TWO YEARS!!

It's our 2 year anniversary of being together! Happy Anniversary Honey!! Love you!

VIP Wine Tasting and the Best Dinner Ever!

Today we got together with our group for a "VIP Wine Tasting" at Premier Wines in Plano. It was a blast! We tried 15 (yeah, 15!!) wines and they were all wonderful. They had cheese, bread, and fresh meats for us to have with the wine. We shopped in their boutique and bought a delicious vintage French Bordeaux, an amazing Australian Cab, a fun French champagne de peche (great brunch wine!) and several bottles of "blue wine". That is a "wine" made from the Blue Agave cactus, and it tastes like a margarita. Fun for a twist on traditional wine, (or margaritas!) and it will be a fun party wine.

I highly recommend this fabulous place. They have several tasting rooms and hold classes and tastings (private, corporate, public, etc).

We were then told about a great Italian restaurant called Covino's in Plano. It's off Parker and Independence and if you haven't been- you HAVE to go! It's kind of a hole in the wall place (in a shopping center) and we thought, uh oh, but WOW, it was one of the best meals we've had in a long time! AND ITS BYOB!!! So, we had a fabulous meal (calamari, I had gnocci with beef and garlic and marinara, and M had cioppini (seafood and linguine with a red clam and white wine sauce) and garlic bread, salad, and tiramisu- the best ever!) along with our favorite wine. YOU HAVE TO GO!

What a fabulous day! We have a brunch tomorrow morning with a big group of us at Kathleen's Art Cafe in Plano. I've been for lunch, but we'll let you know how brunch is.

The Best Husband Award Goes To....

My honey is the sweetest thing! Our two year anniversary of being together is Sun 10/22/06 and so he completely caught me off guard on Friday night by coming home with 2 dozen roses, a bottle of our favorite wine (Gnarly Head Old Vine Zin) and a lovely dinner! He totally pampered me with a foot massage and a bubble bath...what a sweetie! It's hard to surprise me, but he pulled it off. Thanks honey, I love you so much!

Prayers Needed

Prayers are needed for our friend Derek and his family. He is part of the company softball team and he was playing pitcher on Thursday's game.

He was hit with a line drive ball that shattered his fingers (his hand was trying to block his face) and broke three bones around his eye. One bone shoved into his sinuses and he underwent surgery and will need plastic surgery as well.

His wife, Selene, is pregnant with their second child. Their first, Elizabeth, is just over 1 year old. Please keep them all in your thoughts and prayers!

A New Baby!

We've received a new baby!!! The wonderful addition to our little family is Isabella, a beautiful little 6 week old chihuahua puppy. She is SOO cute! She is really working hard to fit in with our older babies and hold her own. She is eating well and sleeping through the night, most of the time. Potty training is still in progess, although she does good on the pee-pads and outside sometimes. She is just over 1 lb. so it's hard to put her in the grass (she gets lost!!!) I'll get pictures of her up soon.

5 for 5 meme!

5 for 5 meme!
Lace tagged me, and it looks like a fun one!

1) Five Minutes to yourself. How would you spend them ideally?
Reading
Napping
Playing with the babies
Talking to a friend
Stretching and taking some deep breaths

2) Five Dollars to spend right now. How or where would you spend it?
Everyone else got me in the mood for Wendys!!
I would put it into savings, LOL
A new doggie toy for the kiddos
Admission to a state park and go starwatching
Parking downtown and go shopping

3) Five Items at your house you could part with right now?
M’s receipt “collection” (packrat!)
Bills and papers to be filed (BURN EM!)
Old stuff in the garage
CLUTTER CLUTTER CLUTTER
The dining nook table (Hate it!)

4) Five Items in your house you absolutely, positively could never part with?
(Family and doggies aside)
My bed
My pictures
Some of my vintage posters
A throw that I LOVE
My pillow

5) Five Words you love?
Love
Hope
Laugh
Dream
Bliss

5 people I will tag...
Anyone who wants to do it!

I'm baaack!

Wow! Seems like I haven't posted in forever- almost a month! Well, things have been very busy. We went to Philly for a Thurs-Tues trip and had a lot of fun. We saw the WHOLE family, went to a friend's wedding and enjoyed a surprise 6month wedding reception for us! SO sweet!

Things have also been busy around the house and with work. I have two new clients I am consulting for and I'm starting yet another business!! The spa is going great and growing by leaps and bounds! (We were just in Lucky Magazine in OCT, so we got national exposure!) Massasge Therapy Journal is working on a profile of the company and that is due out at the first of the year.

M is feeling quite a bit better, although there is still some swelling in the ankle and knee- we'll probably be going to another orthpaedic surgeon for an MRI. Today is my big day for the endocrinologist and fertility specialist. (Cross your fingers!!) We get to learn about all the fun interventions to get us pregnant- IVF, IUF, hormones and the like. Fun, fun!

