Dang Household Updates

I don't have any fancy photos to share, but thought a post with just text is better than no post at all!

These are some updates at the Dang House:

Chester:
- Chester has a new nickname - "little fish." This has somewhat disgusting origins as it's because he needs a bath and kind of smells like a fish. Regardless, I think it's adorable.

- He also enjoyed his first evening outside on his tie-out, always supervised of course, while I did some gardening (see below). He only had one barking incident and that was when the neighbor cat tried to come in his yard. He definitely protected the perimeter!

Adam:
- Adam is excited for his softball league to start up again next week. Last night, they practiced for a few hours. This year they will be playing Tuesday nights, instead of Monday, in a different city. He's been on the same team with his friends for the past two years now and always has a great time. Maybe they'll even beat their record from last year - I think they won one game all season? hahahaha

Stef:
- I was excited to finally get some of my raspberry canes in the ground last night. As previously mentioned, I think the lack of sunlight killed off the ones we inherited when we moved in. Raspberries are my favorite, so I ordered 15 new plants from an online nursery. They've been hanging out in a box in the kitchen since they came last week, so they needed to get in the ground. Chester was a big help last night as I planted - getting tangled up in his tie out, almost snapping some of the canes in half, and eating sticks.

- As far as my Europe trip obsession goes, I booked our flight from Paris to Dublin as well as our hotel for London. After much discussion, we decided on Premier Inn Leicester Square. I'm a little nervous because the hotel hasn't opened yet so there aren't any reviews online. But it's a chain so you pretty much know what to expect. I can deal with it because I liked the price and the location. It's just a few minutes walk from a few different tube stops AND will be within walking distance of all the shows I'm going to drag Adam too. Poor Adam, I think Les Mis scarred him for life. When my fam visited when I was studying abroad, we stayed near Trafalgar Square, which isn't far from this hotel, and really liked the area. Is it September yet? I'm probably the only person I know actually looking forward to summer being over!

- I also finally booked our hotel for Boston in August, so we're all set there and I did some more research and planned our itinerary for our Milwaukee weekend. Let's just say it's going to be full of beer (for Adam, I hate beer), beer tours, and baseball! I'm told that's a great combo.

Weekend Recap: Tulips, Earth Day destruction & Macarons

My kind of blah Friday was made cheery with "I love you" flowers from Adam. What a nice surprise! I was glowing all night.

Tulips are one of my favs! Beautiful AND unscented = no headache for me

Adam gave me his cold, so most of Saturday was spent lazily on the couch. I think I know the point of infection too. It was Friday night at bedtime, Adam handed me a glass of water to put on the nightstand and said, "You might not want to drink out of this because I'm sick." I drank out of it anyway. Brilliant!

I did manage to be a little productive and plant some seeds in preparation for our garden. I can't wait to watch the seedlings grow.

We celebrated Earth Day by cutting down some trees. It wasn't intentionally planned for Earth Day, just a amusing coincidence. As I've mentioned on multiple occasions, our backyard is a disaster. Prior owners (and we're guilty a bit too) allowed "weed" trees to grow wherever a lucky seed landed. It's a mess along our property line, and it was killing off my precious raspberry bushes by blocking the light. I ordered more raspberry canes to plant, but first we had to fix the cause of the problem. Enter Adam and the saw. It's still not beautiful, but it looks much better and allows a lot more light in. Even if it isn't quite as private (which is my excuse for letting it get out of control).

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Yeah, it still needs major help. The clearing of the brush made it obvious how horrible these blocks look.

The brush pile has grown significantly:

We also cleaned up more of the fence line, but I wasn't anticipating being that ambitious so didn't take any "before" photos. It's not even our stupid fence. UGH! There's still more to be done, but we're saving it for next weekend.

I still felt sick, but laying around was making me feel worse, so I decided to tackle a baking project - French Macarons. It was difficult. Stiff peaks refused to form in my first batch of egg whites + sugar + cream of tartar. So I was pretty excited when they formed quickly in my second batch. The only thing I could figure I did wrong in the first batch was not let the eggs get foamy enough before adding the sugar.

Excited for stiff peaks!

Then, I had issues with my piping bag. First it was really messy. Then, the regular tip wasn't big enough, and the only one big enough had a design. So my macarons are an odd shape. Oh well, they still tasted good. And the buttercream recipe I found wasn't the best. It was way too butter-y.

It made a big mess and was a big pain. I don't know if I'll be making them again...
Though it would be MUCH easier if I could find almond flour at the store instead of having to make my own (grind up almonds, sift, grind some more, sift, get almond chunks stuck in sifter, etc). They were really good though. I even got the elusive "foot" to form!

Yum... Macarons. Maybe next time I'll make some flavored ones.

Foodie Friday: Chicken Burrito Bowls

This was a super easy thing we made last night - Chicken Burrito Bowls. I prepped most of it the night before in like 15 minutes (which would have been shorter if I wasn't so psycho about getting all the scary nerves and tendons and blood spots out of raw chicken - appetizing, I know) and threw it in the crockpot.

