Saturday, December 27, 2008

Merrrrry Christmas!

Yes, it's still Christmas. Rob and I are celebrating Christmas with my side of the family tomorrow the 28th. Breakfast, presents, fondue, the whole sha-bang because my sister, brother in law and niece came up from Long Beach today.

We hosted Christmas dinner this year which means we provided the space for 12 people to enjoy my mother in law's cooking. My mom brought a cranberry apple tart and I made "Darn Good Chocolate Cake". Nevermind I had to make the cake twice due to an ingredient mishap. All in all I think it was a success!





















Tuesday, December 23, 2008

I Always Feel Like Somebody's Watchin' Me...

....And I have no privacy, oh whoa oh...

I have something on my blog that tracks who comes to my blog. It tells me how many people visit my blog, when, how long they stay on the page, their IP address, what country they are from, how they find me, blah blah blah. It's usually not that interesting but sometimes it tells me what keywords people put in search engines that made my blog come up. For example, someone searched for "suburban chic jewelry", my blog came up, they clicked on my blog and wa-la, I can see this on my blog patrol.

One search caught me by surprise. Someone had searched for "happy anniversary bag of poo." Hmph. I don't know whats worse...the fact that someone searched for this or the fact that MY blog came up.

I think is the culprit.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

That's What She/He Said

I love the moments when someone says something - in all seriousness - but catches everyone so off guard, that everyone goes silent then burst out laughing in unison. Tonight I'm going to share some of these recent moments with you.

When: A few months ago
Who was there: Rob, me, mom, dad, mother in law and father in law
The scene: At my parent's dining room table. In a rare moment of silence, my father in law says "I'm addicted to reading obituaries"

***

When: Two days ago
Who was there: Rob and I with friends Maryanne and
Brian, Dorothy and Keith and Jen and Brad.
The scene: At Jen and Brad's kitchen table. We were eating artichokes among other things when Brian inquires about the aioli that is to go with the artichoke. Brad replies "Isn't aioli the thing around the nipple?"

***

When: Today
Who was there: Me and Jen
The scene: Jen and I were driving to breakfast in Jen's car when her seatbelt started making a squeaking noise. I said "You should put some DSW on that - isn't that what it's called?" To which Jen replied, "Don't you mean WD-40?"

Friday, December 12, 2008

Tag, you're it, or I'm it, anyway - I've been tagged!

I didn't know what tagging was but I was excited to be tagged anyway. I was tagged by Sarah.

Now the fun part...

The rules:
1. Link to the person that tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
6. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

Six things about myself:

1.) I was a large baby. I think I was nine and a half pounds or something crazy like that. Mom, you can back me up via the Hollas! Oh, and my mom had me with no drugs - crazy.

2.) I went on a cruise for my honeymoon where the average age was 75.


3.) I have a dog named Buddy who is one of the sweetest dogs I've ever met.


4.) When I flare my nostrils, I get a little dimple in my lip.

5.) I will not eat skin on my meat, even lunch meat.

6.) I've held a 2 day old turtle.


Blogs I'm tagging (click on name to go to blog):

1. Mike
2. Stephanie
3. Heather
4. Lisa
5. Renee
6. Shannon

Monday, December 8, 2008

100% Biodegradable Poop Pags

I'm totally getting these for Buddy. They are good for the environment and cheaper than the ones at Target, Petco and Petsmart.

Yes Rob, I'll use my allowance.

http://www.poopbags.com/PoopBags.html

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Ugh...

Today is just going to be "one of those days." I woke up this morning feeling pretty refreshed because I went to bed early (9:00) and woke up at 6:00 (ok, I snoozed until 6:30) so I got roughly 9-9.5 hours of sleep which is more sleep than I've had since the Thanksgiving break. I still woke up from time to time during the night as usual since Buddy and I share a pillow and whenever he moves I wake up. I think he is preparing me for sleepness nights when we decide to have baby wagners. Anywho, I went to the bathroom and didn't recognize myself. Underneath my left eye was super puffy. I get dark circles sometimes but I never get really puffy eyes. My right eyelid was really puffy. I do not have much of an eyelid to begin with but this is really noticeable because my left eye now has about 1 cm of an eyelid and I no longer have a right eyelid. I think what bugs me the most is my puffiness is unsymmetrical. I feel like that baby ruth guy from Goonies.

Fine, so I look like a freak. I put on my little peep toe heals, painted the toes that were visible and was on my way out the door.I tripped over a decorative pillow on the floor which isn't that abnormal for me but once I was in the hallway where there was light, I saw my big toe was smudged. I went back and sure enough I had fuschia smudged on our periwinkle pillowcase. Grrreat. I went back to the bathroom aware my husband was probably annoyed that my heels were clicking on the tile (side note: in the townhouse he made a rule that in the morning, when he was sleeping, I couldn't wear heals in the bathroom because it disturbed his slumber). He never confirmed if the rule applied in the new house. Plus if I took off my shoes, then I'd risk smudging my other toes. I got some of the polish off with the remover but I was really running late at this point so I decided to soak the cover in the sink and try again tonight.

