"You knocked this one out 

of the park, babe."

Well, isn't that sweet. That's what Casey said when he tasted the Quinoa with Roasted Garlic, Spinach, and Tomatoes. We ate it with Blackened Snapper. When I picked the fish up at the store, they were totally out of Mahi Mahi, Tilapia, AND Salmon. Seriously? So even though it was not on sale, I opted for snapper. It looked pretty.

But it was not cheap. We get away with Tilapia for 3 people under 5 bucks usually. Talk about a deal. This snapper was nearly $15 though. We went fancy last night.

Why quinoa you ask? It's gluten free (not that we really steer clear of gluten...quinoa just happened to be gluten free so I thought I'd advertise it). It's got tons of amino acids. It's high in fiber and protein. It's got a nutty flavor. It's different. It's good for you. And it really is very tasty.

It all really was delicious and a really quick make (Took virtually no time at all...like, "Did someone just come in and make us dinner? Cause it's already plated up." That's how fast.). So you've got to try this. Tonight.

THINGS YOU WILL NEED TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ARE AS FOLLOWS...

Helpers:

Ingredients for the quinoa:
1/2 garlic head, 1 T olive oil, 1 T finely chopped shallots, 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper, 1/2 c uncooked quinoa, 1-2 T white wine, 1 c chicken broth, 3/4 cup chopped baby spinach, handful halved cherry tomatoes, 2 T shredded parmesan cheese

Ingredients for the rub (for the fish):

2 T paprika, 1 T cayenne pepper, 1 T minced onion, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1/4 tsp thyme, 1/4 tsp basil, 1/4 tsp oregano, 1/2 cup unsalted butter (melted)

Wine (with a handsome helper):

Pink Moscato worked for us!

Where to start? Peel the garlic. Place on a pan and drizzle with EVOO. Roast until browned. I just use the toaster oven cause it's way easier than firing up the whole huge oven. The roasting only takes a couple minutes, so keep your eye on it.

Heat 1 T olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat and add shallots and red pepper; cook 1 minute. Add the quinoa; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add wine; cook until liquid is absorbed, stirring constantly. Add broth; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed. Meanwhile, halve tomatoes, mince garlic, measure cheese, and chop spinach.

 Remove quinoa from heat after 15 mintues. Add garlic, spinach, tomatoes, and cheese. Mix. Serve warm!

And for the fish. Casey (my sous chef) worked on the fish while I did the quinoa and the dishes. He always does the grilling and blackening. Don't get me wrong, he helps with the cooking and dishes alot (It doesn't even need to be said that he's awesome.). We love cooking together. But the grilling and blackening are always his. He's an excellent chef. 

For the rub, mix all the spices and herbs in a small bowl. Brush each side of the fish (Casey artfully took the skin off prior) with melted butter and sprinkle evenly with the spice mixture. Rub the mixture into the fish gently. Drizzle each side with remaining butter.

In a skillet (we use wrought iron) on the stovetop, cook over high heat.

Cook until both sides appear blackened (surprised?) and cooked completely through.

Oohh. Ahhh.

Here's the finished plate. A little moscato, a little snapper, alot of quinoa, and a baby yeast roll. 

We decided we could've just had the quinoa for dinner. That's how good it was! That recipe was a first for us, and we will absolutely use it again. And often. Is every night too much? Yes? No?...

While the snapper was a first also, we've used that rub before and knew how much we liked it. Just as a heads up, if you're sensitive to spices, go easy on the rub. We were quite happy with the snapper. I'd recommend it fo sho. We'll definitely buy it again...when we have extra money. Or when HT is low on fish options.

 Bottoms up.

Flame boots

So I saw these lovely boots on my way home yesterday.

This really wouldn't be too terrible of a problem I suppose, except that some dude was wearing them. On a moped. As you know, mopeds top out at about 35 mph. I do not think these boots were appropriate for his vehicle of choice.

Dear bug guy...

