Adventures in Cooking

We had some friends over the other night for dinner and boardgames,
and I had a first.

While broiling my salmon,
something amazing happened.

It lit ON FIRE.

I was standing there, in my kitchen,
getting ready to take a peek at the fish
when flames began to whip about the baking pan.

First thought: hmmmm.
Second thought: oh dear... !?!?!?!

Then, to my own surprise, I nonchalantly opened the oven door,
held the flaming pan at arm's length (with my oven mitt, of course),
and set it upon the stove.

The flames went out within seconds.
And my salmon was miraculously cooked to perfection
with only the slightest touch of crispiness on the edges
and succulent flaky meat inside.

It was like I MEANT to do it.

So there you go, guys.
I made flame-broiled salmon like a boss.*


*Disclaimer: couldn't do it again if I tried.

I Mustache You A Question...

 Ever been to a mustache party?

Wondering who would attend such a strange

and hairy event?!?

Let me show you...

(And truth be told, it was just an excuse

for us to get together with some long lost friends!)

 

 
 We played pool and poker,
danced,
ate,
and all around had a very merry
(and hairy)
time!

Muffins

 

Have you ever heard of 

Muffin Films?

I thought they were strangely hilarious

when I was in middle school.

See for yourself.

CLICK ME.

(warning:  potential time sucker)

SEE THEM ALL.

:)

New Art!

Hi Friends!

I recently had the chance to 

do some printmaking

at a local gallery outside of

Silver City!

Printmaking is a neat process

which I plan on explaining a bit

in the future.

For now,

here's a piece I made!

Llama (Monotype)

Gotta love me some llama!

:D

Adorable.

I just fell in love 

with these elderly folks...

Enjoy!

Birthday Bonanzafanza

While my brother was visiting,

we celebrated my husband Tanner's birthday.

He turned the big 23.

Tanner's never been a big celebrator of birthdays...

but that didn't matter to me.

I think every birthday is special.

It's a day worth rejoicing 

for the breath you've been given,

for the adventures you've taken,

and for the journey you're on.

So, Laurence and I made Tanner some cards

and silly decorations

to show him how glad we are

to share another year with him.

 

If you've ever seen the show, The Office,

you might recognize this banner.

We also made some silly cards...

(My brother made all of these!)

When Tanner came home from work,

we had the house ready for him.

We even had a chocolate cake ready!  

My favorite chocolate cake to be exact...

I'll be sharing the recipe with you very soon!

All in all, our little celebration wasn't too crazy,

but it was just enough to remind Tan 

how much he means to us.

Yay for birthdays!

NERD ALERT.

Confession:

I love the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

Seriously.

So, it's only natural that I love this:

Sorry to waste 

a minute of your life 

:P

Saturday Yayness.

Helloooo!

My good friend Drea from French Tulips 

(check her out!)

showed me this little diddy...

What a great kick start 

to a wonderful weekend!

YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!

Shnnnnah!

Hello Friends!!!

I don't think any of you noticed... 

but I did forget 

to do a Board Game Spotlight post...

Sorry! 

It'll probably be a bit before my next one 

due to 

THESE UPDATES!

1.  We are in the market for a HOUSE!!!!

We've been going through the Pre-approval process

and meeting with a Realtor

(and blah blah blah...)

Source

 Needless to say, 

all our afternoons lately have consisted 

of meetings

and paperwork

and emails

and showings...

alas, no board games.

It's an exciting

and frightening process,

LOTS of big decisions...

But we're praying for guidance 

and wisdom through it all.

So if you're into it,

would you pray for us too?

UPDATE #2:

Funny story.

Sorta.

So.... Tanner & I started up 

with racquetball again,

which for us is FUN

HIGH ENERGY!!!!

COMPETITIVE INSANITY!!!!

BALSAFSIOHFPNK!!!!!

Anywho,

we were playing on Monday...

our 4th match of the day, 

(and I had yet to win ONE).

So I of course was flying at the ball 

with a vengeance.

Seriously.

Diving.

Slamming into walls.

Rug burn on the knees...

All for the sake of holding my ground

for that beautiful

long awaited

WIN.

This is me. Not really. But imagine. (Source)

Picture this guy with a ponytail. (Source)

This is my game face. (Source)

 Well, I guess I need contacts or something.

Or maybe it was just the weird fluorescent lighting...

but I made quite an error.

I threw myself to the right 

to hit a hard low ball

(which I returned beautifully!!!)

BUT

I never saw my hit.

In fact, 

I didn't see anything for a tiny bit...

because the only SLAM I heard

was my head...

into the wall.

I hit it HARD.

So hard, I saw black 

and realized I was on the ground.

It was hard to move

and my head felt strange...

and of course, Tanner was standing over me

asking, "You okay?!?!"

To which I responded,

"Did I hit it?"

Well... the game was over.

And we went home

while the right side of my head swelled up 

to an impressive size...

Within 30 minutes or so,

I realized how hard it was

to move my right arm.

Not fun.

We stayed up until 11PM

in case I had a concussion

watching Avatar: The Last Airbender episodes,

(don't judge me :P)

taking pain pills,

and eating the cure-all known as 

ICE-CREAM.

So, after a night of ice packs

and barely moving

(I couldn't even clothe myself)

I went to the clinic the next day

for that darn arm of mine

and HOORAY!!!

Nothing's broken.

I just have some deep 

DEEP bruising

and swelling

and I have to wear a sling for a while.

So that was my Monday :P

I've been taking it easy

(and feeling frustrated that all my projects are on hold).

So for now, it's

OPERATION: 

FIND A HOUSE!

And then after that, 

I shall hopefully be finishing up 

my furniture fixer-upper things

and preparing for the visit of 

mi familia!

SO.... that is what I've been up to.

You are all wonderful

and if you read this whole thing,

well,

I guess we really ARE friends!

:D

Have a thurrific Thurthday.

Theriouthly.

P.S. - ever have any head accidents?  

eh?

Zombies & Valentines

I had high hopes for Valentine's Day.

They consisted of:

1. A fort.

2. A laptop playing a zombie movie 

(inside this fort).

3. Scary zombie-esque food 

(like spaghetti bloody brains, etc. 

- also inside said fort).

4. Intense virus/zombie board game inside fort 

(such as "Pandemic" or "Last Night on Earth")

5. Fudge 

(because I like it) 

inside le fort.

As I planned on how to create 

such a fantastic creative night, 

I ran into a few problems:

1. Fort building - when lacking furniture - becomes nearly impossible.

(This is what I had to work with:)

Living Room Couch. Kinda.

As you can see, my couch isn't very elevated.

And it consists entirely of pillows and a stray blanket.

Such is life.

2. We have no zombie movies.

Saddest day ever.

3. Zombie-esque food... I made the brainy-looking pasta,

but somehow, the theme was lost :(

4. Alas, we were too tuckered out for board games last night.

5.  But the fudge... well, Tanner delivered.

(with a Valentine Haiku...)

 

In the end,

not too shabby.

<3

Seriously.

Living with no shame...

(For Your Viewing Pleasure.)

it's something I've had to embrace, 

given that I normally take pictures like this:

Tanner, Me, & His Family - Disneyland 2006

Everyone looks awesome!

And then...

Well, there's me.

And it looks like I have one tooth.

Just the one.

And it gets better.

Tanner & I - Summer 2008

 But I live it and love it,

as displayed here:

Me with Tanner's family, Christmas 2010

I'm beginning to see a pattern here...

Tan sure brings out the best in me.

Gotta love it.

Now, my friends,

go out 

and live shamelessly. 

P.S. - House tour to come!