What I DIDN'T do...

I went to the DAC on Saturday with 3 of my trusty bridesmaids to somewhat get their approval. I wanted some fresh eyes to view it so they could give me their honest opinions - and they LOVE it. So it's official. The coordinator blocked off our date for November 10, 2012, and she's sending us the contract tomorrow to sign and deliver with our deposit cheque. I'm so excited, and so is Mr. Aaron!

After lunch with the girls, I returned home, where Aaron and I adjourned to the couch for the majority of the remainder of our Saturday with leftover chinese food and some movies and recorded episodes of True Blood! It was fantastic.

Yesterday was TAX Day... and we both got refunds. Yay!

We spend most of our day indoors yesterday, napping, eating, chilling... but what is it that I didn't do??? I didn't take pictures. I suck! We had a huge dump of snow, and it was beautiful, but I was too lazy or absent-minded to break out my camera for anything! But Lizz took pictures at the DAC so I'll be sure to post them when I get them.

This Weekend...

This weekend is the long-awaited Housewarming and Engagement Party! We have about 45 RSVP's including the little ones, and we're really looking forward to seeing all of our friends and family in one place. This will be the first time that Aaron's parents meet my family (except my Dad whom they've already met a few times) and the first time that some of the bridal party will be meeting. It will also be the introduction of our adorable Flower Girl Calista to our Ring Bearer Rylan. :)

We will have lots of food and drinks and music, and we hope that it will be a rockin' good time! I'll post some pictures on Monday!

Seafood Chowder with Cheese and Onion Scones

Today was cold and rainy, and I needed something to warm our souls.

Last night was Valentine's Day, and Aaron cooked a delicious meal including a baked salmon, but the fillet was huge and we had a lot of leftover fish, so I decided to make my go-to chowder. It's Aaron's top 5 soup picks, and tonight was one of my best attempts so far!

Seafood Chowder

2 1/2 cups Vegetable Broth

2 1/2 cups Milk (I use skim)

1 oz Butter

1/4 cup Flour

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 potatoes, peeled and cubed

1/2 cup corn

3 bay leaves

1 handful fresh dill (or about 2 tbsp dried dill)

Seafood of choice

Directions

1. Heat the milk and broth in a pot on low.

2. Saute the onion, celery, carrots, and garlic. To lower the fat content, I just do this with some olive oil spray, but it's even more delicious sauteed in butter.

3. Set the vegetables aside. In the same pot, melt the butter, and then whisk in the flour, about one minute.

4. Slowly pour in the milk and broth mixture in batches, whisking to thicken and prevent lumps.

5. Whisk the mixture for approximately 5 minutes with a bay leaf.

6. Pour in the vegetable mixture and simmer for about 10 minutes to combine the flavours.

7. Add the corn and your seafood. (This time the salmon was already cooked so it just needed to be heated through, but if you're using raw fish or sprimp or scallops which is a favorite in our house then heat it just until the seafood is thoroughly cooked.

8. When the seafood is cooked, add in a handful of fresh dill, salt, and pepper to taste.

9. Serve immediately, although it is even better the next day!

Normally we would enjoy this meal with buns, but tonight I conquered one of my fears and tried my hand at baking - duh duh duh! And I'm happy to report that my experiment paid off!

Cheese & Onion Scones

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 oz butter, cold and chopped

1/2 cup cheese (sharp cheese is best but I'm emptying my fridge so I used some shredded mozzarella that we had)

3 green onions, chopped

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup water

3 tbsp parmesan

NOTE: This recipe actually called for self rising flour, and since I didn't have any, I added the soda and powder to help it rise.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425.

2. Stir the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder together in a bowl.

3. Rub in the butter with your fingers.

3. Stir in the cheese and onions. You could subsitute the onions for your favorite herb like chives or parsley or rosemary.

4. Make a well in the middle of the bowl and pour in the water and flour. Fold the mixture together.

5. Pour the dough onto a floured surface and gently knead.

6. Form the dough. You can either roll it into a log and cut it or roll it out and make disks, but I was lazy so I just rolled it out and then cut it into loose squares.

7. Place each scone on a greased cookie sheet, and top with the parmesan.

Bake for 12 - 14 minutes. My oven is a little slow, so it took 14 minutes.

YUMMY!

I also served this meal with MORE cheese - a tomato, avacado, and boccoccini salad, sprinkled with white wine vinegar, cumin, and rock salt - one of Aaron's favorites because it contains cheese and avacados! :)

Happy Valentine's Day Friends!

Unspoken

Sometimes there is a voice inside me that tells me that what I'm about to do is really stupid, and then other times the voice tells me that I'm on to something genius! :)

I am so excited to prepare my first ever dessert bar at my housewarming/engagement party next weekend. I love the dessert bars featured in so many blogs these days, even though I'm not much of a sweet-tooth kinda gal!

Here is some of my inspiration (sorry that I don't have sources):

Wish me luck on making my images come to life! Pies, cookies, and truffles OH MY! :)

The Weekend...

We went to Stellas for dinner on Friday night, and ended up meeting up with our wonderful wedding photographer Roxana Albusel. She's amazing!

Saturday I purchased part of our wedding centerpieces, then met up with my old BFF from high school Michelle and her husband. They've been together for 10 years and have an amazing little girl Kylie. I haven't seen her since her baby shower 4 years ago, but it was so great to see them again and catch up. Trevor and Aaron got along like they'd been friends forever.

Sunday was SUPER BOWL BABY! We did some grocery shopping, then made nachos and wings with homemade blue cheese dip for the game. When the show was over (and Green Bay won) we had dinner - 2 kinds of shells (seafood with a bechemel sauce & spinach and ricotta with a tomato sauce), spinach salad, and garlic bread, and then Aaron's chocolate cake (aka Duncan Hines). :)

It was a wonderful weekend full of old friends and new family! Perfection!!!

I'm Lucky!

This morning I am feeling thankful for the man who loves me, despite my flaws, who cares for me, who adores me, and who asked me to marry him!

I haven't been sleeping well, so he lets me sleep in until 6:15am while he gets up early to make my latte, feed the cats, and start making lunches.

He walked into the bathroom while I was getting ready, kissed me, and told me how cute I look today.

I left to go to work, dreading the drive AND the day, and he had scraped the frost off my windows.

Yes, I'm lucky.