So to make a short story short, we thought we had ants. Well, we did, but we got rid of them. Problem solved by putting the girls' food away between meals. We never had this problem with our other bullies because they scarfed all their food down, barely even chewing! Boone and Brooks like to savor their food apparently. So we had ants.

We called someone from Home Team Pest to take care of it, then realized we should look more into seeing if we still had a warranty on the service from the house originally being built. So, Casey called to cancel and was instructed to leave a note on the door. This is how his note began:

I thought it was funny...not so sure I'd like to be referred to as a "bug guy".

Anniversary Year 1

It's the paper anniversary. So I got Casey paper. Pictures. Then made into a photo album. Not just any pictures. Boudoir pictures. Ooh la la. Anyhow, you don't get to see the goods. He does. I can't tell you anymore about that.

We wanted to get away and just go somewhere for a couple days.

So we packed up the car and headed to Wrightsville Beach! Fun in the sun.

We took a picnic, compliments of Momma.

 Some wine, Irish cheese, grapes, strawberries, G2, water, Diet Dr P, and Sprite Zero. The beach gets hot!

A purple and a green cupcake (those were our wedding colors).

We stayed at the beach Sunday then headed to our bed and breakfast Casey found to shower and change for dinner.

We had wine before dinner. Casey said it was so he could get in my pants. JK JK JK.

We went to The George on the Riverwalk for dinner.

   

It was so relaxing and fancy-pants.

Casey outdid himself. It was on the river, and we got amazing seafood.

(This is what I had. Spinach salad with Blackened Mahi Mahi. The fish was A-Mazing.)

 (This is what Casey had. Shrimp and Grits.)

We stayed in Downtown Wilmington on the river at a cute little B&B called Camellia Cottage.

It was so fun. Here's part of our pretty room.

 

We had champagne after dinner to toast one year. It was delicious.

We got 9.5 hours of sleep. Oh-em-gee. That's unheard of for us these days.

This was our breakfast the next morning:

Blueberry Peach Cobbler
Spinach, Potato and Roasted Red Pepper Frittata
Corn Bread with Homemade Strawberry Jam
Assorted Fresh Fruit
Chocolate Crumb Cake w/Strawberries (they have dessert at breakfast there--WOAH!)

(And no, there was no way in heck, I could ever eat all that. So I didn't.)

Here's coffee that came to our door.

Then the next morning we wandered around downtown Wilmington in the shops along the river and just spent time together.

Wilmington is so dog friendly. Dogs everywhere! At dinner, in the Bed and Breakfast, in all the shops, going to work with their owners. Everywhere. I loved it. And it made us miss our girls so much more. We were telling everyone about them.

I found this wedding cake in a window I wished I'd had a year ago. Whitney totally could've done our cake like this. She was going to do whatever I asked! It would've been faded purple instead of pink though.

We found this street just for me. It had Port City Java on the corner. You better believe we got some coffee.

We found this cool wall. These cool walls and walkways are all over.

And this was a sign in a random jewelry store.

Then we found this shop. Called Doggie By Nature. It was basically a store just for dogs. And a dog bakery. Love. These are PB&J Pupcakes. 

This was the biscuit bar. 

We got the girls a Cheesy Chicken Biscuit, Pumpkin training treats, and a Pupcake. 

Without work, without the puppies, without the house, without computers, without dinner duties, without chores. Only with each other. It was so fantastic. Then we headed back home to get back to the grind.

We can't believe it's already been a year. It has flown, but it has been fabulous.

A letter from Brooks and Boone

We have the best day care ever. Grandma and Papa. Papa is so snuggly and cuddly. And he gives THE. BEST. tummy rubs ever. Oh my word. Grandma is the sweetest most loveable grandma. She lets us help her rake leaves and garden with her outside. So much fun.

We LOVE every moment of it.

