Recap: Birthday Celebrations

I just realized that I hadn't done a recap about David's birthday so here you go!

We went to the Auld Dubliner last Wednesday with David's family to celebrate. I had never eaten there before, but David had and we also had a coupon. I got the potato leek soup and I was hoping that it would be really good, but it wasn't. I have to say, it was just average and I would never order it again. Everyone else said their food was good, so I may have just ordered the wrong thing on the menu. The service was also really slow and they weren't busy at all. There was one other party eating along with a couple of people at the bar, while we were there. I would be willing to let that slide, if say they were busy but they weren't. Overall, my experience there wasn't that great, but it was nice to be able to spend some time with the family. Maybe, if we decide to go there again they can redeem themselves.

The next day, David's actual birthday we went to Citrus City Grill with another couple. Every time we have been there we have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We had another coupon, this time $50.00 off which was awesome. We got their calamari appetizer, I got the Ahi and the hubby got Pork Tenderloin, which were all really good. Our server was the greatest and hooked David up with a special dessert for his birthday, when they normally only do ice cream. It was sooo good! I think I ate most of it though! Here are a couple of pictures!



Our yummy dessert!

Officially Fall

The only time I wish California had different seasons, is right now. From growing up in Indiana, my favorite season of the year has alwas been fall. Back to school always meant that fall was near and soon the leaves would be changing colors. There would be red, orange and yellow leaves everywhere. When the leaves would fall from the trees, they would get caught by the wind and they would look like they were dancing in the air. There is a also a briskness and smell to the air that only fall has. I also love the sound of the leaves crunching under your footsteps while you walk down the road. I have many fond memories of playing in the leaves as kid and of fall in general.

I have been holding out on putting out all the fall decorations, till today the official first day of fall. I am already looking forward to going home and switching every out and putting up the wreath( if I can find it, hehe). I am also looking forward to making soup and pumpkin cheesecake! I made pumpkin cheesecake last year and it was amazing! I never got around to blogging about it, so look out for that post in the future. We are also planning a trip to Oak Glen next month. We didn't get to go last year as the hubby was busy filming. It has been slower this year, so I think we will actually get a chance to go.

Unfortunately, fall in California is nothing like fall in Indiana. Yes, it eventually starts to cool down and it's more like the end of November around Thanksgiving and not in September when the leaves change. When the leaves do change here there is not the vividness of color like back home. Fall here is just a small glimpse of what true fall is. Even with all the fall decorations I put up and no matter how much soup I make, I still feel like something is missing. Every year since I moved out here to California, around this time I get a homesick for fall. It's been 8 years since I moved out here and I miss it, I probably always will.


Photo Source: Flickr Memeber Life is Good Pete

Sweet Crepes

I made crepes awhile back and am now finally blogging about them. I had never made them before and was in a creative cooking mood one morning, so I thought I would give them a try. Note: this is not the easiest recipe to make. The batter is very easy, but flipping the crepe can be quite tough. If you're trying to work on your cooking skills or up for a challenge, I do recommend trying these. I had a lot of fun making them and they were so worth the time and effort. They are very rich and I was only able to eat 2. Overall, they were amazing!


Sweet Crepes
Source: Joy of Cooking, 75th Anniversary, copyright 2006, page 649
Makes: 12 crepes

Ingredients:
1 cup of flour
1 cup of milk
1/2 cup of lukewarm water
4 large eggs
1/4 cup of butter, melted
1/8 tsp. of salt
3 tbsp. of sugar

Filling:
whipped cream cheese
jam or jelly, I used strawberry

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in blender. Mix until batter is smooth. Cover and let stand for 30 minutes.

In large nonstick pan, melt 1/2 tsp of butter over medium heat. Take pan off of heat and pour enough batter to cover the entire bottom of the pan with a very thin coating. Return to heat and cook the crepe until it bubbles and bottom is lightly browned, about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Turn crepe with spatula or toss to flip. Cook other side until lightly browned. Then slide onto wax paper. Repeat until all the batter is gone.

Spread thin layer of cream cheese and jam onto warm crepes. Then roll crepes and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Happy Birthday Baby!

So today is David's 28th birthday! He is a little bit older than me, so each year when his birthday rolls around, I am amazed at how old he is and thus myself. I think back to when we met, which was close to 7 years ago. He was 21 years old then. We were both such youngsters!

Anyways, I love you so much baby.

You always are making me laugh:



You are there to give me a hug when I am down and wipe away my tears. You are my best friend and such wonderful husband. I thank the Lord everyday for bringing you into my life.



I hope you have an awesome birthday!

Eating Breakfast

I have never been a big fan of breakfast. When I say breakfast, I am talking about breakfast as in cereal, bagels and yogurt. Breakfast that you have on a normal day when you have to go work. I don't hate all breakfast though. I love a big breakfast, especially one from Cracker Barrel. Eggs, bacon, and hash brown casserole is sooo good! Why can't they have Cracker Barrel in California. Ahh, that's another post in its self.

Anyways, on a normal typical work day I don't eat breakfast. Eh, come to think about it I don't even eat breakfast on the weekends either. I know it's really bad to not do this, but I do it any way. I typically have a snack around 10 and then lunch at 1:30. I have been striving to be better about eating breakfast, but it really hasn't changed.

