Baby Cheeks October 19, 2009

snuggie wrap

So I’ve been trying to set up my own shop for a couple of months now on Etsy and I’ve finally buckled down and set up my page. It took so long! I didn’t expect the process to be so tedious. If it wasn’t for my sister who walked me through the entire thing. She makes some spiffy necklaces and earrings. Check her out!

Anyways, my shop right now consists of only 3 items, possibly 4 by tomorrow and is soley newborn clothes and accessories. I’ve decided to name it Baby Cheeks and this all started when I got pregnant when we moved here to Jacksonville in April and I couldn’t find a job since I didn’t want to lie and tell people I could only work for a short time. Plus, who is really going to hire a pregnant lady anyways?

Here’s my products so far. The snuggie wrap unfolds into a square that’s lined with an off-white fleece and a hoodie that is also lined as well. The outer material is cotton and on the back are 2-2 inch button holes that the tie for the snuggie goes through to adjust for the perfect fit for your baby.The Olive Fern Kimono is for a newborn and it has long sleeves and long pants. It ties on the left side and also has a tie on the inner right side that is not visible from the front to hold the top sturdy and in place. The pants stretch since they have an elastic waist band.

Here’s my products so far. The snuggie wrap unfolds into a square that’s lined with an off-white fleece and a hoodie that is also lined as well. The outer material is cotton and on the back are 2-2 inch button holes that the tie for the snuggie goes through to adjust for the perfect fit for your baby.

The Olive Fern Kimono is for a newborn and it has long sleeves and long pants. It ties on the left side and also has a tie on the inner right side that is not visible from the front to hold the top sturdy and in place. The pants stretch since they have an elastic waist band.

And lastly, my third item is a yellow Kimono with dragonflies on it with a brown leaf trim and binding. Please check out my site and remember Christmas is coming up! Have a fantastic day!

Home, family and stress all in a week October 17, 2009

What do you know? I actually won something! Something COOL! All thanks to She Runs, She Eats. It was such a nice treat to hear that I won something, especially from Christina! She’s such a talented blogger, foodie and runner and I admire her strength in her running. So inspiring! I had never heard of Clif making drinks, but I have always LOVED their power bars. So delish! Christina sent me actually 6 bars, though I only took a picture of 4 of them because well…..we got back from Whidbey at midnight and we had not eaten since 11am so we were ravished and what a treat to have something to eat when we got home! lol. No, really! It was a blessing! So thank you thank you Christina. The clif drinks are a little

different. Not quite like powerade or gatorade because it’s not that sweet at all. Just a hint of sweetness yet a little fizz to it but it’s not carbonated. If I had run a marathon I bet that would be refreshing! My favorite clif bar? Oh that’s hard to decide! I love all of them quite frankly.

Family!

Our family came up to Whidbey Island from Portland, OR. Around about a 4-5 hour drive. We were really glad that they could make it because we hadn’t seen them for a long while! I missed my sister SO much. It was so good to see them! Here we are on the beach sitting on a huge beach log.

My mom, mother-in-law and I

Outside Knead & Feed restaurant where we ate brunch on Sunday morning. It was a beautiful chilly west coast morning!

Tiff & I

My older half! Only 11 months older than me! In this picture she was trying to stick her belly out like my belly is sticking out! lol

huh?

Yeah we look a little dull in this picture. That was the point! The guy on the wall was quite dull looking so we tried but I ended up laughing! Look how big my belly is!

Beautiful shadows

My sisters photography skills is amazing! Her camera isn’t too shabby either!

Our very first home!

And here! This is what we came to Whidbey for! Our very first home purchase! We love this home and can’t wait to get in it but we have had a stressful week back in Jacksonville when we got back. I can’t go into detail but basically some circumstances has prevented our move at the time we are hoping for. We don’t have any information as to when we will be able to move now, if we are even able to move at all. That is the scariest part. On top of this, we have to move out of our house at the end of this month, find a place to rent (which is right next door but considerable smaller), and wait for word on when and if we can move.  Not only that, I only have a small window now with the pregnancy as to when I can safely travel. Past November, I don’t think I can physically handle the coast to coast drive with the penske truck. If that time passes, I won’t be able to move until I give birth after January. It’s just a lot ot think about and I know that Gods hand is on all of this. I know he will give us what He knows is best for us, even if it may not be what we want. That’s the hardest thing you know. Letting go of the earthly things and accepting what He has planned for us even though in the long run we know it is the best and only way things will work out. We just need alot of prayer about our situation. Paying for rent and a mortgage in a house we’re not living in is financially stressful. All in all, we take things day by day right now.

