Sunday Dinner

I am always skeptical of new cooking products on the market. For example, the Recipe Inspirations from McCormick's just seems silly to me. Of all the spices in my cabinet (most of which I never use), why would I buy more? I'm sure I can find something to use or substitute.


So when I saw the new product from Philadelphia Cream Cheese, cooking creme, I thought, I'll just add sour cream or half and half and achieve the same thing...why buy something with just one purpose? But of course, Cary found a coupon, and then the product went on sale, and then the grocery store decided to just give him the product since he was gonna get it so cheap anyway (just kidding on the last part...kinda), and I thought I would give it a try.

So tonight I used it for our Sunday dinner. After church, we picked up some chicken from Publix (on sale, of course). I decided to try the chicken bruschetta pasta recipe which I got from the Philadelphia Cream Cheese (via Kraft) website. I followed it mostly to the letter, but didn't add the fresh basil. I put in my own seasonings...all dry, all Italian, already on hand.

Cooking the chicken

Preparing the tomatoes...I used heirloom grape tomatoes in red and yellow. The yellow ones are milder but I like the difference in color.

Adding the creme...then adding the pasta:

And the finished product:

Overall, it was good. Very filling, very creamy, very yummy. I think if I make it again, I'll add some broccoli or asparagus. It really needed something green. Plus, another ingredient or two would give it more depth. Cary liked it, so we will probably use it again...when it goes on sale, of course.

Yes, I know, I'm no food photographer...just bear with me.

The Masters

Just a few more weeks...


A tradition unlike any other.

This year will be a little different for us because we are no longer in school. Master's Week always coincided with spring break, giving us the week off. But this year, we have to work. To everyone who doesn't live here, the Masters is great and vacation-like, but for those who live in Augusta, work and life still go on...with a lot more traffic and a lot higher prices at the restaurants. We will be renting to the same family as the past few years, but we'll be staying with Kelly's parents and making the commute for the latter part of the week. We'll be going to the tournament on Sunday so maybe we can see some of you there.

Happy Birthday, Cary

Even though this is a little late, just wanted to say Happy Birthday to my Husband!

Our parents joined us for dinner at a local Japanese restaurant. After lots of shrimp, chicken, and steak {and a little sushi for me}, we went back to the apartment for Cary's favorite dessert, ice cream cake.

Sorry the following pictures are really bad...they are from my blackberry.

New York here we come!

That's right. We are planning a trip to New York for our first wedding anniversary. We have booked our flights and hotel (we will be staying in the financial district), thanks to my travel agent, Cary. While we still have a few months until we hit that one year mark and fly to the big apple, we are trying to plan well so we can maximize our three day vacation.
So, if anyone has some advice or suggestions for New York, please let us know. We need suggestions for restaurants, attractions, shows, stores, sights, and whatever else is a "can't miss" in the city that never sleeps!

~~~

Also, this is our 100th blog post....thought that was pretty cool!

My birthday weekend

For my birthday a couple weekends ago, Cary and I decided to get out of town and celebrate with a long weekend. We spent the first two nights at Hotel Indigo in Athens, Ga. It is a new and "green" hotel located in downtown.

(From their website)

The trash cans were labeled for recycling (paper, plastic, etc.). The toilet was similar to one on an airplane. It flushed with force more than water. All of the lighting was compact fluorescent, and the window was large to allow for lots of natural light. (The picture above is similar to what our room looked like.)

We were in Athens the weekend after the big snow/freeze here in Georgia. There was still snow and ice everywhere, but the roads were mostly drive-able (except for our taxi driver's van which struggled to get us to Porterhouse for dinner). After breakfast and a little shopping downtown (Cary was such a trooper!), we walked around North Campus (mostly so I could take a few pictures). The President's Fountain (above), located next to Old College was completely frozen.

"Our bench" where Cary proposed.

This fountain on Herty Field was frozen, too.

Our next stop was Chateau Elan in Braselton, Ga. We had stayed at this inn and winery before for a friend's wedding, and I have always wanted to go back.

The winery at Chateau Elan

The view from our room...the pool was definitely not getting used that day.

Extreme Couponing...Cary Style

Many of you may have seen the recent series called Extreme Couponing on TLC. I participated in my own version this past week and thought I'd share. Yo-plus is normally $2 for a 4-pack. It recently went on sale buy 1, get 1 free. I bought four 4-packs with four $1 off coupons, each totaling ZERO (Other than food tax)!

My coupon tip of the week: Don't just use coupons when you have them. Wait until the item is on sale, and you can take advantage of both.

Update on the kids...

Just a quick post to share a few pics of the baby goats from last weekend.

(I love their ears! Don't know what it is, but I think they are the cutest!)