On the Rocks or J's Birthday Present

Thanks to this girl, who sent me a link to a cool new store in Omaha, I found J the perfect birthday gift.  I purchased them and she was kind enough to pick them up when they were traveling there last weekend during their whirlwind trip!

As some may recall, I bought J a gin decanter for Christmas (see more about what we gave each other this year here) and when I came across these little guys, I knew I'd be adding to his bar collection for his birthday.

They are granite stones that chill your drink without diluting it or adding flavors (especially if your local water has a distinct "taste" to it) like ice cubes do.  One or two rocks are perfect for each drink and their shape allows you to swirl your drink and take a sip without them falling in your face!

The set came with six stones, a wooden tray and two highball glasses.  The best part, one that I was not aware of until I bought them and J opened them up, is that the company who makes these stones is very green friendly.  For every tree they use in the making of the trays, they reforest ten trees and for every stone they pick from the Atlantic (yes these babies were rolling around in the Atlantic Ocean) they return a similar stone to the sea to start the process of smoothing out the edges over again.  Pretty cool, huh?

Here's what the tag said:

On the front:

"We have deep respect for nature and our planet.  For every stone we collect, a rough quarry stone is "planted" for the water to tumble into smoothness.  We also replant 10 times the number of trees we harvest for our work."

And the back:

"Oh, if this stone could talk...I was born from magma in the center of the world, millions of years ago.  I've traveled thousands of miles through the shifting earth to what would become New England.  I've been deep underground, deep underwater, and high on a hill.  I've been splintered by glaciers, baked in the sun, and rolled and dashed relentlessly by the mighty Atlantic.  My epic journey ended when I was carefully chosen from gazillions of neighbors based on my size, coloring and shape, for an inventive role in your home.  Life is easier now, and sweet...so when you touch me, I will touch you back and tell you my story."

After I read it, I have to admit I did touch them and marvel at their journey.  Definitely makes you look at a rock differently, doesn't it?  I am excited to borrow these and try with lemonades and other non-alcoholic drinks too!

Have you given or received any good gifts recently?  Please share as I'm always looking for new ideas!


P.S. I was in no way compensated for this post.  I just like sharing fun presents!

Happy Birthday J!

Today is J's birthday!  We are now the same age again (I'm 3 months older) so now I don't feel like such a cougar (kidding)!  I am happy to say that while we dated long distance for a good portion of our relationship, we've spent every one of J's birthdays together since we started dating five years ago.  Details about his birthday gift are forthcoming but I don't want to ruin the surprise so I'll share later!

Happy birthday Baby!  I know you've been really busy with projects, homework and more at school and that our celebration tonight will consist of a quick dinner before some more studying (and maybe an unwrapping of a present or two) so to make up for it, let's look at some pretty pictures from our wedding instead, okay?  


Or more likely, you are too busy to read this post right now and I am just sharing this with all my blog friends instead.  Either way it will be fun, right?  Thanks for indulging me, as always!

Question of the day:  Who is older, you or your significant other/spouse?  And by how much?!

Easy Upgrades

Here are a few upgrades we've made around here that have made our home more efficient and more festive, just in time for Valentine's Day. 

The first involves my purse and the numerous pashmina wraps I have collected over the years (for now I have five: white, grey, mustard yellow, lavendar, dark blue).  It's a sickness I tell you but I love using them for scarfs in the winter and wraps for dresses when I'm going out!  Before now, they were clumped in a pile on the floor of our hallway closet (sorry no before pictures, my camera battery died when I went to document this!) which often left them wrinkled.  Likewise, my purse did not have a real home, which meant it ended up on counters, tables, couches, you name it.  I would just drop it wherever I was after I came in our front door.

Since we don't have a lot of space for an entry table, which would be the perfect solution to this problem, I decided to hang a few command hooks (left over from this garland project at Christmas) in our front hall closet.  I'm pretty pleased with the results considering there was no additional cost!