A showered Baby September 30, 2009

Not sure what it is but just recently, it has really hit me, and hit me hard that the baby is seriously coming. It’s not stopping for anyone and I’m the one incubating it’s growth. It was quite early on in my 1st trimester that I had an inkling that our baby would be a boy, though most everyone thought it was a girl since I was craving spicy foods, and since the babys heartbeat was 150/min an oldwives tale tells us that it is destined to be a girl. Even Brandon was dreaming about a baby girl, though when the sex ultrasound revealed we were having a boy…his face just lit up! I’ve never grown up with anyone except my sister, so I have NO idea how a little boy develops, what they do, how they play and I certainly need to get used to the whole “grabbing” themselves when they are still so young.

Our good friends Rob and Cye hosted a multi-pregnant ladies baby shower this past Saturday. They did an amazing job with the decor, the games and the food. I can’t imagine how much they had to spend on it but it was such a fun time and just being gathered together with all our friends was really nice.  The gifts were amazing and it was a triple whammy when I opened the gifts and saw everything blue, everything trucks and tractors and everything so…ungirly. I know it sounds terrible. I love our gifts there is no doubt about it, but as much as I had mentally prepared myself for a boy, it was hard. Baby girl clothes are so adorable, so frilly, so pretty. They get to wear bows in their hair, cute little heels and those dresses. They are so adorable! I am however excited to see Benton. I can’t believe I love something that I haven’t physically touched and seen really besides pictures. I still get excited when he squirms and kicks and punches me and I find myself imagining what he could possibly be doing in there. It’s amazing that something is growing inside me, that my belly is capable of stretching to this capacity and more yet.  God really thought of everything when he made us. It’s incredible what is happening to me, to us!

I happened to have so much scrap material from making snuggie wraps and such that I could make an entire playtime quilt for Benton. It took a couple days to put together, not too long but cutting and placing the pieces together took some time, but the hardest part about it was the binding I had to put around the edge of the blanket. With the backing and the front and the padding inbetween PLUS the binding material, it was SO thick by the time I sewed it together that I was so afraid it was going to tear apart my machine. I would hope not since it was rather costly of a machine but who knows! I don’t really feel like bringing it in to get fixed. Who knows how long that would take!

Oh I forgot to put up 2 other ultrasound pictures of Benton, so here goes nothing!

Look at those quads!

Donuts made healthy-er September 24, 2009

This week was a big week for the Husband and I, so I decided to bake some donuts from 101 cookbooks. She has the best blog ever and her recipes are always so delicious! Definitely worth a try and so much less complicated and messy than frying a donut. I made these in 3 hours, perfect timing for when Brandon came home from school. I really can’t believe that all his training has come to an end! He’s officially done with all his flight training events and I couldn’t be prouder of him. He’s been studying non-stop literally the past 3 years through training. It’s been quite the ride. Here’s a quick recap of the past 3 1/2 years that we’ve been married.

June 17th 2006

We arrived in Ohio via roadtrip 7 days after we got married and Brandon started his Masters program in Aeronautical engineering. As much as people badmouth Ohio, that is my favorite state so far that we have lived. I had an awesome job and we never ran out of things to do while we lived there.

June 2007

We moved to Pensacola, FL where Brandon starts his primary training flying the T-34. This is the stage all pilots start out at whether you get selected for P3s, Helos, or Jets at the end. Brandon, as most pilots wanted to go Jets. In the end, he was selected for P3s which has been so beneficial for our young marriage. It is a more family friend atmosphere and community. I started Pastry school and worked at my suckest job EVER.

July 2008

Hopped on over to Corpus Christi, TX for Advanced flight school where they flew the T-45 and I worked at a French Bakery while finishing up Pastry School. I liked Corpus, though was sick of this southern heat. Brandon gets his wings and goes off to SERE. Longest 2 weeks ever!

April 2009

Moved back over to FL, this time to Jacksonville. I heard many great things about Jacksonville, which I have yet to fully agree with. It’s not bad, but it’s no West Coast. Found out right the day that Brandon started P3 training that we were pregnant! Spent half the time here nauseous, itching with heat rashes (UGH! THIS HEAT!), having a hard time breathing, and most of the time I spent gaining weight and eating. ;-b Brandon finishes up P3 training.

