Recipe #2

Last night I made my second Comfort Food recipe. Mushroom & Cauliflower Cheese Bake. It didn't turn out as good as the first recipe and it didn't quite look like the picture in the book, but it tasted fine and we ate it all. (It seemed to be healthy so we told ourselves it was OK to eat the whole thing!) Bill's verdict for this recipe was "good". Not the resounding success that we had the first time, but I'll take it. Especially since I know there will be worse recipes ahead! Enjoy the pictures.

The First Recipe

Last night, I started another item on my list (my birthday list, in case you don't know). #9 on my list of Birthday Goals is to cook thru an entire cookbook. When I made this goal, I knew exactly which cookbook I would use. Its called Comfort Food - I received it last year and have used it once or twice. It is a great cookbook with some really good recipes in it. It also has a lot of variety and it isn't huge (both of which are important for cooking all the recipes in one year!). I sat down this week to figure out exactly how many recipes there were and how often I would have to cook to get thru it. There are a total of 67 recipes...not too bad. Of course, with any cookbook and my individual tastes, there are bound to be a few recipes that I just don't like - at all! I'm sure they are great recipes and other people would probably love them, but I just can't do it. I also think I should be entitled to a few "skips" if I'm cooking thru an entire cookbook. So, I settled on the arbitrary number of 5...I am authorized to skip a total of 5 recipes in the book. That leaves me with 62 recipes in 1 year...I'm going to be busy.

The recipe I started with was chosen mostly because I already had the ingredients. I didn't want to make any special trips to the grocery store last night, so I started out with Salisbury Steak.

I've never made salisbury steak before but it turned out ok. I followed the recipe exactly, even though it was a little different than the few times I've eaten salisbury steak. Bill really seemed to enjoy it and said he is looking forward to the coming year and all the tasty meals. I asked him to describe the first recipe in this venture to cook thru the cookbook and he said: "Success". So, I guess that's it...1 down, 61 to go.

before

after

Happy Birthday #30

Today is my 30th birthday. I don't feel 30, but I guess I don't really know what its supposed to feel like. I wanted my birthday to be super special, to do something historic, something worthy of the big 3-0, but I couldn't think of much. I finally settled on making a list - yes, I love lists! I decided to make a list of things to do in the next year...30 things to do. (I wanted to be cute and say it was "30 things to do in my 30th year of life", but I guess I'm starting my 31st year so its too late for that.) Instead, I just made a list of 30 things I want to do this year. I'm 30 years old now so I should be able to handle 30 goals.

It was harder to make the list than I thought it would be. I wanted to include things that were realistic...that I could actually accomplish. But, I also wanted to include things that were not ordinary...things I would have to work a little harder for or that held extra importance. I also wanted to be sure the goals were fairly specific so I would know when to cross them off the list! Not everything on the list is new - some of these things I've done before and want to do again. Other things are first timers and probably won't be done ever again!

I hope to accomplish everything on my list in the next 365 days. I'm even going to laminate the list and post it above my desk so I can be reminded to work on my "Birthday Goals" throughout the year. As I accomplish the things on this list, I will try to write about them on my blog so you, my faithful reader, can follow my progress. (I'm sure you will be on the edge of your seat all year!) I noticed that quite a few items on the list have to do with either food or travel, so it should fit in nicely with my blog title. Also, I noticed that nothing on the list had anything to do my job or work....hmmm, interesting! So, without further ado, here is my list:

30 Things
1. Go on a cruise
2. Make donuts
3. Start an herb garden (and keep it alive!)
4. Send homemade Christmas cards
5. Learn all the U.S. Presidents, in order
6. Go to the dentist
7. Read the entire Bible (chronologically)
8. Watch all the Lord of the Rings movies in one day
9. Cook thru an entire cookbook
10. Buy an exercise bike (and use it!)
11. Go whitewater rafting
12. Read “The Path Between the Seas” by David McCullough
13. Go to Costa Rica
14. Volunteer for something at church
15. Get a second pet
16. Watch the entire Gilmore Girls series with my husband
17. Cross-stitch something
18. Write a letter once a month
19. Learn how to make pesto
20. Paint a picture (paint-by-numbers is good enough!)
21. Make a will
22. Participate in “Flavor of the Month” on my blog
23. Exercise twice a week (at least)
24. Go camping on Anderson Island
25. Save enough for a down-payment to buy a house
26. Make shrimp or scallops for my husband
27. Go snorkeling in the Atlantic Ocean
28. Go snorkeling in the Pacific Ocean
29. Host a Murder Mystery Dinner
30. Make an address list in Access (a really good one)

I have had a wonderful 30th birthday! My amazing husband bought me donuts for breakfast, Peruvian food for lunch, and brownies for dinner. It doesn't get any better than that. I look forward to having an equally good year and getting at least 30 things done!

Road Trip Day 5-8

On day 5, we arrived at my brother's house to visit him and his family for a few days. It was fun to see them again. We had a nice time hanging out the first day and had a delicious meal. It was very nice to be with family.

Bill and Daniel hanging out

Day 6 was spent with the family and we went in to downtown Chicago to be tourists. We visited Millennium Park and we saw the big Bean. It was fun to take pictures in the giant reflective jelly bean! We also had a Chicago must and ate deep-dish pizza for dinner...yummy! After dinner, we went to see the Blue Man Group. It was a very fun show and Bill laughed more than anyone. He really enjoyed it.

Daniel and Drew reflecting in the Bean

can you find us?
the big Bean with Daniel and Drew
the exciting show!

Day 7 was equally exciting...Bill and I took Daniel and Drew to Six Flags Great America. There were long lines, but that was expected because it is an amusement park, after all. We had fun riding the roller coasters and my nephews convinced me to go on a couple rides that I don't think I would have attempted on my own! It was a fun long day and we finished it with another delicious dinner from my sister-in-law.

after riding "The Dark Knight"

The next day, Day 8, was also very thrilling. It was our last day with my brother's family so we wanted to make the most of it. We went to a baseball game and supported the Chicago Cubs (even if they aren't the best). The atmosphere of the game was exciting and we ate all the traditional baseball game food: hot dogs, brats, jumbo pretzels, soft serve, etc. Even though the Cubbies lost, we had a great time! Before leaving Chicago, Bill had another hot dog, this time "Chicago Style".

enjoying our seats at the game

we were way up there, but we had a good view

After the game, we drove on (that's what most people do on a road trip) to visit more of my friends in Indiana. We had dinner with a college friend of mine and then stayed with family friends. It was a long day and a good time was had by ALL!

Road Trip Day 4

I don't have any pictures from Day 4, but I'll give you a brief recap of the highlights. We started in Kansas and drove to visit my friend Sandi. It was great to meet her husband and son and her little dogs (who were very excited to have visitors). We enjoyed a wonderful Kansas City BBQ dinner with Sandi and were able to get all caught up. It really was great (thanks Sandi) and we'll have to do it again soon.

From Kansas City, we drove in to Missouri to camp. We found a lovely State Park that had a very nice campground (the nicest one we've stayed at so far). It was getting dark and the clouds were gathering overhead so we quickly set up our tent. A few minutes after climbing in the tent, it started raining. Not just raining, but POURING!! The wind and rain pounded our tent all night. And the lighting was spectacular - the whole sky would light up completely every few seconds and the thunder was incredibly loud. We didn't get much sleep, but we stayed relatively dry...only the corners of the sleeping bags got wet. By morning, the sun was out and the sky was blue. We were thankful that it only rained at night, and not while we were setting up or taking down the tent! We were more than ready to leave Missouri after that.

Road Trip Days 1-3

The first day of our Road Trip was spent driving from Oregon to Idaho. We didn't really do anything exciting. We were planning to camp, but it was rainy and very windy so we decided to stay at a hotel instead. The day was pretty boring, so I don't have much to share about it.

The second day was a little more interesting. We drove from Idaho to Utah and we visited Arches National Park (amazing) and then we stayed at a camp ground. I took pictures all day and have a picture diary below. Enjoy!

our day started too early!

free hotel breakfast...better than I expected!
I get to drive first

welcome to Utah!

time for a break - rest area

our trusty vehicle

stopped in Provo to mail gifties to my friends

Bill filling us up with gas

lunch time at Arby's

my lunch

windmills in the canyons

stopping to take pictures

Bill gets to drive now

traffic and construction

another rest area

we've reached our campground

it was windy, we weren't sure the tent would make it!

we visited nearby Arches National Park

it was beautiful!

we walked up to several of the arches (this is Double Arch)

Bill is on the left taking pictures of Delicate Arch on the right (very famous)

we stayed in the park until sunset

the park was amazing even after dark!

back to camp for dinner

I didn't take any other pictures of the tent. I was going to, but I got tired and forgot...instead I just went to bed.

On the third day of our Road Trip, we drove from Utah to Kansas. We stopped in Denver to visit my college roommate, Rachel. It was fun to see her again. We made a lot of progress driving today and had beautiful weather. We even stopped in Limon, Colorado to eat dinner at McDonald's. (That's another story that I'll tell some time about stopping in Limon at the nicest McDonald's I've ever been in, but that was many years ago and it has changed.) Now we're stopped in Colby, Kansas for the night...and its getting late so I better go to bed.

The Road Trip Begins!

We started our Road Trip today. This is the legendary Road Trip that we have been thinking about and planning for over a year. I'm very excited that we're on our way! We returned from Peru a couple days ago and I have a lot of video clips and pictures to sort. Once I get time to work on those, I will write some more posts to finish the Peru trip. In the meantime, I'm going to share some Road Trip adventures. I'm taking video clips on this trip too, so you have something to look forward to!

We decided to do a scavenger hunt on our trip and try to find things along the way...but I haven't compiled the list yet, so we haven't started. If you have any ideas of what we should look for, let me know and we'll add it to the list. Until then, we are looking for license plates. We figured we should be able to find a lot of them, since we are traveling thru 25 states in the next 4 weeks. So far, we had a very good first day! We've already found 16 states and 1 Canadian province. That's pretty good for one day!

Tomorrow, I'm going to do a picture diary. I'm going to copy Rachael's "A Day In My Life" and take pictures of our whole day. I might not take as many pictures as she does, but it should be entertaining. I've started taking a lot of video clips lately, so I haven't been taking as many pictures. And Bill didn't take many pictures today either. But, tomorrow I will work hard on documenting our whole day for your viewing pleasure. So, stay tuned and check back soon. I'll upload pictures as soon as we have another internet connection!