I have also been cooking a ton! I have some new recipes to share that are just out of this world!! First is a Vodka Cream Pasta that will knock you over and the other is the most amazing Garlic Tenderloin-yum (and Roasted Garlic Soup!) Enjoy :)

Vodka Cream Pasta

INGREDIENTS
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, once around the pan in a slow stream
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 shallots, minced
• 1 cup vodka (good quality)
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 can crushed tomatoes (28-32 ounces)
• Coarse salt and pepper
• 16 ounces pasta, such linguine
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 10-20 leaves fresh basil, shredded or torn
Serve with:
• Crusty bread, for passing

Heat a large skillet over moderate heat. Add oil, butter, garlic and shallots. Gently sauté shallots for 3 to 5 minutes to develop their sweetness. Add vodka to the pan (3 turns around the pan in a steady stream will equal about 1 cup). Reduce vodka by half, this will take 2 or 3 minutes. Add chicken stock, tomatoes. Bring sauce to a bubble and reduce heat to simmer. Season with salt and pepper.

While sauce simmers, cook pasta in salted boiling water until cooked to al dente (with a bite to it). While pasta cooks, prepare your salad or other side dishes.

Stir cream into sauce. When sauce returns to a bubble, remove it from heat. Drain pasta. Toss hot pasta with sauce and basil leaves. Pass pasta with crusty bread.

Now I served this with salad, rosemary ciabatta bread, and an herbed chicken breast.

For the chicken, just cut into strips, sprinkle with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil, and then coat with a breadcrumb mixture (store bought breadcrumbs combined with italian herbs, salt, pepper, fresh grated parmesan will work if you dont make your own) Then heat a moderate amount of olive oil in a large skillet with a touch of butter and brown the chicken on both sides. Sprinkle with fresh rosemary and fresh grated parmesan. Serve on top of the pasta!! YUM!

Here are the garlic recipes-WOW!

Rib Eye Steak with Garlic
Ingredients:
Serves 4
2 rib-bone rib eye steaks, (2-3 inches thick)
Gray salt
freshly ground pepper
4 Tbs. olive oil
1/4-cup roasted garlic paste (recipe below)
1/3-cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Season steak all over with salt and pepper.
3. Heat oil in an ovenproof skillet.
4. Sear the steak on all sides until well browned.
5. Spread roasted garlic paste on top of steak.
6. Place in oven, and finish for 20-25 minutes for medium rare.

Roasted Garlic Paste

Ingredients:
Yields 1 cup
1 lb. whole garlic heads
1/2-cup pure olive oil
gray salt
freshly-ground pepper
1/4 -cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tbs. fresh rosemary

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Peel the outermost layers of skin off the heads of garlic.
3. Cut off the top third of each head to open the cloves.
4. Put the heads, cut sides up, in a small baking dish and pour the olive oil over them.
5. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Cover tightly, place in the oven and roast until about 3/4 cooked (about 45 minutes).
7. Uncover and return to the oven until the cloves begin to pop out of their skins and brown (about 15 minutes). Let cool.
8. When cool enough to handle easily, squeeze the roasted garlic into a small bowl.
9. Press firmly against the skins to extract all the sweet roasted garlic you can.
10. Add the oil from the baking dish, the Parmesan cheese, rosemary and a pinch of gray salt.
11. Mix well until a paste forms. Store tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.


Poached Garlic Soup
Ingredients: Serves 4-6

2 cups garlic cloves
Gray salt
freshly-ground pepper
2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup diced onion
1 cup finely chopped leek
1/2-cup diced celery
1 bay leaf
4 cups chicken stock
1 cup diced, peeled russet potatoes
1 Tbs. coarsely chopped fresh oregano
4 cups loosely packed spinach leaves
1 cup heavy cream, half-and-half or buttermilk

Directions:
1. Peel the garlic cloves, cut in half lengthwise, and remove the central greenish core.
2. Bring a small pan of salted water to a boil. Add garlic cloves.
3. Drain and repeat twice to remove the garlic’s heat and leave only sweetness behind.
4. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy pot over medium heat until hot.
5. Add the onion, leek, and a little salt to draw the water out of the onion.
6. Cover and cook until the vegetables are soft but not brown, about 5 minutes.
7. Add the oregano, potatoes, blanched garlic and stock.
8. Season with salt and pepper.
9. Add the bay leaf. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook until the vegetables are very tender (about 15 minutes).
10. Puree the soup in a blender or use an immersion blender.
11. Taste for seasoning. Add in the raw spinach. (The soup can be made ahead to this point, covered, and refrigerated for several days or frozen).
12. Reheat the soup in a large pan over low heat.
13. Whisk in the cream, heat through and taste for seasoning.
14. Ladle into warm bowls and serve.

Chef's note: For added flavor poach whole heads of garlic in stock