Everyday Food

Poor Ryan...he has to put up with all of my quirks (although, I do remember a certain brother of his telling me that he was glad Ryan found someone who could appreciate his quirks...).

I think I know why he does it, though.

They say that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. I think they're right. He was mine with that first batch of cookies!

Here he is with the first of our traditional Sunday omelets in the new apartment. It's not beautiful...there is always a learning curve to a new stove. But it tasted good!


A little re-creation of the first dinner I ever made for him in honor of the anniversary of our first date. Steak au poivre, garlic parmesan mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, stuffed mushrooms, and (not in the shot) bananas Foster. Another bottle of red from the Chateauneuf-du-Pape region of the Rhone valley (my two favorite reds so far, but I'm not sure if that's a function of the region or the cost of each bottle).


Nothing like a pan sauce made with brandy and heavy cream. Nutritious and delicious!



How many guys get homemade tomato soup and colby jack paninis? Most guys are lucky to get a can of Campbell's and a plain old grilled cheese!

Possibly one of the most beautiful salads in history. I think it's the feta.


Not really very pretty, but it tasted pretty good. Healthy New England Clam Chowder from Cooking Light. A little thin, but great flavor.


Simple tomato and cheese pizzas made on whole wheat tortillas. Mushrooms on mine. Kalamata olives on his!


Yes, folks! He eats like this pretty much everyday. Poor guy has it rough, eh?

No, Really...Ryan HATES Cats

As I've said before...one of the first conversations I ever had with Ryan included a part about how much he hated cats. He was a dog person. He still maintains that he likes dogs better. That dogs like him. That he hates cats.

Yeah, I can feel the hate. He'll probably make up some story about how he's really trying to strangle her or something. We know better.


I don't think there's any way of explaining his way out of this one. He is definitely cuddling with Lola on the couch. I don't know many cat-haters that let 20 pound cats sit on their laps.


One of these days I'll get another picture of him with our elusive Gigi. She's his favorite, but don't tell anybody.

Come Together

This place is starting to come together.

We have more furniture. We need desks and 30 or 40 more bookshelves, but we can sleep and eat and sit in front of the fire without much trouble. That's something.

There's an awful lot of "wall" in this place. That means we need an awful lot of art. There's some random things hung about (who would've figured that?). Here's some of it now in the entryway bathroom. Ignore the crooked towel, please.


We got a great deal on some pretty comfy furniture from a friend of mine at school. This love seat and couch fit in pretty well and they're great for napping. No kitties on the couch!


My quilt (which you might recognize from the header of the crafty page) is no longer under my butt, it's hung over the loft area where it dangles majestically into the living room. It really needs pressed, but other than that it looks pretty good.


We've set a few fires. On-purpose, contained fires. Very nice on some of the nights we've had here recently. Very snuggly. The kitties like fires almost as much as naps in the sun.


The cathedral light is still pretty cool. It does look great when you have it on at night. It has a very warm orange-y glow. Fairly high romantic value.


Spiral staircases are a pain the butt to carry things up and down. And they pose some challenges in terms of kitty restraint, but they are fun for said kitties. They make nice perches. They also make nice places to roar and assert your dominance.

As mentioned previously, we do have a place to eat. I even bought placemats today that match the cushions on the chairs (ish). Ryan's kinda messy! Just kidding. It's great to open the blinds and have a nice meal at our cozy little table. In the works is a great big daddy of a table for entertaining all you fine people. We'll be scouring garage and estate sales soon for funky one-of-a-kind antique chairs to make that as quirky as the rest.



By far the most important part of the dining room...the "bar." You'll see the wonderful wine cooler (with one lonely bottle of Oregonian Riesling) and on top the Christmas wine rack from my mom holding Luke's gift from his visit the other day. You can also see our reusable Wegman's bag being put to great use holding all of the rest of the liquor. I don't think that's helping the environment.


On your right, the deceptively large kitchen that is now holding all of my cooking implements. No small feat, that.


To hold all of that and to have the kind of counter space I have. That's really impressive. Look. I have room for the panini press and room to work. It's a miracle.


Of course, anyone who knows Ryan knows what he set up first. Here's our "gym" complete with bikes, treadmill, weight bench, and, somewhere out of shot, a big exercise ball. All we need now is an elliptical...I love those things.

Not so glamorous yet...the downstairs bedroom. It took a marvel of engineering and a Sunday of hammering to get the bottom part of the bed downstairs. It is currently being occupied by kitties...much like the bathroom. This room needs a lot of work yet. It has mostly been used to sort laundry and feed cats. I hope nobody comes to stay for a little while.


Even less glamorous...the washer and dryer. They're very nice, though. And we didn't have to haul them downstairs. Bonus!


You'll never be confused about how to leave. Thanks to the lovely British people, it's easy to find the "way out."


It's getting there. It has a few quirks (who doesn't?) and there's some things that I would change in a minute if it weren't a rental, but overall, it has a lot of character and it fits us pretty well. We have some big (and small) plans for different aspects of the apartment. One of these days we'll have everybody over...there's plenty of room.

Mint Condition

The giant south-facing window in the kitchen, complete with two ledges, coupled with my success in not killing Sue's cactus-like thing (should I be doing anything to it? Because I haven't...that's probably why it's doing so well) and keeping a mint plant alive for well over a week now, has inspired me to try to grow more plants.


While I was out the other day, I found this nifty little greenhouse thing that goes on the window sill. It comes with little pellets of dirt (and probably some kind of stuff that helps plants grow big and strong). You just add water and seeds and put it somewhere kinda warm and vaguely sunny. Then you wait.


