An Apple Bird and the Amish

Well... I got no comments on the blog post. I did get a few emails from relatives... and a complaint from my mom that there was nothing to comment about on a tomato soup recipe.... but I will continue to write for you few faithful followers.

In her complaint about the tomato soup recipe, my mom also made significant fun of my saying that I can carve an apple out of a bird. Just to spite her, please watch as I transform an apple into a bird:

First, I give you the apple: 

And, like magic, I give you..... a bird!

Admit it... you're impressed! This is one of the many things I've learned at my Bible study that I've been going to every Thursday morning. It's actually called apples to gold and there are about 10 older ladies from the church who mentor 6 of us younger ladies in the church. We meet for 3 hours. The first hour is for demonstrations... accessorizing (yes, I learned some things!), how to cook a chicken, flower arrangements, etiquette, and yes, even how to carve an apple out of a bird. If you think this is impressive, you should see me make a pear into a mouse!

But enough about that. Caleb and  I had been looking forward to last weekend since the summer. We really wanted to go on a fun trip over the summer but just didn't have the money. We ended up booking a weekend for a bed and breakfast in Amish country and I have been not so patiently waiting. It actually came at a perfect time. We just finished midterms and could both use a relaxing weekend.

We booked these two crazy ladies for a weekend adventure in the same pen. (luckily they did not kill each other and were quite tired and had clearly bonded when we got them back)

 And we were off to Amish country! We stayed in a bed and breakfast in New Holland, Pennsylvania. It was about 4 miles from Intercourse (no laughter please), 10 miles from Intercourse and right in the heart of farms! We ended up shopping (Caleb's favorite), trying different Amish foods, wandering through the farms to find the perfect pumpkin, and dining at a traditional Amish farm with an Amish family. Of course, I can't forget our true highlight of the weekend...... SONIC!

I don't think I can emphasize how much we miss being able to go get a sonic drink whenever we want. They LITERALLY do not have sonics in Virginia. The closest one is in Baltimore... over an hour a way. But there was one about 15 minutes from our b&b. We may or may not have gone more than once each day... don't judge!

I honestly didn't take many pictures and didn't get any of us - the amish don't like having their picture taken and I felt awkward asking them to take a picture for us... but I did get a pic of our room! It was so nice to be able to turn on the fireplace and just relax!

But this week has been back to reality... work and school for the both of us... and the added drama of the rangers and the world series. I'm watching Game 7 as we speak. I'm so nervous I needed to do something else to distract myself... At the moment its not looking too good...

Well, I think that is all I have for today. Check back on Sunday if you would like to meet Katie Fishman and Virgo Arp. I promise you won't be disappointed....

Top Chef Stephanie: Tomato Soup

As the fall is getting into full swing, I've started experimenting with new recipes, especially soups. I LOVE soup, I always have. But... I haven't always liked tomato soup. I actually don't like tomatoes in general. I never put them on my hamburgers and don't get me started on the nastiness that is ketchup. But, I tried a new tomato soup recipe and it is D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S!!!!! I've eaten it every day for lunch for two weeks. My sister in law Mandy posts the best recipes on her blog, so I thought I would share this awesome tomato soup recipe on my blog! It's super easy too!

You will need:
3 pounds of tomatoes (it calls for plum but I just get whatever is on sale at the store)
4 shallots
2 Tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
Pinch of Sugar
3 Tablespoons butter (I use light butter)
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
4 Cups chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (you can do less if you want it less spicy)
1 Cup Cream

The Steps:
1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place a baking rack on top.

2. Slice all tomatoes in half and place them flesh up on the rack. (I also make sure that I cut off all the stem areas and any bad spots they may have.) Coat (be generous!) the tomatoes with the olive oil, salt and pepper generously and sprinkle with just a touch of sugar.

3. Bake the tomatoes in the oven for 1 hour. They should turn brown, get really soft and appear to be falling apart - that's normal. After one hour, pull them out and let them cool a bit.

4. In the meantime, cut up the shallots. The first time I focused on really cutting them tiny - the second time I was in a rush and didn't. It made no difference send you blend them in the end anyways.

5. In a large pot, saute the shallots for 2-3 minutes until they start to smell good and look a little brown. Add the tomato paste and cook another minute or two (it looks thick and weird- this is normal)

6. Add the chicken broth and cayenne pepper. The soup definitely has a kick to it, so if you want it to be more mellow, maybe reduce how much cayenne you put in.

7. Add the cream and bring to a boil. Let simmer on low about 10 minutes.

8. Remove from heat and add all of the tomatoes to the soup bowl.

9. Blend the soup either using an immersion blender or by blending in batches in the real blender. The first time I used a real blender and it worked fine. I bought an immersion blender at Bed, Bath and Beyond for $20 with birthday money and used it the second time - that was AMAZING! Both ways obtain the same consistency, but the immersion blender was quicker and easier. I highly recommend it.

