7 years (and 9 months)

7 years ago (yesterday)....chris and I decided to stop pussy footing around the issue and declare that yes...we were indeed....."dating" (we'd already been dating for about 9 months). eek! Two years ago (yesterday) he asked me to marry him.......and a year ago (yesterday) we were just a month and half away from getting married. We celebrated by pulling some carrots from our {organic} garden, opening up a bottle of Syrah I gave him as a gift for this same occasion last year and roasting a rack of lamb with cous cous and sauteed carrots (in butter and brown sugar of course). Finished the whole thing off with some carmelized peaches and vanilla bean ice cream. Nom!

The only picture I have of the occasion is this:

of our first harvest......

....because when I'm spending an awesome night drinking wine with the man I love...I forget to take pictures. :)

As a side note: I totally burned my fingers on spattered caramel. It hurts. War wounds.

Because homemade is always better.

Sunday is the only day both Chris and I don't have to work- usually (as I write this he is actually at work today....Sunday...on Memorial Day weekend....ugh...go figure) and I look forward to this day every week. Sundays used to be about pancakes around this house.....and we've become masters of a delicious blueberry pancake (I'm on blueberry duty.). But for the past few months Sundays have been all about waffles. The quest for the perfect rich buttermilk waffle. Crisp on the outside, fluffy and light on the inside...we're really almost there...the last few Sunday have been phenomenal on the waffle front. This week, I got it in my brain though that the perfect accompaniment to homemade waffles would be homemade butter....and the product of homemade butter is buttermilk which can then be used in the waffles! Genius!

So this morning.....I made butter. Oh....what's that? You'd like to know how??? OK! I'll tell you!

Step 1: Heavy cream goes into fancy food processor that you got as a wedding present and that your husband insists you didn't want but he convinced you and oh now look who loves it! (phffffttt...)

Step 2: Turn fancy food processor on and let the cream go from liquid to beautiful whipped cream and then into the phase where it starts to break apart and separate from the liquid....all while your husband stands over your shoulder going "ooooh look! it's changing!". He's cute, that one. :)

Step 3: The liquid that separates is buttermilk. Pour it out pressing the butter with a spatula to get even more liquid out. Save that delicious buttermilk for the waffles you'll make....you're going to make waffles aren't you???? (sidenote: like my manicure? It's called "booty camp" cuz it's pink camouflage. I'm so hardcore.)

Step 4 (sorry...no picture...I was busy doing step 4): rinse the butter with very cold water....drain off the liquid and wash again until the water is no longer cloudy.

Step 5: Mix a few pinches of salt (even if normally you use unsalted butter) into the butter and place in small bowl pressing out air bubbles with spatula. And BOOM! Fresh creamery buttah...is there anything bettah? (british accent necessary). Seriously....this butter is amazing.....I know it sounds stupid to describe it this way...but it was just so....so....buttery!

Step 6: Make waffles (slather with fresh butter), turkey bacon and french press coffee.....and watch Meet The Press (followed by discussions about the ridiculous idea of Sarah Palin running for President and medicare with husband). And that's our Sunday morning.

Indy says "they know I love the waffles and the bacons...but they never offer me any."

He's so abused.

The Little Things

Sometimes we just need to be reminded about how many amazing moments there are to be found in life.

I just discovered this blog......and you should spend some time there. Especially if you're having a rough day. I could keep posting, but these are a few that I love.

I would add:

* Hearing "I love you" first.

and

* When a little kid runs across the room in excitement to hug you.

Anguilla: Day Two.

So I get home from work this morning and walk back in after doing a little yardwork and I see this guy RUNNING up our yard, trampling our new grass and displacing our walkway rocks. I am displeased already. Then the doorbell rings. "W.T.F" runs through my brain. (and Indy's....although his thoughts manifest as just a cocking of his head). I open the door thinking that maybe this guy is panicked about a lost child or worse....lost dog (just kidding. settle down.). He's standing at the bottom of our steps and blurts out quickly "HI! I SELL WHOLESALE STEAK AND SEAFOOD! I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT I GOT!". Just as he's about to run away to what I assume is to get whatever he's got to show me I say "I'm not interested" and he pauses as though that's a surprise to him. "oh. You're not? Ok. Thanks" and he RUNS away. So I close the door....and assume he went next door to yell at someone else about his fish. Not 60 seconds later I see him RUN. FULL SPRINT. down the street back to his truck that is labeled with black stick on letters "wholesale steak". Then he PEELS OUT down the street at speeds not appropriate for a residential setting.