I'm not good at that part. I probably should have just looked for plants that were already big and strong. I'd probably have better luck. I planted a bunch of each kind of seed I got (that nifty thing holds 24 "plants") in the hopes that something will grow. There's lavender (the short, light purplish kind...I've wanted some of that since this summer in Jolly Old England), basil, cilantro, parsley, oregano, catnip (ha!), and something else that I can't for the life of me remember. It's okay...I wrote it down...somewhere.

We'll see how this goes. My mint plant is actually growing pretty well. He needs a pretty pot, though. He's in a little dorky plastic thing right now. I've been talking to him. I think you're supposed to do that. Maybe I'm just crazy!

St. Patrick's Day 10k

Another fabulous sunny day in Erie, Pennsylvania as we prepared for the St. Patrick's Day 10k.


By we, I mean Ryan prepared for the race and I carried all of the clothes he took off as he did so.

"That was fun." Yeah, like a root canal is fun. He did pretty well considering I keep feeding him bad things and distracting him from the treadmill.

Next up...The Virgina Duathlon. Woo-hoo.

Ryan Makes Dinner (Again)

Ryan really did make dinner the other night.

Here we have the proud hunter with his fresh kill. Pay no attention to the fact that his kill is covered in cheese and pepperoni and it came from Papa John's.



Good work, baby!

100 Days

Today is the one year anniversary of our first date. (As a girl, I'm required to know these things.)

We went to Figgie's and then to Tim Horton's as you know. We hit it off so well that I didn't catch his last name. We clicked almost immediately and started having conversations that most people aren't comfortable enough to have even after they're married within a few weeks. We went on a week-long vacation together three weeks (or so) after we met. It's been a wild ride.

We've been thousands of miles apart. Dealt with some (of my) drama. Suffered from feline allergies.

We're celebrating this weekend by recreating that first fantastic meal I cooked. This time I'm not as nervous. I've realized that he'd eat a linen napkin if I prepared it properly. And this time, it's in our place.

It's worked out pretty well so far. I think I'll keep him. Which is probably a good thing since there's 100 days until the wedding.

No Worries

I was concerned initially by the seemingly small kitchen.

I needn't have bothered.

This kitchen is deceptively large. There is so much storage below the surprisingly ample counter space. The cupboards are deep and the drawers are many.

I can't store quite as much food as I'm used to. Growing up with huge freezers and shelves of canned goods in the basement will have that effect on you. But I can actually fit all of the things I'm working with on the counters at the same time so far. Very nice.

So far we've had chili, barbecue chicken pizza, pork quesadillas (with some fantastic sangria), and pork tenderloin with mushroom and romano risotto. All with absolutely no problems (except the one burner being a little loose). Tonight, shrimp and broccoli stir-fry with jasmine rice.

We're still working on getting settled and getting everything put away. When it looks a little better, we'll have the full photo documentary.

Give Me Liberty

Last night we got the keys to our new place.

What we know so far...Originally a church, built around 1907, it was converted into townhouse style apartments in the 70's. So we live in part of a church, complete with cathedral light, stained glass windows, and evidence of the arches that once graced our upper walls.

This is the view from the entryway. You can see the spiral staircase and the three stained glass windows on the far wall. The room is actually twice as wide as it looks in this picture. The wall you see is that of a galley kitchen that takes up one third of that side. We're thinking of putting a little breakfast bar (ish) where the cutout is, complete with stools.


If you turn around from that vantage point, you see the entryway (and Ryan's skis...which are finally out of my truck). I am a big fan of the entryway. I dislike stepping immediately into someone's space. This entryway is fantastic. It's kind of rustic, between the heavy wooden door and the brick floor. It needs a little table.


And a new rug.



One of the things that sold us (along with the fact that it has a fireplace and is just really, really cool) is the stained glass windows. There are more upstairs in the office area, but these are blocked in by later construction. The three in the main living area catch the afternoon sunlight and make the whole place glow.


One of the other features that lends to the high cool factor is the cathedral light that hangs from the loft area into the main living area. It can be controlled from the loft or from the downstairs. The natural light in this place is amazing, but add to it the not-so-natural light and you have some really cool effects. I can't wait to see what it looks like when the place is dark with the exception of this light.



Of course, my main concern (as always) was the kitchen. It's workable. A little smaller than I might like, but everything is within reach. We might have to get creative about storage, but we'll manage.


The giant south-facing window makes it worth it. There's a huge ledge (actually two) that are inspiring even me to place some plants there. That says a lot.


What has already been claimed as the office upstairs has another huge window that overlooks the courtyard. This is the room that contains the rest of the stained glass, although these do not face outward and aren't quite as spectacular. I have yet to claim a specific space for my craftiness, but I'm working on it.


I'm not exactly looking forward to trying to carry things up and down, but the spiral staircase is still pretty awesome. These treads are a key factor in the development of the "kitty restraint system" to keep furballs from reaching the upper limits of the apartment. I think I have it figured out. We'll just have to see how athletic Gracie really is.

The view from above.


We christened the place with wine in red Dixie cups along with Ryan's parents last night. Don't worry, though...there will be plenty more opportunities in the near future to come and hang out. Ryan has already started the slate of events. I need to warm up my pans and sharpen my knives, I guess.

This Week in Chess

Dork update: After a fantastic, nail-biter of a match the other night...Ryan is still up 4-2.