Home Alone

Well, last night Darrell was at work then at a meeting until 9 PM. So, I was home alone for the greater part of the night, including dinner. Since it was just dinner for one, I decided to clean up some of the half used things lying around our fridge and panty, plus some older produce. I present to you my dinner smorgasbord:

A half box of pasta tossed with some olive oil and a Sicilian seasoning blend, roasted zucchini and sweet potatoes, and an apple. And it was delicious.

Unfortunately, I did a not-so-good job of fixing the meal as something "just for one". Apparently I'm not fully capable of eating a whole apple, sweet potato, and zucchini, not to mention a pretty decent amount of pasta. So, I ended up with enough for two leftovers. Normally this is not an issue for us since we both enjoy taking them for lunch at work, but this is the current state of our fridge:

You counted right, that's eight containers of leftovers. Not to mention the fact that we brought the produce for a stir fry to prepare tomorrow night, which will easily give us another two or three leftovers. Which means that instead of shredded chicken tacos, we get leftovers tonight. After having them for lunch today. And having them again for lunch tomorrow. Good thing we've got lots of variety in there!

Victorious Weekend

Well, apparently my high from booking our trip to London carried over into the weekend, because out weekend plans came together perfectly. We got all the normal, boring weekend stuff done--laundry, cleaning, gym time--and then headed out to a card/game party on Saturday night with some friends from church. Not only did we have a great night playing some fun games, but thanks to a ridiculous amount of luck in Yahtzee!, I was also able to snag "high score" for the females. The prize?

A tasty variety of seasoning mixes--plus super cute little plates to pour the olive oil into!

And the best part about the prize (other than the fact that we love having stuff to dip bread into)?

It went perfectly with our dinner of roast beef on Sunday night!

And so far the good fortune seems to be spilling over into the work week--they are calling for highs in the mid-forties today and I'm off work at 3:30 which means I might actually get a chance to go for a run outside! Woo-hoo!

Big News!!

Well faithful readers, we've got some big news to share! I've been holding back on sharing this information until things were more official, but I think it's finally time to let it out.






We're taking a vacation!







But not just any vacation.... we're headed to....

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Have you figured it out yet? Maybe this last one will help

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If you guess London then you're exactly right! (Cue Austin Power's "Yeah baby".) One of my good (and brilliant) friends is studying at the London School of Economics (as is her boyfriend), so we decided it was the perfect time to plan a vacation over there. After all, it just doesn't get any better than having two personal tour guides who will also give you a free place to crash. And thankfully our availability for traveling there did not coincide with the Olympics; we probably wouldn't be able to afford to go to any events anyway, and now we don't have to deal with the over-crowding and jacked-up prices. We booked our tickets last night (eek!) so it's no longer something we're "just talking about" but now something that is officially going to happen (unless we want to pay ridiculous cancellation fees). And now that we have the dates set and plane tickets purchased (which will hopefully be the biggest expense), it's time to settle down and figure out an itinerary. Or at least a vague idea thereof--I don't want to plan our trip down to the last second (vacations with my family are like that and they drive me crazy!), but since this will probably be the only time we'll be in London I do want to have some sort of a "to-do" list so we can maximize our time. So I'm looking to you readers--what do you recommend? What do you think we should absolutely make sure we do? And since we love our food (and spirits!), what are pubs and restaurants that we need to make sure to check out? Any suggestions are welcome!

Panko-Crusted Pork with Plum Sauce

Well, I didn't get around to fixing a peanut butter inspired dish last night in honor of National Peanut Butter Day, but that was because I just couldn't bear to delay fixing this meal. Don't let the name fool you. This recipe is really not intimidating at all. Sure, it uses some ingredients that the average kitchen might not stock, but considering the fact that we had no trouble finding them in South Dakota, it's safe to say they'll be easy to find elsewhere. And we actually love some of the "unusual" ingredients (namely panko) so much that we've been seeking out other recipes that use it--in addition to making this dish regularly, of course. Because after just one taste you'll be hooked. And another plus in my book? It's a great signature dish to serve to company because it's unique and presents really well!

Panko-Crusted Pork with Plum Sauce
(from one of our Pampered Chef cookbooks--we've found a few gems in there!)

