Giada, I love you

This past weekend while we were lounging around we of course started watching the food network, which is the greatest channel on cable! I could watch it all day everyday. Anyways, Everyday Italian was on and we were soon enthralled by Giada's Baked Orzo with Fontina and Peas...it looked so delicious up on that screen. I wanted to eat it immediately. Obviously, that wasn't happening, but I did make it last night and it was more than I could have ever imagined. So, for all you cooks and non-cooking food lovers (it's actually pretty easy to make), I suggest you try and make it:



Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients:
4 cups chicken broth
1 pound orzo pasta
3 tablespoons butter, plus more to grease the baking dish
1 onion, chopped
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
1 cup Marsala wine
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 ounces shredded fontina cheese (about 1 cup)
4 ounces diced fresh mozzarella cheese (about 1 cup)
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon dried thyme

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter a 9 by 13-inch baking dish.

Bring the chicken broth to a boil over medium-high heat in a medium saucepan. Add the orzo and cook until almost tender, about 7 minutes. Pour the orzo and the broth into a large bowl. Set aside.

Meanwhile, melt the butter over medium heat in a medium skillet. Add the onions and saute until tender, about 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and continue to saute until the mushrooms are beginning to turn golden around the edges, about 7 minutes. Add the Marsala. Scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pan and cook until the Marsala has reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Add the mushroom mixture to the orzo in the large bowl. Add the cream, fontina, mozzarella, peas, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish.

In a small bowl combine the bread crumbs, Parmesan, and dried thyme. Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture on top of the pasta. Bake until golden, about 25 minutes.

Mineral Bluff, here we come!

It's official! Girls Weekend had it's second annual trip this past weekend up at Mineral Bluff, Georgia...sounds like a magical place, doesn't it? Anne Marie's parents/Anne Marie graciously offered their guest house as the host for Girls Weekend '08 and the weekend was rightfully named: Bluff Boat Bangers! Maybe you can guess how we came up with the title...

As soon as we arrived, we opened a bottle of wine and sat in the hot tub...it can't get any better than that. Let's just say the night ended pretty quickly...wine and the hot tub...need I say more?

The next day, we were up early (if you've every gone on vacation with me, you know I like to wake up early) and ready to go on the boat. We packed our cooler with a couple cases of beer (one of them was Yuengling: one of our faves since we can't buy it in Georgia)*, brought the cards for a couple of games of BS, food and we couldn't forget Scattegories! Just by reading the items we brought you can guess what we did most of the day and I'm pretty impressed with our drinking skills because we definitely killed a case and a half of beer. Granted, I probably gained about 10 more pounds from that weekend, but I was still impressed. Oh and by the way, the lions were definitely out that weekend!



That night, we cooked the most delicious dinner: shrimp quesadillas, lime and cilantro rice, black beans and guacamole. This was probably the 5 pounds from the 10 pounds I gained, but it was definitely well worth it! Again, let's just say the night ended pretty quickly...beer all day and a very fulfilling dinner...need I say more?

The next day, it was overcast so we stayed in and played board games: Pictionary and Cranium! Maggie and I are now obsessed with Cranium because we went out and bought not only one but two games! If you have never played Cranium, you have to play because it is the best game EVER! It's like Trivial Pursuit, Charades, Pictionary and Boggle all in one! Just ask about Jessica's Tina Turner impersonation, Anne Marie's impression of a clam and Maggie's DNA sculpture...I on the other hand tried to impersonate Bullwinkle and Barbara Streisand..."People. People who need people."




Obviously, this was the G-rated version of the trip, but if you want to know the PG-13 version then just let me know. ;)

Thanks to Anne Marie's parents for letting us stay at the guest house and we can't wait to go up there again! Where will Girls Weekend '09 be and what will it be called?? Stay tuned! A tradition has just begun...

*Murphy, North Carolina is 15 minutes from Mineral Bluff and that's where we bought the Yuengling...just in case you wanted to tell me I made a mistake.

Busy as a bee in Georgia

I realized that I haven't written in my blog in a while, but it's not because I haven't been doing anything exciting. I've just been busy as a bee...

For a recap since the last entry, I definitely have not kept up my running and now that I'm running in the Peachtree I need start that up again. I'm assuming that I was still on an adrenaline rush from the Bridge Run when I wrote that entry.

