The Daily Tail

5.30-6.5

2011-06-05T21:24:00.006-05:00

We had a busy week! I was on vacation along with Zach and we socialized every day except Sunday. Knowing Zach's residency is coming up and that we will be moving in a year we are

trying to get as much fun and friend/family time in as we can.

Monday we went to Seward for Memorial Day. After a delicious lunch the boys golfed and the girls came along to watch.

Zach, Bob (Zach's dad), and Stuart (Zach's cousin)

aka Phil, Bubba, and Rory

Me and Katie (Stuart's better half)

aka the giggles, the girls, and the peanut gallery

The dogs really LOVE going to Seward.

Don't be too afraid, but here they are in a wrestling match. Ruby looks much worse than any actual outcomes.

Riley loves hanging out on the lawn. He got this football from Grandma Martens and he only gets to play with it when he visits.

On Wednesday we went out to Zach's aunt's lake house. It is a completely private location and it was a wonderful day of vacation! It was Ruby's third birthday and she couldn't have dreamed of a better day.

Zach set up his hammock and we enjoyed a swing together.

The water was so high this bench was flood. Ruby managed to get up anyway.

Rubes with the house in the background.

Below is an action sequence of four pics showing Ruby jumping in for her toy. The girls got ups.

Thursday night we enjoyed our first ever taco ride. It is about a 20 mile round trip bike ride from Council Bluffs to Minneola, IA and back with a pitstop in the middle for some yummy tacos. We had a great time, but I felt it the next day. I just might have to invest in some padded bike shorts.

Clockwise from top right: Zach, me, Stephanie, Ben, Quentin, Angeline, Peter, and Nate.

A great group!

Tonight we started on two of our kitchen goals:

#1: Use our juicer more often. We got a really nice juicer for Christmas in 2009 and we haven't used it nearly enough. We have a recipe book I gave Zach for Valentine's Day in 2010 and our goal is to make one drink per week.

We started off with one of our favorites, raspberry lemonade.

Here's me straining the raspberries. That raspberry syrup was like crack.

Goal #2: Make mussels. Zach has been wanting to do this for a long time and we finally got around to it. Martha had some recipes in this month's Everyday Food and we decided on the Coconut Curry Mussels. They were marvelous! We thought about making some pomme frites, but decided on a baguette from Le Quartier instead. It was the perfect thing to soak up all the yummy broth. The whole process was super easy and we are looking forward to trying more flavor variations.

Dining al fresco

Perfect summer drink!

And finally, here is this week's pic of the garden (week #4). We added some marigolds to help attract "good" bugs. Bunnies have been nibbling on my sunflowers :( I hope some will survive. We have some serious weeding to do tomorrow morning. Yuck! Easily my least favorite gardening task.

The week in pictures: 5.23-5.29

2011-05-29T13:00:00.011-05:00

We ended the week with a wedding! Our good friends Erin & Craig were married Sunday in a beautiful outdoor wedding. I was in Alpha Phi with Erin and Zach went to med school with Craig. We had a great night! It was a little bittersweet as lots of our friends, including Erin & Craig, will be moving away in the next few weeks! We miss them already!

Zach and the guys.

My cutie pie :)

Married!

What a handsome groomsman!

I got a sewing machine for Christmas and I finally opened the box Friday night. I have never used a sewing machine before so I was a little intimidated to start. By Saturday night Zach had a new robot apron. It was his reward for going to Hobby Lobby with me.

(I need to fix the neck so the apron sits higher up.)

It even has his initials and one really long pocket for grilling tools. Please don't judge my stitching yet. Everything I have done so far has been self taught and just winging it, but I am pleased with my progress.

Riley got a new bandana with dinosaurs and planets (both found in the scrap bin.) I have also made a little fleece sun blanket and a valance for our bathroom. None of my projects are near perfect, but I have really enjoyed this new adventure.

I love spring flowers! I planted these irises the first fall we moved in and I am amazed by their beauty every spring! I just love the ruffled look.

My rose bushes are going gangbusters. Unfortunately they lean over the driveway and scratch the car when we pull it into the garage. Zach is itching for me to chop them back, but I told him he has to wait until after this round of blooming. I just don't have it in me to chop all those flowers off.

Every year we steal/take a ton of peonies from a rental house up the block (we got permission a few years ago.) Here is this years beautiful bouquet. Our whole house smells amazing!

Our veggie garden has about three weeks of growth under its belt so far. This little guy is growing up to be a pickle some day.

Zach planted a bunch of lettuce this year. This one is my favorite. I think it is called Bunte Forellenschluss. We get all our seeds from seedsavers.org. I just cut a bunch of arugula and the spinach is looking ready for harvest too!

Here is the current overall view of the garden.

This year we are growing:

Asparagus, already picked

Rhubarb, we've used and given away a ton this year!

Five different kinds of tomatoes

Red pepper

Hot pepper

Green beans

Three kinds of sunflowers

Pickling cucumbers

Zucchini

Carrots

Ren and yellow onions

Six kinds of lettuce, including swiss chard

Lots of herbs: dill, sage, thyme, rosemary, mint, cilantro

Sounds like some yummy food! Let us know if you want any because we will surely have more than enough.

I'm Back with some music and updates!

2011-03-04T17:20:00.001-06:00

So I haven't posted in months, bordering on years. And Kate hasn't posted since early November. Our blog is in a time warp and needs to be rescued. So here are some updates on life:

1) Match Day - On March 17th, incidentally St. Patrick's Day, I find out where I will be going for residency. It is called Match Day as you "match" to a residency program. My whole med school class will get together in an auditorium full of family and friends and, one by one, approach the podium to announce their match. At the moment I am not too stressed about it but that day will definitely dictate much of the rest of our lives. I feel strongly that I had good interviews with the programs and that I will match someplace that both Kate and I are happy. That was priority numero uno in choosing programs, happiness...especially Kate's...then mine...and the dogs.

2) Surgery - Last Monday I had sinus surgery round #2. Sinus surgery round #1 was back in high school when an attempt to fix my deviated septum failed. So I thought before residency I would try again to see if I could relieve some chronic congestion --> fatigue --> headaches --> bad mood. The surgery this time consisted of fixing my still deviated septum, shaving down my lower turbinates, and endoscopically cleaning out my sinuses and dilating the opening to my sinuses. The recovery is not fun! It is not fun! Not at all! I have one, maybe two, giant splints lodged in my nose. These cause problems with airflow (my mouth gets extremely dry at night), smell (I probably shouldn't be cooking), and taste (you could feed me poo and I wouldn't know). And I have to include this gory detail: Immediately post-operatively blood from the surgery is swallowed and subsequently regurgitated. My first memory upon waking is puking, the nurse said I hit the wall. Enough said. So this coming Monday I can blow my nose again and on Wednesday I get these splints out of my nose so I can taste, smell, and breathe again. I can't wait. On a positive note, I have got to spend the entire week off with Kate and the dogs and have progressed my thoughts on the sense of smell, especially as it relates to taste.

3) Kate's an OCCN - OCCN = Oncology Certified ? Nurse. The month of January and part of February she studied hard to take the OCCN test and in February she passed! Not only passed, but got the highest scores on each section! I think it not only gives you incentive such as higher pay or an easier time finding a job, but also a deeper dedication to your profession and the patients of which it consists. On our recent trip to Chicago we celebrated by visiting many of the city's fine dining establishments. And, her official OCCN certificate came in the mail today. It was jammed into our mailbox by the mailman and the envelope read: "Do not bend, license enclosed". So it goes.

4) Some music - Back in December some friends introduced me to the Local Natives album "Gorilla Manor". It took me a while to get around to listening to it but the album quickly grew on me. After hearing the harmonies, prominent drums, and the lead singers voice I was hooked. It would be fair to say I listen to it once per day and wish I could muster up the same sound both vocally and instrumentally. I believe they are from Los Angeles, were on NPRs top albums (don't remember if voted by listener or NPR hosts), and just played Walt Disney Concert Hall backed by a full orchestra (apparently quite the honor)! So without further ado, here is a link to an impromptu performance in Paris. It was sent to me by the Nanook of the North (Elliot Hohn) who introduced me to the band, enjoy:

http://www.blogotheque.net/Local-Natives,5885

5) A couple pictures -

Thanks for reading!

Let the interviews begin

2010-11-07T20:25:00.003-06:00

I can't believe it has been two months since Zach turned in his application. I didn't realize it has been so long since I posted about it either. At this point we are assuming that the list will remain about the same going forward. So, without further ado, here are the programs Zach will be interviewing:

Mayo-Rochester, done-October 29th

Charleston, SC-November 12th (that's right! we get to go this week!)

UNMC-November 19th

KU-December 10th

Denver-January 3rd (let the whirlwind begin-see following dates)

Duke-January 7th

Virginia-January 11th

Michigan-January 15th

Dartmouth-January 21st

Tucson, AZ-January 27th (hello sunshine in the depths of winter :)

Most likely this will be our final list, except there is a chance Zach may cancel one or two. He is feeling pretty confident that doing eight interviews should get him a spot somewhere. We are really happy with the list right now and can't believe we now know the list of places that may be our home so soon. Having the first interview done is really nice because there was so much anxiety going into it. It still feels like a really crazy experience overall. It consumes a lot of our discussions...sometimes a little too much. I can't wait until we have done our Charleston visit and he is done with his UNMC interview because I feel like we will have a much better view of the whole situation. Right now all we can talk about is one interview over and over.

I still haven't quite figured out how much I want to share about this whole experience,

especially since it is Zach's experience more than mine. I'm sure I'll give little tidbits along the way of our leanings so far. What I will share with you is that I found a great bakery in Rochester! It definitely gave Mayo some extra points.

Here is the cookie I bought for Zach while he was interviewing.

Run to be

2010-11-01T13:41:00.006-05:00

That was the theme of my half marathon. Nike is the sponsor every year and they always create a new theme. You get to fill in what the be is, for example Run to be strong. I don't know if I have decided exactly what I ran to be, but I do know I felt a ton of emotions as I finished! It was an amazing experience that I am so glad I completed. Here is a little recap of the race"

-The weather was perfect, unless you were a spectator. Cloudy and in the low 60's. I really love running in cool weather. However, within a minute of crossing the finish line the skies opened and it started raining. Combined with the fact that the finish line was right on the beach it made for some really cold conditions so we ended up going back to our hotel right away. I felt really bad for the full marathoners who had to continue on in the rain. I heard it wasn't the best time.

-It was hillier than I expected. I know San Francisco is super hilly, but I had been told that the course really wasn't that hilly. I was surprised though that I actually enjoyed the uphills. It was the downhills that made me want to throw in the towel. My knees had been bothering me through most of my training and every step downhill was a little bit of torture. I lost a lot of time going downhill which was especially frustrating as I watched everyone else zip past me.

-The sites were really beautiful. It was cool as the Golden Gate Bridge first came into view and then eventually you pass it. The end of the course was through Golden Gate Park and it was really pretty. The trees smelled so good. And, part of the race went through a beautiful neighborhood. The houses were a great distraction for me. You finish the course on the beach which would have been really great if the weather would have cooperated :)

-My left foot started hurting around mile 4. It hurt in a way that it had never hurt before and I couldn't figure out why it started or what to do to make it go away. It continued to hurt for about ten days after the race too. I started having blister pains on my right foot around mile 9. Each foot pain and the knee pain combined made for a challenge, but there was no way I was stopping. Once I crossed the finish line I could barely walk. It makes you wonder how you just ran 13 miles, but it is totally worth it.

-I ended up raising $4732.50 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. THANK YOU! I could not have completed this journey without your help! It is such an amazing experience to be involved in something so much bigger than yourself. When the aches and pains started to hit me on the course I thought of the hardships my patients have been through and reaching the finish line became easy.

-I posted pictures on facebook, but I wanted to share a few videos from the race. The first video is a little clip from the entrance of our TNT inspiration dinner. The walkway was lined with the coaches and staff from LLS all cheering for us. It was AMAZING! And, totally inspirational! The second video is from my spot at the start of the race. 20,000 people participated in the race and there were thousands of spectators too so it made for a crazy scene. I was lined up on a corner and I took a video of the 360 degrees around me. The gun went off at 7am so it is still dark out. There were so many people it took me 15 minutes just to get to the start line. The third clip Zach took around mile 11. It was the first time I got to see him and I was so happy to see his face. Enjoy!

Now I am off to attempt my first run since the race. We will see how my knees feel about it :) Thanks again for all of your support! I couldn't have done it without you. And now I can truly call myself a runner!

An Angel

2010-10-12T21:32:00.002-05:00

One of my friends from college became an angel today.

You can read the story here.

She was a truly wonderful woman who touched the lives of many.

Please pray for her husband and family.

Residency part 3?

2010-09-08T17:09:00.003-05:00

I have no idea how many times I have written about our residency process, but we can pretend this entry is number three. I promised last week that I would give a list of the places Zach has applied to and here it is:

Mayo, Phoenix, AZ

University of Arizona, Tucson

University of California, San Francisco

University of Colorado, Denver

University of Connecticut, Farmington

Yale-New Haven Medical Center, New Haven, CT

University of Iowa, Iowa City

University of Kansas, Kansas City

Harvard/Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA

Maine Medical Center, Portland, ME

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Mayo, Rochester, MN

Duke, Durham, NC

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

University of Nebraska, Omaha

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH

Oregon Health & Science, Portland, OR

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston

University of Utah, Salt Lake City

University of Virginia, Charlottesville

University of Vermont, Burlington

University of Washington, Seattle

University of Wisconsin, Madison

As you can see, we are pretty much all over the map. Any votes on where we should go? I will give a little insight as to what we are thinking in another post. For now, I will give a refresher as to the next steps:

Soon, hopefully, Zach will start finding out if any of these programs would like to interview him. He will probably interview at about 10 programs from this original list of 23. I haven't been able to get it out of him what 10 programs he would pick out of these if he could. Some won't offer interviews and Zach will probably end up declining some interviews. The interviews will take place November through January. I'm hoping to go with him on as many as I can. Especially if it is Arizona in January!

After interviews we will make a preference list. We only list the schools he would actually be happy going to. So, if he hates one of his interviews he won't put that program on the list and he can only match to the programs he ranks. His rank list is due in February. The schools also make their own rank list that is also submitted in February.

Then, a handy dandy computer program will match the students' rank lists with the programs' rank lists. Match Day is March 17th. Yes, St Patrick's Day! Get your party hats ready. Everyone from his class, plus family and friends, join together and receive their assignments all at once. This is the point when I will know if I need to hire a realtor or not :)

Residency orientation starts in mid-June and Zach will actually start working in July.

That's it for now. I will try my best to keep you updated!

Residency Update

2010-09-01T21:14:00.004-05:00

This is way overdue! I haven't blogged in a long time and I especially haven't been giving enough updates on Zach's residency application process.

So, the first big news is that Zach has decided on a specialty for sure: Anesthesiology! I think it is a great choice for him and I can tell he absolutely loves it!

Second, he applied for his residency TODAY! Yeah, I'm serious. I still can't believe it. Where has all the time gone? Match Day will be here before we know it.

Zach ended up applying to 23 programs which are located all over the US. I will hopefully post a list later on. We still aren't sure where we want to end up-more on this later too.

The next step is that he will start getting calls for interviews, which will take place November-January. We are hoping to make a few mini trips out of them so I can't wait to find out where he gets interviews. Plus the fact that I just might be moving to these places. Crazy!

That's all for now. Just wanted to give a quick update and I'm planning to give more details soon :)

Ruby's tail

2010-08-05T06:06:00.002-05:00

Every so of often Ruby really gets on a kick of chasing her tail. And she chases it A LOT! One time she chased it, in circles, from the guest room out into the hallway until she collapsed about 6 feet away from her original spot. She often catches her tail too and then she goes to town punishing it. She even gets one of her legs caught up in the mess sometimes. I can never tell if she ends up realizing that what she is biting is herself. I was lucky enough to have our camera at the ready during one of her recent adventures and thought I would share it with you to mark the anniversary of having Ruby for two years! She is one goofy dog, but we are so happy she is ours.

Aussie Burger

2010-07-27T21:00:00.003-05:00

Every year in the July/August edition of Everyday Food they highlight the burger and the many different ways it can be reinvented. Zach decided he wanted to try the Aussie Burger. The main difference between it and a normal burger is that it has an over easy egg and beets on top. I was hesitant at first, but I really liked it. We also had french fries and cherries on the side. Now I'm so full I can barely look at the pictures.

Layering on the goodies. We also used some onion, lettuce, tomato, ketchup (for me), and BBQ sauce (for Zach).