10. Enjoy your soup! I use some fresh ground pepper and just a touch of cheese on top. Yum!

Another reason I love this soup is it makes enough for lunch for an entire week and it stores well in the fridge and reheats great in the microwave.

My blog comments have gone silent lately... I'm afraid I lost all my readers in the hiatus. Let me know this week

1) if you still read
2) if you like recipe sharing
3) if you like the tomato soup.

Check back in a few days.... I learned how to carve an apple into the shape of a bird : )

Halfway to 50

Well I have officially turned 25. Or, as the crazy old Navy Captain in office told me... I'm now halfway to 50! I apologize ahead of time for a lack of pictures in this post.

My birthday fell on a Wed. this year which was unfortunate since I work all day and then have 4 hours of class until 9pm. We originally decided to celebrate on Saturday, but ended up semi-celebrating on Wed. When I got to work my cube-mate Jenny had gone WAY out of her way to make my birthday a big deal. We were going to go get birthday breakfast (aka coffee) but ended up in a 2 1/2 hour meeting. After the meeting, she and a few of the other sweet girls in my office actually gave me presents. I was shocked! I ended up with a cast-iron skillet, spices, a hand-sewn card from Pakistan, a hand-painted card from the Congo, and a home-made pashmina from Nepal. I thought it very fitting that I work in an office that handles international disasters in trouble prone countries and I received gifts from Pakistan, Nepal and the Congo.

Then, the entire team treated me to lunch in the Pentagon dining room. This is the fancy, white-table cloth, reservation only club in the Pentagon where important people eat lunch. It was so sweet of them to not only take me there, but they all took time out of there busy days to go. After lunch, Jenny had even made caramel topped brownies! Amazing.

I didn't have much time to eat my brownies because I got sent to a lecture at the U.S. Peace Institute for the afternoon for a former Ambassador and a former Secretary General for peace the the United Nations. The seminar was packed and they took only 3 questions from the whole group, and mine was one of the ones they picked! It was awesome since I'm the intern and I was in there with real government employees.

Unfortunately, after the seminar I had to go to class, BUT I only had to sit through 2 hours. My last class was cancelled because my professor was hunkered down in a bunker in Libya (don't ask me why she was there). So, instead of learning about post-conflict reconstruction, we went to dinner at a restaurant called Founding Farmers. It's a really popular restaurant we've tried to go to several time, but its always been over an hour wait. They have a HUGE menu and focus on local produce. It was great! We started off with barbecue flavored popcorn, then I had a steak, double whipped potatoes and homemade mac and cheese (I was not counting calories on my birthday) and then for dessert we shared beignets with chocolate, caramel and raspberry dipping sauce. It was so good, but I didn't want to eat again for days!


We had already decided that our real celebration was going to be on Saturday - we bought tickets to go see Les Miserables at the Kennedy Center. We planned our entire Saturday around it. We ran our errands early, ate barbecue and watched the Arkansas v. A&M  game (we're not talking about it...) then we got all dressed up and fancy and headed to the Kennedy Center. Unfortunately, this is where the day turned bad. We bought the tickets when they first went on sale back in June because they aren't cheap and they ran a special. When the tickets came, we set them aside until my birthday. So put yourself in our situation. We are super excited, I had bought a new dress, we were all done up, we walk up to hand them our tickets to go in and they beep funny. The lady looks at us and say... oh, these tickets were for LAST NIGHT'S SHOW!

I panicked. I knew 100% that I had ordered tickets for Saturday night, not Friday. We went to the ticket office to see what they could do. Unfortunately, that night's show was almost completely sold out. They wouldn't give us tickets and wanted us to pay more than we had for our original tickets for not so good seats. He told us we could call customer service but that they wouldn't be able to help us until Monday. Then the waterworks started. I hate when I don't want to cry, but there is nothing you can do to stop the tears from coming. The poor man at the ticket office felt so bad, but there was nothing he could do for us. So Caleb dragged a weepy hysterical version of me out of the Kennedy Center and back home where I spent the rest of the night in my sweatpants, binging on junk food and soda and feeling sorry for myself.

LUCKILY, this story has a happy ending. The customer service lady called me on Monday, felt very bad, and was able to get us tickets on the very same row we originally had for Thursday evening. So... my birthday got extended a few days longer and we enjoyed Les Miserables Thursday evening. It was sooooooooo good that it was worth the wait.


So my birthday was definitely eventful and drawn out to enjoy it for a few extra days : ) On our birthdays, my mom always asks us what we are going to do in the xxth year of our life. In the 25th year of my life I plan to get my Master's Degree and get a real job (with the government if they'd lift there hiring freeze!) I know that's boring, but that will be a big accomplishment if it all comes true!

