Tuesday, July 19, 2011

the blackest of berries & the sloppiest joes

 The other day Matt and I decided to go down by the river to pick some blackberries. Let me tell you one thing about my husband; he is a berry picking fool. This man would not leave until we had a full bucket of blackberries. The bad thing about blackberry bushes, is the amount of thorns on every vine. It's almost impossible to reach ripe berries without getting scraped or cut. So best wear some boots and jeans when venturing into these thorny bushes. Another thing to be aware of (especially in the nor cal area) are the snakes. Rattle snakes to be specific. I was about to venture into a bush, combat boots and all when my husband persisted on going in first. He took one big step in and scanned the ground and let out a gasp. "Snake!" We both hightailed out of there as if we had seen a boogie man. I had the hibbidy-jibbidies just thinking about getting struck by a snake. I no longer went off the path to get berries but stayed on the bike trail to remain out of harms way. But we didn't come back home empty handed after the whole snake fiasco. In fact, we came home with at least a little over a 3 pounds of berries. So we rode our bikes back home, victorious and hungry. That night, we were going to have sloppy joes. I was particularly excited to eat sloppy joes since I hadn't had them since I was a kid. Although sloppy joes are considered a poor man's meal, I found the ones my husband made to taste excellent! He had used his own spice mixture too.



I can't wait to cook with these little juicy morsels!


While Matt was cooking I found Gus digging through his laundry. It looked as if he was digging his head into Matt's underwear....


Caught you in the act didn't I?  You little stinker!


We enjoyed our meal out on our porch with a couple of blackberry freezes while we watched the sunset.






We went to the river again today to do some water coloring.






 I'm really enjoying the summer weather and the berries that come along with the season. I also just started and finished a book today called "Still Standing" by Carrie Prejean. A former Miss USA contestant, and also a former Miss California pageant winner in 2009. I loved her book. It only took me around 6 hours to read. I definitely recommend it, especially if you remember watching her in the Miss USA 2009 competition.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Katelyn's Pear Salad

Ingredients:

  • romaine lettuce or spinach leafs 
  • 1 pear sliced
  • toasted walnuts, chopped
  • crumbled blue cheese
  • diced onion
  • diced roma tomato
  • 3 tbs balsamic vinegar
  • 2 tbs honey
  • 1 tsp dijon mustard
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • salt & pepper
  • parsley


 Prepare lettuce and toppings. Then blend all of the wet ingredients along with the seasonings and viola! A very simple yet delicious summer salad. Be sure to add what you want! Make it your own.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Another interview


Flowers I picked today after getting some blackberries.


Ready to go to another interview.




Sweet & sour chicken with pineapple.




Super easy and cheap meal to make (especially with a rice cooker).


Matt came back with a smile and said the interview went great. How does this guy do it?

Monday, July 11, 2011

a giving day

  Today was a big day for Matt. He had his first interview with a contracting company this morning. You think he would be nervous right? Nope. Turns out, I was the one that was sweatin' it. So much that I only got a couple of hours of sleep last night. When our 6:45 am alarm went off, I was ready to get his day off to a good start, despite my zombie-like state. I grumbled  a little at first, stretched and yawned, but it was time to get a cookin'. So I made one of his favorite breakfasts, banana blackberry pancakes, sunny-side up eggs with some ham. Everything turned out delicious. I'm quite surprised I didn't burn any pancakes since I'm not used to waking up so early. After finishing the dishes, it was time to send Matt off. I seriously wanted to say kick some interviewing butt or something like that, but I think a simple "I love you, and I'm praying for you" was what came out of me. I kissed him goodbye.

 Now it was time to do some grocery shopping and house cleaning... If only that's what happened. Right after Matt had left, I got very sick and tired. So I crawled back into bed and knocked out for two hours only to be awoken by a smiling Matt, holding a beautiful bouquet of pink flowers out to me. He reached down and gave me a big hug. I was so happy, I almost cried. He wrote the sweetest little card too. It was exactly what I needed. So I hopped out of bed ready to clean the house, while Matt went to the gym. After he was done, we set off to the library, which ended up being closed (note to self, library is always closed on Mondays). It was off to the grocery store for now. I really hate going grocery shopping so late in the day. It's always busy and it seems kids are always screaming at their parents if they don't get that toy or if they don't get that stale gum ball that's probably been sitting in the dispenser for over a year. What a head ache. Anyways, we braved the crying kids and completed what needed to be done. We got home and unloaded and snacked on some cookies that I had made. Then Matt told me that we should probably share some of the cookies with our neighbor. So we wrapped some cookies up and headed over. Our neighbor is one of the sweetest ladies. She invited us in with a big smile and told us to have a seat. We had talked to her plenty of times before. She told us recently that she was diagnosed with cancer. Today was her first day of chemo. I had felt so bad when she told us. I wanted to excuse ourselves but she kept us right where we were. She told us all about the things her and her late husband would do together. I almost wanted to cry. What a sweetheart. She shared a zucchini recipe with me and I gave her some blackberries that Matt had picked the day before. It was a giving day. We left soon after exchanging gifts. I was going to bake some bread today for the first time and I decided if it turned out okay, I would send some over to her. I hope she enjoys it. I find it so much better to give than to receive.


Matt getting ready for his interview.

















The finished product. Not too shabby.




Gus people watching.


So remember to give to someone. The simplest things can make anyone smile. <3

p.s. Matt said the interview went great!

Saturday, July 9, 2011

south lake tahoe

 Matt and I decided to go on a little camping trip this week, to well, you know... get away from it all. I do admit, things have been a little up in the air these past few days, and it seems like we've been super busy around the apartment. So to cool off and relax, we went to Tahoe for a couple of days to get some fresh air in our lungs.


 We were lucky to find such a good camp site that was inexpensive and didn't need a reservation.








 After settling in at our camp site we did a little exploring.










Since I forgot to pack pots and pans, I had to make a little pot out of tinfoil.




 The next day we hiked to Cascade Falls.










Then we went to a near-by beach to relax.


After having no luck with the fish....




we watched the beautiful sun set.








The next day we hiked down to Vikingsholm, which is an old Scandinavian styled home right on the beach.
















 It was definitely one of our favorite architectural buildings.












 Much of the mansion was under renovation.

  








 We had a great time, but I'm glad to be back home where I can take a shower and snuggle with my cat.