Papa's house is fabulous. And they have this awesome playground. And awesome toys--jump ropes and rubber chickens and bones and lots of fun obstacle course stuff that we can jump on and squeeze under. And lots of places to hang out. We can get a sun tan, play in the dirt, go down the slide, play hide and seek, run in the woods, poop wherever we want, take afternoon naps outside, and sit on the couch. Oh my gosh. Grandma and Papa have water bowls galore. It's like water everywhere. We love water. AND, get this. They have 3 beds. Holllla. Grandma and Papa are the ish. We've heard mom say that. We don't even know what that means. But they are cool. We heard mom and dad talking about letting us spend the night with them on Sunday. SLUMBER PARTY!

Our Mom and Dad's house and yard is way too small. Psssht. Grow up, mom and dad. And they're always keeping their eyes on us. The only time we can get away and do whatever we want is when we low crawl under their bed. We love playing under their bed. It's getting harder to squeeze under there though. We don't know why they keep lowering their bed; doesn't make one bit of sense to us. Mom and dad do have a pool though, and that's so fun on hot days. There's this long snake-like thing that spits out water. It's the funniest looking thing. We have no clue what it is, but we chase it all around because we like to show it that we're in charge.

Another thing we love is riding in this huge huge thing. It has wheels. It's the craziest thing. Dad always sits in the front seat. Mom sits in the back with us. It's like she thinks we can't take care of ourselves back there. We do like sitting in her lap though. We can see way more. When they don't drive together, we get to sit in the front seat. I (Boone) love love this thing that has slats in it. Air comes out. What! It feels so good though. Like a party in my face. And I (Brooks) love to help drive. I like to sit in Mom or Dad's lap in front of  wheel. Sometimes riding in the car makes us sleepy though. Especially when mom goes fast. She doesn't have to stop in a line of cars at these big bright lights or anything. That only happens when we go to work with her though. We hope we get to go again soon.

One thing we do not like is when mom holds up this fancy thing in front of our faces and just pushes buttons. Sometimes a bright light goes off. That's the worst when we're trying to sleep. She always says, "Oh my gosh, how cute...Casey look at this!" after she pushes the buttons. Who is Casey? Dad always goes over to her when she says that though.

Another great thing about Mom and Dad's house though is that Aunt Katie is always there. It's so fun. One more person to kiss all over and jump on and get excited about. We love people. Sometimes we even see other 4-legged friends walking around. We think they are like us, but they look nothing like us. We are way cuter. That's what Mom and Dad say anyways. They are always telling us how beautiful we are.

This morning Mom and Dad did not take us to day care, instead we got to stay home. Alone! It's so cool when we get to be in charge. Then mom's gonna come home early. We heard her say that last night. We're stoked cause she's been working so much this week. It's even better cause we'll have to pee. When they leave us home alone, Mom turns on this thing that plays music. We have no idea where it's coming from, but we like music. Papa plays it in his gym too. Dad thinks he knows music...well, we have news for him. We know music. When dad leaves, he usually turns on the picture box. It has noise too, but it's usually people talking. Mom and Dad and Aunt Katie sometimes watch pictures on it at night too. Sometimes we hear beeping coming out of it. What kind of pictures are they watching? It's okay though, cause they let us sit on the couch with them when we get tired of playing.

One of our favorite things is boxes. Big, small, square, rectangular, you name it. They are so fun. Sitting in them, on them, beside them. Chewing them up, running with them, and sleeping in them. Boxes are awesome. I hope they aren't expensive...or mom and dad just really love us. Cause we have lots of boxes.

I think they really love us anyways. They are always cuddling with us and kissing us and playing with us and rubbing our tummies and telling us how beautiful we are. Sometimes they even give us peanut butter and put white stuff on our dinner. We don't know what it is, but we keep hearing the words whipped cream or plain yogurt thrown around and then this stuff magically appears on our food. It's amazing. Probably because mom keeps talking about how we don't ever eat enough. Maybe it's cause we want the white stuff...

