A big GREASY latte

Today I decided to break my normal routine of sleeping in and woke around 7:15. I started out my day like most with a run and then a walk with the dogs. After I returned, I had plans to go to the gym to lift some weights and take a yoga class. The only thing that I needed before I headed out was my daily latte.

As I begun to brew my espresso into one of our many white mugs, I decided that I needed an extra shot of espresso today because I woke so early. So I removed the white mug, disposed the used beans and refilled with new, pick up a white mug off of the counter, placed it under the brewer, and gave myself an extra shot of espresso. To finish off my soon to be enjoyed latte I frothed the milk.

During the assembly of the latte, the scent of bacon seemed rather strong to me. I thought nothing of it because Doug made himself bacon for dinner last night and left the bacon grease on the counter in a white mug. I added the sugar, and took a large sip of my labor of love.

Yes that is right, I misplaced the mugs somehow and ended up brewing my espresso with the bacon fat. While bacon and coffee go together like peas and carrots, they do not actually go together well.

I learned two lessons this morning:

1. Bacon Lattes are no good, and if there is some foodie out their attempting to marry these flavors together...I would advise against it.

2. When the husband cooks for himself, be on the look out for booby traps in my mugs. I mean who would put bacon grease in a coffee mug? Really?

Oh July...please be good to me!

Reflection on Marley & Me

Last night after a full day of laying low for Doug and I, we watched the movie Marley & Me. With one of my famous migraines sneaking up on me yesterday morning and Doug being house bound with a bout of what he called the 'stomach flu', a relaxing night on the couch was just what the doctor ordered.

We had never seen this movie before, but had heard that is was delightfully funny with the right amount of truth and sadness that life holds. I grew up in a house that was never scarce on animals. We always had enough pets to care for that included turtles, guinea pigs, fish, and many different dogs. Two of the most precocious dogs that we had were Murphy and Homer, both yellow labs. Murphy is a 10 year old lab now that is as much as an old man as my 70+ grandfather, and Homer lost a battle with cancer last April after many many months of sickness.

As we watched the movie, I could see pieces of Homer and Murphy in Marley. Beyond that, I understood the anger, happiness, frustrations, and other emotions that the Grogan family endured in their adventure with Marley. Miles and Chase, our two and a half year old doxie/westie mixes, found themselves taking interest in the movie along side us. They would bark at Marley when he would run across the screen or was howling at lighting, but they sat with their eyes fixed on the screen practically the entire movie.

After the movie ended, and I wiped away my tears, I found myself feeling guilty. There are times that I resent my dogs, times when I feel like they create too many frustrations for me, times when I feel like I don't want to take them outside for a walk because I'm lazy. I should feel blessed to have them in my life, and never take for granted a moment with them. They bring lots of joy and laughter to our house. They are little blessings, and I should appreciate the love they bring to my life everyday.

John Grogan says in the movie that dogs are simple creatures, just give him your heart and he'll give you his.

Miles and Chase have a big piece of my heart, and my only wish for them is that they feel loved and enjoy every moment of their lives.

Toffee Bars

Ever had a dessert that tasted so good that you would crave it at unexpected moments through the day? I have. In honor to my love of all things sweet, I decided to make my attempts to re-create Starbucks Toffee Almond Bar. I don't know what it is about this delightful little treat, but for some reason it always leaves a little smile on my face. I'm not usually a fan of comerically produced desserts, given that I feel they loose quality when produced in mass quantities, but Starbucks has hit a home run with this little treat.

So I set out the other day to make my own Toffee Almond Bar. While my did not prove to be as good, my husband seems to be enjoying them and I will never turn down a cookie. In my quest for ingredients I encountered some difficulties finding quality toffee. My solution to this was to spend an afternoon making my own. I also used a recipe for a chocolate chip cookie batter for the base. While this provided a tasty product, it was not quite like Starbucks. I'm under the impression now that the batter may be a blondie batter rather then a cookie dough batter. None the less, the bars are scrumcious and we plan to enjoy them.

Toffee Bars

1 lb. butter

4.5 oz. granulated sugar

4.5 oz brown sugar

1/2 T. salt

3 eggs

almond extract

1.5 lbs. all purpose flour

1/2 T. baking soda

1/2 lb. semi-sweet chocolate chunks

1/2 lb. white chocolate chunks

6 oz. toffee pieces

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9x13 pan.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add almond extract.

3. Slowly add the flour, baking soda, and salt to the butter.

4. Add the chocolates and toffee.

5. Spread evenly in pan. Bake for approx 30 minutes.

6. Cool, cut, and best shared with loved ones.

Homemade Toffee

3/4 cup of heavy cream

1 cup of granulated sugar

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

1. Place all ingredients into a sauce pan.

2. Mix together until the sugar has dissolved into the cream. Bring to a boil.

3. Once boiling, lower heat enough to be at a very gentle boil while not allowing the cream to aggravate and boil over. Once the mixture has come to a boil, do not stir for any reason. This may cause the sugar to crystallize as the toffee begins to form and will result in a poor quality product.

4. Continue to cook until the toffee comes to a soft crack stage, which is about 225 degrees, and becomes a caramel color. This should take around 30 minutes.