Dr. J's long awaited graduation day finally came in mid-May. He graduated cum laude and received numerous awards, including an induction into the National Veterinarian Honor Society. Go Dr. J!! Woop! Woop!

Since then we have already attended two weddings...the wedding season has begun! The first one was for his Vet School friend, Ryan Crowe, in Anderson, SC and the second in Athens, GA for Steve and Melissa. Both weddings were very nice, personable and quaint. It was good to go back to our stompin grounds in the Classic City and relive our old glory days...you just gotta keep living..L-I-V-I-N.

We hit up all of our favorite places to eat: The Grit, Little Italy (Keep in mind we ate there for dinner Friday night and a late night snack Saturday night...they have the best Turkey subs!) and Last Resort...YUM-O!!

I just kept running and will continue to run

Last weekend I did something that I probably would have never thought I would ever do. And it's not something that I don't think anyone would ever think I would do either, but nevertheless I think this running could be a new addition in my life that I could carry on for a long time. Who knew that me, a non-runner who eats french fries like it's her business and drinks beer, could become a runner?

The Cooper River Bridge Run is one of the most popular 10K races in the southeast with about 40,000 participants, which consists of 2 miles to the bridge, 2 miles over and then 2 miles to the finish line in Marion Square.

Unlike my 5K last year, where I trained the night before (which FYI is not a good idea...just so you know), I actually did some training a month or so before. Okay, so I didn't exactly follow a solid routine until...well, I really didn't, but at least I was running and working out weeks before the race, trying to eat right and not drinking too much....

I felt like I was in good shape coming up to the day of race. I drank lots and lots of water the day before and ate light that whole week, which I know for most of you reading this that that is not something easy for me to do. I thought I was fully prepared. I know I wasn't going to win the race but at least I knew I wasn't going to pass out.

The race started at 8AM with the runners on the left and the walkers on the right. We all started out together, weaving in and out of people feeling good about ourselves because we were going faster than the people in front of us. After 2 miles, I was feeling good that I wasn't tired and that I actually ran 2 miles without stopping! But that didn't last too long...I stopped only a couple of times, once on the bridge and once to get some water, which I really shouldn't have done because after that I got light-headed and had to stop again but other than that everything was all good. :)

The view of the water and the city going over the bridge was AMAZING!! It's a view that I will never forget and a view that I will be seeing once a year for the rest of my life.

Number 23478 finished in 1 hour 14 minutes and 1 second

Life after college turned out to be good...real good! So, for now on, my goal is to try and run a 5K once a month. That may not seem like a big goal for some people but for me it could be the start of a new and healthy french fry eating, beer drinking non-runner.

Carrie and Keaton's Wedding Invitations

I don't think we're in Atlanta anymore

Sweetwater has a way of making you feel like you are in your own little world. We were there for a fundraising event for the Georgia State Physical Therapy school and had no idea that there was a tornado passing through. We were all just drinking and having a good time and didn't think anything of it since ajc.com said that it was strong winds that caused damage to the Georgia Dome...I think not. Afterwards we wanted to see for ourselves just how bad the damage was; we were newly born storm chasers!

At first it was more of a fun adventure for us, but little did we know it would end up being very surreal and unimaginable. It was a such a shock and a very sad scene to be looking at, especially since it was in the heart of Atlanta.



Yes, that is a billboard that fell on top of a car. I'm sure these pictures don't really grasp the tornado's effect on the city, but you can see just what type of damage it caused.



There was just debris and lots of glass EVERYWHERE! Here is a shot of Centennial Olympic Park. A couple of the towers fell.

It was an unfortunate night, but I'm glad we went down there to see it for ourselves. It really was a historic, but tragic event in Atlanta.

Gianna and Brett sitting in a tree

One of my friends, Gianna, who by the way I've gone to school with since elementary all the way up to graphic design classes at UGA, designed her wedding invitations and I helped her print them at Praxium Press. Her and Brett are getting married in May. Aren't they bootyful?? We took a couple of videos too!

All Dogs Go to Heaven

I had created a painting of Hunley, Justin's bagle (Beagle/Basset Hound), for a personal gift one Christmas and since then I've gotten requests of other people's dogs. Here are some that I've just finished: