April 6, 2011 - Oh Happy Daze

another birthday….they just keep coming around every year!

No, it’s not my birthday (yet). Chris turned 28 this past weekend.

I know, you are probably thinking we are youngins.

In my mind, I’m thinking “we are nearing 30 without any kiddos yet”!

Anyway, there was a birthday, so we got a little of the family together to celebrate.

More importantly, I attempted a cheesecake.

Yup…. THIS girl made a cheesecake….from scratch!

In fact, I made 2 – one for Chris’ birthday lunch with my family, and another to share later with our small group.

Here is the proof:

(the other cheesecake that I made didn’t even crack…. scouts honor!)

When I told Chris I wanted to make a dessert for his birthday bash, and asked him what his favorite was…for some reason I was expecting something like “a box mix of yellow cake with confetti frosting”.

Instead I got ‘apple pie’ or ‘cheesecake with strawberry topping’.

grrr, those desserts weren’t already in my itsy-bitsy repertoire of ‘can-do’ food things.

Guess I’ll have to try something new. After all, it is for the love of my life.

um, let me just say that I absolutely hate profile shots of myself, but I recently read a post from another blog (sorry, I couldn’t find the link again to give you props!) where she talked about how she is going to stop deleting the photos of herself that she doesn’t like… because then there wouldn’t be any photos of her at all.

And I find myself doing the same thing -deleting photos and being very selective about which photos I allow others to see, even my husband, because I am so self conscious about how I look.

Well, NO MORE!

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There is also another birthday boy in the house….

Baxter will be 6 months old this month!

In honor, I thought I’d share a few photos of our growing boy

Chris and my brother at my parent’s house.

scratching.

He’s getting so scruffy.

Time to get him stripped – I don’t want him to start looking like this.

April 2, 2011 - Oh Happy Daze

We love Pop’s

Chris and I have recently begun a Saturday morning tradition of going to a local diner, Pop’s. I am so excited for these mornings that we are able to spend together. Sometimes we bring our bibles, sometimes we bring whatever book our small-group is going through at the time (right now it is this book), sometimes we bring ~~our~~ my calendar and talk about what events are coming up…. but mostly we just bring our appetites.

There are only two locations, but if you live in Virginia Beach or Chesapeake, then you are probably only a quick 5 minute interstate trip from one – Lucky you!

Now, Pop’s is not a cute old diner with a lot of history (which I have yet to discover here in this busy, sort of dirty, city that I live in – let me know if you know of one). However, it does have its charms…and one of the best things is that it has been mostly undiscovered by ‘locals’.

(haha, I’m not sure why I don’t consider myself a local, seeing as how I was born and raised here in Hampton Roads…maybe it’s because I have always secretly wished I had grown up in a smaller town and don’t associate myself with these ‘city folks’).

A local Porsche club has also found Pop’s and deemed it their favorite meeting spot for Saturday mornings.

This is the only shot I was able to get, but the Porsches filled up this lot and the neighboring lots.

not sure if this one is a Porche…. but it certainly is cool looking

(and I certainly wouldn’t have parked it next to that van, which will most likely have kids jumping in and out of it, flinging doors open all willy-nilly)

What is your favorite local hot-spot?

March 29, 2011 - Oh Happy Daze

Holy Guacamole!

So, I’ve been craving guacamole for a few weeks now

(no, i’m not pregnant…for those of you out there thinking it!)

Anyway, if you know me at all then you know that cooking

really isn’t my thang.

I try… I really do!

I think I’ve finally pinpointed the things that make cooking difficult for me:

1. Actually making a decision on what to cook

(If you were to look up “indecisive” in the dictionary,

my mug would be there)

2. The multitasking required

If the directions include the phrase ‘set it and forget it’, then I might be able to deal. However, if the recipe requires tending to the oven, periodically checking on whatever is cooking to ‘monitor’ the progress or to ‘see if it is done’, and simultaneously preparing the ever-important side dishes…forget about it. I get side-tracked going from the kitchen to the front door.

OK, that’s only 2 reasons…. I guess that’s no excuse.

I had better get in the kitchen and start earning my keep!

Speaking of getting side-tracked….

I made guacamole last night.

Now there aren’t really any ‘true’ measurements for me to share for this recipe because guac is one of those things that you can change depending on your personal taste and the amount you want to make.

In my guac I included:

3 perfectly ripe, large avocados

(little/no green on the outside, only brown. no white patches on the outside. not too mushy, but just the slightest ‘give’ on the skin when you squeeze….)

– I speak from experience…let’s just say this wasn’t the first time this week I had tried to fulfill my craving for guac –

1/2 big round tomato, diced

(I’m pretty sure it has an actual label, but that escapes me at the moment)

1/4 red onion

(make sure you chop the pieces really small or else you will get a giant bite of pretty much just onion, and you will make a face, and your husband will laugh at you….just sayin’)

Finely chopped cilantro

(It only comes in a bundle…so just add as much as you want)

1 ~~chunk~~ clove of garlic

(It’s a clove, right?)

Cut your avocados in half and use a spoon to scoop out the insides and the giant pit. The inside should be super soft, and separate easily from the …um, shell?