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Friday, July 27, 2012

Mackenzie Jade Saunders

Yesterday, July 26, 2012 at 9:34pm EST, my best friend since the 8th grade, Patti Saunders, gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Mackenzie Jade Saunders. She weighed in at 6 lbs 2 oz and 19 inches...our birth stats are the same except I was 1 ounce more than her when I was born. She is absolutely beautiful and I can't wait to meet her!

It amazes me how far Patti and I have come in our friendship. We've been through the highs and lows of middle school and high school, Homecomings, Junior/Senior Proms, dating, college visits (I tagged along with Patti to her college visits just because haha), actually going to college, surviving midterms, papers and finals, graduating, engagements, weddings and now this...a baby!

We've never been the kind of friends that needed to talk all the time. The occasional phone call would usually suffice and I think we both prefer talking to each other in person. Now that I live in Colorado, it's harder to have those face to face visits, but I never doubt our friendship. Whenever I talk to her on the phone or see her in person, we can always pick up right where we left off. I love that about us!

Now she and Adam have a beautiful baby girl to raise and I know they will be amazing parents! I am so happy for them. In case you were wondering, the middle name is after me :) Patti actually called to ask for permission...like I would've said no!

High school graduation. Posing with our future husbands..and yes...that really is Craig standing next to me :)
So glad Ms. Mackenzie decided to make her debut a little early (two weeks early to be exact). I'll be in PA for the next two weeks, so I'll get to spend plenty of time with her! And I'm sure I'll have plenty of pics to post of her when I get back!

Congratulations Patti and Adam!!!



Thursday, July 26, 2012

Laney Days- Part 1

I've decided to dedicate a few posts to our pup, Laney, since she's such an important part of our life. We adopted Laney last October and it was kind of on a whim. We knew that we eventually wanted to get a dog at some point, but just didn't know exactly when. When I saw Laney I knew I had to have her! Craig was a bit more apprehensive, but I used my powers of persuasion and convinced him it was a good idea...and boy was it a great idea!

As cute as she is, the first couple months of owning her were tough. Craig and I weren't married yet, so he had total responsibility of her during those early puppy stages. Luckily, he was able to bring her to work with him. I know he had moments where he wanted to punt her out the door (not literally), but in the end all the hard work was totally worth it.

She's still a work in progress, but I can't imagine our little family without her. Laney is a super sweet dog and she has tons of personality. I would probably use the words goofy and weird to describe her because she does some really strange things sometimes. I could go on and on and share a million anecdotes about our crazy dog, but we'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

When we lived in our first apartment she would always sleep next to Craig's backpack


She's only allowed in bed on a few occasions and she absolutely loves it!


So tired after a long day of playing

One of her favorite spots

She only sleeps like that with Craig...so jealous!


Absolutely loves shoes!!!



Such a lady



She also loves to sleep on pillows and anything plush feeling

Hiding under the bed
 She's our little weirdo, but we totally love her!

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Chicken+Pretzels

A few weeks ago I was in Rhode Island for work and on my way home I sat next to a very chatty gentleman. I fly a lot and I rather use that time to unwind from the work week, sleep or read; however, on this occasion I didn't whip my Kindle out fast enough and the man next to me started up a conversation. Long story short- he was a very successful businessman (I was lucky enough to get upgraded to first class during this trip) and he loved to cook. The conversation was mostly me nodding my head, smiling and occasionally laughing at his business adventure anecdotes, but he did share some interesting food ideas- one idea that struck me was baked pretzel chicken.

The next day I Googled it and found a ton of recipes! Craig gets bored with chicken, so I'm always trying to find ways to make it more interesting and this recipe fit the bill (it's pretty healthy too!). It was super easy to make and went really well with grilled vegetables. We also added a side of homemade grilled potato chips.

