bragging

The other night I was getting off work later than Pat and he said "When you come in, don't look in the kitchen." I was quite excited because that means he's cooking!! I was allowed into the kitchen when dinner was ready - he had made creamy pesto shrimp and linguine. It was delicious. But, that wasn't all....

See, I have a new thing going on. It's an obsession with bread pudding.

I talk about it almost every day.

Well...

Tadaaaaaaa.

Banana chocolate chip bread pudding.

Made by Patrick Broderick.

:)

(Just had to brag that I have the best husband ever)

(aaaand he cooked last night too...)

Chocolate Banana Bread Pudding

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups cubed French bread
• 2 bananas, sliced
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. (actually a 9x13 would cook faster - we used 2 9x5's and it took at least another 30min to cook than it says)
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix eggs, milk, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Stir in bread, bananas, and chocolate chips, and let rest 5 minutes for bread to soak. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Line a roasting pan with a damp kitchen towel. Place loaf pan on towel inside roasting pan, and place roasting pan on oven rack. Fill roasting pan with water to reach halfway up the sides of the loaf pan. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

love day

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day. Pat and I were able to meet up with a friend of mine that I haven't been able to really spend time with in probably over 2 years - and we got to meet her husband! They were in town celebrating their 1st anniversary from Des Moines. He was so sweet to plan a surprise brunch for her, and Pat and I got to be the surprise! We ate at Vin de Set - which has a very good brunch. It was so much fun to catch up with Nicole and meet Bryan. I already miss her!! We are going to plan a weekend visit 1/2 way between the 2 of us and I can't wait.

These strawberries are so good...and easy to make

You hollow out the tops, then

mix Marscapone cheese, powdered sugar (or splenda, or regular sugar), and grated semisweet chocolate together, then stuff the strawberries.

delicious!!

Pat wanted to cook me dinner last night, but we decided that it would be nice to order out, and just hang out together in our PJ's. It was a perfect Valentine's!

celebration

Happy Birthdayyy!!!

Pat's Birthday was this past Saturday. We spent the day out in the cold, playing with the dog.

This is the birthday boy before heading out for the day!

Elle found the bow from one of his presents and was about to chew it up, so we decided to decorate her. The video cracks me up.

Then she moved onto the birthday banner. It has some chew marks on it now

We found a hill that snow had collected on that was several feet deep in some areas.

Here is our amazing snow man!

We used her ball for the snowmans button...she did NOT like that.

So she stole it and ran away.

This is towards the end of the afternoon, she was exhausted. Her legs were so deep in the snow that she looked like she was laying down.

I tried to make birthday cupcakes for Pat, and to take to dinner with friends. I used a recipe offline, and even cut back on the oil (a lot of people commented that it was too much) from 1 1/2 cups to about 3/4 cup. After they came out, I tasted them and YUK! The first thing you tasted was oil!!! :( I was so disappointed....

here they are...in the trash.

The icing was delicious though!!

We met up with friends at the Scottish Arms and he got birthday bread pudding instead.

Happy 31st Birthday Patrick! I love you!

persistent

This dog is persistent...

Multiple times a day, she will grab:

pillows off the bed

pillows off the couch

blanket off the couch

clothes off the dresser

gloves

hats

jackets

shoes

clothes from the laundry hamper

and...

the blanket off the bed

These "treasures", we shall call them, are delivered directly to Pat and I allll day - though never destroyed. During dinner tonight, it got quiet then we could hear a collar jingling and a dog trotting in. We always know she's coming to us with some sort of prize. Tonight, once again, it was this huge blanket. I honestly have NO idea how to make her stop! We close the bedroom door (accidently was left open during dinner) but she still takes things from the couch. She does it for attention, so i've tried to ignore her when she does it...ugghh. No progress. I think it all started here.

Recognize anything different?

Well, it used to look like this.

Then this.

And now, the rug is in the dumpster.

It was a complete disaster and we were constantly sweeping pieces of rug up off the floor.

I am a little nervous as to what gets destroyed next. Small area rug is a lot cheaper than wooden furniture and baseboards...

Mardi Gras flashback

It's Mardi Gras time!!! I have a few flashback pictures, and am missing pics from the 1st year there (lost in the great computer crash a year ago).

Mardi Gras 2007

2008

And here we are now! My door is decorated, thanks to the wreath made by Court

And Elle is already dressed up and ready to celebrate!

Had to snatch this one away before it got destroyed by the monster. She decided I was getting her ready a little to early for the celebration.

I will miss the good time in Fairhope this year :(

We are going to enjoy all of the weekend celebrations here in STL next week - Mardi Gras, Love Day, and last but NOT least - Patrick's Birthdayyyyy!!

brr

This sums up how Mophie and I feel about this weather...

Last weekend we made blueberry pancakes - and I made this bear for Pat...

Then he cut his head off.

Thanks a lot.

:)

cake anyone?

It's only a year old...

We ate a slice of the top of our wedding cake - and you know, I am not really sure why people tell you to do that? But, we did. Such good sports. Actually it wasn't too shabby. With a little Ben and Jerry's and some blackberries on the side...ahh, perfect.