Sara and Patrick

Corner Clean Up

2012-01-27T10:53:00.000-06:00

Our kitchen is a u shape, so we have a corner that isn't that easily visible from the rest of the kitchen. I have used this area as a dumping ground for just about everything since we moved here. I decided it was way past time to clean this area up.

Here is the view from the main area of the kitchen. See it doesn't look too bad.

And here is the view from a different angle. It looks like a natural disaster came through. No one would even know we have a coffee maker in there.

Most of the disaster is printed recipes that I never look through, random cookbooks and plastic containers I couldn't quite part with. I went through the cookbooks and moved the ones we use to a cupboard designated for cookbooks. I moved the ones we don't use often to a bookshelf in our extra bedroom. I also went through all the printed recipes and only saved the ones we use regularly. I moved the baking supplies and the ice cream maker to the cupboard above. The plastic containers were sorted through and some were thrown away and the others moved to the area above the cupboards. We actually use the chai tea mix often so I put that in a mason jar instead of the ugly container it came in.

Here is the after result. Much better.

And here is our cupboard for cookbooks and the much condensed version of the printed recipes.

The whole project only took a couple hours and it was so worth it in the end.

Spicy Kale Lasagna

2012-01-24T21:04:00.000-06:00

We made this lasagna on Saturday and it was so good. I had wanted to make this for a long time, but I thought that Patrick wouldn't like the kale part. It turns out he really likes kale and we actually had another kale dish tonight. If you are skeptical of kale, I highly recommend you try this recipe. It may just convert you to a kale lover.

Spicy Kale Lasagna
Serves about 8

What You Need
1 pound no-boil whole wheat lasagna noodles (or noodles cooked according to the package instructions)
1 1/4 pounds kale (around 3 bunches) or substitute spinach
4 cups cottage cheese
3/4 cups parmesan cheese
2 cups mozzarella cheese
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
28 ounce can crushed tomatoes (with herbs, if available)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper

What To Do

1 Preheat the oven to 375°F.

2 Prepare the kale: In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil. Remove the stems from the kale. Boil the kale for 2 minutes, then drain and rinse under cold water until cool enough to handle. Using a towel, wring out as much water as possible from the kale. Chop it and season with salt and pepper.

3 Make the tomato sauce: Meanwhile, dice 3 cloves garlic. In a cold saucepan, combine garlic, 3 tablespoons olive oil, 1 scant teaspoon red pepper flakes (or less depending on your spice tolerance), and 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to medium high heat, stirring as the mixture heats up. Saute for about 30 seconds, then add the crushed tomatoes. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in 1 teaspoon lemon juice.

4 Make the filling: Strain out all liquid from the 4 cups cottage cheese (squeeze it in a strainer, if necessary). Add 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, 1 teaspoon kosher salt and 1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper.

5 Assemble the lasagna: Place a thin layer of tomato sauce in the bottom of a 9” x 13” baking dish. Cover the sauce with a layer of noodles, then half of the cheese mixture, half of the kale, and half of the remaining sauce. Add another layer of noodles, the remaining cheese, and the remaining kale. Top with the remaining noodles, then the remaining sauce. Sprinkle the top with 1/2 cup mozzarella and 1/4 cup parmesan.

6 Bake for 45 minutes, until bubbly and browned. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Source: A Couple Cooks

Cooking Castle Style - Greek Quesadillas, Green Bean & Parmesan Soup and Blackberry Cobbler

2012-01-22T14:03:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was so much fun. Kate is getting married this year so we went and saw her wedding dress before lunch. And then we went back to our house for some cooking and good conversation. For this cooking lesson we decided on quesadillas, soup and cobbler. Everything turned out really good and even better everything was super easy to make. Hopefully this will be something that they can easily make in their own kitchen.

Greek Quesadillas
Makes 4

Notes: Feel free to use whatever quantities desired of the ingredients below, and substitute or omit ingredients according to your own preferences!

What You Need
8 whole wheat tortillas
Fresh spinach (about 2 cups)
One red onion
Jarred red peppers or sundried tomatoes
Black olives
Mozzarella cheese, shredded (a handful or so per serving)
Feta cheese (a few tablespoons per serving)
Oregano (dried or fresh)
Red pepper flakes (optional)

What To Do

1 Chiffonade the spinach. Thinly slice the red onion, red peppers, and black olives.
2 On a plate, place a tortilla. Sprinkle with your desired quantities of spinach, red onion, red pepper, black olives, mozzarella, feta, oregano, and red pepper flakes (if using). Be careful not to overload.
3 Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat for a few minutes. Place the loaded tortilla on the griddle and place another tortilla on top. Cook until browned on the bottom, then flip and cook until browned on the other side (a few minutes per side).

Remove the tortilla and cut into wedges with a pizza cutter. If making several quesadillas at once, you can keep them warm in a 300°F oven.

Source: A Couple Cooks

Green Bean & Parmesan Soup
(Serves 4)

1 stick butter
8 ounces green beans, trimmed
1 garlic clove minced
2 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup single cream
Salt and black pepper to taste
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan or in a microwave safe bowl.
Add the beans and garlic to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes over a medium heat, stirring regularly.
Stir in the stock, and season with salt and pepper.
Bring to the boil, and simmer for 10-15 minutes, uncovered, until the beans are tender.
Pour the soup into a blender and process until smooth.
Stir in the Parmesan and cream, and sprinkle with the parsley, then serve.

Source: The Soup Bible

Blackberry Cobbler

Ingredients
1 stick Butter
1 1/4 cup Sugar
1 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup Milk
2 cups Blackberries (frozen Or Fresh)

Preparation Instructions

Melt butter in a microwavable dish. Pour 1 cup of sugar, flour, baking soda and salt into a mixing bowl, whisking in milk. Mix well. Then, pour in melted butter and whisk it all well together. Butter a baking dish or 6-7 jam sized mason jars.

Now rinse and pat dry the blackberries.

Ladle the batter into a baking dish or the buttered mason jars. If you are using mason jars fill them 1/2 way to 2/3 full. Add a 5-6 blackberries per mason jar.

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until golden and bubbly. If you desire, sprinkle an additional teaspoon of sugar over the cobbler 10 minutes before it’s done.

Source: Pioneer Woman

Smokey Barbecued Pork

2012-01-06T16:22:00.001-06:00

It's been a long time since I posted a recipe, but that doesn't mean we stopped cooking. We first made this pork this summer for a party. Since then Patrick has made this quite a few more times and it is really good and easy to make. We buy the pork shoulder/butt roast from Sam's Club and freeze half of it and make one half with this recipe. The roasts we have made are around 7 pounds, so this makes a ton of food. If we don't eat it all in a week we freeze the rest to bring out later. Here is Patrick's recipe.

Smokey Barbecued Pork

Ingredients
Pork shoulder/butt roast
Salt
Pepper
Chili powder
Cumin
1 Sliced Onion
1 can adobo chili peppers (in sauce)
1 45 ounce (Sam's Club size) jug o' Famous Dave's BBQ sauce

For Sandwiches
Artisan bread
Provolone

Cut off as much of the exterior fat as you can. Jab the roast all over with a fork and throw it in a crock pot. Salt heavily (at least a tablespoon, maybe two or three depending on size of your meat). Season lightly (probably no more than a teaspoon of each) with pepper, chili powder, & cumin. Slice the onion like you would for fajitas and dump all over the roast. Slice the adobos into small bits and dump all over the roast. Put in a majority of the BBQ sauce (so roast is covered and partially swimming in it). Cover and let it cook on high until the meat easily falls apart when pulled at with a fork (at least prolly 6 - 8 hours). Pull roast apart with a fork, remove bone (one large chunk) from crock pot, stir in the rest of the BBQ sauce, and let cook on high another 1 hour.

Crock pots are kind of goofy with temperatures these days so use judgement. Serve on some tasty artisan bread with provolone.

New Year's Weekend

2012-01-03T19:56:00.000-06:00

Our New Year's Weekend this year was pretty relaxed. On New Year's Eve Day we did some shopping and hung out at home. For New Year's Eve we decided we were going to make a nice meal at home. The menu was beef tenderloin, veggies and bread. We were planning on grilling the tenderloin, but it started raining right when we were going to start making it. It ended up being a complete disaster. We over cooked the meat and the veggies were mushy. At least the cookies and wine were good.

Since it was snowing and didn't want to drive anywhere we decided to walk to the Sherlock Holmes movie. It is a couple mile walk to the movie theater, so we were both soaked by the time we got there. It was so much fun to be outside while it was snowing.

On Sunday morning we made these Gingerbread Pancakes. Then we watched the Packer game with Adam and Maran.

We made the trek to Nickie & Nathan's house after the game to celebrate Christmas. It was pretty fun to hang out with everyone and watch Ben open presents.

Christmas in La Crosse

2012-01-02T19:52:00.000-06:00

We spent Christmas in La Crosse with Patrick's family this year. We headed to La Crosse on Christmas Eve around noon.

This time we stayed at the Courtyard Marriott in downtown La Crosse. Patrick's aunt works there so we got an awesome deal. Here is the view from our room.

The weather was super nice for December, so we walked around downtown before dinner. There weren't many open options for dinner so we ended up eating at Red Lobster in Onalaska.

We were disappointed in the lack of Christmas lights in our search at home, but we found some good ones in La Crosse. Check out this one with music and moving objects in Santa's workshop.

After dinner and looking at lights we walked to Riverside Park from the hotel. In college I loved going to the Rotary lights. We hadn't been there since 2005, so it was awesome to go again.

Even the UW-L Eagle was in lights this year.

These squirrels were synchronized to run through the trees. They even had a whole light show synced to music, which they never had back in college. It was so fun to go back. There is so much magic in the Christmas lights there, I hope it's not another six years before we get back there.

On Christmas Day we went to Patrick's dad's house for lunch. It was nice to hang out with them. Then we headed to Patrick's aunt and uncle's house for his extended family Christmas. We stayed there most of the day for a white elephant exchange and the Packer game.

On Monday we visited Steve & Sandra's new baby girl Rosemary. After our visit we ate at the mall food court, Patrick had Coney Island and I had Panda Express.

We always talk about winning it big at Treasure Island on our way home from La Crosse. This time we decided to actually stop. We lost our $20 in about 15 minutes so it wasn't worth the trip, but it made for a good adventure.

Catch Up - October, November & December

2011-12-31T13:00:00.000-06:00

Since I am finally finished with our Europe Trip I am just going to post some pictures of the other fun events of the last few months.

We went on a Ghost Tour in Anoka.

We hosted the 4th Annual Meat Fest. Maran and Adam announced they were having a baby and Kate and Jeff announced they were getting married.

We went to La Crosse to see our friends Steve & Sandra's new house. Here is their little guy David.

Patrick, Rickard, Melissa & I saw Jerry Seinfeld downtown at the Orpheum.

We celebrated Thanksgiving at my Aunt Carolyn's house. Here is Ben showing us his piano skills. The rest of the Thanksgiving photos are here.

We celebrated Thanksmas with our friends at Kasie's place. Patrick won the contest for the most creative shirt. Jeff won an award for ugliest shirt.

We did a cookie baking day again. This year we made some good stuff, but Patrick wants more chocolate next year. He has a point, there can never be too much chocolate.

We are celebrating Christmas with my family this weekend, so I will be back next week with an update on our Christmases.

Europe Day 11 & 12 - London (October 2nd & 3rd)

2011-12-30T18:28:00.001-06:00

This morning we actually slept in. Our British friends were still at the hotel and they offered to give us a ride to the tube station. That was a lifesaver. I am not sure if we had a plan to get back to the tube station, luckily we didn't need one.

We got back on the tube and the plan was to put our bags in locker storage at the Liverpool Station. We were staying at a hotel near the airport tonight so we didn't really want to have to go all the way out there and then come back to do some more stuff in the city.

I am so glad that a majority of our trip to London wasn't on a weekend. Because of the Olympics they are doing a lot of construction on the tube stations so getting around was a huge pain. We ended up walking outside because it was becoming impossible to get to the Westminster stop. On our way to Westminster Abbey we went by Buckingham Palace and through St. James Park.

Our afternoon plan was to go to the Evensong at Westminster Abbey. It is expensive to actually go into the Abbey as a tourist, so we did the Evensong and I would really recommend it. You don't get to look around as much, but it was pretty neat to hear the all male choir sing.

This is the inside of the smaller church near Westminster Abbey. You weren't supposed to take photos, but I took this before I read that sign.

After the church service we did another Rick Steve's walk. This was the Westminster Walk and it was much shorter than the City of London one we did. Here was our route.

First up was the London Eye. We didn't actually go on the eye since it is kind of expensive and we have both done it before.

Here is Downing Street. This is the street the Prime Minister lives on. You see the black building behind the fence, that is the Prime Minister residence.

We ate dinner at a place called Long Acre near Trafalgar Square. It was pretty good.

After dinner we headed back to Liverpool to go to the airport to take a shuttle to the hotel. Here is the method we used for carrying our backpacks after day one.

Getting to the airport was pretty uneventful, but finding the shuttle bus and buying a ticket was another hassle. We finally got our tickets and after three people told us different things, we found where the shuttle bus left from. We arrived at the hotel, showered, packed our bags up for the airline and went to bed.

Our flight left at 7:30am, so we were at the airport early. We spent the rest of our pounds on chocolate in the airport gift store. We got to our gate and unfortunately did not go to the bathroom before we went through the gate security. After we got back from the bathroom both of us had to be patted down.

The 8 hour flight from London to Chicago went much quicker than the one from Chicago to Rome. We had at least five seats in the middle sections all to ourselves. And on this flight we had our own in flight entertainment. We each watched at least three movies and a ton of tv episodes. I guess if you are going to sit on airplane that long, movies are the way to go.

