Weekday Grub: Steaks!

I had a rough day at work today. R took pity on me and did the cooking today.  Nothing fancy, all self-explanatory.

Weekday Grub: Pulled pork sandwiches

This actually took a few hours to prepare.  I had to slow cook the pork shoulder before I could pull anything.  Another reason why I love using the Le Cruset.

Love: My new pots!

We registered for a set of Calphalon pots for our wedding because I was getting tired of staring at my mismatched collection from college.  All I had was a covered skillet and soup pot.

I was really hesitant to register for a cookware set as I was worried that we wouldn't use all of the pieces.   I thought about just adding a few pieces to what we already had, but R knew I wouldn't be able to live it down.

We initially registered for the Calphalon Unison Series because we need to hit a certain dollar amount to get the free registry gift.

We didn't get the set (or expect anyone to buy this for us) because it was so expensive, so we went ahead and re-registered for the mid-range Contemporary series.  Coupled with a completion coupon and a hefty giftcard, we got this:

We also scored the bonus utensils and dutch oven. Yay! And because we "completed" this on our registry, we're waiting on the free wok too! I love my new pots and pans, they make me want to cook. I'm just waiting for the kitchen of my dreams.

Sorry, no weekday grup pics, I'm eating leftovers for dinner today.  I know this sounds like a cop-out post, but I really do love my new pots!

The weekend!

We made the leftover salmon tonight.  I baked it with lemon juice and rosemary.  A lot easier than stir fry or grilling IMO.  It also looks prettier.  We also had leftover mushroom which I sauteed and added to the spinach.

I ordered these mini cakes from Citizen Cake last week.  A little pricey for regular consumption, but it was good. I'll let you guess which one fits with the description from their website menu. 

After Midnight Chocolate Cake
Our signature chocolate cake. Devil’s food cake layered with Scharffen-Berger dark and El Rey milk chocolate mousse. Finished with dark chocolate ganache, white & dark chocolate work and edible gold leaf.

Retro Tropical Shag
Genoise cake splashed with rum and an exotic passion fruit mousse, covered in vanilla buttercream and carpeted with un-sweetened coconut.

Covet: kitchen wares!

I have thing for pretty ceramics and colorful textiles.  What are you doing to me Anthropologie?!  I actually own some measuring bowls and oven mitts from Anthro, they're just too pretty to use.  I take them out once in a while just to stare at them.  I'm weird.  Here's what I'm currently coveting:

 

Source

Almost Clutter Free

Almost. I made an unofficial New Year's resolution to de-clutter my life. I decided to tackle my google reader since I had nothing better (natch!) to do at work.

I unsubscribed from almost all of my wedding inspiration blogs.  My blogroll looks so clean.  I'm a little sad, but I like the clean look of my google reader more.

I also decluttered our bedroom. I don't have a before picture, you'll just have to take my word for it. This is our bed, it takes up 75% of our room and it's only a full size bed.  

Here's the dresser my bestie partially bought it for me. R needed the TV in the room.  Yes, those are rabbit ear antennas, we decided that I should get my degree before we commit to cable. Next to it is the hamper.  That basket to the side is my makeup basket.  Yeah, I'm that vain Carly Simon!

And lastly, my closet.  This closet is 10% of my home closet, the sacrifices I make for marriage!

Weekday Grub: Corned beef and cabbage

This was Friday's dinner. I know it's not the best picture, but I assure you it was edible.  I'm not a big corned beef fan, but R bought it and I had to cook it before it died a slow freezer death.  It was really salty.

On a side note, I won a pudding ring at a fundraiser tonight.  My first raffle win and I win a pudding ring.

 

That wasn't all, here's the Bank of the West parting gift.

I'm totally jealous that our friend M won the grand prize trip to France.

Weekday Grub: Blackened salmon and stir-fried sugar snap peas

I set the table, made the food all photogenic and took the picture.  Then we ate.

After dinner, when I attempted to upload the pre-eaten dinner, I realized I FAILED.  I forgot to put the memory card into the camera.  So here pictures of our eaten salmon and sugar snap peas.   

Here's a sneak peak into tomorrow's dinner: 

 

A wedding gift from R's best friend.

*I sliced the leftover pork really thinly and ate it with ramen for lunch today.  Much better.

Weekday Grub: Grilled pork tenderloin

R was really excited to get this panini pan off our registry, it even comes with a heavy press to ensure that your food gets those grill marks.  I channel Rachel Ray's mantra, if I can't make it in 30 mins, I probably don't want to make it.  Well, this took about 45 mins, but lucky for me, I decided to upload food pictures which kept me occupied.

This is my first time making pork tenderloin, if I had to do it again, I'd trim more of the fat off.  Liquid fat looks ugly.

 

 

  

It didn't taste bad, I just don't think I'm a pork tenderloin kinda gal. Neither is the husband. But we loved the grill marks! Now I'll have to figure what to do with the leftovers.

Some food pics from our Vegas minimoon

From Pink's at PH. Funny thing, R ordered the Showgirl Dog (top) and I ordered the Big Man dog (bottom).

 

We picked up fish and chips at one of the stands at New York New York after watching Zumanity. 

 

This is the menu from Serendipity 3 at Ceasar's Palace.  I should mention that I picked the restaurant because of the bright pink poster that caught my eye.  Inside, the restaurant was every husband's worst decor nightmare. I loved it! Anywho, it'll take forever and a day for me to upload the decor pics, so I'll just link you to their yelp page. It was also raining cats and dogs on our way to the restaurant and I fell into a giant puddle outside of the restaurant.  My husband was scared $hitless and I was pissed that I scraped my wedding band against cement. Blah. Look at the purdy menu:

We ordered the honey dijon chicken pizza and the apple pie a la mode.  It doesn't look like much, but the food orders were huge.  Oh, and look at the pie picture, see that detail on the plate?  Aren't those cute?  I really wanted to steal the plate.

 

At the Coca Cola store R decided to indulge my request to try out Tastes from Around the World

 

I'm not about to abuse my brain into remembering which was what, so you're stuck with the crappy pictures we took.

 

We ate a lot more than this, but the rest weren't blog-worthy.  Oh, we had a teriyaki chicken burrito at the airport.  It must have been the 5-6 hour flight delay or something, but it was really good.

These are my confessions...

Welcome everyone!

I'm feeling a little burnt out from our wedding and wanted to talk about other things.  So I'm making this my personal blog.

I don't take pictures really well, so I'll leave you with a nice one I took a month ago.