Anniversary Party

Last Tuesday before I got the Plague, I was invited to take pictures of my Aunt and Uncle's Anniversary Party.  It was a great time and we had several opportunities to take some much needed family pictures. 

It was one of those classic summer parties, there was seafood, laughter, kids, kisses, hugs, big kids eating baby food (do not try that at home), lightening bugs, prayers, Eskimo kisses, and lots of Red Light Green Light.  But most importantly we were able to celebrate what a wonderful couple my Aunt and Uncle are, and the great example they have set for all of us.

Thank you both for letting me take photos of you (thanks to your sneaky daughter) and more importantly thank you for being a wonderful Aunt and Uncle to me.  Aunt Carol thank you for encouraging my love of art and photography, for being willing to make mud pies with me at the cabin, for nursing me when I inevitably would fall down your basement stairs, and for being my name's sake.  Uncle Walt, thank you for teaching me how to fish and your patience when I caught fish and you didn't, thank you for teaching me your love of nature and letting me quietly enjoy it with you, and thank you for always sharing your stories with me and being willing to listen to mine in return.  I love you both and I hope you enjoy the photos!

Food Poisoning: Not for the light of heart

It was 7:00 AM.  Why was I awake?  I looked around the guest bedroom at my brother's house for some sort of explanation.  I love sleep, I don't usually wake up on my own unless there is a reason.  But everything appeared as normal as can be.  I started to roll over and go back to sleep when it came again, a pain in my gut so violent it could have been a contraction.  I instantly went into the fetal position and tried not to cry out.  Eventually I eased out of bed and went downstairs to where my brother Warnie was reading, he looked up quizzically as I entered.

"I think I might be sick," I whined.

"Oh no.  Well let's get you something easy on your stomach to eat.  Maybe eating a little something will help," he said.

He is such a good brother.  After bringing me a plain bagel, peppermint tea and some pepto he sat and ate with me while we watched some Daily Show.   The stomach cramps finally started to ease and we started talking again.  Today was the day I was suppose to be leaving to head back to Knoxville.

"Thanks for the food, I really do feel better," I said smiling.  Food always makes me feel better.

"No problem, I'm glad you're feeling better."

I smiled and walked towards the kitchen to put my plate up.  Suddenly, I put my plate down and dashed to the hall bathroom.  I puked my guts out.

When I came back Warnie looked concerned, "I thought you said you felt better!"

"I did feel better!" I said, equally frustrated.

A look of horror crossed his face, and I could see something dawning there that he was not excited about.  "Maybe your pregnant..." he said.

"I'm not pregnant." I said, matter-o-factly.  There was no way.

"We could get you a pregnancy test if you wanted..." You could tell he was saying this to ease my mind, he didn't really want to.  No big brother wants to get their little sister a pregnancy test, no matter how old they are, or if they're married.  Really I think it's probably still pretty weird for older brothers when their little sisters get pregnant period.  But he loves me, so he was willing to do that for me.

"That's ok, seriously, I think I'm just sick."

As the morning progressed, there was lots more puking.  I couldn't keep water down.  I got a fever.  I got a splitting headache.  And all hopes of moving, eating, or working subsided.  I gave in to my caretakers and just laid on the couch and watched "The Blind Side," which I loved.  I have an incredible soft spot for feel good football movies, they make me cry.

Between listening to wonderful quotes from Sandra Bullock's character like, "If you so much as set foot downtown, you will be sorry. I'm in a prayer group with the D.A., I'm a member of the NRA and I'm always packing," and racing to the bathroom to pray to the porcelain gods, I decided it was undeniable.  I had food poisoning.

If I have ever known you and known you had food poisoning, and took it lightly...I am sorry.  Next time, I will come hold your hand and hold your hair.  It's that bad.  Luckily mine only lasted for 24 hours.  Once I had purged my system I was a lot better.  Wednesday night my 102 fever finally broke and the next morning I braved the 8 hour drive home.  Luckily, I split it up over 2 days and stopped at my parents house half way there, still exhausted and weak.

I'm just now getting back to normal.  The thought of some foods still make me queasy, and I'm still tired.   But that is why, dear readers, I did not post all last week.  I hope you'll forgive me, but I had the plague.

Dish-o-the-week: PW's Chili!

That's right, I gave in...again.  I made a Pioneer Woman recipe for the dish-o-the week.  I have a problem, I'll admit it.  I'm going to Pioneer Woman cooking rehab soon, not to worry.  But in the mean time, you can check out this awesome looking chili.  I had never made chili before.  And I'll go ahead and put this out there since I say something to that affect on every cooking post...until now...whew, deep breath...I haven't really cooked.  Don't judge me.  I'm a newly wed and I'm learning, but I truly am enjoying learning too.  Anywho, bring on the chili pics!

Key fixin's.

Ms. Brisco and Speed Racer were getting impatient.  The smell was driving them wild!  So they just sat there...lingering over the chili.

The great thing about this recipe is that is leaves room to add or not add what you feel like.  She gives a list of "optional" ingredients.  I am not a huge bean fan, I will eat them in chili but that is about it.  Speed Racer thinks I must have had some sort of head trauma as a child for something to be so wrong with me that I would not like beans.  So I added pinto beans, kidney beans, diced tomatoes with chili's, one jalapeno, one finger hot pepper, onion, garlic, chili powder, paprika, oregano, and salt.  But you can mix and match as you like.