I ran out of coffee creamer yesterday so I HAD to stop at the drive thru Starbucks before I got on the freeway to get my 'nog latte. The line wasn't horrible - score! As the lady handed me my latte, I tried not to look her in the eye so she wouldn't see the awfulness which was my face. Somehow I managed to spill my latte down the inside of my car, on my skirt and in the crack of the window (because the window was done). I tried to clean up quickly so I can get moving through the drive thru. I managed to clean most of it up but there was a streak going down my window on the outside. Let me tell you trying to clean the outside of the window with the window cracked halfway is a little difficult as the window is shoved up in my armpit. I managed to get most of it off but now I just have huge smear marks all over my window and my car has a faint eggnog scent.

On my way in, I heard Ice Cube's "Today was a good day" on the radio. Seriously, when was the last time you heard that song on the radio? The timing was impeccable.

And all of this happened before 7:30 AM this morning. Can't wait to find out what the afternoon brings.

Monday, December 1, 2008

How Cute are my Friends?


Yesterday I went to Pizza Antica with Maryanne, Dorothy and Jen to celebrate Jen's birthday. After lunch we headed over to Starbucks for some lattes and Kara's cupcakes for mini cupcakes - the perfect ending to any meal. Then we spent a good ten minutes talking about how scared we were for "the big one" to hit the San Andreas fault. Good times.

My favorite quote of the day: "Do I have any chocolate in my eye?" -Dorothy



I love you girls!

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

I made these last night for cousin's pizza and movie night. I realized after I made them that the last time we got together I made peanut butter and chocolate cookie sandwiches. I really need to branch out.




Homemade Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
Source: Baking Bites

approx 1 1/2 cups dark chocolate, chopped (or dark chocolate chips)- I used semi sweet chcolate chips
1/2 cup creamy organic/natural peanut butter
1/2 cup crunchy organic/natural peanut butter
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
generous pinch salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Set 2-dozen mini muffin/bonbon wrappers on a baking sheet (I couldn't find the mini wrappers so I used the regular sized muffin wrappers and came out with 12 peanut butter cups).

Melt approximately half of the dark chocolate, using a microwave-safe bowl and cooking it in short (30 second) intervals, stirring frequently, until smooth. Use a spoon to pour a little chocolate into each muffin wrapper. Use a small, very clean brush to paint the chocolate up the sides of each wrapper. Alternatively, you could add extra chocolate and swirl it around, pouring out the excess later, to coat the inside of the wrapper.

Chill candy shells until set, about 20-30 minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk together peanut butter(s), confectioners’ sugar, salt and vanilla. When the mixture has come together, heat it in the microwave (again in short intervals, stirring frequently), until it is very, very soft. Working carefully with the hot filling, transfer it to a pastry bag (or plastic bag with the tip cut off) and pipe a generous amount of the filling into each prepared candy cup. Chill again for approx 30 minutes, or until set.

Melt all remaining chocolate and, when the candy fillings have set, fill each muffin wrapper up with chocolate. Chill until set.

Serve cold or at room temperature.

Makes 2 dozen.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!



Just wanted to pop in and say Happy Thanksgiving! My parents are in Long Beach with the Strombergs and we are heading to Rob's parents in Los Altos in a half hour or so. Alright, that's all the time I have. Need to blow dry my hair!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Weekend at the Beach vs. Wine Tasting

A couple weekends ago we graciously declined a date with our friends to go wine tasting because we were going to the beach house. We invited our friends Paul and Amy and their twin boys Ben and Matt. I saw a picture of the wine tasting event and even though I had fun at the beach, I was a bit jealous – they looked like they were having fun! But then I thought to myself, “can my friends say they had twin boys wrestle them to the ground and fart on them on more than one occasion?” I think not. Oh, and in their parent’s defense, the boys always say “excuse me” each time.

Boy's wrestling





Matt & Buddy



Boys and Buddy squeezing his way into the picture oh so sly-ly



Rob finally has cartoon watching companions.



Paul's famous German Meatballs and Potato Dumplings




Beautiful Sunset

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Goat Cheese and Potatoes - Need I Say More?

I made this recipe a week or so again and it was mmm mmm good. But, if you ask me, anything that has the ingredient of goat cheese is doomed to be good.

