Cooking For Dummies

Since Mj has been home he's been cooking up quite a storm in the kitchen. Everything he makes tastes good and I am pretty much the assistant. I did make beef stew in the crock pot alone but not really because he told me everything I was supposed to do. I want to get into the kitchen and make dinner for him on my own so that's exactly what I did last night. I can't come up with meals off the top of my head like Mj. I don't know what Bay Leaves are or how to season food and put it together but that's what cookbooks are for right?

Mj puts me to shame in the kitchen and probably always will, but as his wife I still want to make my contribution to the cooking. I also think it's important to share and enjoy meals together. I think he will appreciate my effort and it makes me feel good to do something for him. My unwillingness to and lack of desire to do so in my previous marriage was a mistake that I don't plan to repeat. Food used to be my mortal enemy. It was always seen as something for me to resist so why would I want to bring more into my house and cook it? Especially when I could get by on canned soup, a sandwich, or nothing at all. Not only that but it was the LAST thing I wanted to do after getting home from work. That was the old me; things are different now.

Mj picked up the ingredients I needed while I was at work. I rushed home and into the kitchen to make the easy and totally not fancy Broccoli & Pasta Bianco. It's basically pasta, broccoli and cheese. I found the recipe online at Campbell's Kitchen. The site is full of simple and quick to prepare low fat recipes mostly centered around their canned soups. It fits right into my post holiday eating recovery plan and something a beginner like me should be able to handle. I needed something quick because I don't get home until 5:30pm or so.

I threw everything together and ended up with a lot of extra pasta that Mj will undoubtedly find something tasty to make with. It only took 25 minutes to bake and looked and smelled pretty good coming out of the oven. We had some dinner rolls with it and were able to eat by 7:15pm.

The verdict? It turned out OK. It could have had more flavor but it tasted good. I felt kind of bad because everything Mj makes is so delicious and mine was just so so. Chef Mj suggested that real garlic and pepper would have probably given it more flavor. The recipe called for some ground pepper and I added some Garlic salt but I guess that just didn't cut it.

I will never be on Top Chef but I was really hoping that I wouldn't end up on Worst Cook's In America either. We watched that show on Monday and the best that some of them could do is make canned soup or boil a chicken. I am not that bad off, but I am a long way from being good.

Post Holiday Eating

I did pretty good over the holidays in terms of not over indulging just because there was food and chocolate everywhere I turned. I tend to have pretty decent willpower when it comes to eating in moderation but it kind of went downhill for me on Christmas Eve. Mj and I stopped and got breakfast sandwiches from McDonald's on the way to my mom's. Once I got there I couldn't seem to stop eating, drinking, and snacking on everything in sight. That led right into our trip the day after Christmas. The only thing worse then holiday eating is vacation eating and I did plenty of it. We didn't eat out every single day but I found myself eating way more then I normally do and feeling just a bit like a stuffed pig. I have what is probably a bad habit of stepping on the scale every day and I hated it that I had no idea how much damage I was doing while I was away.

Granted, I have what Mj refers to as a "complex" when it comes to weight and food. I admit it. I tell him how fat I feel and he laughs and rolls his eyes telling me that I am not even close. I don't dare tell my friends I feel fat because it will probably just piss them off. I am not fishing for compliments or trying to be that annoying skinny girl who always complains about being fat. I really mean it. I appear slim on the outside to others even though I feel big on the inside so they are never all that sympathetic. I can't say that I blame them. On more then one occasion I was told by one of Mj's relatives that I was "so skinny," but I don't see that when I look in the mirror. I probably still ate less on the trip then what a lot of people do but it was WAY more then usual putting me outside my "comfort zone" and triggering my weight anxiety. Realistically, I know this but there is this thing inside my head telling me that because I gained 2.5 lbs over Christmas break that I am huge.

Anyhow, since I've been back I have fortunately not gone on a starvation diet as I might have done in the past. Aside from our New Years Eve steak dinner plus tons of bread and dessert [oh my] I have been on what I guess I will call a modified sandwich diet. I was just so sick of food and eating. I need to eat light right now just to unclog my system.