Pork
2 5-6oz boneless pork chops
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup panko crumbs (can usually be found near the bread crumbs)
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Plum Sauce
1/4 cup plum preserves
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 garlic clove, pressed
1/2 tsp finely grated gingerroot (we've been known to substitute powdered in a pinch, but fresh always tastes best!)
2 tbsp thinly sliced green onions

Combine sauce ingredients (except green onions) in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk until heated through. Meanwhile, flatten pork to 1/4-inch thickness using toothed side of a meat tenderizer. Season both sides of pork with salt. Lightly dredge in flour, shaking off excess. Dip into beated egg the coat generously with panko crumbs. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add pork; cook 4-6 minutes or until crust is a deep golden brown and pork is no longer pink in the center, turning once. Remove and drain on paper towels. Pour sauce over pork and garnish with green onions.

Another fun variation to this--if you are serving kids, the panko crust allows the pork to be cut nicely into strips like chicken fingers. The plum sauce can then be used as a dipping sauce. We haven't tried this yet on any kids, but it seems like a good way to get kids to try new foods!

National Peanut Butter Day

Am I the only one who was totally blindsided by that announcement when I saw it on MSN this morning? I couldn't believe that such an important holiday nearly passed by without my knowledge. And I feel embarrassed that I haven't done anything to prepare--for shame! Peanut butter is definitely one of my favorite foods (is it really considered a food? Or more a condiment? Whatever), and I've nearly let it down. I may try to whip up something special tonight, and if you feel like doing the same, here are some of my favorite peanut butter recipes from past posts. There's plenty of variety to choose from, whether you want an entree for dinner tonight, a sweet dessert, or just a healthy snack!

Pasta with Thai Peanut Sauce

Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

Peanut Butter Cookies

Puppy Chow Bars

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge

Cherry Bing Bars

Shopping Recap

Well, we survived. It was rough at times, and definitely got long by the end of the five hours, but it was worth it. We found some great pieces, and my sister was definitely feeling a lot more confident by the end of the ordeal (due mostly to the fact that we finally found a store where stuff fit her--and fit her well--consistently off the rack). Here's a few of the fun purchases she made:

Love this top from New York and Company. I only wish it had long sleeves instead of three-quarter length sleeves--I wish stores would wait a month or two before putting their "spring" lines out; winter isn't going anywhere for two or three months!

When I showed my sister this shirt from The Limited she thought it was sown wrong because the knot was off to the side. Once I assured her that the shirt was intended to be asymmetrical, she was a little bit more okay with it and actually decided that it might be kind of cute with a pair of oversized earrings.

I was a little surprised the I actually got my sister on board with this sweater from The Loft. She swears by turtlenecks and v-necks, but ended up loving the style and fit of this cute red cable sweater.

This dress, also from The Loft, was probably my favorite purchase from Saturday (ironic that my favorite purchases on both days were dresses!). And sadly, my sister bought it in a petite so that it would be a cute length on her, which means I won't be able to borrow it. I'm pretty sure I could fit into the one she got on Friday night though....

But the fun isn't over yet. In our sweep of the mall on Saturday, I discovered that one of the men's dress stores was having a clearance sale, and since Darrell has been talking about getting a suit and some new dress clothes, the two of us headed out there on Sunday (this is seriously probably the most time I've spent at the mall in a month since I was a teenager). Shopping with Darrell was drastically different from shopping with my sister though; we only went to the one store and were in and out in less than twenty minutes--the slowest part of the process was figuring out Darrell's jacket size!

Here's one of the ties Darrell got--love the sharp, but not overly bold--paisley print.

And here's his first suit! (Which, ironically, two different store employees told him they were jealous that he could fit into the suit because they didn't carry it in their size.)

These aren't exactly the items he purchased; I have no idea what brands his apparel was, but they're pretty close. Thank goodness for Google images to assist me in finding random images of men's dress clothes!

I'd like to say that I'm done with shopping and the mall for awhile, but in all reality, rather than deter me from more shopping this weekend just whetted my appetite to do some shopping for myself!

Progress

Well, we only ended up having time to hit up one store last night (my sister takes forever to try on clothes!), but we definitely got a few gems--and at great prices too. Thank you Dress Barn!

