Summer!

This summer was short but very eventful! Only having 4 weeks off made it quite difficult to do everything I wanted to do but I think I packed it full with ALMOST everything I wanted to do. I made a list a few months ago:

1.Visit relatives in Oregon
2. Camp in Sequoia
3. See my nieces and nephews
4. Spend time with Kay and Michael
5. Lots of trips to Disneyland
6. SLEEP
7. Beach
8. Sea World
9. Glen Ivy for Christina's birthday
10. Plan/have Ashleen's Bridal Shower
11. Plan a celebration cruise for next August!

Didn't get to do #1 or #2...but we had a fun time camping in Santa Barbara:















































#3:Got to spend some quality time with my nieces and nephews (although I always want more!)












#4:Had a fun week with Kay and Michael with fun adventures at the park and beach
#5:Made it to Disneyland a couple of times... got picked to attend a research session and they paid Derek $100 (first time I've EVER walked out of Disney with more money than I went in with!)

#6: Yep.
#7: Yep.
#8: Maybe January...
#9: " "
#10: Ashleen's shower was a success! What amazing women she has in her life!

...also had my first adventure in fondant cake-making...



<--------6 hours later, tada!
















#11: Still deciding between Alaska, Hawaii, or Australia?

WE DID IT!!

2 hours 47 minutes

Our finish in video form: http://www4.marathon-photos.com/scripts/event.py?event=Sports/RRUS/2010/Rock%20%27n%27%20Roll%20San%20Diego%20Marathon%20and%20Half&new_search=1&match=36014


Despite getting up at 2 am..it was a blast! Can't wait to do it again!

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

BAKED MACARONI AND CHEESE


This recipe was a not a favorite.
Despite putting in sharp cheddar cheese and JALAPENOS, it still came out bland somehow. It took a lot of time to prepare and is not something I would make on just a normal dinner night (took me about 45 minutes to prep not including cooking time?)

Anywho, if brave enough to tamper with the recipe here it is:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/baked-macaroni-and-cheese-recipe/index.html

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound elbow macaroni
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon powdered mustard
• 3 cups milk
• 1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 large egg
• 12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Fresh black pepper

Topping:

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.

Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.

Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

Remember to save leftovers for fried Macaroni and Cheese.

Amazing Alfredo and Banana Bread

ALFREDO SAUCE


http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Alfredo-Sauce-2/Detail.aspx

Here's the recipe for the alfredo sauce... this was the closest thing to Olive Garden alfredo I have EVER tasted. So much better than the canned sauce. A little rich, I will probably substitute lower fat milk for the heavy cream and low fat butter for the sweet butter next time. Usually parmesan cheese is hard to melt to be creamy, I thought it melted fine but I might use gruyere or asiago next time for a special treat? I am also learning to perfect my cooking of seafoodÜ The shrimp were coated with garlic butter and grilled with the salmon.

BANANA BREAD
I also had 6 bananas that had overripened and I didn't want to through them away so I tried a banana bread recipe from the same site: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Banana-Banana-Bread/Detail.aspx
The bread tastes really yummy but I would put less banana in it less time (maybe 1 3/4 cup instead of 2 1/3). It's pretty mushy in the center but the outsides are YUMMY!

1/3 of the way throughÜ

I am officially 1/3 of the way through the graduate program! It's going to be a tough week since I am still recovering from a grueling finals week and need to jump right back into it on Monday, but I had a very nice awards banquet on Friday, where I got an award for outstanding student leadership. Of course, my proud hubby took lots of pictures!


We have tried to fill this weekend with relaxing and fun events to get some small feeling of "summer." We are thoroughly enjoying our new barbecue and trying to have lots of reasons to have people over and grill, we have also been enjoying our time outdoors running and cycling through the beautiful trails of Irvine, and Derek took me out on a date night after my last final to eat at Boston's overlooking the lighthouse (where we ate and were the night he proposed).