I am getting back into my "normal" eating routine and starting to feel better inside my skin which is good. I just have to keep it up.

Spilt Milk

Laugh at myself story for the day:

It is not uncommon for there to be a cup of water just sitting in the fridge. Often times I will get some water to drink, not drink it all and just stick it back in the fridge. If I am thirsty again later I'll just reach into the fridge and grab it.

Well, yesterday I reached into the fridge and grabbed the water cup but when I took a swallow I was met with a very unfortunate surprise. Instead of water it was spoiled and rancid milk that had been sitting in the fridge the whole time we were out of town. It only took a few seconds for my taste buds to to tell my brain "Crap, It's not water!!!!" before I was running towards the sink to spit it out.

I'm the type of person who has never vomited outside of a toilet no matter how much alcohol consumed. I go through 5 napkins during one meal because I have to wipe my fingers after every time I pick up a piece of finger food and can't stand to see crumbs on the kitchen counter, but I could not hold in this rancid milk long enough to make it the entire 3 steps from my fridge to my sink. I almost did, so there wasn't too much spillage but the taste was so disgusting that I hardly even cared. I just kept spitting and moaning and rinsing my mouth out with water. Mj came rushing into the kitchen thinking I'd fallen or something! Ok, maybe I am dramatic but it was pretty traumatic at first. It was disgusting and funny at the same time.

"Mj bring me my toothbrush." I couldn't even bear to stop spitting, sputtering, and rinsing long enough to go to the bathroom and get it myself. As the shock wore off we both started laughing because it is quite hilarious when you really think about it.

I proceeded to cleanse my mouth of that horrible taste. Has anyone ever had curdled chunky sour milk? Well, I don't suggest that you do.

Mj says "that's why you should always look before you drink." Lesson learned.

Save The Date

It's so exciting!! I officially have a wedding date. My wedding will be on July 10, 2010. We decided on a location before Christmas but just finalized the contract and paid our $1,000 deposit yesterday. All done by fax and e mail-gotta love it!!

As I was searching for locations there were times I felt myself looking longingly at mansions, wineries, and lush golf course country clubs. Some of these locations were absolutely fabulous. I could only imagine how lavish and fantastic it would be to have a wedding at a place like that. I was not however seduced by the $90 per plate catering costs, $5000 venue fees or $8,000 food minimums. I have a budget and it does not include using the money we have saved for a down payment on a house in order to finance our wedding.

Back to reality. Which is fine, because there were a lot of lovely locations that were within our budget. I couldn't just look at the cost alone- I had to factor in the ever present sales tax and hefty 18-19% gratuity. That adds a lot onto the final tab. I also had to consider the estimated cost of my extras: DJ, Photographer, Officiant, cake, and flowers. This is on top of any costs associated with the facility and food.

We decided that Zosa was just too far to make it convenient for out of town guests. We also felt that the rooms were just a little too pricey. Basically, after the wedding we would be heading back home and our guests that were staying in town would either have to switch hotels or else we might not see them again and it would make it more difficult for them to do the whole tourist thing if they wanted to while they are here. We would have gotten so much more for our money with their great all inclusive package prices but we decided to pass.

MVR was actually the less expensive hotel option but Mj just didn't like it. The upside in addition to cost is the free parking and they provided false flower center pieces. The ceremony location was right behind the pool and was not closed off at all so he did have a good point about that not being ideal. When I crunched numbers to include alcohol, and Hors D'oeuvres I really liked the price though because we had a better chance of staying in the $10,000's. It would not be nearly as stylish as The H and I was willing to accept that but Mj was not.