We arrived in Chicago and had a very short window to go through customs, re-check our bags and make it to our gate. We arrived at our gate with only a few minutes before our flight home left. We arrived at MSP and Ty picked us up and brought us to Patrick's office where our car was. We were both very happy to be home after a good, but exhausting trip.

Here are our favorite memories of the trip.

Patrick's Euro Adventure Favorites:
1. When I knew we were done with Italian train rides
2. Getting back to Regent's Park after 8 years
3. Checking out the English countryside

Sara's Euro Adventure Favorites:
1. My spaghetti lunch in Florence.
2. The Evensong at Westminster Abbey.
3. Being a part of Alex & Paula's wedding in London.

Europe Day 10 - Alex & Paula's Wedding (October 1st)

2011-12-29T22:09:00.000-06:00

This morning we had yet another awesome breakfast at the Wynchgate B&B. Today was Alex & Paula's wedding so we had quite the journey before we arrived at our destination. When Patrick studied abroad in the Fall of 2003 he met Alex in a marketing class. They have kept in touch since then, so when Alex invited us to his wedding we knew it was the perfect excuse to go on a European Adventure.

We loaded up our backpacks after breakfast and got on the tube station at Southgate. We rode the tube back into Central London to take another line out to Epping. The tube ride went pretty smoothly for having to switch lines. We arrived in Epping and we knew we needed to take the bus to the Travelodge Hotel. We waited for the bus for quite a long time. Once the bus finally arrived we learned they didn't take the Oyster card which we had been using for our tube rides. So, we had to dig through our pockets to find enough change to pay for the ride. We asked the driver if it was the right bus, but not about the hotel. Patrick had put the route to the hotel on his phone before we left the B&B. The route stays on the phone and your location keeps moving even without service, so we were relying on that. We got off the bus at the point we thought we would only have to walk a few minutes. Boy were we wrong. We ended up having to walk over 2 miles in the noon sun to get to the hotel. Part of our walk even included walking on the grass shoulder of a two lane highway. We were both glad to have backpacks and not to be dragging suitcases on this journey.

We finally arrived at the hotel around 1:00pm, the wedding was at 2pm and on the invitation it said arrive by 1:30pm. We weren't sure what the protocol was on arriving late to a wedding in the UK. We decided we would try to make it to the wedding. We showered, steamed a suit and got ready in record time. Once we went back out to the reception area and a nice British lady called us a taxi. At this point we were pretty indecisive about whether we should go to the wedding or not, since we were going to be late for sure. We had the taxi driver drive us to the reception, but then we arrived there and they told us we should go to the wedding. We ended up at the wedding 10 minutes late, not too bad considering our journey.

The wedding was beautiful. I didn't really have any expectations of how a London wedding would be, but it was really awesome. The wedding was held at a small country side English church. Even though we were late to the wedding, we still were able to hear most of the ceremony. The structure was really similar to a wedding in the states, but the pastor was much less formal. At one point he said something about how he was happy Alex and Paula decided to get married in a church instead of jumping out of airplane or something stupid like that.

This was the one time I didn't bring my good camera with. I just didn't want to have to carry it around. It ended up being really nice not to have to a huge weight in my purse. Here are some pictures of the ceremony.

After the ceremony the bride and groom took family and friend pictures outside the church. There were only about 70 people invited to the wedding, so everyone was invited to be in at least one picture. This took awhile, so we were really glad we came to the ceremony.

We were lucky enough to meet some of Alex's friends after the wedding and they offered to give us a ride to the wedding reception. Good thing because otherwise that would be a long walk.

The reception spot was just as cute as the little chapel. It was an old barn that was renovated for events. It even had this awesome outdoor area for cocktail hour. We lucked out and had a sunny 80 degree day in October, so it was great to be outside. The cocktail hour included some English favorites Pimms and bangers.

No one expected it to be such a warm day so our meal was planned around a cool fall night. The menu consisted of tomato soup, turkey, roasted potatoes, broccoli, carrots and Yorkshire pudding. Dessert was homemade blackberry or apple crumble. It was all really delicious.

The wedding dinner had speeches and gifts. The wedding dance included many American favorites including Maroon Five's Moves Like Jagger.

It was an awesome time. The wedding was really small, so we actually got to talk to Alex and Paula for a little while. They told us about their upcoming honeymoon to Malaysia for three weeks. Oh how I dream of having the vacation time of a European.

This was the first time all vacation we really slowed down and enjoyed ourselves. It was so nice to experience the culture, talk to people and really just enjoy the event. I am so glad it worked out that we were able to celebrate with Alex and Paula.

One of the couples we met at the wedding were also staying at the Travelodge, so we hitched a ride back to hotel with them. Today we only walked 5,943 steps or 2.97 miles. Patrick took the pedometer off for the wedding, so most of those steps were with our backpacks on walking to the hotel.

Europe Day 9 - London (September 30th)

2011-12-27T20:11:00.000-06:00

This morning we had another awesome breakfast at the B&B. I got the french toast and it was delicious.

The 2012 Summer Olympic Games are being held in London and we read in the Rick Steve's book you could take a tour of the grounds. It took quite a few switches on the tube to get the Olympic grounds, but finally we ended up at the Pudding Mill Lane stop. They are constructing a bullet train that will transport people from one side of the city to the other in 7 minutes. And there will be no public parking at the Olympic Games, all spectators will arrive via public transportation. I guess I couldn't see it any other way in London.

We missed the tour, but another group of people were getting at tour so we heard part of their tour. They also had a nice map, pointing out what all the facilities were.

Here is the Olympic Stadium, where the opening and closing ceremonies will be held along with other Olympic events.

Here is where the Olympic Torch will live during the games.

Here are a good majority of the building on the Olympic grounds. This area of London is very run down, so bringing the Olympics here is really revitalizing the area. All the facilities are going to be converted into permanent facilities. The hotels into homes, there is large shopping mall being built in the area that will continue to attract people and the stadium will be used for future sporting events.

We thought about eating lunch at the little cafe near the observation area, but we decided to head back to the city to find lunch. Our plan for the afternoon was to explore Regent's Park. We found a Pizza Express right after we got off the tube, so we stopped there for lunch. It ended up taking a long time to get our bill, so our quick lunch turned into an hour event. Apparently in London in order to get the check you have to ask for it, otherwise they will let you sit there all day.

Next our mission was to find Regent's Park. It's not a big tourist attraction, so we didn't see many signs directing us. We were using our Rick Steve's map, which wasn't complete so it became quite frustrating to find the place. After a couple wrong turns we finally found it. And I am glad we did. It was a very relaxing way to spend the afternoon. It was a gorgeous day so the park was packed, but since it is such a big place it wasn't annoying.

After we walked around the park for a couple hours we decided we would try to go back to Harrod's to look around. It is one crazy big department store. I swear you can get just about anything there. I was into taking pictures in the deli area. Here are some of the good looking food they had there. They have everything from clothes to apples to Christmas ornaments to one of kind pieces of art.

We rode the tube back to Southgate and found a pub called Weather Spoon. For only 10 pounds we had 2 burgers, chips and 2 beers. The best deal of the trip by far.

Today we walked 25,181 steps or 12.59 miles for the day.

Europe Day 8 - London (September 29th)

2011-12-26T22:02:00.000-06:00

Today was our first full day in London and we were ready to see the town. Our B&B The Wynchgate B&B offered either a continental breakfast or breakfast made to order. We chose the made to order breakfast all three days. Our B&B owner Sabiya made me a mushroom and cheese omelet and Patrick a tomato and cheese omelet. Along with our omelets we also tried the croissants, english muffins and english tea. It was all delicious and the portions were huge, so we weren't hungry until late in the day.

After our big breakfast we took the tube to Caledonia Station to check out London Metropolitan University where Patrick studied abroad at back in 2003.

This is the apartment that Patrick lived in when he lived in London. He said it is pretty run down compared to when he lived there.

After we saw the old apartment, we walked to campus to check it out. Our mission was to find Chicken Land, a favorite eatery of Patrick's. Sadly Chicken Land had closed, but we did some other fun places like the movie theater they went to and the barber shop Patrick got his hair cut at. Patrick loved his study abroad experience so it was fun to see all the places he loved while he lived in London.

We decided to be adventurous and ride a bus from campus to Trafalgar Square. We thought we would be able to see more of the city versus riding the tube, but it was a single decker bus. It just ended up just taking longer and the bus was super hot so it wasn't that great of a choice.

At Trafalgar Square we planned to do the free Rick Steve's City Walk Tour that we downloaded to our iPhones at the B&B.

Before we started the tour we watched this street show where this man showed us his ability to contort his body many ways.

We had the Rick Steve's guide to London, which is where we found out about the free podcast tours. I wish we would have known about them in Italy, as I am sure we would have enjoyed them there.

The tour started in Trafalgar Square and ended at the London Bridge. It was a really interesting tour that featured the City of London where only 11,000 people live, but 330,000 people work everyday. Here is a map of the route we took.

Here is what we saw on our tour:

St. Clements Dane and The Royal Courts of Dane

The original Twinings Tea Shop

The Temple Church

Fleet Street & Dr. Johnson's House. Dr. Johnson invented the dictionary.

By this point we were hungry and the pod cast mentions that now would be a good time to take a break. We ended up finding a gold mine right around the corner from Dr. Johnson's house. A Chilango. This is basically Chipotle in British form. The only difference is they use white cheddar cheese instead of the Monterrey Jack cheese they use at Chipotle.

After we refueled, we made a quick stop at St. Bride's Church, whose steeple is shaped like a wedding cake.

St. Paul's Cathedral

Then we finally made it to the London Bridge and had an awesome view of the Tower Bridge.

I thought that now that we were in London the weather would be cooler so I would be able to wear pants today. I guess I was wrong after a full day of walking in the sunshine this is how we looked, it's not pretty.

After crossing the river we were on a mission to find the Tate Modern and see some of the exhibits before they closed. Patrick had been to the Tate Modern in college and he thought it was pretty cool. They did have some pretty interesting exhibits. There was also an observation area at the Tate Modern. Our timing getting there was perfect, the light on the London skyline and the Millennium Bridge was gorgeous.

Our plan for the evening included a Jack the Ripper tour, so we headed over the Tower Bridge to the Tower Hill tube stop to meet the guide for the tour.

On the Jack the Ripper Tour we learned about the gruesome murders of 1888. We did the London Walks tour and our guide was very good. After the tour we ended up in Bishopsgate and found a pub to eat dinner at. Patrick got a London Ale, I ended up with a Pimm's and we spilt a sandwich and fries. It was a nice way to end the evening.

Today we broke records with our mileage totals. We walked 34,332 steps or 17.16 miles. I guess two walking tours in one day will force you to walk crazy amounts.

Europe Day 7 - Travel to London (September 28th)

2011-12-21T21:16:00.001-06:00

Today we were up before sunrise and headed out to catch the airport shuttle boat to the Venice Airport. We were glad that we made the trek the day before or we probably would have gotten lost in the dark.

Here is the view as we are walking through the streets to the shuttle boat.

The coolest thing about getting to the water boat so early was that we were able to watch the sunrise. I could never motivate myself to actually get up that early without a purpose, so this worked out awesome.

We boarded the boat no problem. The ride to the airport wasn't too bad. There were some French women who insisted that their suitcases be on the top of the pile since they were late for a flight, but other than that it was decent. From the shuttle boat there was a short walk to the terminal. Our airline tickets were through RyanAir. We got in the line for our flight and waited for what seemed like forever to check in our bags. Once we finally got to the front of the line we were over the limit for checked baggage. The weight limit was 15kg and we both had around 16kg. I took out some travel books and my half priced coat. Patrick took out his coat. They weighed our bags again and luckily they said they were close enough so we didn't have to pay the ridiculous fees for overweight baggage.

After we went through security, we went straight to our gate as we were starting to cut it close to making our flight. Little did we know that it would be hours before we finally left Venice. Apparently RyanAir is first come first serve as far as seating goes, so as soon as people think its close to boarding time people start lining up at the gate. We ended up standing in line forever before it moved anywhere. Once the line finally started moving they actually checked your carry on luggage to make sure it wasn't oversized. Once we left the gate we all boarded two different buses to be shuttled to the plane. We then arrived at the plane.

We all boarded the plane expecting to actually depart Venice after everyone was seated. Well, apparently we lost our place in line at the airport so we had to wait another 45 minutes before the flight took off. Since RyanAir is a discount airline nothing is provided, not even water. We ate the snacks we had in our bags, chocolate bars and salomini's. Another annoying part of RyanAir is they are always trying to sell you something. The solution to that is put your ear buds in and listen to your iPod.

We arrived at London Stansted Airport and had to find a way to the tube station to get to our B&B. We rode an airport shuttle bus to Central London and then took the Picadilly Line to the Southgate Station. The B&B we stayed at was the Wynchgate B&B. It was a short walk from the tube station so we were pretty happy with the location. Our room was really nice. It was very spacious and had it's own bathroom in the room.

It was 3pm by the time we arrived in London and we hadn't eaten lunch so by this time we were starving. We used the iPhones with the wireless at our place and saw there was a Greek place nearby called The Charcoal Grill. It turned out to be awesome. We even made this one of our feature dishes at the 4th Annual Meat Fest.

We then headed to the tube station to head to Central London to do a little exploring.

We thought that we could do a little browsing at Harrods that night since we weren't up for too much more after our long day of travel. It ended up being closed by the time we got there, so we decided we would just do a little walking around instead.

We ended up walking to Picadilly Square, Chinatown and Covent Garden. We found a couple gifts and then we headed back to our B&B.

Despite all the hours sitting on the boat, plane and bus we still managed to walk 19,872 steps or 9.9 miles today.

