What I'm Loving Wednesday

I'm loving...the new welcome mat that CV bought me! (My last name begins with an O for all that didn't know that!) Isn't that the best welcome mat you've ever seen? Paisley enjoys it.

I'm loving...that my friend Lindsay got engaged recently. Isn't her proposal picture so sweet???

I'm loving...that I went to the doctor last week and she told me I've lost 7 pounds since my visit last year! Yippee!

I'm loving...the blog Young House Love. It's my ultimate favorite blog of all time. And I'm hoping that if I read it enough their DIY skills will rub off on me.

I'm loving...the show Modern Family. It's definitely my favorite show on TV right now. Does anyone else watch it?

And I'm loving its HUMP day...only two more days till the weekend.
Visit Jamie's Blog to link up with what you are loving today! :)

Easter Weekend

My Friday & Saturday of Easter Weekend consisted of a Mexican dinner (yumm), a Japanese/hibachi dinner  (yumm), bowling with friends (I scored a 87...not so good but I did score higher than CV, ha!), movie watching (rented The Tourist), shopping for CV's Easter basket goodies and an Easter dress (here's the dress I wore), pilates class, and I also made some cookies. (Find Recipe Here)

Which brings me to Sunday:

Well, it didn't exactly go the way we were planning. We woke up early (which never happens on Sundays), put on our Easter Sunday church clothes and headed to Covington, KY for a particular church that CV wanted us to attend. Well, at first we got lost. Then, WE FOUND IT...or so we thought.

We parked (twice, since the first time we were in a tow zone), walked a block or two in the rain, and went inside the church...but the service had already started!!?? After speaking to a very nice man why the service started early, we realized we were at the WRONG church. The church we were looking for was about 8 blocks away and the service started in 2 minutes.

Here is a picture of us in the car after we got the bad news that we were at the wrong church. CV totally wasn't in the mood for this picture, but I made him take it anyways. Ha.

So needless to say, we didn't end up going to the church we wanted to on Easter Sunday, since we would have arrived way too late. So instead, we went to breakfast and then decided to go to a church in our neighborhood that started a little later. Going to a later service kind of changed a few plans for the day, but we still attended church on Easter. No traditions broken.

After church, we headed to a friends house to dye Easter eggs.  (Which is a funny story! It's better if I wait for the pictures before I share that story with you....please hold!) And then we headed to CV's aunt and uncle's house for Easter dinner with his family. (Where I ate about 10k calories).

It was a great little day/weekend filled with lots of love & chocolate. :)
I hope everyone had a great weekend too!

Memphis: Wing Tang Clan

This post is a week late...but better late than never....right???
Last weekend Paisley and I ventured down to my hometown of Memphis to catch up with family & friends. I feel like my first visit of the year is always the best one. I'm home during the holidays and after that I wait until the winter weather is gone (a.k.a. good driving weather) which usually doesn't happen until April. Which, if you can do simple math, that means I haven't seen fam/friends for 4 months! (That's a LONG time!) So ofcourse by the first visit of the year, I'm anxious to see all my favorite Memphians.

After spending time with my family when I got in town on Friday night, I woke up early and met up with my friends at the Southern Hot Wing Festival downtown Saturday afternoon. My friends participate in the festival yearly and have a group called the Wing Tang Clan. Catchy huh? Unfortunately I didn't get a group shot of the event (I guess I spent too much of my time walking around chit-chatting and NOT taking photos) but I did take a few candid shots when noone was looking. :)

And it was freeeezing too. Luckily there is an American Apparel close by where some of the boys had to stop by and buy some hoodies to stay warm while cooking!

One of my favorites: DB

Me & LB with our wind blown hair!

And I even took a picture with a chicken. (Who was actually a 70 year old woman!) I bet that lady is a blast!

 After the event, a few of us (who apparently did NOT fill up on hot wings) headed to get dinner at The Blue Monkey.

Me & Heather

Followed by drinks at BB Kings where I had to see my favorite bartender.

