Discovery...

I was in H-E-B Sunday (my favorite, FAVORITE, grocery store - even if it is 15 minutes away) and as I was looking through the cleaning aisle, I saw a bunch of the Mrs. Meyer's stuff.

I love her.

Alot.

I grabbed a bottle of Lavender Ironing Spray. Has anyone else discovered this? Instead of starch or water, you can spray this on while ironing to get the wrinkles out and you are left with lovely smelling clothing.

I love it.

Alot.

For Dinner Tonight...

I got the new Rachael Ray book a few weeks ago and I have to tell you, it is nothing like her other books. All new recipes, all look really really good.Tonight I made "Elsa's Favorite Fish" from the Family section.
WOW. This was really really good. I am sure my picture doesn't do it justice but I tried... It is Cod on top of linguine in a white wine-seafood-butter-cream sauce. MMMMM!
We enjoyed this with a bottle of Groth Sauvignon Blanc.. perfect! I highly recommend this dish. It is warm, hearty, kind of fancy, and really really easy.

Weekend Round Up

I keep getting asked "How were the wings?"
This is how good they were....

Final verdict - Lee wins, 21 to 20. He ate the last one to spite me!
Afterwards, you would have thought the puddies were the ones who ate the wings - they passed out!!

What to do?

Nothing! Nada! Zip, Zilch...
That is what we HAVE to do today. We are going to go to the Galleria and get our watches fixed (lee's clasp, my battery). I have gone 2 months without a watch! That just means I am lazy.

We will probably grab a bite to eat. Lee said he wants wings. My first thought = bridesmaid dress less than 3 months... My second thought = heck yeah! I can eat wings like a man. Put down 20 to 30 if they are yummy.

In Houston, wings are not what they are/were in college. You have Buffalo Wild Wings (BW3's). These are fancy-eat-with-a-fork wings. They have some sauce on them, but not near what you get at your favorite bar in Nacogdoches. They also have like 20 flavors. What?
Then there is Wing Street. Also known as - Pizza Hut wings. 'Nuff said.
But then... and only if you are lucky enough to find one... there is Wings-N-Things. These are just like you get back in college. Not battered up and fried. Just plain wings DRENCHED in sauce. Do you get BBQ or Garlic or Asian? NO WAY! You get hot. plain Hot. Lots of ranch. lots of napkins, and lots of water.
Most people don't think twice about wings. They go to Hooters and eat their not-hot-at-all wings, and you absolutely have to get the battered ones because the "naked" (aka-Real) wings don't hold any flavor.
We have Wings-N-Things right by our house. And some Football Sundays Lee and I will look at eachother and say "Wings?" Then the drool starts and nothing will make you happy until you get some wings.
Granted, after my eating competition, my stomach is really really angry and it takes me a day to recover, but sometimes - you just have to live a little bit!
So my story about nothing to do this weekend turned into - "Breann's Ode to Wings."
Maybe my next venture should be to make the best home-made wings. Hmmmm....

My food filled weekend....

It seems like every thing that happens in each day revolves around food. You wake up - you want food and/or coffee. You get to work and start thinking about lunch. You get to about 2pm and start thinking about what you may want for dinner... and the weekend is "who wants to go to lunch/dinner? where?"
This weekend, we had a small get together in our back yard and grilled burgers. When I say small I mean there were only 5 total.Fixins for the burgers... (no this is not a Coke-a-cola add!) and sweet potato friesMmmm swiss or cheddar anyone?
Damon, Carlin, and Ben.
After they left, we snoozed and pondered the next event - dinner. After much debate, we went out for Sushi. This is never cheap because we can never decide! We started with edamame, tried 5 different rolls, and ended with fried green tea ice cream! YUM!
Sunday I was in the kitchen all day while Lee smoked ribs, drank beer, and watched football. He is SUCH a man! :)
I made 2 items - Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes, and Cinnamon Swirl Cookies.
Peanut butter cupcakes with peanut butter/cream cheese frosting and a dollop of black-raspberry jam. mmmmm just add a glass of milk.
Like mini-cinnamon rolls!

When it rains it pours...

So why is it when one part of your life is stressful, another part just decides to join in?
Lee is having a terrible time at his job, so that is making home stressful for us, naturally. But everything was fine at my job.
Until Today.
And it isn't my JOB, it is an aspect of it.
Last month I ran all over the city to get paperwork in place for my licensing exam. I put it all in a bundle and sent it OVERNIGHT to NCIDQ (National Council for Interior Design Qualification). A few weeks went by and I was like "Hmmm i have not heard anything at all."
So yesterday I dug around on their site and figured out they don't have my trasncript (although I sent it...) and I called them. "No, you need to call TBAE, you register with them first." TBAE = Texas Board of Architects and Engineers. So in Texas you register with them and send them your papers. So guess what? I did it wrong. Which means - i can't take the test until the Fall, rather than April.
The only upside I have found (after sitting here stewing for 3 hours) is that both my co-workers will be taking it with me in the fall. So i guess that makes it a little better...
I am just sad.

Love is in the air...