Oh he's getting really impatient now, he's got that crazed look in his eye.  You can tell he's about to steal a nibble.  Not to worry though, we ate shortly after that.  There are no pictures because we were both too busy gobbling it down.

Now who is going to do the dishes I wonder?  Lucky for me, in our house it's whoever doesn't cook has to do the dishes.

Later that night...

I had to add this in the post because it's too adorable for words.

Dish-o-the-week: Lasagna!

I realized after I started taking pictures while I was baking the lasagna last night, that really I've been posting a food a week.  And yes, they have all been from the Pioneer Woman Cookbook.  Before you start having visions of Julie and Julia, I just want to put out there that this is not my fault.  I like to use new cookbooks I have (if I can, sometimes the ingredients are ridiculous and expensive) and this one is really fun, easy to do, and lets just say it, darn delicious.  I am also not the cook in this household, Speed Racer is.  I can bake all day long and turn out delicious fatty things, but cooking, I get a little flustered with.  With that in mind, I'm looking at this as practice cooking...so I don't live on Mac and Cheese when Speed Racer is gone, even though I would love to.  So we're just gonna go with it for now, maybe there will be a recipe next week from a different cookbook, who knows.  And as always, you can check out her full, mouth water recipes at www.thepioneerwoman.com.  To the Lasagna!! I didn't realize that I have never cooked lasagna before.  Everyone's made lasagna right? No, not me.  So I did not realize how long it would take.   Really long, that's the answer, really long.  I also didn't realize how hard it would be to take pictures without Speed Racer around, it was tricky.

Rule numero uno, don't be afraid of meat.  Is that ok to say on the interweb?

Or the garlic...delicious delicious garlic.

Definitely a good idea to put your noodles on the aluminum foil.  I tried some that way and some without, and the without ones were really sticky and hard to manage.

I'm getting hungry again.  You let the tomato's and meat simmer for 45 minutes, which is just pure torture.

I am not a cottage cheese fan, but I do love it in lasagna.

Mmmm, cheesy.

Let the layering begin.

This was my attempt at an action shot, with the not kind of lens for that sort of thing, on.

At this point I was starving, 35 minutes in the oven and I was famished.  So what did I do?  I dug in as soon as it was out of the oven and burned my mouth.  Start this lasagna early, or have a snack ready while you wait.

The kitties concur.

What's Cookin'?

Last night Speed Racer and I decided to try another recipe out of The Pioneer Woman's Cookbook, so we tried Chicken Pot Pie.  Now before you think I'm a crazy person for constantly talking about The Pioneer Woman (see Meatloaf Mania, and PW Journey), what else are you suppose to do with a new cookbook other than try it out? That would be a waste.  So, it's legit.  That's what I'm telling myself.  I don't have a problem.  Really. Moving on....

Although this recipe was not as knock your socks off as the Meatloaf (how could it be, there is no bacon in it...duh) it was still fantastic, and Speed Racer and I oohh and ahhhed over the entire meal.

There are no prep photos because my hands were covered, absolutely covered in dough from making the crust.  I didn't want to dirty my poor camera that I already abuse.

The 30 minutes that it takes to cook is pure torture.  Speed Racer stared longingly at the oven the whole time, while heavenly aromas wafted out.

Ta-da!

Speed Racer was in charge of putting slits into the crust to vent the heat.  He put our initials, how sweet.  Come on I know you want to say it, give me a big "awwww."

Speed Racer is also a dough FIEND.  I cannot keep him out of the kitchen when there is dough around, he just lingers, waiting to snag a piece.  You can just see him in this picture, "Oh, hmmm, whatcha got there?  Looks like this little piece over here might be falling off...."

"Let me just pop it in my mouth really fast before you can catch me, and then move around so you can't take my picture in our dark dark kitchen..."

"Whew, that's hot."

Yeah, I know his game.

These pictures were actually taken by Speed Racer, he wanted to make sure we let the people know about the flakiness of this homemade crust.  He was very excited about it, and the piece that he stole.

That's it folks.  I rate this one, a success.

Meatloaf Mania

For those of you who talk to me frequently (sorry about the daily calls!) you know that I have been raving about this meatloaf that Speed Racer and I made.  And by that I mean Speed Racer made and I, well, took pictures.  But I did make the buttermilk biscuits!  And that is why there are no pictures of them.  So there.  But the meatloaf that we made was from my newest cookbook "The Pioneer Woman Cooks, " by Ree Drummond.  Ree is a blogger extraordinaire, and mother of 4.  She blogs about her antics of adjusting to  life on a ranch, photography, cooking, and homeschooling her kids.  If you haven't checked her blog out you need to, it's a great time, and she makes me laugh.  My friend Renee (also a blogger check out her site too!)  and I recently went on a Pilgrimage to D.C. (a post to come in the following days) to Ree's book signing, which is where I picked up the cookbook.

Now back to the meatloaf: I love this meatloaf, I openly drooled over this meatloaf, I would have babies with this meatloaf...you heard me, meatloaf babies.  Speed Racer thinks this meatloaf and cookbook have saved him...I have no idea what he means by that.

Bacon does, in fact, make everything more delicious.  I will vouch for that.

Happy little loaf...

Wrapped in a warm blanket of bacon.

There you have it, what I've been raving about all week.  Once you've tried it you won't be able to stop either...I promise.  The Pioneer Woman features several recipes from the cookbook in the cooking and tasty kitchen sections of her blog.  I obviously, highly recommend checking it out!