The other quick fix I made involved $3.00 at the Dollar Tree.  Our glass vases have been bare since I removed the ornaments from them (see what I'm talking about here) and needed some sprucing up.  At Easter time, I like to put plastic Easter eggs in the vases so when I saw three packages of artificial rose petals at the dollar store, I knew exactly what I'd do with them: I poured one bag in each vase (two red, one white) and then placed our cream pillar candles on top. It's a subtle change, perfect for Valentine's Day!  I have more Valentine's Day decorating to do this weekend, so stay tuned for those details!

The balance in this picture isn't great--the colors look better in real life!

Finally, I would like to wish my sister and my grandma a very happy birthday today. I hope you both have a wonderful birthday and I wish we could be together to celebrate!

My grandma and me at our wedding--I'm wearing my reception dress

Cheers!

Have you taken on any quick fix projects lately?  What about decorating for Valentine's Day?  I'd love to hear from you!

Birthday Dinner Recap, or Two New Recipes

As I talked about in this post, I had a birthday dinner at my grandparents' house in Peoria on Saturday night.  J unfortunately had to stay in the Lou and study for finals, while keeping an eye on that mischievous Woods.  J and I celebrated together with friends on the night of my actual birthday with pizza.

I was lucky enough to be able to select the menu for the dinner and I knew immediately what I would request:  French Onion Soup, Caesar Salad and Steak--some of my grandpa's best recipes!  In fact, I am pretty sure this is what my mom or any of her seven siblings would have asked for for their birthday dinner too.  The recipes are that good!

I also got to pick out which china pattern we would have dinner on.  My grandma has several sets of beautiful china, including one she received from my grandpa's mother--I picked their wedding china for my birthday dinner!

First is French Onion Soup.  

There aren't a lot of ingredients, but they come together to make a really hearty and delicious soup for the winter or any time!


Ingredients:
1/4 cup of butter
1 large onion sliced--use a mandolin if you have one but watch your fingers!
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/3 teaspoon salt
1 can beef broth
1 can beef consumme
1 1/2 cans of water (using the beef broth can)
1/2 cup white wine
splash of Madeira
1/8 teaspoon cayenne (palm's worth)
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
Swiss, gruyere or parmesan cheese, grated
French bread, cut into rounds (twelve if baguette, six if a larger bread)


Kitchen Supplies:
Mandolin, preferred not required
Can opener
Cheese grater
Wine opener
Stock pot
Ovenproof soup bowls

Melt butter in stock pot over medium-low heat.  Add onions, celery and salt and reduce to low.  Cook slowly until onions caramelize and turn golden brown.

Add remaining ingredients through white pepper.  Cover and simmer for thirty minutes.   While simmering, toast bread rounds in a warm oven.  Spoon into ovenproof bowls and top with toasted bread rounds.  Cover with cheese and place under broiler for 2 minutes until cheese is melted and has started to turn golden.

Just to clarify: the soup bowl is a Christmas bowl.  The gold rimmed china is their wedding china.

Serves 6

Next up is my Grandpa's Caesar Salad. 

This time, we had to borrow anchovies from the neighbors because by that point the roads were getting bad and we didn't want to venture very far.  My grandma got the ingredients Papa needed to make the salad and continue getting things ready for dinner.  My aunt and I were sitting by the fire, reading our books, when we heard my Papa cry out "Mary, Mary, Mary!" (my grandma's name)  We all came running, concerned he had fallen, cut himself, or worse only to find she had given him balsamic vinegar instead of red wine vinegar.  At that point he had already poured it in the dressing and we tried to make it work.  After letting it sit for fifteen minutes while we worked on the croutons we finally concluded the balsamic vinegar version was just awful.  We asked Papa to remake it using the red wine vinegar and he did, which we were very thankful for!  The second version came out great, just how we had remembered it!

Ingredients:
1 large bunch romaine lettuce, washed and dried
1 can anchovies and juice
1 egg
1/2 lemon
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
2/3 cup olive oil
Couple shakes of Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce
Ground black pepper
Shot of yellow mustard
Salt
Parmesan cheese


For croutons:
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tablespoons of butter, cut into two pats
Olive oil--enough to coat bottom of skillet
French bread (about 8-12 slices) cut into 1 inch squares


Kitchen Supplies:
Salad spinner--not required, but it does make the drying of romaine leaves easier!
Salad bowl
Skillet
Whisk

In wooden bowl, mix vinegar, oil, anchovies oil and one crushed anchovie, lemon juice, egg, mustard, Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce and other herbs and spices.  Allow to sit.

