Camping Trips - maybe THE best camping trip

Tony and I have definitely had some fun camping trips....in fact I think they have all been fun. Even the night that Jen & Adam, Heather & Gary, and me and Tony camped out at the tree farm and FROZE (especially Gary:)). The night we spent at Tony's parents land and Tony's friend Davis drove up way late and scared the crap out us......too many fun nights to mention here.

But the night that is probably the most memorable was one we shared with Kelly, Athena, Josh, Patrick, Jenni and Rob at Three Rivers in New Mexico. I can't even think about the night without cracking up. It started off with Coors Tall boys and ended with Carlos Rossi wine....who wouldn't have a good time? :) There were also some Bloody Mary's in the middle of all of that.

When we were taking turns dancing around the picnic table Kelly fell down, got back up, and kept dancing. I don't think he ever missed a beat. Then playing frisbee he fell into a cactus but said he was fine.

Ok, disclaimer, this part is gross: but I got sick in the middle of the night and barely made it out of the tent...and onto my shoes. Ewww!! Then I stumbled over to the water jug and saw a bear standing right next to Kelly's tent, so I ever so quietly walked back to the tent. Well, the next morning I was talking about this and everyone said I must have been seeing things, and I figured that was not too far fetched. Then Patrick woke up from sleeping on a picnic table and said "Guys, last night there was a black bear in our camp - I saw it but couldn't do anything about it". Meanwhile he had some purple stain all the way down the front of his shirt. Awesome....

When Kelly got up his foot was HUGE and had cactus needles all over it! He could barely even walk. Well, come to find out his foot was broken - during our Rossi Possi dance session when he fell down it was a lot worse than anyone thought!

You would think with all that happened it wouldn't be such a great memory - but it was - it was a night to remember.  Here are some pictures from that night.

Hungarian mushrooms

So the real name for this dish is Houby Paprikas, but it's from Hungary so I'll just call it Hungarian mushrooms. We had it last night for dinner and it was great! Very quick to whip up too. We had ours over brown rice but I think it would be really good over egg noodles.

2T butter
1 med onion- chopped
1 lb. mixed mushrooms - chopped chunky
seas salt & pepper
1 T paprika
cayenne
1C sour cream
3T dill (I substituted 1 T tarragon and 1 T parsley)
Serve over rice, pasta, or spatzle

Heat large sauce pan and add butter.
When melted add onion - cook until transulcent.
Add shrooms, season with salt and pepper, then increase the heat and stir. When moisture has been released, allow it to evaporate. Add paprika and cayenne, fry for a few more moments. Add sour cream and dill - cook for 5 more minutes. Serve immediately.

Bon Appetit!

Clear Lake 2001

So we finally broke down and got a printer today. We just have too much school work to be printing off - so we figured it would be a good investment. The printer also has a scanner! So I've been scanning in old pics - here is one now - I'm sure I'll be uploading more soon.

Back story on this picture - it was taken before Tony and I got married - on our first road trip together. We stopped in Clear Lake, Iowa to camp for the night and fell in love with the little town! We have been back several times since then and it's always just as charming.

Have a good weekend!

Pay it Forward

Yesterday morning I woke up at 5:30 per the usual and in a fog wondered down stairs to feed Kirby and pour myself a cup of coffee. No coffee in the coffee pot, so I thought I forgot to program the timer. Then I realized the coffee machine was broken. Nuts! So I pulled out our french press that we use for camping. As I take off the top the plunger falls apart. I tried for 5 minutes to put it back together and finally gave up with the consolation that I could just run by S-bucks on my way to work. Not a bad consolation!
So I stopped by S-bucks and ordered my coffee - that's when the girl at the cash register told me my drink was taken care of today. WHAT? I just smiled and said thanks, but didn't push it. I figured I was winning something, like maybe I was the 20th customer or something. I really didn't want to prod because I was afraid they would take my prize away. Then the guy behind me ordered 2 small coffees and she said the same thing to him - his was taken care of. So he asked her why? And she said "someone came in this  morning and paid it forward". So he handed her his money and said - let's just continue that then. Upon which I almost started getting teary and I gave her my $5 too. I'm a selfish girl for thinking I would keep my $5 to myself. I was just shocked. So of course when I got to my car I started crying. It was the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for me that I found out about. Paying it forward? I thought that was only something you hear about in the news, not something that truly ever happens to you. And granted it wasn't something big - just a cup of coffee, but still - it completely made my day. Something so small, but it meant so much. It made me remember that there are still good people in the world - the type of people who just want to make a complete strangers day better because they can. Small gifts of kindness mean so much. Imagine if we all paid it forward when we were able to - just a little bit here and there, how much better the world would be? Even if it's only our little world in which we live day to day. I still get weepy even thinking about it.

Who knew Healthy could taste so good?

