Movie Review and Brick Walls

This last Saturday, I met 9 other girls at the theater to see One for the Money. Jason O'Mara did fabulously. He's super hot. Perfectly broody and Irish Italian. Dark and humorous. He's a good Morelli. Franko Daniel Sunjata is seriously steamy. He played a great Ranger. Quiet, reserved, put together. On the road to being a great Ranger. He's not The Rock, but hey. Can't win them all.

Debbie Reynolds is a fun Grandma Mazur. She's not quite old and crotchety enough. She's flamboyant and funny, though. If I hadn't read the books I would have really loved her. So, I'm going to look past that.

Katherine Heigl. I really think she hit Stephanie spot on. I know everyone's all She's not Sandra Bullock. But, Sandra's a little old for the part. Besides, Katherine Heigl played the physical humor and the 'eh, whatever' that Stephanie has when something everything doesn't go right.

The shower scene? Awesome!!!

Loved Morelli and Ranger's reactions to it. Priceless. Seriously.

Bruschetta Chicken

This recipe came to me in a fit of carb craving.

I wanted bruschetta, I needed bruschetta. But I can't have it right now. Carbs and all.

Then, I thought. Wait, the tomatoes and stuff doesn't have to go on bread.

Salmon Marinade Ideas

The fireman texted me this picture around 4:00pm yesterday.

The text read: Eskimo Kitchen

It was wild salmon, which means he had to stand there and de-bone it.

Last time we made salmon, we just used a little soy sauce and brown sugar for seasoning. It was good, but mild. I did a few searches for marinades online and asked my sister's advice, she loves salmon.

Here's what we came up with.

Movie Night

So, last Friday night, the girl and I went to the local town's theater to see We Bought A Zoo.

It was really good. Really, really good. I maybe might have possibly teared up once or ten times.

And not in the 'it's so sad and depressing' way, but in the 'grabbing your heart and moving it way'.

That sounds like a horror movie. It wasn't.

We loved it.

I really love small towns. Have I said that before?

This was our little local Town Theater.

Right before we left for the movie, it started snowing. It started snowing hard. I considered staying home.

It was swirling and crazy.

Lovely

Frankenstein Pizza

Meat Pizza?

Meat-crust Pizza?

Crustless Pizza?
Not really sure what to call this.

This was a creation out of the insane desire for pizza, on a low-carb diet.

We used hamburger as the crust.

Crazy? Insane?

Snow, snow, snow

Snow again. We woke up with yet another day of white outside and wind blowing billows of snow around. Quite beautiful, if you ask me.

For other people, not so much. I know those that work in the snow don't enjoy it as much, but from the comfort of my office with my electric space heater under my desk and looking out my window at it, it's quite nice.

The fireman and I enjoyed some of our Moonshiner Burgers last night. We made 3 pounds worth for just the two of us. Yum! I can enjoy them tonight for dinner as well.

If you haven't tried them, you really should. They are amazingly good.

Brick By Brick

So, Sunday, the fireman and I started bricking our wall.

If you remember, we have a livingroom wall that we decided to brick. It runs into one of our barn beam beauties and will look like it's been there forever-n-ever.

The fireman figured out that he could cut the faces off old Bricks instead of buying expensive brick veneer. This way, it is truly old bricks from some old warehouse tear-down. History, people.

Well, since we're mostly done with the bathroom, we can start on the brick project.

We brought in half of the brick faces Friday night and set them on a tarp, so they could come to room temperature. No, I didn't forget and think this was a food posting. You totally can't tile or glue or mortar something that's cold to something that's not. The adhesive whatever won't work. That's what the fireman says, and he would know.

Dilly Egg Cups

Some mornings you have to get up early.

But you still want to eat a healthy breakfast, give yourself a decent protein start for the day, you know, without adding a ton of fat.

Basil & Parmesan Tomato Soup

This tomato soup was inspired by a trip to Applebee's. The fireman and I stopped by for lunch one day and had their soup and salad. I was so enamored by their Tomato & Basil soup that I knew I had to recreate it.

I like mine better.... *shhhhh*

The Fireman

The Fireman, he left me this in my jeep this morning.

Hope it brings you a smile.

It definitely brought me one.....or twelve.

Have a great weekend, folks!

Chicken Marsala, Revisited

Another revisited recipe!

This really isn't a different recipe than the one I posted before, but I wanted to update the photos. I should have just waited to post the recipe until I made it again with better pictures, but I had gotten excited about it, I guess.

I did change it a bit, again. I was out of marsala wine. No big. I used moscato. It's still a sweet wine, but not as dark as marsala, so the sauce isn't quite as dark. Madeira wine would also be really good.

Sweet Fluffy Omelet, Revisited

I have adjusted my recipe for the sweet, fluffy omelet. I really only changed it by adding a 1/2 teaspoon of cornstarch and a tablespoon of milk. But since it's different, and I've gotten better at the cooking and all, I figured I'd post a revisited tutorial.

Besides, my sister asked me to.

Sinks and Mirrors

The Fireman has been busy in the bathroom doing more work. We decided on a color for the bathroom and now that the drywall has been mudded, we can start painting.

The chunk on the right is what he had to add after the tiling was done. He fixed a few of the spots on the wall on the far left where he removed the old towel rack.

The Fireman's Beef Burgundy

The Fireman makes a mean beef stew. He makes it a few different ways. Sometimes, it's a Guiness Stew and sometimes it's a Beef Burgundy.

Every time he makes it I swoon in food-delight.

Besides, come on, coming home to anything cooked for you is amazing. Not to mention something so incredibly rich and lovely as this is.

Since The Fireman cooked this, I don't have step by step photos, but what I do have is a recipe, although his tends on changing a bit each time, and photos of the finished dinner.

This is what I came home to. This was after everyone got a bowl full, too. It was heaping. It was heavenly!

Eggplant Casserole

I've been trying to make healthier foods. Meals that are Dukan-friendly. Cause that works well for me and the fireman for losing weight and keeping that weight off.

I truly believe it's healthier, because it's low in fat and low in carbohydrates. Carbs aren't bad, but I really believe we don't need as much as we are used to eating, in our society.

Wheat is much different today than it was when we first starting introducing it into our diets. 

Carbs are great when you're trying to stretch a meal. Add a potato, or rice to soup or stew and it's thicker, richer and people get full faster. That was really important when there wasn't much food to go around and everyone worked physically hard.

I don't work physically hard.

I excercise 3 times per week. It's a modest workout. I want to do as little as possible to get maximum results, a little cardio, a little weight work on arms, ab work and thigh work. Done. Oh, and occasionally Yoga for stretching and relaxing. I have a beginners DVD I use.

It works for me. That being said, every body is different and I think there's a lot to that. What works for one doesn't always work for another. I think some bodies just don't do as well with certain foods.

So, last night I wanted lasagna. Since I'm back on my Dukan diet for a couple of weeks to shed some holiday pounds, I couldn't have the noodles.

Crockpot Chicken

This is a simple chicken dish.

It's not fancy.

But what it is, is tender.

It is, after all, made in a crock pot.

Moonshiner Burgers

You know how every so often you try something new and it rocks your world?

Yeah, that happened.

This recipe is based on The Pioneer Woman's Spicy Whiskey BBQ Sliders. I read her recipe and then went home and recreated it, changing it along the way.

Oh, my.

Happy New Year!

The fireman and I wanted to send a toast out to everyone.

This was from a local pizzeria.
Happy New Year!!