Me & Lillycakes

Then we headed to the Silly Goose...for more shenanigans.

And ofcourse I ended my 3.5 day roadtrip by hanging out with my mom, sister & niece. We went to lunch, Toys-R-Us, more shopping, a little homemade dinner, and playing with my niece.

It was a good little trip home. I plan to be back soon and hopefully I will be able to see all my girls who I was unable to see this weekend. I miss you ladies!!

P.S. GO MEMPHIS GRIZZLES!!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made some delicious chewey chocolate chip cookies over the weekend. And lucky for you, you don't have to twist my arm for the recipe! Here it is:

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets or line with foil.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended.
4. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy.
5. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended.
6. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon.
7. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
8. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

The batch made about 30 perfectly delicious cookies! Get to baking, people, these are a tasty little treat!

Have An EGG-cellent Weekend!

I hope everyone has an EGG-cellent Easter weekend! See you next week! :)

Bikini Season

I came across this little cartoon and it made me laugh out loud (at work!) Haha.

Bathing suit season is almost here everyone! (UGH!)

Takeout Fakeout

Has anyone seen the "Takeout Fakeout" episode on Ten Dollar Dinners (on Food Network of course)? Well, I did and it had me craaaaavvvving chinese food in a big way. And it also had me convinced that I could whip it up myself instead of ordering-in from one of my chinese takeout menus!

So, last night, I did just that. I made the sesame chicken from the episode (with some minor improvements) served with sticky rice. And I also made a heaping portion of egg drop soup AND baked crab ragoons. It was pretty ambitious of me to juggle making three things I've never made before all in one night, but I was up for the challenge.  And let's face it, if it was an utter disaster, I could just order back-up chinese food.

Sesame Chicken CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE

Ingredients

*3 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, nearly thawed

*2 tablespoons soy sauce

*2 tablespoons orange marmalade

*1 tablespoon sweet rice cooking wine or white wine

*1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

*1/2 cup flour

*2 tablespoons sesame seeds

*3 tablespoons butter, melted

*Rice, for serving

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or foil.

2. Cut the chicken breasts into 1-inch cubes.

3. In a medium bowl, mix together the soy sauce, orange marmalade, wine, and crushed red pepper flakes. Toss in the chicken cubes and marinate for at least 10 minutes and up to 8 hours in the refrigerator.

4. In another bowl, mix together the flour and sesame seeds. Drain the chicken cubes and blot any excess liquid, and then toss in the flour to coat lightly.

Sesame Chicken - about to go into the oven

5. Spread the chicken cubes on the prepared baking sheet and drizzle with the melted butter. Bake until the chicken is crispy but not dry, about 20 minutes, turning the cubes halfway through. Serve with rice.

Sesame Chicken - ready to eat

*The chicken was a little bland, so I added Srirachi and added more Orange Marmalade after baking.

Egg Drop Soup CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE
*I used garlic powder & other spices from my spice rack & garnished with green onions!

My Egg Drop Soup!

Baked Crab Rangoons CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE from Keeping up with the Joneses
*I followed the recipe exactly, and it turned out great!

My Baked Crab Rangoons! Yumm!

So, what do you think about my little DIY Chinese Food dinner??? I must say, the only downside was not having those cute little chinese boxes to store my leftovers! :)

Happy Cooking!

*And P.S. I've been MIA because I traveled home to Memphis this weekend...posts on my little roadtrip to come.

Top 2 Tuesday: Drinks

Top 2 Favorite Drinks:

1. Water: I don't understand anyone who doesn't like (or drink) water. You know who I'm talking about...the people who drink Diet Coke for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Where's your water intake??? Or the people who have to dilute their water with Crystal Light or other flavor enhancers. Water doesn't need to be enhanced people, it's delicious the way it is. (Enjoying my lecture of the day? Ha.)
I definitely drink more than my required daily intake of water every day, because I  love water. BUT I do have one requirement, it MUST be ice cold. If it's warm, you can pass me a diet root beer instead.