Well... I better get back to writing my paper if I plan to graduate. Check back in a few days for a new update!

September

WOW! Time flies... so sorry blog readers. I promise (again - fingers crossed!) to update more often. September really has been a crazy, but fun month! Instead of writing a novel, here is a top 10 list of our month of September (in no specific order):

1.) Rhett gained an entire pound and got groomed for the first time.

We are still really enjoying the new addition to our family. Scarlett and Rhett get along... for the most part. Rhett is definitely the dominant of the pair, which is funny to watch since Scarlett weighs 11 pounds and Rhett weighs a whopping 3 pounds. They like to fight over toys/bones and chase each other around the couch. I just wish potty-training was going better...

2.) I planted a garden!

I have always loved plants and I definitely missed them living on the 9th floor. So, as soon as we moved here, I needed a garden! Caleb made me start with just a few flowers and told me I had to keep them all alive for 2 weeks before I could have more. They all made it (well...except one... that just happened to croak 2 days after my new plants arrived)... so I upgraded from flowers to vegetables. I am growing brocolli, cauliflower, 2 types of cabbage, romaine lettuce, basil, mint, thyme, parsley, dill, sage, rosemary and cilantro and I have a very nicely growing raspberry bush. I am very proud of myself : ) 

3.) The Aggies joined the SEC

I honestly don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. But at least all of the drama is over and I have to look forward to Caleb's team destroying mine for years to come.... oh well. 

4.) My mom came to visit!!!

This was definitely the highlight of the month. We really miss having family around, so having my mom come for a few days was like heaven. We went to the movies, toured the Pentagon, played with the dogs, and celebrated my birthday a little bit early! We ate at a restaurant called Art & Soul in DC and it was DELICIOUS!!! It was super special to actually be able to celebrate my birthday with my mom. Plus, I think she had a GREAT time, which should be taken as bribery for more of you blog readers to come visit! We have a guest bed and everything!!!!

5.) I have a new obsession - the farmer's market

I hate to admit it, but I LOVE the local farmers market. It comes to my grocery store parking lot every friday afternoon/evening. I usually stray away from the popular fads going around, but I have to admit that I'm totally sold on and buying and eating locally grown foods. The vegetables are SO fresh, the eggs do really taste better, and the meat is incredible. But honestly, my favorite is the pasta lady - she makes homemade pastas and sauces. I think my favorite is red bell pepper and sage pasta with parmesean tomato sauce. AMAZING! I am sad it only comes once a week and will end at the end of October. I'm not sure what I will do until spring...

6.) We remembered September 11

It is crazy to think that we are 10 years out from 9/11. It is strange to think that I was only a freshman in high school the day that I watched the towers fall and the pentagon burn and now here I am actually working at the pentagon today. It's crazy. It was also a very solemn time to live here. It also marked the 10 year anniversary since Caleb came to DC for the first time. He was waiting outside of the White House on 9/11 to go in for a tour. It was really an interesting day for us to think back on the last 10 years.

7.) My cousin Heidi came to town.

My cousin Heidi lives in NJ and came to DC for work for an evening. It was SO nice to be able to get together with family and just relax, laugh, and catch up. I hope this was the first of many visitors to stop by for a fun evening visit (hint hint to all you readers out there!)

8.) We started back to school

Caleb is definitely enjoying 2nd year of school better than 1st. He is enjoying his classes and still enjoying working for the energy group he worked for the first half of the summer. They are in the middle of recruitment for firm jobs next summer so we would definitely appreciate prayers! As much as I like my classes, I am definitely ready to be done with school. I LOVE my internship at the Pentagon - too bad the entire government is under a hiring freeze so I have to search for a real job in a TERRIBLE environment. If anyone hears of anyone hiring between now and next May LET ME KNOW!!!

9.)We  enjoyed our sunday school class's girls and guys night out.

Despite the baby boom in our sunday school class (seriously... like 9 babies!) we have started making some good friends! Last weekend we had separate guys and girls night out. The guys hung out, played video games and had a bonfire. The girls ate appetizers, played a game and chatted the night away. 

10.) We finally finished the apartment with the guest room linens and outdoor futon cover!

My apartment is now complete!!! Which means.... I expect people to come visit soon!!! I have a guest pet, an adorable puppy, fresh herbs to cook delicious food... what's stopping you? And, that is the month of September for you. Well... up until the 28th... but I'll save that for a separate post. I'm still trying to get over my co-worker congratulating me on being half-way to 50..... ugh!

And one to grow on..... I turned 25! Check back in for a few days for an update on my birthday - it was definitely eventful!