This is what it looked like before being cooked - kind of scary...

When I got home, the kitchen smelled lovely. Adam whipped up some guac, and I made the rice. Instead of just plain rice, I made some Chipotle inspired lime cilantro rice.

Then, I threw everything in a bowl - rice on the bottom, chicken mixture, cheese, and guac. Yum!

Here's the actual recipe we followed:
Taco Chicken Bowls from Budget Bytes

A few changes I made-
- Used Salsa Verde (green) instead of regular red salsa. I prefer it, and it doesn't have the dreaded "red lines"
- Put in some chopped onion b/c we had it in the fridge to use up

For the rice, I used Jasmine rice. While it was boiling, I added lime juice. At the end, I added some chopped cilantro. Of course it wasn't as good as Chipotle's rice, but it had good flavor.

It had really good flavor, but wasn't very spicy. Next time, I'll probably use some more cayenne. We do love cayenne at The Dang's.

Snuggly Buppy

Chester is sure enjoying his dad being back home! There was a lot of squealing and wiggling when we walked in the door. And of course, lots of snuggling and watching baseball!

I love his furry little head

"Buppy" you ask?
Why yes, it's Chester's nickname #989,556
Bud + Puppy = Buppy
It was a lovely name that came out of my often dyslexic mouth a few weeks back, and it's really caught on in our house.

Missing Adam

Adam gets back today! I'm picking him up at the airport soon.

Chester and I got along fine, but it's much nicer to have Adam around!

I think the little guy missed his dad (and of course I missed him too).

Chester and I had snuggle time in bed while I read my book - 

Note he's on Adam's pillow

Weekend Recap: Girls (+Chester) Weekend while Adam's in Vegas

Our Friday night was pretty low key. We made dinner together, Adam packed for Vegas, I cleaned a bit, and Chester moped.

"Don't leave me dad!!"

On Saturday, I dropped Adam off at the airport at noon. It was a gorgeous day, so Chester and I enjoyed a nice walk. My mom and sister arrived around 2:30 for our Girls (+Chester) Weekend. Chester was really excited to see them. He was less excited when we left soon after for our 3:25 movie - Titanic in 3D. It was really good, but it's so sad and intense. I love that movie, but it makes me feel rather old. I remember going to see it a few times while it was in the theaters - FIFTEEN years ago!

That night, we ordered pizza from Savoy's and enjoyed it while watching a movie together - Twilight: Breaking Dawn: Part 1. It was laughably bad, yet entertaining. That book was completely ridiculous though, so I don't know why I was surprised. And Chester hated all the wolves. Like really hated.

We all slept in on Sunday morning, and then went to brunch at Meritage at 10:15. Oh how I love Meritage. Mom and Stine enjoyed it as well. Mom and I both had drinks - Bloody Mary for her and the Meritage Mimosa with blood orange for me.

With our yummy drinks

 They both had the French Onion Soup with small salad, while I had the Ricotta Cheese Blintzes with Cinnamon-apple compote & crème fraîche. They were really good, but they were very sweet and dessert like so I'm glad we also split an order of Pomme Frites.

Christine with her crock of French Onion and salad

My ricotta blintzes

What could be better than Pomme Frites with Bernaise!

 Of course we also had to get dessert! I shared creme brulee with mom, and Christine had a dessert that was like 3 cream puffs filled with ice cream and hot fudge drizzled on top. I think they were called profiteroles. Mom also got an orange blossom macaron which she shared with us. I love macarons. I need to learn how to make them!

Our dessert spread

What a fun brunch we had together!

 Next up was a trip to Gerten's Nursery to look around and get some plants. I got a lot of ideas for plants I want when we get the side of our house cleaned up more. There are so many options besides weeds!

My mom and sister left around 2. I'm so appreciative that they came up to visit and keep us company while Adam was out of town. It made it less lonely.

Chester and I had a nice afternoon together full of snuggling, playing and a few walks. It was really nice out until it stormed and got cold around 7:30. There were a lot of Titanic specials on because of the 100 year anniversary, so I watched a lot of them. I've always been fascinated by the Titanic, since I was pretty young - years before the movie came out.

I talked to Adam yesterday, and it sounds like they're having fun in Vegas for David's bachelor party. I remain jealous that I was not invited with. He sent a few photos as well -

Freemont Street

View from the 50th floor of the Rio - a club that was half inside and half outside

Dang Household Updates

A few updates on what's happening in our world!

Chester
- Chester loves his new CUZ toy he received from the Easter Bunny. It's become his new favorite bedroom play time toy (when we play, it's usually in the bedroom because it's the only room downstairs with carpet so he doesn't slide around too much).

- He lives for his twice daily walks. This morning, he insisted we stop and sniff every.single.tree!

Adam

- Adam is looking forward to his upcoming trip to Vegas with friends for a bachelor party. He leaves on Saturday and is back on Tuesday. We've all seen The Hangover, so as you can expect, I'm a little bit nervous...