I am grateful that he is done with training now. He’s been under continuous pressure, and sometimes events don’t get well and I don’t have the words to comfort him as much as I try. He puts so much pressure on himself and I just wish he knew how amazingly intelligent he really is. You should see their manual. It is the depth of the length of my foot. (size As good as it is that he is done training, I think this is where it gets tough for me. Granted, his deployment schedule is 2 months out, 2 months in, I just don’t know how I am going to do it. I know the baby will keep me busy for sure to even think of being lonely but crawling into bed at night by myself, with the cold sheets and no one to cuddle with and say my goodnights to is daunting. I can only pray for strength during this time.

Anyways! Another good news. I took my citizenship test and interview yesterday and I haven’t been tested in a while. Since I finished pastry school anyways and my heart was beating. Thank goodness the guys was super duper cool and the questions he asked wasn’t the toughest ones he could have asked. So, I passed! Yippe! We’re gonna go celebrate tomorrow night. We hardly ever go out to dinner cause we’re both pretty picky and we get so disappointed when we get bad food at good restaurants, that we prefer to eat at home most of the time. So this will be a real treat except that I need to find a dress I still fit into. lol. OH! And my friend Cye and Rob are throwing a gigantic Baby shower for 4 of us pregnant P3 wives. I’m the farthest behind the rest of the girls but we all know the sex of our babies. We’re going to be celebrating 1 girl and 3 boys. This must be the year for boys because other people who have had babies lately all have had boys too. They say that P3 guys usually don’t have boys because there’s this box inside the plane that they sit on that supposedly “kills” the male sperm. Well, I guess thats not true anymore! lol.

Mt Adams and the Whoopie September 20, 2009

Mt Adams

I feel like a giant walking belly. Sometimes I feel like the only thing I am is a walking belly without a head, arms and legs. It’s uncomfortable. I waddle, I can hardly wear my heels anymore and when I run, I feel like people are laughing because I am running so slow and I wonder if they think I just have a huge gut. I have been wishing for my old belly back for a past week. I would never by any means give up my baby of course and I love to feel him kickin and squirming inside. That’s the only time I love being this huge.  *sign* I wonder now, looking back at pictures of my belly, why I thought I had a huge belly. I miss getting up and out of bed with ease, I miss feeling womenly even though this is as womenly as a women can get. lol. I am just afraid once the baby is here that I won’t have time to devote to running anymore and I hate that I am going to have to start from scratch again. Working up to running at a good speed and ease is SO difficult for me to attain. I remember when I first started running 6 years or so ago, I could hardly run 10 minutes without having to stop. That was tough but at the height of my running capability, I was able to run 5 miles in 45 minutes with shin splints. I know it’s not a fast time by any means but it sure beats running 1 1/2 miles in 20 minutes like I am right now. My belly button is starting to get pulled out. I love my innie. It’s hard to watch it slowly disappear. It’s getting smaller and smaller by the day and soon it’ll be poppin out instead. I know I sound horribly sad, but I’m not. I just miss my old body. Pregnancy is awesome, just knowing and feeling my baby inside me is quite an experience words can’t effectively describe. It’s just those moments of an unruly bladder, a semi-functioning colon, and gasping for air-I-can’t-breathe times when I get so exhausted and tired I wonder if I am strong willed enough to last through labor. Usually, my belly is the only pregnant belly I see at home (obviously!) and I feel enormous. Then I go to church, visit my pregnant friends and am reminded, I still have SO much more to grow. I am afraid of what the scale is going to say at my next appointment. Then I see the ultrasounds of Benton and my heart melts and I can’t get enough of him. I imagine a mini Brandon and I giggle and think ‘I’m going to have 3 boys soon.’ Leben (our doggie) will chase Benton, Benton will chase Brandon and they’ll all play together with Legos. While mommy relaxes outside in the cool breeze of WA with an iced latte in her hand. Sure, that’s a few years down the line when I’ll probably be pregnant with our second baby but HEY! A girl can dream!

