03.31.08
Posted in Cooking, friends, fun, home, marriage, photo, recipes at 8:40 pm by jonathan
This past Saturday, we hosted our first dinner party! Kelly did an absolutely amazing job in the kitchen, so I thought I’d post a few photos of the event. Here you go:
Kelly selected Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Apples and Onions as the evening’s main course. Here are the beginnings of the preparation: freshly cut apples. Mmm.
And here’s the pork, fresh from the oven.
Table: set. Salads: plated. Time to eat: yes, yes, it is.
After dinner, Kelly whipped up some cream and a secret ingredient or two as a topping for the dessert…
…which was chocolate cloud cake!
Dessert close-up. I had the last piece for lunch today… until we meet again, chocolate cloud cake. *tink*
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03.27.08
Posted in fun, marriage at 9:38 pm by kelly
One of our most sacred traditions as a couple is Date Night. We’ve been having Date Night for about as long as we’ve been together. It’s taken many forms, but all of them have involved us setting aside one night of the week to spend together without plans or checklists or agendas. We’ve watched movies, studied the Bible together, cooked up something special, gone out to new forms of ethnic cuisine, gone for walks, had picnics, you name it.
This past Wednesday, we did the oh-so-traditional Dinner and a Movie Date Night, and it was terribly fun. Kelly and I may be creatures of habit at times, but we love variety, so we try to go to restaurants we’ve never been to and see movies we’ve never watched. Here’s a quick review of this week’s selections, in case you’re in the market for good restaurants and movies.
Typhoon!
Typhoon has two strikes against it before you even walk in the door. The first is that they have an exclamation point in their name, a bold but ill-advised move perhaps culled from the playbooks of the corporate masterminds at Yahoo!. The second is that, as a Thai restaurant, they’ve chosen a name that is clearly intended to be a pun.
But if you can get inside, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. On one hand, they were nearly full on a Wednesday night, which is a good sign–people in our area usually only go out to eat on Fridays and Saturdays, during which the streets magically fill up with hungry people who come out of nowhere and form queues near anything resembling a restaurant. On the other hand, the restaurant was full of people who were, well, Caucasian. Redmond imports plenty of folks from East, and you’d expect that they would go where the authentic food is. Apparently, they’ve found somewhere else.
The menu’s full of delicious-sounding dishes–while it has the old Thai standbys (pad thai noodles, say, or red curry), it also has a good dozen or two entrees with clever names and eclectic flavors. We chose a dish called Drunken Noodles and a Chicken Stir Fry with Crispy Thai Basil. And a cup of Golden Monkey tea. Did we mention the tea menu? It’s quite good, and it’s substansive enough to warrant its own standalone folder.
The food was prepared in an open kitchen and arrived quickly. The portions were plenty generous, and the presentation was good, too–dishes garnished with sparse greens and cleverly cut carrots that looked like small orange fire-cracker explosions. The entrees were quite spicy and flavorful; they were about at our limit for comfortable eating, and we ordered it at the medium spice level. The food temperature wasn’t as hot as we might have liked, though, and some of the crispy items weren’t actually crispy, a sure sign of food that isn’t really made to order.
We got rushed service from a rather overworked waiter who nonetheless kept the water flowing and the tea hot. No complaints there.
Overall, I’d give the place 3.5/5. It’s Thai food with a little something special. Give it a try.
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
And this was our movie choice for the evening. It’s a period romantic comedy, which is a genre I (Jonathan) usually associate with formulaic plots and plodding pacing. Thankfully, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (hereafter, “Miss Pettigrew”) was refreshingly different.
Instead of focusing only on the lives of the privileged, the camera mostly sticks with Miss Pettigrew, a poor, middle-aged woman who’s just lost her job. Again. Her parents left her with a judgemental attitude she just can’t shake, which makes it tough for her to get along with folks who violate her high moral standard. But Britain’s on the verge of entering WWII, and jobs are scarce–before she knows it she’s lied her way into becoming the social secretary of an up-and-coming young singer and actress with a steady stream of suitors and engagements but little common sense and fewer scruples. You can guess what might happen when these personalities are pressed together and run through a break-neck sequence of high-society antics, but you’d probably be wrong.
To say much more would be to spoil the plot. It’s a feel-good film by the end, but the characters are complex enough to surprise you a little along the way and there’s plenty of wit and humor throughout. Overall, it’s a great date movie that won’t leave you feeling like you just watched, instead of eating, your popcorn. 4 stars out of 5.
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03.23.08
Posted in photo, recipes at 9:43 pm by jonathan
We really enjoy vegetable cream cheese (the sort sold next to the regular soft cream cheese at a suspiciously identical price) as a spread on our morning bagels. However, we don’t like paying extra for the excessive pacakaging or the fact that we can’t control what veggies go into it. So, on Saturday evening, we found a recipe and decided to whip up some vegetable cream cheese of our own. Here, through photos, you can learn to make your very own bagel-topping mix of cream cheese and fresh vegetables!
