Mini life Goal

I've always wanted to learn how to knit.
I've tried to learn multiple times and always given up in frustration.
This time I went to the yarn store and bought a nice skein of yarn to motivate myself
I removed the packaging so I couldn't take it back, I had to learn
So I started practicing on some cheap yarn and watched videos
I failed at getting it started a dozen times and then all the sudden one worked
and then another one and then I went on doing it until 2am that night
I did it!!! I learned to knit

And to solidify that goal I took it on the bus the next day and knit on the bus!
Not sure why but I wanted to do that almost more than I wanted to learn how to knit.
I've always thought people looked so cool, so even though I keep missing stitches
here and there I feel super cool on the bus :)

Have to practice more before I'm ready for the nice yarn, but I'm so excited
(Eeee! one of the many strange noises I made when I finally got the hang of it)


Also below is Hilary our newest plant (she's a venus fly trap)
I tried to feed her an ant and she wouldn't go for it, but eventually I will catch her in the act!

What are Wednesday's for?!

Since Joshua was gone this weekend we wanted to go out at least 1 night this week. Unfortunately hubs had a lot of work to do so we only went out Wednesday.
We went to a place called Flowers. They have super tasty food- I had a grilled eggplant sandwich he had penne sausage.

& good drinks- the Brooklyn and Blood & Sand were our whiskey drinks of choice.
The place is small, dark, lots of windows that you can see out but they can't see in, and a fully mirrored ceiling
It kind of oozes intimacy which we loved.

Besides that we spent the week working, watching Alias all night [it's due back to the library soon we had no choice]  :), & eating random frozen things we got from Trader Joe's.

But I love the simplicity and comfort of that, especially when it is doing nothing but raining.

I love that we can find quietness with one another and still find tons of joy in it.

It is these weeks and these moments I know God sent us here and that here we can become a stronger US and here we are learning to be a stronger team for Him no matter how long we stay in Seattle.

mangos and blueberries + whiskey = awesome idea that we stole from our friends Liz and Daniel

Snowmagedon

...at least that's what everyone called it.

the flowers hubs brought home to me- playing in the snow

I got 2 days off work (didn't know I could get big kid snow days!) and hubs got to come home early those days!! In Cincinnati the weather may have given kids a snow day but that's about it. But Seattle is a scardy cat when it comes to snow plus we have big hills downtown. (I actually saw a car slide down a hill and t-bone a bus; everyone was fine)

fogged up lens =ed awesome photo of hubs sliding

our second snowman together

What was incredible about the storm though was that for 2 days it consitently fell from the sky. The snow wasn't coming down overly hard but it never stopped coming. All day I watched it pile up on the table outside on our patio wondering how it had already gone up an inch

The first day off I went into work and then it was cancelled so that one didn't feel as fun but I went home and did things on our January list. We also went up to our neighbors and had chili and mini bundt cakes and played with her cats. It was nice to just relax and chat with her over comfort food.

But Wednesday felt awesome! I got to do my dream job for a day- bake and cook all day and edit my photos and organize them.

We now have 12 meals already made and ready to take to work - three bean chili, chicken and dumplings veggie soup, and mushroom tomato soup! We're really excited to have it all made and ready to go. Winter just feels like soup and chili and now we don't have to have sandwiches again for over a week!

Then that night our friends Jessica & Kenneth came over for dinner. We were so happy they braved the crazy snowy streets to come eat with us. After dinner we lounged around trying to convince Jessica whiskey was good and ate pastries. Perfect kind of snowy night in with people you love being surrounded with!

Bean and Beef Chili:

1 tbs. olive oil
1 onion; chopped
6 stalks of celery; chopped
5-7 carrots; chopped
4 cloves of garlic; minced
2 red peppers; diced
1 jalapeno; minced
2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1 lb of ground beef
2 cups of water
28 oz can of diced tomatoes
2 cans of black beans; drained and rinsed
1 can of garbonzo beans; drained and rinsed
kale; chopped

1   in a large pot heat olive oil with the onion, celery, carrots, peppers with lid on for about 10 minutes
2   once the are tender toss in the garlic and spices and cook for 1 minute
3   then put in the ground beef and cook on high until it is no longer pink at all
4   pour in the water and tomatoes and kale, simmer on medium heat for 30 minutes partially covered
5   put in the beans and cook for 20 minutes partially covered




chicken dumpling soup:

1 tbs olive oil
3 chicken breasts cooked and cut into bit size pieces
5-6 cups of chicken broth
6 carrots; chopped
6 celery stalks; chopped
1 onion; chopped
2 cloves of garlic; minced
kale; chopped
S&P
basil (I used 2 cubes of basil that I froze in ice cubes from the summer)
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp paprika

the dumplings are the same as for chicken and dumplings

1   put olive oil in a large pot and cook veggies until tender
2   pour in broth chicken and kale along with the spices and simmer for 30 minutes
3   while it is cooking make the dumplings
4   drop them in the soup and cook for 15 minutes (if there isn't enough liquid add more broth or some water)

yes it really is that easy! And it tastes pretty amazing!

Lentil Soup-yummm

I love chopping- love love chopping
so soups are my ultimate favorites because it is always full of veggies

I wanted to make something for our lunches this week that wasn't a sandwich but some soups just aren't "main part of meal" adequate
So I tried my hand at making lentil soup because it has noodles and lentils which = filling

It made our apartment smell delicious and reheats fantastically.
Plus since lunch is made we hit snooze twice today :)

1/2 lb. green lentils
1/2 lb. orange lentils
2-3 carrots; chopped
2-3 celery; chopped + 2-3 tbs. of leaves chopped
1 1/2 cans diced tomatoes
11 cups vegetable broth
fresh basil
1 tbs. parsley
few shakes of cumin
1 tsp. paprika
generous amounts of S&P
1 1/2 cups of shell noodles

this made 7 lunches that we put in baggies pre-divided and just grabbed and took for lunch. But they were generous! you could probably get 8

then we took pieces of onion rye and brie that I cubed and tossed in the soup. I love these kind of lunch weeks!
also you may want to add a few tbs of water to it before you heat it up

Ratatouille

  Joshua had to work all this weekend so we didn't do much. Which really just means I had tons of left over time to cook.
So we went to the farmer's market and loaded up on veggies. It was so fun to leave with with armfuls of fresh foods. (It took the longest to find a yellow squash because since it's fall there are lot of gourds and we can't tell the difference) We ran into some of our friends from small group there too which was a fun surprise.

Ever since seeing Ratatouille I've wanted to make that dish. The colors and the way it seemed to unfold when the critique ate it have always intrigued me. Plus since Joshua would be working I knew the chopping would take half the day and therefore keep me out of his way while still doing something.