Pumpkin whoopie pie

I’m slowly getting back into the swing of things. By that I mean, baking and blogging. I’ve been in such a rutt since I got pregnant with baking that if my heart isn’t fully in it, I don’t get the results I am looking for. So I gave up for a while. Slowly, it’s coming back, just in time for us to pack up all our stuff and move again! Perfect timing! With catalogs coming in the mail advertising for the upcoming holidays, I feel all tingly inside with thoughts of hot apple cider, sitting next to the fire place, cuddling with the husband, thoughts of a Christmas tree and time with the family makes me think of food. Food and Pumpkin. I always make pumpkin muffins whenever I think of pumpkin, so this time I decided I would make something different so I went to Nestles website (they obviously make Libbys pumpkin puree) and I found this yummy Pumpkin Whoopie Pie recipe. They’re suppose to make mini whoopie pies but my patience is thin and not wanting to totally destroy these I opted for giantosaurus sized whoopie pies. It kinda resembles my tummy as of late, so it makes perfect sense! They’re delicious and so easy to make. I recommend this to anyone who has 30 minutes to spare! Enjoy guys!

International Baby September 19, 2009

Time is flying by! I can hardly believe that I am in my 6th month of pregnancy already and I can’t believe how much fat I have accumulated this past month. Running to getting harder and harder. Now that my belly is really big enough to throw my center of gravity off, I’ve noticed how much harder my calves and my feet have to work for each stride! My calves ache and my flat feet feel so tight by the first couple of blocks that sometimes I feel embarrassed at the pace I run. lol. Leben is so good with me when I run. He loves to go fast but he runs alongside me pretty well at my pace. There’s definitely no way I would run by myself in Jacksonville without him. I tried once and that was NOT a good idea. Thank goodness they were hauling their mowers and I don’t think they could have caught up with me hauling the mower though I had to really bite my lip not to say anything in response. People make me mad sometimes and I know I could never physically win so I try not to say anything at all and just let them think they are all that and a bag of crushed chips. :-b

23 week baby bump!

Back to time flying by so fast lately, Brandon has 2 events left! WHOOHOOO! Which means we are THIS much closer to moving to Whidbey. We are planning on taking a trip to Whidbey to go house-hunting between Oct 1-15 and hopefully we will find a house that we really like. I’m really stressed about this move. I am not sure what we are going to do with Leben when we go house-hunting. I truly don’t trust vet boarding anymore, plus he never eats when we board him but I don’t want to have our friends watch him for 15 days. That’s a lot to ask of anyone and he’s not neutered so he likes to mark when we aren’t watching even though he knows he gets in trouble.  Then we have to decide whether we want to spend $500 to fly him out to Whidbey for the actual move or take him in the Penske truck with us, which would not be the best idea because he takes up the whole half of the bench seat and I would be uncomfortable to begin with with this belly of mine. It’s a 5 day 13 hour a day drive to get there on time so it’s definitely not a relax, site seeing type of roadtrip. Of course flying him would be easiest but he has anxiety problems and I would be constantly worried about him and how his heart is doing when he’s in the  plane without us. I just don’t want him stressed out either. I’m also concerned about hospitals along the way on our roadtrip if sometimes should arise. I pray that it won’t but you know me, I’m a stress-aholic. I’ve been waking up the past 3 nights and not able to fall back asleep because I keep worrying about these things. I know it’s crazy to worry about it but I’m a tense perso.

Marmalade and Strawberry Scones

Scones

Well back to food! Benton really is on the frequent flyer miles already! He’s got a taste for the internationl. He craves every type of food except Mexican. Though mommy doesn’t like Mexican either. 2 weekends ago we had our weekly girls prayer group on Saturday and I thought I would bake some scones. Well…Benton told me through my stomach to bake some scones lol.  I got this recipe from Joy of Baking which is one of my favorite baking sites. Her recipes NEVER fail and they always turn out so tasty!

2 C A.P Flour
1/4 C white sugar
1 ts baking powder
1/4 ts baking soda
1/4 ts salt
1/2 C unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces
2/3 C buttermilk
1 ts pure vanilla extract

Jam/Preserves for topping

Egg mixture for top of scones:
1 large egg, light beaten
1 tbs milk/cream

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In mixer, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt then add in butter cubes until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add buttermilk and vanilla extract and mix until dough just comes together.
3. Transfer to lightly floured counter and knead 4-5 times and pat dough into a circle 7 in round and 1 1/2 in thick. Cut into 8 pieces and transfer to baking sheet, brush the tops of the scones and make a dip on the base of each scone with a spoon and fill with jam.
4. Bake for 18-20 minutes and let cool!