The H Hotel it is. It is centrally located, the room prices are reasonable and the renovations on the entire hotel will be done in February. It is convenient having the ceremony and reception in the same place. The garden area for the ceremony is beautiful and private. The reception room is intimate and has floor to ceiling glass that looks out onto the garden area. The hotel does the catering, provides staff, tables, chairs, and linens. There were some really scenic locations that I found online but by the time you add in the cost of paying staff and renting tables, chairs, linens, china, bar set up, etc through the catering company the cost seemed way too high so I think this was the best way to go for us. One downside is that they do charge for parking which we can either host or make our guests pay. The upside is that I won't have to buy chair covers because the hotel has nice gold ballroom chairs whereas the MVR had an ugly maroon that I would have wanted to cover.

Garden Ceremony Location

View of the Garden from the Reception Room

I like it that we will have plenty of time to use the facility. There were some places that wanted you in and out in 4-5 hours which I didn't like because I don't want to rush through this. The changing room for the bride is right across from the reception area and is available as early as 10 am. The ceremony venue fee is $1,190. What's nice is that the ceremony location is set up with a sound system and CD player so we won't have to hire a DJ for the ceremony at all. The reception room cost is included in the food prices. We have chosen a reception package that provides one hour unlimited drinks during cocktail hour along with a cheese display, a single plated entree selection, and champagne toast. The cost for this is a very reasonable $55 per person. The food minimum for our room is $3,000 which we will have not problem meeting with our planned 75 guest list. We may add on an additional fruit display. Their bar hosting packages are flexible and we may also add on some extra alcohol.

I want to work on getting our officiant, DJ, and Photographer in place next because those services usually do just one per day so you have to book those well in advance. In my earlier searches for locations I have come across possibilities for all of the other vendors too and have saved the links in a hotmail draft for later reference. I've done most of the research I just have to dig it up and make decisions.

So, the key is to keep the cost of all of my additional vendors as low as possible so as to try and stay within budget. That includes officiant, flowers, photographer, DJ, and cake. I also will have to decide on low budget center pieces and invitations.

New Year's Eve Nap

Our New Year's Eve plans basically consisted of going out to dinner. Mj is not that into the whole New Years Eve party scene and I am not into the cost and the crowds so dinner was just fine for both of us. We went to a nice restaurant and enjoyed a good steak dinner. As if I needed to stuff my face full of any more food then I already have what with the holidays and traveling. But, it's New Years Eve and it will be my last indulgence for a while so I can cleanse my body of all of this ridiculous over eating. I enjoyed my meal and even ordered dessert. I can undo the damage next year right? At the restaurant I saw some girls in their chilly party dresses and unforgiving party shoes and was so glad not to be in their shoes. I was warm and comfortable in Uggs and jeans. I didn't have to try to look all cute just to go out and eat some steak.

We were so tired from traveling that we actually didn't make it until New Years. About an hour before midnight Mj turned the TV to one of the countdown shows. We promptly dozed off within minutes. I woke up to Britney Spears performing. My goodness she is looking better then ever and I really wanted to watch it but I couldn't even stay awake for that and the next thing I know it's 12:32 am and Mj and I are both knocked out.

"Oh no, we missed it. Do you still want champagne?" I said nope and off we went back to sleep.

New Years Day was spent watching movies and relaxing. That is all either of us wanted to do. We did have some champagne and toast to the New Years. A day late, but oh well. Oh, we did toast at dinner too-so technically that should cover it!

It's been a while since I made any New Years resolutions, but here are a few things I want for the New Year:

• Get back to my normal eating [non pigging out] routine.
• Get better at cooking.
• Start all over with Rosetta Stone and move forward with learning Spanish.
• Reduce my anxiety and stress. Be happy. Bad things in life happen-just deal with it.
• Spend little to no money on wants. There is no room in the budget for anything but the wedding.
• Buy a house, plan and enjoy and amazing wedding, and go to Europe for my honeymoon.
• Earn more money. No plan whatsoever.......
• Exercise. Doesn't have to be at the gym.

Meet The Parents

Delaware is a place I never in a million years ever would have thought I would visit. Mj is actually the only person I've ever met in my life from there. It's not as cold as I thought it would be. We missed the storms thank goodness but there are still various piles of shoveled snow on the sides of the road.I enjoyed our trip but it's so good to be back home. We stayed the first three nights at Dover Air Force base lodging for only $30 per night. It even has free Wi Fi. Can't beat that. The room are pretty nice too!!

