I saw this on someone else’s blog and thought it was a cute idea…a random post of a random photo…..enjoy!
From my friend Jodi's wedding
Summer Yum June 30, 2009
Orzo Caprese Salad
My sister made this for the family when we were both in Waco a few years back and it has since become a staple in our house….It’s simple, fresh, filling, and fairly healthy too. When she made it, she served it with a great grilled chick breast that had been marninated in a lemon rosemary marinade. Sadly, Rell does not eat Rosemary or chicken cooked in Lemon, so I do not get to serve it alongside that…..but, this goes great with just about everything. I made it this afternoon for tonight…we’re having grilled garlic herb chicken sausage and I thought this would go great. It’s also a nice alternative to your typical pasta salad. I brought it to a BBQ a couple of weeks ago and it got rave reviews.
Approx 1 cup uncooked Orzo, cooked, drained and cooled
1 pint grape tomatoes cut in half
1 ball mozzarella cheese cut into cubes
3/4 c – 1 c pine nuts, toasted
Several leaves of fresh basil, chopped
One bottle of balsamic vinagrette.
Combine pasta, tomatoes, and cheese in a bowl. Add balsamic vinagrette. How much you add is really going to depend on how you like it. As the pasta sits, it will absorb more dressing so if you’re going to make this a few days in advance, you might want to add more. Mix well. Add basil and pine nuts.
Variations – I like to make my own balsamic vinagrette (using my hand held imersion blender my friend Kerry gave me for my wedding shower) Im not one for formal recipies, so basically I put about 1-2T of brown sugar (I use splenda brown sugar sometimes) in the bottom of a bowl or large mixing cup. Add a couple of squirts of spicy brown mustard. Add some garlic and salt and pepper, and if you happen to have it around, some diced shallot. Add about 1/2 tp 3/4 c balsamic vinager…while mixing drizzle in olive oil to your desired consistency….usually around 1 c. I like mine more balsamic-ey so I tend to go heavy on the balsamic vinegar. Remember to add your oil to the vinegar and not the other way around or else it is really hard to mix well!
Instead of Mozzarella, I often use feta and it is soooo good!! I’ve tried it with blue cheese before, because we really like blue cheese….not very sucessful…in fact, yuck. Also, we’re not big tomato people, so sometimes I leave those out. I’ve blanched asparagus and chopped it into inch long pieces instead of tomatoes, and that was yum. we have also tried blanched broccoli….not so yum.
The Strawberry Muddler
I say this recipe in Bon Appetite Magazine last weekend and fell in love with it!!! It sounded like such a great summer cocktail, so refreshing….
Prosecco
Simple Syrup
Strawberries
Lemon Slices
Ice
In the bottom of a glass, muddle a few strawberries with about 1T simple syrup (I bought premade syrup at trader joes, but really, you just have to boil some sugar and water together to make it) Top (cover) with a lemon slice. Fill glass with ice. Fill with Prosecco. Enjoy! (oh, and you will!!!)
The funny thing about both of the summer staple recipies is that both of them have near impossible for me to find ingredients…however, I am sure those of you that live in more metropolitian areas…which is ALL of you….won’t have a hard time finding them at all….Orzo and Prosecco. Now, I have tried the salad with other pasta than Orzo…and it’s just not the same…iit really needs to be Orzo. But the drink, I am sure would be just as refreshing and yummy with Champagne if you have a hard time finding Prosecco….I finally found it at the Liquor Store and they had one kind, and only like 2 bottles of it!!!! Also, I was thinking the Strawberry Muddler would pretty much be great with all kinds of berries….blue, black, raspberry…or some combination of berries!
Cheers!
Miss Maggie Mae June 24, 2009
This is Maggie Mae:
She’s half lab half poodle…and she’s a bit of a strange one. First of all, she loves to sit like this…this is kind of how I imagine a cat would sit, if I liked cats and therefor paid attention to how they sat. She winds up in a little ball and locks herself into place by putting her head on her back like this. She chases her tail…on command…I have it on video. It’s hilarious. I will have to see if I can get that video on here somehow. She also poops and pees on command…her command is “Get Grass” which worked well and made sense in the old house since we had so much grass….not so much at this house since there isn’t a blade to be seen in our yard. Our neighbors think we’re nuts telling our dog to “Get Grass” when there obviously isnt any grass to be had! Maggie Mae also likes to sit like a person in the back seat of the car. If I so desired, I could reach back there and seat buckle her into place because of where and how she sits.
