The Hiatus is Over

Back to the blogging world! It has been a hot and jam packed summer. Drake is walking (running really) and babbling all over the place, keeping me and my cowboy very busy. My main man has been occupied with the cattle and the end is finally in sight...shipping date is approaching. Translation for you big city girl (Teacup), we have fattened up the cows and its time to sell them to their next home, a feed yard. This is exciting because it means I will soon get my husband back. Speaking of my husband, he and I have been busy also...buckeroo 2 is due April 3rd...yee haw! Check out the pics below of Drake and I feeding the cows with daddy; one of Drake's favorite things to do!

Don't Forget the Sugar!

Although I was not there in person for the little Butterball's first birthday I was there in skype spirit thanks to the trusty internet! My Italian man and I woke up early Sunday morning so we could join in on the festivities which were taking place on Saturday night in Oklahoma. We stood in our Pajamas sipping our coffee while we watched the little Butterball dive into his bright blue cake. Thank You to the inventors of skype who made the moment possible! My dear Mother carried the computer around the party so that we could talk to all our friends and family who were there to celebrate the little man's first birthday. It almost felt like we were there except for the fact that I was in my PJs drinking coffee while everyone on the other side of the screen were drinking Margaritas. And Peanut the decorations looked amazing and the food looked tasty delicious! Can you post the Enchilada recipe for me?
On another note I awoke this morning and laid in bed and checked my email like I do every morning to see what photos Peanut sent me of the little Butterball. She sends me photos through out the day of the little man as I sleep on the other side of the world and when I wake up my inbox is full! However, this morning I did not get a photo of the littlle man but instead of some sort of congealed cookie mess with the heading "I tried your Anzac Cookie Recipe and this is what came out of the oven...." After I stopped laughing I got out of bed and called Peas to see what had happened, apparently she had forgotten to add the brown sugar....So people do not forget the Brown Sugar!
P.S. That did not Stop Peanut from eating the Brown Sugarless Anzac Cookie Mess....hehehehe

Drake is 1!

Our Cinco de Mayo boy turned one and we celebrated big with a Cinco de Mayo themed party in our backyard. It was wonderful! I decided to make everything for our guest of 40, with the help of my parents and Dan's parents of course! The menu included beef and chicken enchiladas, pulled pork, grilled corn on the cobb with lime, mexican style beans, black bean and corn salsa and all the usual Mexican fixings. It was all delicious and we have plenty of left overs. The decorations were easy and festive. If you every want to throw a Cinco de Mayo party here are a few things I recommend. Use sombreros as vases for plants, string Mexican flags across the yard, and hang lanterns from the trees. I also made a center piece with tissue flowers and used a huge sombrero as a chip bowl. It was easy and cheap decor, but ended up looking great!















Drake loved his cake and had help eating it by some of his friends and cousins. Teacup was even skyped in for the cake eating event...notice the computer in one of the pics!

The party was a hit, but I am definitely exhausted today. I cannot believe our baby is one....and sleeping thru the night...in his own crib I might add:)

Never Never Land

I hate that my little butterball is growing up so fast. It is hard to believe that he will be a year on Wednesday. Sometimes I wish I could move to Never Never Land with Peter Pan so he could be my baby boy forever. He is a precious little man!

Spring Has Sprung!

Now that my hubby and I are home owners with an actual yard, I have become quite fond of gardening. Beware...it is addicting! I have lately been consumed with researching, buying and planting flowers and herbs of all sorts. Our buckaroo was born on Cinco de Mayo, and believe it or not, there exist a Cinco de Mayo rose bush. I tend to have the philosophy "go big or go home", so in his honor I have planted 3 Cinco de Mayo rose bushes. They are currently blooming and gorgeous. My favorite however, has always been the Peony. It is such a romantic and feminine looking flower. We have one wonderful peony bush and I have 2 more yet to plant. I am by no means 'master gardener' status, but I am proud of what has been accomplished in our yard so far. My father in-law, the Big Cheese, is in the process of building us a raised bed garden for veggies. Stay tuned Teacup, for pics as we tackle that plot of dirt...can hardly wait!

My beloved peonies starting to bloom!

Drake is a little wet here from playing in the water hose but this picture makes me smile.

Anzac Cookie Discovery

I know it has been an absurd amount of time since my last blog but I have been busy busy re-painting our bedroom from the hideous blue paint disaster. Yes it was a lapse of judgement on my part when I thought it would be a good idea to paint the walls a blue tint which as it turns out caribbean blue once dried on a wall is really more like neon electric blue. So now that is behind me and I have moved on to cookies!

