Valentines

Do you have a Valentine?

I do.

But he had to work last night, so we’re going to be celebrating tonight.

I have never been very big into Valentines Day, I think the whole thing is silly and makes people who aren’t in love feel bad. But if someone wants to give me a heart shaped box of chocolates I’m not going to say no.  And of course it all changed for me when Adam proposed on that day…so now it’s got a bit more meaning to me.

This year I had an idea of something to do for Adam early on. So a few week ago I got started and when it finally came in the mail I was so excited I wanted to give it to him right away.

Check it out: Adam's Present

If you can’t tell-it’s a photo book of some of his best photos. I am so proud of him and I really hope he likes this.  Maybe now he’ll be motivated to pick a photo to enlarge and hang on the empty nail in our bedroom. I won’t hold my breath though.

We hope you all enjoyed our engagement day.

The Green Bean Miracle

I happened to be flipping between channels a few weeks back and landed on the Rosie Show just as she said “And Stephanie Izard is here and she’s going to show us how to make her green beans!!”

I about fell off the couch. Luckily I didn’t, but I did jump up and grab a pen and pad before the show got back from commercial. While Rosie was raving about how good these green beans are (I know Rosie!let the women talk!) Stephanie is telling us what she’s putting in the pan. 

Fish Sauce-Check

Lemon Juice-Check

Soy-Check

Dijon-Check

garlic-Check

And….Commercial…When they returned Rosie kept asking her…so this is it? what about that creamy white sauce (the best part-thank you Rosie!)  And you know what it is…Mayo mixed with the sauce.

I came so close to “figuring out” the ingredients..and now I had the recipe-kind of.  Stephanie never told us how much of anything she put in…so I guesstimated and tried to figure out proportions.

This past weekend my parents where in town and I remembered that I still needed to try the recipe….so we bought some green beans and hoped it would be great….

And it wasn’t.

It was still WAY TOO Salty whap whap whaaaappppp.  This is the same issue I had at Thanksgiving…but I KNOW I saw with my own eye equal parts (and a lot of it) of fish sauce and lemon juice…

Today, still ticked that the beans where not right I did a quick Google search to see if she actually posted the recipe…and she did!!!!!!! With measurements and everything!  But here’s the kicker…it is a lot of fish sauce…so I’m thinking maybe I got bad fish sauce…or the wrong kind.  So now I’m on the look out for the correct type of fish sauce to make the magic beans and hopefully nail it!

oh… do you want the recipe??  Let me just send you to the pro :

Stephanie Izard

Enjoy!

PS: if you find a fish sauce that works..please SHARE!

Sleeping Apart

It’s been a rough week for sleep in our house.  Sunday night I had a bad case of insomnia. After tossing and turning for over an hour and a half I got up, took a sleeping pill, and headed to the couch to read my book. 

It was cooler and quieter out in the living room.  I couldn’t get over how quiet it was…no dog snoring or slamming its head on the underside of the bed. No husband breathing deeply while radiating 100 degrees  off his body. No whirling fan… Just quiet.

It 2 am the clock chimed and broke my silence so I got up and shut it off.  At 2:30 I turned of the book (it was on the ipad) and snuggled down to try and sleep.  By 3 am I was out.

Adam woke at 5 and not knowing where I was came out to find me on the couch. As he left for work I crawled back into our bed to grab an couple more hours of sleep.

Monday night, I was determined to fall asleep. I was exhausted and went to bed early.  Luckily I slept all through the night. I awoke when my alarm went off refreshed and ready to get up.  When I rolled over I saw the other side of the bed empty.  I thought to myself, did he leave for work and not say goodbye? What day is it? So I got out of bed and sure enough there he was sleeping on the couch. 

He said the fan was bothering his nose, but he didn’t want to turn it off for fear I would get hot and wake up. (side note: I was so cold I put flannels on over my night gown!)  So knowing that he had a few more hours to sleep before he had to go into work I moved him back into the bedroom where he quickly fell back asleep.

This morning when I woke up we were both in the bed.  Adam had gotten home from work around 2:30 and while I woke up to say goodnight, we both promptly fell into a deep sleep.

All is right in the Young House.  We will not be getting separate beds.

Just another Thursday night…

Hanging out with Rocky and Thunder Bug...in an elevator.

And meeting Danny McCoy, four time Paralympic sailor.

You know…the usual.

Thanks Adam for the free Hockey Tickets.