Goat Cheese and Herb Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Spicy Louisiana Potatoes

2 ounces goat cheese
2 oil-pakced sun dried tomatoes, rinsed under water, patted dry, finely chopped
1 scallion, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped basil
2 teaspoons chopped thyme
1/4 cup plain dry breadcrumbs
4 (1/4 pound) skinless boneless chicken breasts
4 teaspoons reduced calorie mayo
1 1/2 pounds baby spinach, rinsed (I didn't use spinach)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a nonstick bakin gpan with nonstick spray.
2. Combine the cheese, tomatoes, scallion, basil, and thyme in a bowl, mashing with a fork, until blended. Place breadcrumbs in another small bowl.



3. Cut a pocket into the side of the chicken breast about 2 1/2 inches long. Place 1/4 of the goat cheese mixture inside each slit. Lightly press the pocket closed with a fork. Brush the top side of each breast with the mayo. Dip the chicken, one piece at a time, coated-side down into the bread crumbs. Transfer coated-side up to the baking pan.
4. Spray the tops of the chicken lightly with nonstick spray. Bake until the chicken is cooked through and the crust is golden, about 25 minutes.
5. Meanwhile place the spinach in a large steamer basket set in a saucepan over 1 inch boiling water. Cover tightly and steam until the spinach just wilts, about 3 minutes. Transfer the spinach to a platter, ten top with the chicken. Again, I didn't do this step.

4 Servings
Calories: 284
Fat: 12 grams
Fiber: 5 grams

Potatoes

1 1/2 pounds red bliss potatoes, cut into 1/4-inch wedges
1 red onion, cut into 8 wedges
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons cajun seasoning
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray.
2. Combine the potates with cold water to cover by 2 inches in a medium saucepan, bring to a boil.



Cook 7 minutes. Drain the potatoes, transfer to a large bowl, and toss with the onion, oil, Cajun seasoning, lemon juice, salt and pepper.



Arrange on the baking sheet in a single layer. Bake until the potatoes are tender and crips around the edges, stirring once, about 30 minutes.

Serving size: 2/3 cup
Calories: 127
Fat: 2 grams
Fiber: 3 grams



Both recipes out of the Weight Watchers Simply Delicious Cookbook

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

What's in a Name?

I won't go into why but I googled surburban chic today mainly to see if my blog comes up (it does) and found something interesting. Before I go into that, I have a confession. A few people have said to me, "I like the name of your blog, Suburban Chick, so cute!" I never corrected them, but my intent was for my blog to be Suburban CHIC not CHICK, pronounced "sheek". To me it was an oxy moron. There isn't too much glamour to the word Suburban or those who choose to live in the 'burbs. Chic can be defined as "attractive and fashionable", "style and elegance" or "stylishness or modishness." Anywho, people liked "chick" so I didn't correct them. I liked that they liked it - even though it was not my original intent.

Anywho, I found on the google page that Suburban Chic is actually a terminology that I didn't know about or maybe I did on some subconscious level. Maybe all of you knew this except me?

Urban Dictionary says Suburban Chic means:

Usually used to describe women past their prime who lives in smaller towns, or suburbs, but think that they are hip, and dresses real smart. The fact is however that you clearly can tell that they'er not from a big city, and that they don't really follow the newest trends.

Example:

Look at that woman, she really think she is hip

yes, she is so suburban chic

Friday, November 14, 2008

Say Hello to Our Little Friend

Well, this is a first.



Yes, we have a plant growing out of our sponge. This is reason number 23 that I hate sponges. Apparently niether Rob or myself have been using this sponge so it is now resting in peace in our garbage can.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Happy Birthday


happy birthday to you
happy birthday to you
happy birthday dear BUDDY
happy birthday to you

Monday, November 3, 2008

You know you are a redneck from a small town when…


1.) The aerobics instructor holds an 8.5 by 11 piece of paper during step class which I can only guess is a cheat sheet.

2.) The "Police Blotter" takes up half of a page in the newspaper.

3.) You will find the following disturbance in said blotter "A 20-year old female sat on her mother after the mother got mad at her for eating all of the food in the house."

4.) In the same newspaper edition, you will find the following quote in a story about a home where a fire broke out: "The house was drier than a popcorn fart."

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Garlic Lovers: Come in

I went back and forth on this blog entry - I wasn't sure if I wanted to post it. Are you intrigued yet? I bet you are wondering "Wow, I wonder what it could be." Really, it's not that exciting. I like to try new recipes and also try to make stuff semi-healthy so I blew the dust off my 2004 Weight Watchers Annual Recipes for Success cookbook and gave this recipe a whirl. I think it was pretty good, as far as healthy recipes go.



Pan Seared Chicken with Garlic Sauce

1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 (4 oz) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 teaspoon olive oil
12 garlic cloves, halved
1 cup fat-free, less sodium chicken broth, divided

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2. Combine first 5 ingredients in a small bowl. Sprinkle both sides of chicken with herb mixture.
3. Heat oil in a large ovenproof nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken, and cook 2 minutes on each side. Add garlic and 3/4 cup broth. Place pan in oven. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes or until chicken is done and garlic cloves are soft.
4. Remove pan from oven. Transfer chicken to a plate; keep warm. Add remaining 1/4 cup broth to pan. Mash garlic with a fork. Cook garlic mixture over medium heat 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated; stir. Serve garlic sauce over chicken.

