Date night...or afternoon.

I love it when Mr. Murphy is in school because he gets to come home early to me and we get to hang out for the rest of the day. So, yesterday we went to the Department of Revenue to get some tax forms that he needs for this horrible residency thing for school. Boring story, I won't take your time.

Afterwards, we wanted to go to Goodwill and some thrift stores to see if we could find a standing lamp for our lightless living room!

No

Luck.

But we did find this fabulous directors chair.

Now if you really know me, then you would know I have an obsession with the color mustard.

WAIT, thats not a color, thats a condiment!!!

You would be correct, how ever it also works perfectly as a color for pillows, skirts, purses, and shoes. So, naturally when my Mr. Murphy saw this mustard directors chair he knew we were "MFEO". So, we snagged that baby for $5.

I bought a lovely $3 purse from goodwill to throw over my shoulder.

And this stud got a snazzy shirt. I begged him to purchase this mustard jacket, no luck. He did oblige me and try it on though.

Purse- $3

Chair- $5

Book I bought for my father for his birthday- $1

Total cost of date afternoon- $ 9

Being madly in love newly weds- you know the answer...

{{{PRICELESS}}}

Growing up...

I have never seen anyone so excited.

Yesterday was John's first day of college...EVER.

He was so excited the night before he said it felt like Christmas. He couldn't sleep and was smiling so big all night. He hasn't been in school for 4 years because right after high school he served his two year mission in Mexico, and he's has been working for his uncle for the past year and a half. He has been talking about how much having that break made him appreciate the chance to get an education.

He woke up before his alarm went off at 7 AM, and jumped out of bed and showered and had breakfast all before 7:30! (We are 15 minutes away from campus and his first class is at 10) I was so excited for him too that I got up with him.

He had been talking about getting school supplies all week. I picked up a school supplies list from Kroger for the local elementary school and gave it to him...he was worried because he didn't have safe scissors, a glue stick, or a box of tissues.

The night before school he wanted to pick out his "first day of school outfit". It was all a quite precious scene. I love that boy more than life.

So, this whole experience has got me thinking about how quickly this life moves. It seems like just yesterday I was standing in the check out line with my mother holding some good ole Elmer's glue and a Lisa Frank notebook. I can't believe how fast the time is passing. It makes me wonder,

are we doing things of purpose with the small amount of time we have here?

I sure hope so.

So, yesterday when he was away learning I made him a first day of school banner and put it over our fireplace.

When he came home we had Chicken Milanese from the "California Pizza Kitchen" Cookbook. Yum. I didn't have a meat pounder thingy so I just used our hammer.

I cut this recipe in a quarter since it was only the two of us eating but I still needed the entire egg.

8 chicken breasts

1 egg

1 cup Dry bread crumbs (plain)

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon white pepper

3/4 cups olive oil

8 cups arugula

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 cups checca (recipe to follow)

2 lemons

1. Place the chicken breasts between sheets of waxed paper and pound them to thickness of 1/4 inch.

2. Crack the egg into a shallow dish and beat it lightly with a fork or a whisk. Combine the bread crumbs, salt, and pepper in another shallow dish. Dip both sides of each chicken in the egg, shake off excess, and then dip into the breading mixture, coating evenly. Stack the breaded chicken pieces on a plate.

3. Heat half of the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Cook half of the chicken breasts on one side until golden brown. Turn and cook the other side. Remove the chicken to a large serving platter covered with paper towels. Repeat with remaining chicken.

4. Distribute the arugula over the chicken and drizzle with the extra virgin olive oil. Spoon the checca over the arugula, sprinkle with Parmesan shavings, and serve immediately with lemon halves on the side.

(I cooked the checca in the pan with the chicken and added red wine vinegar, it made the flavors pop so much more!)

Checca:

Combine 4 roma tomatoes cut into quarters, 1 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic, 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, 2 large fresh basil leaves chopped, and 1/4 cup olive oil.

*Add a little red wine vinegar to this!

Meatloaf. Meatloave. Meatlove.

Now, I'm no Chantal Stacy but I do like to be in the kitchen.