Well, we have school tonight. So we're gonna get some beauty sleep and show up the other dogs like we did last week. We like school. We learn all kinds of new things AND we get sausage flavor treats. That's what our teacher says they are. We don't know what sausage is, but boy, is it yummy!
We learned to play hide and seek with mom and dad at school. It's so fun. And we are so so good at it.  Mom and dad get so excited when we find them. We're smart though, what else do they expect?

We didn't go see the doctor this week. We wonder why. Everyone there is so in love with us. They all come out to see us and make a big deal over us. We know we're adorable, but come on. I think we need to start wearing sunglasses there so they don't recognize us. Mom and Dad seem to be real proud of it though, so we'll just go with it. There are these cool, fluffy green plants at the doctor. We love to run around and chase each other and jump in them. Mom and Dad and Grandma and Papa need to get some of those.

We don't know when we'll be able to write again. Anytime the machine with the apple on the front is open, mom or dad seems to be using it. Why can't they leave it open when they don't use it? And why do they leave it upstairs sometimes? We've seen them type on it, but they don't know that we know how to use it too.

Well, we're tired and we need to sleep so that when mom gets home we can play outside in sunshine.

XOXO,

Family Portrait

No, not the uptight-everyone-sit-up-stick-straight-like-you-have-a-stick-up-your-you-know-what family pictures, but the fun-playful-candid-capture-the-moment kind.

I can't show them all to you because that would give them away, but here's a little sneak peek!!

It's not family pictures without our girls. They are so adorable. We love them. This photo sesh was our anniversary present from Kate. She comes up with the most creative, thoughtful, and lovely gifts EVER. Seriously, EVER. Out of everyone I know.

It's hard to get puppies to sit still! They were excited cause they got ice cream. And Brooks always has ants in her pants anyways. And they had a new toy to chase around. But you'll see more pics later...that's what we did last weekend. Yay.

** Hair styled by Katie Lambeth. Props to her. I need to start paying her.

Wine and Design

For Mom's and Dawn's bdays, we surprised them with a night at Wine and Design.

What are the rules? Dip your paintbrush in the water jar, not your wine. Hahaha...I thought it was funny...

What did we paint?  Miami-style Starry Night. So cool, huh?

Who was our instructor? Frank (with us)

What did we drink? Mimosas!!

(this is the bday glass!)

What did we eat? Irish cheese, crackers, strawberries, fancy chocolate.

What did we wear? Tiaras and necklaces and bday girl pins.

Mom and Dawn LOVE to paint and be creative and we all love wine. So what is more perfect than all that and time with your sisters and momma? We all had SO. MUCH. FUN.

You need to go here!!

Here's a few more pics for your viewing pleasure:

Yay for girls night!

Spinach Tomato Tortellini (with Shrimp)

Sunday night dinner:

1 (16 oz) package cheese tortellini (we got mini whole wheat totellini with cheese)
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes with onion and garlic
1 c chopped fresh spinach
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1-1/2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp minced garlic
2 T flour
3/4 c milk (skim works just fine)
3/4 c heavy cream (we used fat free)
1/4 c grated parmesan

Bring large pot of water to a boil. Add the tortellini, and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine tomatoes, spinach, salt, pepper, basil, and garlic in a large saucepan over medium-high.

Cook and stir until mixture begins to bubble.

In medium bowl, whisk together flour, milk, and cream. Stir into saucepan along with parmesan.

Heat through, reduce heat to low, and simmer until thick, about 2 minutes.

Drain tortellini, but do not rinse. Pour into saucepan with sauce. Stir to coat and serve.



You don't see shrimp here because we add it for good measure! Actually Casey is the only one the eats the shrimp. He just sauteed it in a little butter, garlic, and creole seasoning and then put it on top of his tortellini. You could add any protein of course. Kate and I just had it vegetarian, and it's STILL delicious!

We had it with a nice spinach salad, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, a few dried cranberries, and a sprinkle of walnuts.

So good!