5. Once the toffee is done, pour into a greased pan that is lined with parchment paper.

6. Let cool and break into pieces.

7. Enjoy the yummy-ness!

An afternoon with the Nephew = Revelation

On the first official weekend of summer, we had our Texan nephew Jack up to visit. We spent the hot and extremely humid afternoon sweating ourselves away at the Lincoln Park Zoo. While it's always nice to see family, spending an afternoon in the sun can be a bit difficult for a child.



We spent a lot of time in the car just looking for a place to park, which is never easy on a nice afternoon in the city. If we were by ourselves we probably just would have opted to take the bus, but this weekend we decided to spoil ourselves and brave all of the city traffic.

Jack decided to entertain himself with a photo shoot in the car. When I looked back at the photos, I couldn't help but laugh at his pictures. While I am not a great photographer, and really do not even own a camera that takes great photos, Jack's pictures were quite amusing to me.

He was defiantly a fan of taking pictures of himself. As you can see here his cute little hand, which by the way is stained red from the Sponge Bob Square Pants popsicle that we treated him to as a cooling snack in the heat. Since Doug and I do not have any children ourselves, Jack kept me wondering all day how a parent keeps a child clean. With cotton candy, popsicles, mud, and all of the germ infested items he was touching all day, it became worry-some to me that come the day that I have a child if I will be able to let go of my fear of germs.

At the zoo, Doug and Jack got the chance to sit in a rather large tractor. All and all I'd say that it was a nice afternoon. After a few minor meltdowns, and one major one, I think that Doug and I know for certain that we are not yet ready for children. For us at this point in our lives, it is much more enjoyable for us to enjoy the company of children through those close in our lives that have them. One day, many years down the road, we will take that adventure together. But for now, we will just enjoy the company of one another and our furry friends. Who knew that an afternoon would lead to such a revelation for us.

After helping a friend cater a private event last week where the client had a house of fully stocked food, it has got me thinking. Opening their cabinets in search of plate and glassware for the event, it seemed that every cabinet opened was fully loaded with a large number of the same items. When I stumbled upon their spice collection, it appeared that they had 8 containers of unopened sage. Out of all spices in the world to have multiples of, sage? The majority of population is not familiar with the proper uses of sage, especially in dried form, so why so many in one persons home? I don't think that I even own one.

This did not seem odd to the others that I was with, so I let the thought that stocking up as if we were going to war pass and it was soon forgotten. Today as I was looking through my cabinets preparing for my next trip to the store I was again reminded of the house that was stocked as though feeding an army on a daily basis. I keep my cabinets fairly bare, with only the essentials necessary in the foreseeable future. I do not stock up on cleaners, soaps, paper products, or food. My refrigerator is always about 30% full and my dried goods are kept to one cabinet.

As I looked into my linen closet today, I realized that I'm not a keeper and storer. I have one spare roll of paper towel, three extra rolls of toilet paper, no extra laundry soaps and no extra lotions or body washes. I started to feel like I'm not prepared for a toilet paper emergency. I know this sounds silly, but I grew up in a house of 7 people where our pantry donned a plethora of snacks and there was never a fear that at any moment there would be no toilet paper. Since I like to control the shopping in my household, I generally know the counts of the items in my house. It's not until my husband goes to the store that my counts are then thrown off and I find myself trying to figure out what to do with the extra gallon of milk and the 2 extra bags of goldfish crackers.

Is it me that's crazy or the rest of America? Do I really need all that excess 'clutter' in my house, or is it okay to continue on living on a 1 to 1 basis with items? Do people judge me when they come to my house wondering why my home is always so bare? To be a good wife do I need to keep my home stocked with multiples of items so that I can always be prepared for a 'just in case' situation?

The weekend is almost here

Looking ahead to this weekend, for the first time in a while, I'm rather excited for it to come. To my surprise I have an unexpected partial weekend away from work, which just so happens to be the weekend that my nephew will be in town from McKinney, Texas.

For us, living in the city inhibits us from spending the maximum amount of time with our families that we would like. We are kind of alienated from civilization because coming into the city can often times prove to be inconvenient and stressful for those who aren't familiar with it. So our visitors are often few and far between, and out-of-towners are more of a rarity in our lives. Our almost 5 year old nephew, Jack, is paying us a visit on Saturday with my in-laws.

On the weekend that summer graces us with it's presence this year, we will be welcoming our home to a very active 5 year old. Which brings us a whole bundle of questions...what the heck do children like to do? Where do parents take their children on a warm summer day for an afternoon enjoyment? How do you keep a kid entertained?

The glass is half full...or empty?

This morning I woke up to the insole which once graced the inside of my favorite pair New Balance sneakers, slightly chewed greeting me on my nightstand, saying to me "hello and good morning, today shall be one of those days for you".

I have never been the glass is half full kind of person. I have always looked at that glass and said to myself, where is the rest...the glass is only filled up half way? But due to recent events, I have decided that feeble attempts may need to be necessary in my life to take that half empty glass, that I have always peered at with unsettling feelings, and drink it with pride and satisfaction.

So if the chewed insole of my poor-battered and abused shoes, which last week by the way were covered in dog poop as I stepped into some jerky persons mess who apparently thought that they are above picking up their dogs droppings, are any indication of how my day is going to run all I can say to that is maybe today I do not need a full glass.

Maybe today will be the day that half will be just enough.