It reminds me a lot of Jacksonville, NC where my older sister currently lives. They are virtually interchangeable which perhaps could be said of many small towns in the South and the East Coast. You have your Super Walmart, Restaurants, fast food joints, and a small downtown area. It's flat and there are trees on either side of the highway that really isn't a freeway. There is lots of greenery and the most adorable little doll house like homes made of brick and aluminum siding. They have porches, sun rooms, and basements. No stucco to be found anywhere. All of the businesses look like charming brick houses. They even have Amish people in Delaware. The girls wear loose gray dresses, black sweaters, black boots, and white bonnets. It was freezing out and these two young girls were wearing that and riding a horse and buggy. I couldn't believe my eyes. The brick downtown jailhouse is more charming than any jailhouse I've ever seen before.

Definitely not a Super Max Prison

Amish Buggy. I can't believe people still live this way!

I met Mj's mom and dad and a bunch of his other relatives. It was really nice to have the opportunity to meet before the wedding. Everyone was really nice and welcoming. After we left Dover where most of his family lives we drove down to Virginia to meet mom. We stopped at a place called Cracker Barrel for breakfast which has the best pancakes I have ever tasted before. Brown and crispy at the edges unlike most restaurant pancakes which are pale and flavorless. The traffic was horrible so it took us about 7 hours but his mom had dinner ready for us when we got there and we had a good time. We spent the night there before heading out the next day to Washington D.C.

I have never been there before and I would definitely like to go back when it's not so darn cold. It was about 32 degrees. I was doing OK the whole trip because my exposure to the arctic conditions came in short spurts but I found myself outside for about an hour straight as we walked around DC and I thought I was getting frostbite. Seriously. My face was numb. My left hand was hurting and my lips were frozen. We checked out two museums at the Smithsonian.

Natural History Museum

We also got to see the huge White House Christmas tree. For some silly reason I thought we were going to be able to walk up to the White House but that was not the case. Security reasons and all I suppose, considering it is the president's house. We were able to see it from behind wire bars and trees. We had nothing to eat the whole day except a shared street vendor hot dog which was absolutely delicious so we took the subway back to our car and went to dinner. One of Mj's friends met us there. My hands literally had pins and needles as the blood began circulating back into them. We stayed the last night at the Hyatt that cost more then our three nights at Dover AFB and was extremely nice although we didn't really get to enjoy it much. We went to bed early to get ready for our 4:30am wake up call so that we could make our 6:45 am flight.

The Garden Room view from our Hotel Room. That's Mj walking towards the check out counter.

At the airport I stood under falling snow. So what right? But as a born and raised Cali girl that is something I have never actually done before. I've seen it for the first time in College and been in Atlanta when it had snowed but that is the extent of it. I thought it would be wet coming down but it's so light and fluffy!!

The flight out here wasn't so bad. Mj and I had the row to ourselves and we kept fairly occupied with reading and the in flight movie. The way home was entirely another story. We sat on the runway for about 2 hours while they de iced the plane. I was in and out of sleep the whole time so I don't really remember. Then our flight from Baltimore to LA was expected to take 5 hours and 11 minutes!! Towards the end of the flight it was so hot I had to take my shirt off and my butt was killing me. Due to the delay we missed our connecting flight and got home a later then expected. We were exhausted. All we wanted to do was get home and take a nap so we could rest up before our NYE dinner.

I always have thought that a couple's ability to travel together is a reflection of the kind of relationship they have. The ex husband and I traveled horribly together. It was stressful and worrisome to the point where it overshadowed excitement over the trip itself and it certainly was a reflection of how bad our relationship was. Things could not be more different with Mj and I. Things did go wrong on our trip here and there but as long as we were together and just went with the flow it was fine.

It is so good to be home. Did I already say that?