The tomato on the left is from our garden. Our first one we picked! It is called a Cherokee Purple---As you can tell next to the generic grocery store tomato.

The finished product. What a beauty.

Success and Failure

2010-07-26T19:35:00.004-05:00

Last week I made this pie. I had been planning to make it for about 2 weeks, it took me two days, it looks delicious, but it tastes crummy! It was such a disappointment. It is still in our fridge because I can barely stand to throw it away. Just want to show you that not everything turns out right :)

This little bouquet on the other hand was a success! All of the flowers are from my garden. I actually cut them all on a whim---the tornado sirens were roaring and I didn't want them to get destroyed so I figured I would just cut them instead. I love how it turned out. The lamp and frame in the background are new too! I got the decorating bug and went on a little shopping spree. I was bargain hunting and got some GREAT buys!

And this is the beautiful sunset we got to witness while driving home from Sioux Falls last night. It was just gorgeous! And, it kept changing over and over again and casting a beautiful light onto the corn and soybean fields. The great plains can be so pretty!

One last success: I ran SIX miles yesterday! That is the longest amount I have ever run! At points I didn't think I was going to make it, but ended up with a pretty decent time. The feelings of accomplishment provide such a high. After our run we went to breakfast with my parents and I devoured some delicious food---I split strawberry crepes AND eggs benedict with my dad. My plate was clean :)

We are just nine weeks to race day! You can still donate on our behalf to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society if you want---it is a wonderful cause!

http://pages.teamintraining.org/ne/nikesf10/zachandkate

Have a great week!

Life Lately

2010-07-13T09:14:00.007-05:00

Life has been quite busy lately. Here are some pictures of the going ons this last week.

Zach has been studying quite a bit lately. He has officially started his fourth (and last) year of medical school---YIPPEE! But that means he is now in the midst of preparing to apply to residency and take is his second round of boards. Ruby follows him everywhere. She is so loyal. (Also note in this picture the beautiful stegosaurus Zach crafted while he was at camp-it has become a permanent fixture on our coffee table.)

Want to know how to treat alderonoma? Read on!

Pretty flowers from farmer's market. I just love having fresh flowers in the house. I've been trying to use what I have growing in my own garden, but I couldn't resist these. We had some friends over for dinner, but I forgot to take any pictures of the food or friends :(

We picked our first zucchini from the garden. Ruby gave it a full inspection and when Riley came to inspect it she became very protective of it. Luckily I saved it from their paws.

The zucchini was used for dinner that night-roasted with some salt and parmesan on top. Delicious.

We had it as a side to our margherita pizzas. Basil and oregano from the garden and the pizza crust was from the farmer's market. Homemade tomato sauce.

After baking.

Blueberry season means blueberry muffins! I made some from scratch---a nice thing for Zach to wake up to Sunday morning :)

On to grosser things...A cicada shell on the side of our neighbors house. Zach took this picture and I'm impressed with how well it turned out. There was a real cicada too that flew at me (my own fault.) If only there were a video camera you would all be having a good laugh right now.

Veggie Burgers for dinner last night. We have tried lots of veggie burger recipes and they can be tricky. It is really hard to find a recipe where the burgers are moist and the patty doesn't fall apart. These were a little tricky at first, but they turned out great. The recipe says it makes four, but I found it much easier to make them smaller and we ended up with 8---good leftovers!

We ate our burgers open-faced with sprouts and avocado slices on top. The sides were roasted broccoli (farmers market) and berries. We've been eating almost every meal on our back patio. I love summer!

A view of our garden. It is getting crazy! There are cucumber vines EVERYWHERE! I did a lot of weeding yesterday and am greatly deserving of a back rub today!

Another view of the garden: broccoli, beets, rhubarb, green beans, and cucumbers. The tomatoes and peppers are at the back of the garden, herbs at the front, and the zucchini is hiding behind the broccoli in this picture. My dahlias have started blooming too, but I forgot to take any pictures. Next time....

Flower power

2010-06-28T15:13:00.006-05:00

Here's a few pics of the flowers I have growing this year.

This is our new dahlia garden at the back of our yard. I can't wait for them to start blooming!

The perennial garden at the front of the house.

One of my hanging baskets.

Hollyhock--it has had a rough life and is finally starting to perk up :)

A bouquet I made with some of the flowers from the perennial garden. Love

Crafty

2010-06-28T14:53:00.004-05:00

As much as I wish I was I am not a crafty lady. Every time I get inspired and try a project I end up being less than happy with the results. Recently I have got it in my mind that I really wanted some red patio chairs for the front of our house---after some inspiration from some really cute green and yellow chairs I have spotted in our neighborhood. I found a pair of red chairs at Target, but I avoided them as long as I could since we have perfectly fine white hand-me-down chairs from Zach's grandparents. Friday I just couldn't deny my desires anymore. We went to Target to get the chairs and they were gone! I did not take that as a sign. Red chairs were meant to be, just not those red chairs apparently. Zach suggested I just spray paint the chairs we already have red and I told him that that was such a man thing to say, but a few hours later my desperation for red chairs deepened and we headed to Walmart at 930pm for some red spray paint. I was so excited I took the little table into the garage and painted it right away. Saturday morning we had our group run right away and then we had to leave for Seward in time to watch the USA soccer match so I didn't get a chance to finish the job. I got them all done Monday morning and I think they look lovely! They aren't perfect, but they don't really need to be. They look good from the street and as long as no one does a thorough inspection they look like they have always been red. I'm still not into crafts, but this project was a success!

Here is one of the white chairs before spray paint entered its life.

And here they are after! Just in time for the Fourth of July too!

Here is a view from the sidewalk. They are kind of hard to see in this pic, but you get the idea.

And here is the aftermath in the garage. Not only was the entire garage floor affected, but my boogers were red too :) You can also see the other craft project we had started to work on----and A frame for our climbing beans. It turned out great too!

Birthday Dogs

2010-06-28T14:37:00.005-05:00

Happy Birthday to my dear puppies! Ruby's 2nd birthday was June 1st and Riley's 4th birthday is coming up on July 1st. To not get too carried away as dog parents we decided to celebrate the two together since the dates are so close to each other. This year we got them one cake to share and no toys-rough life, huh? But then Zach forgot to pack any toys in their travel bag (we went to Zach's parent's house in Seward for the weekend) and they ended up getting a new toy anyway. We are such suckers. Their cake this year was carrot cake with peanut butter frosting (from Three Dog Bakery). Watching them try to clear the frosting out of their mouths was delightful. They loved it! Riley even licked up the whole patio so there wasn't much clean up. We were only planning on giving them half the cake, but they ended up eating the whole thing before we got the rest away from them. Oh well :)

Zach helped keep things fair.

Mmmmmmm...peanut butter. Do you want a kiss?

Ruby was anxious to get started. You can see how humid it was in this picture. The camera lens fogged up.

Waiting not so patiently for us to bring the cake outside.

Yummy mom! Is that for us?

End of June Garden Update

2010-06-28T14:23:00.003-05:00

The garden is growing really well. We aren't harvesting much from it yet, but the combination of heat/sun and rain is providing some great growing! Here's a peek at the progress:

Some beets. One of the few things we have been able to start eating.

Ahhhhh! The beet roots are coming for you!

This tomato plant has three tomatoes so far, but before we know it we will have more tomatoes than we know what to do with. Not a bad problem to have.

Little baby zucchini. I can't wait to make them into some tasty bread.

Cucumber plant sprawling out. No babies on it yet.

Beautiful raspberries. We've each eaten a few each day this last week.

A view of the whole garden.

Another little tomato. This is a moonglow that is planted in a pot that we have grown from seed. They make great slicing tomatoes for BLT's!

Fish and Chips

2010-05-27T14:12:00.006-05:00

Zach made this meal while I was at work and I simply got to enjoy once I got home! I don't have much commentary, but it was really good! He got the recipe from the June Everyday Foods. Here's some pics...

The cod all cut up. Not exactly appetizing at this point.

The batter. It was so light and fluffy-I really enjoyed it!

Fry it up!

The end result and the process.

The chips.

Zach decided to try some onions too and I was so grateful! Don't tell him, but they were my favorite part.

So greasy! On the right side the paper towel is doubled up. On the left half it is just soaked with grease!

Riley really wanted some too! Despite his cute appearance he was being very naughty!

Veggie Garden-End of May Update

2010-05-27T13:48:00.007-05:00

Here is an update on how our garden is growing...

Bull's Blood Beets. I don't know how we know when they are ready to pick, but I don't think they are ready yet!

The arugula. Way more than we could ever eat!

Mr Zucchini, preparing to take over the garden.

Little tiny cucumber plants. Eventually we will thin them out and leave the best 2-3.

Green bean sprouts. We have two rows this year.

Super industrial tomato cage that Zach built. We had lots of problems the last two years with our cages not being tall/strong enough. Hopefully these suckers will do the job.

Attack of the mint plant! My only advice to you is to NEVER plant mint in your garden. We love the mint, but next time it will go in a pot. This mint is three years old and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Carrots. These were planted at the end of March and they look great! Yummy!

Super humongous rhubarb plant. It doesn't know this yet, but it will be used in a pie this weekend. More on that later.

Our new row of herbs. The herbs used to be at the back of the garden, but they always got overshadowed by the tomatoes so this year I moved them to the front. A lot of the old ones are still all over the place in the back of the garden, but I don't have the heart to destroy them. We planted: parsley, cilantro, rosemary, thyme, basil and dill. At the back of the garden we still have mint, spearmint, dill, oregano, thyme, sage, and cilantro. It's all over the place!

Our best looking broccoli.

Moonglow tomato that we have grown from seed. There was no room in the inn so it got its own pot.

A picture of the whole garden. It is hard to see all the details now, but just wait until the end of July comes around. Love it!

Peonies

2010-05-27T13:18:00.004-05:00

Oh, how I love peonies. It just happens to be my good fortune that the rental house two doors up from us has a long row of about 8 bushes. I've never seen the people who live there go in the backyard, never. Three years ago when I first noticed the beautiful blossoms going unnoticed I asked permission before I took my fair share of blooms. This year I just took the liberty of going of there and taking as much as my little heart desired. It desired a lot! We ended up with two bouquets made out of about 25 stems each. So beautiful!

Here is a close-up of the beauties. I couldn't stop staring at their beauty!

Close shot of the living room bouquet.

This is the bouquet that graced the dining room table. (After I got a little too crazy with photo editing.) The smell in our house was AMAZING! As soon as you walked through the door it just washed over you. If only peonies were in bloom all year....

Ruby and the Sprinkler

2010-05-27T12:57:00.002-05:00

Ruby and her delights are endless. This morning while I was watering the dahlia bed Ruby discovered the sprinkler. She wasn't afraid of it at all! She would just walk right up to it and take a sip of water. She got sprayed pretty good a few times, but it never stopped her from going back :)

Warming Up

2010-05-20T20:19:00.002-05:00

Tonight I ran two miles. Two miles AFTER I worked 12 hours. It was the third time this week I've ran two miles. If you suggested to me a month ago that tonight I would be running two miles after work I would have laughed. I would have laughed really hard and said "I doubt that." Amazing how life can change so very quickly! Saturday I will be running 3 miles. Watch out world!

I wanted to give all of you a little better glimpse into what Zach and I are currently doing. Below, I pasted the letter (written by Zach) that we are preparing to send out to friends and family. Take a gander. And if you get a chance take a peek at our website too (the link is at the bottom of the note.) If you want to be REALLY awesome-DONATE! You might just end up being the first one to take the plunge! When $7600 is our goal $0 looks really sad! Thanks everyone! I know all of your support is going to be amazing these next few months and I am so excited to get it all started!

Dear Friends and Family,

The gun goes BANG! Kate and I take off with over 20,000 other people in Union Square San Francisco, both of us taking our first steps toward new personal goals: For Kate, this is the start of a half marathon and for me, the start of a full marathon. Though there is a long and challenging race ahead of us, our task is minute compared to the people who have to live with the daily realities of leukemia, lymphoma, and other blood cancers.

That is why, on October 17th, 2010, Kate and I will both be participating in the Nike Women’s Marathon. Neither of us has run these distances before, but we couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity. As part of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training, we have a coach, a training regimen, nutritional advice, a great group of runners with a common goal, and lots of support. Besides the challenges of training for and running the 26.2 and 13.1 miles, we are committed to raising at least $7,600 to support the Society in its battle against blood cancers. We are writing to ask you to support us by contributing as generously as you can to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society on our behalf.

Unfortunately, both Kate and I have had numerous relatives diagnosed with cancer. We will be completing this race in their honor. We also deal with cancer on a professional level. As an oncology nurse at the Nebraska Medical Center, Kate has taken care of many patients and families with blood cancers. She has been by their side as they courageously fight their own battles. And, although she loves her job, she would be more then happy see the end of cancer! Another of our honored heroes is one of Kate’s former patients, a remarkable man who exemplified courage and resolve under pressure. I will be posting his story to our website very soon!

I am a third year medical student at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Throughout my clinical rotations, I have helped in the care of many cancer patients, both young and old. Though I have only had a glimpse into their struggles, I am eager to do my part to increase their quality of life.

Thank you, in advance, for the part you will play. Your contribution will fund the research being done to find a cure for all cancers. Significant progress has been made in the treatment of these diseases. Increased funding is the key! Whatever you can contribute matters, it all adds up! All donations are 100% tax deductible!

Graciously yours,

Zach & Kate Martens

To donate or learn more about our honored heroes, please visit our website:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/ne/nikesf10/zachandkate

(Please respond by June 30th if possible)

If you would like us to run in honor of someone you know who has/had cancer, please email us their name and we will put their name on a purple ribbon and attach the ribbon to our race day jersey!

I'm gonna be a runner

2010-05-14T20:58:00.002-05:00

I'm having a really hard time making the thoughts in my head concise...maybe because there are a million of them! So, instead of going into great depth about this topic now I'm going to give the basics and then I'm sure I will have many future blogs on the topic!

Zach and I decided to do Team In Training. We have even registered for a race already! Zach is planning to do the full marathon and I will do the half marathon (eek! I know!) I'm really really really excited about it. The challenge seems incredibly daunting. For me, the running part is scary. For Zach the fundraising part is scary. The race we are going to be running is the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco on October 17th. (Yes, Zach is still allowed to run in it, he just isn't allowed to win-he says that wouldn't be a problem anyway.)

Although, as I mentioned before, I don't consider myself a runner, when I start thinking about the mission ahead of us I get so excited! There are so many positive things that will come from this. I know it will be hard, but it will be well worth it!

I am off to a good start so far! I ran two miles tonight and didn't stop to walk once! That is a really big accomplishment for me. I wish you could see how red my face was by the time I got done. When I stopped running and started walking to cool down my legs were very confused. They couldn't quite figure out what just happened to them. Luckily, I didn't fall over.

Okay, I have a lot more to say, but I will share more as our journey continues....

sneak peak....

2010-05-13T22:12:00.003-05:00

I had a really long day including work and then a 2 hour long meeting so this image is all you get tonight. More details to come tomorrow......yep, I'm serious.

Stromboli

2010-05-11T22:54:00.005-05:00

What's Stromboli?
Well, it's "a volcanic island in the Mediterranean Sea, one of the Lipari Islands."

But that isn't the kind of stromboli I am talking about. I'm talking about:
"Stromboli is a type of turnover filled with various cheeses, Italian meats or vegetables. The dough is Italian bread dough."

As Zach recently put it, Stromboli is a "Schwab" meal. One of a handful of meals I grew up with, but Zach had never eaten until he was fortunate enough to meet me! And he is lucky, because stromboli is delicious! We decided to have stromboli this week while trying to make use of the arugula in our garden. Then we realized we had some pizza dough in the freezer and the plans came together. We ended up making two separate loafs.

Loaf one:

1/2 lb pizza dough

Arugula

Olive Oil

Prosciutto

Goat Cheese

Loaf Two:

1/2 lb pizza dough

Genoa Salami

Sliced mozzarella cheese

Pizza Sauce

Garlic Powder

Oregano

Directions: Roll out dough, cover with goodies, wrap it up, place on tinfoiled baking sheet, bake at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes.

We didn't measure anything which is the beauty of stromboli. You can just make it however your little heart desires. The two loaves were very different from each other, but both very tasty! And, it was exciting to use our first arugula from the garden. If you are feeling adventurous, try out a Schwab meal! Stromboli is one of my favorites :)

This is the arugula/goat cheese/prosciutto loaf cut up. Watch your fingers! Zach is swiping that middle piece.

Here are the two side by side. I don't know why one turned out so much bigger.

A beautiful close-up of the goat cheese and arugula.

Getting rolled up. Notice: leave 1/2 inch on each edge so the guts don't fall out.

Smothering the second one with sauce. Leave a little extra sauce for dipping the baked loaf.

Yum! Salami + Mozzarella = True Love

The arugula needed a deep cleanse! It was very very dirty!

Dog Biscuits

2010-05-10T20:56:00.005-05:00

The dogs went on vacation. For two weeks! To grandma and grandpa Schwab's house. It started out as a one week trip. My parents were missing their grand-dogs so we decided to have them go for a visit while Zach finished his last week of trauma/ICU surgery (which meant a test week) and I worked three 12's in a row. But then they couldn't find a ride back to Omaha and ended up staying two weeks, which is a very long time to be away from your puppies and also a long time for G & G to have two extra dogs at their house. So this last weekend when my parents came to Omaha they brought the dogs back to us. We were actually in Lincoln when they got to our house and we didn't get to see them until Saturday. Ruby had no problem accepting us lovingly back into her paws, but Riley was not very happy with ma and pa. It took him FIVE minutes to come say hi to me! He just kept walking around the living room to everyone else, but would not come to me even after I kept calling his name. To make it up to him Zach and I took both of them on a very long walk and then on Monday I made them some homemade dog biscuits. I had some bacon fat leftover from Sunday brunch and already had a good recipe I had tried before. After eating about seven treats Riley forgave me completely. He's in love with these dog treats! Zach said he thinks they are his most favoritest.

Here's Ruby being a very good girl and sitting while waiting for her treat. Riley couldn't help but jump around he was so happy-notice the blur in the corner.

Riley, trying to be patient while they baked---they smell so good while baking!

The finished treats!

Here's the recipe:

1 1/3 cup flour, I used whole wheat but that is up to you

1/2 cup rolled outs

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/2-3/4 cup chicken broth, I used beef broth because I had it on hand

1/4 cup melted bacon fat, or you could use olive oil

1 tablespoon garlic powder (supposedly helps keep fleas away)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together. Roll out dough on floured surface until 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Using a cookie cutter, cut out treats and place on parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. (the recipe calls for an egg wash, but I skipped that step. I mean, seriously?Maybe if I was going to sell them, maybe.) Cook for 20-30 minutes depending on the size of your biscuits. You want them hard, but still chewy. Make sure to refrigerate or freeze any you aren't planning to use up quickly.

Yes, I really love my dogs! Try these biscuits out for your loved pups too. And even if you don't have a dog they make a great gift for a friend who does or for someone who just got a new dog!

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-10T20:48:00.003-05:00

I know Mother's Day is over, but I wanted to share a picture from our delicious brunch we made at our house. The picture isn't the best, but it was the best one of my mommy and she was the star, so this one wins!

This was the first year that my parents came to Omaha instead of us going to Sioux Falls and it was really nice to have them visit! We did a lot of eating, some gaming at Dave & Buster's, and some fulfilling shopping. Zach and I were the chef's for brunch and here was our menu:

Buttermilk Waffles

Homemade Whipped Cream

Strawberries

Bacon

Coffee

and

Orange Julius

We all ate our fair share :)

Love you mom!

Chili and Corn Bread

2010-05-10T20:11:00.004-05:00

Today I was inspired by the (totally unfair) cold and rainy weather and decided to make some chili for dinner. Usually, we just make a really basic vegetarian chili, but for some reason I wanted to make the real deal. Then I realized that I don't ever remember making real chili. I searched for a recipe, thought I decided on one, but when I still wasn't quite happy with the ingredients I checked out The Pioneer Woman's cookbook---the answer to my prayers! Being a country gal I knew she would have a chili recipe and I was happy to find "Simple, Perfect Chili."

(click on the title to follow the recipe link)

Having some preconceived notions of what I wanted my chili to be I made a few adjustments:

-Before adding the meat I sauteed about 1/4 of an onion, thinly sliced, with the garlic until softened. Then I added the meat. I started preparing the meal and then Zach and I went to work out for about an hour, so instead of simmering on the cooktop I added about a cup of water, covered the pan, and put it in the oven at 275 while we were gone. I just felt better about it being in the oven instead of on the stove while away. And it worked out just fine. Then, as the final step I took her suggestion and added one can of kidney beans, one can of pinto beans, and two jars of the stewed tomatoes my mom and I canned last summer. I was going to dice up a jalapeno, but after tasting it I realized it was plenty spicy from the earlier addition of cayenne pepper, which I chose not to measure---oops. It turned out so good!!! I was very happy with the results and Zach loved it too. And don't forget to top it with shredded cheddar! Deee-lightful!

To balance out the chili I also made cornbread puddings, a Martha Stewart recipe. They were supposed to be "mini," but apparently I skimmed over that part and used regular muffin tins instead. We were four short and they were very shallow, but they were so good! If you like moist cornbread this a really good recipe to use! And, it is very simple. Hurry up and make this before the weather gets nice again!

I don't run!

2010-05-04T20:34:00.003-05:00

I don't run. And usually I would say "I am not a runner," but for some reason over the last few weeks I have discovered a desire to start running. I don't know if it was inspiration from the recent marathon in Lincoln or from the way my jeans fit, but I just can't control the urge. And besides that, it just seems cool to run. Not to mention a good reason to buy a whole new set of cute clothing. So, after confessing to Zach (the natural runner) last night that I was interested in running he challenged me to run one mile five days a week for a few weeks and then decide if I want to become more serious after that. We even got in our car and drove a route so I would have an exact path to work toward as a goal. That's just the kind of weirdo I am. Actually, I think I would run a much shorter distance if it were left to me to decide what a mile "feels" like. I know. I know. Running a mile doesn't sound like much, but to me it is a challenge.

After working my 12 hour shift today I got home and started running around 7:30pm. I made it the whole mile! I have to admit that I walked for two blocks after about 3/4 a mile, but we figured in an extra three blocks, just in case. My short term goal is to run a full mile without stopping to walk at all. If I can do that we will discuss my long term goals later......

Not a marathon! Something more fun!

Sticky Buns, made simple

2010-04-25T10:45:00.001-05:00

Back in March I blogged about some really awesome sticky buns! At the time I promised to post an easier version of sticky buns. The recipe is from Real Simple-I had torn it out about 5 years ago and this is the first time I used it. I made the second option shortly after the classic, but hadn't posted it yet. Compared to the classic recipe I first made these were very easy! Easy enough that I woke up on a Saturday morning a little bit before Zach and had them done before he was out of bed! They aren't quite as satisfying as the real deal, but I thought they were a good substitute for an easy weekend breakfast treat. And, you only need four ingredients!

Here's the final product on the plate. Sorry it's such a bad picture, but this shows you how big they were.

All of them after being flipped out of the pan.

Pre-flip. You make them in a muffin tin-pretty awesome!

Layering the toppings followed by a biscuit. I don't think I actually measured anything while making these. I just wasn't feeling it. And, I like being generous----more generous than the recipe calls for :) The recipe calls for banana slices in the topping also, but that just isn't my thing so I cut them out.

So, if you like sticky buns, but don't want all the fuss try these out! I think you will be happy with the results.

Garden Update-End of April

2010-04-25T10:26:00.001-05:00

Here's a little update on our garden. Everything is growing pretty well. The arugula and broccoli have some little holes in them so it looks like some bugs have found a sweet meal. We aren't really down with pesticides and the damage isn't that bad so for now we are just going to let it go. We still haven't put any more plants in the ground. Even though the ten day forecast doesn't look like it is going to freeze I don't want to take any chances.

Riley is already licking his chops. Even though he would much prefer some chicken or bacon or a fresh veggie any day.

Here's one of the many snakes that are all over our yard. They are harmless, but they really freak you out when something unexpectedly starts moving at your feet. They especially drive Ruby crazy.

This is Ruby searching for snakes under my rhubarb. They weren't even under there, but it kept her busy!

This is a broccoli seedling. They are still pretty little and we don't have any fencing around them so we got crafty with the recycling bin again. The little plastic containers seem to make mini greenhouses too, so they may have a double benefit.

Carrot seedlings. Can you spot them?

Happy Ruby! She loves hanging in the yard while we garden. And she never gets in the way-NOT!

Zach's climbing sweet pea project. See the one on the right starting to wrap itself around the stick? Eventually they will grow big and cover some of our ugly fence!

Ruby on a snake hunt. Also, my rhubarb is getting pretty big. I think I can start plucking some stalks soon. I have lots of recipes in store for it! And you can see on the right hand side Ruby is walking through a field of broccoli covered with plastic protection.

Arugula. It's making really good progress. Refer to my last post to see how much bigger it is in relation to my finger!

The beet seedlings! I think these are going to be really pretty!

Who knows-maybe our next post will be about planting the rest of the veggies in the ground! I hope so!

Cranium Answers!

2010-04-23T19:34:00.004-05:00

Even though no one made any comments I'm going to believe you are still interested in the answers. So, here are the answers to yesterday's challenge! Refer to that post for the beautiful artwork involved.

A-Forest (You are really impressive if you figured that one out.)

B-Button down fly

C-Queen Bee

D-Grand Piano

E-Frisk

F-Drop dead fly (I think)

G-Clothesline

Cranium

2010-04-23T19:11:00.006-05:00

About a month ago we had some friends over for dinner and after dinner we played a rousing game of cranium. If you've never played it before you should give it a try! I don't know about you, but I love a good game night! The night was full of laughs and while cleaning up the next morning we realized how ridiculous some of the drawings from the pictionary section looked. I thought I would test you guys out to see if you could figure out any of our beautiful artwork. I will post answers tomorrow, and who knows, maybe the winner will even get a prize.

Picture A Artist: Me Clue: Place

You should note, this was one that I had to keep my eyes closed while drawing.

Picture B Artist: Zach Clue: Thing

Picture C Artist: ? I can't remember, but I think it was me. Clue: Thing (helpful, I know)

Picture D Artist: Zach Clue: Thing

Picture E Artist: Zach Clue: Action Yes, both parts of the picture go together.

Picture F Artist: Kate Clue: Phrase

Picture G Artist: Zach Clue: Thing

Picture H Artist: Kate Clue: Place

(Another blind drawing)

Good luck! Check back tomorrow to see if your guesses are correct :)

Veggie Garden 2010

2010-04-23T17:13:00.005-05:00

Hopefully, this will be the first of many posts highlighting the vegetable garden we are planting this year. This will be the third year of planting our own garden so we are getting much better at it. We have figured out what works and what doesn't, but are still trying some new things! We started the garden at the end of February by planting some seedlings indoors. Then, at the end of March we planted some hardier plants into the garden while Zach was on Spring Break. I love the process of watching everything grow--so very exciting!

Here's a list of what we are planting this year:

Herbs (yet to be decided which ones)

Broccoli-new this year

Carrots, from seed

Arugula-also new this year

Beets-new, from seed

Rhubarb, has been there for 3 years now, even after Zach "accidently tilled it!"

Asparagus-but it still isn't producing anything yet after 3 years :(

Cucumber, from seed

Sunflower, two varieties, both from seed

Zucchini, transplant

Tomatoes-4 varieties this year, one from seed, the rest are transplants

Red Pepper, transplant

Hot Pepper, transplant

Sweet Peas, new, from seed

Green Beans, from seed

I think that's it! Here's some pictures of our progress so far. These are actually older. I will be posted updates soon. With all of the rain we have been getting the garden has made a lot of progress! Again, I can't seem to get the pictures in the order I want, so forgive me if they don't seem to make sense.

This is the arugula we chose.

Beet seeds.

Little asparagus shoot coming out of the ground-this was from the end of March.

Arugula seedlings coming up-notice how small they are next to my finger!

Little tiny arugula seeds.

Here's Zach preparing the dirt. We wanted to till the whole garden last fall, but the October 10th snowfall threw us off schedule.

Broccoli seedlings coming up in their containers inside the house.

Our very scientific approach to planting seedlings. We took out some of the things we put into recycling, put some holes through the bottoms, added seedling mix, planted the seeds, covered with saran wrap and placed in the window. It actually worked out great! Even better than when we used the an official seedling tray two years ago. At the bottom of the picture you can see the seed packets for the broccoli and tomatoes. They are Italian broccoli and Moonglow tomatoes. The broccoli is new, but we used the same tomatoes two years ago and they were delicious.

And finally, a picture of Ruby helping her daddy plant some seeds.

I can't wait until we can eat all these goodies!

Sticky Buns

2010-03-07T21:03:00.003-06:00

If you read my cinnamon roll entry you might remember me saying that I was making those rolls just because I wasn't quite ready yet to make sticky buns. Sticky buns are my true love. At least in the bun world.

It just so happened that my March Everyday Food arrived in the mail and it had a recipe for Brown-Sugar and Pecan Sticky Buns. That's when I knew it was time to take the plunge. And then, I found a recipe in my folder of torn out magazine recipes for a really simple sticky bun. I made the EF version this weekend, but I am planning to make the other one soon too to compare.

I'm so happy I finally made them. They were wonderful. That is if you like things infused with butter, which I just so happen to. And if you don't have a nut allergy. Don't eat these if you have a nut allergy.

This recipe uses a modified pizza dough. We made pizza last night so we doubled the dough and then I made the rolls this morning. Zach ate three of them immediately. And they aren't small. I've had two today. We almost ate half the batch in one day. And then I took a nap instead of going to work out. Oops.

Here are the pictures, in backwards order because I can't figure out how to change it. Woe is me.

Here are the rolls right before we started devouring them.

This is what the rolls look like before you flip them over.

This is a piece of tin foil covered with butter. The recipe says just to invert the buns onto a baking sheet, but this is what my mom always does when making monkey bread and it really makes it a lot easier when peeling the buns off later. I would suggest it!

Here are the buns right before they went in the oven. Not the most elegant, but it didn't affect the taste! I think they needed to be wrapped a little tighter.

This is the log of dough right before I cut it up.

This is the dough with the toppings on it.

And finally, here is a picture of the dough with the butter scattered on it. A lot of the brown sugar and pecans tried to escape when I was transferring them to the pan so I might melt the butter next time so that the topping will stick to the dough better.

Here's the recipe:

-all-purpose flour, for work surface

-1 recipe Basic Pizza Dough or 2 lbs store-bought pizza dough

-1 cup plus 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

-1 cup packed dark-brown sugar

-1 1/2 cups pecans, chopped

-1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

1) On a floured work surface, roll dough to a 10-by-18 inch rectangle. Dot upper two-thirds of dough with 1 cup butter and fold dough like a letter. (Fold bottom third that doesn't have butter on it onto middle, and then up to cover top third.) Roll dough again to a 10-by-18 inch rectangle. Refrigerate on a baking sheet until firm, 1 hour (or up to 1 day. I did it overnight.)

2) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, combine sugar, pecans, and salt. Leaving a 1/2 inch border, dot dough with 6 tablespoons butter (or you could try to melt it and pour it over the surface) and sprinkle with sugar mixture. Starting at a long end, roll up dough like a jelly roll. Cut crosswise into 12 pieces. Place each piece into two jumbo muffin pans or a 9-by-13 inch baking pan. (It didn't say anything about spraying the pan, but I lightly buttered it to make sure it would come out easily. I figured the butter wouldn't hurt anything.)

3) Bake until golden brown and cooked through, 30 to 40 minutes, rotating pans halfway through. Immediately invert buns onto a baking sheet (lined with buttered tin foil if you want) or a serving platter. Serve warm.

Yum! Enjoy! And if you could do some crunches for me I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

Crazy Dogs

2010-03-06T09:55:00.004-06:00

The dogs love Saturday mornings. So do I. I think they love it because it is the first morning Zach and I are both home with them all week. This morning I came upstairs to Zach sitting on the computer exploring the world of music and the dogs behind him on the guest bed keeping themselves occupied. The dogs do a many number of things to use up their energy. Lot of times they choose to fight with each other. I was able to capture some pictures of the madness and a video clip too. You can see how Riley is pretty content and Ruby changes her mind about a million time as to what she should do next. You even get a glimpse of her tail chasing episodes. If only that dang thing would quit following her around.

This is a break from fighting. Riley stopped to clean Ruby's face. She never returns the favor.

This is Ruby attacking Riley's head.

And even though this picture is terrible you can see why some people get scared when these two fight. They are always just playing and never really hurt each other. Every so often we hear a little squeak, but then the action stops right away. Good thing they have hard heads.

Here is the video clip. It is a little slow at first, but it is worth the wait to see Ruby's tail chasing. They are just too goofy. And notice how Riley just stares right at the camera most of the time. He's no fool.

**Warning-Zach starts music about half way through so it goes from really quiet to loud music**

Hope you have a wonderful weekend! We are off to buy Zach some new clothes!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

2010-03-01T16:51:00.004-06:00

This chicken tortilla soup recipe is one that Zach and I have used for at least five years. It is my favorite chicken tortilla soup ever. This recipe is enough for a family, and yet I get tempted to double it for the two of us so we have lots leftover. This recipe is not fancy, but instead very basic, and lends itself well to modifications. And, it is one of the few recipes I have memorized. That might just be an issue with my brain though.

Below is the original paper I scribbled the recipe on. I got it from my cousin Colleen and since then we have modified it some to make it our own. If you can't read it, here are the ingredients:

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can Campbell's mild fiesta nacho cheese (picture later on)

1 can enchilada sauce (I prefer getting the medium spiciness variety, but have a hard time finding it lately)

1 can milk

1 can diced green chilies

1 chicken breast, cooked and shredded

Taco seasoning-I have no idea how much (see note further below)

Then, as you can see from my notes, we added:

1 can black beans

About half a bag of frozen corn

For garnish:

Diced up tomatoes

Sour cream

tortilla chips

Directions:

Mix it all together in a pot and warm it up. Pretty tough, huh?

The hardest part is the chicken. I happen to absolutely hate preparing chicken and usually leave this task to Zach. Also, I think that when baking chicken or making it on the stovetop that the outside gets tough and doesn't make for a good texture when shredded. I'm a little bit of a freak when it comes to chicken. Just ask Zach. Anyway, this time I decided to poach the chicken and I was really happy with the results and will probably use this technique from now on when making this.

I can't figure out how to move my pictures around anymore, so these aren't sequential. This is actually the end result, pre garnishing.

Here is a picture of Zach stealing some of the chips before dinner. He was STARVING.I used my Martha cookbook for tips on my chicken poaching. She's always so helpful.
This canister of taco seasoning has been with me for a few years. It was from Sam's club and I got it sometime in college. I used the rest of it in the soup. It was "a lot", but I don't think that would be an accurate amount because I'm sure a lot of the flavor was gone. One time we made this soup for Zach's parents and I used a whole packet from the grocery store. It was really spicy so I would suggest adding it one tablespoon at a time and taste as you go.
This is the nacho cheese soup. You can't get Campbell's soup at Whole Foods so I usually get to take an extra grocery trip and I try to stock up.

Ruby is always in the kitchen offering her assistance. I need to teach her how to be a sous chef.Here's what it looks like after everything but the milk, corn, and chicken have been dumped in.And here is a picture of the chicken poaching. Foam gathers at the top and this little thing was the only skimmer I had on hand. It's real purpose in life is for sifting powdered sugar onto desserts, but I haven't ever used it for that. It would probably be just fine without skimming the top, but I was trying to follow the directions. I wasn't timing it, but it seemed to take about 15 minutes for the chicken to be cooked through.

This soup is so good! Try it before it gets too warm outside to enjoy soup! I can't wait for that day!

Still Learning

2010-02-17T11:17:00.003-06:00

Our new computer is wonderful, but I'm still in the learning phase. I find myself not doing certain things on the computer because I just can't figure out how to do it. And it is small things. For example, even after our data transfer from our old computer I can't find a whole set of files. I also can't get our really fancy wireless mouse to let me right click. You would be amazed how much you right click once you can't do it anymore. Zach and I need to sit down and spend some quality time with the computer and we both need to go to the classes at the Apple store. I won't settle for only knowing the basics. It is especially humiliating when you go to the store and you see all of these little kids under the age of five sitting in the kid zone going to town. I will not allow my age to limit me, especially at 26.

Anyone else LOVING the olympics? They are kind of having some issues this year, but we have been loving the games! Since Zach has just recently tried the adventure of ice skating he is especially enjoying the figure skating. I know lots of men enjoy laughing at the sport, but once you have tried just basic skating you really learn to appreciate how challenging it really is.

We've also enjoyed all of the footage of Vancouver. We both love the Pacific Northwest and all of the beautiful scenery they have been rubbing in our face. I've already started a list of the hot spots being talked about on the morning shows. The only problem now is that I'm back in Omaha with no cable (we were in Sioux Falls for the weekend + 2 days after the interstate was closed due to weather conditions). I'm again relying on the internet for any tv watching and I am finding that for the Olympics it just isn't the same. I might have to suck it up and buy a converter box so that we can hook up basic cable. I'm just not sure if I want to go back to having any tv in the house, other than the shows we watch on hulu. For me, there is a fine line when it comes to tv watching.

And finally, I get to go to Florida in less than a month for a work conference! I'm so excited! The only bad thing is that I have not been preparing for it since I just found out. As in, slacking slightly with the workouts, pale as a ghost (not that I would go tanning), and all of my warm weather clothes need to be looked over. I will talk more about this when the time is closer, but I can't help being so excited about it!

Go USA!

Kate

Technically Challenged fixed

2010-02-07T14:13:00.000-06:00

I fixed it!

Two weeks ago, when I dove off the deep end also known as reading the Twilight Series, I decided it was as good a time as ever to buy a new computer, aka a good distraction for Zach while I read non-stop. It was something that Zach and I both knew was coming, but we were trying to avoid it as long as possible since we knew it was going to put a dent in our wallets. We already knew what we wanted since we had gone to the Apple store many times just to drool. We now have a 27" screen iMac. It's ridiculous. It is so above and beyond our old laptop that it makes me laugh out loud sometimes. (Yes, the 27" screen was necessary because we use our computer as our tv.) The only problem is that we still aren't very sure how to use it. There is a slight learning curve to using a mac and I'm just not there yet, but I can't exactly say I've tried very hard. Eventually I am going to get myself to some of the free classes at the Apple store. For now I will struggle with my weaknesses. Tonight I found out that one of my weaknesses was no longer knowing how to copy and paste. Don't worry, I figured it out, kind of. The reason I came to this problem was another technological issue. I think I've mentioned this before, but Zach isn't always the man in this house. Just recently when we went to Nebraska Furniture Mart to look for new computer games for the Mac (yes, manly) I didn't want to go inside the store so Zach tried to convince me by telling me I could go look at the big screen tv's while I waited. And it wasn't a joke. I often find myself swooning over electronics much more than Zach. The only exception is gaming devices. When it comes to that one is plenty.

Anyway, the main point to this round-about story is that Zach recently asked me to try to figure out how to post a you tube video within our blog. One of our newest goals of the blog is to share our music interests. Zach is generally the music guru and I am the follower. Lately, for the past several months, we have been rather obsessed with the group Bon Iver, which we also pronounced incorrectly for about 4 months.

Anyway, Zach found a really cool video of them performing in an apartment lobby acapella pre-show in France. It's a pretty awesome video. I couldn't figure out how to post the video in the blog, but I did eventually figure out how to copy and paste the link. So, if you have a few minutes. Check out the video. It's awesome. You should check out the rest of their music while your at it too. And, if you are lucky enough to have a really sweet speaker system you should crank the volume.

I think you'll be mesmerized.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDj44n5bjWU

And, if anyone does know how to post the video, let me know.

Enjoy!

I hope this starts your week out nicely!

Juicy

2010-01-14T18:44:00.004-06:00

For Christmas this year Zach's parents asked us for an idea for a gift to give to us as a couple. We have a lot on our wishlist right now, but for some reason we were really struggling with what we wanted to ask for. The list was long and varied, but in the end we decided we wanted to ask for something we wouldn't buy ourselves. Mainly because it is completely unnecessary and we couldn't justify spending our own money on it, but we also chose it because it is something fun and we have been wishing we had one for quite a while. In the end, we asked for a juicer. No, not just a little orange juicer, but a it will juice your finger if you let it juicer.
It is the Breville Ikon 5-speed Juicer
Since then we have had a really good time juicing almost everything in sight. This includes: apples, pears, oranges, carrots, broccoli, asparagus, celery, grapefuit, clementines, and avocado. So far my favorite is the clementine juice, but I have enjoyed tasting each thing in the juice variety.
Here are some pictures of our adventures so far:

This is some grapefruit juice. Isn't it pretty? Note: grapefruits give a lot of juice. Three was way too many!

This is carrot, broccoli, celery, avocado juice. It was disgusting. I still plugged my nose and drank it though because I figured it was good for me and I didn't want to waste it after the work to make it.

This is some of what is leftover after the juicing. It is going to make our compost awesome this summer. And, like my new under the counter compost container. I know this is really nerdy, but it is awesome! We used to just store our compost in a bowl on the counter until it was ready to go to the big compost outside, but that attracted flies and also tended to smell. This new one is under the sink, has a lid, and holds tons of material. Thanks mom and dad!

This is what happened to the avocado. I don't think much juice came out, but instead it became a puree like substance. I was brave enough to try it and it was actually really really good!

And this is what Ruby did after we took the juicer out of the box. She was deathly afraid of the Styrofoam that came out of the box. She ran and hid in Zach's parents shower and refused to come out. Finally, Zach carried her out and she sat in the living room just shaking in fear. Then, during dinner, she went and took a nap in the laundry room and when she woke up she had made a full recovery.

Anyway, I'm sure we will be making a lot of juice in the near future and hopefully we can share some tasty recipes with you!

Truck Stop Cinnamon Rolls

2010-01-14T09:36:00.008-06:00

This last weekend Zach and I made cinnamon rolls. My original intention was to make pecan sticky rolls, but after discovering how many steps were involved with that I switched to cinnamon rolls. Someday I will tackle the sticky rolls. Someday.

Here are the recipes I used:

Truck Stop Cinnamon Rolls
and
Cream Cheese Frosting

Here's a side view of the dough right after it was put into this bowl to rise. In our house Zach is usually the bread maker so there was a lot of discussion about the "right" way to do things. Luckily, I was patient as he pointed me in the "right" direction and he was patient as I did it my own way.

Here is the dough post rising. Doesn't it look so smooth and pretty? Like our HUGE bowl? Zach bought it at Ikea a few years ago when he was first starting to make bread and it was a great purchase. A huge bowl like this is necessary for bread making and comes in handy for quite a few other things too. I've used it for a huge batch of punch for a wedding shower at work and it was perfect.

About a year ago I noticed we had four containers of cinnamon and slowly but surely we used them all up. Luckily, when I went to the store to refill our stock I bought a big container because this recipe called for 1/4 cup!

Sideways picture of me covering the dough (which is stretched out to 24 by 24 inches) with cinnamon. I kind of look like I'm getting ready to karate chop it.

Next was a nice layer of brown sugar. Here's an up close pic of the goodness. This was followed by melted butter. This recipe only calls for 1/4 cup. I made Zach re-read this about 5 times because I didn't think it was enough and in the end I do think it could have used more like 1/2 cup, but that's just my opinion. The last cinnamon roll recipe I used, which is a little bit easier and also very good, has you cover the entire surface with butter.

After rolling the dough into a log you cut it every two inches. I used a measuring tape as a guide, but as you can see I wasn't exactly precise. Imagine if I didn't have the measuring tape.

Here are the 12 rolls arranged in the baking pan pre-rising. A slightly larger pan would have been nice, but our rolls had to learn how to get along in tight quarters. That's just how we roll in this house. Pun intended.

Here's what they look like 30 minutes later. Snug as a bug in a rug. Sorry, probably not the best phrase to use when discussing baking, but anyway...

And here is what they look like fresh out of the oven. We ended up taking ours out about 10 minutes early and they were completely cooked through. I happen to like my rolls a little undercooked so if you are like me make sure you keep a really close eye on them. Also, if you are using a smaller pan like we did I would suggest putting a cookie pan on the rack below your rolls. That is unless you like propping your back door open when it's 10 degrees outside to let the smoke roll out of your kitchen.

Here is the final result! So good! I would definitely make this recipe again. The frosting was really good too. We ended up making two batches of frosting to have enough for all 12 rolls. A great treat on a cold day!

I did it!

2010-01-07T11:41:00.004-06:00

I shoveled the driveway, the sidewalk, and the front walk/stairs all by myself. Not by choice, but because Zach's gone. He left me. For two months. Not for good. He left me for his parents. Actually, he left me to continue his journey to become a doctor. For all of January and February he will be in Seward, NE (his hometown) doing his Family Medicine rotation. Therefore, I am the man of the house for the next two months. Saying I'm sick of this cold weather and snow is an understatement. The snow is piled so high that I have to scoop up some snow and then walk to the end of the driveway where I am able to throw it to the top of the pile. Although the temperature at the time was 2, "feels like -21", I was sweating. I gave up shoveling at the point my hands could not grip the shovel any longer. I traded it in for playing with the dogs in the backyard. I figured I might as well since I had all my warm weather clothes on. They really loved chasing the snowballs I made, but by the end Ruby had so much snow stuck in her paws she could barely stand up. I cleaned her off, carried their 40lb bag of dog food upstairs to refill their bin, and then I rewarded myself with a slice of the cake I made last night and a cup of coffee. So what if I made a cake and I am the only one available to eat it? I've been feeling sorry for myself. But I'm pretty sure I burned plenty of calories while shoveling to counteract the cake. Just to try to get more sympathy, here are some pics of my task this morning:

The view of our driveway from the garage. This is post shoveling. Note the walls on each side which allow for great drifts and an even higher snow pile. I think I did a pretty good job considering all circumstances.

Looking at the North wall from a few feet back.
Taking a few steps forward. This is what I see at eye-level.
Our flag gives you an idea of what the wind was like. Please ignore the fact that our Christmas lights are going crazy....I think a few clips came off.
In the very middle of this picture you can see the tree we planted this last fall. Pretty soon you aren't going to be able to see it at all. Another big storm is already predicted for the 20th.

Now excuse me while I go look at plane tickets.

It's cold out!

2010-01-03T18:36:00.002-06:00

I'm not feeling too inspired. I have a case of the weather blahs. In the ten day forecast there is a day with a HIGH of -2. That's depressing. But, there are some good things to the cold weather and tons of snow. Like how much my dogs love it! Above are two pictures of Ruby enjoying the snow drifts after the Christmas blizzard. The second one is a nice action shot of her defending her snow drift from Riley.

Happy New Year and good luck staying warm!

The Great Garbanzo Bean Giveaway & Chaotic Chickpea Catastrophe

2009-12-30T10:47:00.006-06:00

The setting of the above titled blog was Whole Foods Market, Bulk Foods Aisle. The players included Zach Martens, Kate Martens, 1 Whole Foods worker, and 1 bag of uncooked garbanzo beans. The inciting event was music and dancing. The catastrophe...chickpeas everywhere!

Explain more you say? Yesterday Kate and I had to catch up on some much needed grocery shopping following the holidays. I think it was almost impossible to piece together a meal with what we had in our pantry, refrigerator, and freezer. So, we took a trip to Whole Foods.

The shopping experience started out like any other, produce first. We got some juicing oranges for our new juicer as well as some pomegranates as it has been a good season. After throwing other assorted vegetables in our cart we wheeled over to bulk foods. I am planning on making a chickpea & leek soup from Jamie Oliver's "The Naked Chef", so naturally I needed some garbanzo beans.

After scooping and measuring 12 oz. of raw beans, I tied up the bag and labeled it with the correct PLU #. A quick aside: If you have never bought bulk always put the PLU number on your bag or the workers get irritated. As I was turning and walking away from the chickpea bin I saw Kate dancing to "Pump the Jam" in the sauce/oil aisle. That is when it all went wrong.

Her dancing incited some urge in me to do something just as spontaneous. It is one of those moments where you see something and react. There is no logic, no thinking involved, just do. Without considering any consequence I whirled my bag of chickpeas in my hand one time and then tossed them underhand into the air. My distance from the cart was easily 15 ft and I had to clear Kate's head to land the bag in the cart. Therefore, I had to throw it pretty high. I like to imagine a Whole Food's worker in the next aisle looking up to see a bag of garbanzo beans arcing through the air in slow motion. Then, as it disappears again below the shelving unit, the worker hears the explosion.

I was definitely accurate, but definitely unfortunate. The flying beans cleared Kate's head and landed in the cart, but the bag caught the edge of the cart and ripped a hole sending chickpeas bouncing all over the aisle. It sounded like lots of tiny plastic balls hitting the floor. There were no witnesses to the crime, and the first unsuspecting shopper to turn her cart into the disaster just smiled at us. In retrospect, I am sure she was laughing much harder internally then her smile gave away as she pushed her cart through raw beans.

After she was out of sight I took one of our grocery bags and began sweeping the beans to the sides of the aisle. No doubt I looked ridiculous and futile sweeping a floor with a grocery bag. Kate said, "Zach! Stop! Go get help." For a brief moment I heard nothing I was so focused on clearing the mess. "Zach, go ask for help!" So I suppressed my embarrassment and went and found the nearest whole foods worker. She was nice about it, but laughed at me as she went to get a broom and dustpan.

After a return trip to the bulk foods to restock on chickpeas we continued our shopping. As we turned corners or made sudden movements with our cart, chickpeas would fall out of the cart and a few other shoppers looked down at the floor to see what was going on. It was hilarious that their faces showed utter confusion while we knew the whole story.

Laughing got us through much of the rest of our shopping and we made it without any more incidences. Next time you are at the store or have the opportunity, drop an uncooked garbanzo bean on the ground. Notice how bouncy it is and how loud a whole bag of them would be. It will add to this story.

Thanks for reading!

~Kate & Zach~

Mr and Mrs Claus

2009-12-23T09:50:00.008-06:00

For the holidays last year, Ruby and Riley got Mr and Mrs Claus outfits courtesy of Kate and Target. We were unable to get a good picture of them together last year, but, we tried harder and succeeded this year. But first, a bit of detail:

Riley generally loves wearing anything you put on him, but he is not the biggest fan of his Santa costume. He is constantly squirming and especially doesn't like having his ears through the holes that keep the hat in place. The squirming generally develops into rubbing his head on something to try and dislodge the red nuisance. But if you are persistent enough, and use persuasion (treats), you can get him to tolerate it for a picture.

Ruby does quite the opposite of Riley. When you adorn her with the Mrs. Claus cap, she freezes for a time. However, if it is on long enough she will degenerate into Riley and try and get it off. Oh, and to initially get the hat on is a struggle, she will run away and duck to dodge it.

Without further ado, here are the pics we snapped this year of Mr and Mrs Claus. I love their faces in the first picture. It captures Riley's wily attitude towards his hat (he looks like he is about to rub his head) and also captures Ruby's freeze:

(THE Mr and Mrs Claus)

Here are a few more pics to enlighten your holiday season:

("Riley, why do they do this to us?")

(Good pose)

But when the costumes come off you see their true identity: Crazy

(Mr and Mrs Claus true identities)

Happy Holidays and Thanks for Reading

~Zach and Kate

Mallows!

2009-12-16T08:53:00.010-06:00

Have you ever tried real marshmallows? No, Kraft marshmallows do not count as real. Not nearly. I mean real, homemade marshmallows. Well, they are divine. I can't remember exactly how it started, but sometime in the last year Zach and I discovered them and have been somewhat obsessed with them since. And now, I have finally gotten around to making them myself instead of buying them at a bakery. They aren't very expensive to buy, but they are fun to make!

I used a recipe from Martha Stewart, surprise! There is also a video clip with it from her making them with Claire Danes on her show. I watched the clip, all 17 minutes of it, just to see if she gave any extra tips, and because I miss watching her show.

Vanilla Marshmallows

Here is the cast of characters, minus the toaster, but it wanted to be in the picture too.

Here's what gelatin looks like right after it is poured into water. Pretty exciting, huh? It has to sit for ten minutes, but don't worry, you'll be busy while you wait.

Corn syrup + sugar = deadly combination
You let it boil for one minute. I swear Martha said not to stir it during this minute. This made me nervous, but I didn't stir it and it was fine.
Here's what the gelatin/water combo looks like after 10 minutes. After the syrup has boiled for one minute you add it to the mixing bowl while it is on high. Then, you add a little salt and let the beater go for 12 minutes!
Here's what it looks like at the beginning. Pretty soupy.
A few minutes in, starting to thicken a little.
Getting some body.
Even thicker.
Almost done.
And this is what it looks like after 12 minutes, and after the addition of vanilla. The recipe calls for vanilla beans too, but I just couldn't get myself to buy vanilla beans. It turned out just fine without them, but they probably would add a little bit if you are feeling like a splurge.
Pouring into the pan.
All covered and ready to sit. The recipe says to wait two hours, but on the show Martha says overnight is best. I made these in the morning and finished them at night and I thought it worked well.
Here's what they look like after all of the plastic wrap has been removed. I would suggest lots of cooking spray! The directions say to spray the pan, then put down plastic wrap, then pour the mallow goop in. Next time I would suggest spraying the wrap before pouring the goop. It was kind of hard to remove the finished mallows and the presentation would probably be much smoother.
Cutting them up. The recipe says it makes 16, but you could easily cut the marshmallows down even more. These were pretty huge marshmallows. Between the knife and my hand that picture is pretty intense! I really like my hands even though they are rather odd looking, but that's a whole different discussion.
Finally, you dunk each block into powdered sugar to coat the sides and get rid of the stickiness.
Then, store in an airtight container. The recipe says up to three days. I just ate the last one today, five days later, and I thought it was just fine. I ended up giving half of the batch away to friends at work and have had requests for more already!

If you are feeling a little adventurous try making some homemade mallows! I think it would be a really fun activity to do with kids too. You can also make them colored or use other flavors, like peppermint. I think I might try some almond flavoring next time. I can't decide if that would be a good flavor combo or not. What do you think?

Tempting

2009-12-07T21:23:00.007-06:00

Right now in Omaha, NE it is 18 degrees. School has been canceled for tomorrow since at least 8:30pm-the night before! There is a winter storm warning and a blizzard watch. We have a low of -2 in our ten day forecast. And, it looks like this outside:

But not even that pretty, because there is no sunshine.

Right now in Phoenix, AR it is 56 degrees with light rain and wind. Tomorrow, while we are experiencing our blizzard, it will be 57 degrees and partly cloudy. They have a high of 69 degrees in their ten day forecast. It probably looks something like this:
It is kind of unfortunate that we will be making our residency decision in the dead of winter next year. It just isn't in Nebraska's favor. When I wake up at 5:30 and am greeted by cold and darkness all I can think of is moving somewhere warm. The temptation is there!

That's my thought for the day.

Side story:
Zach is showering right now and for some reason Ruby decided she wanted to join in. She just jumped right in the tub and got under the water stream. She may be crazy every day, but that is a new one for her.

A Warm Post for a Cool Day

2009-12-04T17:38:00.017-06:00

A cold front moved in earlier this week and it made me long for summer and fresh vegetables from the garden. Ahhh...garden tomatoes, cucumber, and fresh herbs. Add in a wheat beer or mojito and it is too much to bear. Anyway, I never blogged about cleaning up our garden near the end of October. So what better to do on a cool day then blog about something warm and inviting?

It was a sixty degree day in October, the sun was shining, and we still had vegetables to harvest from our garden. After donning our gloves and tools we headed out back to our garden for the season finale. Of course the dogs were with us and they enjoyed drinking out of the faucet one last time.

(Hurry, the water may run out...not)

(Munch, munch, munch...she bites it. Notice the crinkled nose.)

Carrots were the main vegetable we had been waiting to harvest all season. They seem to be slow-growers so we were ecstatic when we pulled them up and they looked fantabulous. Green, orange, and so much flavor.

(Not the model plastic carrot you get from the grocery store)

(Sprouts look good enough to eat. Can you do that?)

Another plant we had been waiting on all summer was brussel sprout. We had two of them and they were absolutely huge but were not producing many sprouts. In the end, I think we planted it too late and it didn't produce early enough. Also, it had a battle with caterpillars that it ended up winning even though this probably stunted its growth. Here is Kate hoisting it up.

(Jack and the Beanstalk)

After cutting down the tomato plants, there were numerous fallen soldiers. Most of them were broken open and not salvagable. I wish we would've had the energy to can them.

(A likely source of pesky volunteer tomatoes for next year)

Mr. Rhubarb, the tough guy that got tilled over last year and still came back, got his yearly trim. I'll see you next year my friend, when I make you into Rhubarb Chutney.

(I'll be back)

We finished pulling all the plants and cleaning out any excess debris and snapped a few pictures of the dogs. They loved that the fence around the garden was down and they could reclaim their space.

(This is how holes start)

(Sleeping?)

This is our 'pile to be composted' and what the garden looked like after we were all done. Goodbye until next year.

(It will eventually return to the ground, the benefits of composting)

(Naked)

It had been a nice day working outside, it was getting cool, and we were tired. After fiddling with the umbrella, we decided to call it a day. The pictures below were my favorites.

(Fixing the umbrella)

(Get your mind out of the gutter)

Thanks for reading...Zach & Kate

Mushroom Tart

2009-12-03T12:57:00.005-06:00

Just a quick little post today. Last night Zach and I shared dinner duty and whipped up a Mushroom Tart, from Everyday Food, December 2005. I reminded Zach that we have made this before. It was in February of 2007 and I had just moved into my apartment all by myself. He came to visit me for a whole week and I remember every meal we made together that week. I don't remember what we had for dinner last week, but I still remember what we made together two years ago. I must have been pretty excited about it. Just another example proving how food is so important to us!

I only took pictures of the end result this time. Too bad for you cause Zach donned the Onion/Swimming goggles this time!

Here's a pic of the whole thing. The picture just doesn't do it justice!

And here's a close-up of all the goodies. Clearly, you have to like mushrooms to like this meal. We used baby portabellos which were delicious. Also, you would have to like goat cheese! But, I think you could substitute the goat cheese with some Gruyere and it would work just as well. The recipe calls for 10 oz of spinach, but I accidentally only got 5 oz (one clam shell). I thought it had plenty of spinach and was glad I hadn't spent $4 extra.

Our house smelled so good after making this. In fact, I even stated so while half asleep....
For some reason Zach's phone rang at one am. The caller id said "Maryland." He didn't answer it cause he didn't think he would possibly know the caller. I responded by saying "Well, it smells good." Zach asked, understandably, "What smells good?" Me: "The house. It smells really good." Zach just shook his head and went back to sleep. If you were used to me and my nonsensical sleep talking you would do the same. For some reason my middle of the night reasoning told me that if the house smelled good he should know who was calling. Figure that one out and you win a prize!

Anyway, if you like mushrooms try this recipe. You won't regret it!

PS-I have made three meals this week and have used seven onions so far. I think that's a record.

PPS-Arizona sounds really nice right now. I hate the cold weather.

French Onion Soup

2009-12-01T19:32:00.010-06:00

Thanks to the suggestion of my friend Chelsea I decided to make French Onion Soup this week. After she suggested it, I remembered seeing a new recipe in the December issue of Everyday Foods titled "Fast French Onion Soup." Perfect!
The problem occurred when I figured out that the caramelized onions you have to use for the recipe are very time intensive....I spent 2+ hours in the kitchen! I LOVE cooking, but that's a lot of time for a Tuesday night soup. So much for "fast." While I sat there stirring my onions I compiled my list of very important things to know before making French Onion Soup:
-Use a mandolin/veggie slicer. So helpful when cutting up five onions at once.
-If you don't already have one, go buy a dutch oven. I got one for Christmas last year and use it all the time. This recipe is a great example of when to use it.
-Cut your onions under the fan of your stove/microwave. This helps take away some of the eye toxins spewing from the onion.
-Wear goggles. Did you know that at Sur la Table they sell onion goggles for $22? Kind of crazy, but tonight I was really wishing I had some! I made it through my first two onions just fine, but right as I finished the third onion my eyes started screaming! They were pouring tears and I couldn't even keep them open. Luckily, Zach was there to save the day. He got a kleenex to wipe my eyes and then got his swim goggles. I'm warning you now: There is a picture below that is truly disgusting. Earlier today I looked in the mirror and thought I looked nice. I like to tell myself that I am unrecognizable in the picture I am about to show you. I hope I never have to put a picture this bad of myself up again, but in the spirit of honesty, I just have to share.

This is a picture of the directions. Something really pretty to look at before.......

can you handle this?

I can't believe I'm really showing you this.....

Yep, it's that bad. Like how red my nose is from trying to defend itself? And, don't mind my outfit. I just may be the only person you know who wears a winter vest and scarf while cooking over a hot stove. No worries. The goggles really did work. They would fog up every so often which isn't the best situation with a sharp knife in your hand, but tear gushing eyes aren't very safe either.

Anyway, here's what the onions looked like at first. Just onions, a little bit of butter, and some salt.

This is about thirty minutes later, right before I added a little sugar. Shrink much?

And here are the onions all done and caramelized! Don't they look yummy? PS-I only made a third of what the recipe called for and still ended up with about 2 cups of caramelized onions. The leftovers will be good on sandwiches!

So, once the onions were finally done-and it took way longer than the recipe said it would-I took a cup out, stored the extras, and started making my soup. I added all the ingredients it called for: beef broth, salt, and pepper. I heated it up and tasted it and it just wasn't right. I was very disappointed, especially after all that time. So, I did something that is very uncharacteristic of me. I improvised. Two glugs of red wine and a dash of Worcestershire later and it was really good! I was so proud of myself for taking a risk. I know it really doesn't sound very risky, but after spending 2 hours on the onions, I didn't want to ruin the whole soup.

I also sliced up some bread and broiled it with some grated Gruyere on top. Yum Yum

In the end it was great! Zach had FOUR bowls of it!! No joke. He asked if I slipped some cocaine in it, but I swear I didn't. That would be an interesting thing to do to make people eat more of your food, but I doubt I will be trying that.

Although it turned out really well I still don't think I will use the same recipe next time. Looking forward to using the recipe I got from my friend Sarah! Thanks Sarah! And, I need to remind myself the next time I want to make French Onion Soup that it isn't a quick dinner.

Babies

2009-11-25T10:21:00.006-06:00

I went from doing a really good job at blogging, to really really bad. The really good had to do with the fact that I had a week off work. I attribute the really bad part to the fact that Zach has been quite busy with school. Zach is usually great at helping me with things around the house, the dogs, etc. But when he has to get up for work at 4am daily three weeks in a row, plus be on call, and prepare for presentations while he is home, I just can't blame him for not focusing on the house, dogs, cooking, etc. I will say that he still has done the majority of the dishes (cause I just hate it) and cleaned most of the house by himself on Sunday. I think he got confused going into a three day week thinking that it was going to be easy. Three days later we know otherwise.

Anyway, right now Zach is currently on his OB/GYN rotation. The first two weeks he was actually on the Labor and Delivery floor and this week is on with the GYN/ONC (gynecology oncology) team. Lets just say it has been an interesting experience. It started out with him talking about how "gross" the whole rotation was going to be. Keep in mind that I absolutely love women's health so I was slightly offended. And, I also most likely take care of some of the gyn/onc patients he has been seeing this week so it was kind of exciting to me. Luckily, one of my coworkers reminded him that each set of parents delivering will remember everyone who was in the delivery room with them, including him, and it will be a memory they will cherish the rest of their lives. That helped!

So, on his first day, after his first deliver, he called to tell me about it:
Zach: "It wasn't that bad. I didn't even get woozy or grossed out at all."
Me: "See, I told you so! (Sorry, I had to say it.) Did you cry?"
Zach: "No, but it was kind of touching."
Me: "Ohhhhh. Was it a boy or a girl?"
Zach: "Boy"
Me: "What was it's name?"
Zach: "I don't know."
Me: "What?!?!?!? How do you not know it's name?"
Zach: "I don't know, I was busy doing my job."
Me: Rolling my eyes due to the boring nature of that answer. "Well, you better start paying attention cause I want to know their names."
Zach: "Okay, fine."

He remembered two names out of multiple deliveries the whole two weeks. One because it was a completely outrageous name with about six actual names in one. The second one because the girl student he was with told him. Boys are so different than girls. I guess I should be glad about that.

Another cute thing he said during the rotation:
Me: " That baby is kind of ugly, but all babies are kind of ugly."
Zach: "What?!?!?! Babies aren't ugly!!!!"

In the end he really enjoyed Labor and Delivery and got to see many deliveries and many interesting things! And, by the end, instead of saying how gross it would be he was saying how "pissed" he would be if he didn't get to catch a baby. Luck wasn't with him though and every time he was gearing up to catch the labor would have difficulties and they would have to vacuum that baby out of there instead. Maybe someday he can catch one of ours.

I never got around to telling the stories of how Zach was applying his Psych rotation to me. Some day I will, I have pictures to prove it. Three words: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Now with this rotation he has been telling me how we really should have kids sooner rather than later. Let's just say we have had some funny conversations. Amazing how big decisions can change in a day. Don't plan on babies anytime soon, but maybe sooner rather than later.

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I am off until next Tuesday!! And, Zach is actually off for a four day weekend too! We are going home to Sioux Falls which we haven't gotten to do for Thanksgiving since we've been married. I'm excited!

Zach's next three weeks:
-one week of GYN/SURG
-two weeks of OB/GYN outpatient
Then, Christmas Break! Holy cow! He's almost halfway done with his third year. Time flies, even when you only get five hours of sleep a night.

And, Finally....

A really cute baby! This was Zach's favorite picture from my friend's album. This is Violet Blanche. The beautiful addition to Sidney and Blake's family. Congrats you two! I can't wait to come meet her!

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T12:46:00.007-05:00

For your holiday enjoyment...click here

Enjoy!

The Martens

Double Anniversary

2009-10-29T21:39:00.003-05:00

Today marks the anniversary of two very special days.

The first was seven years ago. It was the day Zach and I officially started dating. We had been going on dates and hanging out together for a few weeks, but it was on this day that we became "exclusive." I remember a few things from that night, but the main thing I remember is that Zach told me that if we were going to date he wanted it to be "serious." What a funny thing for an 18 year old boy to say! Lucky for him I kept my word and here we are today! Who would have guessed? It is very funny to think back to who each of us were seven years ago: so young, so foolish, but so ready to see what life was ready to deal us. I feel lucky every single day that he is the one I met and married.

Our second anniversary is the two year anniversary of adopting Riley. He has come such a long way since we got him. It is hard to believe, but when we got Riley he was actually younger than Ruby is today. I don't think we realized at the time how young he really was. He has always been such a good boy. His first home was a little rough and there are still some marks of that in his personality, but we are so glad we were able to "rescue" him from that bad situation! Now he is such a happy and loving boy-and such a good example to his little sister. He has gotten to do some fun things this week for his anniversary: lots of walks, laying on the couch (which is usually not allowed), treats from three dog bakery, and chicken scraps from our dinner tonight. He LOVES chicken!
This is a picture from the first day we got him. He weighed only 45 pounds--what a shrimp! Today he is a health 58 lbs. and his fur has changed quite a bit. That first day he spent most of the time standing by the door whining. What a heart breaker.

Here is a picture of him tonight, standing by me in the kitchen as I prepared dinner. Can you say "puppy dog eyes?" So cute!

So, to the two men in my life: Happy Anniversary! Love you both!

And now we are off for another walk.

Roasted Fall Vegetable and Ricotta Pizza

2009-10-26T20:50:00.006-05:00

There aren't very many recipes that Zach and I make twice. It isn't because we don't like what we make, but instead that we just really like trying new recipes all the time. This is a recipe that we have been making for three years now and look forward to every fall. It doesn't have any meat, but it is a very hardy meal. Without further ado...

Roasted Fall Vegetable and Ricotta Pizza, from Everyday Food October 2006

First, you need your veggies for roasting. Look at the funky carrots from our garden! I wish more of the items were from our garden.

Also, make sure you have a compost bowl on hand (if you are in to that like us)-you'll see why later. You will also want a very sharp knife and a good peeler. I knew I was going to be making this meal so we actually got our knives sharpened on Sunday. Sur la table was running a special so it only cost $12 for all our knives and you can really tell the difference. You will especially want this when you get to the butternut squash, just trust me.

Here are the veggies all cut up. Isn't it pretty?

With the addition of some olive oil and S & P. Giving it a little stir. As you can see, we had two full pans.

Here is what our compost bowl looked like by the end...completely full!

Once you get the veggies roasting you can prepare for the pizza making. We had a pound of pizza dough in the freezer. Zach made a really large batch and then we froze it in one pound increments (which is a pretty standard amount for most recipes and works well for one pizza). It is great to have on hand!

The pizza dough all rolled out. This was the third time. I did the first two and then made Zach do it. He advised me that I wasn't using enough flour.

Here is the dough with some mozzarella on the bottom and then the roasted veggies (only one pan worth).

Topped with dollops of ricotta. I'm not a huge fan of ricotta. I'm more of a cream cheese kind of girl, but Zach and I couldn't reach a decision as to what to do next time we make it. He likes the ricotta. Be creative and do what suits your tastes.

Then, another cup of mozzarella, a drizzle of olive oil and some more S & P. The recipe also calls for rosemary. I don't really care for rosemary in large quantities so I skipped it. It could use some herbage though, so next time I think I will use some thyme or sage.

The finished pizza. I was only able to eat a piece in a half and that was plenty! Now we have enough leftovers for lunch for each of us! If you are crunched for time at night you could make the veggies one night and the pizza the next. We also have some leftover veggies which will be a great snack!

Hoarding Butter

2009-10-23T21:49:00.004-05:00

Zach finally caught on to the massive amounts of unsalted butter I have been keeping on hand. I usually like to have at least 8 sticks. So, two full packs, plus a partially used pack. It has to do with a fear of wanting to bake something and not having butter on hand. Some recipes call for A LOT of butter. It came in handy tonight when I decided I wanted to make apple pie and rocky road brownies. Both from scratch. After working a 12 hours shift. I don't know what got into me. We still had to make a quick trip to the store to get a few things, like pecans and walnuts, so I just bought some more butter to replace what I knew I would be using. Also, I had two moles removed today (sorry if that's TMI) so I let Zach know that I received a note from the doctor that I was on work release from doing the dishes. He didn't buy my story, but he did do the dishes. Thanks hunny!

Here's the goods:

Scrumptious Apple Pie, Recipe from The Pioneer Woman

We actually made this last weekend at Zach's parents and it was, as the title says, scrumptious. This pie is going with us to a football party tomorrow. I don't know if pie goes with football games, but it should. This pie has a granola top crust so it is kind of a crisp/pie combo....I love it! And, it was nice to only have to deal with one crust. Oh, the agony!Right before it went in the oven.

Drizzling the caramel on top of the toasted pecans that are on top of the crisp top.The final product!

Rocky Road Brownies, Recipe from Everyday Foods, June 2008

This was really good! We ate some tonight already and we will bring the rest to the party tomorrow. This recipe is from scratch, but it is actually really easy. And even though Zach ate a lot, a little goes a long way. While Zach was grinding some decaf coffee to go with our brownies he also discovered some coffee beans I've been hoarding in the freezer. Oops. I just can't help myself.Yummy!A close-up of the goodies!

Anyway, I love both of these recipes and I'm sure if you tried them you would love them too! Unless you have a nut allergy. In that case, stay away!

Happy Friday! Starting tonight I'm on vacation for 9 days!!! Yahoo!

Residency Search

2009-10-22T20:25:00.006-05:00

Well, I don't know where to begin. How about this....sometimes I like to obsess about things. One thing in my life right now that is really easy to obsess about is Zach's upcoming residency search. I don't know about you, but until my husband started med school I had no idea how complicated the process of finding a residency is. I am planning on doing many blogs about our residency search in the next two years since it will be such a huge part of our lives, ie deciding where we will be living for the next 3-7 years of our lives after Zach is done with med school. This is big! So, I think it's okay for me to be a little bit obsessed. Anyway, to make things more understandable later on I'm just going to explain some general things about "The Match." It will mostly be in the form of a time line:

Right now: Zach is deciding what kind of doctor he wants to be. Currently leaning toward anesthesiology, but he is just in the thick of his rotations, so don't rule anything out. Anything except peds, psych, and general surgery at least. Oh yeah, and no gerontology, oncology/hematology, radiology, pathology, or podiatry either. So, I guess we can rule a few things out. This is a really important part of the decision for obvious reasons and it will guide the rest of the search.

Now/soon: Once Zach has decided what area he wants to practice in we will need to start putting a list together of places we want to apply to. Okay, so I've actually started compiling a list of programs for anesthesia, just in case. And, Zach has talked to a few friends who actually know something about the programs. Zach will probably apply to about 20-30 programs. The programs will range from "top" programs to "safeties." Right now we have 32 programs on our list, with about five I would like to cut. This list is ever-evolving.

Next Spring/Summer: Zach will start working on his application, including a personal statement, CV, and letters of recommendation. Will also start sending for information from each program. One thing we read said that each program keeps track of every time you contact them. I wonder what they consider too little interest vs. overboard?

Early Fall 2010: Hopefully, do at least a month long rotation in the area Zach chooses and then turn in his application. One nice thing is that the application process goes through one processing center, so although you have to keep track of each program's requirements, you can pretty much just turn in one application that covers each place. Way better than 30 separate applications!

Late Fall 2010: Start hearing back about interviews. It's hard to say how many interviews he will get. It could be 7, 25, or any number. You are supposed to go to every interview you are granted, so there may be a lot of traveling!

Winter 2010-11: Start interviewing.

February: Make a final list. Zach may apply to 30 programs, then say he gets 15 interviews (all hypothetical), after those interviews he will rate the programs. If he doesn't want to go to some of the 15 places he interviewed he won't rank them. So, maybe he will rank 8 (again, hypothetical). Then he submits his list to "The Match." At the same time, the places where he interviewed will make their own list, ranking everyone they interviewed. Then, some crazy ass database combines the lists in an attempt to make everyone happy. If you went through sorority rush this probably all makes a lot of sense to you. The main difference is that with residency matching, the med student always gets preference---very important! (There is a chance that you won't match to any program, but lets not discuss that.)

March 2011: I don't have the exact date yet, surprisingly, but in mid march is MATCH DAY. All med students in the entire USA get their residency match on this day. It is a big event with family and everything, and it already turns my stomach in knots. This is the day. The day that will decide a lot in our life.

May 2011: Graduation! Zach will be an MD!!!

June 2011: Possibly move....eek/yahoo/sweaty pits/can't wait----I don't know how I feel about this yet.

July 2011: Residency officially starts! And, we will finally have two paychecks :) Oh wait, we also get to start paying off massive school loans. It's going to be great!

Overall, I'm really excited and anxious about the whole thing. Like I said earlier, it will be life changing.

Next time I will give an update on our thoughts about where to apply.....we are seriously torn!! And, hopefully Zach will be contributing his thoughts too.

And these two will be coming also, but they don't have a say in where we go. If we end up elsewhere, it will have to be dog friendly!

Rodent Round-Up

2009-10-21T20:30:00.006-05:00

Guess the name of the creature pictured below:

I'll give you options, multiple choice:

A) Pygmy Mouse
B) Vole
C) Mole
D) Shrew

Keep reading! I wouldn't want to ruin the story!

Ruby and I had our first encounter with this cute little guy over the weekend. It all started when Kate and I decided to spend the night at my parents place for the football game and a visit. Of course we brought the dogs and they had a great time running wild as my parents live on the edge of town. After a terrible football game and some more dog wrestling and running in the backyard, it was time to go to bed. We shut the bedroom door, turned out the light, and immediately heard Ruby sniffing every square inch of the room. At the time, we thought nothing of it and dozed off.

About 3 AM, I awoke to Riley crying to go outside. Ruby wanted to go to and interestingly, she had her nose almost stuck under the bedroom door like she really wanted something outside the room. So, I got up with the dogs and let them out. When I came back downstairs Ruby had her ears up and was running around the basement living area chasing something. I turned the light on and saw the little 2 inch "bug" she was chasing. It was fast and darting around backed by adrenaline. My first thought was that it was a cockroach and I hate cockroaches. I didn't want to get anywhere close. But then Ruby stunned it by swiping it with her paw and I saw it had a tail. Phew, not a cockroach. So what was it?

She had major puppy ears on at this point and was so curious about this "rodent". It must have been playing dead because it got up again and started booking it around the living room. Ruby corralled it under the computer desk and I thought there was no way I was going to see it again. But she put her nose to the ground and hunted it down. The chase was on again. After about three more swipes and several ventures in and out of her mouth, the "rodent" turned on its side and wasn't moving. I didn't mention this whole time I was standing on the staircase, observing. I bravely stepped from my mount to investigate. This is what I would have wrote in my logbook: Pointy nose, squinty eyes, matted/crazy hair (likely from Ruby's saliva), short tail, ~2 inches in length, and dark brown.

(Flushing it out from behind the CPU desk)

After my initial assessment I ran into our bedroom and said, "Kate, Ruby caught a mole!". Kate's 3 AM response was surprisingly with it, "What! Ohhh my gosh!". After that I ran up to get a container to catch it in and woke my parents to tell them. "Yeah, we've had those down there before. We think they are Voles. Good for Ruby." Not the exciting response I was looking for, but I was going to catch a Vole. I bounded back downstairs and trapped it in the container.

(A curious puppy)

(Part of the catching process)

(A close-up for the fieldnotes)

The saliva-drenched vole was still moving around in the container after being caught and I hurried upstairs to throw it outside. It was a beautiful, clear, starry night but it was cold. As I turned the container over in the field near the house I felt bad for the little guy. Chased to wits end, spit in and out, pawed to death, trapped in a container, and tossed out in the cold. Not a great night for the vole. Ruby relaxed and we all slept the rest of the night through. The next day it was agreed, without any corroboration, that she had caught a vole. What a hunter.

It was not until right before I began writing this very blog that I thought it would be a good idea to get my facts straight. Indeed, the creature above looks nothing like a vole, this is a vole:

Conclusion: Ruby did not catch a vole, she caught a shrew. Ruby tamed the shrew!

Thanks for reading and if you have a shrew problem give us a call!

Kate and Zach

Bring it on!

2009-10-20T21:46:00.003-05:00

In an attempt to blog more often I am going to try out some new blogging topics/ideas/etc.... Smaller updates with things like just pictures, quick ideas, and what's cooking. Also, I'm hoping to start blogging soon about our journey toward match day for Zach's residency. Anyway, here's the first post on what's cooking.
(sorry, I'm tired. I was supposed to be in bed 17 minutes ago! Anyone else as crazy as me about watching the clock for your bedtime?)

Chicken Pot Pie
From Everyday Foods, a Martha Stewart publication (and one of our biggest sources of recipes), October 2009
The recipe isn't on the website yet, but I will post the link once it is.

This meal took me 2 hours to make, which I wasn't expecting and we ended up eating dinner at 8:30. Luckily it was delicious and we have leftovers to eat for dinner tomorrow so that makes up for it. It wasn't a hard recipe, just time consuming, so be prepared.

Yummy puff pastry top!Zach chose to dive right into the center. I took the lid off and nibbled on it as I went.Zach preparing to enjoy it. It was really hot! Zach was afraid he might pass out from blowing on it so much. He gave it an overall rating of "8".

Good Night....32 minutes past my bedtime now. Shoot

Sarah & Dave Got Hitched

2009-10-13T15:53:00.006-05:00

I always dreamed of a fall wedding. So did Zach (at least in my mind where I believe he actually thought about wedding planning). Fall is easily our favorite season. Full of wonderful things like football, apple picking, nice weather (usually), pretty leaves, and my birthday! Unfortunately, we weren't able to make fall work for our wedding since Zach was starting med school that year.

This last weekend, my fall wedding dreams were fulfilled by attending the beautiful wedding of a good friend, Sarah, and her new husband Dave. Sarah has been a nurse with me for the last 2+ years and even made the transition from the inpatient unit to the treatment center with me. Also, Dave is a first year resident, so over the last two years Zach and I have been able to learn A LOT from Sarah and Dave's journey of matching into a residency program. Dave is now an internal medicine resident at University of Alabama in Birmingham. They have a new house there and are already back "home." Although I know they are incredibly happy and excited to finally be there together I am still sad that Sarah has moved away. She is a great nurse to work with, but also a great person!

Poor Sarah, that's what I was thinking all of last week. The weather forecast wasn't looking good. Predictions of snow for Friday and highs in the 30's. As the day grew closer, the situation only looked worse. We may live in Nebraska, but this is just ridiculous. And then, Saturday morning, we woke up to this:

Five inches of snow.

Luckily, Sarah's wedding was in Johnson, NE, which only got flurries. The weather was cold, but that didn't stop everyone from having a great time. The ceremony took place at St. John's Old Stone Church. It was also the place of Sarah's grandparent's wedding in 1956. Very cool!

Zach and I sat in the balcony and had a bird's eye view of the ceremony. Like this little woman in charge of videotaping. She was so cute. I found myself standing next to her a few hours later at the reception and she could not be much taller than 4'8".I don't have great pictures from the ceremony, but here is a fun picture of the couple as they left the front of the church. The song "Oh Happy Day" was playing as they walked out and you can tell by the look on their faces that it really was!After the ceremony we moved to the reception, which was held at Johnson's Legion Hall. While this was a classic Legion Hall, with carpet for walls and everything, Sarah and her family did a wonderful job of decorating it. The walls were lined with white fabric, which was also draped from the ceiling. I thought it kind of gave the effect of being in a tent. There were lots of candles and very autumn-y elements: pumpkins, gourds, branches, bittersweet, hedgeballs, pears, and caramel apples for favors!
And, their cake was amazing! Often times it is hard to get a beautiful cake that tastes delicious too, but this cake accomplished that. There were many flavors available and I chose the Red Velvet---yummy! I also really loved the background of the cake table! The branches and candles were so simple, but so pretty!Overall, the day was a lot of fun and I am so happy for Sarah and Dave that they are finally getting to start their lives together. I can't wait for them to move back to Nebraska!Me with the GORGEOUS bride!

El Nino

2009-10-12T20:58:00.009-05:00

Remember back in the day when people used to blame every change in the weather on El Nino? Or, if you are from midwest, remember when there was always the debate as to whether it would snow before Halloween? Well, this last weekend El Nino won those who bet prior to Halloween cash money -- it snowed over two inches. And the exact date? Answer: Oct. 10. In all honesty, there was an episode of initial excitement quickly followed by a descent into a wintry depression. It went something like this:

"Wow, our first snow of the year. It's beautiful." --> "Wow, it's really cold out. But still, it's our first snow and it's beautiful" --> "Uh oh, the garden is dead and we haven't even prepared it for winter yet" --> "Man, it's only Oct 10. Isn't that a little early?" --> "Let's add these things up: It's cold, it's wet, the Garden is dead (indicating the death of summer), the winter could potentially be really long" --> "I hate this snow, I'm going to sled into a tree"

The following pictures says it all. Those beautiful, summery, hot, red and yellow peppers being literally blanketed by snow, cold, and winter. The metaphor in this picture is too much to bear!

But not everyone in the household was Scroogish as I. There were those of us who loved every minute of it:

(Sign of a good time)

(Chasing snowballs, the cheapest and best toys)

(The Race is On)

And, maybe it wasn't as bad as I thought looking back through these beautiful pictures. My heart is starting to warm:

Maybe we ought to step back and look at the positive side of things: First, it's beautiful. Second, the dogs had fun. Third, it will melt in a couple days. Fourth, we may yet get an indian summer. Not all that bad if you look at it that way. If I have a cup of hot apple cider and nap on top of all that, I may not sled into a tree after all.

(The source of deliciousness that is apple cider)

Thanks for reading, may tomorrow bring you warmth

~Zach & Kate

Gold Rush

2009-09-20T17:25:00.012-05:00

With fall comes all things good: cool weather, Husker football, colored leaves...and Gold Rush!!! It is the big annual event for GRRIN (Golden Retriever Rescue in Nebraska) and is held each fall at the Omaha Humane Society. As we got our two dogs from the rescue group, we attend it every year and it is fun -- pools for the dogs, wet t-shirt doggy race, find the treat in the pile of shoes, cake walk, socializing for dogs and humans, and human food. The best part though...there are probably about 50-75 Golden Retrievers in one place and it is always interesting to see the wide variety of looks and personalities amongst the breed:

(Hellos and Welcomes)

And there is the occasional puppy, like this one, that makes you think you should get another dog. You must resist:

(What Ruby looked like at Gold Rush last year, only red)

First things first, Riley had some redeeming to do from last year's wet t-shirt race. He had the t-shirt on ahead of the other dog, but instead of running back to the start, he ran to the nearest person w/ a treat and lost the race. He and Kate challenged Ruby and I...and he was victorious. Ruby and I were too slow getting the t-shirt on, partially my fault. It's too easy beating up on your younger sister, but it built up his confidence:

(Ruby lost, but it happy. The victor is on the left)

Then it was time to socialize. Ruby has some learning to do as far as doggy socializing goes. She is passive aggressive. She will army crawl up to other dogs in submission but if she gets surrounded and feels unsafe has been known to lash out. Well, there was no lashing out this time and she did a really good job. But she got laughed at by lots of people for crawling up to every dog she met. Here she is, some socialization action:

(Sneakin' Sally thru the Alley)

After a while, Kate gave Riley to me and I gave her Ruby. Riley lead me over to the cake walk where we ended up winning a homemade treat. Not for dogs, it was made of chocolate death. There was a little bit of dipping in the pools, treat eating, mounting, and slutting around for affection until the parade started.

(Taking a Dip)

(Sherlock Holmes and Mr Watson)

Ruby and Riley got introduced and everyone cheered for them and the fact that they were rescued and now have a good home. Part of the line-up for the parade:

(A Golden line-up)

After the parade it was time to go. We cashed in our tokens from the wet t-shirt race, cake walk, and shoe hunt and got a packet of wet dog food - mmmm, mmmm good. Once we got home, the house went silent, and both humans and dogs slept:

(Crotch shot, it will stay with you)

I will try and remove the above image from your mind with a nice sunset. Kind of blurry, Kate is asking for a new camera, which is needed.

Here's to the start of another week. Thanks for reading...Zach & Kate

Best Peach Crisp EVER!

2009-09-13T22:29:00.005-05:00

As mentioned earlier, on Labor Day Zach and I went to Mulhalls to get some perennials. While I loaded up the car Zach moseyed over to the fruit stand to get me some watermelon and came back with that plus ten peaches. After asking him what we were going to do with ten peaches he replied "Well, I thought you could make that peach crisp I like."So, I did it. Five days later. Just in time to keep them all from spoiling. While he was sitting on the couch studying. Working hard on a Sunday night. Being a very good husband. Cause I know that deep down he studies so that he can help provide for me, and the dogs, and maybe even children some day. And, doesn't he look so cute in that picture? Even with his inside-out shirt and headphones on so he can block my noise out. The cute grin on his face is due to him laughing at me. As our NYC cab driver would say: "Can you believe it?"

Anyway, here is the peach crisp I made. Again, it is super easy! I got this recipe from Real Simple in July '06 and I'm still using it today.

First, turn your oven to 400 degrees.

Second, gather your ingredients and tools. You will need:
A baking dish, a cutting board, a 1/2 T measuring spoon, and a knife for the tools.

And...Unsalted butter and granola. We buy granola in bulk and I believe this is Maple Almond Granola. You might also notice in this picture some shredded cheese in the background from Zach's nachos he had for dinner. Don't tell, but the peach crisp was my dinner. What's worse? Nachos and peach crisp or just peach crisp?Brown Sugar. Almost time for a refill. Luckily, I have another bag ready to go in the cupboard. Imagine that.And some peaches, halved and pits removed. I used three, but you can use as many or as little as you like.After arranging the peach halves like this in the dish, scoop 1/2 T brown sugar onto each. (But next time I think I am going to put a full T on each.)Then, two tablespoons granola over each half.
Followed by a tablespoon (cut in half) of butter. I was tempted to not post this picture cause it looks pretty disgusting, but I didn't want you to feel guilty when you do the same thing. Honestly, after just making it, I think it would be just fine with half the butter.

Then, you put the dish in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Or, until it looks like this:
And, I forgot one incredibly important ingredient:
Here's the final product.I was wishing that I had made the ice cream scoops prettier, but our scoop broke earlier this year and hasn't been replaced yet. And, six minutes on the counter wasn't a long enough time to make the ice cream soft enough to scoop into balls with a plain spoon.

It was good! We each had our own bowl and there's a little bit in the fridge for tomorrow. I really like this recipe because:
A) It's easy.
B) It's tasty.
C) The peaches still taste good and not slimy like they could if you diced the peach up more.
D) Clean-up is super easy since you use a total of 4 tools.

Here is the dish I used after it was cleaned.I got this dish as a wedding shower present from my mom's friend. When I was young and dumb I thought that I wanted absolutely NO presents that weren't on my registry. Like I said, I was young and dumb. I love this dish. And that peach crisp was indeed baked with love.

Labor Day Weekend

2009-09-08T09:16:00.006-05:00

This last weekend was the first weekend Zach and I had both been home together since the first weekend in August. That's one thing to celebrate about Labor Day, the end of summer craziness! I'm going to give you a little glimpse into the events of our weekend working backwards:

Last night Zach and I woke up to Ruby warning us of an intruder in our living room....Our vacuum.

In this picture you can also see Riley sleeping in his chair. Yesterday we took the dogs to Standing Bear Lake in NW Omaha for a swim. The dogs LOVE to swim, but good places to swim are somewhat hard to find. They swam for about an hour and had a wonderful time. The best part is that once they are done swimming they become a living example of the phrase "dog tired". And they are still tired today! That means a lot in the case of our dogs. I wish we could take them swimming every weekend.

You might have also noticed in that picture some new furniture! Sunday morning Zach's parents brought their truck and we picked up some new tables (4) from Nebraska Furniture Mart. I absolutely love them! But, for some reason we didn't realize there would be "assembly required." So, Sunday night Zach and I did a role reversal and while he made dinner I put all the tables together. One minor snafoo....one of the tables came with two legs that were 22" and two that were 23". Needless to say I will be calling NFM today to figure something out.

Here is a picture of the crazy legs. I'm hoping this will be a quick and easy fix.

Here is one of the new end tables. It's hard to tell in these pictures, but they are an "espresso brown" finish.

Here is the new coffee table. And a mug shot of Riley. He likes the new furniture too!

Here is a picture of me blocking the dogs out of the room with one of the huge boxes. You can see their heads peeking over. Ruby just loves to "help". Riley is more of the supervisor type.

Here are most of the boxes when all was said and done.

We are almost done with the living room now. We still need/want a few more things like a new rug, a plant stand, coasters, etc. I have a rug picked out. It is the Cooper Cotton Mat in green from Pottery Barn. It is light and casual which I think will lighten up the room a little. I am still debating if I want curtains or drapery of some sort, but I need advice about this. And, I went and got some cool baskets for the new banquet type table. The room is really coming together and it makes me so happy! And, it makes me realize how really ugly that room was before! Eek!

Other events of the weekend:

Sunday we spent some time with Zach's family and we each have funny patches of sunburn where our sunscreen didn't reach.

Monday we tried to go to the Zoo until they ushered us to the overflow parking a few blocks away and we decided against it. We will try again next week and hope for less crowds.

I watched a movie Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night. He's Just Not That Into You, Ghost, and The Wrestler. I enjoyed all three.

We went to farmer's market and only got a watermelon that wasn't even good once we sliced into it.

Enjoyed the first Husker football game on the radio while we ate Chinese take-out from Hyvee on our back patio (where we ate almost every single meal this weekend). Go Big Red! We are hoping to go to at least one game this fall, but don't have tickets yet.

Did some gardening/planting. I got some pansies for the fall that I planted in my hanging baskets. Zach picked the colors out and they look great! I love decorating for the fall! We also got some new perennials for my flower garden in the front of the house. Just a few more plants and that garden will be done.

And, last but not least....I got these BEAUTIFUL flowers from my loving husband!
I don't think the pictures do them justice because they are gorgeous in real life! I spent a lot of time this weekend sitting and just staring at them. And, the reason I got these beautiful flowers will be in a future blog, but I can't discuss it yet....No! I am NOT pregnant! At least I'm pretty sure not ;) Something very exciting though!

Hope you all had a great weekend too!

Tomatoes - Lettuce = Tomato Salad?

2009-08-22T20:04:00.003-05:00

Jamie Oliver has succeeded once again at pleasing my palate. This time it was a simple meal with a kickin' name: Mothership Tomato Salad. The directions are below:

1) Slice/quarter/halve desired amount of fresh tomato to manageable pieces
2) Place in bowl and salt, toss - let set ~15 min to get juicy
3) Make a dressing w/ 3:1 Olive Oil:Balsalmic Vinegar -- enough to coat your amt of tomato and have a bit extra for drizzling
4) Add finely chopped garlic and red chili to the dressing
5) Thinly slice a fresh mozzarella ball
6) Lightly toast ciabatta bread
7) In a bowl, pour dressing over tomatoes and sprinkle w/ fresh herbs (basil, thyme, oregano, whatever you like)
8) Place mozzarella on bread, put tomato over top and drizzle w/ dressing at bottom of bowl

It is amazingly good. I ate it for dinner tonight and I think the key is to salt the tomato and let it set. Also, this meal is dependent on good ingredients -- get everything fresh and it is knockout.

As Kate has not blogged in some time, I need to put in a plug for Pioneer Woman's blog (www.thepioneerwoman.com), we have been enjoying food from her site this week, upstanding.

Anywho, try the Mothership Tomato Salad, so good dude. I was impressed enough to blog about it...

Paddling, Produce, and a Picture

2009-08-11T20:24:00.004-05:00

Several weeks ago the dogs talked us into taking them to the swimming pool. How? Ruby decided not to destroy anything for a day and Riley learned a new trick, so they deserved it. Thus, we packed up the car on a Sunday evening and headed to the Benson swimming pool.

Every year, just before they drain the pool, they host a fund raiser called "Doggy Dip". The idea is simple: Bring your dog to the pool and let them swim. They can go down the slides, jump off the diving board, or just swim and socialize. Wherever their noses take them.

We arrived and the pool was PACKED and CRAZY. There were dogs and humans everywhere. We had come to the right place. We contributed our $5/dog and set-up camp near the GRRIN (the organization we adopted Ruby and Riley from) table. What left to do but go swim?

And swim we did. Ruby would not leave the water (see picture) and Riley was half in and half out most of the night. They retrieved their Kong buoy for nearly 2 straight hours! Kate and I got some exercise too. We had to lift them out of the pool after every throw for a little rest. We had the battle scars from their claws to prove it. I took Ruby down the slide and off the diving board and she loved it. Riley isn't into that sort of thing.

Anywho, 2 hours later we were all dog-tired... All in all, the "Doggy Dip" had over 400 dogs and 800 people attend! Do the math...about $2000 raised in total. And the best part...the dogs slept peacefully that night and were tired the next day. Great success!

Next topic: Our garden has been pumping out some deliciousness as displayed below. This particular tomato weighed nearly 2 lbs! You can see the size relative to Ruby's nose:

That tomato in cross section:

And some more crazy delicousness:

And before I sign off, I leave you with a picture: Nebraska Weather

"Keep Calm and Carry On"
Zach & Kate

I'm Embarrassed!

2009-07-24T13:34:00.012-05:00

Yep, I am embarrassed! On a daily basis I'm embarrassed by things in my own home that I wish visitors would just overlook. I'm sure everyone has things in their house they try to ignore and hope their house guests will ignore also, but I feel like I have a lot lately. So, instead of telling you a list of things I want you to ignore when you come to my house I am just going to list them here. Then, when you come we can just have fun, and I will tell myself that you are focusing on all the nice things instead! I can give lots of excuses for the way things are, mainly lack of time and money and a staff of ten, but you don't need to hear my excuses. Hopefully these pictures will make you feel a little better about your embarrassments too.

Let's start outside:What a beautiful circle of woodchips and weeds! This is where our tree was. That was before it decided to die. We are getting a new one this fall when it is time to plant. Hopefully it won't betray me again. If you look below you can see how nice the circle looked when all my daffodils were coming in this spring and you can see the poor little tree that never was. So, when you see this circle and wonder what the heck is going on, just imagine a big beautiful River Birch growing in the middle of it giving us shade on these hot summer days.
Look at that beautiful border of flowers along the front path! Wait, there aren't any flowers. Shoot. Last year I planted impatiens along this path because I love impatiens! I did that in spite of the fact that impatiens are shade plants and this spot gets exactly no shade. So, they didn't do very well and then got taken over by weeds and crabgrass. So, last fall I dug into the ground and put in that beautiful little plastic border. It was evident early this spring that crabgrass and weeds don't care about little plastic borders. So, I didn't plant anything there for the summer. Maybe this will be on the task list this fall, but I'm not very persistent when it comes to weeds...they always seem to win! On the bright side, look below for how pretty my tulips were there this spring! Spring offers redemption, at least for that border. But please ignore the tilted path light. That embarrassment got thrown away!
Now we get to move to the backyard:

What a beatiful annual garden full of flowers from seed! At least that is what is supposed to be there. The only problem is that 75% of my seeds decided not to germinate. And then, after one long weekend in Sioux Falls when the weather in Omaha was rainy and then hot and sunny, I came home to a garden of weeds. As before mentioned, I'm not very good at fighting weeds.Here's a close up of the natural beauty!Oh wait, here's the 25% that actually grew! Don't you love my zinnia's? So pretty. And below them are some Belles of Ireland that came back from last year. And, there's also a few echinacea, cosmos, and bachelor buttons. You just have to search to find them.And here is one of the only pansies that lived from a whole flat that I planted. To avoid this disappointment next year this flower bed is either becoming a perennial garden or getting some vine veggies like pumpkins! And, we might even try to clear out those weeds and try out some cool weather lettuce this fall!

Let's move indoors:Yes, that is a tray table. It may be taken out for the occasional baby shower for some people, but in this house it (and two others) has taken residence as side tables in our living room since we moved in. Now that we have new seating our next step is to purchase some tables also. Someday....
If you are really lucky, you might get to spend the night with us! And then you would get to view this spectacular display in our guest room. When Zach and I first put these frames up I was so proud! How pretty! Oh, it adds so much to the room! That was in March. This is July. There are many things going wrong: one picture frame doesn't even have a picture, one picture is falling out of the view box, two frames have pictures in them from our honeymoon that are just way too dark. The other one has two professional pictures of our dogs...that one makes me smile. Put this on the to-do list.
Since we only have one bathroom in our house there is a good chance that you will get to see this if you visit. I love that picture on the wall. I bought it on Etsy. But, I put it in the frame and then hung the frame on the pre-existing nail. The pre-existing nail really wasn't in the right spot, but the picture looks balanced on the wall when our trash receptacle is on top of our storage unit. So I guess the picture's placement is okay because the trash is usually up there or else this happens:
Our bedroom. I love our bedroom. Except for the fact that it basically has no furniture and all of the stuff on the walls was placed when we first moved in and the miniscule amount of furniture we do have was in a different place. Look how nice our bed looks without a headboard. And, how about that sweet dresser that my mom used when she was a girl. It could probably look cool and antique-y, but I'm not very good at that sort of stuff. And, how about that picture way over in the corner? (Please excuse the lack of bedding, it's laundry day.) I do like our initial hooks to the right. We got those at Anthroplogy...fancy!Here's another nice wall in our bedroom. Look at that little tiny thing on the wall way in the corner! It looks so strangely placed. All of this will be fixed when we paint. Someday....

Okay, that's enough complaining! I usually like to look at the positive side of things, so my next blog will be all about the things around my house that make me smile. For example, this guy:
Isn't he cute! Isn't he professional looking! Isn't he smart! Oh yes he is!

And, isn't that couch his cute little toosh is sitting on so beautiful! And that green wall sure is stunning! Looks just like a fresh jalepeno pepper!

Yeah, I have lots of things to be grateful for and I can't wait to share them too!

Kate

House Projects

2009-06-29T19:48:00.003-05:00

Back on May 19th Zach wrote a blog about painting the kitchen and buying new living room furniture. Since then we have painted two more rooms and still don't have our furniture, but instead have less furniture.

The first room we painted was the dining room and we chose Martha Stewart's Rain Slicker yellow. The color of the room before we painted was yellow, but it was very pale yellow and not the best paint job. This yellow is a nice bold, golden yellow that really makes the room much more rich looking and also makes the white trim stand out better.

This last weekend we painted the living room. Actually, it was mostly Zach's handiwork because I worked both days, but I still helped even after 12 hours of work! He did all the taping which is easily the worst part. For the living room we chose Martha Stewart's Jalapeno Pepper which is a dark and bright green-just like a jalapeno pepper. Both rooms looked really bright when we first started, but we are both more than happy with them now. It is always amazing how a fresh coat of paint can rejuvenate a room!

So, about that furniture.....We bought our furniture on May 17th, but the chair needed to be a special order which meant that we might have to wait up to 10 weeks for all of the furniture to be delivered. And about having less furniture....The old furniture in our living room was a mish mash from Zach's parents and grandparents. Some beautiful oldies. We are getting close to seven weeks since we bought our furniture so we are hoping it will be arriving soon and in our anticipation we decided we better get rid of our old stuff. We don't have a truck so we decided to post the pieces on craigslist, for free, as long as the receiver would pick it up. Seven hours later it is now gone. As I type this I'm sitting on a pillow on our living room floor-not the best, but the new furniture will be great!

Here is a picture of the old couch (and the chair to it's left)...and you can see the new wall color too:
We were planning on painting a few more rooms, but I think we will be taking a break for a while now. As Zach pointed out, we are getting to the point that house projects will just be more and more expensive so we probably won't be doing much for a while.

We have lots of other stuff going on. If your lucky maybe Zach will post about the horseback ride we went on last night!

Happy Monday!

Food Plans

2009-06-24T14:19:00.002-05:00

Summer brings endless options of recipes given all the fresh ingredients in season. But given all these options, indecision inevitably creeeps in. I have had so many ideas lately that I decided to blog about them so I have them written in one spot. Also, perhaps those few reading could vote on what sounds best. It would really help my indecision. So here is the list...almost all of it from Jamie Oliver...

- Marinated/Pickled Vegetables & Herbs
- Rice Pudding w/ Fresh Strawberry Jam
- Fresh Pie (Rhubarb & Strawberry Mint, Blueberry, Mixed Berry)
- Herb Infused Olive Oil
- Homemade Ketchup
- Fresh Bread
- Whole Fish
- Smoked Beets w/ Grilled Steak and Cottage Cheese Dressing

A random aside: I am really looking forward to a having a fresh peach
Random aside #2: Clean Plate is having a Tex Mex Brunch this Sunday, going to be awesome!

Vacation + Road Trip + Wedding = FUN!

2009-06-16T14:06:00.007-05:00

Hallelujah! I am officially on vacation until June 24th. And, Zach is on vacation too since he is done with boards and doesn't start school again until June 29th. It is very rare that we both have time off together, so I am really excited that we have a whole week! One great perk of being a nurse: I have a whole week off work and only had to take two days worth of paid time off.

So, here are some of our plans:

Today I get to go to the eye doctor for a contact lense check. I am trying to wear contacts instead of glasses, but I don't really care for them. My main inspiration for trying is wanting to wear sunglasses. I am starting to give up hope though.

Tomorrow morning we leave for South Bend, IN. This will be the first road trip Zach and I have gone on since I don't know when. In preparation for the trip I just bought a new book that was suggested to me by a coworker. It is called The Shack and I'm told it really makes you think. I have been out of the loop of reading novels and I would really like to start again. I've tried two different books lately, but couldn't get into either of them. We are hoping to leave early in the morning since it will be a long drive, but before we go I am getting an airbrush tan! It's my newest beauty adventure. I love having a nice tan, but with fair skin and cancer in my genes it just isn't worth getting it from the sun.

Friday one of my best friends, Annie, is getting married!! And, I get to be a bridesmaid! Now you know why I need a spray tan :) The wedding will be at the Basilica on Notre Dame's Campus and the reception is at a beautiful hall called Palais Royale. The word "classy" gets thrown around a lot, but Annie is truly one of the most classy women I know and I'm positive her wedding will be absolutely beautiful. Also, she has a great group of bridesmaids and I know we will have tons of fun! On top of it all, she is marrying a great guy. That is the best part of a wedding...seeing two people who love each other devote the rest of their lives to the other.

Saturday, after the post-wedding luncheon, we will be heading to Chicago for some more fun! We are planning to go to the Shedd Aquarium Saturday afternoon and then we have dinner reservations at The Publican. Chicago has such great restaurants that it makes deciding where to go to eat so hard! This time we decided we wanted something new. I'm sure it will be great!

Sunday we are planning on going to the Chicago Botanic Garden. I have been there once before with my family, but Zach hasn't been yet. It is a stunning place and we are hoping to get some inspiration and education. After the gardens we will be heading home. I'm sure we will be ready to be back by then.

Tuesday Zach's parents and grandparents will be coming to Omaha and we will be giving them a tour of the Med School. We have been wanting to do this for quite some time and are looking forward to it. The school is brand new and state of the art. I'm sure Zach's grandparents will be impressed. UNMC is definitely a school to be proud of and it is fun to get to show it off.

Here is a picture of the side of the building and here is a link to more pictures.

Kate

I'm Back!

2009-06-08T21:21:00.005-05:00

First of all, Zach has really been on my case lately about not blogging. The problem though is that he has been studying for boards non-stop lately, which most of the time means doing practice tests on the computer. Therefore, I haven't had much of a chance to blog because he has the computer all the time. On top of that I have been working a lot, tomorrow will be day 8 of 8 in a row, so it hasn't been a high priority. Now to the good stuff...

Zach and I have been talking a lot over the last few months that we need to be more social creatures and get out and do stuff. In one of our attempts to do this we decided to go to a Tuesday night showing of a documentary at Omaha's nonprofit cinema Film Streams. It was a one night only screening of Food Fight with the director, Chris Taylor, and a Q & A after the screening. Luckily, Zach bought tickets early because the show was sold out and there was even a group of people on a wait list. Basically, it was awesome! The film itself was great and the Q & A afterward was really cool too. There were a lot of fun people in the audience and we learned about some great things going on in the Omaha and Nebraska communities.

We were both kind of on a high by the time we left the theater. There were tons of thoughts running through our heads and lots to talk about. The screening was timed perfectly as our garden is starting to look great. (We will post some pics soon.) As a matter of fact, right before we went we were working in the garden and I could smell tomato plant on my hands through the whole movie, which I loved. Even though we pretty much knew it before, we left Film Streams with an acceptance to call ourselves "foodies".

I need to go to bed now, otherwise I don't know if I will make it through my 12 hour shift tomorrow. I have a whole lot more to talk about Food Fight, so look for that in upcoming blogs!

Kate

Soda Popinsky

2009-06-07T22:18:00.004-05:00

If you recognize the title of this blog post or the above picture, then childhood memories of playing Punch-Out should be dancing their way back into you consciousness. Blowing through Glass Joe in the first minute of round one, timing the bull rush of Bald Bull, left-right-left-right jabs to instantaneously beat Don Flamenco, and sidestepping the super punch of Super Macho Man. Or if you chose to do so you could punch in the code to go right to the last fight. But alas, I could never beat Mr. Dream (or Mike Tyson). However, this year the Nintendo Wii has given me a chance to beat the 10 count and get back on my feet to try again. Punch-Out for Wii has been released to good review after years and years of waiting. But, being the med student that I am, I have not gotten the chance to play it because I have to study for boards. However, after boards, Little Mac and I have a date with destiny. Together, we will once again don the green gloves and run with our trainer along the cityscape backdrop. But this time, we will claw our way, tooth and nail, until the title of champion is ours... Check it out

How long will it take?

2009-05-29T17:21:00.002-05:00

Kate has not been blogging very much lately (nor have I, but that doesn't matter) so we are going to see how long it takes her to notice this surprise "give away": I purchased her Martha Stewart's new book on cupcakes that she wants really badly. So, how long will it take her? Will she attempt to blog and see this? Or, is anyone even reading this? I think we may need to do some more advertising for our blog... By the by, here is a link to the book that Kate wants: "Martha Stewart's Cupcakes"

New Furniture, Painting, Dog Biscuits, and Pizza Margherita

2009-05-19T20:21:00.005-05:00

Fact #1: New Furniture - Since we inherited furniture from our parents, as most young couples do, Kate has wanted new living room furniture. Not that we are ungrateful for what we have, but since we can afford to upgrade, why not. So last Saturday we picked out a new couch, chair and a half, and chair w/ ottoman. Kate made two trips to Nebraska Furniture Mart and I made one. Then we made yet another on Sunday to purchase it, all while painting our kitchen (See Fact #2). Click the link for a picture of our new davenport...http://www.nfm.com/Zoom.aspx?ProductID=29525771

Fact #2: Kitchen Paint - Our kitchen was a horrendous light pink/rose color that brought out the pink in our cabinets and tile. Basically, our kitchen was a pink monster with a green countertop...pretty sweet. Concomitant with our furniture escapade (see Fact #1) we repainted the kitchen with a Martha Stewart paint (all of you are likely thinking about Kate's woman crush on Martha) called Hemp Rope. The color looks warmer than the following shows...http://www.myperfectcolor.com/PhotoDetails.asp?ShowDESC=N&ProductCode=MPC0018925

Fact #3: Dog Biscuits - Short story short - Kate got a dog biscuit baking kit for Christmas that we just used this past weekend. The baking of these treats was also in parallel to the painting and furniture shopping. The dogs loved them, Riley actually spoke English for a treat and Ruby spoke Puppy. Talented dogs, eh?

Fact #4: Pizza Margherita - My best mate Jamie Oliver (see below) and I teamed up to make a double batch of pizza dough a couple of months ago. After unthawing it, we made pizza w/ tomato (from the farmer's market), basil and fresh mozarella cheese. The baking of the pizza was a bit tricky given that our oven was in the middle of our kitchen, and so was our fridge. Both a consequence of our painting. Oh, we also used some of the dough for breadsticks which Andy (Kate's brother) claimed were the closest thing to crazy bread (Little Ceaser's breadsticks) he's ever tasted. That is a compliment in this household.

Ruby Vs the Snake

2009-05-07T15:23:00.007-05:00

I have a raspberry bush in our backyard. It was a transplant from my Aunt Virginia's garden. I planted it in the fall of 2007 when we first moved in our house. It did really well at first, but then it got abused by rabbits, the dogs, and the workers who put new siding on our house this winter. This spring it started coming back strong (to my surprise) so I decided to put a little cage around it for some protection. Last week I called Zach and all I could hear in the background was Ruby barking. The story was that a snake tried to go through the cage, but got stuck. Then, Ruby found it and went crazy. I mean CRAZY! Luckily, Andy and Zach were both there and we got it on tape. Enjoy this little tidbit.

Later that day we found her barking at the cage again, minus the snake.

Second video:

Ruby isn't exactly enjoying the warm weather. Her coat is quite a bit thicker than Riley's and she just doesn't tolerate the heat very well. Zach and I thought it would be fun to buy her a Kiddy pool. We had to go to three stores to find a plastic one. We finally found one at the ACE hardware right by our house for $10. We filled it with water as soon as we got home even though it was getting dark. It is proving to be fun...hopefully it will also help Ruby deal with the hot summer heat. As for right now she enjoys biting, drinking, pawing, spinning and laying in the water.

So, here is another clip for you to enjoy:

Sorry it is a little dark. As I said, the sun was going down.

Tomorrow is Friday. Yay!!

Upcoming posts:
Gardening
Working out
Food

We are busy...

2009-05-02T20:25:00.001-05:00

...but there is a big post to come

Morning Cup of Coffee

2009-04-30T08:52:00.002-05:00

I am supposed to be studying Pharmacology right now, but I have more pressing issues to blog about, namely the morning cup of coffee. Ask yourself this: Is there anything better? I would argue no. To begin, it signifies the start of your day, it gives you the energy you need to get through the morning, and it is very tasty (esp. w/ caramel and cream). Second, there is an aesthetic feel to the whole experience: The coffee machine bubbling, hissing, steaming and dripping; the smell that fills the entire kitchen; and the warmth of the mug on your hands, especially for those cold winter mornings. Next, coffee is diverse. It can be warm for those negative degree mornings or made with ice for those mornings when it is already 80 degrees outside. If desired, you can add sugar, caramel, chocolate, cream, chai, and any other desired flavorings. The bottom line, coffee is a multi-dimensional drink.

As I am writing this little nugget, I myself am enjoying my morning cup of coffee. And, because I have it setting beside me, I have started my day happy and on the right note. So to everyone (which I don't think we have any followers at this point), grab your morning cup of coffee and enjoy!!!

My favorite morning cup: Freshly ground coffee (trust me, it tastes so much better), 1/2 & 1/2, caramel sauce (on the rare occassion whipped cream) -- Give it a try!!!

The Crazy Life

2009-04-29T21:29:00.003-05:00

Okay, so apparently this daily thing is a little bit harder than we were prepared for. Part of the problem is that Zach has his last test for the year this Friday!!! I am so excited and I know he is too. By Saturday he will officially be half way through med school. What a relief. We have lots of good things to look forward to in the next two years and before we know it he will be starting residency-I can't wait.

Dog stories:

-Right now Ruby is sleeping on the floor next to me with her bone in her mouth. She loves her bone. Once she has it in her mouth it stays for a long time. I have seen her sleep for at least a half hour with the thing in her mouth.
-Last night Zach took the dogs on a walk to the golf course (Field Club, which is only about four blocks from our house) and when they got home a terrible smell came with them. Riley was the culprit. I don't know if it was a dead animal or just poop, but it immediately smelled up the entire house. So then Zach got to give Riley a bath. There were many soap and rinse cycles involved. It must have been worth it for Riley because the whole time during his bath he just stood in the tub smiling :)
-The dogs got their toenails clipped tonight...by me. I don't know who dislikes it more, the dogs or Zach. He is the official dog holder and sometimes I think he doesn't hold them very tight cause he is trying to let them get away with not having it done. Last time we did it I accidentally got Ruby's quick and she bled from that little toe for about 90 minutes. It was a total mess. This time I was much more careful and barely cut anything. Riley usually won't let you do it, but we got all four of his paws done tonight. Yes! They both got a treat afterward.

Other news...
I feel like I have a lot to say tonight, but I am exhausted. The most interesting thing of my day was that for our workout tonight Zach and I did "hot yoga". Basically, it is yoga done in a room that is very hot. I usually hate working out in warm conditions, but I made it all the way through. It felt really good too. I'm just glad neither of us passed out.

Due to my eyelids starting to close I will have to share the many other thoughts in my head another time.

Good night