Thursday night, the weather was gorgeous and I drove home thinking of dinner. I knew I was making wheat pizza with sauce, tomatoes, basil, and fresh mozzarella. I thought about how nice it would be to eat outside on our table.
Then I thought of candles!
THEN I thought of the twinkle lights that were still on the tree from the party.
So I got the dough going and rising and started getting the outside all ready. I wiped down the table and chairs, lit the candles, and got the tree lit up.
As always, Lola and Teddy were there too...
I got the pizza all made but I was so excited I didn't get any pictures! I put the pizza on a huge cutting board and we took it outside with some wine and sat under the tree and talked and ate for over an hour. It was sooo nice. We have both been so stressed that doing something outside the normal routine was refreshing.
Here are the remnants of the pizza!!
It was goooood! Hopefully next time I can get a picture of the actual pizza. It was really easy, did not require rolling. It was in Rachael Ray's magazine this month for Skillet Pizza.

I got home early today so I am watching House Bunny and I can't get over whatever Anna Farris did to her poor lips for this movie. Even her face looks puffy. She looks...odd....

Lazy and happy weekend...

After the constant holiday spending-time-with-others, Lee and I decided to spend Friday night alone and have date night. What is funny about married date nights is, you don't need all the sparkle and grandeur that you may have wanted when you were just dating.
So we cooked dinner at home. Steaks and Broccolini with pecans.
The seasoning on the pan with the steaks is Chicago Steak Seasoning from Penzey's Spices here in Houston. I LOVE that place. Everything is actually reasonably priced and sooo fresh and fragrant. You can shop from home here.
I have a new favorite thing that I keep in my freezer at all times. I find that when a shortcut introduces itself that in no way impacts the flavor or integrity of my meal, stick with it. So while at Spec's on Washington, I found these:I love that i can pull them out of the freezer, shake them into the pan, and DONE. They still taste wonderful. This and the pre-diced garlic are my favorite go-to's, especially on the weeknights when messing with garlic just isn't on your list.
After all that, we went on to Blockbuster and rented 2 movies, hit Kroger for popcorn and frozen yogurt, and then snuggled up and just enjoyed being alone.
Our dogs love bedtime. All you have to do is say it and Lola runs and jumps in the bed and Teddy goes and waits to be put into bed (he has not figured out the steps). I walked in the room after getting ready for bed and saw this....I swear she is a person.
Yesterday we bit the bullet and went to see Marley and Me at the movies. Great movie, but the ending nearly killed me. It took me a good hour to get over it. Worse is going to the grocery store afterwards and everyone looking at me because it looked like i had been socked in the eyes and my nose all red. I recommend the movie, but I say watch it at home where no one has to see you cry like a baby.
When we got home I went out back and stood at Luther's spot and thought about him. His collar is in my nightstand and his picture is on the fridge. He was a great boy and next month will be 3 years since I lost him.
And now I have 2 little furbabies that run around and keep me going. They are wonderful pups and I hope they are with me 15 years or more (can I ask for forever?).
We had dinner with my boss, Alyse, and her husband last night which was fun. Teddy was a little freaked out by Alyse because she is pregnant, but they calmed down and we had a nice time visiting. I had the worst headache because of the crying and skipping lunch (had a late breakfast). When they left I curled up on the couch and finished a book and then slept really well all night.
Now it's Sunday, "Kitchen Day." I have pesto bread going in the breadmaker and Jen and Dave are coming over for dinner tonight. I found a great recipe in Martha's Food magazine this month. Each month she does a "Cookie jar." This time it is "Chocolate Sweet Hearts" and are only 47 calories a piece! I will probably start on those soon so they are fresh for dessert with a small scoop of coffee ice cream.
This weekend was exactly what Lee and I needed!

New Years -- Bust

Most New Years, we just have people to the house and drink and be in our PJ's. I have to say, the last 2 years in a row have been pretty sorry New Years Eve's.
Last year: we went to Flying Saucer Downtown, and while I was fun being with people, it was expensive and we left before midnight.
This year: Don, Donald, Jimmy, Ben, and us hung out at our house. We started by serving dinner (steaks, orzo), and then moved on to board games. I was in a bad mood when the night started, then Lee got in a bad mood because there was a sudden influx of dogs when people came over (we had 5 dogs at once). Then Don was grumpy as we played the games. Kyla came over as we were playing Munchkin. Then ChiChi (Jimmy's dog) pooped on the house and Lee got mad b/c he stepped in it. Jimmy got mad and left.
Then Ben came over after all this and we played Scene It. Don was in a better mood and Ben tried his best to lift the mood overall. We stayed up until after 1 (Lee and Ben stayed up until after 4!).
I got up at 10 and made breakfast/brunch. Then Donald, Don, and I played another version of Munchkin for about 3 hours! They left to get cleaned up. The house was very quiet after that!
The saddest part was taking down my Christmas stuff! Then I took a shower and got ready for everyone to come back over for dinner!
Everyone was in a much better mood and got along great.
I hate that we all were so tense with eachother at the party but I guess that happens sometimes.
Tonight Lee and I are turning off our phones, locking the doors, and hiding in our house to be alone for the first real time since Wednesday!
I hope everyone else had a better NYE!

Happy 2009!