Tim's Birthday Weekend in Chicago!

We had a great weekend in Chicago. We had a birthday dinner celebration for Tim in Chicago... at a Middle Eastern restaurant called Byblos. My girl friends from out of state also came to celebrate, which was very sweet of them. Our brothers and sister-in-laws partied with us too. It was fun. We had a lot of food, wine, and we all smoked the hookah. We danced a lot and also got to see a belly dancer perform. It was a really fun night. I also tried a dish called kibbeh nayeh for the first time, which is raw meat. It was pretty tasty, actually. Some of my friends tried it too and liked it. It's always good to try something different right? =) It was really fun to hang out with my brother, Tim's brothers, and our friends all in one place. It was good night, for sure.

On Saturday, we hung out at one of Tim's brothers house. We got to play with his nephew, Mena. And of course, we ate there. Every weekend trip to Chicago consists of a lot of eating =) [I'm not complaining, though ; ) ]

The next night was another party.. this time, we celebrated our friend's boyfriend's going away party. He's moving to California pretty soon. The party was at a bar called Delilah's, a punk rock bar. Pretty cool venue. They had some interesting paintings on their walls... which was wei

Here are a few pictures from the weekend...

Here is the Birthday Boy blowing out his candles!

Us with our brothers and sister-in-laws

Our awesome friends =)

Look how cute Mena is!

Happy 26th Birthday Tim!

Tim turned 26 today.. now he's closer to 30 than 20. haha (Just like me) =P He went to work today, so yesterday, I made him a chocolate cake to bring with him. It's like being in elementary school again when you bring a treat in because it's your birthday. (Do they still do that nowadays?) I guess that cake got devoured today - which was nice to hear. People enjoyed it. Tim ate well today. haha I made him breakfast and also prepared his lunch for him. His lunch was a chicken salad croissant sandwich and other things. I followed the Barefoot Contessa recipe for Chicken Salad Veronique.

For dinner, I wanted to make something a bit lighter. We had some gooood fried chicken last night at a local restaurant, so I wanted to counteract it a little. Tonight's menu consisted of a balsamic glazed salmon, with some cous cous and sauteed mushrooms. They all turned out pretty good. Tim enjoyed it. He had a pretty happy birthday today.. =)

Since Tim already brought a chocolate cake to work in, I didn't want to do another cake for his birthday dessert. I made 2 things instead.. chocolate dipped strawberries and a Frozen Berries with Hot White Chocolate dessert. Both were delicious. So, I guess I didn't escape the chocolate part too much .. ; ) oh well, it's his birthday afterall.


Happy 26th Baby!

Fun Night

Last night, we had my oldest brother over for dinner. He just got back from the Philippines early this week. I wanted to make another dish from Barefoot Contessa, of course. And it's always nice to have more people for dinner =) And I wanted to make lasagna, so people are definitely welcomed. This dish was a portobello mushroom lasagna. It turned really good. Not too mushy and saucy like most lasagnas tend to be. And the mushrooms were super delicious. Tim probably could have eaten all of the mushrooms after I sauteed them...=) Tim made the garlic cheese toasts and they were reeeeallly good! =)

After dinner, us three met up my brother's friends at a nearby club/bar. It was pretty nice not having to drive to it. We had a good time there =) And tonight, Tim is hosting a little dinner party for his "little" brother and his real little sisters with their "Big" sisters. (Tim is part of Big Brothers Big Sisters) They're gonna go bowling after.. I'll stay and relax at home with a movie or something =)

Winner winner, chicken dinner!

Ok, so let me tell you our setting right now.. Tim and I are both sitting on the couch - side by side .. with our laptops on our lap, while watching TV. hah I had to email something to Tim too. hah Technology - gotta love it. Tim and I had a late dinner tonight. We went to the gym first.. and then right after I started dinner. I followed another recipe from my new Barefoot Contessa cookbook. It's so fun to try new recipes and have it be delicious =) The meal for tonight was roasted chicken breasts with basil and goat cheese. It turned out really yummy and juicy. Tim and I really enjoyed it tonight. And it didn't feel too greasy after a workout. =)

Blue Cheese Burger

Tonight, Tim and I grilled some Blue Cheese Burger.. recipe courtesy of Barefoot Contessa. =) It was really delicious. Surprisingly delicious. Our smoke alarm went off a million times though 'cause we were using our grill pan and our smoke detector is super sensitive. But it was all worth it. We had a great meal tonight.. after working out (haha). This is our year to get back in working out. =) Hopefully, we can really keep a workout routine a.. routine. Happy New Year!

Christmas Celebrations

Tim and I drove around a lot for Christmas... We had Christmas with Tim's side. That was a really nice Christmas. I made some desserts and brought them for dinner. =) It was fun playing with the little kiddies. After Christmas, Tim and I really wanted to show his brother Jalal and sister in law Mary our new apartment. They're pretty far from us, so we figured this was a good opportunity to show 'em. So, we drove back home for the night and left out again the next day. (Lots of driving)=) hehe But it was nice to hang out with them at home too. After that, we drove back to Chicago and then headed to Michigan. We hung out with Tim's cousin in East Lansing... had some bubble tea at Bubble Island (of course) =)
I wanted to have a little After Christmas dinner for my brother and friends here at the condo. So, last night, I cooked up a meal for all of us. Everyone enjoyed it, ... everything was eaten up reallly quickly. It was very nice to see. =) I roasted a couple of chickens and a few sides. The chickens turned out yummy and moist. We had a lot of fun playing Guitar Hero all night long too. It was really nice to see my friends and family last night.