However, it is not all good times with Miss Maggie Mae….she has caused quite a bit of frustration around our house, usually having to do with her propensity to eat stuff she is not supposed to. Along with the frustration comes vet bills too, but those, I can handle. (Thank you pet insurance)
Stuff Maggie Mae has eaten and/or chewed to pieces (that I can remember off the top of my head….this is NOT a comprehensive list!):
-Countless Magazines
-One pair of fairly expensive Coach shoes
-one pair of not so expensive flip flops
-one potted plant from Ikea
-tinfoil
-countless tongs/spatulas and assorted grilling tools
-gorilla glue (most expensive vet bill too date)
-beer bottle
-juice glass
-the book Marley and Me carefully pulled from the book shelf (no other books were destroyed in that eating)
-one hallway wall of drywall
-One Home Depot Do It yourself home improvement book
-A book on labs
-4 wooden drawer pulls from the TV Cabinet
-one chair leg
-three dog beds
-one giant pillow that I had had since college (Im still sad about this one)
-one foot stool that looked like a (lifesized) dog from Rells grandmother (she ate the face off this one….this is the main reason we can’t get another dog…too scared that she would eat the face off of it too)
-one cell phone (I was ok with this…I wanted a new phone anyways)
But, she’s pretty cute…so I will forgive her….except for the Coach shoes and the giant pillow that I loved….I’m still holding a grudge over those. ….
America’s Pastime June 20, 2009
Rell and I are sitting here watching baseball……I grew up watching football…and then maybe basketball…and then maybe soccer or golf…but never really watching baseball..and Rell is a DIEHARD Rangers fan…and a baseball fan in general. And we have just gotten into a little argument over baseball. As someone who has never really watched baseball, can someone PLEASE explain to me why a swing at a ball is a strike the first two times a batter swings at it, but is NOT a stike the third, forth, or eighth time a batter swings at it….I just dont get it!!!! It’s sort of an argument between us…..
also…random point…I LOVE LOVE LOVE our privacy fence…I watered the plants this morning in my robe…could not have done that with our chain link fence….well, I could have, but it would have not been pretty….
Photos that go with previous post June 11, 2009
hanging with will reading the WSJ...ok, ok it's a book about ducks....but he is so smart I am sure that is what he will be reading next
Will playing hide and seek with the couch and fern
Will's new truck from Mack
Cousins hangin'
See how cute out outfits are??
Hanging with Robert
New BFFs Cooper and Will in their coordinating outfits
Meeting for the first time
Birthday Princess chowing on her very own cake!
Not quite into what's going on yet
Cooper!
Lilly and her new suit..she kept trying to pull it down to cover her belly!
Ava hanging with her daddy
Princess cookies for Ava
Ava gets her very own cake to destroy
Chair that Aunt Favorite...I mean Aunt Meg..painted for Ava
Will, hanging out after Swimming in an outfit MY dad wore when he was a baby (some 62ish years ago!) Way to preserve Mom!!
Attack Cat....mice, be afraid....be very afraid...
Cutest Golf bag ever....and it's all mine!
Potpourri….A random gathering of thoughts…. June 11, 2009
For any of you reading this that are familiar with Waco……actually there are probably zero people that read this that are familiar with Waco……there is a community Magazine called The Wacoan….it’s mostly advertisements. But there are some columns about “goings on” around town too. There is this one guy who write a column called “Random Thoughts While Driving Through Waco” and as I was driving home today from working out, determined to put up a new blog post, I thought about how that is what my blog could be called…..except that I don’t live in Waco ….so I would have to call it Random thoughts while driving through Northern Arizona. I always have the best ideas while driving…whether it be about something to write on this blog, so craft project, a present for someone, what to have for dinner….you get the idea….but almost without fail, when I get to wherever I am going, the thought has flown out of my head and out the window, only to be remembered next time I am driving somewhere. Rell and I ALWAYS see people pulled over on the side of the road just hanging out…I wonder if that’s what they’re doing…writing down their great ideas? We typically make fun of them simply because of where they choose to pull over….I am all for pulling over to talk on the phone or root through your purse, but there is this one part of the shoulder of the highway right by the turn off to our community and people are ALWAYS on that shoulder, just taking care of business….what gets me is that there is a gas station literally 200 yards down the road. To me, it make more sense to pull into the gas station to make your call, text, blow your nose…whatever…..then, not only do you have a safer way to enter onto the highway again….you can also get a tasty snack and a giant coke!