Serving: 8 scones

OH Here it is! September 15, 2009

Proof of his boyhood. :-b

Well the time finally arrived when we found out what our little baby is! It was definitely the most amazing experience to be able to see our baby squirm and move around in there! I wish I had my own ultrasound machine so I could watch our little baby Boy clown around all day long.  He had kept me up all night long so neither one of us got much sleep but he was sure ready for a nap when it was time to be photographed! We had to poke him and jiggle him around to wake him up.

Here’s an ultrasound of him yawning cause we were making a bunch of noise and laughing. Poor baby. All he wanted to do was get some nap time in for that growing body of his. I find him to be a very very adorable baby, as all mothers probably do of their own baby but quite frankly, the headshots freaked me out a little. It makes the baby look freakishly scary when all you see of their head is the eye sockets and the jaw lines and such.

It was almost bittersweet to see his big foot and teeny little toes. We had been looking forward to this experience for what seems like a long time and although I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it, it was also the last time we would get to see our baby for the rest of the pregnancy. Being in the military does have it’s perks of course. All our medical expenses are paid for so nothing out of pocket but at the same time, only necessary ultrasounds are done and so since my placenta looked good and there doesn’t seem to be anything that the Technician caught (though we still have to talk to the doc), it is the 2nd and final ultrasound of Baby Benton. From what I have heard anyways, normal hospitals offer more ultrasounds but it is out of pocket I believe.

And so, a new life is in the making yet it brings to my mind a couple of things that make life hard and easy when living in the midst of the military. I am not complaining mind you, it is a wonderful admirable thing that my husband and his fellow military brothers and sisters are doing and it is amazing that they think it hard for spouses. It’s a relief that from the first days we got married, all the officers that I have met have reassured me that being a spouse in the military is the hardest job in the world. To that I say yes and no.

Marriages are so much easier when financially we don’t have much to worry about. We were comfortable when I was working, and we are comfortable now that I am not working but the fact remains that we have one less burden when we do not have the added stresser of money troubles. I am sure that times will be a little harder once he starts his deployments around December/Jan when the baby is expected to arrive. I have trouble now being without him when he’s gone from 10am till 11pm some days and when he does cross-countries for the weekend. I think the baby will keep my mind occupied enough that I will just pass out when night comes. In addition to being so close to our families once we move to Whidbey, it will be nice to be able to have them near.

Another thing that has been on my mind lately is that being away from family has its ups and downs. Being on the opposite coast of our families makes it really feel like we are on our own. I miss holidays with the family. It adds that extra kick to the already wonderful atmosphere, which I haven’t really experienced the past 2 years since Christmas down south makes you sweat when you are trying to enjoy your Christmas meal. Another positive to being far from home? I feel separated. Separated from the realities that happen within my family. The realities of life. Life and death. My aunt died a little over a month ago and yet to me, besides the couple moments when I really sit down and reminisce, she’s still alive to me. The grieving process never took with me, being away from family that reminds me of her, being away from the tears, the heartache and the laughter of memories past. The downside to being this far away? I feel guilty. Guilty that I have only cried a percentage of what my sister, my mom and my relatives have experienced. Guilty that I didn’t fly back to HK. Guilty that she loved me so much during her life and I couldn’t translate my thoughts in to Cantonese over the phone while she was lying in the hospital.

I am thankful for my family though. I don’t think I could get through this without my mom and my sister. They are in love with Benton and it makes me feel so loved that they are making baby things for him. I can’t wait to see him and I can’t wait to show him off. So far, has has already acquired:

• a beautiful set of glass bottles and mouth pieces from his grandpa Pang
• clothes from HK from his aunt Tiff and fiance-to-be-in-the-near-future Aaron (whose last name is also Adams!)
• A pair of Nikes from grandparents Adams
• a high chair from our friends Dave and Andrea
• A pair of Kimono pjs sewn by moi
• A snuggie wrap sewn by moi
• crib sheets, blanket and some onesies from the Navy-Marine Corp.
• a real life trained dog/horse to ride on

I think we might be set! lol. Oh he is also going to get a crib hand-made by his daddio! Oh I have a feeling this little booger is going to be spoiled rotten!

That’s it for today. I must get better at updating my blog. I’ve been terrible!

Baby Snuggie Wrap August 14, 2009

My belly is growing. ALOT. Its becoming more and more of a reality lately! It’s exciting and yet I’m a little nervous (just a tad bit) and only about the labor part of this whole having a baby thing. Pain is not my forte. I went to the doctors today, because my rash came back again on my belly for the 3rd time in the last two months and I was worried that it might be an indication of something not right with the pregnancy. Anywhos, it turns out that my skin is extra sensitive now, more so than before and I have to change things out that my belly has contact with. Like soap and detergent or something. Well, now that that is the least of my worries I found out that I have put on a little more weight than I should. 5 lbs in 2 weeks, and although the doctor said that because I was smaller to begin with that I will gain more weight than normal but I KNOW for sure that I have been eating more than I should be, so from now on I have to watch what goes in my mouth so I don’t give the baby a bad start to life. OH! So thankful that my Quad scan came back normal *dancing* not that it would change whether I had the baby or not but it’s one less thing to stress about during the pregnancy.

I haven’t been baking much lately. Everything that I make doesn’t turn out as good as it did and perhaps its the whole pregnancy thing but I truly think it’s the stupid oven in this STUPID house! I think they got the oven at a huge discount because when you want it to broil it bakes and vice versa and I didn’t understand until multiple baked goods were ruined. So with the baby coming along quite quickly, I brought this wonderful book for making babys clothing and toys and crib sheets. I thought I would start off with something simpler but I didn’t want to make a blanket yet, so I figured I’d try my luck with the baby snuggie wrap. It’s so so so cute and I can’t wait to hold that bundle in my arms. Since we dont’ know the sex of the baby yet, I thought green was a pretty neutral color and dots. Who doesn’t think dots are so so so cute! Basically it’s made of a inner lining of fleece and the outter material is just cotton. It just wraps itself onto the baby and you tie the tie around the belly of the baby and just snuggle with it! How cute is that!

I started the project on Monday when Brandon had a late flight and I worked on it from 4:30pm till 11pm when Brandon got home and time just flew by! I was so excited about making the snuggie that I got most of it done that night but I had trouble making the buttonholes with my machine. Ugh, sometimes I swear smarter machines are way above me. lol. Now that this is done, I wonder what I should make next? Hmmm…

HOT DOG! July 23, 2009

You know, sometimes life just sucks the spirit out of you. It leaves you nothing to be happy about, nothing to look forward and quite frankly I was so sick and tired of that. I mean, I was in a total rut and I have been for a little while.  When I became a Christian and I changed alot of the way I think about things, about the world, my attitude, my language and my actions (for the better) it was refreshing! It was also during a time when I was surrounded by college friends who had such a firm and steady faith that it was easy for me to learn and be in Gods word. Ever since I moved with the Navy for Brandon, you go to alot of different places, meet alot of people in different stages of their lives with VERY different ways of living. It was definitely hard for me personally because I was shocked and the way people could make you feel by their words that never affected me before I became a Christian and the way that people treated each other and acted as if each day of their life sucked. I experienced this greatly at work in Pensacola and from then on I’ve really let it affect me. It changed my outlook on life and it drained me so much so that the past 2 years, my walk with God has been backwards instead of forward. I just didn’t try to be in his word as much as I should and my relationship with him was so distant. With all this free time during my pregnancy, I finally asked God and MEANT it for Him to change my life. It also helps alot that we have an amazing bible study group with couples our age. I started reading this book by Tim LaHaye How to Study the Bible for Yourself. I have only read 30 pages and it has already lifted me up SO much! This is a book that I really need because it helps you dig into the bible deeper by yourself without relying on just your sunday pastor and your bible study. So needless to say, I am in SUCH a good mood today. OH! I’m going to try and do something nice and selfless for Brandon daily. Hopefully it will not only make me a better wife, it will make me a better person in general.

A couple of weeks ago I brought the Food Network magazine and it has some amazing recipes in it. Brandon loves Nathans hotdogs so I thought it would be a good idea to make the baked corndogs since I hate using the Grill and Brandon didn’t get home till after dark so I didn’t want him being outside in the dark with all the bugs.  Both these recipes are really simple, though at first glance it seems time consuming it really is not at all.

Classic Potato Salad Aaron McCargo, Jr.

3-yukon gold potatoes (peeled and cut 1 in cubes)
3-large eggs
1/2 C diced onions (I used red onion)
1/2 C diced celery
2-TBS sweet relish
1-TBS Worcestershire sauce (I didn’t use it cause I didn’t have it)
1-ts hot sauce (I used paprika)
kosher salt and peppper to taste
1-C mayonnaise (I used only 1/4 C)
2- Scallions ( I used 3 cause I LOVE them)

1) Bring large pot of water to a boil and cook potatoes till tender (15 nins) and drain and spread out on a sheet pan to cool. Bring another pot of water to boil and add eggs and cook for 12 minutes and remove to a bowl of ice water to cool completely. Peel eggs under cold running water, then roughly chop.
2) In a large bowl, combine the onion, celery, relish, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, salt, pepper and the mayonnaise. Fold in the potatoes, eggs and scallions. Adjust the seasoning to taste.