2. Moscato D'asti: I first discovered my love for this delicious dessert wine at Boca, a contemporary restaurant in Cincinnati. (Local friends: you must eat here if you haven't already!) My friend Erin and I decided to splurge on dinner one night and dine at this fancy place. We started with a glass of Riesling to pair with our appetizers and our entrees (and even got a free bottle of Riesling from an admirer from across the room) and when our dessert came (also a surprise from the same admirer from across the room) our waiter also brought us a glass of Moscato D'asti since he said it would pair better with our dessert.
Uhm, thank you wine guru waiter, I was in love (with the wine, not the waiter).

It's now my favorite wine, and who cares that it's a dessert wine, I'll drink it at any point with my meal. (or without a meal)

What are your favorite drinks? Visit The Undomestic Momma to play along. Bottoms Up! :)

My Poor (Contaminated) Strawberries

Fact: I eat strawberries EVERY SINGLE DAY. I always have strawberries in my fridge and in the freezer (they taste better in smoothies when they are frozen). I take a cup of them to work every day to eat for breakfast and I also eat them daily as a late night snack. And I even create baked goods with them (including the Strawberry Bread I made again the other day.)
Fact: I love strawberries.

So, you can imagine how unhappy I was to hear that strawberries are the third most contaminated food and how I was probably consuming multiple pesticides a day by eating them! (Yikes!) I did some research and according to an analysis by the Environmental Working Group, 13 pesticides were detected on the fruit. (Including one hazardous pesticide called methyl iodide, a chemical that kills every living organism in the soil without the ozone depletion.) Uhm, I can't imagine what that is doing to my body???

BUT, at least there is a solution here: GO ORGANIC. There is thankfully no pesticides in Organic Strawberries (or anything Organic Certified). Shew, the coast is clear. I can STILL eat strawberries! :)

And incase your are curious, here is the top list of contaminated fruits/veggies starting from highest pesticidal load.

1. Celery
2. Peaches
3. Strawberries
4. Apples
5. Blueberries
6. Nectarines
7. Bell Peppers
8. Spinach
9. Kale
10. Cherries
11. Potatoes
12. Imported Grapes

 And ofcourse to remain a optimist, here is a list with the least commonly contaminated:

1. Onion
2. Avocado
3. Sweet Corn
4. Pineapple
5. Mangos
6. Sweet Peas
7. Asparagus
8. Kiwi
9. Cabbage
10. Eggplant
11. Cantaloupe
12. Watermelon
13. Grapefruit
14. Sweet Potato
15. Honeydew Melon  

What are your thoughts on Organic? Are you a believer?

Opening Day

I took a few Opening Day pictures, are you excited to see them???  Well, the experience was amazing! I had never been to an Opening Day game before and I must say the celebrations are 100x than a regular game. Fans are out at 7am drinking (I saw them drinking at the bars when I was headed to work!) But, I still came to work from 9am-12pm and THEN the party began...

First, I met up with a few coworkers/clients @ Via Vite for lunch & drinks. (Gosh, it feels good to order an adult beverage at noon on a Thursday!) We sat on the second floor balcony which overlooks Fountain Square, so it was a great view to parade/people watch before the game.

Please notice how everyone is dressed warm in coat/hat/scarves/gloves! That's because it was 45 degrees outside!!! NOT exactly baseball weather, huh?

Then, we headed to the game. (I wanted to get their early to see/hear Brian McKnight sing the National Anthem. Is that weird?) Our seats were great! A perfect view of all things, and even a few balls flew our way (not close enough to catch unfortunately!)

Here are me & my baseball dates: (coworker, coworkers wife, me, and client)

After a few beers & hoping for a win.......a walk off HOME RUN!!! REDS WIN!!!! I was amazed and high-fived everyone in sight!

And in other exciting news, CV & his friends were only one section over from my seats so we got to cheer together too!

A perfect little day of baseball. (Minus the cold ofcourse!)