John's co-worker sent us his wife's recipe for "The Ultimate Meatloaf" Now, let's be honest, when most of us hear "meatloaf" we go running in the other direction. It's because meatloaf sounds like every leftover your mother ever had,and all of them going in to one dish. But trust me, this is no ordinary meatloaf.

So, I decided to try to defeat the stereotype of this peculiar dish. I wanted to make cooking a little more fun so I put on the 1962 movie "If a Man Answers" with Sandra Dee and Bobby Darrin. (who were real life lovers if you didn't know. I didn't know until today. So that automatically makes the movie even cooler.) I watched this movie about a year ago with my dearest friend Lisa Z. and I immediately fell in love with it. It contains some of the best advice about love I have ever heard. So, we are going to call this

"Meatlove not Meatloaf"

So, here is what you will need to make this savory entrée.

1 cup of finely chopped onion

1 – 2 celery rib, chopped fine

1 Tbsp minced garlic plus garlic salt

1 carrot, chopped fine (several mini carrots)

2 Tbsp unsalted butter

2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

2 tsp Worscestershire sauce

2/3 cup ketchup

1 to 1 ½ lbs of ground beef

1 to 1 ½ lbs Ground Chicken

1 cup fresh bread crumbs

2 large eggs, beaten slightly

1/3 cup minced fresh parsley leaves

Our humble kitchen, pre operation meatloaf.

Here is what you do...

In a large heavy skillet cook the onion, garlic, celery, and carrot in butter, over moderate heat, stirring, for about 5 minutes. Cover and stir occasionally until the carrots are tender, about 5 more minutes. Stir in salt and pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and 1/3 a cup of ketchup. Cook for 1 more minute.

In a large bowl, combine the meats, eggs, bread crumbs, vegetables, and parsley. Form into a loaf and put into a rectangular baking pan with 2 inch high sides. Cover loaf with remaining ketchup.

Bake meat loaf in oven for 1 hour @ 350 degrees.

While I am waiting for this meaty thing to cook I sit down to finish the movie. John comes home from work and he watches the rest of the movie with me. The best part is about to happen as Chantal is getting ready to marry Eugene. Chantal's brilliant French mother, Germaine who is played by Micheline Presle, comes to her daughter and Chantal says that she is nervous to get married because she doesn't want to be dissapointed. Germaine then says,

"If you come to love and say please me,care for

me, fulfill me. You will be disappointed. It is

what YOU bring to love that matters.

Don't you disappoint love!"

You really must see how Micheline says it, it is simply magical. So, isn't that how love goes?

Effort.

Responsibility.

Accountability.

That is what I have seen to be true thus far in my 2 short months of marriage. Just like meatloaf doesn't make itself neither does a marriage. (of course unless all of the leftovers and elements combine in your refrigerator overnight...ew.) We can't expect to partake in a relationship if we aren't willing to do the work, measuring out the right amounts of discipline, patience, compromise, love and SO much more.

Really, this movie is a MUST SEE. If you want to borrow it let me know. It also teaches you how to train your husband to do just what you'd like him to, French women really know how to deal with the male species.

Here was the finished product.

Meatloaf or love...whichever you prefer.

What the *bleep* is cornstarch?!

Why did it take me 4 trips to the grocery to find

THIS?!?

Frustration.

What is it anyway? All I know is that I had a blueberry pie to make and I needed it.

Maybe this comes with being a new wife/homemaker but there are still some major things I am

learning about cooking and cleaning (john taught me to clean out the lent trap in the dryer and how to use dryer sheets. It's a wonder my clothes have made

it all these years.) Anyway, a few weeks ago I wanted to make a beef dish that called for cornstarch so I went to Walmart and it was no where to be found. I stood in front the flour and sugar for 15 minutes and stared and stared. I just knew that it had to be there somewhere! I called my mother...

"What the *bleep* is cornstarch???

She told me that I was in the right place and it would be near the flour. WRONG! So, I just assumed that they were out an I would just try again.

Kroger. No luck.

Kroger again. No luck.

Kroger again again!! Success!

All I had to do was turn around, it is NOT with the flour.

So, I got to do what I wanted to do, and here it is...

