Big Fat Spicy Sate Noodles (with Chicken)

Okay, so I was hesitant to blog this because one of my vegetarian friends just went on a rant about people adding meat to dishes that don't call for it... BUT it was delicious and I wanted to share! I added chicken to this because I wanted it to be the main meal instead of a side dish.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  :-)


Now, if you have been following the blog then you already know that I am lucky enough to have the entire month of August off!  The family that I was nannying for moved to Philadelphia last week, and I don't start with my new family until the end of the month.  So, what's a girl to do?  Well, I decided to pull out a bunch of old Rachael Ray cookbooks that I have stored away.  You want to know what I realized?  Greg eats such a bigger variety of food now than he did when we first lived together and got married!  These cookbooks have so much in them now that I know he will eat.

Exhibit A: Big Fat Spicy Sate Noodles (with chicken)

Here's the recipe- if you can read it then I guess you don't have to read my long post... But if you want to see how it goes instead of trying to read that tiny print then be my guest!  

Here's the line up- I forgot cilantro, but if you are one of those people that have a very strong aversion to cilantro then please just use flat leaf parsley.  I have two things to say about the line-up: I just dry roasted peanuts because that's what we have in our house, and I wish I had peeled the ginger and put it in the freezer for a few hours because it grates up SO much easier when it's frozen (so do that if you have time, okay?).

Chicken- not called for in the recipe.  If you are a vegetarian or you want to make it as a side dish, or if you want a meatless dinner then GO FOR IT!  It's totally amazing, and I'm sure it would be without the chicken too.   But I used the chicken and thinly sliced it.  A trick that makes that easier would be to throw the chicken in the freezer for about 15 min- so so so much easier to cut it thinly!

Umm, wine?  Check.  Need I say more?  

Cook the chicken with some salt and pepper, but don't over do it!  Remember, sliced thinly?  It only takes 4-5 minutes.  

Put the chicken in a bowl, or a plate.  Whatever makes you happy.  

Mince your garlic (far right), grate the ginger (middle, grating works way better than chopping because frankly, fresh ginger is a pain in the ass to chop up), chop up the cilantro (or parsley), and halve two limes.  I would like to note that my juicer (the yellow thing in the back) is BY FAR my favorite kitchen gadget.  If you don't have one then I think you should go by one... asap.  

Did I mention that you should boil some water and cook the noodles to al dente?  Well, do that.  While the noodles are cooking make sure to reserve a cup of starchy cooking water.  It kind of marries everyone together at the end.  (go Bulls!)

Now put the oil in your skillet and add the garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes.  Cook those for a few minutes.  It will smell delicious!

Next you are going to add tamari, chicken stock (vegetable stock if you want it to be meat free), and some of that starchy cooking water that you put in your favorite mug. Cook this out!  I think the recipe says to cook it on high 3-4 minutes.  I might take it a little further than that.  

Add the peanut butter- yuuuuuum!  Mix it in with a whisk.  I didn't use my whisk because it was rusted (YUCK- and I can't believe I just admitted that to you guys)- we will be buying a new one very soon.  By the way, you should reduce the heat to low at this point.

Once the peanut butter is incorporated then throw in the chicken (or not).

Squeeze in the juices of your two lemons.  Did I mention how much I love my juicer?  Seriously, you need to go to the store and buy one.  It will change your life.  

Add the noodles!  Mix them in, if it's too thick then add some more of that starchy cooking water from the noodles.  

Add the peanuts and the cilantro (or parsley) and mix that all together.  

 EAT!

I hope that you guys enjoy this!  Give me some feedback! 

Okay, so maybe I am a crazy dachshund momma

One of my favorite things about going home is seeing the dogs reunite with my Mom's three dachshunds.  Mom and Dad have a HUGE backyard, and it is really one of the only times (besides the dog park) when Penni and Hershee get to run around and do whatever their little heart's desire.  Greg and I love playing with all five of the dachshunds in the backyard when we are at my parent's house.  Last month when we went home, we had some fun with the water hose.  Here are some pictures:

Hershee absolutely loves playing in the water!  She is the only one who figured out to attack the source of the water rather than the end of the stream.  

Action shot!  Look at Hershee jump!  Penni and Cissi are attacking the water.

Here's the gang:

This is Barney- Mom's favorite, he is 9 years old!  He is a grumpy old man, and growls at most everyone besides Mom.

