29 February, 2012

Food For Thursday- Our Wedding Cake


Since getting the stomach flu on Monday night, I have not wanted to think, smell or eat any food.  Ugh, even as I write this my stomach is turning thinking about eating anything more than saltines and frozen fruit.

So, obviously my Food for Thursday posting has not been easy.  I was so thankful to come across The Magnolia Pair's link up party on Wedding cakes!  Cake is food!  And, I write about food on Thursdays!

I don't particularly like desserts, I will almost always pass up dessert for a bowl of popcorn.  So, I was not that into picking out our wedding cake.  It was on the bottom of my wedding to do list.  I was working with our stationary designer, MaeMae Paperie, and my very good friend, she had sent me a several story boards to pick from to help her with the invitations design.  It was on one of these story boards I found that cake I could not live with out!!

See it?  Left hand side, second picture down?!!
Our wedding Venue was at East Lake Resort, up in the mountains of Oregon on a forest lake, yup those places do exist.  Was wanted a rustic and elegant wedding and I did not think any cake would be more perfect. I found a local gal in Bend, OR that said she could make my cake.  How do you think she did?

Didn't it look even better than the original picture?  I was so pleased!!
I didn't really care about the taste of the cake, only the look.  Good thing Kev did the tasting to make sure it would be as tasty as it was beautiful!
Kev wanted pumpkin spice cake and I wanted Red Velvet, so we had sheet cakes and the tiers made of both
We could not figure out how to cut the cake...
Our moms told us to play nice...

Some call it tacky, we call it having fun!
Oh, and did you check out our cake topper?
This fits our personality perfectly!
Always pinching my hot man to make sure he is real!


One day I will get around to posting more pictures of our wedding! The cake was only a small part of how amazing our wedding was! Happy Thursday!

28 February, 2012

Not a Healthy 2012



2012 has not been a healthy year for me. I have been sick three times in less than two months into the year. Geesh, my poor body!

Right after Christmas I got a nasty cold, then a month ago I got a nasty cold. But, last night I was reintroduced to my dinner, several times. Making those nasty colds not look so nasty.

I don't even remember the last time I had the stomach flu. It was probably when I was little yelling for my mom while running to the bathroom. She would sit there rubbing my back and holding my hair, which always made things better.

Now, that I am married I was more concerned that Kev-0:

A. Would sleep all the way through the night and wake up rested for work.

B. I didn't want him so see his bride clinging to our porcelain bowl.
(sorry I didn't have these same thoughts when I was a little girl, mom)

When Kev woke up and realized I had been sick all night and was still sick his thoughts were:

A. What can I do to make Tiff feel better?
B. I will do anything to make Tiff feel better.

With out asking anything of him, Kev was bring fresh glasses of water to the bathroom. Tickling my tummy, telling me stories and jokes. Reading to my out of my book. And bringing me heart shaped ice to suck on.

Thank you to my parents who taught me selflessness so I could recognize it in my husband.



24 February, 2012

Our Maui Trip in Pictures

Here it is, our trip! So, for those who don't know about 6 weeks ago I told Kev I was planning a secret trip for he and I.  6 loooooooooong weeks went by and our secret trip finally arrived.  The taunting would soon be over for poor Kev.  I woke him up at 4am on Friday February 17th, told him his bags were packed and I needed him to drive us to the airport.
Kev at the airport.  He still didn't know where we were going and he was getting a little impatient waiting for the surprise.
We took a flight from PDX to San Jose.  Kev was even more confused.  He had no idea why we would be flying to San Jose.  While we were in the San Jose airport he asked what we were to do next.  I told him we could grab some breakfast because...... OUR FLIGHT TO MAUI WOULD NOT LEAVE FOR 3 HOURS!!!!!!!!!!!  After 6 weeks of waiting he was finally able to be excited about our trip!
Us waiting at the San Jose Airport, excitedly talking about all the things we wanted to do!

We decided to help pass the time by watching "50 First Dates" to put us in the Maui mood!

Finally on the plane... we survived the three hour layover, now we had to survive the 5 hour flight! We were aching for the beach!


Almost 12 hours of traveling and we made it to Maui!!!!

By 4pm, Maui time, we were on the beach!!
This is where we wanted to be!!

After we got our fill of the beach we headed to the pool! I know, hard life!
My hottie man!
On Friday, our first day we went to the beach and then the pool and then back to the beach, it was exhausting!!

I never slept so hard!!
The next couple of days were filled with swimming with turtles, kayaking with the whales, body surfing in the waves, reading in the pool! We need a waterproof camera so we can capture our water adventures!!

Snorkeling in Turtle bay!

Kev told me not to put on my flips until I was in the water, I didn't listen.  Have you ever tried to wear your flips on dry land.  Not easy!
After snorkeling we decided we needed some more pool time!

To take a break from the sun we grabbed some ice cream! I don't eat ice cream, I only order the waffle cones! So yummy!
Kev didn't tell me I had chocolate on my face!

                     On our last day in Maui we headed to Lahaina for a deep sea fishing trip! 

We spent a lot of time keeping Kev's skin safe!

On the fishing boat!

Hoping to bring in a 700lb Marlin!

Kev enjoying the view!
While Kev was enjoying the open sea, this is what I was doing....
I was trying to keep my food down....
and soon I was found doing this...
basically, I took a very expensive nap!
I had never been so excited to be on dry land!  I hope Kev still enjoyed himself!  We did get to see a lot of whales while out on this dreadful boat!

We had an amazing time!! We could not have asked for a better trip! We miss you Maui!


life rearranged

23 February, 2012

Food for Thursday- Our Maui Eats

Be prepared, this is a long post!  But, there are pictures!

OK, how many times have I written about how much I like to eat?  A lot, right?  But, I seriously love to eat.  I love to cook, try new foods, eat at restaurants, and gorge myself until I am going to pop.  I am working on the last one, I know I won't have my 26 year old metabolism forever!

Anyhoo, I still haven't given you a full rundown of mine and Kev's Maui adventure. So, I thought today I would give you a rundown of what we ate in Maui.  If no one else enjoys this post, I know my dad will.  He probably likes to eat more than I do!

Friday
Breakfast
This is in the San Jose Airport right after Kev found out were we were going! I was excited too, even though it doesn't look like it!
We ate breakfast burritos.... airport food. That is all I am saying.  Not the best meal of the trip!

Lunch was never eaten, time change and Alaska not serving meals on their flights messed us up.

Dinner the first night we ate at an amazing restaurant at our Hotel.  Nick's Fish Market.
It was amazing! So amazing in fact, I forgot to take pictures!  We ate freshly caught fish, fresh green salad, and Escargot!  I loved it, I am serious!   It was my favorite meal of the week! Plus, the sunset that night was gorgeous!

Saturday
Breakfast
We bought breakfast food when we arrived and had breakfast on our balcony every morning!  How do you like that?!

Lunch
For lunch I had an amazing grilled maui maui and Kev got a fish sandwich.  We both loved it!  Plus, great people watching.  Oh, and I had the best ice tea of my life there!! Incredible!!
Lunch was at the Pupu Lounge in Kihei.  I was reluctant to go there for two reasons: 
  1. We went into Kihei to eat at my all time favorite restaurant and it was shut down!! Gone, forever.  So I had no choice but to eat somewhere else.  
  2. The name of the restaurant is Pupu, not so appetizing.

See, my beloved Alexander's is gone! My heart was broken!

Snack time
You can't go to Hawaii without getting a Shave Ice.  Yes, it is called Shave Ice.  Kev refuses to call it by its proper name. I got coconut and pineapple.  Tropical flavors for a tropical vacation.
Kev didn't want to pay for water and sugar, so he got himself a cookies and cream shake.  I may have even heard him say this was the best shake he has ever had.  Do you think our surroundings may have influenced that?
If you know Kev, you know that this picture represents all things he loves.  Ice cream in hand, shirt off in public, cuisin in warm weather, his girl in the next seat! 

Dinner at Longhi's (this was Kev's favorite meal of the week) Poor Kev, I was so tired this night I felt drunk.  I think I was interesting company for dinner. Oh, and I tried to take pictures.  It was way too dark!


Sunday
I don't know what happened to Sunday, but no pictures were taken.
Breakfast on the balcony
Lunch at hotel swim up bar
Dinner at 5 palms.We knew they had a delicious Sushi Happy hour and the restaurant sits on the ocean, bonus!


Monday
Breakfast on the balcony
Lunch at Subway on the way to Lahaina.  This lunch almost went into the ocean.  Tell you more tomorrow.

Dinner
This was our last supper.  We were in Lahaina and had tons of restaurants with ocean views to choose from!  We both ordered maui maui pineapple tacos! Yumm-o!!
We chose the Mai Tai Lounge, interesting we chose this restaurant of all places because we don't drink and it was voted "Best Mai Tai in Maui."  But, look at the view!