Europe Day 6 - Venice (September 27th)

2011-12-09T17:38:00.001-06:00

Today was another early morning. We were only spending one day in Venice, so we needed to get there early in the day to fully enjoy the city. That means we had to miss our breakfast in bed today. We headed back to the train station around 7:15am and were there by 7:30am.

We had planned on taking the 8:30am train to Venice, so we figured we had plenty of time. We got to the train station and the ticket line was super long and not moving. There were only two stations open, so we split up and each went in a different line hoping one would move much faster than the other. After what seemed like forever I finally got to the front of my line. I asked for two tickets to Venice on the 8:30am train and the cashier told me there were no tickets available, he said the next train was at 11:00am. That meant it would be afternoon by the time we got there, so I asked if there were any other options. There was a train at 8:00am that stopped in Brussels and arrived in Venice at a reasonable time. The problem was it was 7:50am and we only had 10 minutes to find our train. At this point our last train experience was still fresh in our mind, so we panicked a little but what choice did we have. I shouted to Patrick who was still in the other line about this option and we bought the tickets for the 8am train. We ended up finding the train fairly quickly and found our seats and got on. The first leg of the ride was successful.

We then arrived in Brussels and had to switch trains. We had no idea where we were supposed to be. We almost ended up going to the other end of the train station looking for our track, but luckily I saw a sign that we had to take some stairs down to the underground subway get to our train track. We got to the track and the train hadn't arrived yet, but we did have to go back downstairs to get our ticket validated before we got on the train. Again somehow we managed to get back up to the track before the train arrived. This train did not have assigned seats and was much less nice than the previous two trains, but we were able to rest easy knowing that we didn't have any more Italian train rides the rest of our trip.

We arrived in Venice and as is expected on this trip it was sweltering hot and we were in a new place not knowing exactly where we were going. We had done some research the night before on how we were going to get to the hotel, but we didn't have a good map of Venice so we thought it may end up being tricky to find. The water bus station is right outside the train station so at least that was easy to find. The line to get tickets for the bus was really long, so we waited in line quite a while before we were actually able to purchase our tickets. The boat ride was really enjoyable and I wish our hotel would have been farther away because it was so cool to see Venice from the water.

In Venice we stayed at the Alloggi Santa Sofia. We had looked at the website the night before and the directions seemed pretty simple. Get off at this specific stop and then make a couple turns and you are there. Oh man, it was not that simple at all. First we got off and we weren't sure which direction we were supposed to be headed. We walked around for at least 20 minutes trying to find the street the hotel was on. It is pretty tucked away and even after being there all day we still missed it a couple times on the way back to the hotel.

After a frustrating check in experience, where the maid checked us in, we were off to find lunch. Here we are at the hotel before lunch.

When Patrick had gone to Venice in college they had gone to the grocery store and bought salami, provolone and fresh bread to make sandwiches for lunch. It sounded awesome to me. We had seen a grocery store on our hunt for the hotel so we headed back there.

We found all the stuff we were looking for in the deli area of the grocery store. In between the store and our hotel was the perfect little spot to sit and eat our sandwiches. It was an awesome lunch and really relaxing sitting by the canal in the shade watching the boats go by.

After lunch we went back to the hotel to see if we could figure out the walking route to the airport shuttle boat. Our flight to London left at 9:30am the next morning, so we knew we had to figure it out now in the daylight so we wouldn't miss the boat in the morning. From the map it looked like a straight shot, but when you are traveling through a city built on water it may not always be so easy. We only ended up at one dead end, so I would consider it a successful adventure.

While we were on that side of the island we decided we would take a boat to Murano, a island near Venice that is known for its glass blowing. Patrick had gone here on his college trip to Venice and really enjoyed it.

Once we arrived on Murano we went to look for the glass blowing demonstrations. We couldn't find the place with demonstration so we decided to just walk around the island. Here is load of glass they melt down to use for the creations.

There are tons of shops with items to buy. All of the stuff is really cool. We wanted to buy something, but we knew it had to be small so we went on a mission to find an ornament for our Christmas tree.

The island was filled with beautiful sculptures and awesome scenery.

We ended up finding a really cute skiing Santa and a glass bulb. Since I have taken forever to write these posts, its almost Christmas and our ornaments have found a nice home on our tree. The bulb is much prettier in person, but I can't seem to get a decent picture of it.

After we found our ornaments we went back to the area the boat dropped us off at. We were not really looking for the glass blowing demonstration, but we found it anyway. We watched them create for a few minutes and then went back to Venice.

When we arrived back in Venice we explored the city some more.

The sun was starting to set, so it was prime time for gondola rides. We didn't even think about seeing how much it cost to ride, but it probably would have been really cool to do if money were no object.

Here is the famous Rialto Bridge. It is just like the Ponte Vechio in Florence and has a ton of jewelry stores on it.

After walking around we went to find a place to eat dinner. Our hotel owned a restaurant and we got a discount there so we decided to eat there. We split a funghi (mushroom) pizza and I am pretty sure they weren't happy with us splitting a meal, but oh well. We were the only ones at the restaurant, so at least we were eating there.

We walked around some more after dinner. Patrick was on a mission on to find some iced coffee to drink in the morning. After searching many convenience stores we found iced espresso and called it a night. Today we walked 25,316 steps or 12.65 miles on our last day in Italy.

Europe Day 5 - Florence (September 26th)

2011-11-23T20:25:00.001-06:00

This morning we woke up to breakfast in our room. The N4U Guesthouse is a bed and breakfast without a main kitchen area, so you are served in your room. I thought it was pretty good. The chocolate chip croissants were my favorite.

Here is the lounge in the hotel. If we stayed here longer, it would have been fun to hang out here.

The plan for the day was to check out more of Florence. Since we were up for breakfast, we decided to get going early to avoid the heat a little. I had seen in the guide book that you can climb to the top of the Duomo, but there is usually a long wait. The other option was to climb to the top of the attached Bell Tower, so we decided to climb the Bell Tower. The Duomo is the on the left, the Bell Tower on the right.

There were lots of stopping points on the way up, here is the view from one of the higher lookout areas.

And the actual bell in the Bell Tower.

The terra cotta roof.

The best part was the amazing view of the city. It is crazy to look out and see the terra cotta roofs for miles.

An advantage of going up the Bell Tower is you get an amazing view of the Duomo.

Our attempt to get a photo together was unsuccessful, so this collage will have to do.

After the Bell Tower we decided to walk around and see what else we could find in Florence. We probably would have gone to see Michelangelo's David, but the museum was closed on Monday's so no such luck there. In one of the plazas we did see a replica of David and some other statutes.

Here was a fun piece of art we found on our walk.

On our walk we happened to end up in area that the hotel suggested for restaurants. We were hungry for lunch, so we stopped at a random place and ended up finding our favorite meal of Italy. Not only was the food awesome, look at this view.

The name of the restaurant was Il Ristoro. We both had simple dishes spaghetti and ravioli and they both were awesome and filling without being too much.

After our awesome lunch we stopped for gelato and then headed back to the hotel to escape the heat for awhile.

Later that afternoon we decided if we were going to be in a city of art museums for 2 days, we better actually visit a museum. We decided to go to Museo dell'Opera del Duomo. This is a museum for the items that were removed from Santa Maria del Fiore and it also is home to other a ton of design ideas that were not chosen for the church.

Florence is known for its leather products. This is just one of the many purse shops. Just seeing this picture makes me remember the smell of the leather.

After the museum, we walked around Florence some more and finally ended up eating dinner at a place right next to the House of Sizzle (where we watched the Packer game the night before). The bar was called Moyo and it had this awesome buffet that was free with the purchase of a drink. The buffet had a couple kinds of pasta salad, meatballs with red sauce and black beans, french fries, regular salad, a couscous salad, a chickpea salad and bread. It was awesome. We both love this kind of stuff, so it was perfect dinner for us.

We made it an early night. We got back to the hotel and did some planning to figure out how we were getting to Venice the next morning. Our step count for the day was 19,601 or 9.8 miles.

Europe Day 4 - Florence (September 25th)

2011-11-21T19:29:00.001-06:00

These trip posts are taking forever. I am finally through about 3/4 of the photos, so my goal this week is to get at least a couple more blog posts done.

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Today we made our way to Florence, Italy. Our hotel in Rome had internet access, so last night we looked to see what times trains were leaving for Florence and got directions from the train station to the hotel. To start off our day we loaded up our dreaded backpacks and made our way to Termini Station via the underground. The girl at our hotel suggested we buy our tickets from an actual person rather than a machine, so when we to the train station we got in the ticket line.

Getting the tickets seemed easy. We told him where we wanted to go and got two reasonably priced tickets for the 9:45am train. I think we had at least 30 minutes before the train left, plenty of time to figure out where we needed to go. Well, reading Italian train tickets is not our specialty and no one was very helpful in helping us figure out where we were supposed to be. First off the train we were riding was going all the way to Venice, but our stop was in Florence so no trains said they were going to Florence. That's only the beginning of our confusion. We finally determined which train was ours based on the departure time. So we get to the train, but forget to get it stamped. This means we have to go back to the beginning of the train deck to get it stamped before we get on the train. Based on our first train trip from the airport to the Termini Station we decided that the train had general seating. We just picked a car, took off our giant backpacks, stowed them above our seats and sat down. Just as we were talking about how nice it was, four American girls get on the train and let us know we are in their first class seats. Panic now sets in as we have no idea what car we are supposed to be on, nor which seats. Somehow we figured out which car we were on. And lucky for us there were some Americans on the car we got on and they showed us where our seat numbers were on our ticket. The entrance was jammed with rolling, luggage so we were happy to have our backpacks that we could easily carry to an inside luggage area. After we got settled on the train, the ride was actually very nice and relaxing.

We arrived in Florence around noon. As is the theme of our trip, we arrive in an unknown place in the heat of the day and are then forced carry our backpacks while we find our hotel. We found our hotel the N4U Guesthouse fairly easily, but then we had to carry our backpacks up three flights of stairs until we finally could put them down. Our room wasn't quite ready yet, so we put our bags in storage and went off to explore the town.

On our way to the hotel we saw Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore for the first time. Wow, what an amazing church. As you can see from the map of Florence above it is a very impressive part of the city.

It was Sunday afternoon, so the town was very busy and crowded. We ended up eating lunch at a little place called Hot Pot. It wasn't very good, but we were starving and it was pretty cheap so it worked out.

After lunch we decided we wanted to find the Ponte Vecchio bridge. We went back to our "map" and from there decided which way the river was and headed that way. It didn't take us long and we were there.

The "houses" on the Ponte Vecchio are actually all jewelry stores. I am not sure what I expected, but it definitely wasn't jewelry.

After we or probably more likely I took a few photos, we headed back to the hotel to check into our room. The room was very nice, probably one of the nicer places we stayed. The private bathroom, however was not attached to the room so we had to walk down the hallway and use a key to both unlock and lock the bathroom door.

I think the constant going was starting to wear on us at this point, so we spent the afternoon taking a nap. And lucky for us this was the only time it rained the whole trip. Although, the rain probably would have been refreshing in the 80 degree heat most days.

After our nap, we decided we should go out and look for something to eat for dinner. The guy at the hotel suggested that we find a place across the river to find more authentic food, but we weren't really in the mood to look to hard so we ended up eating at Buca Niccolini near our hotel. Patrick got pizza and I got pasta with bolognese sauce. The food was ok, but dinner was kind of fun because a couple from Texas sat right next to us. They were really nice and made up for the mediocre food.

After dinner we decided we were just going to walk around and see Florence by night. Earlier in the day, Patrick had found a brochure at the hotel for a place called House of Sizzle. I don't think that we would have gone there, but the advertisement also had an NFL logo on it and it said they showed all NFL games there. It happened to be Sunday and the Packers happened to play the Bears at 10:30pm. We went to check it out before the game started. Really just an American college bar in Italy.

We decided we would go check out the Ponte Vecchio at night.

On the bridge a band was playing U2 songs. We listened to a couple songs and then headed back to House of Sizzle.

We watched the first half of the game and then we headed back to the hotel since it was getting late. I never thought we would watch a Packer game in Florence, but it was actually pretty fun.

Even with our afternoon nap we still managed 23,341 steps or 11.7 miles for the day.

Europe Day 3 - Rome (September 24th)

2011-11-01T19:05:00.000-05:00

Today was our only full day in Rome and we were exhausted from all the walking the day before so we decided we would one of the hop on hop off bus tours of the city. We just picked the Rome Open Tour bus since there happened to be someone selling tickets near the Vatican.

We started the tour near the Vatican and planned to ride to the Colosseum and spend some time there.

We really enjoyed the bus tour after all the walking we did the day before. The bus tour included an audio tour in English that pointed out the highlights we were seeing as we drove along.

Near the Vatican was the Castel St. Angelo. With the passing of the centuries, it is one of the few buildings to have been transformed from a funeral monument into a fortified outpost, a dark and terrible jail, a splendid renaissance residence, a prison of the resurgence and finally today, a museum.

Our spot on the bus wasn't that great for taking pictures, this crazy lady decided she needed to stand at almost all points of the ride and consequently is probably the eye sore of everyone's Rome pictures.

Here is the same street we walked down the night before to get to Piazza di Spagna.

And the Bernini Hotel by day.

Next on the tour we saw the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore which is the largest church in Rome dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

On the tour we also saw the Piazza Venezia which is dominated by the the large statue of Victor Emmanuel II.

Then we finally got to the Colosseum. And it was ridiculously hot and crowded, so we decided we would come back later when it wasn't so hot.

We decided we would try to find something to eat since it was lunchtime. On our way to find a restaurant Patrick's co-worker recommended we saw quite the variety of mimes.