I made myself a smoothie this morning and I am really proud of myself. I used Trader Joes frozen strawberries, yogurt and orange juice. It came out pretty good. I don't think I could eat it everyday though as I would get tired of it real quick. Next time, I am TJ's I think I might pick up some of their frozen mangoes. Oh, and I hate bananas too so that won't work. I have been contemplating on adding tofu, but that would be just for different nutrients and not different taste.

Anyone have any suggestions on any ways to change it up?


Picture Source: Flicker Member Yoshiko314

Only The Orignal Will Do

The other night we went to DQ with some friends for desert. I really wanted to recreate the Girls Scout Cookie Thin Mint Blizzard since they don't offer it anymore. According to DQ, it should be sometime in the winter, when they bring it back. That unfortunately doesn't do me any good, because it won't be hot then, but oh well!

Anyways back to me trying to recreate it, I told one of the employees that I was really sad they don't offer it anymore. She said a lot of people get mint flavoring and Oreo cookies. I said sure and that I would try it.

I get my blizzard and it looks really good. I take a bite and it's pretty good, but no where near as amazing as the Thin Mint. I was bummed and actually didn't even finish it.

I guess I will have to patiently wait till winter!

Easy Dinner

I know I haven't posted anything food related in forever! I still have my crepes recipe that I need to post, but it's called finding the pictures. Someday hopefully, I will post that recipe. Anyways, I made a great dinner that was quick and easy yesterday night that I just had to share.

I was at Trader Joes a little while ago and I picked their Kung Pao noodles to give them a try. They are already pre-cooked and come with the sauce. All you have to do is warm them up.

I chopped up some water chestnuts, broccoli and tofu and threw it in the frying pan for about 3 minutes with some sesame oil. Then I poured in the Kung Pao noodles. I let it cook for about 2 or 3 minutes to warm through and allow the tofu to pick up the flavor of the sauce.

Total time to prep the food and cook it was less than 15 minutes, which is awesome! Best of all it tasted great!

Cooler Evenings

After dinner last night, I suggested taking a walk since all we were doing was sitting on our butts watching TV. I'm so glad we did, because the evening was so beautiful and cool, such a pleasant change. I even grabbed a sweater as it was that cool out. I can't even remember that last time I needed my sweater in the evenings!

As we were walking, we ran into lots of other people taking walks as well and enjoying the nice weather. I think everyone was so happy for the change, that everyone was friendly and hi to each other and genuinely looked happy. We passed one house where this cute little girl, who was probably about a year and half old, was outside and waved to us from across the street. Too cute!

David said to enjoy it while it lasts as this weekend was supposed to be really hot, in the high 90's or low 100's. I was really sad when he told me this, but I just looked at the forecast for the weekend it is supposed to be low 90's. That is much better than 102! Next week it is supposed to go back down to the low 80's and even one day 79! Wohoo!

I'm so happy for the cooler weather!

Sad Day!

I'm really bummed out right now. We just had a meeting here at work and they announced that effective the 29th, we will be switching back to the old work schedule of 5 eight hour days! No more Fridays off.

It is interesting too that I posted yesterday, about how I didn't like the holiday policy and then the day after they change the policy completely. Makes my post yesterday seem silly. I am sure after a couple of weeks of switching back to the old schedule, we will all slip back into our old routines and it won't be seem so bad.

Until then I am sitting here sulking.

I Feel Jipped

I really like our new work schedule of working 4 ten hour shifts, but I feel totally and utterly jipped when it comes to holidays! The policy regarding holidays is that the week of the holiday you work 4 eight hour shifts. So for example on Labor day, I had a four day weekend which was great. Then I came back to work on Tuesday and worked thru Friday, which of course is normally my day off. So I got one 4 day weekend and then the next only 2 days.

They did this because we only get paid 8 hours for the holiday and if I had worked 3 ten's that week I would have been missing 2 hours and would have only worked 38 hours. I understand why it was done, but it just sucks! If you think about it in those 2 weeks I got 6 days off, 4 from the holiday weekend and then 2 then next. That is what I normally have off but it's 3 days each week. It was hard also coming in to work on Friday when I normally have the day off.

I know I shouldn't be complaining as I am really lucky to have 3 day weekends and most people only get 2 days off a week, but this sucks! I know I will be really looking forward to Friday this week!

Finally!

The other day while checking on the plants in the garden, I noticed that the bell pepper plant has a small pepper growing!! YES! Now, I don't feel like a complete failure in my quest for a summer garden. It's only one little pepper but I am very excited!

On another gardening note, we get a lot of spiders, including Black Widows, in our backyard. This really makes me nervous to work out there. We sprayed a couple of weeks ago to control them and I thought it had worked. I hadn't seen any black widows at all since we had sprayed and I saw huge decrease in the amount of non poisonous spiders out.

Last night though, I went outside to water and I let the kitties out first, (they love to chase the crickets). They were running out the door when all of a sudden they stopped dead in their tracks and then ran in the other direction. There was a huge black widow that spun its web between the table and chairs and the zucchini plant. If the cats had not seen it, I would have walked right into it. Ugh! I hate spiders!!

Since, it was a black widow I couldn't even have my spider killer destroy it for me. I grabbed the rake, which allowed me to get far away as possible from the spider and I attempted to kill it. I have no clue if I did or not, since it was dark out and I wasn't about to even get close to the end of the rack to determine if it was squished.

::Sigh::

I guess I am going to have to get the hubby to spray again.