In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat.  Add bread cubes, butter and garlic.  Stir frequently until croutons crisp up and turn golden brown.

Remove from heat.  Break up lettuce, add to dressing in the bowl and mix well.  If the dressing has separated while it was sitting there, give it a quick whisk to recombine.  Sprinkle Parmesan cheese and mix well.  Add croutons and if desired, additional anchovies.

I love anchovies so this recipe is a no brainer for me.  However, if you are not an anchovies fan, please at least try the croutons on your favorite salad.  You won't be sorry!

A bowl of the French Onion Soup and Caesar Salad would have been more than enough for dinner, but we also had steak and baked potatoes.  We topped it off with Italian wedding cake that a close friend who shared dinner with us had made and brought for us!

Overall, it was a great birthday dinner with some of my favorite people!

How did you celebrate your birthday this year, friends?

When Life Gives You Lemons, Watch Citizen Kane

When I woke up the morning of my birthday (Sunday) in Peoria, I wasn't sure I was going to make it home that night.  As I detailed in this post, the weather was pretty nasty.

J had texted me that morning to tell me that he would be making dinner for me for my birthday and wanted to know what time I would be home.  I took a look at the almost white out conditions outside, the IDOT graphic full of angry red squiggly lines for interstates and thought to myself, I might be spending all of my birthday here in Peoria.

While we waited for the weather to either improve or get worse, which would help me determine whether I would be venturing home or staying the night, my grandparents, aunt and I watched Citizen Kane.  At my birthday dinner on Saturday night, I mentioned that one things on my 130 Before I'm Thirty list was to watch Citizen Kane (part one of two for goal number 124 to be exact) and as fate would have it, they had recorded it a few days prior when it was on Turner Classic Movies.  So, when the opportunity came up to ride out the storm with a movie, they all suggested we watch it!

Borrowed from here

We drank bloody Mary's and bundled up on the couch and watched what was voted by many as the greatest American movie of all time.  My initial reaction was that it didn't quite live up to the hype.  Some of the camera angles that were no doubt revolutionary at the time seemed a bit odd today.  One scene involved the camera peering up at a character from almost the feet of the other character who were engaged in a conversation together.

After the movie ended, my aunt and I sat down and pondered it some more.  We reached the conclusion that our initial lukewarm reaction could be explained by the fact that we were modern viewers with little knowledge of film history.  When you compare Citizen Kane with let's say Gone With the Wind, a movie that came out two years before, you begin to see why this movie was so revolutionary.  From the pace and structure of the storyline to the angles of the cameras and the set design, the film was clearly a break from its peers of the day.

The themes it introduces are timeless as well and feature such ideas as: Money doesn't buy happiness and you can never know someone unless you walk a mile in their shoes.  These probably sound a bit stale and cliche now (think of how many movies have come out between 1941 and now!) but at the time they were probably much more fresh and interesting!

In reading up about the movie on Wikipedia, I also realized how many pop culture references I had missed over the years because I had never seen the movie.  Like Rosebud's appearance in Indiana Jones (and The Simpsons).  So, I definitely recommend the movie to anyone who hasn't seen it.  It's a great little history of film lesson and for me, another goal to check off my list!

Anyone out there seen the film and want to compare notes?  I'd love to hear your thoughts on the film!

Winter Weekend Recap

Image borrowed from here and here originally

On Friday I traveled to Peoria to spend some time with my aunt and grandparents for my birthday.  On our itinerary was a fish fry dinner Friday night, a birthday dinner Saturday night (with French Onion Soup and Caesar salad--recipes and pictures to follow) and Grandma's Oyster Stew luncheon (recipe and photos also to follow) on Sunday.  The first two events went off without a hitch, until ice and snow struck the Midwest Saturday night and Sunday morning.