Stef

- I'm busy obsessing over our Europe trip. As usual.
This week I booked our Paris hotel, Duquesne Eiffel, and our EuroStar train from London to Paris. I think Adam's getting sick of my constant questions about what he thinks about x hotel or location or train/flight time.
Here's our Paris hotel - http://hotel-duquesne-eiffel-paris.com/en/home
It looks like it's in a fun area, within walking distance of a few things we want to see, and close to a Metro stop. Christine stayed not too far away last summer and said there was lots to do in the Eiffel Tower area.

- I'm really looking forward to my mom and sister's visit tomorrow and Sunday while Adam's in Vegas. I'm sure I'll share all about it next Monday.

Weekend Recap: Easter in La C

Dearest blog readers,
Has it really been a week since I last posted?! Are any of you still reading?
I know I've been slacking in my blog updates lately. Adam and I started car pooling a few weeks ago, and I'm still getting used to the change in schedule. I promise to do better.

Moving on to the eagerly anticipated EASTER WEEKEND RECAP!

Adam and I both worked half days on Friday, so we were able to get back to La Crescent around 4. It was a beautiful day out, so we took advantage of the wonderful weather and went out on my parent's new pontoon boat. It was so warm I even took my shoes and socks off for a bit.

 It is a thing of beauty. All the loungers are so comfortable. As my dad said, "It's like riding down the river in your living room". I'm eagerly awaiting even nicer weather and many sunny afternoons out on it.

One of the back loungers (behind the driver's seat)

That evening, we had a fried food extravaganza at home. We had cheese curds, french fries, onion rings, dill pickles AND Christine's idea, deep fried double-stuff Oreos. YUM!

On Saturday morning, Adam and my dad did some fishing for a few hours. They couldn't stay out long though as my dad had to go in to work for most of the day. Adam and I did some relaxing at home with pug, and then went and visited my dad at work. We also did a little bit of antique shopping.

For dinner, we all went out to Manny's. Mom and I had the jumbo margaritas which were indeed, quite jumbo. I had the seafood burrito just like last time. It was delicious. Back at home, we played cards and relaxed.

Easter morning we got up early to see what the "Easter bunny" brought us.

I had a hard time finding all 10 of my eggs. As usual. But I actually found my Easter basket

AND Chester's quickly for once.

He was very interested to see what he got!

Chester had a good time playing with the plastic Easter eggs.

"I want to play with them SO bad"

And also barking at them...

 We went to mass and then returned home as mom's side of the family and some of dad's were coming over. It was nice to see everyone, but of course I ate way too much. There were so many good things!

Three different desserts. I tried them all. Of course.

Our little fam

We left around 3:30, and drove back to the cities. We dropped Chester off at Grandma and Grandpa L's, and then went over to join in the festivities with Adam's family.

What a busy yet fun family filled weekend!

I wish I would have taken more photos though... I'll just have to wait until I see my mom again and I can grab some of the ones she took.

Weekend Recap: Movies, Yard work, Family, Meritage

Friday night we went to the movies, The Hunger Games to be exact. I read the three books back in 2009 and 2010, so I don't remember exact details of the first book in order to compare it to the movie. Sometimes that's a good thing though as you aren't sitting there nit picking everything in the movie. I really enjoyed it, as did Adam (surprisingly). It was kind of long, but went by really fast.

On Saturday, we had a somewhat lazy day of watching movies and relaxing. Free STARZ movie weekend on DirecTV! Then we had Adam's family over in the evening for dinner. Adam grilled some delicious steaks along with asparagus and garlic bread. I made a Caesar dressing for our salad. Robin brought a yummy lemon dessert. We haven't had them over in a while, and it was nice.

Sunday we did some dreaded yard work. I think we FINALLY have all the random tires-used-as-landscaping-in-our-yard up. Thank goodness. We even discovered some in the lawn we didn't even know were there! We also worked hard on removing all the mutant vines along the fence. It looks better already, but there's still so much to do. We inherited a bit of a yard disaster when we bought the house.

Why yes, all these lovely tires were buried in our side yard. Lovely. The branches in the back are about 1/3 of the
vines we pulled off the fence. Whose fence is it though? Ours or our neighbors?

That evening, we went out for dinner just the two of us to our favorite restaurant, Meritage in St. Paul. It was delicious, as usual. To start, we each had an order of Soupe à l’Oignon Gratinée which was delicious but huge. I was practically full with just that. I also had one of my favs, a Foie Gras Macaroon. For our main course, I had the Moules Frites (Mussels steamed with smoked pancetta, garlic, tomato & white wine. Served with house-cut pomme frites) and Adam enjoyed the Lacquered Breast of Wild Acres Farm Duck (Vanilla scented winter fruit, pomegranate gelée, celery root, cabbage, pomme dauphine & sauce Madeira). I didn't try his, but mine was amazing. There are so many wonderful things to try on their menu, but I would still get it again. Yum.

Self portrait of us after Meritage - not the best of me, but I'll deal