Wednesday, July 9, 2008

I WANNA HEAR FROM YOU!

For all of you who are viewing this blog I would love to hear your comments, or even a simple hello. I have made it easier for everyone to post comments. You no longer have to register. All you have to do to make a post is:
  1. scroll to the bottom of the post that you would like to comment on
  2. click on comments
  3. type your comment in the leave a comment box
  4. select the name/url at the bottom
  5. type your name
  6. and submit your comment
Thanks and I hope to hear from you!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Take me out to the ball game...

I keep forgeting to put stuff up, here is us at a game in Sacramento.




Home decor

Here are a few new additions, thought I would share with the world. Kyle and I have been trying to make the deck more of an extention of the apt. We wanted it to feel like another room. I am amazed at the flowers. A few of them basically died and I had to cut them down. Now they are crazy blooming. What can I say, I have a green thumb. Maybe the trick was watering them..ha oops. We are proud of our arrangements, there will be more to come.

We also bought a family of ducks, weird, I know but fun. Enjoy.



new patio set



The new hanging pot



The miracle flowers



The new antique trove pots that we found...



we go indoors



blurry but you get the point



The whole shabang

The 4th of July

I am really cool and have absolutely no pictures from the fourth of July. Kyle and I went rafting on the American River and I wasn't going to bring the camera. I didn't need a wet camera. We had a great time rafting down the river. Bringing down the raft to the actual water entrance wasn't as fun though. They said you could attach the raft to the top of the car but clearly that was impossible so we carried it ourselves, all the way down to the water. After a good sweat, and few harsh words we finally got it down to the water. Good ol' team work, sort of.

The water was packed, but we sill had a fun, relaxing ride. I was surprised that it was as cool as it was. The cool air made the ride way more bearable considering it has been crazy hot around here lately. We also had some entertainment as we floated down the river. Two drunk guys got into a big fight on one of the shores. Everyone was just starring at them as they floated down the water. Strangely enough, there was a alcohol ban on the river because alot of people got hurt in the past. So when we saw the guys fighting we were hoping the millions of cops that were floating down the river, would actually stop them. No such luck, oh well it was still entertaining.

Later that night we went to the Roseville fireworks and they were not quite up to par. They were less than 20minutes long. Roseville must have had some budget cuts! Thank goodness we saw some really great fireworks the weekend before. Rocklin was a bit more equipped for the festivities.

The Red Tree Frog

This is a bit out of order but I wanted to post the pictures from it. One weekend, a few weeks ago we went jet skiing with Kyle's boss and on our way back we decided to stop at this local pub. It was selling $2.98 Spaghetti meals and Mango Margaritas. I know, I was thinking the same thing, Spaghetti and Margaritas?! Weird. It was totally worth it. We barely got a seat because the weekend crowd was taking over the bar. The back of the bar was basically a covered deck. The deck had a great view of the foothills along with some mountains in the background. As we were sitting there eating our meal a train went around one of the hills and a older local man sat and sang with his guitar. I felt like I was in a western of some sort.

Although the atmosphere was great I felt like a loner because as we were sitting at the bar, Alex and Kyle had a drink bought for them by this old lady across the bar ( A cougar as they call it). I guess she was just into the guys..ha ha, that was okay by me. Here are a few pics from the place, even though it was awhile ago.



We are excited, I guess, weirdo.













Very resourceful, at the Red Tree Frog

Food, Food, Food, & Recipes...

Food, Food, Food.

One of my recent goals is to learn more about cooking, and find some heathy alternatives. After living in Italy I learned how cooking can uncover an entire culture. I never was one for cooking but after you learn a few tricks here and there cooking can become fun! Don't get me wrong I have always been excited about food, just not cooking it. I know that Leslie is the cook in our family but I just might give her a run for her money. Maybe we will have a cook off someday. ha. I have posted a few of my recent favorites, and its not just me that likes them. Kyle likes them too, we have the love handles to prove it!



barbecue roasted salmon
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ingredients:

¼ cup pineapple juice
2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 (6 ounce) salmon fillets
2 tablespoons brown sugar
½ teaspoons chipotle powder
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

directions:
  1. Combined the first 3 ingredients in a zip lock bag, marinate in refrigerator for 1hour
  2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
  3. Discard the marinade Combined the next 5 ingredients in bowl. Rub over fish; place in 11x17 inch pan sprayed with cooking oil. Cook for 12 minutes, or until flaky. You may
  4. serve with lemon if desired.


low fat chicken nuggets
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ingredients:

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
¼ cup flour
¼ tsp paprika
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 egg white
¼ cup low fat buttermilk
1 cup cornflakes, crushed

directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Coat a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.
  2. Prepare three bowls: one with flour and seasonings, one with egg and buttermilkstirred together, and one with crushed cornflakes.
  3. Cut chicken breasts into 1 to 1 1/2-inch pieces. Empty chicken pieces into bowl and roll inflour mixture. Then, piece by piece, and shaking off excess flour, dip the chicken into the milkmixture, then coat the pieces with cornflakes. Place chicken on baking sheet and bake for10 minutes until golden, turning them half way through. Serves 4.