Another easy recipe

Italian Meatloaf

I use whatever bread we have on hand (usually whole wheat) and only use 1-1/2 slices.

By request...

We served this to our cousins, Nikki, Rob and Robby last week and Nikki liked it enough to ask for the recipe.

grilled chicken with oregano, cinnamon and paprika

served with

tomato and red onion compote


We are just catching up with life having returned for 2 nearly back-to-back trips out of state!

Some interesting things:

1) Steve and I had passports that expired a month or two ago.

Time from day sent to day received: 11 business days

The backlog is truly over! Actually, it may have been as few as 8 since we had our mail held and I am even counting Christmas Eve as a business day since it isn't a federal holiday. Those who haven't seen the new passports are in for a surprise. They are quite flashy, even tacky in my opinion. Each page has images and quotes of/from American icons (statue of liberty, Mt. Rushmore etc.) drawn in a way I would describe as propagandistic, considering they are designed to be seen by foreign officials. There is also an overbearing abundance of eagles. It looks like the same people who designed the intro to the The Colbert Report made it.

2) We discovered our screen door has a storm door. Oops, we should have noticed that in our basement last year. It looks a lot nicer than the green fleece blanket we had hanging over our door last winter. Good thing I took to riding our exercise bike about 2 weeks ago and noticed it. (You can tell how much we used it last winter).

Ick!

This is off our normal topic (ok, I guess there is no "normal" topic for this blog), but here it goes.

OK, I am not a germophobe at all and generally am not a fan of news exposes, but this is disgusting.

Just in time for holiday travel :(

Hotel Glasses

ok, enough with the trains!

Think it is genetic?

Yum

Balsamic-Glazed Sirloin Steak

Just tired it for the first time this week, but will definitely make it again. We had it with brown rice (and green beans) to soak up the glaze - great stuff. Oh, and we doubled the sauce like some the commenter mentioned. I am glad we did.

Lights

I should have gone to the street and taken the photo from there, but it is cold out!

Another Lego Train!

This one is for the little man of the house. It is part of the now discontinued "Lego Baby" line.
We got it free (well we had to pay shipping) for buying enough pampers to redeem points.

A Christmas Miracle

Ok, I am using that term VERY lightly, but not only did our chimney not cause us any problems with the first fire of the season (YAY), but we finally figured out what our hall light switch does (YAY, YAY).

I swear we have tested every outlet in the living room to see if it is tied to the hall, but apparently we hadn't. So now I can switch off our Christmas houses with the flip of a switch. These houses, save the lego-themed one, date to when I was in middle school/early high school and my mom and I had way too many Christmas decorations. Some, like these, have been handed down to me. Luckily I like these and some are even worth some money now (they are collectible and get "retired" every so often). I have some more playing to do with the "snow" to make it better , but I am guessing next year there will be too much attraction to the high cords so this will be our only chance to use them for awhile and wanted to get them out.

Holiday Project - LEGOS!

We also have a motor and some track. As a kid I always thought it would be cool to have a train go around the tree and now we will have a genuine Lego Christmas train.

How it began...




The end!




The two Steve let me make...

Spicy? no, Yummy yes

This is a standard dish for us...very easy, quick and quite tasty. The name is misleading, it isn't really spicy. It is amazing what you can find on the back of the box!


Spicy Chicken & Couscous

Much needed

With Jack doing a lot of this, but little actual sleeping....

this is just what Lauren needed!

Hmmm, Mexican

Chicken Enchiladas with Salsa Verde

From cooking light - yummy.

Something New..

I thought I would liven up this blog by adding links (or text) of our favorite recipes now and again. Here is the first...


Chicken-Stuffed Bell Peppers Spanish Style

Hot Spot!

"Arlington is hottest place in Eastern Mass." according to a 10/10 Globe Article by Sacha Pfeiffer... a sampling of the description of our home, sweet, home!

"Welcome to Arlington, which is enjoying its own housing bubble while many other communities in Eastern Massachusetts struggle with declining sales and prices. Despite spiking foreclosures and subprime sorrows nationwide, real estate in this suburb northwest of Boston remains freakishly hot. Prices are stable, activity is brisk, and frenzied behavior not seen since the boom years - deliberate underpricing to fuel bidding wars, multiple offers over asking price, tight deadlines for submitting offers - is often routine.

Why home sales in Arlington continue to be so robust offers a case study in how a community with a key mix of attributes can muscle through a difficult real estate market. For many buyers and sellers, Arlington has that magic blend: proximity to Boston, respectable schools, desirable housing stock, prices notably lower than in surrounding communities, and city amenities in a town setting, such as a thriving restaurant scene.

Densely populated, tree-lined residential streets are largely populated with handsome Colonials, Capes, and two-family homes, many of them converted into condominiums. Bustling Massachusetts Avenue is the spine of the town, and is home to popular spots ranging from the charming Capitol Theatre movie house to the upscale Wild Child children's clothing store, to the newly expanded Argentine restaurant Tango.

That vibrant scene is attracting legions of buyers, particularly young couples trying to buy their first homes or trading up from condos."

Bed is here...

hopefully someday soon we can show pictures of the rest of the room too - it is still a big old mess! It is getting much better though.

Back from Maine

Didn't have much free time with all the wedding activities, but here are some photos from the Belfast/Searsport area...

Art is up

michigan art finds

Steve and I have some art for the new kitchen & half-bath on the way...

We bought three of these below in Glen Arbor. (First column, second down. Third column, fourth down. Fourth Column, 2nd down.). We had the paint swatches with us and they will match great. Pictures to come once we have them up!



More exciting (but w/o photo) we acquired a piece by Steve's grandmother Carolyn. It is a lovely painting of lilacs (taken straight from one of her bookcases!) and will match the kitchen perfectly.

Table and BED!

So we got our new kitchen table together and ready and we love it. It is as big as possible and still keeps the flow ok in the room, which is ideal. We also now can look at our backyard which is an added perk.






Also, thanks to our tax free weekend here in MA, Steve and I decided to purchase a bed we had seen a few months ago. It will be nice to not have our mattress on the floor anymore! For less than the cost of one from pottery barn, etc. we got this that is made in Vermont (by hand no less) and is solid cherry!

Ordered a table

Well, I am not sure what it will look like in person since they don't have it at the store, but this is the table we ordered for the kitchen. It is a little bigger than I would have liked for the space, but it is counter-height which will make it more functional. Also, since the stools push all the way under it should feel the same size as a smaller table with chairs. (At least that is my current logic!)



PS - After speaking with friends who have the same problem trying to find a small table for a small kitchen, we should all start a company making them! There is virtually no selection out there.