Strawberry Fields Forever

A couple weeks ago I went with some friends to a strawberry farm in Alvin, TX (about 40 min. south of Houston) to pick our own strawberries. The weather was so amazing-- sunny, breezy, 73 degrees, I just knew that I needed to bring Brent back so he could get some time in the sunshine. It turned out that my friends from Provo were in town as well-- Annie and Eric. So we took them along and made a trip to Galveston Island after. Nothing like eating freshly picked strawberries on the beach! In March!

We actually only filled one bucket, even thought it looks like we had two here. .  .

Annie and Eric

Brent doing some back-breaking labor. Ha!

Trying to find the PERFECT strawberry.

The field smelled SO good!

The water was cold, but it was so relaxing to squish our toes in the wet sand!

 

There's nothing like March in Houston!

Becoming a Foodie

A friend used this term the other day to describe her husband who loves to try all types of food. As I have spent more time on food blogs lately than I do on any other type of Internet site, I have been thinking about this word-- that is beginning to describe me. Here are some definitions I found:

•  A foodie is a person who loves or has a deep admiration for food and eating food. A person that spends a keen amount of attention and energy on knowing the ingredients of food, the proper preparation of food, and finds great enjoyment in top-notch ingredients and exemplary preparation.

• A foodie is not necessarily a food snob, only enjoying delicacies and/or food items difficult to obtain and/or expensive foods; though, that is a variety of foodie.

•  Although the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, foodies differ from gourmets in that gourmets are epicures of refined taste who may or may not be professionals in the food industry, whereas foodies are amateurs who simply love food for consumption, study, preparation, and news.

Yes, I am becoming a foodie. Since I cook dinner every night and have ample free time to plan and prepare, I decided to make an art of it. And I've been trying lots of new things. I pore over recipes deciding what to make every week. I've always liked looking at cook books, but my new thing has become food blogs. Blogs are much more fun than cook books to me because the cooks share the stories behind their meals, give extra tips, and sometimes even show photographs of each step. In the end, you feel like you're friends with the cook. My favorite food blogs are Simply So Good, Our Best Bites, and Mel's Kitchen Cafe. Check them out. . . but here's my warning: you might get sucked in. :-)

Brent and I loved Southern Spoon bread from Simply So Good paired with Sweet Heat Louisiana Chili from Mel's Kitchen Cafe. I tried the bread sticks from Our Best Bites last night, which were amazing! Mel's chicken marinade and fajitas are fantastic and we LOVED the beef fontina sandwiches from Janet at Simply So Good! I also loved the recipe for Chicken and Dumplings from her. I seriously could eat that every single night. Okay, maybe I should stop before you think I'm crazy. :-)  But obviously when I say I like these blogs, I'm not lying!

Long-Overdue Christmas Recap

I never posted our Christmas pictures, so I thought I'd do it before it's too late in the year. For our first Christmas together, we went to California. And we had such a great time! Brent fits in with my family so well. And honestly, I think my siblings like him more than me, so it works out well. :-)

Our first day, we drove out to Riverside to spend some time with Brent's brother, Scott and his wife Tami, who were there visiting her family. 

It just so happens that Tami's family lives only a few blocks away from Kelli-- my BYU best friend and
 roommate of three years. It was so fun to see her and her cutie pie.

The next day, all the boys and I went bowling. Our family lives about 2 blocks from the best bowling alley in Simi. Dad beat us all, and I, surprisingly, came in 2nd... with an incredible score of 91. Yeah, we're not professionals, but who cares? We had fun!

Then, on Christmas eve, we had an amazing dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Followed by some quality Christmas time around the fireplace. Look at those stockings!! 

Mom put together a fun family trivia game, and then we played Christmas carols on metal pipe "bells". 

Christmas morning there were TONS of presents to open! 

I love this picture of Bryan as he opens the digital camera that all of us siblings gave him. Look at that face! Priceless!

Brent helped Grandma finish this crazy puzzle. Once he gets going, you can't stop him!

