Snappy Snapper

Sticking to the Wedding Diet gets old after a while. To keep it appealing I try to find new recipes that will tantalize our taste buds. Tonight I went to the store and decided on Red Snapper. Nick and I have never eaten it and I thought it sounded good. I found a recipe and the simplicity is astounding!!

1 pound Red Snapper
1 Onion
A Drizzle of Worcestershire
Salt
Pepper
3 T Butter
1T Shredded Parm

Slice the onion season with pepper. Place onions in a baking dish. Lay fish on top season with salt and drizzle with Worcestershire. Top with pieces of butter and bake for 12 minutes. Baste with sauce add cheese and broil for 2 minutes. Thats it!

The fish is amazing!! It even tastes a little like steak meets french onion soup. One pound is enough for two meals for both of us.

"Don't Leave Me Here"

The implementation of a new computer system at my work has increased the desire to drink lately. Nick and I were invited to join a few co-workers for drinks on Fat Tuesday to help them cope with the stress of the day. They decided to go to a local dive bar across the highway from out house in Dundee....

Lumpy's is not the type of place my co-workers are used to. We met them there and two of them had ordered drinks. The look of fear said it all...It was their first time at a 'dive bar'. They were talking about how hungry they were but had no idea how to get food. Since these types of places are the kind of bars Nick and I frequent when we go home, we went to the bar got them menus and told them the ways of the dive bar.

The people watching was prime...After a trip to the bathroom Brian came out with a look of disgust on his face. Apparently a man had "Burped and Spit in there!"
"It's a BATHROOM!" Nick replied.

We informed Javier that playing Beyonce would get him shanked, and talked about the pool sharks at the pool tables. We ate traditional bar food and they finished their beers.

After dinner we got up to pay and Ashley whispers..."Don't leave me here." Nick and I had a pretty good laugh. All in all it was a successful Fat Tuesday and first dive bar experience.

The Group Movement

There is one holiday a year that causes anxiety for some, and complete rebellion by others...Valentines Day can automatically depress anyone who is not part of a couple. Nick and I do not understand why this holiday causes couples to "schmoop up" and alienate their friends in the name of a holiday.
To change things up... we decided to cook a great meal and have friends over for dinner. We aren't against doing nice things for each other during the day, but it doesn't require an entire day. We cooked an herb encrusted pork loin roast with mashed potatoes and asparagus. It was incredible! I even had a glass of wine. We bashed on the couples who schmoop and ended the dinner with the idea of having a group honeymoon. It was quite a fun evening. As Nick put it...what would we do with each other for an entire week alone? Abbie answered "fight"

We decided to make the dinner a Valentines Day tradition.

Wedding Checklist

So- I have heard about people who get wedding nightmares...but never thought I would be one of the people who do. I like to think I have been easygoing about this whole wedding thing. Lately my wedding nightmares are OUT OF CONTROL! I have them 5-6 nights per week. They seem to involve my hair not being done and running around in my wedding dress. I have even had dreams where I am still mad at Nick when I wake up for showing up to the rehearsal drunk! Saturday was the pivotal turning point. I woke up at 7am on a Sunday and couldn't go back to sleep. My mind was racing and I realized...maybe I don't have enough done. So I decided to get back in wedding mode and do some planning. This week's list includes:

Planning wedding classes
Choosing songs for the slide show
Planning songs for the ceremony
Making some decisions about the invitations

I am proud to say I get to cross these things off of my list! Most importantly...I haven't had a wedding nightmare yet.

BloodBeard and Super Bowls

For our second annual SuperBowl in Oregon, Nick, Abbie and I went to a friend's house in Portland. Nick and I decided to make Stuffed Mushrooms, and Mouse Knuckles (Family Recipe for Bacon wrapped water chesnuts). They were quite the hit. We had enough food there for 12 people. Needless to say it was our "bad day" for the week. The game was exciting and we got to give Jessica some life lessons. My favorite is "Bloodbeard" which is the newest cousin to the Steamy Dishwasher, but probably isn't Blog appropriate. I will save that tale for another time. All in all I would say this years SuperBowl was a success.

There is another part to this story: We have been weaning Ditka from his cage when we leave during the day. (The night time weaning didn't work out and his crate won't be going anywhere in that dept. anytime soon). We started leaving him for short periods of time and he has done perfectly, so I talked Nick into leaving him for the 8hrs we would be gone yesterday. We hid some treats and turned on Animal Planet's 5th Annual Puppy Bowl. We left and returned to find...our house was just as we had left it! We were so proud of our baby.