Congratulations to the eleventy billion people I know that are going to have kiddos in the next nine months or so! I don’t know what it is, but there is a crazy baby boom going on. You know, I have heard talks on the news stations and in magazines saying that during this economic downturn people are tightening their budgets and their belts, and one of the ways that there doing so is by not having children right now….I tell you what CNN, you need to meet by circle of friends and family…..I can disprove your theory in an instant. But I am very excited for all of my friends and family that have recently had a baby or will have one in (or two!) in 09. And extra special kudos to those of you that will have you kiddo right before the end of the year….tax advantage! J
I’ve taken up golf…and I LIKE it! I have wanted to take it up for years and years…like, since High School…honestly, the only reason I probably wanted to take it up then was so that I could be on the golf team…I remember there was something I liked about the golf team…I cant remember what (old age setting in)…did they have a cute coach? Did they get to miss school more than normal? I can’t remember…but the desire has stuck. And it’s strengthened the last few years because Rell really enjoys playing golf. ..And we basically have a golf course in our backyard, so why not take advantage of that? And I would love for us to have a hobby that we can enjoy together….but the only way I am going to enjoy it is if I’m good…okay, at least decent. So enter the golf instructor. I’m taking a few lessons. Rell has talked about trying to teach me….but I am betting anyone else feels this same way…no one really wants her husband bossing her around, on the golf course or otherwise…so I am paying to have someone else’s husband boss me around. Believe me, it works better that way! I seem to be doing pretty good in my lessons…there just never seems like there is enough time to practice. But really, where is there ever enough time to do anything these days?
We went to Vegas the other weekend. It was sort of a birthday trip…sort of a business anniversary trip. Can you believe we have owned this business a year already??? Neither can I! Time flies when you’re in over your head! J (not really…just really really busy and sometimes overwhelmed) So we drove out to Vegas. There still constructing this crazy huge new bridge that will bypass the Hoover Damn and it is amazing! And Kind of scary! We actually have a customer that is doing the hand rail for the bridge and we’re supplying the materials…so I like to say that Yavapai Steel has a hand(rail) in building this new bridge. I’ll have to see if I have a picture of it that I can post because it’s not some random little bridge….I think it’s going to be one of those important bridges…..as important as bridges can be, I guess. Anyways…Vegas! We stayed at the MGM..I liked….we ate at Emerils…I liked (even though it was a fish grill)..we saw Love..I LOVED (more on that later)….we had pooltime with Pina Coladas..I liked…we lost a bunch of money…I disliked….but all in all we had a fabulous time. It was nice to briefly get away, just the two of us, and do nothing! As I mentioned we saw the show Love (thanks to Sherry for her high recommendation of the show…I don’t think we would have seen it had she not sung its praises so highly!) and it was amazing. Rell has seen several Vegas shows and he said it is the best one he has ever seen. I had only seen one show before this, and it was a comedy show, so totally different…but this was probably the most Amazing thing I have ever seen. There was so much going on…so worth the ticket price…so worth the $15 drink I had….my jaw was dropped the entire show….the show ended and if Rell would have let me, I would have turned around and bought another ticket…..he liked it so much, that had I asked to do so, he probably would have been on board with it. If you’re in Vegas, go see this show.