Later in the week, we went to the Ronald Regan Library in Simi, where we toured the Air Force One,

saw Regan's face printed in jelly bellies. . . 

.... and saw part of the Berlin Wall. This was especially cool for Brent, since he served his mission behind the former iron curtain.

We also visited my Uncle Kent's home. On his property there are tangerine trees that were in full production!

You could smell them from a few yards away. yum!! This was Brent's first time ever picking citrus fruit in his life. I'm not sure what that face means. :-)

We also visited the Getty Museum. This is a really cool mosaic made of stone:

And my favorite, the Van Gogh: 

Looking out over LA:

I love the museum architecture and gardens. If you have never been here, you MUST visit!!!

Mostly, we spent time with family, which made the trip so worthwhile. At the end of the week, we didn't want to leave!! 

Blue Nile

So continuing our restaurant adventures, Brent and I tried Ethiopian food for the first time at the Blue Nile. This restaurant was rated very highly on Urban Spoon, and a lot of people had told us they loved Ethiopian food. I'm all for new experiences, so I expected that I would really like it. Unfortunately, it wasn't my fav.

We ordered what seems to be the typical fare in Ethiopian cuisine: a platter of different types of spiced, cooked vegetables on top of a large piece of Injera bread. You eat the meal with your hands, using the bread to scoop up the vegetables, as Brent demonstrates:

I think the problem for me was that I wasn't really a fan of the bread. It has the same texture as a crepe, but is slightly tart and has a very unique flavor because it is not made with wheat flour. The vegetables (spinach, chickpeas, yellow peas, cabbage, etc.) were okay, but I didn't feel like the flavors were strong enough. And even though the flavors were new and unfamiliar, I didn't find them very enjoyable. Especially considering the price-- about $12 per person.

In any case, it was a fun experience. The service was fantastic, and the atmosphere was definitely authentic. If anyone visiting us wants to go, I wouldn't be unwilling. I just think there are a lot of other places I would prefer to go. 

My Valentine

This is the first Valentines Day in my life that I have a real Valentine!!! It's kind of crazy, but Brent and I didn't know each other on February 14th last year. We met on the 19th.

So as of today, we've been married for 6th months, but have not yet known each other for a year. Weird!!!

Really though, it's not that weird, because Brent is so genuine and easy to love. Our first six months have been awesome and we look forward to many years to come! 

On Saturday, Brent bought me a beautiful red rose. He knows that I think its ridiculous to spend too much money on flowers, but that I still love fresh flowers. He picked a perfect, red rose. And a huge heart shaped balloon. We celebrated our 6 month anniversary by going to the temple and then ordering pizza. :-)

I'm Meaner than I Look . . . Apparantly

This morning Brent said, "You were mean to me last night."

I was so confused! I said, "What are you talking about? I was mean to you?"

Brent said, "You mean you don't remember? Last night I rolled over and put my arm around you, and you said, 'Don't touch me!'"

"Ha ha! I did? What time was it?"

"I think around midnight." 

"Well I guess you shouldn't touch me when I'm sleeping!"

If what we do in our sleep reveals our true character, then Brent is a lot nicer than me. On several occasions he has-- in the middle of the night-- rolled over towards me, smiled, and wanted to cuddle (and he never remembers in the morning!). Usually I wake up when this happens, but I guess last night, I didn't!

Home Sweet Home

Since we've moved into our apartment, it's gone through quite the transformation. I'm still not "done" decorating, but it sure feels a lot more homey than when we moved in. Here's what it looked like in the beginning:

This was after we had already cleared a TON of boxes from the living room. Luckily, we didn't have any couches at this point, so we had space to organize. We also didn't have a dining room table, so the kitchen counter, which is almost--but not quite-- a bar became our eating place. We did have 2 bar stools, so we ate dinner like this for about a month.

And we relaxed,  played games, and had family home evening around our stack of tubs. It was good motivation to get a couch and table!

 Finally, we got everything put away and chose some furniture we liked. (You can tell that Brent is an amazing husband-- always helping around the house!)

