Grampie's Showroom

The other day I was looking around the house at all the things my grandfather (Grampie) has made. Lots of things! It makes furniture shopping pretty difficult because nothing (NOTHING) compares to the real deal, straight from the workshop. It's true... I'm a lucky girl.

Salt and Pepper, anyone?

The most recent addition, now if only I had some more JEWELRY to put in it!

A handheld mirror, engraved with my first initial. 

Amazing wedding present! Sometimes I open the chest just to get a whiff of the cedar. YUM.

Oftentimes, Grampie includes a note describing how each piece was made, type of wood, and some history. Very special indeed :)

0

Cook with Liz and Steph: #6

We decided to keep it simple this time around. We had more time to chat and I was loving it. We had Sausage Breakfast Casserole and used Dorie's Sweet Cream Biscuits to make Strawberry Shortcakes.

Heading into the oven.

Hot and yummy.

The biscuits just didn't rise, but they tasted great. Maybe my baking soda is bad?

Fresh Berries

Mini Stawberry Shortcakes... with vanilla ice cream of course

This was a simple weeknight meal, which was just what we needed. Steph knew it had been one of "those" kind of weeks so she brought over this orange juice drink concoction that had some vodka in it :) Wild and crazy on a Tuesday night!

0

Pad Thai- This is a keeper

There's not a whole lot to say about this Shrimp and Vegetable Pad Thai, other than it was DELICIOUS and you should MAKE IT.

Oh it was so good! This pad thai was chock full of veggies, just the way I like it. Mushrooms, carrots, scallions, bell pepper, garlic, tofu, shrimp, rice noodles, peanut, cilantro, lime... Yum. This was our first time to cook with tofu. It tastes so plain and bland on its own, but when you cook with it, the tofu takes on all the flavors. The next day leftovers were just as good too :)

0

Miso like "MEE-So"

You may be asking yourself, "What is Miso anyways?" I've had several run-ins with miso over the years, mainly at sushi places when I order an ever so delectable miso soup. However, I've never stopped to question miso. It's probably because there's chunks of tofu floating around in the soup... the miso seems to be the least offender. Anyways, miso is made of fermented soybeans and grain (rice or wheat) and is used quite frequently in Japanese cooking. Here's more information if you're interested. Here's Bobby Flays Grilled Salmon with Miso-Orange Glaze.

Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon-- Look at that color!

Grill marks courtesy of Ross.

Grilled Corn. I love the charred ones, is that odd?

One simple, easy, very fast meal.

The salmon marinade includes fresh squeezed orange juice, orange zest, brown sugar, yellow miso paste, soy sauce, and rice wine vinegar. It was a nice meal, a good way to mix it up if you have the salmon blues (ie you always eat salmon with EVOO+ salt+ pepper). I couldn't find the exact recipe online, but this one is similar. Otherwise get Bobby Flay's book "Grill It!", you won't be sorry!

0

Weekend Wrap Up...

A couple of my weekend reflections:

1. Goodbyes. I usually hate goodbyes, but I pretty much love this one. Goodbye all things glasses and contacts. Hasta la vista!!

2. Gifts. A little girl gave me this blue bracelet in church this morning. It does amazing things. Watch.

Each bracelet turns into a different creature when you take it off. How cool is that? Those just weren't around when I was a kiddo.

3. Dresses. Natalie and I found our dresses for her big wedding in a couple months and had a great time doing it!

4. Mars and Venus. Men and Women are from different planets. Here's my real life example. The floor mat by the front door was all crumpled up and blocking the motion of the door. Ross spent a good 20 seconds trying to kick the crumpled floor mat out of the way, but the rubber bottom was giving him quite a bit of trouble. I just bust out laughing and he looked at me and said "I guess it would have just been easier to fix it huh??" Yes.

5. Home Security.

0

Hodge Podge

Last week we stopped by the grocery store on our way home from errands, without much of a meal plan, but we didn't go hungry.

Ellie Krieger's Sesame Stir-Fried Bok Choy

Ross's Venison Stuffed Mushrooms

Our own concoction: Prosciutto wrapped scallops 

We split a stuffed flounder filet-- HEB's finest!

The meal was pretty good. I LOVE stir fried bok choy. You have to be really careful not to overcook because then it turns a more unappetizing shade of green. Also, next time I make this recipe I will chop up the bok choy, I kinda forgot this time around. Ross's mushrooms had great flavor, but the stuffing didn't stay together well. I told him to use more egg next time and he said, "I knew I forgot something!!" Problem. Solved. The stuffed flounder was pre-prepared and ready to go (thanks HEB). It was maybe  slighty oversalted for my taste and the stuffing was a tad too bready, but otherwise good. We decided that the prosciutto flavor overpowered the delicate taste of the scallop. Who knew? Now we do and you do.