Continuing on my quest to eat more things homemade, today I made granola. AMAZING!! It turned out so tasty and made quit a bit. I put it on top of some fat free vanilla yogurt - I can't stop grinning it was so good! :) I want to package it up and send some out to people. It was really easy to make and now it's going to be a great snack during the week.

It would be awesome if I could get a really good recipe down pat and sell it maybe at the Farmer's Market in the summer. :)

Here is what I used. I got the basic recipe from a vegetarian cook book at the library yesterday. But it looks like a lot of other ones I have seen on the internet. The one thing is to keep stirring and moving it around - it burns quickly!! I would say every 4 -6 minutes stir it.

Fruit & Spice Granola
4 Cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 Cup unsweetened dried coconut
1 Cup sliced almonds
1 Cup pecans
1/2 Cup unsalted sunflower seeds
1 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 Cup honey (I used raw blue agave and I have also read recipes that called for maple syrup)
2 Cups mixed dried fruit (I used 1/2 cup raisans; 1/2 cup dried blueberries; 1 cup craisans)

Sitr together first 7 ingredients
Melt butter with honey (or whichever sweetener you want to use) in a small sauce pan over low heat.
Pour butter mixture over oat mixture and toss.
Spread evenly on 2 baking sheets. Stir frequently and switch positions of pans until golden brown - approx. 30 minutes (maybe less).
Transfer to large bowl, add dried fruit and toss.

Bon Appetit!

My Weeks End

Not too much happened this week so I just thought I'd post the low down of our regular every day goings.

Tony started school and his week went really well. His classes seem like they are going to be pretty good - and a couple of them sound really interesting. He has to read the book Botony of Desire and it actually looks like a good book - he's already began reading it. It's a very interesting way to look at our interaction with plants, or plants interactions with us. It's still so exciting that he is doing this. Oh, the places he'll go.

I've still been sticking to my running plan, some days its more, some days its less. But either way I've stuck to it now since Jan. 1 and I'm already feeling stronger.Today was the longest one yet. Granted, I'm more of a jogger than a runner, but it feels really good to get back into it.

So I've been wanting to take yoga classes again, since we quit the gym. There is a place here in Parker (it's a franchise) called CorePower. But it's pricey! So I was really trying to weigh whether or not it would be worth it to join since I'll only be able to go a few times a week. Then what pops up in my inbox from Groupon??? A $49/month coupon to CorePower!! So I hoped on that and finally got something good out of Groupon. Now at least I'll get to check it out for a reasonable price. They have hot yoga, which is something I've always wanted to try.

I tried a new recipe last night and it turned out great - it's definitely going on our rotation. I was talking to Marla the other night and we were talking about what a great recipe book Savoring the Southwest is so I decided to find one out of there. (This is a recipe book from my hometown. It is illustrated with art work from artists in New Mexico throughout the book. As much as I love to read recipe books, this one takes the cake because of the beautiful drawings and paintings scattered it in.)
Here it is along with my substitutions:

Southwest Fettucine
1/4 cup butter (I used Smart Balance)
1 cup sliced Canadian bacon (or you could use ham)
1 jar (8 ounces) roasted sweet red peppers, drained and diced
1 package (10 ounces) frozen green peas
1 cup heavy cream (I used fat free half and half)
1/2 tsp. salt (I used course)
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 pd. fettucine noodles
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 tsp. minced garlic (I added this because we are fans of garlic but the recipe does not call for it)

Melt butter in large skillet. Add bacon and cook for 1 minute. Add peppers and peas, cook for 1 minute to coat with butter. Stir in cream, salt and pepper. Bring to boil; lower heat; simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens slightly, about 3 minutes. Remove sauce from heat; reserve while cooking pasta. Cook and drain pasta; return to pot. Add sauce and cheese; toss over low heat until mixture is well blended and heated thoroughly.

This was a really quick meal and Tony and I were both big fans!

Bon Appetit!

Speaking of food - I started a new book this week - My Life in France. It's written by Julia Child (with the help of her nephew). So far so good! I think I am equally facinated with cooking and with France. Since she did both I am a fan of hers. I did watch Julie and Julia in the theater and thought it was great! I wasn't as impressed the second time I watched it when it came out to video though. I think it has something to do with the fact that I googled Julie Powell and she's not at all what I thought her to be from the movie. I was just really disappointed with an interview I read with her. Anywho - I'll let you know how the book goes!

Now we are off to my favorite place - the Public Library! After that we might try to get in some Geo Caching.

Have a good weekend!