Start by cutting up the vegetables.
We recommend using a food processor to cut up vegetables. It is much more efficient than traditional means.
You can use whatever vegetables you want, really, but the green onion is going to be an important flavor.
These parts of the vegetables don’t go in your cream cheese.
Also, green onions don’t do so well in the food processor. Cut them by hand.
You’ll want some spices, too. Our recipe said “salt and pepper,” but Kelly had the genius idea of adding dill. Delicious!
Add the cream cheese to your mixing bowl.
Add the veggies to your mixing bowl.
Mix together thoroughly.
Pack it into a reusable container for later enjoyment!
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03.17.08
Posted in holiday, yardwork at 8:05 pm by kelly
Today is March 17th. A day for many folks to celebrate St. Patrick, his removal of snakes from Ireland (entirely?) and mostly to do things like pinch people who are not wearing green or drink green beverages or enjoy corned beef. Here’s the thing. I’m not catholic or Irish and I’m not terribly afraid of snakes.
Things that were interesting to me about today:
1-I had a really delicious breakfast of Bob’s Red Mill 10-grain cereal. It’s a new addition to the list of breakfast items I enjoy, though it probably won’t replace oatmeal as THE FAVORITE.
2-They were serving corned beef, green beer and Irish coffee at work this afternoon. I tried Irish coffee! It was totally weird to drink sitting at my desk. And really funny.
3-We had leftovers for dinner. My homemade frozen burrito test was successful! We’ll never buy gas station burritos again! WHOO!
4-We came home and it was light outside! We came home from work and it was light outside and the lawn was dry! Jonathan mowed the lawn and it looks great!
5-(and probably most important) We heard from our friends that their precious baby was born this morning! Praise the Lord for baby Jantz! We can’t wait to meet you!
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03.14.08
Posted in fun, home, marriage at 9:11 pm by kelly
Tonight we had the good fortune of having our friend Christi and Rachel (my sister) over for dinner. We had a delightful time having supper comprised of sweet potato black bean burritos and green beans. Delcious! After dinner we used the Food Saver and got the extras all set in the freezer for quick weekday meals.
The highlight of the evening (for me) was putting our wedding photos in frames and getting the frames on the wall. It’s like a different house! Now when you come over it will seem like a bit of a shrine to Kelly and Jonathan, but we just had a hard time choosing…..
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03.12.08
Posted in fun, marriage at 3:30 pm by kelly
Two months ago today Jonathan and I were married and it was wonderful and continues to be wonderfully wonderful.
Here are somethings (about being married to Jonathan) for which I am especially thankful:
Praying together
The way you challenge me to seek Christ’s will for every aspect of my life
Carpooling
Having breakfast together
Having you make coffee
Having a home phone
Hearing you play the piano while I stand in the kitchen and hum along
Helping out in Sunday School together
Sharing
Cooking with and for you
The fact that you are almost always warm if I am cold
You believe me when I say it’s just allergies 
The kitchen aid mixer
Your family
The way you love my family
Flowers growing in our yard!
China, especially Lenox Federal Platinum china
Aprons and all manner of girly things you don’t think are silly
Being married….to Jonathan!
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03.10.08
Posted in friends, marriage, travel at 9:44 pm by kelly
Our friends A & A are celebrating one year of marriage! WHOO! We were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to travel to Pensacola, FL for their beautiful wedding last year. It was also the first time Jonathan and Kelly traveled by plane together. Sweet memories. Here we are at the blessed event. May you have many happy years together!
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Posted in Cooking, recipes at 6:35 pm by kelly
Sometimes, Jonathan and I return home from work and get working in the kitchen and create a culinary masterpiece. Sometimes, we come home and I make whatever I can think of from the fridge. I know, it’s like Jonathan’s a betting man, eating like that. Tonight we are having junk pizza-we had some cooked chicken breast and I made some pesto from the basil that was quickly turning and added some spinach and thinly sliced onion and then topped it all with three of the types of cheese in our refrigerator (I shredded some cheese sticks and added some taco cheese we had and then saw we also had some feta…). At any rate, you’ll have to ask Jonathan when you see him what he thought of tonight’s experiment. AND I wanted to take this chance to share with you my favorite pizza dough recipe:
1tblsp cornmeal
1.5 Cups flour
1 pkg quick-rising dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
0.5 tsp salt
0.5 Cup very warm water
1 tblsp vegetable oil
Mix the flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Add the water and oil and mix until it forms a ball. Knead (I use the dough hook on the kitchen aid) for 3-4 minutes-until elastic. Cover and let rest for ten minutes (I just put a clean dish towel over it). Put the cornmeal on a baking stone/cookie sheet and then transfer dough. Roll out the dough onto the cookie sheet until it’s close to the edge. Top with your favorite toppings (we also really like using salsa, chicken, bell peppers, onions and a small amount of cheese) and bake at 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes. It’s delicious!
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