Catfish Catching

I told my husband I wanted to get a new hobby this year, and I guess that goal can be checked off. We bought fishing licenses with some of our hard earned money, and we have been fishing at least once a week since the beginning of May, I think. We are keeping a running tally of how many fish we each catch to see who can be the winner at the end of the summer. Right now, Danny is ahead 6 to 4. (So frustrating! I want to be the winner!) We've mainly caught trout, and that's fine with me. They taste pretty good. Last night though, Danny caught a catfish. We went fishing with his parents and grandparents, and many catfish and a few trout were caught. We decided to keep some of the catfish and figure out how to clean and cook them. Danny's grandma said she really likes how they taste, so we'll see if we do too. 

 Catfish are pretty creepy looking, and they are pretty hard to clean, we soon learned. You have to pull their skin off with pliers---it's like a home improvement project, but smellier.

So, tonight I think I'm cooking the catfish (only the fillets, don't worry; it now looks nothing like a cat and only like a fish you would see in the grocery store). I really don't know how, but we'll see how it goes. The nice thing about fishing is that I get to practice and learn how to cook fish without having to pay for any of the fish. . . the bad part is that I haven't caught any the past three times we've gone. Maybe next time!!!

Valentine's Day Report

I have some pictures taken on Valentine's Day. They're not exciting enough to frame or display anywhere really, so I thought I'd use them here. So, here is a little casual photo report on a fun day of celebration that was desperately needed!

First of all....last Valentine's Day is a day not to be mentioned...we'll just say it didn't turn out so great. Probably my fault. I'll take the blame. But! Forget that, because this year was awesome! Danny was so sweet to listen to all my little wants and suggestions. He doesn't have much time, but he made sure to make the day special for me (we celebrated on Saturday, because our Tuesdays are jam packed). So, we went at  night after slaving away all day on homework.

He opened the car door for me and these two things were sitting on my seat:

 Look at how smug he is for being sneaky.

 We went to dinner here:

 Good dinner...we ate just the right amount....but we didn't leave a tip...we forgot that was going to be an issue. Oops. Sorry waitress lady who only cleared our plates! I don't know if you deserved a tip anyway! (Danny says she did).

 Then we went ice skating, which was fun for me and painful for Danny. :)
And when we got back to the car, he reached behind my seat and pulled out this!

 Yep, he is DOUBLE sneaky!

 The valentine said something and then he wrote "if I could buy you a dress it would look like this"---cuz I always tell him to buy me clothes. I'm cool like that.

We got matching bracelets from the ice skating place. Cute!

And we ended the night with a double feature of these two movies....kind of lame, but we had fun.

 The END!!

A Recipe For Christmas Cheer

Important: Do not make until after Thanksgiving is over!

First, Take one happy couple. Then, add Christmas music, lights, and a tree. Decorate the tree thoroughly before doing next step. Watch a few Christmas movies. Walk around a freezing Temple Square at least twice. Hang up Christmas cards and add a few carefully wrapped presents beneath the tree. Plan for several family parties, but not before finishing finals. Be sure to create new Christmas traditions as you go, such as making an ornament for the tree out of your wedding announcement. Last, carefully preserve every moment with a camera and relive the memories as often as needed. Serves: Everyone but Scrooge and the Grinch. Merry Christmas!

Halloween Pizza

 We tried making a jack-o-lantern pizza like Papa Murphey's does. It ended up looking more like a hippie man once we added the olives, but that's ok. He was delicious!

Happy Halloween!

Roasted Halloween Pumpkin Seeds

*from a recipe at Food.com

Ingredients:

• 
  1 1/2 cups pumpkin seeds
• 2 teaspoons melted butter (olive oil or vegetable oil work well) or 2teaspoons melted oil (olive oil or vegetable oil work well)
• salt (This is all I used)
• garlic powder (optional)
• cayenne pepper (optional)
• seasoning salt (optional)
• cajun seasoning (optional)

Directions:

1. 1
   Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
2. 2
   While it's OK to leave some strings and pulp on your seeds (it adds flavor) clean off any major chunks.
3. 3
   Toss pumpkin seeds in a bowl with the melted butter or oil and seasonings of your choice.
4. 4
   Spread pumpkin seeds in a single layer on baking sheet.
5. 5
   Bake for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown.
   
