Tasty Pork Recipe

Last weekend we tried a new recipe from the Pioneer Woman - Pork Chops with Garlic and Wine. 

The recipe calls for pork chops, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, butter, whole garlic cloves, kosher salt, beef broth, black pepper, red wine and a bay leaf. 

The recipe wasn't specific about the beef broth or butter and unfortunately we used regular beef broth and salted butter. You end up making a red wine reduction sauce. It was extremely delicious but a tad salty. We will definitely be doing the dish again (this week in fact)... but with unsalted butter and 30% less sodium beef broth.

The most surprising aspect was that you eat the garlic cloves. They get seared and then soak up the reduction sauce. We had it with Garlic Smashed Potatoes and steamed carrots. Yummy!

Almost Done!

I'm busy making Max's 2nd Birthday party banner. I got a new tool that makings perfect circles up to 12". Hopefully this year I won't forget it on the plane! =P

For The Record

I did the driveway. Now Ian is doing his James Brown impression (sliding around on the frozen ground he just shoveled).

Updated: Starbucks Mug Collection

We have 5 new mugs!

• San Antonio - Brought to me by my co-worker Mirjana. She had a horrible trip down there but managed to bring me back this gem!
• France - Brought to me by another co-worker, Eric, the silly French guy.
• Miami - Obtained by Kamber from a friend in Florida - awesome!
• New York - Brought back by Nadine, a co-worker who went there on vacation.
• Canada - We finally found and bought this one.

Here is the updated list of available mugs. Our farthest city is still Athens.

Aachen, Acapulco, Alaska, Amsterdam, Ankara, Arizona, Aruba, Athens, Atlanta, Auckland, Austin, Australia, Austria, Bacolod, Baguio, Bahamas, Bali, Banff, Bangkok, Barcelona, Basel, Batangas, Beijing, Belfast, Berlin, Bern, Bonn, Boracay, Boston, Bremen, Brisbane, Bucharest, Bulgaria, Calgary, California, Canada, Cancun, Cardiff, Cebu, Charlotte, Chengdu, Chiang Mai, Chicago, Chihuahua, Chile, China, Chongquing, Ciudad de Mexico, Cleveland, Cluj-Napoca, Colorado, Corfu, Crete, Culiacan, Cyprus, Dalian, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Dongguan, Dublin, Dusseldorf, Edinburgh, Edmonton, England, Florida, Forth Worth, France, Frankfurt, Freiburg, Geneva, Germany, Gold Coast, Greece, Guanajuato, Guangzhou, Hamburg, Hawaii, Heidelberg, Hong Kong, Houston, Indianapolis, Indonesia, Ireland, Istanbul, Izmir, Jacksonville, Jakarta, Kaohsiung, Kiel, Koln, Korea, Kuala Lumpur, Las Vegas, Lausanne, Leipzig, Lima, Lisbon, London, Los Angeles, Los Cabos, Lucerne, Macau, Madrid, Malaysia, Manila, Melbourne, Memphis, Mexico, Miami, Moscow, Munchen, Munster, Myconos, Nashville, New Mexico, New Orleans, New York, New Zealand, Niagara Falls, North Carolina, North Island (NZ), Northern Ireland, Nurnberg, Ohio, Orange County, Orlando, Pampanga, Paris, Pattaya, Penang, Philadelphia, Philippines, Phoenix, Phuket, Pike Place, Pittsburgh, Playa del Carmen, Portland, Portugal, Potsdam, Puerto Rico, Qingdao, Rhodes, Rio De Janeiro, Romania, Ruhrgebeit, Sabah, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Scotland, Seattle, Seattle (2), Seoul, Seville, Shanghai, Shenyang, Shenzhen, Singapore (Merlion), Singapore (Orchid), Sofia, South Island (NZ), Spain, St. Gallen, St. Louis, Stuttgart, Switzerland, Sydney, Tagaytay, Taichung, Tainan, Taipei, Taiwan, Tampa, Thailand, Thessaloniki, Tianjin, Toronto, Turkey, Twin Cities, Valencia, Vancouver, Vancouver Island, Veracruz, Vienna, Wales, Washington DC, Whistler, Wiesbaden, Wuhan, Xian, Zacatecas, Zurich

Happy Birthday Kelly!

I was rummaging around a box of pictures yesterday and found this one. It is from our trip to Hawaii in 2004. Holy blonde hair batman. Anyway, happy birthday Kelly!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Geek Heart

This pokes right at my geek heart. <3

Video: Guy proposes to girl with internet memes.

Meme Proposal | Tim * Audrey from Crazy Monkey Studio on Vimeo.

Saturday - New Recipe Day

This weekend we are going to try out these two recipes from {my most favorite magazine in the world...} Real Simple. Instead of Pumpkins I'd like to use Butternut Squash. I am really hoping this turns out good. I've been wanting to add to our soup recipes - they mainly consist of Chicken Tortilla Soup and Chili and it's getting kind of boring!

  Source: realsimple.com via Brittany on Pinterest

I've also had a craving for cornbread. Random. The grocery stores don't seem to carry the typical box of ready to mix and bake. I think this might pair nicely with the Butternut Squash & Leek Soup.

  Source: realsimple.com via Brittany on Pinterest

This Is Me This Week

*Someone* forgot their coffeeeee! [singsong]:

Will you please check out this tiny tailio on this floppy Boss:

 

Blag Redesigned

I was getting bored with the limitations of the old format. I've changed it to the "Dynamic" view that Google is pushing. It has limitations of its own... but I am willing to deal with it better. You'll notice that it says "Classic" on the left side of the top bar. I've set the default to be Classic... but Mosaic and Snapshot are fun views - if you find one you like, make that your bookmark. 

There is a link on the top bar to my Chirp account. Yes, the countdown is gone but I will find a solution... You can bet I'm still counting down until Max's Carnival Birthday!

The background is currently snow. Why? Because. Because there is no snow here. Because I'm mad at The Weather Network. Because if it's going to be this cold, it might as well snow. /insertangryface

Miss The Boys!

My sister and her family were able to visit GMa in California recently. I miss the boys so much! I mean just look at Max... What a little stinker! I can't wait until April!