Reily

Happy Birthday Reily!

It's Reily's birthday today!  The big 9!  I can't believe she is 9 and doesn't look a day older than 1.  I love that she is a runt and still has an adorable puppy face.  It's a good thing she is cute because her middle of the night wake ups and bed hogging ways are frustrating.  But she keeps me happy and entertained.  She is by far the best decision I've made in my 20s, besides moving back to St. Louis. 



She has been there through thick and thin and can always make me smile on a bad day.  And is always eager to play fetch or with her duck.  She is nothing more than a great dog!  Happy Birthday Reiles!

Sunny, Warm February

How crazy has the St. Louis weather been?  It's up to almost 70 one day and the next I'm sitting at my desk watching snow flurries blow by.  It has been a very mild winter with a few days in the 20s but nothing too bad.  This past weekend was great!  Saturday morning was a little chilly at the farmer's market but then the afternoon warmed up to the 50s and no coats needed.

Sunday was even better.  We turned the heat off, not the first time this winter, and opened the windows for the entire day.  I woke up in the middle of the night to find Reily snuggled in as close at possible, so it might have been a little chilly for her.  I let her out and closed the kitchen window at 4AM. 

I love this great weather!  Bring on spring!

Fat Tuesday

Happy Mardi Gras!  It's going to be a challenging Lent this year.  I'm stuck on what I should give up, I'm leaning towards chocolate and snacking.  We'll see how it goes this year.

Pinterest

  The new craze on the Internet has been Pinterest.  It's highly addicting and it's filling up a lot of my free time.  Basically, you get invited to join and then it's up to you to fill your boards.  There are things from recipes, DIY crafts, Holiday decoration idea, work outs, random pictures, how to decorate the house (every room) and much more. 

I was invited just a short while ago, in December and I have quickly made use of it.  I've found a lot of cooking recipes that I've tweaked a bit.  Plus there are great cleaning ideas and ways to save money.

A page looks like this and there are so many ideas that just pop up every second of the day, it's easy to see how one can get carried away.

Valentine's Day

Let me say this first, I'm not the biggest fan of Valentine's Day.  To me it's a little commercialized and I don't need all the fuss.  So, I would have been happy cooking diner at home and watching hockey, I'm easy.  Instead we had "plans."

About a week ago, Scott asked for my work address.  I kinda figured I would be receiving something at my desk.  I took a walk around campus came back and Scott was messaging me to see if I had received something.  I hadn't.  That started my calling 3 different places around campus to find where the flowers had been delivered.

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After work I was told to meet Scott at his office as soon as I could since he had reservations somewhere.  By the time I made it to Soulard, Scott hopped in the car and we head over to Lafayette Square.  I was pleasantly surprised that Scott picked Sqwire's for dinner.  I had never been there and really wanted to try it.

The meal was great we started out with the Table Tasting Board and had carmelized dates, apple sausage, carmelized garlic, cheese bread, and Brie.  It was all great and I really liked the mustard dipping sauce.



For our main course, I had Strip Steak and Scott had the Pork Tenderloin.  Both dishes were amazing and served with scalloped potatoes.  We even saved some room for desert, chocolate ravioli with coffee flavored ice cream.  So good!  I can't wait to go back to try something new!

Let's Go Blues

The Blues have been on a tear since the All Star Break and it's been fun hockey to watch.  We stayed home after the taste of Soulard to watch the hockey game and an amazing victory.  On Friday we decided that we needed to catch another, better game.  So we bought tickets in honor of Abe Lincoln for $16 each!

We arrived a little late to the hockey game due to the movie, Safe House, running longer than we thought.  It was only the middle of the first period and the Blues were looking good.  They won 3-0, including an empty net goal in the 3rd period that Scott predicted.  It was a great game and a great way to end the weekend.

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Chicken Wings

Scott and I have been trying new ways to make chicken wings.  We found a recipe that I tried for our Super Bowl wings, it was pretty good.  So after going to Soulard this weekend we picked up some new spices to try.

I tried a Herb & Garlic flavoring for half the wings and a chili, paprika, cumin flavoring for the other half.  I they turned out tasting pretty good.  I have the chili, "hot," wings down.  Now I need to work on the Herb & Garlic to kick up the flavoring a bit more.



