Savoir Cooking Class

In February, we went to Powell's local Savoir Cooking + Wine shop.  We gave Derek's parents these tickets for Christmas and could not wait to go.  The meal we were cooking was Tour Of Mexico:

Shrimp and Avocado Tostadas with Green Mojo
Verde Salad with Roasted Corn, Tomatoes, Queso Anejo, and Cilantro Lime Dressing
Tacos Al Pastor with Smoky Pineapple Salsa
Beef Barbacoa Tacos with Chichilo Mole Sauce
Strawberry Tequila Ice Cream

I highly suggest this stop for anybody in Columbus.  We had a lot of fun that night!  You are cooking the entire time.  But you are also eating and drinking the whole time as well :)  Our favorites were the salad (oh my goodness, so good!), the shrimp, tacos al pastor, and the barbacoa.  Oh my goodness, that Barbacoa and mole sauce, yum!  We are planning on making a couple of these recipes when we head to the ocean this summer!

Tasting Dinner

A couple weeks ago, we attended a tasting dinner at a local wine bar, 20 Brix.  It was sponsored by a California winery, Rodney Strong.  The most exciting thing about the dinner was creating a cabernet blend all based on your tastes and preferences at the end!

We LOVE our 20 Brix!  Derek and I do date nights here quite frequently.  Especially on retail wine nights :)

Menu included:
1) Bone Marrow Whipped Butter
2) Beef Fat and Red Wine Braised Conger Eel
3) Tilefish Migas
4) Braised Kentucky Lamb Belly

This bone marrow whipped butter dish was super delicious.  Maybe even the table's favorite dish of the whole night.  The strawberries with the charred broccoli greens pesto paired so well together!

We learned a lot about Eel that night.  When eel is on a menu, it is not typically the long slithery animal you normally think of.  Rather, it is almost like a grouper...think huge!  This dish was a huge hit.  And not to mention the chorasco sausage was out of this world!

This was my favorite dish of the evening!  It was full of mexican flavors, which are my favorite! 

And overall, this was the least favorite dish of the night.  The lamb was pretty fatty and the onion overpowered the rest of the flavors.  Still, Chef Paul never disapoints!

This was the most exciting part of the dinner...the blending of the cabernets we tasted throughout dinner.  Derek's Mom & I went with a pretty similar blend and Derek & his Dad did something similar.  We all ended up liking the boys blends better...go figure!

Ohio Renaissance Festival

SO, I'm back at the whole blogging thing if you couldn't tell.  I have to say, for about the whole first year, I didn't think twice about not blogging.  And then this spring happened, and I thought taking blogging back up all the time.  I would go a little while and then just dismiss it because I didn't know how long the interest would last.  But then I thought, oh well!  It's my blog and if I want to do it, I should.  If there are lull times, then that's okay too!

Anyway, I'm super excited to be back.  

The past weekend we met my family at the Ohio Renaissance Festival which is exactly what you would think.  Definitely not a place for little Leni as there were loud noises everywhere (think cannon booms, jousting screams, bagpipes, etc.).  Leni gets very upset by loud noises, especially when she is eating and/or tired.  So while our Charlie Girl enjoyed every second of her surroundings, we left after a couple of hours to get the little babe home.

We met my brother and his family, who were in town from South Dakota, and my mom and her new boyfriend (yes, a lot of new news around these parts).  

We haven't seen my brother in a year and half so it was so good to see family and have Charlie play with her cousins!

My brother Cadet

A little background before continuing: I grew up on a farm in South Dakota with horses (we at least the first 5 years of my life).  Because horses were a big deal in my family, we always did rides, etc. SO, it was my goal this summer to get Charlie up on a horse because she seemed old enough.  Fast forward, I failed miserably and didn't get a chance.  You can imagine how excited I was when I saw they had actual horse rides here.  Charlie seemed so confident and said she wanted to ride all by herself.  I really wanted to take a ride myself so I kept asking her to be sure...are you sure you want to ride all by yourself?  Can mommy ride with you? ...You get the idea

Charlie is very hesitant in new situations.  Derek and I thought there was no way she would get up on a big Clydesdale all by herself and let a stranger walk her around.  WELL she proved Mommy & Daddy wrong.  There is my little Charlie Girl riding all by herself.  Talk about a proud Mama :)  She asked two things when getting off the horse: 1) Can she ride again and 2) Can Daddy buy her a horse.  Yes on both accounts, my love :)

I told her if she wanted to ride again, she had to take me with her!