Unfortunately, the restaurant Pizzeria Est, Est, Est was not open for lunch so we settled for the restaurant next door, Pizzeria Leon.

Our lunch at Pizzeria Leon was really good. We got the meal deal option to try a variety of items. The meal included a margarita pizza, bruschetta, a risotto ball, a coke and espresso for dessert.

We learned after lunch that the reason that the Colosseum was so busy was one it was Saturday and two it was free that weekend. The line was still really long and we ended up deciding to take a paid tour and basically bypass the line. Our tour guide was very Italian, but we did still manage to get some good information. It was really interesting to learn the crazy things that happened at this place.

Here is the inside of the Colosseum. The Roman Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology.

After the Colosseum we also got a tour of the Roman Forum. Our tour guide for this was actually an American who came to Rome a couple years ago and has just never gone back. She was much easier to understand and was a really good guide.

Romulus and Remus are Rome's twin founders. This area of the Palentine Hill was the personal entertainment area of Romulus, basically like an exclusive Colosseum.

And here is the view of the Roman Forum and the Colosseum from Palentine Hill.

We even found an olive tree on the way out.

The sun was starting to set at this point, so we decided our plan for the night was to ride the bus around one more time so we could see all the sights at night. We ended up getting a sweet spot in the front seats and were really enjoying the ride until the workers decided they were done working for the night. When we stopped at the Termini we were told we had to get off the bus and no real explanation was given as to what was happening. After we got off we had to wait other 10-15 minutes until the next bus picked us up. And after all that they didn't even go by the Colosseum, so we didn't get to see that all lit up which was pretty disappointing. I am not sure if we just got an off night with this company, but I would not recommend this bus company.

Here are the things we did get to see our shortened bus ride.

The Vatican

Piazza Venezia

After our shortened bus tour we needed to find something to eat. We decided we were going to try to use these Burger King coupons we had since we were already kind of sick of spending money. We didn't end up finding the Burger King, but instead had chicken sandwiches at McDonald's. Definitely not that good or worth what we paid. I guess it was a good lesson to learn early in the trip.

Even with all the bus riding we still ended up walking 19,602 steps or close to 10 miles today.

Europe Day 2 - Rome (September 23rd)

2011-10-15T00:13:00.001-05:00

We arrived in Rome and it was steaming hot. The airport was not air conditioned, so with our Minnesota clothes on we were sweating before we even picked up our backpacks at baggage claim. Once we collected our bags we were free to enter Italy. No customs or security to deal with.

Our next task was to get a train ticket from the airport to the city of Rome. We actually obtained the ticket and found the track easily. Finding a seat on the train wasn't so easy. The train was completely packed and we were carrying these enormous backpacks we had to find a spot for. We walked through at least three train cars before we finally found a couple open seats near a luggage rack. We ended up sitting in two seats facing an older Italian couple. The ride was going smoothly until a piece of luggage fell off the rack. It wasn't our luggage or the Italian couple's luggage, but this prompted the Italian man to notice we put our backpacks on top of the Italian man's suitcase. He was not happy about that and started yelling at us in Italian. We had no idea what he was saying, but Patrick kept his cool and just kept telling the guy he didn't know what he was saying. This made for quite the uncomfortable ride, since we had to sit facing these people the rest of the ride.

We arrived in Rome and needed to get on the Metro. The Metro Station was very busy and it ended up taking at least 20 minutes just to buy our tickets. We waited in line the first time and didn't have the correct change so we had to get out of line and get the correct change before we could get the tickets. All this time there are these bums at each machine telling you how to use the machine looking for tips. These people eventually got escorted out by the police, but not before this crazy bum lady told the police what she thought. After all that drama we finally got our tickets and got on the Metro.

We rode the Metro to our stop near the Vatican. And then began the search for the hotel. The directions seemed simple, but our lack of sleep and a good map did not help our search. At this point it is also noon and at least 85 degrees out. We ended up going past the street we needed to turn on, but after getting out my library book with a map included we realized that and found the street we needed to be on. We got to the hotel and of course it was too early to check in, so we waited in the "lobby" for our room to be ready. Luckily, we didn't have to wait too long.

We stayed at Hotel San Pietrino in the Vatican area of Rome. The room was reasonably priced, clean, had it's own bathroom, WiFi and it was in a good location. It was everything we needed for an enjoyable stay.

Here was our view from our window. The little cafe looked like it would be good to try out, but we just weren't there long enough to check it out.

After showering and a couple hour nap, we were off to explore the city. We didn't really have a plan for the night, but we figured we would go check out the Vatican and get something to eat.

Here is the Vatican.

As we were walking around some guy stopped us and told us we should eat at his restaurant. That should have been our first clue to find somewhere else to eat. The restaurant was in cool little alley and the weather was perfect to eat outside, but the food was just ok.

We had Caprese Salad, bread, Prosciutto Pizza and Fungi Risotto. This was our most expensive meal of our trip and probably the least satisfying.

After dinner we decided we should just walk around and see Rome at night. We ended up doing a lot of walking that night. This street is filled with very expensive shops, Burberry, Coach, Louis Vuitton and even a Farrari store. At the end of the street is Piazza de Spagna or the Spanish Steps.

At this point we thought we could maybe walk to the Fontana di Trevi, which Patrick remembered being a highlight of his previous trip to Rome. We also decided we would take the Metro back to our hotel since it was getting later and we had already done a lot of walking earlier in the day. After following some Italian signs we ended up at a very small fountain in front of the Bernini Hotel, not what we were looking for.

We finally ended up finding the Fontana di Trevi. It really is an amazing fountain. It is huge, it takes up the entire side of a large building.

Apparently those who throw a coin over their shoulder into the fountain will return to Rome in the future. We both donated to the cause, so we will see if we return.

And we weren't the only ones there. It was a popular place to be.

To cap off our trip to Trevi we treated ourselves to the first gelato of the trip.

It was getting later, so we decided we should head to the Metro station to take it back to our hotel. Well, when we arrived at the station it was closed. It closed at 9pm on a Friday night for maintenance. So, began our very long trek back to the hotel. After a slight detour, we ended up back at the hotel safely. After our unexpected walk back to the hotel we ended up walking 24,555 steps or 12.2 miles on the first day of our European Adventure.

Europe Day 1 - Bon Voyage (September 22nd)

2011-10-12T22:28:00.000-05:00

Today was the first day of our 12 day European Adventure through Italy and London. The plan was to fly into Rome, take a train to Florence and then another train to Venice and then fly to London to see the sights and to celebrate Patrick's friend Alex's wedding.

Our Thursday morning was pretty relaxed considering we were leaving the country for the next 12 days. We had packed our backpacks the night before, so really it was just a matter of collecting our phone chargers and small stuff and we were ready to head to the airport. We were also both feeling pretty good considering we had both had stomach issues earlier in the week. I guess our plan to only eat Jimmy John's the few days before the trip paid off.

Here we are with our backpacks. They didn't seem heavy at all when we were at home in 50 degree weather walking the ten steps from our house to the garage.

Around 11am we made our way to Patrick's work and parked there to take a cab to the airport. Good thing we had them pick us up a little early since someone took the cab we reserved and we had to wait for another one to come pick us up. In the airport we ate lunch at the French Meadow Bakery, that was probably an expensive mistake $25 later we had two sandwiches and water.

We landed in Chicago with out any issues. Here is the beautiful Chicago skyline before we landed.

Our one hour flight from Minneapolis to Chicago went very quickly, however the nine hour flight from Chicago to Rome was the longest flight ever. The in flight entertainment sucked. The plane was too small to have individual screens on each seat and the movies they were playing on the main screen weren't that good, so we had to resort to our own entertainment. Patrick played hours of Sudoku and even managed to get to the hard level. I read a magazine, listened to part of an audio book and tried to sleep, but I was pretty restless and not that tired so that was pretty pointless. Needless to say we arrived in Rome at 9:15am Friday morning two very tired people.

Patio Table

2011-10-12T19:30:00.000-05:00

Since Patrick has a new job and more time on his hands I suggested he make this patio table. In high school Patrick took quite a few shop classes and we have a lot of those items in our house that he made including a rocking chair, a couple end tables, a nightstand and even a couple games like a chess set and a mini pool table. So, this project ended up being something great to get back into that kind of stuff.

Here are pictures of the building process.

After spending a ton of money at Home Depot we came home with the supplies.

First Patrick glued together the pieces for the legs.

Then Patrick borrowed our friend Adam's miter saw to cut the boards.

And because of Patrick's superior math skills, this is the only scrap pieces that were left over.

Patrick then used a clamp to glue and screw the base of the table together.

Then he started attaching the top boards to the base.

Here is the table with all the board attached before Patrick added the plugs to fill in the screw holes.

He then sanded the table top down and filled in all the holes with plugs.

And all this time I was inside booking hotels for our trip and editing photo sessions. Patrick took all these pictures himself. He did a great job documenting the process.

After the table was built all Patrick needed to do was stain and varnish it.

And here is the finished product just in time for Meat Fest.

Adam & Maran's Housewarming

2011-10-12T18:57:00.000-05:00

I am so behind on blogging right now and since I have very few pictures of our trip edited I figured I would catch up on the rest of our September.

On Saturday, September 10th Adam and Maran hosted a housewarming party at their new house. Patrick and I are in love with their new house and they may even inspire us to move to the country someday. The house is gorgeous, they live on 3.5 acres and it's only a short 8 miles from our house.

The previous owners had 10 kids, so we explored some of their old toys. Here are the girls on the playset.

And we all had to try out the tire swing.

To end the night we had a nice bonfire, where a couple people got "iced".

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-08T18:18:00.000-05:00

Last weekend instead of our normal annual Labor Day Vacation with my dad's family we went to Nickie's brother George's wedding on Saturday and then on Sunday we had a Traxler BBQ at Frannie's house.

George and Brittany during the ceremony.

Our nephew Ben was the ring bearer in the wedding, so I took a lot of pictures of him in his super adorable outfit. Ben just started really walking a month or two ago, so everyone was unsure if he would actually walk down the aisle or not. He did really well. His Grandma Otto was sitting in the front pew with one of his favorite books, so as soon as he saw that he was off to get his book from Grandma.

On Sunday we went to Frannie's house for a Traxler BBQ. It was quite the chilly day, but we ate some good food, celebrated the September birthday's (there are at least 10 of us) and played some yard games. It was a good time.

And here is a good majority of the Traxler gang.

MN State Fair

2011-09-02T15:10:00.000-05:00

Last weekend was pretty busy. On Friday night we went to Acme Comedy Club with Ty, Le, Rickard and Melissa. On Saturday morning I had a photoshoot and I stopped at Caribou on the way home. The car wouldn't start when I tried to leave. The battery had completly died, but it took us a couple hours to figure that out since even a jump start wouldn't recharge the battery. On Saturday night we headed to Lake Elmo to the Drive in Movie Theater. We saw Captain America and Crazy, Stupid, Love. Neither movie was that great, but it was a great night to be outside watching movies.

And on Sunday we headed to the Minnesota State Fair. Elysia lives near the fair so we parked there and walked to the fair from her house. We didn't go until 4pm, but it was a gorgeous day so it was pretty busy when we first got there.

First up was the horse barn and then the Miracle of Birth Barn.

And then we got some food and Le even got a picture with Sven's cut out.

I really wanted to try the new Sweet Corn Ice Cream from the Blue Moon Diner. And I really enjoyed it. Patrick thought it was ok, but doesn't really think there is a need for veggies in ice cream.

We sampled some other fair staples including a corn dog, a turkey leg, Sweet Martha's cookies and a pickle on a stick.

David bought some garlic fries and the burger with wild rice in it. The garlic fries were pretty potent, I am not sure I could handle eating more than the couple I tried.

To end the night we saw the sunset at the Midway.

Our 3rd Wedding Anniversary

2011-08-25T22:50:00.001-05:00

On Tuesday, Patrick and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. It's been an adventure so far and I hope we keep finding ways to find new adventures in our lives.

I made Patrick take a picture together before we left for work. Hence the reason we both look exhausted.

To celebrate our anniversary we went golfing at Stonebrooke before we met my parents for dinner. It was very hot during golf, but luckily it cooled down while eating dinner outside on the patio. It ended up being a great way to celebrate our day.

Duluth and Grand Marais

2011-08-22T22:48:00.004-05:00

Last weekend we went up to Duluth to help my little brother Luke celebrate his 21st Birthday on Friday night and then we headed up to Grand Marais to celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary.

We got a hotel room at the Downtown Radisson on Priceline for $85 for Friday night. And here is the view from our room.

We decided to hit up the Anchor Bar in Superior, Wisconsin for dinner. I guess the bar was on Diners, Drive-In's and Dives. It qualifies as a dive for sure. It took forever to get our food, but it was pretty decent for a greasy burger joint.

We headed back to the hotel and saw a sign for a late night happy hour at the hotel. The hotel restaurant happened to be JJ Astor, the rotating restaurant on the top of the Radisson. I guess we were all about showing Luke his options. We even went to a real college bar called the Dubliner after the JJ Astor.

On Saturday morning we headed up to Grand Marais. On the way we stopped at Tettegouche State Park and hiked to High Falls.

We finally made it to Grand Marais by late afternoon. Before we even went to check into our campsite we went on a mission to look for ice cream. We found this little place called Sydney's Frozen Custard.

We ended up eating dinner at Sydney's as well because all of the other restaurants had really long waits.

Sunday morning was beautiful so we decided to take advantage of the half price golf offered by the campground. We thought we were going to get rained on for awhile, but the clouds went away and it ended up being perfect for golf.

The golf ball mark on the green bench is from Patrick's ball. He somehow still managed to par that hole.

