Yum-o!

Friday was Fall Break for ACU students, so I took off work to spend time with Darby. I decided it would be fun to make a "fancy" meal and serve it on our china. I picked a menu from my Rachael Ray cookbook. (It might not meet some people's standards of fine cuisine, but it's definitely more complicated than my normal casseroles).

The menu consisted of:
toasted ravioli with tomato-basil dipping sauce
seared pepper steaks with marsala sauce
roasted asparagus
individual chocolate lava cakes with ice cream

It was delicious, if I do say so myself. Here's our beautiful table:



And here's what the kitchen looked like after I got done cooking:


Aaahhh!!



Needless to say, we spent a lot of time after dinner doing dishes! It was worth it, though. Next time, I won't cook the steaks so long; they were a little overdone. But Darby was such a sweetheart; he insisted they still tasted great.

I did A LOT of cooking Thursday and Friday. Thursday night, we had our friends Laura and Dan over for dinner, and I made fajitas and a fiesta rice dish. Friday, we baked an apple cake to take to our friend in San Antonio and then I made our big dinner and dessert. We have a lot of leftovers for this week, which is a good thing, because I still have to make treats for a Halloween party on Wednesday. I love cooking and baking; if only I could cook without dirtying more dishes!

Every Sunday night, I watch Desperate Housewives while Darby works on his homework. Usually, he goes in the other room so he can concentrate. Lately, though, he's been staying in the living room while I watch. Last Sunday, he admitted to me, "You've kind of got me hooked on this show. I really want to find out what the new woman is hiding." Yes! Further proof that this show is irresistible. I had actually planned to stay away this season since my girls that I used to watch it with are gone. But then they had to end last season with a big cliffhanger, so of course I tuned in "just to see what happened." Now, I'm hooked on this season, as well. It's a vicious cycle.

***

It's actually cold this week! I love fall, and I'm so happy that it's FINALLY here. I love pulling out my jackets and sweaters, sleeping without the air conditioner on, drinking hot chocolate, wearing scarves, eating soup for dinner, and starting to think about Christmas - only 2 months!

I hate Wednesdays

Okay, I need some help. Wednesday is consistently the worst day of the week for me. I wake up dead tired, without even the consolation that the week is almost over. Every other day of the week, I have something to look forward to. Mondays, Darby and I watch Headlines on Jay Leno. Tuesdays, I get to practice the piano. Thursdays is The Office. And Fridays are, of course, Fridays. We do go to church on Wednesday. But it's hard for me to get excited about that. I enjoy seeing everyone at church, but by the time I get home from work, cook dinner, clean up, and make it to church, I'm usually worn out. What's a fun, cheap routine I can have on Wednesdays to make me look forward to the day instead of dreading it? I don't want to hate a whole day every week.

Girls' Weekend

I had a great time hanging out this weekend with my Fat Tuesday girls. We got to Kalyn's house in Frisco about 10 on Friday night, and she had a bunch of yummy snacks waiting for us. We ate and caught up until about 2. Saturday morning, we got up and went to Le Peep for breakfast. I had blueberry pancakes, which were delicious:

These aren't actually my pancakes, but I didn't take a picture, so I found some similar ones online.

After breakfast, we went to a ginormous mall and shopped, shopped, shopped. I didn't purchase much, mainly just drooled over all the clothes I couldn't afford.

Then, we went to the Cheesecake Factory, where I had a slice of my all-time favorite - Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake.

Yummy! It doesn't get much richer than that.

We walked off our cheesecake at IKEA, then went over to Carolyn's apartment in Lewisville. After a slight detour through downtown Lewisville (we meant to do that!), we headed back to Frisco for pizza and Wii-playing. Here's a shot of Erin in action. What a bowler!


And here's all the gals (minus Em).


Here's how Em spent most of Saturday evening.

And they make fun of me for going to bed early! Ha!

On Sunday morning, Kalyn got up and cooked us a big breakfast (That girl is quite a hostess!), and then we headed back. It was a great weekend to catch up with my girls, but I sure was glad to come home to my wonderful husband!

Fat Tuesday Reunion!

It's Friday! Yay! And I am super-excited about this weekend because we are having our Fat Tuesday reunion. Brittany's coming down to Abilene today, and she, Erin, Em, and I are going to drive to Kalyn's house in Frisco, where Carolyn will also meet us. It'll be the first time we've all been together since my wedding, which didn't really count because it's not like we spent much time together. We're going to spend the whole weekend shopping, chatting, playing games, and, of course, eating. (We call it FAT Tuesday for a reason). I'm so excited to catch up with everyone. I've missed our weekly meals so much. I'll post some pictures of the mayhem when I return.

Lately, I have become obsessed with cooking blogs. Why did I not discover these before? They combine my two favorite pastimes - cooking and reading blogs. Two I really enjoy are The Pioneer Woman Cooks and Smitten Kitchen. Both are very entertaining, in addition to having great recipes and photos. If you like cooking, go check them out. You'll be hooked. Every time I read them, I want to go cook something right then. Of course, I'm also the type of person who could flip through a cookbook for hours without getting bored.

Happy Fall!

I know the beginning of fall was really Sept. 22nd or something, but I think fall officially begins October 1. I got out my Halloween decorations this weekend, and they make me so happy! Here are my favorite things about fall:


Candy corn! This stuff is awesome! It looks cute, and it tastes even better.


Caramel apples...yummy! The perfect combination of sweet and tart, and so deliciously messy.


Friendly ghosts...they look so cute and not scary at all.


Pumpkin pie with whipped cream...there's nothing more to say.

Is it sad that most of my favorite fall things are food? Probably so.

There is one thing I really DON'T like about fall - allergies. Mine are horrible right now as are pretty much everyone else's in Abilene. If those will clear up and the temperature will drop about twenty degrees, fall will be pretty much perfect.