We did decided that we are going to continue baking the wings instead of frying them.  All in all, it was a productive wings day!

Taste of Soulard

Last year Scott and I stumbled upon Taste of Soulard during one of our trips to the Market.  So this year when I saw the list of Mardi Gras events I knew this was the one for us.  Kristin, Tom, Diana, Chip and his co-worker Ryan joined us on a very cold day.

[caption id="attachment_1868" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Kristin and I"][/caption]

We got our tickets and parked at Scott's office and then walked up to the first stop, Molly's.  Then we headed to Nadine's Gin Joint and tried some kabobs.  We went to McGurk's for wings, Carson's for jambalaya, and the Grizzly Bear for really good shrimp dish.

[caption id="attachment_1869" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Everyone at Carson's"][/caption]

At each stop we hung out for a good while so we all could warm up.  We did some shopping at the Porch and at the Market for spices.  We even stopped to see what the racoon meat looked like.  Diana and Chip have recently moved to St. Louis so I wanted to show them a new area and have some fun.  It was a great, yet cold, day.

Beef Stew

We have talked about making a stew for quit some time and we finally made it.  I think it came out better than I had expected it would since it was the first time I've ever tried this.  We went down to Soulard to get all of the ingredients, carrots, potatos, onion, spices and of course the beef.

After I made dinner I went ahead and started peeling and cutting everything up and had it ready to go for the next morning.  I was surprised as to how easy it was to make.  Before I left for work, I added a gravy packet (an idea from a recipe I found) and 2 cans of beef broth.  When I came home for lunch, the stew smelt great but was still runny.  I added 2 table spoons of flour to thicken it up and it did the trick.



By the time Scott got home from work the stew was ready and it tasted great!  I think this is a recipe we'll have to try again, just so we can perfect it.

Super Bowl Weekend

It was a rather busy weekend for us, at least busier than the last few had been.  I had wine night at Ursuline Friday night.  On Saturday we took a much needed trip to Soulard and stocked up on a lot of food. 



We found out that our meat market now sells racoon!  I didn't see it, I took the sign's word.



  I ran errands and clean the hall closet (much needed organizing) and rested while Scott worked.

Saturday night we headed to the Birch's to celebrate Elizabeth's 14th birthday.  I can't believe it's been 14 years since I was living with them!  We had a great time watching the Blues game and Mizzou beating KU in the second to last rivalry game.

Sunday, we started cooking.  We found new ways to make chicken wings, spicey chili and some dips.  Over all the Super Bowl was a great day.  I didn't care much for either team but did root for the Patriots.  I figured Brady needed the win more than Ei (league's biggest crybaby).  Oh well, at least I'm done seeing both of them for a few month and can concentrate on hockey.

6 months

I would like to wish my husband a Happy 6 Month Anniversary.  They have been a wonderful 6 months!

Wine Night

A couple of weeks ago, Loreen asked if I wanted to go to the alumni wine night. I figured it would be a great way to give back to the school and see some girls that I hadn't seen in a while. So, this past weekend Ursuline had an alumni wine night. It was a chance to get together with other UA alums and sample some wine from a local vendor.

Brooke and I arrived early, well before most showed up due to the rain and the highways being a mess. We took full advantage of this. We started out at the Old World wine table and managed to sample them all before a crowd gathered. Loreen showed up and we headed over to the New World wines.

[caption id="attachment_1850" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Class of '98"][/caption]

 After tasting all the wines they had out there were only a few that I liked. None that I wanted to buy though. We got our plates filled with foods and of course, Swedish Fish and Watermelons. We hung out with a large group of ladies from the class of '75. They were hilarious to listen to their stories. We compared athletic stories and uniform issues, even what was not allowed and was instant detention.  Brooke and I snuck off to the old gym (still smells the same)

[caption id="attachment_1853" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="This is new to the old gym"][/caption]

and decided to leave a note to our old advisor.

[caption id="attachment_1852" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Our note to Mr. Master"][/caption]

I won a door prize, a glass ice bucket with the Ursuline crest on it. I loved it! Now when to use it.

[caption id="attachment_1851" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Door prize and Watermelons"][/caption]

Afterwards we headed over to Bar Louie for some more catching up and drinks. It was a great night.