Pretzel and Mustard Baked Chicken (Click on link for recipe)

Ingredients:

2 cups pretzels
1/2 cup mustard- regular, dijon or spicy brown (we used dijon and it was really good)
2 tablespoons skim milk
Salt- about 1 teaspoon (I decided to omit the added salt since pretzels are already pretty salty)
3 pounds skinless chicken (we used 2 large chicken breasts which is less than 3 lbs)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. The recipe recommends using a food processor to crush up the pretzels, but I still haven't figured out how to use mine (I really need to figure it out), so we placed the pretzels in a zip lock bag and crushed with a rolling pin:


Place the crushed pretzels in a medium size bowl and set aside. Next combine the mustard, milk and salt (if adding) into another bowl and stir together. Roll each piece of chicken into the mustard mixture, then coat with the crushed pretzels and then place on a baking sheet lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray (they also recommend using parchment paper):


We decided to cut our chicken into smaller pieces so that it bakes more evenly. The recipe says to bake for about 45 minutes, but if you end up cutting your chicken into smaller pieces then I recommend cutting the time down to 35-40 minutes....unless you want your pretzel crust extra crispy.

While that baked in the oven, we fired up the grill and made the sides.

Grilled vegetables:
1 yellow pepper and 1 red pepper (you can use any color pepper you want)
1 white sweet onion (I like the flavor of grilled sweet onions the best)
Olive oil (maybe about 2-3 tablespoons...we just kind of eyeballed it)
Balsamic vinegar to taste
Salt + Pepper to taste

Chop the vegetables up into bite size pieces, but big enough so they won't fall through the grill slats. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Add some salt and pepper to taste. We use kosher salt- more flavor and you don't have to use as much. Mix all the ingredients together....I make Craig mix it together by hand :)


Throw on the grill for about 15 minutes or however long it takes to get to the level of crispiness/softness you want for the vegetables.

Grilled Potato Chips:
2 large brown-skin potatoes
Olive Oil (enough to coat the potato slices)
Salt + Pepper to taste
Any other seasonings you want to use (we've tried it with paprika & rosemary and this time we used steak seasoning)

Cut the potatoes into thin slices:


Drizzle with olive oil and then season to taste. Mix all the ingredients together by hand. We recommend doing it by hand because the potato slices tend to stick together. Then lay each slice flat on the grill:


Be sure to keep a close eye on it while it's grilling because they cook pretty quickly. Flip frequently to get both sides done. I think we kept them on the grill for about 15 minutes on low heat. Grill them until they're at the level of crispiness that you prefer.

Perfect homemade potato chip!
Once everything was ready, we plated it up and had dinner out on our patio. We have an amazing view of Colorado Springs from our apartment:


Chicken is a little on the crispy side, but still good! The chicken and potato chips taste great dipped in BBQ sauce
It was a great night to sit outside, eat a good meal and enjoy each others company!


Monday, July 23, 2012

Portland, ME

*Thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and families effected by the Aurora, CO theater shooting. Aurora is about 40 minutes away from us and it's crazy to think something so horrific happened so close to home. The whole thing is incredibly sad and disturbing. 

I travel for work and the majority of the places that I travel to aren't very interesting (e.g. Woonsocket, RI or New Britain, CT), but every once in awhile I get a really cool place to visit (e.g. Napa, CA or Chicago, IL). One of my favorite places that I've traveled to for work is Portland, Maine. The best part is that it's a regular client, so I get to go up there a few times a year. The first time I visited Portland was in June 2010 and I fell in love with the place! I completely understand why people vacation up in Maine year after year. During the summer the weather is absolutely beautiful (70s-80s, low humidity), amazing restaurants, plenty of fresh seafood, quaint downtown area and a relaxing/laidback atmosphere. I love coming up here even during the cold months. Craig has never been to Maine, so it's definitely one of our top destinations to visit in the U.S.

Here's a link from Travel + Leisure that highlights Maine.

Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Maine again and I made sure to get my fill of fresh seafood. I'm seafood deprived in the landlocked state of Colorado!

Running by Casco Bay

Dog beach...Laney would love it!