Last by not least we stopped at a mini mart on the way to the airport! I must have my favorite Hawaii snack!  Spam Musubi!
See the delicious treats in the deli case?!

See me and all my dirtiness salivating before eating my snack?!
I am going to admit my little secret, I LOVE SPAM! I even make spam for dinner for Kev and I.  Does it make you feel any better that I buy the low sodium spam?  No, probably not.  But, I Love it anyways and by the way Kev gobbles it up, I think he loves it also! I apologize to our mothers.  We do eat healthy most of the time.

When I make Spam Musubi at home, I use the recipe I found on Hungry Foodies Pharmacy.  The only difference is I don't wrap it into a neat little package. 

Ingredients
1/2 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
4 tablespoons sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons mirin
1 can Low Sodium Spam, sliced into 8 equal pieces
2 cups white rice, cooked

  1. To make the marinade, combine the sugar, mirin, and soy sauce in a small bowl.  Whisk to dissolve sugar completely.
  2. Lay the sliced spam pieces in a shallow baking dish and pour marinade over spam.  Marinade for about an hour.
  3. It is frying time.  Over a medium heat lay the spam pieces in a non-stick frying pan.  Fry each side about 3 minutes, or until the side has turned a darker share of brown.  The sugar burns easy, so be careful to to cook to long.
  4. When the spam is done frying, lay the cooked pieces on top of the cooked white rice and enjoy!
Dinner is served!!

We ate good in Maui!

19 February, 2012

Still having fun!

We head home on a Redeye Monday night. Vacations never seem long enough. I will give a full report later this week. Until then, Kev and I are soaking up ever last drop!

18 February, 2012

Surprise Trip!

This sneaky wife surprised her husband with a trip to Maui! Do you think he will like it?!

17 February, 2012

Best. Week. Ever.

I knew this was going to be a fun week, but I had no idea it was going to be this awesome!  Let me give you a run down of what I experienced this week.

Monday- Family Dinner

Mom, Dad, Dan, Sarah, Bug, Linds, Aiden, Kev-o and I.  Almost the whole gang!

Oh yeah... how annoying! I forgot to take a picture! Ugh.  Well it was a delicious meal, and we had a delicious time!

Tuesday- Valentines Day
I was in charge of festivities, Kev was in charge of dinner! We wanted something at home and easy! I think we accomplished it!
If you are related to Kev and I, don't look! But, I mean, we are married, what do you expect?
I am not just saying this.  Kev could not have picked a better dinner for me! I love this junk!!!
Valentine cuddles, McDonald's, cheese popcorn, X-Men Movie.  Best Valentine's Day ever!
Wednesday- The Big 2.6
Best way to start off my Birthday morning.  Oh, and look at my Valentine's Day gift! Bible Commentary!
I was pleasently surprised to see my hubs stumbling out of the bedroom at 5:30am to make me breakfast! It was a delicious Ham, and asparagus strata.  Yes, it was amazing!

Then I had to go into work on my birthday, but not to worry, I was spoiled rotten.  I was showered with singing, gifts, cards birthday wishes and more singing.  Oh yeah, and Heidi and I took about a two hour lunch and got a pedicure! Not so bad.

I got home around 5:30pm to homemade appetizers made by my Kev-0.  He is turning into quite the cook, Kathy you would be proud. Then I was whisked away to dinner.
VQ in their wine cellar.  The company was the best!  Oh and look at the right hand corner!! hahaha, don't you love it?!!

To finish the night we met my parents at our house to open gifts and eat a little dessert! Again, I was spoiled rotten!
Kev delivering the dessert.  See the orange.  He was trying to trick me into thinking it was dessert by cutting it fancy.

My sister made me this! I wish you could see it better.  It is so cool.  PS- see my dad in the background, bahahaha!!
Stove top popcorn popper from the in laws!!! I LOVE popcorn.  Sometimes I eat it for dinner...
I am so blessed by so many wonderful people in my life! Thank you for making me feel so special!

Oh and the best part of my birthday was....
Oh yes, that happened!

Thursday- Secret Vacation
Several weeks ago, I asked Kev if he could take Friday, February 17, off.  I have a surprise for him.  I am taking Kev-o on a secret vacation.  I hope it is still secret, he has been asking me a MILLION questions about it the last couple of days.  Stop it! I don't want to try and lie to you!  All I am saying is it is going to be awesome!
I will let you know where we end up, after Kev finds out!!! Have a great weekend, I know we will!

life rearranged