This is sweet Cissi- she is fun loving and playful.  She happens to be Dad's favorite and she is 8 years old.

This is Lucy- the newest member of Mom's dachshund clan.  She is almost 2 years old.  They affectionately call her the crackhead.  She is crazy, but loves to snuggle up with Mom.  She and Penni are great friends and they love love love playing with each other.  

This (of course) is my sweet Hershee girl.  She is 7 years old.  She is a snuggle puppy!

This is sweet baby Penni!  Mine and Greg's baby girl, she is almost 2 years old.  

Here are the puppies playing together, they are too funny!  

I am pretty sure that I took a video of everyone playing in the yard that day.  I will have to look for our camera cord and see if I can get it downloaded and then uploaded to the blog later on.  I hope you guys enjoyed a small glimpse into our love for our sweet dachshunds.  

How are you guys doing?   

Our Lake Vacation

In March, we started talking about taking a summer vacation with a couple of friends.  We thought about going to the beach, going camping, and then we had the idea to go to a lake.  We decided that the beach would be too difficult because there isn't exactly somewhere 'in the middle' that we could meet at with our friends.  After a lot of research, we decided to try and find a rental on Lake Hartwell.  There are parts of the lake in Georgia and South Carolina and it's half way between Durham and Birmingham.  PERFECT!

We called our friends Scott and Kathleen to see if the would be interested in going on a vacation with us, and they said yes.  Thus began the search for the perfect vacation home.  By the way, here's a picture of the four of us at Scott and Kathleen's wedding:

We stayed in a cute house that was on a little cove.  The water around the dock wasn't very deep, but there was this 'sandy beachy' area that we could walk down to get to deeper water.  We had a blast.  We floated in the lake all day, we cooked yummy dinners at night, and we had lots of wine.  After we got done laying in the lake, we came in and had dinner, and then we would start up the games.  We played Taboo, Catch Phrase, and Apple to Apples.

Now, being the crazy dachshund momma that I am...  I bought the babies life jackets.  I am SO glad I did because they loved the water!!  Penni would just swim on out to us when she wanted to hang out, and then she would swim back tot he shore when she was ready to roll in the mud (and dig in the 'sand').  Hershee like hanging out at the shore more than actual swimming.  She laid in the sun, and would go in the water just far enough to cool off then lay back down on the shore.  They both went out on the kayaks, although that wasn't a huge hit.  They tended to try and swim back and forth between whoever was in the two kayaks.

I was terribly lazy and took ONE picture the whole time we were gone.  Sorry!  Here it is:

Here is a picture of the babies in the life-jackets the day that we got them (note: Hershee and Penni were not amused, and Hersh was convinced that she couldn't walk while wearing it- she got over that and realized not only could she walk and run, but she could swim!):

A Quick Update

Hello all!  I have been a terrible blogger over the past month, and for that I apologize.  The last post promised you guys a lot, and I have not come through on those promises.  Don't get too excited because I am not going to give you a great post today either.

Yesterday I got feisty, and called out all my dear friends who also have blogs that they have not been updating.  Then I didn't update my own blog.  HA!

Things have been super busy since I last updated.  We went home for a long weekend that ended up not being that long at all.  It's so hard to enjoy a trip when there is a constant reminder that you have to go so soon.  We did two days in Tuscaloosa with my parents, and then we spent two days with Greg's parents in Childersburg.  I'm going to do a long post with some pictures that I took.  But, I think we experienced everything that I said that we were looking forward to on the last post.

Greg's parents took a BIG road trip in July.  They drove up to spend the 4th of July with us.  We were suppose to go to a baseball game, but alas it got rained out.  Then they drove up to Philadelphia, New York City, and the whole point of the trip was to visit Greg's uncle in Boston.  They had a great trip, and it has been fun hearing about their adventures.

We also went on vacation with some very good friends in July.  We rented a house on Lake Hartwell, GA.  It was a great trip.  It was SO good to spend time with Scott and Kathleen, and it was great to relax and not have anything to do!  AND for those of you that don't follow me on Facebook or Twitter, the dogs absolutely loved the water!  They loved swimming and playing in the dirt/mud.