Nothing like Homemade Bread

That's what I have been thinking for the past couple of weeks - craving homemade bread. So I did it today. I finally finished my paper (woo-hoo!) so I thought as a reward I would bake us some wheat bread. It's really not much of a reward. In fact, it's not really edible (I do have another loaf in the oven - so maybe that one will be better). I'm not sure what I did wrong but I'm thinking that perhaps bread making is something that takes practice to get good at. I think one of the things I did wrong was that I did it all by hand. You are supposed to use a standing mixer with a paddle or dough hook attachment - but I don't have one (as much as I cook I probably should, but my old mixer that I got for a wedding present is still working!). So I had to stir everything and my arms got so tired!! I finally gave up and just figured it would work out. It definitely looks like bread - it just doesn't taste great. It's not doughy and soft. It's more like a baguette.
I followed the recipe out of Martha Stewart but I think next time I'm going to use this one from a blog I found.
The positive side was that it smelled absolutely delicious! So if you have a good bread recipe send it my way! Next weekend I might try and make home made granola - hopefully with better luck.

Mmmm...Beer....

Who wouldn't be smiling on a beer tour?

Saturday Tony and I took a trip to Ft. Collins to get his books and check out where his classes were. While we were there we went on a tour of New Belgium. These tours sometimes sell out, so we made our reservation ahead of time. It was a GREAT tour! I really like the company itself and their beer is so goo! We had a really fun time tasting. Too bad the beer I fell for is SUPER expensive. I guess we will have to go back for a tour in order to taste it again. :)  It is a sour beer and it takes 3 years of being in oak barrels to be ready. The company itself just sounds amazing to work for. They treat their employees well and make a concentrated effort to be as energy efficient and off the grid as possible.

New Starts

New adventures, new changes...life changes. In some respects it's scarier as you get older, you have more responsibilities and you feel as though you have more to lose than when you were yonger. But in some ways it's not quite as frightening because you have gambled before and landed on your feet. You can analyze the risk and your perspective is different.
I am so proud of Tony and really excited for him and for us. Leaving a good job to persue a dream. It takes courage and most of us never take that leap. We stay with what is safe. But who wants to live their life having never taken a chance? Tony is jumping at his chance - on Wednesday he starts back to school. He is going for a degree in Forestry. Everything about this feels right and we know there is no time like the present. It is scary, financially, but we are putting our trust in God and relying on Him to get us through this exciting new chapter. After all, we don't know what tomorrow holds, but we know Who holds tomorrow.
Amy is also starting a new phase in her life - she is moving to Las Cruces to go back to school. She actually started back in the fall, but now she is transfering to finish her degree. I'm so excited for her too! She is uprooting and moving to a new place, but I know she's going to do great. She has a goal in sight and knowing what you want is half the battle. Plus Tony and I are really looking forward to taking a road trip down to Cruces to visit her!

Beautiful day for a Hike!

It feels like it's been so long since Tony and I went on a nice long hike. We couldn't wait any longer. With temps finally warming up we made our way to Eldorado Canyon State Park on Sunday. We took the Rattlesnake Gulch Trail. It was about 4 miles by the time we got back to the car....and it was a moderately difficult 4 miles in the snow. I'm definetly going to be sore tomorrow! But it felt so good to be outside enjoying the sunshine. It was a really cool hike too - at the end of the first 1.4 miles there are the remains of the Crags Hotel - a hotel that burned down in the early 1900's. All that remains is a retaining wall and the place where the oven was. Very cool! I just can't imagine how people got all the way up there way back when though. Then we hiked a bit further up to a look out on the continental divide.
It's just beautiful up there and we have really enjoyed all the hikes we have done in that state park (I think we've done almost all of them now). And one of the best parts about going there is getting to see all the climbers! It's intense to watch them on these vertical walls - I can't imagine what it would be like to get up there! Hopefully someday it will be me. If you weren't looking for them you would miss them.Its such an enormous slab of mountain, but if you look close enough you can see these ants making their way up.
(I was going to hold off on posting this until I uploaded the pictures, but who knows how long that is going to be - so I'll post the pics later)

The Homework is already starting....

Tomorrow I begin school again. What a nice break it was.....now back to the real world. Tomorrow begins my 6th quarter in school. I am scheduled to be done in August - so only 3 more quarters to go. But I already have homework! I have some accounting and law homework and I am still working on my risk managment research paper. I have 14 pages so far. The central issues and identifying the ways to mitigate the risks have to be a minimum of 20 pages....after all is said and done it should be around 30 or 40 pages though. Whew!!! It's not that difficult - what is difficult is getting all the ideas down in an organized manner. I am turning in the paper to 2 professors though - one for a grade and the other one in *hopes* of getting it accepted to a larger project and maybe get published....that would be ideal.

Hope everyone has a great week!!

If I ever make it to Hawaii.....

We will definitely be going to Kauai to hike the Kalalau Trail. In Tony's Backpacker magazine it was listed a reader's choice and this hike looks amazing. It's about 11 miles one way. The Sierra Club listed it as a 9 out of 10 in terms of difficulty. But the end of the trail is a secluded beach! I've read some reviews of the hike and it seems grueling - but just imagine the view.
And a funny coincidence - we rented The Perfect Getaway last night. We really like the movie - but the trail that they are hiking was the Kalalau Trail.