I went to Texas the other weekend too….Little Miss Ava Marie Brooks turned One. Cause for a party! I headed to Texas and met up with Melissa and Will….ohh cutie cutie cutie Will….it was so good to see him in person…I had not seen him since Thanksgiving. We had a party for Ava on Saturday…and surprise surprise surprise, Jodi and The Coopster came down to surprise me! It was so nice to see them both. We had a great time. The part was fun too…there were 8 trillion kiddos there….people kept asking when I was going to have a kid, and my standard answer was “why…there are so may here, I’ll just borrow one of these” (Ugh, and don’t get me started on why people think it is ok to ask when you’re going to have kids….hello very personal question…I think I have decided that it is worse that the “So when are you two kiddos getting married?” question..believe me, after being with Rell for seven years, two of those married, we have had our fair share of both of those!) I digress……
So the party was fun…..I will post some pictures…In fact, I think the pictures are going to have to be a post in and of themselves…..I think between my camera, Melissa’s camera, my moms, and stephs cameral, we probably have about 1000 pictures from that weekend…don’t worry I wont post them all!
What else???? Hmm….we got a cat at work….and while I don’t like cats, and am actually allergic, I dislike mouse poop in my office more….we tried mouse bait, poison etc, but then they would die inside the walls and the whole place would STINK for days…..and horrific smells don’t really motivate me to come into work…and I need to go into work! So, we got a cat…his name is Cat….he tries to sneak into the office all the time. We try to keep him in the warehouse mostly….the other day I did let him come into my office to rub up on the furniture to spread his scary cat smell around….intended to scare off mice…but apparently it scared my nose too because it started running! (get it, running…because it was scared? Okay, give me a break…Im old now…I make old people jokes) Anyways, Cat is actually pretty cool….we have all these giant racks in the warehouse to store lengths of steel and he just jumps around them like we built them especially for him…his own giant Cat jungle gym….he also sleeps in boxed of plastic pipe caps….which doesn’t seem like it would be comfortable….but since he chooses to sleep there, it must be. So because of where Cat sleeps and plays, he is the dirtiest animal I have ever seen…he is literally a greasball…can you give a cat a bath???
What else? What else? I am sure there are other things I was supposed to write about….but I cant remember them…they’ll come to me…while I’m driving…
Goodbye Sweet Youth….you will be missed. May 19, 2009
So, I’m thirty now…..And I guess what is so shocking about the whole thing is not that I am 30, but that I am 30 ALREADY! I feel like it was just a couple of years ago that I celebrated my 21st birthday!! I had a fabulous birthday. Saturday night, Rell and I did a little shopping around town. I wanted to hit up some thrift stores to see if I could find some neat old ornate frames that I could re-finish. I did find a couple that will work, but the big find was at the Habitat for Humanity store. We wandered in there and they were have a 50% off sale….we found a black wrought iron chandelier for our dining room for $37 bucks!!! Score! I just need to get some new shades for it. We’ve been looking for a new fixture for that room since we moved in, but lighting is so expensive. While it may not be exactly what I would have purchased and picked out in a store, you really can’t beat the price and it’s close enough!! Then we went out to dinner at our favorite little place in town, Bin 239. We had an early dinner and were headed home. We passed the local casino and I felt a stab of luck…so we went in and left $400 richer! It would have been $500 but I just had to play one last slot machine. Hopefully that luck will stick with us when we head to Las Vegas in two weeks! Sunday morning Rell made me a great birthday breakfast and I opened up all my great cards and presents from my friends and family. I loved all the sweet birthday wishes everyone sent my way! Then we lazed around the house for a bit, did some housework and yard work and then went to see Wolverine. All in all, a really nice birthday….except for the whole turning 30 part!
We’ve started landcaping the backyard! The other week we planted 16 5 gallon shrubs in one of the raised planters….talk about back breaking work. While doing so, we found a snake in out yard. YIKES! It was probably about a foot and a half long and the thickness of my pinkie. I think Rell was a little more concerned with it than I was….it had disappeared under the house, but he was dead set about trying to get it. Finally, he gave up and about a half an hour later I basically tripped over the snake and Rell then took it out with the shovel. My husband, the snake murderer. I didn’t see what the big deal was…why he was so deadset on getting it….but it was a bright colored snake and apparently those have more of a tendancy to be poisonous. After some internet research, turns out it was a harmless snake, but better safe than sorry. Must be snake season…because a few days later I was driving and saw a HUGE snake crossing the road….in my residential neighborhood only a mile or so from my house…this one was probably three feet long and fatter than a garden hose. I aimed for him (with my car), but this attempted snake murder was unsuccessful! Then a couple of days later, I saw a similar sized snake in the front yard of one of the houses in our neighborhood. Today, one of our employees that lives in our neighborhood said he killed a pretty big snake in his yard. Now Im a bit freaked out because we keep Maggie Mae outside during the day…and we’ve been doing so much yardwork!