The couches finally got delivered!

And so did our dining room table!

But things didn't seem quite complete, so we got an ottoman.
Then later a side table and shelf / future TV stand (because we still don't have a TV),
and we rearranged everything. I still want to buy a lamp and hang some pictures, but now it feels like home!

 And here's a shot of our bedroom. I love our fluffy, blue comforter!

Cafe Pita

Brent and I love eating good food! And we love trying new things. So, when a friend recommended that we go to the Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives website to see if there were any cool restaurants in Houston, we thought it was a great idea. To look for restaurants in your area click here.

This week, we tried Cafe Pita, and it was really good!! Brent ordered a cevap sandwhich (homemade sausage on freshly baked flat bread) and I got a gyro. SO GOOD! Here's the episode that features this restaurant. I know you'll want to come visit us after watching this video! The restaurant is just 10 minutes away from where we live!

46 Pounds of Groceries Up the Stairs

I have lived in 3rd floor apartments (without an elevator) for quite some time. When I first moved to Provo right after my mission, I moved into a 3rd floor condo on 800 East. I loved peeking through the tops of pine trees to our view of the southern end of Utah Valley.  And I loved the fact that we didn't have any upstairs neighbors. So, when Annelies and I found another 3rd floor apartment on 600 North, I knew we'd like it. And we did! Another spectacular view-- this time facing North-- of gorgeous Timpanogos.

Yes, that is an actual photograph from the balcony of that 3rd floor apartment. To me the view has always been more important than the color of the carpet or the condition of the cupboards. I know that's silly. But it's true.

I told Brent when he went apartment shopping for us in Houston to take note of the windows, the lighting, and the use of space. Those were the most important things to me. And so it's not surprising that he got a 3rd floor apartment with vaulted ceilings and large windows. And it's been great. Our windows face East, so we get lots of sunshine for most of the day.

To me the only bad part about living on the 3rd floor is getting up there. Moving in, moving out. . . . and carrying up groceries. Which brings me to this post's topic.

For three years I've carried my groceries up 2 flights of stairs. I quickly realized that I preferred one strenuous trip to two or three short trips. So I now hang all my grocery bags on each arm (no matter how many) and trek up the stairs. It can get your heart pumping!

This week I thought-- for fun-- I'd see how much weight I actually carried up. So after coming in the door, I went straight to the bathroom scale-- with all the bags still on my arms to weigh myself. Then I subtracted my weight. The answer: 46 lbs! And that load didn't feel as heavy as some I've managed.

Who needs to work out if you live on the 3rd floor, right?

The Best Banana Bread Ever!

Last week I found a banana bread recipe that is so good! And as a true banana lover (I've eaten a banana on more days of my life than not)-- I also love banana bread. But this surpasses any I've tasted. The werid thing is that this is a low fat banana recipe. Unfortunately for me, it is not low-fat because I ate almost an entire loaf in one day. Ah!!!

I got the recipe on joyofbaking.com, but I made just a few changes. I added more whole wheat flour, cut the brown sugar down to 1/2 cup, and added toasted pecans. So this is my revised version of the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 large)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 cup low fat yogurt (I used banana flavored, but I'm sure vanilla would work too.)
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup toasted, chopped pecans

 Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place the rack in the center of the oven. Spray an 8 x 4 inch (20 x 10 cm) loaf pan with a nonstick vegetable cooking spray. 
• In a large bowl, mix the mashed bananas with the baking soda and yogurt. Allow to sit while you prepare the rest of the batter. 
• Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar, egg, and vanilla. 
• In another large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, ground cinnamon and salt. 
• Then combine the banana mixture with the oil mixture and then add to the flour mixture. Stir just until all the ingredients are moistened. Stir in pecans. Pour into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for about 45 - 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. 
• Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Makes one loaf (about 12 slices).

I really did follow the directions above. Except I didn't whisk the flours together. I just added them straight to the rest of the batter. 

This is how mine turned out: