HOT, HoT, hOT

Howdy! We made it down to the cities last weekend to 1) Spend our life savings at the VW dealership and 2) meet with an alternative doc for Mikey.
We got a new CV boot on the car and spent 2 wonderful hours with Dr. Dole. We also spent the day bumming around the cities to use up some gift cards from Christmas. I got new workout pants, 2 pairs of Smartwool socks & a sweater from Gap. Mikey got a free cup of coffee compliments of his dad while Dianne & I shopped.
We also enjoyed a fish fry with the Fudala fam.

This week, we've been doing a bunch of cooking. We also tried these two guys:
Both are delish.
Wednesdays are a good cooking night for us so this week Mikey made Chicken Fried Rice.
The veggies:
The chicken and the eggs with homemade curry paste (2 jalepenos included):
The final product:
It was SpIcY!! Aye aye aye!! I got nice warm fuzzies from the endorphin rush afterward. The cooking process was too complex for me to follow and therefore not included here.

Staying with the spicy theme this week, Mikey made Red Beans & Rice on Thursday.
Rice +
Beans, veggies & sausage:
= The best rice & beans eva!!
The sauce starts with onions, celery, red peppers and then ground bacon is added for flavor. Next, 7 original herbs & spices are added as well as red beans and summer sausage. This is then poured over long grain rice and topped with shredded Brunkow cheddar cheese. YUM!
I had another endorphin rush this evening. Dessert was some dark chocolate chips.

We have a chill weekend ahead. Hopefully it will include some painting before the big snowstorm arrives and definitely before the big Vikings game. Go Vikes!

beware: lots of animal pics ahead

Gosh, a week has already passed since these pics were taken. Someone offered to be a guest blogger (ahem) this past week but claims he doesn't know the blog password.

Last Friday, another dog pile ensued on the couch:
On Saturday, we drove over to Meyers Beach by Bayfield, WI to do some snow shoeing. The South Shore of Lake Superior has been getting a bunch of good fluffy snow.
Anna enjoyed some snowshoe surfing on the backs of our snowshoes.
Here we are out on the Big Lake:
Look how handsome Timmy is:
The pups were tuckered out from all the romping around and spent the evening like this:
Our attempt for a family photo of the animals:
Kramer wanted nothing to do with it.

For Sat. night dinner Mikey made La Bourriee which is a french fish stew that is topped with bread and roullie (a garlic bread mayo):
There was shrimp, grouper, mussels and halibut in the stew. It was the perfect winter dinner!
After dinner, we did what we always do when we're together... smoked a cigar and drank some wine. Our attic is perfect for this in the winter especially with a space heater.

On Sunday we took the dogs for a walk down on Park Point beach. The lake creates some very interesting ice monuments along the shore. However, the sand is frozen and perfect for walking. We happened to see a huge immature bald eagle that appeared to be hunting. Pretty neat!
After showers and tea to warm up, we went to Pizza Luce for brunch. The 'rents and Mikey started with a Bloody Mary and I had a Mimosa. John had the most delicious looking biscuits & gravy:
I had the Portablla Mushroom Benedict:
I was only able to eat half of this. It was so rich but oh so good!!

After the 'rents and Timmy went home, we all took a nap and Annie woke up with tears streaming down her face (you may have to enlarge the photo to see the tears):
She wuvs her cousin Timmy.

I finished up my Improv for Business class this week.
For our big meal this week, Mikey made Cauliflower Curry:
It was completely vegetarian and knocked our socks off. There is a rice base, a cauliflower/onion/pepper/chick pea/potato layer with a curry paste and then topped with cucumbers, seasoned greek yogurt, cashews, raisins, toasted coconut & cilantro. Oh my goodness! If all vegetarian food was this awesome, I'd never miss the meat! This meal was based off a recipe in the Moosewood cookbook.

We both work at 6am tomorrow so we're off to bed. Have a great weekend!

new year

Happy New Year! The verdict on my weigh in is no weight change over the holidays which I consider to be successful. I enjoyed getting back to working out in the comforts of the Rec Center this week. I've been able to get in there for 45 minutes every day this week.
Here's what we've been cooking the past 2 weeks:
My New Years Eve taco salad:
Enjoyed with 2 glasses of:
Anna and I managed to get out for a walk on the Lakewalk prior to dinner. Once Mikey got home we headed out to R.T.Quinlans bar to listen to 2 local bands- Accelerati and Black Eyed Snakes. We had a great time. We bumped into some Cafe peeps and Mike's college friend, Pete. It made us both really appreciate living in a place where we have so many friends (was not the case in The Cloud). Here's some shots of the scene:
Flash:
No Flash:
It was really hot and crowded. We were both a lil' sweaty (that's Pete with the dark hair behind us):
Mikey had New Years Day off of work. We went to Bruce and Nellie's house for their annual open house. We enjoyed some cassulet and snacks along with a few Newcastles (at 11am). We got to see some neighbors we haven't seen in a while in addition to meeting a few new ones. It was a nice sunny day so we decided to take a leisurely drive up the scenic highway to Two Harbors. Lake Superior in the winter is very mysterious looking especially when it is "steaming."
Before we left, we set out some walleye to thaw for dinner. I LOVE having Winnie walleye in the winter time. It's like stepping back to the warmth of summer. When we got home, the fish was perfectly thawed and we were ready to fire up the deep fryer. The secret spice was:
Perfection:
I ate way too many of these dipped in homemade tarter sauce:
Pretty Boy loves the smell of fish:
He was posing perfectly for this shot (on the dining room table no less).

We continued using up some stuff from our freezer on Monday night. Mikey made Steak Dianne and smashed potatoes. I ate about a third of this massive portion:
I had my first night of Improv for Business on Tuesday night. I was pretty nervous for the class but the instructor was great and had us practicing being "in the moment" and exuding confidence under pressure for 3+ hours. Being the introvert that I am, I was exhausted after class! Dinner consisted of toast and I headed straight to bed after that.

Being back in the swing of school, we try to make the most of our nights home together. So, Wednesday night we put our new pizza stone to work with a pepperoni, onion, garlic and spinach pizza. Here's the master doing his work (it's the first and likely last time we'll use a pre-made crust):
It tasted great but we both missed the flavor and texture of homemade pizza crust!
Tonight I had class again and had to basically ward off an anxiety attack in order to do a minute long speech on a topic that I picked out of a hat and then ran with. Will this EVER get easier?! Ugh... I hate the physiological response (sweaty palms, nervous energy and a racing heart) that accompanies public speaking. This class is surely teaching us to think on our feet.

The Fudala 'rents are coming up to visit this weekend. We've got some snowshoeing on the agenda. And lots of good eats and drinks of course.

We've had an interesting thing happening in our neighborhood this week. Here's a tease:
Nope, that's not dog poop. Stay tuned for a guest post from the other half of M&M!