When we were done golfing we were really hungry for lunch, so we stopped at the Angry Trout for lunch. We had tried to go there Saturday night, but there was an hour and half wait. The Angry Trout is a really cool place that is completely local right down to the ceramic plates and cloth napkins. The food was awesome, so I am sure we will be back in the future.

Amy's Shower

2011-08-17T17:28:00.002-05:00

My old co-worker Amy is having a baby in October, so I decided it would be nice to host a shower with some of her old co-workers. She is having quite a few other showers, so we decided a diaper shower would be a great idea. I didn't do a very good job of taking pictures during the shower, but here are some of the shower details. The appetizers were veggies and dip and tomato bruschetta. For dinner everyone made their own pita pizza's. Erica brought cheesecake for dessert and I made the oreo truffles for a favor. It was nice to catch up with everyone and Amy got a good stash of diapers for when the baby arrives.

Friday Night Pizza & Basketball at Adam & Maran's

2011-08-14T16:22:00.002-05:00

Patrick and I recently decided that we should try to implement a Taco Tuesday and Pizza Friday into our meal planning. We have tried to the pizza part before but we haven't been that successful at sticking to it. Last Friday we ended up heading out to Adam and Maran's new house for homemade pizza, a little basketball and the board game Zombies. It was a lot of fun, so maybe we will make it a weekly thing.

And check out our awesome basketball skills.

Krista & Jay's Wedding Weekend

2011-08-11T20:42:00.017-05:00

Last weekend we headed to Appleton, Wisconsin for my college friend Krista's wedding. We headed out early Friday morning to get to the 2pm ceremony on time. We made it to the church about a half hour early so we explored Appleton a little before the ceremony. Krista and Jay had a beautiful ceremony with a great tribute to Krista's parents who both passed away while we were in college.

Here is Patrick and I at the Radisson Paper Valley Hotel Bar. Apparently this is the hotel where all the visiting teams playing the Packers stay at while they are in town. The bartender even showed us a picture of her and Brett Favre from back when his hair wasn't gray.

Krista played volleyball in college and is now a PE Teacher and Jay is also into sports so their wedding was themed around sports. She did an awesome job of carrying the theme throughout the whole day. The wedding programs were designed like a sports program complete with everyone's name, height, birthday, position and a bio including their favorite sports memory.

At the reception our place cards were trading cards that indicated our meal choice by the different sport.

And if that weren't enough she hand made all the centerpieces based on the name of the table. Our table was the UW-L Volleyball Table complete with a figurine playing volleyball.

The most original part of the reception was the full sized basketball hoop. Krista is the only girl I know who would go wake boarding the morning of her wedding and play basketball at her reception. The basketball hoop was complete with the lines taped on the floor and was fully utilized during the dance including multiple rounds of lighting.

Along with the awesome wedding we were able to see some friends from college we don't get to see very often.

As if the basketball hoop wasn't enough fun they also had a photo booth for everyone to use all night long.

And to end the night Erin ended up on the food truck and some middle aged man tried to lure Lexi to his house with his grilled cheese making skills.

Since we were in Appleton we decided we may as well stay the weekend. So, on Saturday night we camped in Calumet County Park on Lake Winnebago. We were planning on doing some hiking around but it was so hot we didn't end up doing much. That night we ended up in Elkhart Lake at the Barefoot Tiki Bar. Elkhart Lake seemed to be pretty hopping compared to any of the other towns we had been in earlier that day. If we are in the area again we would definitely go back there. On Sunday morning we went to a pancake breakfast in Chilton and then headed back home.

Girls' Weekend

2011-07-27T12:31:00.007-05:00

Last weekend was crazy busy. I don't think that I have had so many things going on in a long time. On Friday after work I headed over to my aunt and uncle's house to see my cousin Dan and his wife Gaye who were in town from Istanbul, Turkey. I had to leave early to head out to Pinstripes in Edina for a girls' night of bowling and dinner. It was a ton of fun. We also got to celebrate Elysia's roommate Katie's Last Horah. She is getting married this Saturday, so we had some girl time and a cake to celebrate. Katie showed us all up with her bowling skills. In the second game she got four strikes in a row, a turkey plus one.

On Saturday I was the photographer at my co-worker's daughter's wedding. The weather ended up holding out and we got some great outdoor photos. Here is the post about the wedding on the Pear Tree Photography Blog.

On Sunday morning I met up with my boss and his family for some photos at Moir Park in Bloomington. Sunday was the perfect day for photos, the humidity had finally dropped and the temperature was reasonable. Here are the photos from Tim's session.

After the photo session I headed to Kate's house so we could meet Shanna and Kasie for our 10 Year Reunion Twins Game. At my senior prom in 2001 I won four tickets to a Twins game of my choice. I guess the Twins must not have been very good in 2001 because I could pick any game I wanted and the seats we got were on the 3rd base line in the 3rd row. For our 10 Year Reunion we bought tickets in April for Saturday, July 23rd. Then I ended up having the wedding on Saturday, so we sold the Saturday tickets and bought my work tickets for Sunday. Before the game we ate at the Blackbird Cafe on 38th and Nicollet. We all loved our food and would definitely recommend it to anyone in the area.

On Sunday Bert Blyleven, aka Circle Me Bert, was inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame so they showed his speech at Cooperstown before the game. Here is Burt's number 28 added to Target Field.

And here is the 2001 Twins Game versus the 2011 Twins Game. I hope we still look this good in 2021 for the 20 Year Reunion.

Oh yeah and the Twins lost to the Tigers 5-2.

Cabin Trip 2011

2011-07-11T22:18:00.003-05:00

We made our annual trek to the cabin last weekend. The last two years the weather hasn't been that great, but this year was gorgeous. And we took full advantage of the nice weather.

There were only six of us there for dinner on Thursday night, so we headed into Hackensack for dinner at Lucette's.

Jachin slept outside again. On the first night we somehow locked him out of the cabin so in order to escape the bugs he slept on the dock for awhile.

There was plenty of floating, canoeing and water volleyball on Friday.

While Shanna was sitting on the dock her hat flew off and David went in and rescued it.

On Saturday afternoon we played our annual game of football. This year it was so hot, it was pretty unbearable by the end. Team Meat Sweats beat Team Steam.

We started playing a new game called planking this weekend. Basically you act like a board in public places and place the pictures on the internet. Here we are doing a lot of planking.

Yard games were played.

As well as some intense games of Farkle, Uno and Racko.

Le and I took a sunset canoe ride on Saturday night.

And here we all are before we had to leave on Sunday. A little different than our sweatshirt group picture from last summer.

The Week Leading up to the 4th of July

2011-07-05T20:10:00.005-05:00

The Monday before 4th of July I won tickets to the Twins Game. We had the same awesome tickets I got last year right behind home plate. Unfortunately the game was horrible and we left before the seventh inning. The Twins were already losing 10-0 when we left and in the end they lost 15-0 to the Dodgers. This is the view on the way out.

That Wednesday the City of Plymouth hosts fireworks at the park near our house. It was a gorgeous night and we enjoyed the show.

On Friday night we met my family at El Toro in Shakopee for dinner. We missed the storms, but Luke was on his way back from Duluth and went through about 5 storms on the way down.

On Saturday, Patrick grilled up some bacon wrapped filet mignon for dinner. It was another perfect night for eating outside.

Our lack of plans turned into a great way to celebrate Independence Day. We ended up listening to NPR and eating Noodles in the park for lunch. In the afternoon we watched How the States Got Their Shapes on the History Channel. Then we walked to DQ for a Blizzard. When we got back we watched Black Swan, ordered pizza from Chanticlear and then headed to Delano for the fireworks. It was an amazing day of just being together.

Celebrating Patrick's New Job

2011-06-30T18:25:00.009-05:00

For Patrick's party to celebrate his job we made six pounds of chicken breasts and thighs into Homemade BBQ Chicken Sandwiches and a seven pound pork shoulder into Adobo Pork Sandwiches. The sides included Pioneer Woman Spicy Coleslaw, Sweet and Crunchy Coleslaw, Cucumber Salad, Pickles, Beef Sticks, Watermelon, Strawberries and Chocolate Cake from Lunds.

I am a complete slacker of actually taking photos of our friends at the party, but there was more than just food at the party. I guess that means we were just having too much fun. Oh well, next time.

Weekend of June 17th

2011-06-29T19:03:00.006-05:00

On Friday a bunch of us girls did the Bridesmaid Bar Crawl for the charity Operation Glass Slipper which provides prom dresses to girls who cannot afford them.

Then on Saturday we went to Rock the Garden at the Walker Art Center. It was a rainy dreary day, but we still managed to enjoy the shows.

Nickie, Nathan and Ben stopped by our house on Sunday. Patrick and Nathan ended up going to the Twins game while Nickie, Ben and I hung out at our house.

CSA Box 1 2011

2011-06-29T18:35:00.002-05:00

Here is a recap of how we used our first box of CSA vegetables. Our box contained Asian Greens Mix, Asparagus, Collard Greens, Green Garlic, Pea Vines, Radishes, Spinach, Spring-dug Parsnips, Thyme and Yellow Potatoes.

We used the pea vines in this Almond Soba Noodles recipe.

Here is salad that we used some of the spinach, green garlic and radishes on.

I made some Green Monster Smoothies with the spinach and some of our leftover fruit we had around.

We used some of the collard greens instead of bread with sandwich fixings.

This Asparagus and Poached Eggs over Pasta used up the asparagus we got in our box.

The potatoes were sides with our egg and cheese sandwiches and steak.

A quick side spinach salad for dinner one night.

We didn't use the asian greens and we still have the parsnips.

Catching Up

2011-06-20T17:37:00.003-05:00

Here is a recap of the last couple weeks around here.

On Sunday June 5th we went to Grand Ole Day in St. Paul. It was a very hot day. We had some awesome Garlic Naan from India House and ice cream from Grand Ole Creamery.

On Tuesday of that week we broke record temperatures when the thermometer went to 104F.

That Thursday we received our first CSA box from Driftless Organics. We used most of the produce, so I will do a recap of that sometime before we get another box.

That same night we got last minute tickets to the Twins game against the Rangers. The Twins actually ended up winning the game 5-4 that night.

Then on Saturday we had a little informal get together to celebrate Patrick's new job.

Memorial Day Weekend

2011-06-01T21:19:00.003-05:00

We had a very busy Memorial Day weekend.

On Saturday, I planted our garden. I planted four varieties of tomatoes, a pepper plant, a jalapeno plant, brussel sprouts, carrots, onions, spinach, rosemary, dill, basil, cilantro and chives.

That night we went over to Ty's place. It was a beautiful night so we took a walk to Prospect Park to watch the sunset.

On Sunday morning we walked to Lund's and got some cherries for breakfast.

After our morning walk we went to the Mall of America to go to Soul Daddy, the winner of the America's Next Great Restaurant show we had been watching. The pulled pork was really good. I thought the sides were pretty good, Patrick wasn't as impressed.

The dishes below are pulled pork, black eyed pea salad, cornbread waffle, kale, pulled pork sandwich and cheesy grits.

Sunday was also Ben's 1st Birthday party, so we went to celebrate with him.

Ben and all his friends.

And his birthday cupcake.

On Monday, we had friends over for a grill out. We made Chicken BBQ Burgers and Lemon Yogurt Cheesecake Cups.

New Pear Tree Blog

2011-05-27T16:11:00.005-05:00

Lately I have been really busy with my photography business, Pear Tree Photography, hence the lack of blogging. I started a new blog for my photos at http://peartree-photo.blogspot.com/. There are pictures from the wedding a couple weeks ago there. It was a blast and I hope to photograph many weddings in my future. I have also been busy with family and kid photos. I hope to blog about them soon, but my Facebook Fan Page www.facebook.com/peartreephotography has some previews on it.

And because I don't like picture less posts, here is one of my favorites from the wedding.

Weekend Recap

2011-05-09T20:47:00.002-05:00

On Friday, Elysia hosted Seis de Mayo at her place. She had Chipotle style burritos, margaritas, chips, salsa and guacamole. It was awesome. We then watched a cheerleader movie and ate Dairy Queen cake. Quite the random turn of events, but it turned out to be a great night.

Saturday was a gorgeous day, 70 degrees and sunny. We spent our day cleaning out the garage, the cars, the house and the dandelions. After our long day of work we went on our first bike ride of the season. We didn't get too far, but we did find some new trails and Chipotle for dinner.

On Sunday, we went to church and then to my parents' house for Mother's Day. It was a pretty small crowd, but Ben did a good job of providing the entertainment. Sadly I have no photos of the little guy. His birthday is coming up in a couple weeks, so I am sure I will go overboard with photos then.

Today I picked up our new grill already assembled from Lowe's. When we moved in the ladies left us a Coleman Travel Grill and it lasted us a couple summers. The broken handle, peeling paint and major rust were just a few signs it was time for a new one.

Shanna's Birthday Brunch and Coffee Tour

2011-05-01T21:11:00.002-05:00

Today we went down to LeCenter to go to Shanna's Birthday Brunch and a tour of the European Roasterie where Shanna's Dad works.

On our way down there we ran into the bikers riding the Minnesota Ironman Bicycle Ride. The route was 100 miles from Lakeville heading west to Jordan, then turns south to LeSueur, Montgomery, Lonsdale and back to Lakeville. I read on the website the fastest person did this ride in 3 hours and 49 minutes, that's 27 miles per hour.

At brunch we had two kinds of waffles, pancakes, sausage and fruit. It was delicious.

After brunch Shanna's dad took us on a tour of the European Roasterie. It was pretty interesting to learn about the coffee making process.

The process starts with the coffee beans arriving in the warehouse.

The beans are then roasted in this huge coffee bean roaster. After the roasting, they are either kept whole or ground. The grinder is on the left and the roaster is on the right.