Blue Point Oysters at David's Restaurant...this place has amazing food!
Caesar salad with fried anchovies
Grilled shrimp and scallops on a bed of mashed potatoes and vegetables...delicious!
The next night I had dinner at Eventide Oyster Co., which is a new oyster bar that just opened this summer. The inside is small and the seating is bar style. It was pretty crowded, but definitely worth the wait. Food, drinks and service were amazing!

Daily Specials menu board at Eventide
Fresh oysters
Sipping a cocktail called Afternoon Delight while waiting for a seat
An assortment of local Maine oysters...the green stuff is frozen gazpacho
Mini lobster roll

Clam chowder and a mini biscuit...The plating and presentation is so cute

Strawberry pie and buttermilk ice cream to end the meal. The strawberry pie was a little on the tart side, but the crust was delicious. The buttermilk ice cream was the best part!
I can't wait to go back to Maine and hopefully Craig will be able to come along next time too! I highly recommend checking out Maine for low key, food-filled vacation. If you have any questions about places to stay, eat or sight see feel free to reach out!


Friday, July 20, 2012

O.A.R. at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre

Last Sunday, Craig and I spent the afternoon in Denver and Red Rocks. Ever since high school I've had dreams of seeing a concert at the Red Rocks amphitheater. It's one of those iconic venues that you always hear about how amazing it is to see a show there...akin to watching a Broadway show on Broadway in New York. When Craig moved out to Colorado, I knew this dream needed to become a reality. The thing with Red Rocks though is that concerts are only during the summer, usually sell out fairly quickly and the good ones are usually on weeknights. Due to my unpredictable work schedule, a weekend concert would be necessary. The fates aligned and I came across a concert date that worked for both of us and the band just so happened to be O.A.R.! We actually saw them about 5 or 6 years ago in New Jersey when we were still dating. Craig is a huge fan of O.A.R. and they're a great band to see live (probably better live than studio recorded, which is a rare with most bands). I really really wanted to see Florence + The Machine, but the concert is on a weeknight AND it's sold out :(

Before heading out to the concert we spent the afternoon in Denver and checked out Biker Jim's. It's a local hog dog joint in Denver that has really unique hot dogs. We tried to go to the food truck last time we were in Denver, but we couldn't find it and we didn't know they had an actual store front. I'm so glad we found it this time because it was delicious!!!


Told you it was unique

We wanted to order everything!

Local Colorado brew

My plate: Alaskan Reindeer and Fried Mac&Cheese....sooo good

Craig's plate: Wild Boar and Hand Cut Fries....Also really good, but I thought the reindeer was better

The amazing fried mac&cheese...two of my favorite things combined!!!

For buying tickets at the last minute, we got pretty good seats

You can see Denver in the distance

The opening band: Rebelution from Santa Barbara, CA....surprisingly almost everyone knew their songs


I like how they shined lights on the monoliths

Us...after many tries...it was super windy and it's hard to take a picture of yourself and another person
O.A.R.
Crazy crowd
 I highly recommend watching any band perform at Red Rocks! Just being there is an experience in itself. So glad we had the opportunity to go and hopefully we'll be back. I also wouldn't mind going back to Biker Jim's and trying the rattle snake hot dog :)




Thursday, July 19, 2012

Family Reunion for Nay's Birthday- Part 3

Of course with any trip, the food must be photographed. This post highlights some of the great eats we sampled while in Washington. If you must know one thing about the Po kids (Jeremy, Andrew and me), it's that we all love food and it must be documented that we ate/drank it...the foodier the better!

Cupcakes from Cupcake Royale

Beer from Red Hook Brewery

Really good bottle of wine...and for all you crazy Asians- that's dried squid in the tupperware behind it...yum!

Vietnamese Pho

I think the words on the sign are self explanatory

Cherry pie, boysenberry pie, coconut cream pie, banana cream pie

Flying Pie Pizza in Issaquah, WA

Naked wings and a bunch of sauces from Wing Dome
I think we all went into detox mode after that weekend of eating and the pictures I posted don't even show the half of it! We had tons of food at my aunt's house!


Hope this post made you hungry :)