Blueberry Filling:

4 cups (570 grams) fresh blueberries

1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar

2 tablespoons (20 grams) cornstarch (corn flour)

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon lemon zest

*I tried to make my own crust first but then I burnt it so I had to start all over and just went with a Pillsbury crust. But here's the recipe anyway...

Short Crust Pastry:

2 1/2 cups (350 grams) all-purpose flour

1teaspoon salt

2 tablespoon (30 grams) granulated white sugar

1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, chilled, and cut into 1 inch (2.54 cm) pieces

1/4 to 1/2 cup (60 - 120 ml) ice water

The crust was amazing, I just don't know why it burnt in our oven.

Here is the demolished lemon which yielded a lovely zest.

The insides.

End product on my lap on the way to our new friends Adam and Kendra's house.

John's last piece.

Bye bye Miss American Pie.

The cornstarch was with the baking soda and powder by the way...

Parlez-Vous Français?

John really wants to learn French.

He is gearing up to go to college. He hasn't been in school since high-school because he served a mission for two years and then he came to Georgia to work for his uncle and then he swept me off of my feet. So, he's been pretty busy since graduation in '06. (Thats always weird for me to say because I'm an '05 girl myself, its okay I don't mind being a bit of a cougar)

A

n

y

h

o

w

He will be taking French this coming fall as he starts to school. He has recently become a French podcast addict. I hear him with his headphones on repeating words like, "Bonne nuit" "J'ai soif" "Ma Mere, Pere, frere, soeur" etc... It's utterly endearing. He really is getting the hang of it though, with the help that he is already fluent in another romance language. He leans over to me and says, "Ma femme..."

I melt.

So, the other night I am waiting for him to come home. Normally we have our "foxy boxy fan" running full speed in the apartment. This night I was giving her a rest and from our bedroom (on the 3rd floor) I hear a car pull up outside of our apartment. A blasting...

"Tres bien"

comes from outside and I know that it can be none else but my French obsessed husband. This guy is seriously committed. When he wants to learn something, he goes for it. It only further makes me giggle that the man from "Coffee Break French" is named Mark and he is from the great European country of..... Scotland? I am a little suspicious of what's being learned here. Hopefully his college professor will iron out the kinks.

Really though, it's precious, even if it is Scottish French.

My husband is obsessed with jalapeños

So, I guess this is what I get for marrying a man who served his mission in Mexico. Jalapeños in everything we eat. I have to buy them in bulk at Aldi. (Seriously, honest to good savings) It's worth our twenty minute drive to Woodstock just to buy our groceries from there.

Anyway, tonight was a delicious dinner, if you can consider it dinner at 4:45. John made us fried egg sandwiches with pepper-jack cheese and speared jalapeños. Seriously these things were the size of a fat person's pudgy fingers. He toasted the buttered and seasoned bread in the skillet. Yum!

I

was

proud.

However, I don't have a professional pepper eating mouth like Mr. Murphy. He is the champion of eating hot things. I struggled through the end of my sandwich, avoiding biting in to the peppers and just trying to swallow them whole!! I mean, come on, its just 4 inch jalapeños...

This was the final frontier....John says, "Just do it, its good for you!"...........

One massive glass of water later, all was good in the world.

I have a new last name.

John and I got married in the Orlando Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on May 27, 2010. We hear a lot of questions like,

"So, how is married life?"

Well married life is pretty incredible. Sometimes things feel really different and other times we feel like we just get to live with our best friend who we are just ridiculously attracted to.

I'm trying to get the hang of this wife thing. So far, so good. I like to cook dinner and clean and light candles in our fireplace. John is an excellent husband. Not a day goes by where he doesn't make me laugh, giggle, chuckle, or smile. I am definitely on my way to my goal of having some pretty stellar smile wrinkles when I am an old lady.

We love music. It challenges us and makes us feel alive in amazing ways. We like to improv with our friends and write music of our own. We like to come up with covers of other peoples things and play other tunes perfectly just the way they are.

John likes to eat.

A.

Lot.

(So do I.)

So, you will probably see a majority of the highlights of our lives in regards to culinary experiences.

Hooray for blogs. Let's see how this goes.