A nice basic tee (we purchased it in orange--her favorite color!) that she can wear in all seasons, and, most importantly, something to look nice with her black pencil skirt. We also found a cute drape cardigan with a lace pattern in the back that will look nice over the shirt.

Isn't that dress smokin'? And of course my sister as the perfect curves, so it looks just great on her. Aside from the fact that I think the dress is gorgeous--I love the fact that it was only $25!! How awesome of a deal is that? It took a lot of willpower to bypass some of the other sale dresses that I had my eye on--but I kept reminding myself that the focus of the shopping trip was my sister, not myself. Hopefully I'm able to keep that up today, although we'll be going into a lot of my favorite stores so it might be tough!

A Dream Come True

This weekend, I get to live out a long-time dream of mine and pretend like I'm the hosts of one of my favorite TV shows.

My dear sister, after years and years of gentle prying, has finally agreed to be "made over". I might use "agreed" a little loosely--let's just say that there was a lime-green prom bomb that made a not-so-appropriate appearance at a Christmas party and it was the last straw. Her boyfriend requested that I take her shopping, and I excitedly agreed--and amazingly, so did she. We actually started the process a few weeks ago when I went to her house and did the closet "raid", although much to my sister's appreciation I was quite a bit nicer than Clinton and Stacey are on the show (there were no trash cans involved and I reluctantly agreed to let her keep a few favorites--Nick, if you are reading this, I apologize for the too small "I'm not short, I'm fun-sized" shirt that she still owns). As fun as it was to drink wine and watch her try all her clothes on, the best part comes this weekend when she comes into town and we go on a full-out shopping extravaganza. I've got the list of stores in mind already that are must-hits, and I will certainly be covering with her the stores that are "must-avoids" (like DEB. Not an appropriate store for a 28 year-old teacher). Now, while it would be nice to have the hefty budget that participants on the show have, that really just isn't realistic, so we might not be doing as much purchasing as we will be educating. Educating on what is appropriate for her age. Educating on what is appropriate for her body type. Educating on when to justify "big" purchases and when to keep looking or wait for a sale. Even educating on what is appropriate to wear to the grocery store (which, in theory, should be easy--not sweats. Especially not when your boyfriend has a very prominent, very public job in the community). 

I've been scoping out the stores online and have a few super cute things in mind--

How adorable is this shirt from NY & Company? Love that store.

I think my sister would look awesome in this outfit from The Loft. I don't know if I'll be able to get her into a blazer-type coat and/or chunky scarf, but she is forever cold and those would be great options for her. They have some super cute sweater dresses there too.

I also need to get her to believe everything on this style sheet from The Dress Barn--especially the part about choosing clothes that accentuate curves without being too clingy or tight. My sister thinks that because she is short she has to buy everything in a size small--but totally neglects the fact that her bust is certainly not "small" (and especially not when she is shopping in the junior's section). 

As excited as I am, I'm really hoping that everything goes well. My sister is not always very open to change, but I firmly believe that if I can get a few of the right pieces on her it will help her be able to see the difference! 

Cold Mountain

When I read this book a second time (and yes--there will be a second time), I'm going to do two big things differently. For starters, I'm actually going to slow down and pay attention to the details instead of getting so wrapped up in the story that I fly through the pages to figure out the resolution (which, ironically, I ultimately knew because I'd seen the movie years ago). I'm also going to read it with a map in hand; about twenty pages in I realized that the story was set in a part of the country that I've spent time in and am familiar with (albeit the story is set during the Civil War, so the landscape is significantly different), but at that point we were on a plane (flying to that said part of the country, as it turns out) and I didn't have access to a map. Which in retrospect is probably okay; I'm sure I would have neglected referencing it anyway. My second time though? I'm totally going to trace the paths and lives of the characters, and actually be able to connect it to how the countryside in that area looks now. I'm nerdily excited.