Roasting the coffee beans is the at the discretion of the person roasting the beans. To have the beans roasted consistently they use a sample tray to compare the roasted beans to.

The ground coffee beans are stored in these plastic containers.

Some of the beans are then flavored after roasting. Here are some of the crazy flavors they have.

We then saw the area where they package the coffee.

Elysia then found the hair and beard nets, so she tried them on.

To close out the tour we all sampled some of the varieties of the coffee.

Wood Chip Saturday

2011-04-25T21:49:00.004-05:00

On Saturday, Patrick and I were up bright and early. We were ready for a long day of putting wood chips down in our landscaping. Our friend Adam has a trailer, so we used that to transport the wood chips. Before Adam got to our house I started finishing up cleaning up the dead plants from last fall.

Here is a photo of the front on Friday before I cleaned up the dead plants and added the wood chips.

And here is the perennial garden on a cold wet Saturday morning.

The plan was to use the free wood chips from the yard waste site. Patrick had looked at the website earlier in the week and it showed a much larger pile than when we arrived. We decided to take what we could and see how far it would go.

Here is a close up of the free wood chips.

At the yard waste site we had to shovel the chips into the trailer. What a pain. Obviously I was not much help with this aspect. It took the three of us about 45 minutes to load up the trailer.

The first load of wood chips only went about half the length of the back fence line. Patrick and Adam went back to see if they could add least get enough to finish the back fence line. They were only able to get about a half the amount we got the first time, but we were able to finish the back fence line.

After that it was already lunchtime and we all needed something to eat. We had lunch at Chipotle and decided on a game plan for the afternoon. Patrick did some calling around and we ended up deciding to get the rest of our wood chips at the Dundee Nursery.

At Dundee they just dump the chips into your trailer. That cut down on quite a bit of time.

I guess you get what you pay for. The wood chips at Dundee were much nicer and ended up being a lot easier to move around and shovel out of the trailer.

Here is an in progress shot. You can see how desperately we needed to do this. The previous owners put down wood chips before we moved in, but that was almost 3 years ago now. In the future, we should really do this every other year.

We ended up getting eight and half cubic yards of wood chips to do our entire yard. In the future nine cubic yards would be just the right amount. We got two and half cubic yards for free and we paid for six cubic yards. Dundee had a sale buy one cubic yard get the second half off. For our six cubic yards we paid $184 with tax. If we would have paid full price and not got the free stuff it would have been around $360 ($40 per cubic yard), so all in all we saved a lot of money with the sale and the free wood chips. And we would have never finished this project in one day without Adam and Maran's help. Maran came over later in the day and helped me spread out the wood chips, while Patrick and Adam loaded the wheelbarrow and dumped it in the garden areas.

Here are the after photos. It looks so much nicer, I am glad that we spent the time and money to do this. Hopefully it will cut down on some weeds this summer as well.

Planting Seeds

2011-04-18T17:35:00.003-05:00

A couple weeks ago, Patrick and I were at Lowe's looking at grills and we bought some seeds to plant. I tried this a couple years ago, but I was unsuccessful. For Christmas last year my dad got me this seed growing set, so over the weekend I set out again to start our vegetable and herb garden from seeds. This year we decided to plant these vegetables and herbs: roma tomatoes, early girl tomatoes, grape tomatoes, peppers, jalapenos, onions, carrots, dill, basil, thyme, rosemary and cilantro. I started all the seeds indoors except carrots.

Here are my supplies: the 72 count tray, popsicle sticks, gardening gloves and seed starting soil. I also used a spoon to scoop the dirt into the tray holes.

Before I put any soil in the trays, I premoistened the soil. This way you don't have to add water after you have planted your seeds and risk drowning them.

I then filled the holes according to the directions on each package. Most of my vegetables and herbs said to plant the seeds with 1/4 inch of dirt on top, so I filled the holes so there was a 1/4 inch unfilled on top. Before I added the seeds I labeled all my popsicle sticks and put them in the tray. I then added one or two seeds to each opening. And finally I added soil on top of the seeds until it was flush with the top of the tray.

Here is the tray with all the openings filled and the contents labeled.

This is the heat mat that came with my seed starting kit. It is supposed to keep the temperature consistent.

And this is how my little seedlings look currently. They are just trapped under this plastic dome trying to sprout.

Since I am obviously not an expert in growing seeds I used this article on Weekend Gardener to guide me through the process. I will keep you updated on my progress.

Snowy April Morning

2011-04-16T10:10:00.003-05:00

This morning we woke up to a blanket of snow. I am sure it will be gone by the end of the weekend, but it is still depressing that it even snowed this late in April.

Dinner at Stonebrooke

2011-04-16T10:01:00.002-05:00

Last night Patrick and I went to the Stonebrooke Golf Club for dinner. We had our wedding reception there almost three years ago. It was fun to look back on how much our perspective on life has changed since then. The food was good too, we had the all you can eat crab legs.

Tacos, Pasta, Pizza & Sandwiches

2011-04-10T18:40:00.004-05:00

I have been slacking in keeping up with my recipe posts lately, so I thought I would just do a little summary some of the meals we have enjoyed lately.

These Smoky Pork Tinga Tacos are made in the crockpot and really good not to mention easy to make.

Since spring has arrived I have been looking for healthy, easy meals for dinner. This Orzo Super Salad is becoming a spring favorite in our house. This salad has tons of vegetables and it is easy to make.

We have been eating a lot of homemade pizza lately. I want to make Friday's pizza night, but we aren't home enough on Friday evening to really call it pizza night. We didn't have dough ready this night, so we made these personal sized Mexican Pizza's on pita bread from Holy Land.

While Patrick was on a work trip, I had free reign on what was for dinner. I made these Sesame Soba Noodles. I had some frozen edemame from last year's CSA and I wasn't sure if it would still be any good, but tasted just like it did when we got it.

And last but not least we had these Lentil Sloppy Joes. These also in a crock pot and super easy to make and a great alternative to sloppy joes with ground beef.

Pizzeria Lola

2011-03-27T18:40:00.002-05:00

Last Friday, Patrick and I went out to dinner at Pizzeria Lola in South Minneapolis. We ended up having to wait quite a while for a table since we got there around 7:30pm. We waited in the bar area for a table.

They have a photo booth at the back of the restaurant that looked kind of fun, but we didn't end up getting our photos taken.

Patrick got the My Sha-Roni pizza with pepperoni and sausage. It was a pizza with pretty standard toppings that tasted amazing.

I ordered the Iowan with prosciutto, mozzarella, ricotta and arugula. I really enjoyed this pizza. If we are in the area we will definitely go back to Pizzeria Lola.

Sealife Minnesota

2011-03-25T16:30:00.003-05:00

Last Saturday afternoon, Nickie, Nathan, Ben, Luke & Caycee all came to our house. We were planning on going to Sealife Minnesota (the new Underwater World) at the Mall of America, so they all came over beforehand for dinner. It was a beautiful day, so we were able to grill turkey burgers and hot dogs. I am glad that we were able to enjoy the outdoors before the snow came back this week.

After our adventure at the mall, we came home and celebrated Nathan's birthday with cake and hours of Wii games.

The next day I couldn't resist taking so photos of Ben. I am starting to see more of Nathan in him as he gets older.

Look at this curly red hair.

And he has Traxler feet for sure. Pretty soon his feet will be bigger than his mom's.

Girls' Night

2011-03-24T17:12:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I was able to see Kasie's new house for the first time. She hosted a Mary Kay party to celebrate the occasion.

And here is Kasie and her niece, the most adorable baby girl I have ever met. She was just as happy and content as she is cute.

On Saturday morning we went to Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis. We ate breakfast at La Loma Tomales. I had a breakfast burrito that was very good and filling. We also did a little shopping. We all ended up buying some fun new scarves at the Tibet Arts & Gift store near the front entrance.

David's 3rd Birthday Party

2011-03-18T17:15:00.002-05:00

Here are some pictures from David's Birthday Party. He woke up from his nap and he wasn't very happy, so he stayed close to mom.

After a few minutes he warmed up to everyone and was having a great time.

Then it was time for presents. He got an awesome new Spiderman bike and helmet from his grandparents. He was super excited about his new bike.

After presents it was time for cake. David was so excited about his dump truck cake. It was pretty cool.

And this is where things got messy. By the time we were done eating cake, David wasn't the only one with blue lips.

David - 3 Years Old

2011-03-15T21:21:00.002-05:00

We had a very busy weekend. On Saturday, we went down to Rochester for David's 3rd Birthday Party. Before the party I took some photos of the birthday boy. We always enjoy visiting David since he is especially well behaved. It was fun to see how his personality has developed since we last saw him. Here are some of my favorite pictures from our photo shoot. I also took some birthday party pictures. Stay tuned for those.

Chris and Sammi

2011-03-13T21:56:00.002-05:00

This afternoon I met up with Chris and Sammi for their engagement photos. It was pretty cold, so they were definitely troopers during their pictures around Mill City and the Stone Arch Bridge. Chris and Sammy were engaged earlier this winter near Lake of the Isles and Lake Calhoun so we also went to that area for more photos. I had a lot of fun hanging out with them today. Here are some of my favorites from the day.

Timberwolves Game

2011-03-10T21:16:00.002-06:00

Yesterday, I won Timberwolves tickets from work so Patrick and I took advantage of our free tickets and made a date night of it. First we had dinner at Gyropolis in Bloomington. I used to live near there so we don't go there often anymore, but whenever we do we are never disappointed.

We were very lucky to see two good things happen at the game. First off Kevin Love had his 52nd consecutive double-double -- surpassing Moses Malone for the longest in the league since the 1976 ABA/NBA merger.

Here is the foul that led up to Kevin Love's free throw to surpass Moses Malone's record.

And the other good thing, the Timberwolves actually beat the Indiana Pacers 101-75.

Lusten 2011 - February 25th - 28th

2011-03-07T19:22:00.005-06:00

Two weekends ago we went on another adventure north for a skiing weekend at Lutsen. This year there were nine of us: me, Patrick, Jachin, David, Shanna, Kate, Jeff, Heather & Elysia. We stayed at the same Caribou Highlands townhouse as last year.

Packing up the new Explorer for the big trip north.

After we arrived the guys went to pick up their ski rentals and I stayed back and unpacked all the food. I took some pictures of the townhouse before everyone else arrived.

After everyone arrived, we posed for some pictures by the fireplace.

Jachin quickly found his happy place.

And then we played some rowdy games of spoons.

The next morning we all headed out for a day of skiing and snowboarding. The temperature that morning was negative 26 degrees with the wind chill. After lunch I decided to take the afternoon off, while everyone else went back out.

Here is the whole group minus Elysia who hung out at the townhouse while we skied and snowboarded.

I made all the food again this year. I had President's Day off this year, so it worked out perfect to spend the day cooking and getting everything ready. The menu consisted of Banana Pancakes, Walking Tacos, Pioneer Woman Salsa, Queso, Smores Bars, Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake, Baked Shells, Soft Garlic Knots and Birthday Cake.

The next day was much nicer and we woke up to a fresh new coat of snow on the slopes.

The other girls and Jeff didn't ski the second day, but they did go on a little snowshoeing adventure.

And while snowshoeing they had to stop for a fun dip break.

Sunday was Jeff's birthday so he and Kate went out to dinner together. After our dinner we all stared down the cake trying to figure out a way to eat it without Jeff finding out. In that time we started planning a surprise for when they came back. We started making a sign and got out the party straws. Kate and Jeff arrived in the middle of the planning stages, so we surprised Jeff by holding up a blank banner and shouting Happy Birthday. It ended up being pretty funny.

After the birthday cake, Kate and Patrick battled it out in a poker game. They ended up splitting the $30 pot instead of playing it out since they just kept trading chips. After poker we pulled out the Sorry board and some people stayed up until 3:30am playing.

On Monday morning we took our time getting up and getting ready. On our way through Duluth we made our traditional stop at Pizza Luce. My little brother Luke even met us there in between classes. It was a good weekend and after being at work for a day we were all ready to be back on vacation.

Esmae - 1 Year Old

2011-03-05T20:18:00.002-06:00

This morning I met up for my last scheduled photo shoot with Esmae. She turns one next week and it is hard to believe how much she has grown since her newborn session last spring. It is so much fun to see her walking and talking. I can't even imagine what she will be up to the next time I see her.

Beer, The Guthrie & Pizza

2011-02-20T17:41:00.004-06:00

Yesterday was a very busy day. First we went to my co-worker Mary's house where her husband and his friends were having a party showcasing the latest beer they brewed. Mary and Zach had lot of great food and beer. It was fun to catch up with them outside of work.

After that we headed to the Guthrie for the play "Little Eyes". The play was in the Dowling Studio and was pretty entertaining.

Then after the play we headed to Dan's house for his Pizza and Beer Party. Dan makes some great homemade pizza, so even though we were far from hungry we had to try out at least a few kinds.

Melissa & Matt - Minneapolis Engagement Photographer

2011-02-13T17:26:00.002-06:00

This morning I met up with my co-worker Melissa for engagement photos with her fiance Matt. We started at the Stone Arch Bridge and ended up at the Guthrie. After negative temperatures all week, today the temperatures were in the forties which was perfect for outdoor photos. We had so much fun, I can't wait for their May wedding.

Super Bowl 45 - Packer Style

2011-02-07T22:32:00.004-06:00

This year Patrick and I were lucky enough to go to three NFL games. Patrick usually makes it to the Packer Viking game at the Metrodome, but I haven't been to an NFL game since I was eleven and the Vikings were playing the Cowboys. This season we saw the Packers play the Bills at Lambeau Field. Then I won tickets to see the Vikings play the Lions. And to cap it all off we saw the Packers/Vikings Game at the Metrodome. Both times the Packers dominated the game winning easily, but neither Patrick or I would have predicted they would be in the Super Bowl.