Baked Mini Corndogs Food Network

1-C reduced-fat milk
1-package active dry yeast (2 1/4 ts yeast)
2-TBS extra virgin olive oil plus more for greasing
2-TBS packed light brown sugar
1 3/4-C a.p flour
1-C fine ground yellow cornmeal
1-ts salt
1/4-ts bs
1/4-ts paprika
9-hotdogs, halved crosswise (I didn’t make mini ones, I just made normal sized corndogs)
1-Large egg, beaten
1- TBS black sesame seeds (optional)

1) Warm milk to 110 degrees F and pour into a medium bowl. Sprinkle in yeast and let soften for about 2 minutes. Stir in olive oil, brown sugar, and cornmeal with a wooden spoon. Add flour, salt, baking soda and paprika. Stir to make a sticky dough.
2)Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead, ading more four if needed, until smooth but still slightly tacky, about 5 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball, place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Meanwhile, insert a wooden tick or small skewer into each hot dog half, about 1 inch deep, set aside. (I didn’t use skewers).
3) Prehat oven to 45o degrees F and lightly grease large baking sheet. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface; divide into 18 pieces. With your palms, roll each piece into a 10-in length. Wrap ach piece around a hot dog half, tucking and pressing the edges to seal; place on the baking sheet.
4) Brush the dough-wrapped dogs with the beaten egg; sprinkle wieht sesame seeds, if desired. Bake until golden; 15 minutes.

Curry Crazy! July 14, 2009

baby bump

Well folks! The end of the 1st trimester is here. Tomorrow we will officially be in the 2nd trimester and goodness my belly shows it! This weekend baby adams showed signs of fast growth and even faster yet is the fact that it is taking up so much space that I can’t eat much at one sitting which is AWFUL for me. I really like to sit down and enjoy a BIG meal. lol.  So I suppose that stuffing my face is out of the picture now hahahahaha.

I am for sure filling out now and it is slowly starting to look less like a food baby and a little more rounded, like I’m actually preggers! Brandon saw he get up yesterday from the couch to grab him a pen and he said “Are you waddling?” lol. I’m not sure if I’m just doing it because it’s more comfortable cause I’m lazy to pick up my feet to walk or if this belly is starting to change my strides. Whatever the case, good sleep at night is hard to come by now. With the puppy vomiting and making a bunch of noise at night, it is SO hard to go back to sleep ontop of having to drag myself to the bathroom 5 times a night.

As you can gather by now, the baby REALLY loves asian food, so curry is no exception. Now that I have started introducing a little meat into my diet, chicken adds a little more flavor to the overall dish but I definitely prefer potatoes in the curry than any type of meat. So I chose to add 2 chicken breasts to 3 potatoes. I think most people may prefer more meat than potatoes so you can basically add whatever quantity of each you would like. Eating curry always reminds me of Malaysia and how much good food is there. You know, the flavors of the dishes there are AMAZING, and they sell the in street stalls so the ingredient list must be easy right? From research my favorite malaysian dishes are packed with ingredients that I have either never heard of or can’t get a hold of. Poo!

INGREDIENTS

2 chicken breasts, cut into chunks
3 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1/2 onion, diced (shallots are much more flavorful though so use 1-2 if you want)
Red Curry paste ( in Asian grocery store in a can, use as much you want for the spiciness you are looking for)
1 16 oz Can of Coconut milk (light coconut milk is less flavorful by far but has less fat so will not upset your tummy as much as full fat coconut milk)

PROCEDURE:

1. In a large pot, heat some oil on high and saute onions/shallots
2. If you like medium spicy curry, add first 2 TBS of the red curry paste and saute with onions/shallots
If you prefer less spicy start with 1 tbs, more spicy 3 TBS. You can always add more!
3. Once fragrant, add chicken and saute just so that the outside of the chicken is starting to cook.
4. Add potatoes and stir around then pour in coconut milk. Wait till it starts boiling before covering the pot and turning heat down to medium low.
5. Allow to cook through 15 minutes or so.

Enjoy with with rice or roti!