   
   YUM!!!!!
   
   Also, check out those pumpkins that these seeds came from. Can you guess which one I carved and which one was Danny's?

I Forgot to Mention . . .

My wonderful husband took me to Tucanos for my birthday! (Erica, we did sign up for the free birthday meal). We also had a gift certificate to use there, so it ended up costing us nothing! The waiters were a little awkward this time since there were few people in the restaurant, but we had lots of fun anyway. My Tucanos dream has come true!

FHE and No-Bake Cookies

If you know me and Danny really well, you know we made probably a hundred or so no-bake cookies while we were dating/engaged. And we haven't stopped there!

Danny loves making these from his "ancient" recipe that he used as a teenager. He has it memorized. I think in the last month alone we have made them at least every week. They are easy and we both love them! (sometimes it's not always easy to find a treat we both LOVE). 

We made them for Family Home Evening a little while ago, and I took pictures. You can also see us enjoying our new *old* video game thing (I don't know what it's called. I don't know how to play most of the games) that Danny's brother shipped to us. Danny was very excited to play NBA Jam? Or something like that. Anyway, it's fun!

 See those wrinkles on my forehead? I used to worry a ton in 6th grade, and my teacher told me I was going to have permanent lines on my forehead when I was older because I would scrunch up my forehead when I worried. Don't worry (haha), they aren't permanent yet, but this will give you a visual of what I'll look like when I'm older. . . .you can even imagine I'm missing my teeth the way my mouth looks in this picture.

 We were playing MarioKart. It says "congratulations" on the screen, so Danny must have just beat me again. I never even make it to third place.

And here is Danny's memorized recipe for his favorite no-bake cookies: (I often cut this recipe in half for just us. Half makes about 14 small/medium cookies).

2 cups sugar

1 stick butter

4 Tbs cocoa powder

1/2 cup milk

Stir these ingredients in a heavy saucepan until mixed. Bring to a rolling boil. Let it boil without stirring for 1.5 minutes. 

Remove pan from heat and add:

1/2 cup peanut butter

2 1/2 cups oats

2 tsp vanilla

Drop by spoonful onto parchment paper, waxed paper, or we just use saran wrap over a cookie sheet.

Let cool so they harden and enjoy!

Tucanos. . . A Place Only In My Dreams

I wish I had something to post here. Sadly, I am now a student again and I barely have time to put pasta with canned sauce on the table. I would post a picture of that, but would it even be worth seeing? No.

So, I'll dream about going out to eat instead! I've been wanting to go to Tucanos since April. It's overpriced, it's not like amazing, but it has special memories for me. Danny took me to Tucanos when I graduated. He didn't have the money for it, and I protested, but he still did. And I secretly loved that he took me.

(Except, now he knows cuz he just came up and sat by me while I am typing this...oops. :)

Anyway, since I have no pictures of real food, here:

Come to Tucanos with me in my mind and eat whatever is on that huge skewer held by a college-aged man. It'll be fun! :)

I'm Back!

So, I kind of just left you all hanging without any explanation.

Explanation now: This past week I've been out of the country on a cruise to Mexico!

While on this cruisey little adventure of mine, I got to sample some pretty interesting dishes.

Don't worry, I took pictures! :)

My favorite thing was this creme brulee I had one night at dinner for dessert. I've been craving it ever since!