Besides the game, the most important part of a Super Bowl party is the food. I was super excited about my green and gold cupcakes. I had seen a rainbow cake and I thought it would be fun to do something similar with just green and gold food coloring. Here is the finished product.

Patrick saw these Barbecued Ranch Deviled Eggs on a Tailgating Special. They were a nice spin on regular deviled eggs.

I wanted to incorporate cheese into the menu somehow, so I cut cheese into little triangles to make Little Cheeseheads. We also provided chili and Little Smokies for more nourishment. Our friends did well in rounding out the menu. They brought another variety of chili, vegetable pizza, cowboy salsa, chocolate chip cookies and chex mix.

I decided to properly celebrate, decor was necessary. I had tons of pictures from both games, so I printed out some pictures to hang up. We also had a shadow box with some souvenirs from our Lambeau Field trip, our Lambeau Field pom poms and some green and gold napkins.

Patrick and Adam went all out and tattooed themselves up before the big game.

With most of the guest list being Vikings fans, Patrick wanted to make sure he had a good seat for the game. To solve this problem we made reserved seating signs for Packers fans, aka Patrick and Adam. We also made a sign saying if you were disruptive you would be sent to the basement. We were serious about watching football at this party.

The half time show by the Black Eyed Peas was awful. Jachin doesn't like them, so he retreated to the basement for the show. That probably wasn't the worst idea.

The Packers dominated the first half, but the Steelers came back in the second half to make it a good game. The Packers won the game 31-25 for their fourth Super Bowl Championship and thirteenth NFL title. GO PACK GO.

Kate & Heather's 27th Birthday Celebration

2011-01-30T20:34:00.005-06:00

Last night we celebrated both Kate and Heather's 27th birthdays. We started out at Gasthof's in Northeast for dinner. I had never been there for dinner, so it was fun to experience that part of Gasthof's. Patrick and I got the "Schlemmerplatte" platter. During dinner we enjoyed lots of polka music and heard many chants of "zicke, zacke, zicke, zacke, hoi, hoi, hoi". After dinner we headed over to Pyscho Suzi's. The new location is huge, although the set up is kind of annoying that you can only get the tiki drinks in the downstairs restaurant and the theme bars closed at midnight. Despite all that, we managed to enjoy the closest escape to paradise we are going to get in the middle of January in Minnesota.

Project 365

2011-01-29T16:41:00.002-06:00

At the beginning of January a lot of people make New Year's resolutions, this year I decided to make mine to take one one photo a day. Now those people that know me may not think that would be hard for me, but it has been more difficult than I expected. Everyday life isn't always that exciting, so it's a good way to slow down and notice the little things. You can follow my year in pictures here in my Project 365 folder on Flickr.

The Buick Saga - Part II

2011-01-28T17:42:00.000-06:00

In 2006 I graduated from college, got my own apartment and got a new job. It would only make sense that I would get a new car to replace the Buick. Over the last five years I had lots of intentions to do that, but the Buick just kept on going.

June 2006 – I drove the Buick to my first day of work at my first real job and since then we have spent countless long commutes together in the snow and rain.

Summer of 2006 – At this point I really felt the Buick wasn’t going to make it much longer. One day on the way to the Palace I ended up stranded on Hwy 100 in the middle of rush hour. The Buick had over heated and needed to be towed to a repair shop. It made quite the recovery and I only had minor issues over the next few years.

January 2008 - Started off 2008 with a bang when someone backed into it during a New Year’s party at the Palace. It ended up with a huge hole in the side because it was so cold the plastic broke on impact. We knew the person who did it and he offered to pay for the repair, good thing otherwise I would have been driving around with a huge hole in my car for the last three years.

May 2008 – A hail storm passed through during the first Long Island Iced Tea Daze. Even though it is quite the beast, it definitely felt the impact. You can still see the damage from that day.

July 2008 – We moved in to our first house after our wedding and it became quite the workhorse. It has made many trips the yard waste site, hauled loads of dirt for the vegetable garden we built and brought home our Christmas tree each year.

Summer 2010 – After replacing a starter for the second time and problems with the anti-lock brakes we decided that we needed to look for a new car. We agreed on a 2011 Ford Explorer that was supposed to be released in October. It didn’t end up getting to dealers until January 2011. Last Wednesday after a long night at the dealer I drove home with a brand new vehicle. On Sunday my dad picked up the Buick to bring home to use on the farm. I am kind of glad he has a use for it because as you can see it really has been good to me over the last 12 years.

Here are some gems I found while cleaning out the Buick. My grandparents' map from the 1970's. It has both Met Stadium and the Metrodome on it, so it has to be from the late 70's. Some snowpants my mom put in the car when I first started driving in case I got stranded. A Tiffany tape and a hair pic. And last but not least, the car manual that warns against holding on to a baby in the front seat.

My 1993 Buick LeSabre - Part I

2011-01-26T17:18:00.003-06:00

My earliest memory of the Buick is with my grandma. Before I could drive, I would walk to my grandparents’ house after volleyball practice or other activities to wait for mom or dad to pick me up. One day my grandma decided she could give me a ride home. I didn’t think anything of it until I had to ride with her. The entire ride home I was very scared that we weren’t going to make it to my house. Grandma couldn’t see much and even drove into the curb at one point. I told my parents about her driving, and it wasn’t long after that grandma had her keys taken away because it was no longer safe to have her on the roads.

April 1999 – I returned home from a school trip to Spain. My parents came to the airport to pick me up and told me they sold the mini van I was currently driving, so I would be driving Grandma’s Buick from now on… I cried.

April 1999 to May 2001 – The Buick got me to school every day, volleyball practices, football and basketball games, my job at the grocery store and my high school graduation. During high school I always dreamt of getting a different car that was crappier and smaller, but I guess it grew on me since I ended up keeping it for the next 12 years.

A couple funny stories from high school:

One day we got out of school early because of a snow storm. I didn’t brush the snow off the Buick’s enormous hood, so the windshield fogged up as the cold snow hit the warmer windshield. I could no longer see out the front windshield and ended up in the ditch right behind the elementary school. Guess who pulled me out of the ditch… Tim Boettcher. That was embarrassing.

One Saturday morning I woke up at 8:10 and realized that I should have been at work 10 minutes ago. I hurriedly rushed around and got on the road. I decided to drive too fast along with another car. As we were speeding down the road a Sheriff passed us going the other direction. She turned around and pulled us both over. I slowed down rather quickly and got rear ended by a police officer. She let the other car go, but I had to wait. She had to call another Sheriff’s department to report the accident and in the process I received my first and only speeding ticket. Ironically, 7 years later Patrick and I went to Guatemala on a mission trip with the lady who rear ended me.

August 2002 – Kasie, Kate and I took the Buick to a Twins game. The game was fun, but the real excitement was on the drive back. On the way home it started to storm. It wasn’t horrible, but then it started raining really hard and the wind started to pick up. I was driving the Buick and ended up stopping in the middle of a country road waiting for the storm to pass because I could no longer see anything. The car started rocking back and forth. We all sat in the car in silence. We were really scared that the wind was just going to pick up the car Twister style. Luckily the Buick is a huge piece of metal, so it didn’t do anything more than rock back and forth. This was before any of us owned a cell phone, so after we could see again we drove to the nearest house to check to see if it was safe to travel the rest of the way home. I think Kasie called her parents to make sure it was safe. It must have been ok because we didn’t stay there long. I think later it was determined it was straight line winds and probably not a tornado, but that doesn’t stop us from believing the Buick protected us from a tornado that night.

September 2002 – My freshman year the Buick stayed at home in my parents’ garage, but somehow my sophomore year I was lucky enough to get a parking pass for right outside my dorm. Having the Buick around meant that we no longer had to spend our entire Saturday waiting for the bus to get to Onalaska. It also made it much easier to visit friends and get home to visit my family. Since the Buick was so large I could even move myself and all my belongings home over Christmas Break.

March 2004 – Patrick and I started hanging out at the beginning of spring semester our junior year. He ended up naming my car the Lovely Lady. On Valentine’s Day Patrick sent me flowers and referred to the Buick on the card: “To a lovely lady. I hope these brighten your weekend.” And thus started our lives together.

March 2005 – After our bus trip to Florida with Krista, Russ, Carrie & Jesse we discovered that Carrie and Jesse also enjoyed skiing. We planned on taking Carrie’s car on our first trip to Lusten, but unfortunately some type of alarm locked us out of her car. Patrick and I had driven the Buick to Carrie's place, so we put all our stuff in the Buick and headed to Solboken Resort for our first of many winter ski trips to Lutsen.

May 2005 – In college I lived across the street from a grocery store. One day I woke up to a huge dent in the side of the door and a note from a delivery truck driver saying they reported the accident. My dad had the door fixed and the Buick was back to new. That same year I had a chance to get rid of the Buick for my mom’s Blazer but I choose the Buick because of my practical nature… it got better gas mileage.

This is probably the best story about the Buick. Sometime while I was in college my dad received a parking ticket from the City of Minneapolis, actually an overdue parking ticket that was now over fifty dollars. The ticket was issued at 3:30am for blocking an alley. I was not in the cities so there was no way that I actually received this ticket. The ticket even had a different car description, but my license plate number. My dad was pretty upset about this and refused to pay it. He talked to some people he knew at the county to see if there was any way to get out of it. They told him there was no way to get out of it; he would just have to pay it. He ended up sending a handwritten note saying that his daughter has never been to the city. The note somehow got him out of the ticket.

Stay tuned for more adventures with the Buick.

Hanging Out with Nathan, Nickie & Ben

2011-01-16T16:11:00.005-06:00

Last night Nickie, Nathan and Ben spent the night with us. They were on their way home from up north and Ben needed a break from his car seat. We ordered pizza, read books, played with Ben's toys and watched the Packers beat the Falcons to get the NFC Championship game. Ben is such a happy little guy. He is not crawling quite yet, but I can't imagine it will be long before he is exploring everything.

Black Bean & Salsa Soup

2011-01-14T17:08:00.004-06:00

This is a super easy, healthy meal that we made earlier this week. We always have black beans and salsa on hand so it was perfect for a week night meal. This will definitely be a go to meal in the future.

Black Bean and Salsa Soup

Ingredients:
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1.5 cups vegetable broth
1 cup salsa
1 teaspoon cumin
sour cream, green onion, shredded cheese for garnishing

Directions:
Combine 1 can of beans, broth, 1/2 cup salsa and cumin in a food processor. Blend until fairly smooth. Combine remaining beans and salsa with pureed mixture. Heat soup in a saucepan over medium heat until thoroughly heated. Put soup in bowls and garnish as desired.

Source: Annie's Eats

Ringing in 2011

2011-01-02T20:44:00.004-06:00

We spent New Year's Eve with a small group of friends. We met for dinner at the Gold Nugget in Minnetonka and then we came back to our house for a pretty low key night filled with Cranberry Lime Bellinis and Jenga.

On Sunday afternoon a group of us went sledding at a hill near Adam and Maran's. The hill was pretty icy, so we were lucky no one got seriously injured.

Christmas 2010

2010-12-27T13:48:00.004-06:00

Our weekend was filled with Christmas activities. Both Patrick and I had Friday off, so we spent Christmas Eve Day cleaning and getting ready for our Christmas parties. On Christmas Eve we went to our church for the Christmas Eve service. After the service we came home and made Chicken Parmesan for dinner and opened our gifts to each other.

On Christmas Day we headed to my parents' house to celebrate Christmas with my mom's family. I brought this Mac and Cheese to go with the pork loin and oyster stew.

We left my parents' house pretty early since we were hosting two events the next day. On our way home we went and checked out this amazing light display off Hwy 77 and Old Shakopee Road in Bloomington .

The next day we hosted two events. My immediate family Christmas for brunch and a gift exchange. And then at 2pm we were hosted my dad's entire family for the extended family Christmas. For brunch I made a Ham and Cheese Egg Strata that I have made a few times before and my mom brought cinnamon rolls.

After brunch and the gift opening the extended family appeared. I did a count afterward and we ended up having 38 people over. With the large number of people it ended up going much smoother than I expected. We served cheesy chicken and barbeque chicken sandwiches. Everyone else brought plenty of other appetizers and desserts, so we did not go hungry.

Esmae - 9 Months Old

2010-12-20T21:39:00.003-06:00

Yesterday, I met up with Esmae and her mom again for Esmae's nine month pictures. At her six month pictures she was just sitting up and now she is crawling everywhere. It was hard to enterain her for more than a few seconds at a time, but I ended up getting some really fun photos even though she refused to wear my santa hat.

Updates to Pear Tree Photography Website

2010-12-14T23:28:00.003-06:00

I spent some time tonight updating my photography website. I have added some pictures from recent sessions and updated the logo. Here is the web address: http://www.peartree-photo.com/. Send the website on to anyone in need of newborn, children or family photos.

Christmas Cookie Baking

2010-12-12T20:47:00.003-06:00

This morning we shoveled out of our 16 inches of snow. After that Heather, Le & Maran braved the roads and came over for some Christmas baking while the guys watched football.

We made Rolo Pretzel Turtles with Dove Caramels since Heather couldn't find the rolos.

We also made Peanut Butter Blossoms where Maran made them a little heathier by using egg whites instead of an egg, almond milk instead of milk, low fat peanut butter and dark chocolate kisses.

We also decorated Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Frosting, sprinkles and M&M's.

Snickerdoodles were also on our list of cookies to bake.

And then we made Peanut Butter Patties by making peanut butter sandwiches with Ritz Crackers and then dipping them in white and chocolate almond bark.