But, the plantings out back look great….we looked like redneck gardeners the day we planted all those shrubs. I wanted to get some sun, so I work a tube top while gardening….classy…and of course burned myself to a crisp! We also may have had a couple of beers and been jamming to some Texas Country! 
We had a litle scare with Maggie Mae last week. She’s is great now, but she stopped eating. So we took her into the vet, worried about what she might have gotten into. (I think most of you know the famous, very expensive, gorilla glue incident!) The vet wasn’t sure what ended up being wrong with her, so he just treated her symptoms. He just knew that there wasn’t a foreign body lodged in her tummy, which was good. She was at the vets for two days….the vet loves it when we come to visit. He knows it will be a money making day when the Salomes show up. Hopefully, the Pet Insurance won’t count this as part of a pre-existing condition and they’ll reimburse us for this visit….fingers crossed. Just a side note…my dog has better health insurance than I do.
Headed to Waco on Thursday to meet up with Melissa and Will and the rest of the Texas Brooks’….we’re going to celebrate Ava Marie’s first birthday. This will probably be my last trip back to Texas until September, when the plan is to meet up in Austin with some college friends for a mini reunion. Then, the weekend of May 29th Rell and I will take a quick trip to Vegas. It’s a 1/2 birthday 1/2 “we’ve owned this business for one year and worked together that long without killing each other” joint celebration! Then the weekend after that Rell’s brother and his fiance come out for a visit, which will be fun. And then after that NOTHING! And we’re pretty happy about that!
Other stuff going on….my first Golf Lesson is May 26th…Im pretty stoked about that. I start a Yoga class on June 1st…also excited about that! I also got a Library card….not expecting a lot from that, since of the 10 books I looked for, they had none, but I figure if I can find just a couple of books there, then I can save a bit of money.
I’ll make sure and take lots of pictures while I am in Texas and share them soon!
xoxo
Birthday Love
My mom couldn't let me, or anyone else, forget I was turning 30--she sent these to work!
Maggie Mae's feeling MUCH better now
Why I hate rock landscaping April 23, 2009
Lots (even possibly most) homes in Arizona have partial, if not full, rock landscaping. A lot of people do it because it can get so hot here. (although, honestly, I dont think it gets that much hotter in Northern AZ than in most parts of TX, and you hardly ever see rockscaping in TX) Some people do it for water conservation. To each his own. When we first moved out here, I said when we bought a house, it needed trees and grass! So one of the first landscaping projects we did in our old house was installing about 2500 square feet of turf. It was luxurious! I LOVED it. We were one of two houses on our street with grass. We got a lot of comments on it. Mostly good, but a few negative….mostl along the lines of how having so much grass was a terrible waste of water……and to those people I say, first of all, you’re not making that comment to hte neighbor down the street who has a huge (non vegetable) garden….secondly, we do get monsoon season here and Im sure not using any water during those months! And thirdly, and most importantly….mind your own business! I pay my own water bill and I can spend my money as I see fit. If the town of Prescott is worried about conserving water, then maybe they should raise the price of water…those that use an “excessive” amount can pay more….my grass was important to me, darn it! That being said, and that rant set aside, we have sold that house and have since moved to a house with NO GRASS!!! GASP!!!!! I miss my grass. I cant wait to put grass into this yard. We currently have rock in the front and back yards. And while we probably wont grass the whole thing, we will do the back yard for sure. Not this year though…..the yucky economy has forced us to make choices, and we decided that the privacy fence was higher on our list than grass….. 
Im sure we picked the right order in which to do things, but I sure do miss my grass. When we do eventually put it in, once again, we will only be the second house on our street with grass.