We have a really busy month coming up.  I am actually fortunate enough to have the month of August off.  I will be in transition between the family I am currently with (they are moving to Philadelphia- I'm super sad about them leaving) and a new family that I am so excited to work with.  Of course I couldn't have a month off and just sit around a do nothing!  Here is what August is shaping up to look like:
- maybe spend a few days in Philadelphia with Kate, Mark, and the baby
- fly to Mobile, AL for Greg's cousin's wife's baby shower (can you say that 10 times fast?)
- fly from Birmingham to Raleigh with Mom- she is visiting for a week
- Dad is driving over from Asheville to spend some time with us
- spend a few half days with the new family
- go to Knoxville to visit my sister-in-law and brother
- plan a special birthday celebration for my sweet husband

My 'plan' is to update you all on the things that we have already done, and then to stay on top of the blog and blog about all the things going on in August as they happen!

How are you all doing?  I've missed you!

There is no place like home!

Greg and I are looking forward to a much needed trip home.  We will be getting up SUPER early on Wednesday (yes, I'm 'that' person who likes to be on the road at 5 am), and a not so short 10 hours later we hope to be pulling into my parent's driveway in Tuscaloosa!  We will spend 2 days in Tuscaloosa, and then venture over to Childersburg for 2 days. 

Things we are looking forward to:
- Seeing our family!
- Dreamland BBQ
- Lots of hugs and kisses!
- Mugshots
- Seeing some good friends
- Jim 'n Nicks BBQ
- Relaxing
- Laughing with our families
- Spending some quality time together in the car (20+ hours over the course of the weekend)
- Depalmas

As you can probably see, among how happy we will be to see and spend time with our family...  Food is a trending topic in things we are looking forward to.  Greg has been in serious BBQ withdrawal (it's just not the same here in NC).  I'm pretty sure that if he wasn't in a weight loss competition at work then he would want to eat Dreamland and Jim 'n Nicks for every meal!  HA! 

Although I am completely excited about going home, I would be lying to say that I'm not nervous about going to my home in Tuscaloosa.  It has been 44 days since an ugly EF4 tornado tore through Alabama, cutting right through the heart of Tuscaloosa.  I haven't talked about this on the blog because I haven't really had to deal with it.  I remember watching James Spann on the live-feed in our apartment that night.  I sat horrified as they showed the tornado in Tuscaloosa  I just kept saying, "oh. my. God."  I am SO thankful that my parents and their home was not affected.  I am also thankful that my friends and their families were safe, although many faced a total loss or extreme damage to their homes.  I remember watching news and looking through pictures the next day.  I just sobbed.  Everyone says that nothing prepares you for seeing it in person, and I'm positive that they are 100% correct.  I think a good portion of the drive next Wednesday I will be mentally preparing myself to see what has happened to my hometown.  It will, no doubt, be hard to face. 

Greg and I have been really terrible about documenting our lives by taking pictures.  We have recently decided that we are going to try to take more pictures, so we that can remember things that we do.  We are going to try to take a bunch of pictures during our trip home.  SO, I hope that I am able to do a post after the trip and show you guys all that we did. 

Our Wedding, part 3

Once I finally arrived at the church, Greg and I took all of our pictures together.  I had originally wanted to drive out to the North River Yacht Club (where the reception was being held) to do some pictures because it's right on the river and I thought that we could get some beautiful pictures.  But, since I was 30 minutes late and we had a ton of pictures to take... we decided against driving out there.

After we did all of our pictures, we started with the bridal party and then the families.  Everyone was was right on time (which made for a very happy bride) for pictures, and everyone looked fantastic!

My bridesmaids and matron of honor.  I know everyone thinks that they have the best and most supportive bridesmaids, but I really had the best.  :-)

 I picked this one of Greg and his groomsmen because it just makes me laugh! 

 The whole wedding party: bridesmaids, groomsmen, and ushers

 Fisher family!

 Barrow family!

After we finished pictures, we went our different ways.  Greg and the groomsmen went to their room (where they had a TV, so that they could watch Duke basketball), and we went to the bridal room.  I was starving.  Luckily, we my mom had brought us some snacks.  I think everyone just hung out and relaxed before the ceremony (I know that's what I did, but I can't speak for everyone- ha).  Bob, our wonderful photographer, ran around snapping pictures here and there.  Here are some more pre-ceremony pictures.

I love this picture of Greg and his Dad.

