have each and every one of you in my life. I hope everyone remembers how much they have to be thankful for this year. Happy Thanksgiving!

And now...since it is technically tomorrow (yes, I stayed up late cleaning the kitchen), I can start the excitement. That's right, it is officially permissible to start preparing for (and celebrating) Christmas. I am now going to listen to my Christmas music and, this weekend, we are putting up our tree!!! I can't wait...I LOVE Christmas!

Almost Thanksgiving...

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I can't wait. I'm already starting to cook. My friend and I are hosting a big Thanksgiving dinner for a some of our friends and neighbors. We should have about 30 people. I have a lot to make...pies, casseroles, potatoes, rolls, etc. I already have the rolls in the fridge (they're rising) and I've made a pumpkin & pecan pie. Tomorrow I've got lots to do, but first I'm going to sleep in. I love holidays. And I especially love holidays that involve eating.

Since I have been cooking all evening...I didn't focus a lot of time or energy on dinner tonight. (I'm already thinking about tomorrow!) I decided something lite would be good - in order to save room for turkey. We used our leftover rolls from earlier in the week and made mini-tuna sandwiches. We even had a pickle on the side. It was good.

I'm Full

I went to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch today. Someone from work wanted to go there for their going-away lunch. Of course, I ate too much and tonight I was very full. That meant I did not feel like cooking. So, our dinner consisted of Taquitos and peas. Oh, and we also had some leftover rolls from last night with Apple Butter. Super yummy! I hope you had a yummy dinner too!

Cereal and Bread for Dinner

I wanted something sweet for dinner tonight - and I wanted something easy. I thought about having cereal for dinner - but since I don't have to actually make that, I had to think of something else. Obviously, I didn't look very far because I settled on Rice Cereal. A favorite childhood breakfast...yum! And, with a rice cooker, it was super easy. It was delicious and good...and sweet.

In addition to cereal for dinner tonight, I made bread. That's right - I used my new bread maker to make some dinner rolls. I'm supposed to make rolls for Thanksgiving and I wanted to practice. It was AMAZING! It was the first time I used my bread maker and I love it! I am going to make bread every day (well, maybe not every day - but often). The machine does all the work and I just rolled it and baked it. The smell of fresh baked bread is the smell of happiness! I can't wait to make more bread. I think our Thanksgiving bread will be great!

Leftovers Again

We have a lot of leftovers from last night's party so we have plenty of food in the house, but I didn't want to eat the same thing again...at least not tonight. I didn't want to have another repeat dinner. So, instead, I decided to reincarnate my leftovers. Since my fettuccine with chocolate sauce was not a hit yesterday, we had leftover noodles that needed another purpose in life. So, I made one of my favorite casseroles, Tuna Noodle Casserole. I don't usually use fettuccine, but hey, I'm spontaneous!! It was tasty and Bill and I each ate WAY too much!

Iron Chef

Tonight, my friend Rachael and I had a fun competition. We did our own version of Iron Chef! (If you don't know what Iron Chef is, look it up here.) Of course, the rules were different, because we can't come up with meals and make them in 1 hour (like the real show), but we did have fun. We picked a "secret ingredient," we planned our meals and then tonight, we got together and we each made two dishes. We invited our friends to be the judges (not that the points matter) and we enjoyed a fun evening. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of all our food because Bill didn't have his camera at the beginning, but he did take some shots.

We decided we will do an Iron Chef competition again some time, it was fun. This time, Margaret picked the "secret ingredient" and it was a good one. It was fun for us to cook and it was fun for others to judge. This time the "secret ingredient" was Fresh Pasta. It seems appropriate since we're in Italy and its a readily available ingredient!

Rachael made two dishes: the first was Orecchiette pasta with Salmon and Cream Sauce. The second was Sausage, Mushrooms, and Peas with Orecchiette. It was super delicious and yummy. I enjoyed both dishes very, very much. (I only have a picture of the second dish - sorry Rachael).


I also made two dishes: the first was Zucchini Tortellini Soup. It was really good...I might have to make it again sometime. My second dish was a bit of an experiment. I decided to try a dessert pasta so I made Fettuccine with chocolate sauce and a scoop of chocolate chip ice cream. My reasoning was that the ingredients for noodles are the same for crepes and other similar foods so it should be good with chocolate. Unfortunately, it wasn't a big hit. It really didn't taste bad and some people ate it -- others did not care for it. But, I had to try, and I got points originality!

In the end, our score was very close but Rachael won by one point. Yay, Rachael!! Too bad we don't have a prize or a trophy. It was a lot of fun and I look forward to our next Iron Chef! Emma gets to pick the next "secret ingredient" - lucky her! I'll let you know when we do it again!