Reasons I hate Rock Landscaping
1. It’s ugly and mean looking. No rock front yard looks inviting.
2. It HURTS to walk on barefoot. Serious OUCHIES if I go get the mail without shoes on.
3. Maggie Mae HATES it……she misses her grass. You can tell she is mad at us that she doesnt have grass anymore.
4. Poop Patrol is so much harder…and heavier. Harder because the rocks get in the way and because it (the poop) tends to blend in with the rock…..and heavier because with every scoop I get about 5 rocks. That being said, it IS helping in slowly removing the rock for future grass installation.
5. Its no fun to play in a rock yard with the dog….its hard to run around in for people and doggies alike. Also, I can get down and wrestle in the rock with Maggie Mae because OUCH!
6. Did I mention I think it is ugly?
Those are my top six reasons……I am sure there are more. I was just in Texas where everything was lush and green…I just wanted to scoop up some grass and bring it back with me. There is such an abundance of it there!!!!!
One day…..one day I will once again have my green yard……
Too Smart Too Soon April 19, 2009
I am amazed at how smart Lilly is at 2 1/2. She is very logical.
Yesterday she asked for Crackers (quackers) with her dinner…mommy said no, she needed to eat her dinner first. Lilly then rationalized and asked “How about just two crackers”? (no) she then tried “ok, how about just one cracker?’ The bargaining didnt work with mommy…..it would however probably worked with me because it was so darn cute…..although, lets be honest, the bargaining pobably wouldnt have come into play with Aunt Meg…I would have just given her the crackers when she asked! Although, this week I have tried to be good about not giving in to her….I wanted her to keep her normal routine, which meant no cake for breakfast, etc.
Speaking of cake, the other night she wanted some, but she hadnt finished her dinner..she even tried to rationalize that she would eat dinner tomorrow if she could have cake today..so it was a no go on the cake. She went to bed, and you would think she would have forgotten it, but the next morning she woke up and said “I can have cake for breakfast”
This evening, she was jumping around on the couch, a no no, and mommy told he to stop. Lilly didnt want to and got threatened with a time out. Lilly said, “mommy, you not happy with me” and mommy said No and then Lilly said “you can be happy tomorrow” and proceeded to slide off the side of the couch when she knew she wasnt supposed to.
She, and all the kids, and Steph, have been such a joy to be around this week. Im really glad I got to spend this time with them. I head back tomorrow, and while I am sad to leave, I am eager to get back to Rell, and Maggie Mae, and my bed and life. I feel guilty having not been at work this week, and I dread the pile of work on my desk that awaits me!!
a few pics from the rest of our week:
Lillyisms April 17, 2009
Some funny and some smart things Lilly has said this weekend:
Boo!!! I’m just kidding around with you.
I have a baby in my Belly (we have explained to her that only mommies have babies in their bellies)
I can help you (but asking permission…and she says this when you are doing anything!)
That’s Macks (pointing to a bottle of diet coke I had “stolen” from my parents house….yes indeed, it was Macks! but she didnt see me take it…guess Mack drinks a lot of diet coke in bottles!)
Those are Robert’s. (pointing to my shoes…I said WHO? Thinking she meant her daddy…she’s not supposed to call him Robert….but no, she meant Robert Hyde, who had come over the night before, wearing his tennis shoes….so I guess my shoes look like boy shoes!)
I call her Lilly Bug sometimes…lately, she has started saying “I not Lilly Bug, I Lilly Brooks!” But she likes it when I call Ava AvaBeans, and she will call her Avabeans sometimes if she has just heard me use the term.
On Wednesday, when we went up to the shop for lunch with Tickie and Mack, I told Lilly we were going to see them. When we pulled up she said “This not Tickie Mack House, this is WORK!”
For being 2 1/2, this kid is pretty scary smart. I wish I had been writing down all the great things that she has been saying all week……..She’s made me laugh, A LOT!
This week has gone by pretty fast. I cant believe it is Friday already. I don’t know how Stephanie does it. I am EXHAUSTED!
It’s pouring rain here this morning, which stinks, because it means I cant take the girls to do anything fun like go to the park or go shopping (one of Lillys favorites) Maybe it will clear up…the park will be ruled out..too wet….but maybe we can do a little shopping.