Peppermint Bark was a new recipe we tried out.

And to end the day we made these Chocolate Espresso Snowcaps.

December Blizzard

2010-12-11T20:10:00.002-06:00

Today, we woke up to yet another snow storm, actually a blizzard. They have advised no travel and actually taken most of the snow plows off the road until later tonight. I did venture out to shovel some snow, until the neighbor rescued me with the snow blower. Patrick was busy working, so I took advantage of the day and baked sugar cookies and labeled our Christmas cards.

Cupcake Pops

2010-12-10T18:29:00.000-06:00

For my work bake sale last week I decided I wanted to make something fun. Bakerella is pretty popular nowdays, so I decided to make her cupcake pops in holiday colors. Mine are not nearly as pretty as her's so check out her instructions on how to make them here.

Turkey Noodle Soup

2010-12-07T22:43:00.002-06:00

We still had quite a bit of turkey left over, so Turkey Noodle Soup it was. This soup is pretty basic, but I have a feeling it will be an after Thanksgiving staple for us so I wanted to document it. With the rest of our turkey leftovers we have made the Chicken Tortilla Casserole, quite a few turkey sandwiches and we have plans for Turkey Tacos this week.

Turkey Noodle Soup

Ingredients
2 Tbsp. butter
1 large onion, diced
1.5 cups carrots, sliced
1.5 cups celery, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
12 cups homemade or good quality chicken broth or stock
1 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
4 cups shredded turkey or chicken
5 oz. (about 1.5 cups) uncooked egg noodles
fresh ground pepper, to taste

Directions
In a large stockpot or dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Add onions and cook for about 3 minutes before adding the celery and carrots. Continue cooking a few more minutes before adding the garlic. Stir until fragrant.

Add the turkey/chicken, broth, Italian seasoning and ground pepper to taste. Bring to a boil and then reduce. Simmer lightly for 30 minutes.

Cook the noodles in a separate pan. Add the noodles to the soup just as you are about to eat.

Source: Elly Says Opa

Furniture Shopping & Christmas Decorating

2010-12-02T22:02:00.003-06:00

The rest of our long weekend consisted of a lot of cooking, cleaning, furniture shopping & Christmas decorating.

On Friday I made a turkey for dinner. This year we bought an all natural fresh turkey from Trader Joe's. We used the same recipe as last year, but I didn't brine it before hand. That makes a huge difference, the turkey wasn't as good as last year. We will have to see how it goes next year as far as buying a fresh turkey, but we will definitely take the time to brine our turkey.

After our turkey dinner, we went furniture shopping for a TV stand. We ended up buying one. The next morning went to get our Christmas tree and we ended up bring two trees home. One regular sized tree for upstairs and a small tree for downstairs.

Here are our new ornaments for the year. We got these on our road trip this summer when we were at the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. I think these ornament are a good symbol of our year since we went to 2 Vikings games, 2 Packer games, the Football Hall of Fame and the Packer Hall of Fame.

Here are the reindeer that my Grandpa Traxler made for my parents.

And our little tree in the basement with all snowmen ornaments.

Before all of this Christmas decorating we decided to cancel our TV stand order and get a different one at HOM furniture. And while we were there we bought two recliners for our basement. It was buy one, get one free, so we went for it.

We lucked out and the furniture was available for pickup Sunday afternoon. The store is only a few blocks from our house, so we went to pick it up with both our cars because we were unsure which car would fit the most. By some small miracle we were able to get it all in both our cars. Good thing we didn't have to go far because the TV stand didn't fit so well in the trunk.

Here is the new furniture arrangement upstairs. Apparently, once a year we need to rearrange our furniture. Here is our old set up.

And the downstairs.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pomegranates and Vanilla-Pecan Butter

2010-12-01T17:24:00.000-06:00

The week before Thanksgiving I watched Pioneer Woman challenge Bobby Flay on the Food Network Show Throwdown. Bobby made these Brussel Sprouts with Pomegrantes and it looked really good and something a little more exciting than the normal Thanksgving food. I looked up the recipe and it didn't seem too difficult and it wouldn't be hard to make at my aunt's house. Trader Joe's even had the brussel sprout stalks on sale, so it was meant to be. My family is not much for eating outside their comfort zone, but for those that did try it the dish got good reviews. I thought it was a good varation on normal roasted brussel sprouts.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pomegranates and Vanilla-Pecan Butter

Ingredients
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, slightly softened
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup toasted pecans, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed
3 tablespoons canola oil
3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses (recipe below)
Seeds from 1 pomegranate
1 lime, finely zested
1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest

Directions
Combine the butter and vanilla in a small bowl. Fold in the pecans and season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Place the Brussels sprouts in a medium roasting pan and toss with the oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven until lightly golden brown, 20 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven, add the pomegranate molasses and stir to combine. Return to the oven and cook until just tender, about 10 minutes longer.

Transfer the sprouts to a large bowl, add the pomegranate seeds and lime and orange zests. Transfer to a platter and top with some of the Vanilla-Pecan butter

Source: Bobby Flay

Pomegranate Molasses Recipe

Ingredients
4 cups pomegranate juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice

Directions
In a large, uncovered saucepan, heat pomegranate juice, sugar, and lemon juice on medium high until the sugar has dissolved and the juice simmers. Reduce heat just enough to maintain a simmer. Simmer for about an hour, or until the juice has a syrupy consistency, and has reduced to 1 to 1 1/4 cups. Pour out into a jar. Let cool. Store chilled in the refrigerator.

If you want your pomegranate molasses to be sweeter, add more sugar to taste, while you are cooking it.

Source: Simply Recipes

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-30T19:45:00.003-06:00

With no real plan except Thanksgiving at my Aunt Carolyn's our Thanksgiving Weekend ended up being pretty busy. We both had Wednesday off, so Patrick spent the morning cleaning up our bushes that collapsed because of the heavy snow a few weeks ago. Lucky for me our friend Adam came over and helped Patrick load it in his trailer to bring to the yard waste site. That night went to the play "The 39 Steps" at the Guthrie downtown.

On Thursday morning we headed to Mankato for Thanksgiving. My mom wanted a four generations picture with my grandma, her, my brother and Ben. Eventually that turned into a picture with our entire family and grandma. We took a ton of pictures, but apparently it is difficult to get us all to cooperate at once.

And here is Ben. He is getting so big. His facial expressions are pretty funny. I can see his personality starting to develop.

The rest of our weekend was filled with cooking, Christmas decorating and furniture shopping. Stay tuned for updates.

Viking Packer Game 2010

2010-11-28T22:07:00.003-06:00

Last Sunday, Patrick and I were lucky enough to win tickets to the Viking Packer Game at the Metrodome. I got really lucky and won our company tickets for the second time this year. We saw the Vikings play the Lions earlier in the season. Our seats were in first row on the 10 yard line. This time we sat by a crazy lady who paid $500 for her seats and was a member of The Official Brett Favre Fan Club. Apparently 40 of Brett's biggest fans had an invite only party the night before.

We were once again entertained by the Street Team. These guys get pretty excited about their halftime picnic. The half hasn't ended and this guy has his food in hand just waiting for picnic time. They sure worked up an appetite with all those Viking points.

The Vikings started off with the first points on the board, but it just went down hill after that.

This is the disappointment after the field goal was taken away from the Vikings.

And then the "Fire Chilly" signs and chants came out. And as we all know, Brad Childress was fired as the head coach the next day, so they must have worked. Or maybe it was the fact that the Vikings got destroyed by the Packers.

The game itself was pretty boring on our side as there was only one touchdown in our end zone. The final score was Packers 31, Vikings 3.

Sam - One Year

2010-11-21T19:36:00.002-06:00

Yesterday afternoon I met up with Sam and his family. Sam was my first newborn session last January and will be turning one next month. He was such a happy little guy and did really well for being a boy on the move. Here are a few photos from our session.

Pumpkin Overload

2010-11-20T09:14:00.002-06:00

Remember how we had all those pumpkins from my mom and the pumpkin patch. Well, a few of them were pie pumpkins perfect for roasting and making pumpkin puree. With our pumpkin stash I made quite a few good pumpkin treats. Below are links to the recipes.

No Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake

Pumpkin Waffles

Pumpkin Ice Cream

Pumpkin Black Bean Soup

Pumpkin Butter

Pumpkin Granola

Pumpkin Bread

First Snow Fall of the Season

2010-11-13T09:39:00.003-06:00

This morning we woke up to the first snow fall of the year. Here is a comparison of our tree at the peak of fall on October 1st to today.

Good thing that we finished staining the front porch last weekend as it would have been near impossible to do this weekend.

Staining Our Deck & Front Porch

2010-11-09T20:38:00.002-06:00

After Meat Fest Patrick had a couple days off so his plan was to take one of those days to stain the deck. Well, the project turned into an all week project and with my help we were able to get it all stained by Friday night.

Here are the before and after pictures. As you can see the water no longer soaks into the deck, which probably means we should have gotten to this project a little earlier than we did.

After it took all week to finish the deck, we really weren't looking forward to spending more time staining the front porch. Last Saturday we realized it just needed to get done before winter came. The weather was supposed to be goregous for a November day, so we took advantage and got up early and actually finished the project around 1pm. The actual staining only took two and a half hours, so not bad compared to the deck. It helps that this wood was a lot less dry and the bars are metal and don't need to be stained.

Chicken Cheddar Broccoli Soup

2010-11-01T20:54:00.004-05:00

Last night while we were waiting for trick or treaters I made this soup. Although I kind of gave up on the CSA posts, the broccoli, garlic, carrots and onions are from our last box. We really enjoyed our share this year from Driftless Organics and we will definitely be getting a half share again next summer. Both Patrick and I really enjoyed this soup, so it will probably make it on our menu a time or two this winter.

Chicken Cheddar Broccoli Soup

Ingredients:
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast
6 tbsp. butter, divided
¾ cup onion, chopped
1 cup carrot, chopped or shredded
½ tsp. minced garlic
4 cups small broccoli florets
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
½ tsp. salt
4 tbsp. flour
2 cups milk
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
Heat oven to 400 degrees and bake chicken for 20 minutes.

In a large stockpot or Dutch oven, melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Add the onion to the pan and sauté until tender, about 5-7 minutes. Add the carrots and garlic to the pan and cook a couple minutes more. Stir in the broccoli, chicken broth and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer.

In a medium saucepan, melt remaining butter. Add the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes until golden brown, whisking constantly. Whisk in the milk and cook until the mixture thickens and bubbles, about 5 minutes. Once the mixture has thickened, whisk in the cheese until completely melted. Remove from the heat and add the cheese sauce to the soup pot. Allow to simmer until warmed through and broccoli is tender. Add the shredded chicken to the soup. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Adapted From: Annie's Eats

Pumpkin Carving

2010-10-31T21:08:00.003-05:00

Last night Kasie, Kate and Shanna came over to carve pumpkins. We all used stencils except Patrick who insisted in on creating his own design.

Gopher Volleyball and Jachin's Birthday

2010-10-25T13:19:00.002-05:00

On Friday night we went to a Gopher volleyball game against Illinios. We usually try to get to at least one game a year. The Gophers ended up losing in five games.

On Saturday night we went to St. Paul to Pat McGovern's to celebrate Jachin, Tom, Kaari, Abby and Katie's birthdays.

Meat Fest - All American Meatery

2010-10-17T12:55:00.002-05:00

This year we hosted our 3rd Annual Meat Fest. It has become quite the tradition that everyone looks forward to.

This year the theme was All American Meatery and the meat choices included: Grilled Leg of Lamb with Ancho Chile Marinade, Grilled Tuscan Steak with Olive Oil and Lemon, Tequlia Lime Chicken and Herb Marinated Pork Loin.

I also made my first batch of Cinnamon Ice Cream to go with the Apple Crisp I made with the apples from the orchard.

We also had plenty of sides to go with the meat including: Cucumber Tomato Salad, Orzo Salad with Lemon, Feta, and Pine Nuts, Fresh Salsa and Tzatziki Sauce.

Barn Dance and Hayride

2010-10-11T12:34:00.002-05:00

My dad has been spending most of the summer fixing up his barn. In order to properly celebrate this accomplishment my parents decided to host a barn dance. We invited our friends to join in the festivities. Elysia even brought her co-worker from Australia to join in the fun. Kasie, Shanna and I also attended our 9 Year High School Class Reunion at the Little Dandy that night.

The Pumpkin Patch and Apple Orchard

2010-10-05T12:19:00.001-05:00

On Sunday, Patrick and I went on a search for apples and we came home with $40 worth of pumpkins, apple cider, apple bread and apples of course. I decided we were going to try Knaptons this year. They had both pumpkins and apples. We ended up buying pumpkins and squash there and getting the apple stuff at Apple Jacks.

Morgan Creek Grape Stomp

2010-10-04T10:35:00.002-05:00

On Saturday Kasie, Jachin, Kate, Shanna and I participated in our first official grape stomp at the Morgan Creek Vineyard in New Ulm. Shanna had wanted to get a team together earlier in the summer, but they were already filled up so we decided we were just going to watch the grape stomp this year and sign up earlier next year. Well, a week before the event Shanna got a call saying we could participate now if we wanted. So, with the short notice our attire was minimal.

When we arrived the other teams were all ready to go. We were called "The Minimalists" by these guys because of our lack of attire. We asked if they could take our picture and we posed for these before we got our own group photo.

Here we are stomping away. Having never stomped grapes before I didn't know what to expect, but I definitely didn't imagine us crammed together in a horse trough.

They measured how much juice everyone produced from their stomping. We were Team 10 and ended up in 3rd place for our time slot.

After our stomping experience we went through the wine tasting tent and enjoyed a bottle of wine.