And that was Anguilla Day Two. Blogging is fun.

I'm back.

Consider this one single post as my way of saying....keep checking back. I think I'm going to start back into this blogging thing after almost a year hiatus. Wow. It's been quite a year.

Anguilla- Day One.

Really? April 21st? THAT'S the last time I posted? GAH!!!! All these responsibilities and THINGS to do are really sucking me into a black hole of.......................................................................

So rather than go into detail about all the stuff that is going on right now (ie. 39 days until zee weddin!!!!! ) I think I should finish the train of thought I started back in April and finish the Anguillan vacation talk.

So...where were we? Oh! Yes! The first whole day. So we arrived Wed. night, had that awesome dinner and woke up Thursday to find a gorgeous beach waiting for us. So we did a little of this:

......and it was nice.

We took a little stroll down the beach to Gwen's for some awesome BBQ and rum punches (except I had beer cuz of the stupid possibility of food coloring in the rum punch...stupid allergy....but the beer was still pretty good). There were lots of photos taken in front of what basically looked like the screen saver photos for a Mac.

after lunch we headed back to the hotel to get ready for what turned out to be quite the night of partying. just wait....it gets awesome.....

so.....we headed to the other side of the island to the Viceroy hotel to watch what was supposed to be an amazing sunset.....but the overcast night had another plan. Still, the hotel was AMAZING. The drinks at the bar fresh and delicious and the company fantastic.

and by company I mean...."hey! look at the crab!"

"I'm going to get a photo with the crab!!"

"Damn. Too close".

"Shoot! Stupid thumbs up is blocking the crab!!"

"Theeeeere we go!!!"

While at the Viceroy we made friends with our bartender/waiters and they kept asking "are you going to the Pumphouse?" (sidenote: i have no idea if that is one word or not).....apparently anyone who is anyone was going to the pumphouse. So.....naturally.....we headed to "The Pumphouse". Now.....the pumphouse, turns out, WAS the place to be for tourists and locals alike. A band played steel drum island versions of tunes like Taylor Swift's "You belong to me" and everyone was dancing up a storm. Including me.....with my new best friend....

Then there was the ill conceived round of Jager shots.....

Always seems like a GREAT idea at the time.....

Okay...I guess even at the time it seemed like a bad idea....

Needless to say the night went a little like this:

A local dog found it's way to the bar....he was clearly starving and all skin and bones....so we started feeding him pieces of pizza.....

He liked it.......A LOT......see?


And that pretty much puts a cap on the end of our first full day in Anguilla. Just wait for the next day in which everyone is hungover and goes on a BOAT! Hilarity ensues.....

Travel Day One- Tropical Island of Splendor.

Aaaaaaand we're back. (Ok. we've been back for a while, but life is crazy busy and you're just now getting an update. deal. mmkay? thnx.)

I feel even more exhausted now that we're back than I did before we left! Let's just say that Anguilla is a long way to go for three full days. I'm not complaining...it was absolutely worth it....but seriously....traveling to the Caribbean from the west coast is no easy feat. After a long day at work, we left the house Tuesday night at 8pm to make it to LAX for our 10:20pm red eye flight to Philly. After a 3.5 hour layover in Philly we boarded another four hour flight to St. Maarten where we went through customs and hopped on a ferry to Anguilla where we went through customs again. Then we hopped in a cab that took us across the island to our hotel....where we arrived at 3pm the next day. Aaaaand scene.

After arriving at our hotel with THIS VIEW:

(yes. i took that photo. from our balcony. it's not from the brochure or anything)

We showered and headed down to the bar for some drinks and mingling. Then on to an amazing gourmet dinner at Veya where I proceeded to stuff my face with the best johnny cakes and red snapper you've ever tasted...not to mention the vanilla duck that tasted like french toast. Seriously, like FRENCH. TOAST. in...a good way. I neglected to take any food porn photos so forgive me. you'll have to trust that it was awesome.

(at the rehearsal...we look a bit tired, no?)

And that...concludes our day of traveling.