More pictures from the day:

My mom made these adorable flower crowns for the girls and Charlie wouldn't take hers off.  She fell asleep within minutes of getting in the car and it fell down while sleeping.  Great moment for Derek & myself to share a good laugh and snap a photo.

Everybody came over Monday night for pizza and the girls played all night!

12 Month Photos

We had the wonderful Jax take Charlotte's 12 month photos.  We met her at the Cincinnati Nature Center on a beautiful fall day.  Unfortunately, after we got there, Derek realized he forgot to put an essential bag in the car and had to run home and get it.  Thus, there are a lot of photos of just Charlie and I!  And by the time he got back, Charlie was a little done with pictures.  But Jax is wonderful and still managed to capture some great family photos.

We brought a smash cake for Charlie and she did not disappoint.  She dug right in and got messy.  This was so much fun to watch!

Reality Check

Well, I’m still pregnant in case you were wondering.  39 weeks and definitely counting.  Unfortunately, these past 3 weeks of been sort of a whirlwind.  Three weeks ago, my Grandma past away.  She was the last living grandparent that Derek and I had.  She was my absolute favorite and I’m so thankful she came to live in Ohio the past 3 years…it gave me a lot more time with her that I wouldn’t have otherwise gotten.  Unfortunately, the funeral was in South Dakota so I was unable to fly back.  Something about airlines being scared of accepting a 36 week pregnant woman that could go into labor at any second or something like that…I would have loved to be there but instead I stayed home and kept my little daughter safely on the ground.


And then this little cutie pie had surgery 2 weeks ago.  He had one of his dewclaws improperly removed when he was a puppy and the past few years it had created a growth of some sort on his little leg.  It was on our to-do list to get this removed before our daughter made her debut.  He made it through everything just fine; just needed some extra love and attention for the two weeks.  Oh, and he needed to wear his OSU hooded sweatshirt at all times because he had a hard time keeping up his body temperature.  Seriously any time he wears this, he gets more and more attention because it is just so darn adorable.  His sutures were removed a couple of days ago and everything looked great.  I have to say, I wasn’t sad when I threw away that e-collar that he had to wear…

Now, today is when tragedy struck my family again.  My Step Dad had a cardiac event last week…and passed away after being in the ICU.  To say that I feel awful for my Mom is a complete understatement.  After handling everything with my Grandma just 3 weeks ago, she is experiencing another loss.  Joe has been a HUGE part of my life.  They’ve been married for 17 years, so I owe so much to him and feel like a lot of my characteristics were developed through growing up around him.

You know the funny part…4 weeks ago, I started showing progress with this pregnancy.  Every week we would go, a little more, and a little more.  The last doctor’s appointment I had nothing, notta.  It was the same from the previous week.  It is almost like our little girl has delayed her arrival because of these circumstances.  Before, I had the attitude of when is she going to come already.  Now, I’m just hoping she will stay in there a little longer so I can attend the funeral and be there as much as possible for my Mom.  In the end, I’m just so thankful that we have our little girl coming because this will be the first good news my family has heard for a while.  I cannot wait until she decides to come and add a little joy into everybody’s lives.

Overdue Time with Family

The one positive thing that came out of the trip to South Dakota was the time spent with family.  It has been seriously FOREVER since all of us 4 kids spent some serious time together.  For most of the week, all of us spent the days together.  Being with family definitely helped me so much.

Family was not the only thing around all the time….our family’s good friends: beer,wine, liquor (etc) was always around =)  My Dad used to be a big whiskey drinker, so his famously strong drink was made for any takers. 

A lot of toasts in honor of my father were given and many stories were told in remembrance.  Overall, being surrounded by my family and sharing memories was just what I needed!

I have, pretty much, a picture overload for you.

All four siblings: Krista, Cadet, Katie, and Carson

My Dad’s two sisters and two cousins

Derek (the best supportive husband in the world!) and I

Us three ladies posing (see all of our “guests” sitting all over on the counter!)

My sister-in-law, Lissa, and my three pretty little nieces: Ashley, Kennedy, and London

My brothers and I

My beautiful sister, Krista, and my favorite brother-in-law, Darren.  I know, my sister and I wanted to make our family confused by marrying a Darren and a Derek =)

And lastly, look at these two adorable munchkins: Ashley and Jake