Cooking Like a Real Man

For the longest time now I've intended to write up a nice recipe post. I love to cook, (and eat), and I've even had the admirable if unrealized goal of trying out one new recipe a week. In our relationship, I certainly wear the cooking pants. Which is why I am surprised that Dave has preempted me and cooked something blog-worthy first.

For our anniversary (which was at the beginning of the month, by the way) I gave Dave a grill and a cookbook. Dave finds grilling to be a much more acceptable--or manly, if you will--way to cook. Personally I think it has to do with all the skewering, stabbing, and charring involved, not to mention all the fire and raw meat. Being outdoors probably has something to do with it too. (You'll notice in the pictures that Dave used this as an excuse not to wear a shirt). Anyways, we had a slight role reversal on Saturday as Dave prepared a new recipe he had picked out of his cookbook with me as a sous chef. It was delicious, and made me wonder momentarily if it wasn't a bit sneaky and underhanded of me to buy Dave a present that he would have to use to cook me yummy food with. Down below is the blow-by-blow of the recipe, for anyone who would like to try it. 

Grilled Sausages with Onions, Peppers, and Crusty Bread

Start out with raw sausages of your choice. Ours had cheese in them, but any kind will work. Prick them several times with something sharp so that later the steam will be able to escape the casings and you won't have to deal with exploding sausages. Then, put them in a saucepan with some thinly sliced onion and a mixture of three parts water to one part apple juice (or beer, if you want to follow the original recipe). Simmer for four minutes, remove from pan and allow to drain.

While the sausages are simmering, take the time to prep your onions and bell peppers. Onions should be quartered and skewered. Bell peppers are grilled whole. Both the vegetables and the sausages should be lightly brushed with oil before going on the grill.

Vegetables should go on the grill when it is hot, sausages when it is medium hot. Both get grilled four minutes per side.
For those of you who live in Utah, the author of the cookbook has a great show that airs on the PBS station on Saturdays. I'm very excited for Dave to try some more of his recipes.

Getting a Puppy

For those of you who have known/met me in the last three or so years, you might have heard me mention (maybe once or twice) that one day, when I graduated, I was going to get a puppy. There has never been much of a question that I wanted a dog. Sure, I am deathly allergic to cats---hives, runny nose, red itchy eyes, the whole allergy gambit basically--but even if I wasn't I would definitely still be a dog person. Doggie was my very first word. I'm pretty sure I even brought up the whole getting-a-puppy thing before Dave and I got married in one of those serious engagement talks about money and baby names and who is going to do the dishes. The puppy was even a major criterion in our apartment search in Florida. Seeing as how it was meant to be my graduation present, we wanted to make sure to find a place where we wouldn't have to hide it from the landlord.
With all of this, you'd think by now I'd have a puppy, right? We've spent a lot of time on petfinder.com, gone to visit puppies at the Petsmart on Saturdays, etc.. Surprisingly, the more we looked, the more nervous I've become. I know it sounds a little silly, but I've started to have all sorts of second thoughts. Am I ready to have a puppy? They are a big time commitment after all. No more late nights or waking up at the last second to get ready. Puppies need routine and predictability. Daily walks. Kibble. Water. Discipline. Could I really train a dog, or was I just setting myself up to come home to decimated furniture? The potty-training thing is perhaps the most intimidating part. If we had a yard, this would be no big deal, but an apartment certainly complicates things. How long can you even expect a dog to hold it? At least with a kid there is a diaper involved. Dogs have the charming trait of picking a favorite spot on the carpet. I suppose if worse comes to worse, I could always get rid of the dog--which is a clear advantage of dogs over children--but I know I would be guilt stricken if I did something like that.

So cute!

Obviously I've been putting a lot of thought (and maybe a smidgen too much worry) into this, and I've come to a decision. For now, I am going to practice with some houseplants. This should help me: A. Calm down a bit and B. Save up some puppy money. In the meantime I'm going to set up a meeting with a really nice breeder for Mini Australian Shepherds just south of us. I love the breed, and I want to talk to her and get the total inside scoop before I commit to a dog. I'm hoping she can find us the puppy that will suit us best (one with a relatively low level of energy I think) and I'm willing to wait for awhile until that happens.

It's worth a side note that as I write this Dave is arguing on the phone about American foreign policy--specifically isolationism vs. jingoism. So just in case you were wondering what is going on with him, now you know (although you could have probably guessed that one). Also he just started orientation today. Yikes! Where has the summer gone?

A Bit Belated

So apparently I was really busy during July (or maybe just really lazy) and I did not follow through on my goal to keep up with this! I could see this as a bad sign but I'm just going to write it off as a fluke. Honestly July was a little crazy. I started a new job, flew back to California for two weeks, and took a short trip to the ER after my digestive track decided that it only wanted to move in reverse for a while.  That last one was not so fun, and still hasn't been sorted out (other than being told several things that it is not). I just hope its not a food allergy to something I love. Like strawberries. Or anything dairy.
But on to better news: my new job! I knew before I was going to graduate that it would be very hard to find a teaching job. The possibility of coming across something to even apply to was going to be rare, and it would have taken a nice combination of luck and providence to actually get something. So the fact that I am not going to be guiding and shaping young minds was less of a shock and not too much of a let down--although I still get super nostalgic when I think about my old classes. Especially when I read election news and I think about how they're all going to be old enough to vote and voice their different opinions. Still I am really grateful  for finding the job I had now. I'm working at a local law firm doing marketing and legal assisting, and it is going nicely. I'm usually really busy, so I don't get bored at all, my co-workers are interesting and nice, and the firm has a really comfortable atmosphere. I think my favorite perk would be the paid vacation. Honestly, whoever came up with that idea is genius. Plus it is full-time, good paying work, which is more than can be said for a lot of people's situations right now.
As for our trip to California, I have an awful confession to make. I did not take any pictures. Not a one. I thought I had broken out of that bad habit but I supposed I still need to be more disciplined about taking out time to take a few shots of things. Which is not to say that no pictures were taken of me, since we went out there for two different weddings. So I will have to snag a few pictures from other sources, which is a pity because both of the weddings were lovely and I wish I had pictures to share right now.

This is what I spent part of my very first paycheck on.

I do at least have belated pictures and video from our 4th of July celebrations, which were very firework centered. I believe you can hear me laughing with glee in the video.