Here's our "Family Photo" haha.. our kids are growing up so quickly!

Christmas Gift!

I got a Barefoot Contessa cookbook in the mail today.. my brother Warly got it for me. =) I was pretty excited to get it. I decided to cook something from it for dinner tonight. I already had some chicken breasts in the fridge... so I decided to try out Ina Garten's Chicken Piccata. I love chicken piccatas..so this was an easy choice to make. Her recipe made a great one. It's not too saucy/soggy and just the right amount of lemony taste. Tim really liked it. I liked it a lot too - really tasty. We cooked up some pasta to go along with the chicken. We like having Buitoni fresh pasta on reserve in the fridge. Those are good stuff. These were mushroom agnolottis... just big raviolis. Delicious. Just cooked and then tossed around a little with olive oil and freshly grated gruyere cheese. Mmm... good dinner tonight. =)

I can't believe Christmas is just days away...

Party x 2!

This past weekend, Tim and I drove to Michigan for the Benchmark Logic Company party. It was a lot of fun. We had dinner at Ocean Prime Restaurant. Very good restaurant. Tim enjoyed some Alaskan King Crab or something and I had a delicious Steak with Scallops (my fave combo). I'm allergic to crabs, but whenever Tim gets a chance to eat it at a restaurant... he takes it! Oy.=) But dinner was a lot of fun and we all drove to a club called Main Street in downtown Rochester for some dancing and billiards, etc. We had their VIP room for the night, so we got to chill in there whenever we wanted. Good times.

BENCHMARK LOGIC

We haven't really had many friends come over to our apartment... really... it's only been my family and one friend who has really visited and hung out at our place. Tim and I decided to throw a little Christmas party for our friends here in Bloom... most of them are Benchmark people and State Farm people... =) A couple of the guys also helped us move back in late August.. so, this was a nice way to say Thanks again.. =) So, our party was last night and it was a lot of fun. I think everyone had a good time and everyone was pretty stuffed. I'm glad they enjoyed the food, and also the cooking show Tim and I provided in the beginning. Hah... I was running a little late on my schedule and Tim wanted to make his guacamole when he got home... so, when the guests arrived, they all sat or stood around the bar and watched us finish things up. Heh it was cute. A couple helped out in making the sangria. Yum. =)

Overall, it was a great time and we're glad people made it out to our place. We really like entertaining. And it's nice to see friends have a nice time at our place and eating stuff we made for them. We made a lot of things for the night... I made some chocolate covered pretzels that morning. We had pulled pork sandwiches, a strawberry & blackberry trifle (yummy), a caprese salad,chips & guacamole, a pesto chicken feta & pine nuts pizza, and a yummy & decadent bread pudding. It was my first time making the bread pudding and it turned out pretty good. Definitely rich. But tasty.

Chii-cken!

Hm. I spent almost 95% of my day at home yesterday... the snow and cold didn't make me want to walk to my car and go anywhere. hah I'm really not made for cold weather. Especially the bitter cold wind.... that's what gets me. =P But I like snow activities... like snowboarding. Hopefully Tim and I can do that some time this winter...

Last night, I decided to make some chicken tenders and pesto pasta. They turned out yummy. I was pretty happy. I think I always get happy now when I don't burn chicken on the stove. That used to happen to me often years ago.. I would burn at least one and then get the hang out it for the rest. I'm like that with pancakes too! But lately, I've been feeling a lot more comfortable cooking in the kitchen. Things don't freak me out as much. =) These chicken tenders were tasty.
This past weekend was nice. We helped celebrate Tim's nephew, Gabe''s birthday. He turned 4 already. It's so fun to see our nieces and nephews (on both sides) grow up ... they're all so cute and adorable... each with their own awesome personality. Tim mentioned that 4 years ago that all of our nieces and nephews didn't exist yet. It's a crazy thought. Gabe is the oldest of the 6 total from my side and his. Time really flies.

Daisy Days

Our friend Daisy visited us in Bloomington for the first time. She's one of my good friends (and one of my bridesmaids too!).. It was really nice of her to visit. She took an amtrak over on Wednesday night and she'll be leaving tonight. We've had fun the past couple of days. I just showed her around town and to some places Tim and I like to go to. Last night, we all ended up going to see the new Boondock Saints movie.. we all liked it. I loved the first movie and the second one was just as entertaining. We had Tim watch the first movie last night before going to the theater =)

The night Daisy got in, I wanted to make a nice dinner. I made a roasted pork with a roasted garlic vinaigrette. It turned out pretty yummy. =)
Daisy and I walked around downtown yesterday. It didn't last too long 'cause it was sooo collldddd. My gosh, it got bitter pretty quickly. But I think it was still a fun time. I took some "senior photos" of Daisy while walking around - haha =) At the candy store... the brick walls of downtown... hahah Fun times.
We went to Barnes and Noble for a quick cup of coffee.. we were just pretty cold to be honest. And we saw these magazines... and found them pretty entertaining. (We're not really big Twilight fans) but it was still fun to take pictures of our teams. hahaha
Last night, before going to the movies - I decided to make some chocolate covered pretzels. They turned out cute. I added some sprinkles on some of 'em .. for color and to be a little festive. =) After going to the candy store during the day, the smell of chocolate really got me to make my own at home instead of buying one stick for a dollar something. =P