0

Roma's Gets New Eyes Too

As I've mentioned before, I'm trying to get back into Photoshop. It's such a fun tool to mess with! Don't worry, I'm not quitting my day job anytime soon. Here's a picture of Roma before and after...

SOOTC: Straight out of the camera

After: Look at those eyes!!

What a beauty...

Please tell me you all are watching Top Chef Masters on Bravo tonight!!!

0

An Epiphany of Sorts

Normally, risotto takes a good 45 min of constant stirring. It's a labor of love to say the least. However, in this months issue of Cook's Illustrated they test out "Almost Hands Free Risotto." I was skeptical at first, but now I'm a believer. If you love risotto, please read this recipe and try out this method!!

We tried the Saffron Risotto with Chicken and Peas. I kinda forgot to throw in the saffron until about halfway in, so the risotto had the nice golden color, but lacked some of the saffron flavor. I seem to be biased toward wild mushroom risotto, it's my favorite plain and simple. But now I need to try this hands free cook method with some mushroom risotto...

Who's that Doggy in the Window?

0

Cookin on the Smoker

Despite the lousy weather, Ross was in the mood to use his smoker over the weekend. Lior, Naomi, and Judah came over to do a quality check of the meat :)

Judah was so happy just to hold the beer bottle.

Mac&Cheese

Jerk Beer Can Chicken

Ross's Homemade Smoked Salsa

Roma was quite fascinated with Judah. She liked giving him lots of kisses (and stealing his food)

The brisket.

More Chicken

All in all it was a pretty good meal. We will continue our quest for Mac'N'Cheese (sorry Ina Garten)... it just wasn't ooey gooey enough! If you're going to use up that amount of calories, it better be something that makes you wanna lick the plate. Otherwise, why not just eat dessert right?? :) The chicken (yes it was organic. If you watch Food Inc and you will buy organic too!!!) had great flavor on the outside but I wanted more of the jerk flavor on the inside. Next time we'll be injecting! This is how the evening ended...

This week I have been reading every single road sign aloud, from the farthest distance possible to show Ross that my vision is better than his. In actuality, we're probably tied but I do like to win....

0

Roma's Car Ride

This is the laziest weekend we've had in awhile... My eyeballs were recovering from surgery and my lungs were recovering from a cold, add some NyQuil to the mix and I slept A LOT. It rained poured most of the weekend and Miss Roma was getting stir crazy. So when the sun came out, we had to get her to the pup park. Roma likes to ride in style...

It was good for me to get some sunshine now that I'm feeling better. Nothing like high quality Vitamin D. Roma is now snoring away on the couch.
I'm not allowed to do any "strenuous activities" for a week or more, so I'm trying to get reacquainted with Adobe PhotoShop. When I got my Mac, I strayed away from editing pictures with Photoshop, but I've decided its time to dive back in. Photoshop seems so complicated at first, but it's so worth it in the end!!

0

Eyeballs: Step...DONE

MY EYES ARE DONE!!!!!! I never thought I'd be able to say it, but now I can. SO EXCITED.

Here is a comparison of what my eye looked like post-surgery compared to my other eye that had not yet been done. See the little pupil on the left? Today that pupil looks normal and I am seeing great!

Ross took this picture before bed time after both my eyes were done. They have you sleep with a shield on so that you don't accidently RUB your eyes at night. Rubbing is bad. A puppy face lick isn't the best either.

My vision got tested this morning at the post-op and I am now 20/20 in both eyes!!!  Ross and I are going to have a vision competition tomorrow. I hope I win.

Some people have asked me why I would get this type of surgery. Here's how I sum it up...
1. I've worn glasses/contacts since 2nd grade
2. I had every intention of getting Lasik, but because I'm so nearsighted it wasn't the best option for me, meaning I might not be happy with the results... and Lasik is irreversible.
3. My vision is -8. Most people have -1 to -4. Now multiply that by 2 and that's what I am. You know that giant letter on the top row at the eye doctor? yah well I've never been able to read that without contacts. Example:

So I am  WAS even worse than that little blur on the right.
4. Try taking your contacts out at the ranch

So now it's all behind me! I can't workout, garden, or lift anything for a couple weeks. I also have to continue with eyedrops a couple times a day. Minor inconveniences because I can SEE. What a blessing!!!!!

1

Eyeballs: Step 3A

RIGHT EYE!!

Post surgery, I was feeling good. There were some drugs involved but not many. The cold Frappacino helped too. :) I'm still feeling fine, but my right eye is all blurry and out of focus, so I"m using my left (with a contact in of course). The doctor said I would be blurry tonight. I'm hoping I continue to feel good and wake up with some clearer vision. The left eye surgery is tomorrow!!!

0