At its core, this book is a love story, although it seems to take each character some time to actually figure that out since the war has separated them, both geographically and emotionally. Inman has become a deserted of the Confederate Army and must travel surreptitiously through the backcountry to return home and Ada is left parentless and penniless after her father dies, and doesn't have the first idea how to take care of herself, let alone the large farm she lives on. Independently, both characters have striking stories full of trials and victories, and ultimately, their stories are inseparably linked. I did find the book to be a little detail-heavy at times, but most of that was out of necessity since the author is describing life during a time that most of us can't fathom. Those descriptions add a fascinating third element into a book already filled with two strong characters. If you have an interest in history/Civil-War era stories and/or well-written love stories, I think you'll really enjoy this book. And if you're just looking for a good read, indifferent of content, then I'd definitely recommend this book.

Caramel Brownies

So I felt a little guilty last night posting about my caramel brownie sundae and then not sharing the recipe for the brownies. Thankfully Darrell and I hadn't quite yet eaten through the pan (which we may or may not have made on Sunday), so I was able to snag a few to grab a good picture (I suppose I could have just reused the one of the sundae; of all the times we've made these I'd never tried serving them warm with ice cream and it was definitely a win in my book). I love that these brownies remind me of the easy "boxed" caramel brownie mixes you can buy in the store but they pack a lot more flavor without being that much more difficult (these also "cheat" a little bit by using a boxed cake mix). As I alluded to earlier, we've made these quite a few times and they are always a hit, even to a friend who was (supposedly) not a fan of brownies.

Caramel Brownies
(not sure where we got this from, but I'm forever indebted!)

1 14 oz package of caramels, unwrapped
1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk*
1 package chocolate cake mix (with pudding in the mix--Pillsbury works well)
3/4 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk*
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

*the original recipe calls for evaporated milk, but I errantly used sweetened condensed one time and we both loved it and haven't looked back since!

In a heavy saucepan, combine caramels and 1/3 cup of milk. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until smooth. In a large bowl, stir together cake mix, melted butter, and remaining 1/3 cup milk until dough sticks together. Do not use a mixer. Press half the dough into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake for ten minutes in a 350* oven. Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over the top. Pour caramel mixture evenly over the chips. Crumble the remaining dough over the caramel layer. Bake for an additional 15 to 18 minutes. Cool completely before cutting.

The toughest thing about this recipe is gauging when the bars are done. Because of the caramel layer, it's hard to use the ole "toothpick in the middle" trick. The best advice I can give is to watch for the edges pulling away from the edge slightly. It may appear to be undercooked when you pull it from the oven, but it will firm up as it cools. And be sure to give it plenty of time to cool or you'll have an ooey-gooey mess if you try to cut them and serve them too soon. Enjoy!

Addicted

Whelp--we've had Netflix for a whopping seventy-two hours, and we've probably watched it for close to twenty-four of those hours. Eek. The biggest culprit of those hours? A day-long marathon of Psych on Saturday. We may or may not have watched the entire fifteen episode first season. And since then have watched three episodes of the second season. Do I need to mention that we are hooked? And I'm not just talking about the show Psych; I'm talking about Netflix. I've watched a few episodes of Cake Boss and My Fair Wedding, Darrell's certainly been enjoying Rocky and Bullwinkle, and we started checking movies off our "classic" movie list with a viewing of Breakfast at Tiffany's last night. I will say that we weren't overly impressed with the movie, but mostly because it's such a different style from what we are used to.

And on my Netflix docket for tonight?

With a little bit of this on the side:

Hot caramel brownie sundae with a nice glass of wine. Now if it were Friday instead of Monday this night would be perfect!

If Everyone Else is Doing It.....

Well, Darrell and I are only like six years late on this bandwagon, but we've finally jumped aboard.

We'll probably getting a lot more use out of our Wii now, that's for sure. And I must admit, I'd been a hold out for so long because I just didn't think we needed it; living without cable has never been an issue, and I like that we fill our time at home with dinner and conversation and games. But sometimes, it's nice to just veg out. And we can only watch through the ten seasons of Friends so many times (we've got through them four times in as many years if I'm not mistaken). So, we bit the bullet, deciding that we'll re-evaluate in a month after the free month trial is over. Truthfully though? I don't see us dropping it. We were amazed by the amount of selections, and especially the diversity of the selections. Darrell was like a kid in a candy shop when he discovered Rocky and Bullwinkle episodes; I insisted that we watch at least the intro to a Veggie Tales episode just so I could sing along with the theme song. Of course, we did spend some time perusing the "grown-ups" selections as well; after much deliberation on what show to start watching, we settled on the pilot episode for Psych and both thoroughly enjoyed it. And we haven't even begun to tap into the selection of movies!