Holiday Bazaar

Tonight, the embassy hosted a Holiday Bazaar. Basically, a bunch of vendors come in to the embassy and display their goods and people walk around and buy stuff - supposedly Christmas presents. Santa also makes an appearance so kids can tell him what they want. Its a big event. Bill and I attended and we did a little Christmas shopping. We also had dinner, which is the same thing every time the embassy hosts an event -- hamburgers and hot dogs. I enjoy hamburgers, but I was a little dissapointed tonight because it meant I was repeating a meal AGAIN. Yes, I've already attended one embassy function this month - the Halloween Party - and I ate a hamburger. It wasn't really my fault because the party was supposed to be in October and I would've been fine - but because of the rain delay, they had Halloween in November...which means I've already included an embassy hamburger in my food foto extravaganza. To make things EVEN worse, I forgot my camera tonight. So, I have no picture of the repeat burger!!!

Instead, I decided to show you the burgers in the "before" stage. Its not a cow, or anything that drastic, but its uncooked burgers. Yes, this picture was taken at the Halloween Party, but its the same type of burger, cooked on the same grills, by the same people, so I think it counts. Enjoy! And, I promise you tomorrow will NOT be a repeat, it will be something totally exciting and original. In fact, I just might get points for taste, presentation, and originality!

10 Days Left

We're nearing the end of the month and the end of my "30 Days of Food". Next Thursday is Thanksgiving and I plan to have about 10 days worth of food in one day - I'm looking forward to it. But today, we had Chili Mac for dinner. Of course, we had salad too so we could feel mildly healthy. It was yummy and we managed to eat dinner on the couch without making a mess. We don't normally eat in the living room, but tonight was a couch night. I hope you have a good dinner and that you're looking forward to a delicious Thanksgiving!

Pasta Again

I was going to try and go the entire month without repeating a meal, but I've failed. I was so distracted by the excitement of garlic bread, that I forgot we've already had pasta this month. Oh well, it felt different this time. The garlic bread was delicious and the pasta was good too. I guess if we have to repeat one meal - pasta is a good one...especially considering we're in ITALY!!!

Pizza

Tonight we were busy - we had a lot of unpacking and other general chores to do. So, after we went to the grocery store, Bill went down the block to pick up pizza. We wanted something easy and delicious. I also made a salad in an attempt to eat healthier. I had potato pizza and margherita pizza and Bill had mushroom & tomato pizza. It was good, and easy, and fast!

Enchiladas

Tonight I made a real dinner. Not just something simple, but a real meal. I made enchiladas...and Bill helped. They were very delicious. Bill took some good pictures too. Here they are:

Half Way

I'm half way through my "30 Days of Food". So far, so good. My blog is a little late tonight because I was trying very hard to finish the Paris Trip post. It took a long time for all the video clips and photos to load so I am up late. I think I've got everything finished up now so I can show you what we had for dinner and go to bed. Tonight we had Red Beans & Rice with Mixed Vegetables on the side. It might not look that appetizing, but it tasted good!

Paris Trip

Last weekend, we took advantage of a holiday on Tuesday (Veteran's Day) to "complete the bridge", as the Italians say...that means I took Monday off and we had ourselves a 4-day weekend. We had originally planned to go somewhere else in Europe, but as we looked into details, it just didn't seem right. Somewhere in our conversations, Paris came up. Neither of us was dying to go to Paris, but it was something we thought we should do before leaving Europe. Then, I found out that Bill had NEVER been to Disneyland...or any Disney theme park, for that matter. I was appalled! Remembering that my friend Rachael recently went to Paris and enjoyed a day at EuroDisney, Paris suddenly became a lot more enticing. I decided it was time for Bill to experience the wonder of Disney and that while we were there, we could see a few Parisian sites! So, plans were finalized for Paris.

Now that we're looking back on our trip, I have to admit that I'm proud of us. We managed to see a lot of Paris in our short time there. And, we had a lot of fun. Our main problem was the cold. We had anticipated the rain, but not the coldness! It was VERY cold and we were not dressed appropriately. Our first night in Paris, we took advantage of the opportunity sellers on the sidewalk and bought gloves and hats. We wore them every day! Another thing I did not expect was the wind...it was very windy, all the time, which made the temperature feel even worse! Here's a recap of our trip.

We departed Rome early in the morning...well, we were supposed to leave early. Our flight was delayed for 15 minutes, then 30 minutes more, then it was delayed indefinitely. We prepared to stay there for a few hours when suddenly our flight was ready to depart. Who knows why...they say it was mechanical, but this is just the way things happen in Italy. Regardless, we made it to Paris fairly early in the day. We stood in a long line to get our Paris Visite tickets...basically a ticket that allows us to ride the buses, metros, and trains for our entire 4-day visit. The tickets were well worth it. Then we made our way in to Paris on the train. We found our hotel easily and checked in. It was a small hotel, but the location was great. After dropping off our bags, we walked toward the Eiffel Tower and got a croissant sandwich on the way.

This was our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower. We sat in the park and ate our lunch.

