It's a Tough Life

I've been really pleased with how much travelling I've managed to accomplish in the past year. Places I've been: New Orleans, Mississippi, Houston, Spain, Virginia, several places in Maine (I won't count the stops on the move up to Maine!), Ohio, Colorado, Arizona, San Francisco and Napa, Boston, D.C., and NYC. Do I qualify for road warrior status yet? :)  The picture to the left is from my recent trip to San Francisco. My Kristi, Lauri, and I are completely blocking a view of the Golden Gate Bridge. :)
I'm incredibly grateful that I've been able to travel so much this year. I'm further grateful that I actually love to travel- it's something that came to me late in life. I used to be terrified of flying and pretty unadventurous in general. One thing I appreciate about growing older is that I've become so much more open to new experiences. Some of that is due to an increase in confidence, and some of that is due to a better ability to separate needless fears from legitimate concerns. But so much of the credit for my evolution into a travel loving person is due to Benjy. I was always the type of person to sit around and think "It would be fun to go to XYZ..." but would never go without someone to give me a push in that direction. Benjy loves to travel and was just the person I needed to give me that push. He's also incredibly fun to travel with- his companionship makes the trips we go on together a joy and has helped me establish enough positive connotations to combat any fear I have of traveling alone.
Just one of the many reasons I am so supremely lucky. :)

The picture of us below was taken in Arizona at Christmas. Most of our recent pictures together were taken at arm's length- I thought this one was a bit nicer. :) 

In other news, after 4 or 5 long years, my trusty point and shoot Cannon has bitten the dust. Can anyone recommend a nice compact camera? 

What a Year!

So it's two days late, but I'd be remiss if I didn't blog about my first anniversary! Actually, I'm kind of remiss anyway b/c I was out of town for Benjy's birthday (for work) and our anniversary (I was on a girl's trip in San Francisco and there were no affordable flights that got me home by Monday). Whoops.
Nonetheless, I'm very excited to have been married for a full year and I'm looking forward to spending Sat. with my husband in a lovely bed and breakfast in Camden, Maine. We're also going to eat at Conte 1894. I'm very excited about that as well.
This has definitely been an exciting and challenging year for us. We honeymooned in Spain, moved 1600 miles away from our home in New Orleans, climbed a mountain together, skied down several mountains together, weathered our first New England winter, celebrated my birthday in NYC and his birthday in an Irish Bar at 8am on St. Patrick's Day, visited Acadia National Park, met friends in Boston, celebrated Christmas in Arizona, skied in Colorado, and returned briefly to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. It's been a big, busy, fun  year and there's no one I'd rather have spent it with!
Adjusting to the big move and to the Benjy's tough work schedule was the biggest challenge of the year. I have to give him so much credit for being willing to spend his spare time with me- traveling and exploring- instead of resting on the couch, which is probably what I would do if I were in his shoes. Despite all the challenges of his work, he's been, as always, a wonderful companion in this adventure. I'm so happy to have been married to the love of my life for a full year and can't wait to celebrate with him for many years to come!

Happy Dance!

Check out that high on Thursday!

23.5 hours

I'm seriously loving this youtube video! Check it out, then go take a walk!

Every Day

Speaking of going to the grocery store every day, I did my full week's worth of shopping last night, then got home and realized I'd completely forgotten that I was almost out of olive oil. I was quickly reminded when I ran out of it while cooking dinner. Total first world problem, but now I have to go back to the store! Arg!
I had a really nice weekend- I went skiing at Saddleback, a mountain about 3 hours Northeast of Portland and stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast, the North Country Inn. I highly recommend both the mountain and the B&B. Saddleback had great snow and a lot of fun runs. It also has a lot of black and double black runs with plenty of glades- I can't vouch for the quality of such runs b/c I can't ski down them, but everyone else I was with really enjoyed them. :)
After a weekend of ski food (aka burgers, grilled cheese, and pasta) I wanted to make dinner as green as possible. I opted for Mark Bittman's shrimp with green sauce (mostly parsley and garlic) with some sauteed asparagus stirred in. Unfortunately, it was just ok. The hubby liked it more than I did- I thought it was a little bitter. I'm not sure if it was just that the sauce and the asparagus didn't mix well or if the sauce was out of balance or what. Part of the problem is that the shrimp in Maine are just not that good. I think I may redo this in the future with fish instead of shrimp and maybe with basil as the green component of the sauce.
Of course I've got plenty of ideas for meals for the rest of the week. Up next are chicken tinga tacos. After that I'm planning to modify this tomato, onion, and white bean roast (which is one of my favorites) to include artichoke and asparagus b/c I'm in the mood for lots and lots of veggies. (Hopefully the asparagus doesn't betray me again!) Other meals for the week will be blue cheese buffalo chicken burgers (not the lightest preparation, but I want to do something fun with my leftover ground chicken from last week- basically I'm going to mix blue cheese crumbles, green onions, and some wing sauce into my chicken, then cook it.), a garbanzo bean quinoa bowl with the awesome dressing from my lentil barley bowls, and a quinoa bowl with kale and mushroom gravy. The latter will likely be for lunch since the hubby doesn't share my love of mushrooms.

Anyone making anything tasty this week?

Poached

Things I have learned- I cannot poach fish to save my life. My mom bought me a cool fish poacher thingy for Christmas. Sadly, it did not come with instructions and I used it to absolutely ruin a salmon filet last week. So, anyone want a slightly used fish poacher?

This week I'm planning to eat the leftovers from Saturday's party for lunches, and make some barley risotto (with walnuts, orange, and arugula) after that.
Dinner entrees this week will be chicken meatballs with spaghetti squash (I'm psyched to use the meat grinder attachment on my mixer!), Anaheim shrimp, garbanzo burgers, and probably some more coconut-oil sauteed cod- this time with capers and tomatoes.
Last night I enjoyed a lovely departure from health food- a fried oyster and shrimp poboy at Poboy's and Pickles. It warms my heart that I've found an excellent poboy joint in Portland. It's the perfect cure for homesickness!

Do you meal plan or just wing it for your weekly meals? If I didn't plan my meals in advance I'd end up stopping by the grocery store every day- and wasting tons of food and money.

Fiesta

Yesterday, my plans for the evening solidified into hosting a get together for a dozen people about 3 hours before people would be arriving. Of course, the house was a wreck and there was almost nothing in the fridge. I knew that since it was fairly nice outside, the hubby would want to grill out, but that it was cold enough that we couldn't have an entire party on the porch.
In a moment of brilliance, I came up with the perfect food theme: Taco Night! I quickly ran to the store for charcoal, fish, chicken, and various taco toppings (tomatoes, cheese, onion, etc...). When I got home, I marinated the chicken in some salsa, marinated the fish in olive oil and lime juice, and chopped up my toppings. I also made a quick batch of cabbage slaw and a fruit salad with chopped strawberries, pineapple, lime juice and honey. I spent the next two hours *quickly* cleaning my house (while listening to the Shakira Pandora station to be festive) then put a pot of black beans on the stove right before people came over.
Set up was a breeze- I put chips and salsa in the front room for people to much while the hubby grilled, then just set out bowls of taco toppers, microwaved some tortillas, and let everyone assemble their dinner once we brought in the chicken and fish.
It was super easy and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I think a variation on this theme that would work equally well would be to do a baked potato party with chili and other toppings.

Do you entertain on a whim or prefer time to plan?