Suffice to say our initial satisfaction with jumping on the Netflix bandwagon is very high. It's a great alternative to high cable bills, and although the selection is totally comprehensive (I would love to see me some Dr. House on there!), it's pretty spectacular for the low cost.

Heaven is for Real

I'll be honest. I'd seen this book in the checkout aisle at the supermarket a few weeks ago and scoffed at it a little bit. Hearing about a toddler's near-death experience? Yawn. Hearing about him recount a trip to Heaven and back? I was dubious. But when this book popped up as an e-reader download, I decided to give it a shot. If nothing else, I figured I'd breeze through it in a day or two (it's pretty short), and if it ended up being a joke I wouldn't really be out anything.

And you know what? I was taken aback by it. Sure, it's very easy to count the book as farce and a marketing ploy by the family to pocket a little extra money. There's no real concrete proof that the things the parents say happened in this book actually happened. But just like the act of believing in an unseen God and Heaven requires faith, so does believing in this book. And I choose to be on the side that does believe in miracles, that does believe that this little boy did actually have an experience in Heaven that he can recount in the casual way only an innocent toddler could. And it made the book very enjoyable, if not shocking at times.

If part of you believes or wants to believe that these kinds of acts can happen, then this book is a great read. If you are cynical about acts of faith, well, you probably won't enjoy this book (unless it brings you satisfaction to rip apart and criticize the beliefs of others). If you doubt, then maybe, just maybe, this book could be the one to turn those doubts into beliefs.

Unreal

Do you see that?!? 55* today. In January. In South Dakota. It was actually so nice that I had to take off my headband and gloves on my run (outside! in January!)--and then I enjoyed a glass of wine and book on my patio! Doing that sort of stuff in January is unheard of. But I'll gladly take it. 

Unfortunately, the forecast for the rest of the week though? Much more normal. But I guess I can't complain. 

2011 Recap

I've been seeing these around the web, and although our year wasn't terribly eventful, I figured I'd recap it anyway, especially since this has been my first full year of blogging. And it was actually pretty fun to look back over the stuff we did over the course of the year!

January
--Wrapped up my attempt at the 100 Push-Up Challenge because I decided to move on to training for a 5K
--Darrell and I froze our butts off at an outdoor skating rink in single digit temperatures (something that we--remarkably--haven't really seen any of this winter. Woo-hoo!)

February
--Started the month off with two(!!) snow (aka sub-zero temperatures + windchill) days at work
--Faced the possibility of layoffs at work due to state budget cuts (and thankfully made it through unscathed)
--Took a mini-vacation with Darrell and came back to FOUR inches of ice covering our entire driveway

March
--Ran a miserably cold (and slow!) 5K and competed in a beer pong tournament with my brother's girlfriend to celebrate St. Patty's Day (watch out--Team Bigger Cups Please is ready for redemption this year!)

April
--Started our garden with some indoor seedlings and got excited when they actually started to grow! (I, II, III)
--Went to our first Twins game of the season (I heart outdoor baseball)
--Started training for another 5K

May
--Discovered that a colony of wasps had been taking up residence around our house and got started eliminating them
--Cleared the space in our backyard to build our garden plot and got the vegetables planted
--Celebrated our one-year anniversary with a hail-ridden camping adventure
--Chopped my hair off for a donation to Locks of Love

June
--Ran my PR in a 5K
--Tackled a bunch of home improvement projects: cleaning our garage, cleaning and staining our deck, and installing ceiling fans
--Went to the beach for our annual vacation with Darrell's family
--Darrell captained a boat in a cardboard boat race and won!

July
--Started to get produce out of our garden
--Received my favorite surprise ever: a Kitchen-Aid mixer
--Ran a miserably hot (and slow!) 5K
--Hit the links with Darrell

August
--Lost of few of our vegetable plants, including all of our summer squash and zucchini
--Ran my last 5K of the year with my good friend from HS and her boyfriend
--Discovered that we had not wiped out the entire wasp population
--Went to Chicago for a long weekend with three of my good friends
--Scored my first-ever goal in soccer since High School!