Aunts and cousins who were supposed to travel from St. Louis, Chicago and Peoria could not make it due to poor weather conditions.  The luncheon, which occurs every year in December, was effectively canceled with only a few neighbors who lived in walking distance stopping by later in the day.

I almost didn't make it out of Peoria myself and seriously contemplated staying the night and driving back early this morning.  In retrospect, I probably should have stayed put.  But I did drive home and after a tense five hours (it normally takes just under three), made it back to J safe and sound.  Having grown up in southern California, I am an extremely cautious driver when there is ice and snow on the ground.  It was white-knuckle the whole way home and the highways were filled with cars that had spun out and been left until conditions improved.  I did a lot of praying and was so thankful to have made it home safely, especially because it was my birthday!

No matter, I still got to eat oyster stew, had a wonderful birthday dinner with my grandparents and aunt on Saturday night, and capped off the night at one of our favorite pizza places Dewey's with some friends (who we actually celebrated my birthday with last year too)!  The drive was nothing a cold glass of beer and some warm pizza could fix.

So while my birthday weekend did not go exactly as planned, it was definitely one I'll remember for years to come!

How was your weekend, friends?

Weekend's Here!

The weekend, and October, are finally here!

This weekend is shaping up to be a little bit busy but mostly relaxing.  I am hoping to get a lot of reading done and finally tackle my closet!  With the change in weather around here lately, I need to put summer clothes away in preparation for warmer clothes and cooler temperatures. 

Tomorrow night I am making these carrot cake cupcakes for a Notre Dame football party at my cousin's house.

Sunday we are attending our neighbors' wedding, which will be very fun and exciting!  The wedding is at the Jewel Box in Forest Park, which is a beautiful place to have a wedding.  We can't wait to celebrate with them!

What are your weekend plans?

A picture of my parents at our wedding


Also, a very special shout out to my dad today on his birthday.  I hope you have a fantastic day Dad and wish I was there to celebrate with you!!

New Books, or My To-Read List

Yesterday I went to the local library and checked out four new books. After I devoured The Time Traveler's Wife this weekend, I realized I should really make more of an effort to read books. With J's busy law school schedule kicking into high gear, it will be a welcome distraction as I get lost in other worlds. Three of the four novels I selected are very different from each other, but I suppose that is why I chose them. Once I finish a novel, I usually like to follow it up with something completely different. Here is what I chose (and a little tidbit about why):

O, Juliet by Robin Maxwell--a twist on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, this novel appealed to me because it reminded me of other modern interpretations of classic works from my childhood that I've loved, like The Wind Done Gone and March, reimaginings of Gone with the Wind and Little Women respectively.

All Souls' Rising by Madison Smartt Bell--an epic novel about the Haitian revolution, I chose this novel because many websites I read said it is the definitive historical novel about Haiti. I have wanted to learn more about the Western Hemisphere's second democracy and first black republic to declare independence and figured this might be a good place to start. I would be remiss not to say I am very much looking forward to reading Isabel Allende's Island Beneath the Sea! Sadly my library does not yet have a copy.

Mercy by Jodi Picoult--I am a bit embarrassed to admit that I am a Jodi Picoult fiend. I read, no devour, her books. Once I start them I cannot put them down, often times swatting away tears as I read. I have not read some of her earlier works, like Mercy, which is what drew me to this novel. I have a feeling she will not let me down.

Between Friends by Kristy Kiernan--a compelling novel about surrogacy and secrets between friends, it looks both timely and interesting. A Jodi Picoult-esque novel to read in the likely event that Mercy leaves me hungry for more.

I have them on loan for three weeks and would really like to read them all before then. I plan on updating this blog as I finish each one with a slightly more extensive review on the books and what I thought of them.

Woods inspects my new reading list.

Four novels, three weeks. Think I can do it friends? Which book would you start with? Any here that you've read or think I should read based on this list? Do share!

Also, I want to wish a very happy birthday to my baby brother. He is sixteen years old today and probably out terrorizing the roads right now--just kidding buddy!

My brothers and Dad in our pool circa 1996/7.

I love you and wish I could be there to celebrate with you!!