This is dad putting a sixpence in my shoe for good luck.  This is actually the same one that my mom had in her shoe on their wedding day.

When Mary got married (December 2008) she had each bridesmaid carry a bouquet of different flowers, and then her bouquet was made up of all those different flowers.  I loved that idea so much that I stole it (with her permission).  Her mom said something to us the day of her wedding about how each of us carried different flowers because we are all different, and Mary's bouquet combined all of those because we all played different supportive roles in her life (of course it was much more eloquent and I can't exactly remember what was said but it was very special and made most of us cry). 

Here is mom giving me one last smooch on the cheek before the ceremony started.

Don't you worry...  We totally had a dance party before we lined up for the ceremony.  I love love love this picture!

Greg's dad did most of our ceremony.  It was really special for us.  The guys were helping him get his robe on after he had walked Linda down the aisle and lit the unity candle. 

RIGHT before we walked down the aisle.  Actually, the wedding director rang a bell for the chiming of the hour that was right behind us (the organ bell was broken).  It was SO loud.  I kept imagining that scene from Steel Magnolias when she has to nudge her dad when the pastor asked who gave her to be married because he couldn't hear.  ha!

Our Wedding Weekend, part 2

Originally I thought that I would be able to blog the wedding in two parts, but as I pulled pictures that I wanted to share with everyone I realized that it would have to split into three-four parts.  I don't want to have overwhelmingly long posts.

I also realize that it has been forever since I posted Our Wedding Weekend, part 1, so if you missed it be sure to check it out!

I woke up on Saturday, December 19, 2009 so happy.  I knew that the day that Greg and I had been waiting for was finally here!  All the hard work that we (and of course my Mom) had been doing for the past year and a half was going to be worth it all.  I hopped out of bed to a silent house.  We had a house full of people so I was pretty surprised to be the first one up (although, now that I think about it... that isn't actually surprising).  Mom, dad, Betsy, and Jordan were all sleeping.  I went ahead and got the coffee brewing, and then I hopped in the shower.

We had to meet all the girls at the salon at 9 (I think).  I was cool, calm, and collected which is exactly how I wanted to feel the morning of our wedding.  I had talked to myself for months about how if something wasn't done by that morning then it wasn't going to happen.  No need to sweat that stuff because no one would even know it was missing (except for me and mom).

We finally got everything loaded up in the car and headed to the salon!  I feel really lucky to have a close relationship with my hair stylist.  I actually worked for her at PH Balance Salon in Tuscaloosa, AL.  Kim and Lisa were amazing!  They did everyone's hair for our big day...  And we had muffins, fruit, and mimosas!  Here are some shots of everyone getting made over at the salon:

 Kim is amazing!  I still go to her to get my hair cut even though I live 10 hours away!  If you live in Tuscaloosa and are looking for a fabulous hair stylist then you have to check out PH Balance Salon!

 My wonderful bridesmaids and my sister-in-law!

I absolutely love this picture.  Mom seeing me for the first time with my hair and make-up done.  (note: She hates this picture because she doesn't have her make up on yet, but I still really love it)

This was right after I got my dress on.  We are only 30 minutes late for pictures with Greg.  No biggie.

This is also one of my favorites.  Mom said, "You can still back out if you want to." I'm laughing because it's absurd, I was completely ready to marry Greg, and she would have DIED if I had called it off.  

We were 30 minutes late meeting Greg and the church for our pictures.  Mary drove me to the church which was only a bout 4 blocks away.  She sat in the car with me while Bob, our fantastic photographer, and our wedding coordinator got Greg ready for our first meeting.  I was so excited to see him!  I couldn't wait to see his reaction to my dress because it was nothing like he had thought it would be.  

Greg as he patiently waited for me to arrive.

Our meeting!  I said, "surpise!"  

By the way, we got married at Christmas because it has been my dream since I was old enough to dream about weddings.  I love the church at Christmas time.  

The church was so beautiful.

  It was freezing outside, and I felt like we were out there forever.  Being really cold was totally worth it because now we have really pretty pictures of us in front of the church.  

I think that I've put enough in this entry.  I have a really hard time picking just a few pictures from the wedding album to share, so I think I will have to do our wedding in 3-4 parts.  I don't want to over do it with a million pictures in one entry. 

I'll try and post the next entry sooner rather than later.  Love!