I got to go to a cooking demo done by the head chef on the cruise ship. That's him on the right. He has a white handkerchief tied around his neck, which shows he is the highest chef. Blue handkerchiefs are the lowest, and red are in the middle. When asked what his favorite color was, the head chef said white...then he pointed to his necktie. Pretty clever, chef. :)

The head chef made this roasted chicken with potatoes and mac and cheese during the demo. The macaroni and cheese was sooooooooooo good. The best I have ever had! Bonus: I got to taste two dishes that had truffle oil in it. I have never tasted truffle oil. It's very decadent.

I honestly don't think I had ever tried lobster before the cruise. I've had crab several times, but lobster was a new one. They kind of turned the lobster tail inside out so that the meat was easily accessible. Not the prettiest looking lobster, but it was fun to try. And those mashed potatoes hiding on the side were so creamy and yummy. Ohhhhh yes.

 I had this dish for dessert one night. It had apples and puff pastry in it. The caramel sauce had a slightly burnt taste. Those at our table who tasted the sauce gave it mixed reviews. Most hated it, but I thought it was ok.

I don't even remember what this was, but it was good. I love the presentation.

I tried a lot of dishes on the cruise that I would rarely get a chance to eat someplace else. Lobster, frog legs, alligator fritters, smoked salmon, sushi, and, yes, snails. AKA escargot. I had tasted escargot before, actually, but I wanted to try it again. Hey, why not? Things like these cost tons of money at a restaurant. We had already paid for our tickets. We didn't pay anything extra for these delicacies. I took advantage. And they were pretty good. Danny made faces while I ate them, but his favorite food is still pizza so I didn't pay too much attention. :)

The Perfect Combination

Okay, so, this picture doesn't look that great. These are actually some day-old bagels I brought home from a work conference. But! As I was eating them I got some flash-backs to my first year of college when I would buy a bagel, cream cheese, and a bottle of orange juice and savor my breakfast in the food court on campus. 

It was the perfect combination.

I guess I'm kind of a "perfect combination" kind of girl, because there are other combinations that are similar in my life.

1. Popcorn and sprite at a movie in a movie theater...my perfect combination!
2. Chicken and honey....I know, kind of weird, but I ALWAYS get out the honey when we have chicken. It's one of my perfect combinations. Must be from eating honey with chicken nuggets when I was little.
3. Ice cream and french fries...you know what I'm talking about. If you don't---try it!
4. Chocolate and peanut butter.
5. Tortilla chips, salsa, and guacamole.
6. Rice and black beans.

And so on...

So tell me: What are YOUR perfect food combinations?

1000 Page Views!

Guess what? This blog now officially has 1000 page views!!! Woohoo!

I feel like Miss America!

Well, no, not really.

To celebrate, let's look at a picture of homemade pizza!

Yummmmm!!!!!! I know, I'm sorry, it's not fair to show you such deliciousness and not share.

But, I have to brag a little that I got to eat this wonderful thing and I didn't even have to make it!

My brother-in-law, Ben, is a family expert on homemade pizzas. We were lucky enough to have him come spend the evening with us a few nights ago, and he made us pizza. He even taught us all his secrets. (oo la la!)

Here is Danny trying (and not quite getting it, according to Ben) to stretch out the dough:

You can kind of see their almost-matching t-shirts. :)

So, if you are ever lucky enough to taste Ben's pizza, then you are blessed.

As for the pizza secrets? The one thing I will share is that Ben claims that you must never roll out the dough with a rolling pin--it's gotta be hand stretched. And it seems to work; his pizzas are way better than any I have ever made.

The rest of the secrets? Well, they are called "secrets" for a reason. :)

My New Favorite Thing

K, well, I already told you about allrecipes.com.

My new love?

Pinterest! I waste hours on that thing. There are so many cute/good ideas under the Food + Drink button. I just can't get enough!

One of my favorite things I have found on the site are these little babies:

Cookie Monster Cookies!

-Pinned by Pamela Murray, from this website: http://sammifong.tumblr.com/post/591658073

I just cannot get over how cute they are. My husband told me I was being too girly when I kept showing him and saying, "Aren't they SOOOO cute????" 

Well, he had a point, but I couldn't help it!