Monday, January 31, 2011

One Dollar Flowers

A few weekends ago we had friends come to visit. I found bouquets of flowers on sale at Stop & Shop for $1 !!! Granted not all of them were alive, but here is what I got after picking through them.
Not bad for a dollar.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Snow Storm Cooking

We had a giant snow storm two weeks ago, giant enough that our jobs told us Don't come in today.  Pretty much the entire East Coast got hit, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.
I'll tell you all about it next week.  While Bruce was shoveling I decided to make him a nice lunch of grilled cheese and tomato soup.  One problem. No tomato soup.  I figured I have a can of tomatoes I can make soup from this.  Two hours later we had this, not in time for lunch but a good after round two shoveling snack. 

I can't exactly remember how much of everything or anything I added accept for one 14oz. can of diced tomatoes.  There was also:
diced onion
diced carrot
minced garlic
chicken stock
V8
Ketchup
salt, pepper and various spices
I realize this isn't a very helpful recipe, I sauteed the veggies together then covered them in chicken stock (I'm sure vegetable stock would have been more appropriate but I was working with what I had) I let that simmer for awhile then blended everything with my immersion blender.  I must confess, I did not let it cook long enough before blending and it was a little grainy.  Which then led to V8 and ketchup until I reached the flavor and texture I was looking for.

Enjoy!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Snow Delay: Special Edition

It's 8:37, I've been up for two and a half hours SHOVELING another eighteen inches of snow. Bruce has finally gotten the tractor working well which means he can finally snow blow the driveway!


I cleaned cars and shoveled the walkways, we came in at about half way done.

There is a three foot tall garden fence somewhere out there under that snow.  Yup that means there is over three feet of accumulated snow in our backyard.

This is my favorite snow storm treat.  I make my coffee with hot coco mix instead of agave nectar for sweetener. 
Time to go shovel Kenny SnowMonster Puppy a path through the back yard.

Rewind It

So you're reading my post from Tuesday, blah blah blah engaged, WAIT ENGAGED!!!!
That's right, two days after Christmas, on our way home from my parents' Bruce popped the question! He took me to The Cottage and asked me to marry him.  We're super excited and have already planned a few preliminary things.


I love my ring, it's beautiful.  Bruce designed the setting himself, he wanted to be able to see the bottom of the stone.  Have I said it's beautiful, it's beautiful.  I love it.  Ok enough gushing, watch out for a great snow storm recipe for tomorrow!

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Job???

Are you asking What is this job that keeps you so busy Christine?  Well aside from getting up and being gone most of the day; I'm a research assistant in an Immunobiology laboratory in the Medical Laboratory Sciences department on the medical campus of a University in the New Haven area.  I do support work for an assistant professor and a post-doctoral fellow, it's really cool, super science~y and I get to take awesome pictures like this one.
And make movies like it.  I can also wear jeans, set my own hours (within reason) and attend lectures to keep learning.  I have great benifits and the people I work for and with are all wonderful, I love being in an academic environment it's so laid back!

* This is not an image that I made/took but found in a search on Google Images, I'm sorry I cannot give credit to the author but the search was so long ago I forgot to cite it.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

WoW

It's officially been over a month since I've written a blog post, I'm not going to lie my keyboard (s) are dusty, but then again so is pretty much everything in our house!  It has been a crazy busy month, our cup over-floweth at Christmas, we got engaged, had some company, lots of snow and freezing temperatures.  As our lives evolve so will the blog look for more quick and sometimes healthy recipies, wedding planning and updates and renovation/decorating happenings (with new job money!).  The numbers say that some of you have been sticking by, checking in to see what we're up to; well we're back and there's so much to tell you!