It was Anzac Day in Australia this Monday which is a day of remembrance for the Australian soldiers that fought in WWII. And thus I made Anzac Cookies which are so appropriately named since these are the cookies that were given to the soldiers in their care packages because they kept so well. And these cookies are finger lickin' good!! Peanut you have to make sure you eat them when they are warm and I suggest with coffee but thats just me. Paul and I had them for afternoon tea (its an Australian thing, they also do morning tea) with our cappuccinos and I had way way too many but hey it was Anzac Day so I was in the spirit (at least that is what I am telling myself)!

Anzac Cookies (a must eat)

Ingredients:

1 cup plain flour

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup shredded coconut

2 sticks of butter or 125g of butter

2 tablespoons golden syrup

1 tablespoon water

1/2 teaspoon baking soda (bicarbonate soda for all those Aussies)

Method:

1.) Sift the flour into a bowl. Add the sugar, rolled oats and coconut (Just put them in the kitchenaid and mix quickly).

2.) Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the golden syrup and water.

3.) Stir the baking soda into the liquid mixture.

4.) Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. (Mix in kitchenaid or by hand held mixer both work well)

5.) Place walnut/golfball sized balls of mixture on a greased tray/baking paper lined tray and bake at 175C (345F) for 15-20 minutes (Until nice brown).

Tip:

Beautiful and chewy straight from the oven, nice and crunchy when they cool. They will keep really well and if you want them crunchier use more golden syrup.

Pasta Extra Virgin Olive Oil Bliss

Well Peanut I am feeling pretty guilty seeing as how you have started the work out routine and I have just consumed not one but two bowls of pasta!! No one told me that when you marry an Italian they come with a disclaimer that reads "May cause spontaneous consumption of large quantities of delicious pasta" Yes, pasta night in our little abode has sadly come and gone once more and has filled our bellies to the brim and will hopefully keep us satisfied until next weeks pasta night. We ventured down to our little fresh food market or as Australians say Green Grocer and picked up wild field mushrooms, and fresh just rolled out peppercorn Pappardelle pasta (which is just a really wide flat pasta). From there we came home and Paul began to assemble his weekly masterpiece of tasty goodness. He always keeps what he is making me for pasta night top secret until he serves it to me in a bowl. Tonight he made Pappardelle Pasta with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, field mushrooms, fresh basil, fresh parsley, & topped it off with freshly grated parmesan cheese. Of course it was amazing made extra amazing by the olive oil that he used which of course comes fresh from his olive grove.....oh yes the man has an olive grove which produces the best olive oil I have ever laid taste buds on. His Mom and Dad slave away at the grove each year and every May we get freshly cold pressed olive oil from their grove. Me being an Oklahoma Girl with a Norwegian Mother means I was raised with all things butter!! Everything from the biscuits to the rice was made better with butter and then I met Paul and discovered quickly that not every family is alike especially when it comes to butter v.s. olive oil. In Paul's family even the cakes are made with olive oil and they do not take very kindly to someone asking for butter for their bread. Luckily Paul told me this before our first family dinner night. So Peanut with all this pasta eating I think I need to steal some work out routines of yours or maybe we can do a Skype work out session together? I have added the Paul's Pasta recipe for you below. It is very easy to make and if you can't find wild field mushrooms any mushrooms you can get your hands on will do. But remember what Julia Child told us in her cooking book...Don't Crowd the Mushrooms Ladies. Make sure you put a few sliced mushrooms in the pan to saute and make sure that each slice has plenty of room around it as to not crowd the mushrooms otherwise the pan will fill up with water from the mus

hrooms and it becomes a mess.

Paul's Pappardelle Pasta:

2 cloves of chopped garlic

2 handfuls of chopped fresh basil

1 handful of chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil plus more as needed

2 large field mushrooms sliced

1 packet of fresh pasta (serves two but double recipe for more and so on. If you cannot find fresh pasta then dried pasta works as well)

Put pot of water on to boil. And once boiling then put in fresh pasta while sauteing the mushrooms. If the pasta is not fresh and is dried pasta then put in pasta before you start to brown the mushrooms.

In a saute pan coat the bottom of the pan with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and saute the mushrooms and add salt and pepper. Brown the mushrooms and then add in the garlic and saute for 1 minute.

Once pasta is al dente then drain pasta and put the pasta into the pan with the extra virgin olive oil and the field mushrooms and mix all ingredients together.

Once mixed then serve pasta into bowls and sprinkle basil and parsley on top of the mixture and grate parmesan cheese on top and serve.