September
--Headed out for our annual Labor Day Camping weekend, including attending a pow-wow
--Started (and finished!) a lower-patio for our house
--Attended the Shriner's Prom
--Celebrated the first birthday of the cutest little girl ever

October
--Visited our college town for a Soccer Alumni Reunion
--Bemoaned my ability to stick with a workout program
--Carved a pumpkin for Halloween

November
--Celebrated my dad's 60th Birthday with The Party of the Decades
--Went to Sioux City with Darrell for a weekend getaway
--Updated the progress on our "101 in 1001" list
--Started plowing through a ton of holiday baking

December
--Continued our tradition of cutting down a live Christmas tree
--Had a crazy day of celebrating a wedding, birthday, and Christmas with my dad's side of the family
--Celebrated Christmas in Georgia with Darrell's family


Here's to making 2012 at least as good as 2011!

Red Rhone Wine

I was going to delay this post until next week because I have five book reviews to blog, but I figured I might as well keep the French trend alive and just dedicate a whole week sometime later to book reviews.

I'm not even going to bother with the name of this wine; I'm not entirely sure which words are the winery, which are the distributor, which are just descriptions, or anything else. All I do know is that it is a "Red Rhone Wine", and that's only because that is written in English.

Since we didn't really understand most of the bottle we weren't really sure what to expect with this wine, but I'll say that we were quite pleased. Since it was a little on the lighter side it probably would have paired better with a summery pasta dish than then steak au poivre, but we didn't know that going in to it. It was also very smooth and crisp; it didn't linger and coat the mouth like a lot of bolder wines tend to do. There was also some noticeable fruitiness, but not near enough to make me think I was drinking some sort of wine cooler. Like I said, definitely more of a summer wine, but still delicious nonetheless!

French Bread

Apparently this is the French cooking week on my blog or something; first the steak au poivre, now this, and coming soon, a French wine. But when it's all so good it's hard not to blog about it!

As good as this bread is, I actually have a disappointing story to share about it. I first made it about two weeks ago for one of our family get togethers, and it killed me that I wasn't able to eat it right out of the oven. And then, to make matters worse, plans changed at the last minute at that family gathering and the bread didn't even get eaten. So by the time Darrell and I got to it it was already a few days old. Don't get me wrong, it was still delicious, but nothing quite beats bread fresh from the oven. Oh, and I do apologize; before I got my mixer I would get annoyed when people would post mixer-specific directions on their blog. And now I'm going to do it myself because this recipe comes straight out of the cookbook that came with my recipe and I'm not bread-savvy enough to modify it (although my assumption is just that you would knead where it instructs to use the mixer)

French Bread
(from the KitchenAid Mixer Recipes)

2 packages active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups warm water
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp butter, melted
7 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp cornmeal

Dissolve yeast in a warm water in mixing bowl. Add salt, butter, and flour. Attach bowl and dough hook to mixer. Turn to speed two and mix about one minute until well blended. Knead about two minutes longer (dough will be sticky). Place dough in greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover. Let rise in a warm place, free from draft, about one hour or until doubled in bulk. Punch dough down and divide in half. Roll each half into a 12x15 rectangle. Roll dough tightly from longest side, tapering ends if desired. Place loaves on a greased baking sheet that has been sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover. Let rise about one hour or until doubled in bulk. With a sharp knife, make four diagonal cuts on top of each loaf. Bake at 450* for approximately 30 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

The original recipe does call for an egg wash (one egg white mixed with a tbsp of cold water) to be brushed over the loaves during the last five minutes of baking, but Darrell and I tried this and thought that it make the crust unnecessarily crispy. But to each their own!

The Red Umbrella

I'm quickly learning that an e-reader might be a dangerous purchase for me to make. I was able to check this book out and read it on my e-book compatible laptop, and I just flew threw it. I had my computer out and reading in places that I don't normally read, and I was one of those kids who used to walk down the halls at school with my nose in a book. Of course, most of the acclaim goes to the book itself, which was beautifully written about a very captivating topic. A topic that, in my opinion, is not very often addressed. The book discusses the life of Cubans after Castro came to power, and the wrenching decision that many parents made to send their children, unaccompanied, to the United States for hope of a better, freer, life.

Written as a young adult book, the story is narrated by a young teenage girl. A girl who annoyed me at times with her naivety about the way things were in her country and impressed me at others with her strength and courage as she and her brother adapted to life in the US. While I've avoided young adult fiction in the past, the historical content of this book drew me in, and I'm glad I gave it a shot. I've always been afraid that reading young adult novels would be shallow and trite compared to more "higher level" reading, but I actually found that the behaviors and attitudes of the main character reminded me of my own adolescence, which was kind of fun to reflect back upon. Young or old, I'd recommend this book to anyone looking for a good, quick read.

Steak au Poivre

Okay, so I think I'm pretty well caught up on holiday celebrations, which means time to get back to recipes, book reviews, and other random material (yay!). I've stockpiled quite a few blog entries over the holiday season (especially books!), so I'm not going to waste any time in getting caught up.

Up first is the delicious steak au poivre that Darrell and I had for our French-themed Christmas celebration. As I mentioned earlier, neither of us can really comment on the authenticity of this recipe, but we sure can say that it was quite tasty. I'm not usually a huge fan of gravy-like sauces, but the sauce on this steak was light and creamy enough that I wasn't mistaking it for the thick stuff that usually get served around Thanksgiving time. I also liked the addition of shallots into the sauce instead of mushrooms; while I'm coming around to them, I prefer them to have small roles in my meals. And as a (somewhat random) bonus, Darrell liked how cooking the sauce in the same pan as the steak pretty well cleaned what would have otherwise been a terribly messy pan. The cooking process for this recipe was definitely new to us, but we certainly enjoyed it and will likely be working to perfect it again soon!

Steak au Poivre with Brandied Cream Sauce
(recipe originally found here)

Sauce:
4 tbsp unsalted butter, divided
1 medium shallot, minced
1 cup low-sodium beef broth
3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup brandy + 1 tbsp
1 tsp lemon juice
salt

Steaks:
4 strip steaks, trimmed
1 tbsp black peppercorns, crushed
salt

Heat 1 tbsp butter in a 12-inch heavy-bottom skillet over medium heat. When foaming subsides, add shallot and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add beef and chicken broths, increase heat to high, and boil until reduced to about 1/2 cup, about eight minutes. Set reduced broth mixture aside. Rinse and wipe out skillet. Sprinkle both sides of steak with salt and rub one side of each steak with 1 tsp crushed peppercorns. Press peppercorns into steaks to make them adhere. Heat the rinsed skillet over medium heat until hot. Lay steaks peppered-side up in skillet, increase heat to medium-high, firmly press down on steaks with the bottom of a cake pan (large enough to apply pressure to all steaks at once), and cook steaks without moving them until well-browned. Using tongs, flip steaks and repeat process to cook the opposite side. Transfer steaks to a large plate and tent loosely with foil to keep warm. Without rinsing pan, pour broth mixture, cream, and 1/4 brandy into the skillet. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to loosen browned bits. Simmer until deep golden brown, about five minutes. Off heat, whisk in remaining three tablespoons butter, remaining one tablespoon brandy, lemon juice, and any accumulated meat juice. Season with salt as necessary. Spoon sauce over steaks and serve immediately.

One brief note about the process used to cook the steaks: the length of the cooking time will greatly depend on the thickness of the steak. The original recipe calls for steaks close to an inch thick, and recommends cooking them for six minutes on one side and four minutes on the other for medium-rare. However, our steaks were much thinner, so we cut the cooking time in half. They ended up being a little bit more done than we usually like--but still delicious nonetheless!

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a safe and fun New Year's Celebration! Darrell and I celebrated down at the Shrine Mosque again this year; the Dance Unit always hosts a formal NYE Event with plenty of food, drinks, and big band music. While it's certainly a different style of dancing than what you would find most people our age doing, we really enjoy it. And since Darrell and I took dance lessons for our wedding, we've actually gotten pretty good at watching other people and mirroring their (basic) steps so we can now hold our own on a variety of dances (cha-cha, waltz, swing, etc). I've got a few pictures from the night to share, and then it's off to enjoy the day since both Darrell and I have the day off work!