After marveling at the Eiffel Tower for a while, we bought our tickets for a bus tour. They have the same tour in Rome and we affectionately call it the "Topless Bus Tour" - because the bus doesn't have a top! Even though we were freezing, we got a front row seat on the top and started our tour of Paris. We may not look cold in this picture, but we ARE!

It was a fun and informative tour. Here we are at the Arc de Triomphe...still on the bus.

After taking the bus tour once, we got off to get some hot beverages. We were frozen solid so we took some time to thaw out. Then we rode around again, but this time inside the bus. We stopped at the Notre Dame Cathedral and bought some souvenirs (this is also where we purchased our gloves and hats!).

Our next stop was the Arc de Triomphe and a walk down the Champs-Élysées. It was very cold, but enjoyable. We stopped for dinner at McDonalds (see my previous post of Paris Food for those pictures).

On our way back to the hotel, we walked down Avenue Winston Churchill. I couldn't resist a picture with Sir Winston (I enjoy taking pictures with statues!).

We made it back to our hotel at 10:00 PM. We noticed that every hour, on the hour (after dark), the Eiffel Towel sparkles with blinking lights for 5 minutes. This is our hotel's great location!

The next day, we got up early and had our croissant and coffee/hot chocolate before heading out to Versailles on the train. Again, it was a cold day and we did a lot of walking outside! The Palace at Versailles is amazing and its huge! We took the audio tour through various parts of the palace and walked around outside. Here's a view from the Hall of Mirrors.

We didn't feel like walking all the way around the ponds and fountains so we took advantage of the Petit Train. Its a little train that drives around Versailles and stops at various locations. It was fun...but very bumpy and also cold!

We took a few more pictures outside this awe-inspiring location.

After spending most of the day at Versailles, we went back to Paris for more sight-seeing.

Next, we took a boat tour down the Seine. It was similar to the bus tour but this time we were on the Seine in a glass-topped boat. We were warmer (because we were inside) and we enjoyed the audio tour.

After dinner (Baguettes and Crepes) we took the elevator to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Earlier in the day, there was a massive line to get to the top, but surprisingly, the line was gone by night time. We were cold on the ground before going up so when we reached the top - we were absolutely freezing, and the wind was fierce! But, it was thrilling to be so high above the City of Lights and to recognize all the sites from above. Here's the Louvre Museum, the Notre Dame Cathedral and a boat tour on the Seine as seen from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Did I mention it was WINDY up there....it was!

We were on the tower at the top of the hour so we saw the blinking, twinkling lights from the inside this time. Here is the top of the blinking Eiffel Tower.

After a long day, we were ready to head back to the hotel.

The next day was guaranteed to be exciting. It was EuroDisney Day! Again, we got up and ate our croissants in the park before taking the train to the Happiest Place on Earth (in Europe). It was a rainy day - probably our worst weather day - but the park was still crowded. We didn't have to wait in line too long for any ride (although the line for lunch was horrendous) and we were able to enjoy everything we wanted to. My favorite ride - and our first one of the day - was the Mad Hatter's Tea Party - a.k.a. the Spinning Teacups. I LOVE the teacups and all the spinning!

Our second ride, but just as enjoyable, was the classic: Its A Small World. Bill really enjoyed this one...well, maybe not, but at least he was a good sport and smiled.

We spent the whole day at Disneyland and had tons of fun. We rode most of the rides and even went on Space Mountain twice. It was really great and I think Bill enjoyed his first Disney experience! We took the train back to Paris and ate dinner at a sidewalk cafe. We were cold and ready for bed by the time we returned to our hotel!

Our last day in Paris was a short day. We had to be at the airport shortly after noon so we only had time to see a few things. After our standard breakfast of croissants in the park, we went over to the Notre Dame Cathedral...but this time we went inside. The stained-glass windows were absolutely amazing.

I don't think anyone noticed, but I specifically (and appropriately) wore my Notre Dame (University) shirt to Notre Dame (Cathedral).

Next, we walked over to the Louvre Museum. I know there will be many people that are deeply disappointed in us for not going inside the Museum, but we just didn't feel like we had the time. We wanted to see more of Paris than the inside of the museum. We walked from Notre Dame Cathedral to the Louvre to see the pyramid (or triangle thing) outside.

Coincidentally, the museum was closed that day - so we'll use that as our excuse, even though we weren't planning to go in! :o)

After buying a few more souvenirs, we headed off to the airport via the train. We arrived to find out that our Alitalia flight had been canceled - they were on strike in Rome. Luckily, we were booked on Air France and they put us on their next flight out so we weren't really affected. Just another reminder of the way things work in Italy.

We had a great trip to Paris and I hope you enjoyed this summary. We're looking forward to our next trip some time next year. We were planning to travel in December, but we've decided to postpone our trip until after Christmas and New Year's. We need to spend a little time here in Rome and we're looking forward to having family visit us!

Au Revoir and have a happy day!