Yield: 4 servings
Calories: 152
Fat: 2.7
Fiber: 0.6

I realized later that I didn't have an oven proof skillet. I prepared everything on the stove in my non-ovenproof skillet then poured it into a pan to put in the oven (be careful - its hot). Then I put the broth mixture back to the original skillet.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Happy Halloween!

Boo! Did I scare ya? Yes, Halloween is over, but this is my offical Halloween Post. We waited until the last minute and carved the pumpkin yesterday. We decided to try to not do anything fancy because fancy usually ends up looking anything but. So I said to Rob, lets just do triangle eyes and nose with a big grin. He drew the little face in all but 5 seconds and wa-la ~ I think it was our best pumpkin ever! Yes, its simple but I thought it was very cute. If there was a "Happiest Pumpkin Face" award we would have won it.




While Rob was carving the pumpkin he was giving me a hard time b/c I was the one who "wanted to carve the pumpkin" but while he was carving, I was "playing on the internet, again". I explained to him I was google-ing how to roast/toast pumpkin seeds. I had never done this and thought it would be kind of fun. It seems the main ingredient was seasoning salt which I didn't have. I looked a little further and got a recommendation from a board I frequent to add garlic powder. They assured me salt would do (instead of seasoning salt) so I lightly coated the seeds with olive oil, dashed a little salt and garlic powder and was about to put them in the oven (350 degrees by the way) when out of the corner of my eye I saw my spice carousel. I walked over to it and gosh darnnit I had seasoning salt! So I sprinkled a little bit of that on as well realizing these may turn out to be a wee bit salty. I was told to leave them in the oven until they were golden brown so I set the timer for 10 minutes. Around the 6.5 minute mark I smelled something burning. Next time I'll try 5minutes. I gave them to Rob to try and he didn't really like them but then they grew on him and he liked them. Yeah!



My parents came over because they do not get any trick or treaters where they live and wanted to get in on the festivities. They too enjoyed the seed appetizer - double yeah! We ended up getting Indian takeout and watching the Ghost Adventures and Most Haunted shows on the Travel Channel that we had in our DVR.

I think I smell a new Halloween tradition.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Russell Mania

Last week Rob went to Chicago Monday through Thursday to attend training for work. Knowing Chicago is not too far from my dear friend and college roommate Stephanie, I decided to combine (Rob's) business with pleasure and make a weekend out of it. I flew out on Thursday to the Midway airport. Apparently Chicago Midway and Chicago O'Hare are two different airports - oops! What would have been a 5 mile taxi ride was going to be about 35 miles. Luckily Rob was out of his training session when I landed and told me he would pick me up in ~40 mins. Un-luckily, (yes, I just made that word up), he got into a bit of traffic and took about an hour and twenty minutes to get to the aiport. Alas, he made it and we hit traffic on the way back to the hotel. Rob was tired from his trainings and I was tired from traveling so we decided to have a low key night. One of the things I wanted to do was try Chicago pizza. We went to Giordano's which is a popular pizza chain in Chicago.




I thought it was good but decided I like "traditional" pizza better. When I asked Rob which he preferred, he struggled with his answer. Finally he said "I think I prefer the Chicago style." I told him we should open a pizza joint in Morgan Hill like the Scavo's on Desperate Housewives but he shot down that idea pretty quickly.

That night we decided before we headed out on our road trip to Michigan that we would at the very least visit the Sears Tower. The next morning, sleep sounded better so needless to say, we really didn't see much of anything in Chicago. We would like to come out again someday and stay in downtown and really see the sites.

On our way to Michigan, we drove by the town of Hammond. I'm not sure if anyone lives in Hammond but I thought it was pretty cool.




We also saw the beautiful leaves - the pictures really don't do it justice.


We told Stephanie and Jason we would be in Ann Arbor, Michigan around 4:00. We had to call and tell them it will more likely be 5:00 because we hit some traffic leaving Chicago. We realized on the drive that Michigan is one hour ahead of Chicago - oops! So, we had to call back again to tell them it will be more like 6:00. We finally arrived and it was so good to see our friends! We spent the weekend with them by hanging out, going out to dinner, going to a comedy club, going shopping and cooking chili and baking cupcakes on a very crisp fall day. They thought I was crazy, but I loved the chilly weather, it was a nice change from the bay area. Much to my surprise it was a bit chilly when I came back on Monday, good thing I still had my scarf on!

Stephanie and I at a restaurant that served small plates. It was called Small Plates.


Jason, Stephanie and Bailey: Thank you so much for having us, we had a great time and can't wait to see you in December!