Oh, and I've already began to develop my list of activities for my few weeks off in August (11 is a good start):

1.Visit relatives in Oregon
2. Camp in Sequoia
3. See my nieces and nephews
4. Spend time with Kay and Michael
5. Lots of trips to Disneyland
6. SLEEP
7. Beach
8. Sea World
9. Glen Ivy for Christina's birthday
10. Plan/have Ashleen's Bridal Shower
11. Plan a celebration cruise for next August!

Our new mission...

The Marsdens have drifted further into their madness... about a month ago I found out that my program director was diagnosed with multiple myeloma and that a couple of the faculty members were running in honor of her in the marathon on June 6 to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Of course, I said "count me in!" I have NEVER been able to run more than .5 miles... I haven't played sports in years... I am drowning in schoolwork and internships and nannying...WHY NOT?? Turns out, it's the best decision Derek and I have ever made! We are so addicted to running and all the extra energy it has been giving us. It is a little bit of struggle to keep up with the training schedule due to time constraints (especially for the long run days...next week we will be up to 7 mile runs). We decided we should probably do a few shorter runs to get used to the "race culture" and figure out what to wear/eat so we did our first 5k race this morning. Our unofficial time is 30 minutes 30 seconds (new PR for both of us). We stayed pretty much towards the front of the pack and it was so much fun!!! Since we raised money for the Speech and Language Development Center the students from SLDC signed the national anthem as it was being sung (my favorite part of the day).

Pre-race shots Ü

Tostada Salad

This is one of Derek and my FAVORITES! It is a little modification of Mimi's tostada salad. It's a bit healthier but still yummy!!

Ingredients (enough for 2 servings):
2 tostada shells (or tortilla chips put together)
2 heads romaine lettuce
3 tomatoes
1/2 onion
3 pedals garlic
lime juice (squeezed from 1/2 lime)
lemon juice (squeezed from 1/2 lemon)
1 can black beans
1 can whole kernel corn
ranch (light or regular)
1 cup cheddar cheese (shredded)
1 avocado
2 chicken breasts (or 1 if one person is a vegetarian;-). Can also use ground beef.

Step 1: Grill chicken and warm black beans for 3 minutes on low heat. When black beans are warm, stir in corn. Keep bean/corn mixture on low heat.

Step 2: Cut lettuce (put aside). Make salsa mixture: chop tomatoes, onion, and garlic. Mix together and add lemon and lime juice. Add salt to taste. Put aside.


Step 3: Scoop corn/bean mixture on plate & top with tostada shell.
Step 4: Pile lettuce, top with chicken, a scoop of salsa mixture, cheese, and avocado.


Step 5: Drizzle with ranch and enjoy!!!

Today was mom's birthday so I also got to have some fun with my new piping bags!


Fun day today at Disneyland with all the brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews!

On to another part of the journey...

When I began writing this entry this morning, this picture was my view, Toby Pickles snuggling with Derek's feet (her fav spot). Unfortunately, I couldn't finish it and ended up accidentally deleting it so here we go again!

I start back into the madness again next week. I am looking forward to starting a new job, a new semester, and a new practicum internship (all in the same week!). Tomorrow will be my last day with the girls. This makes me so sad and I know it's going to be a really hard day. The new nanny is coming over so I can give her some pointers, ha, that will be an experience.

Derek and I are going to make the most of our last free weekend. We realized a couple weeks ago that we never used our second half of our Sea World tickets so we're off to play with the fishies!

After 2 years of being married and planning/cooking meals... I have come to the realization that I have a hard time remembering what things I like to make and what dishes tasted really good. So when I'm thinking about what I'm going to make or shop for, I draw a blank and always have to rely on the usual suspects (pasta, baked potatoes, salad) for the meals. To remedy this situation, I think I'm going to utilize this blog to post pictures and descriptions of food Derek or I make that I want to remember (since it seems I don't have much else to write about?) I can't wait until we have kids, and then we'll have some more fun stories to write about!