WFD?

Almost everyday Brett or I will ask the other "what's for dinner tonight?". We cook at home almost every night and will often plan a menu for 2-3 days at a time. When we don't have something planned I'm notorious for pulling meat out of the freezer, digging around in the pantry or the fridge and, voila, dinner is made! On days that I can plan ahead I turn to one of my favorite culinary inspirations (other than my mom of course), FoodNetwork.com. I am not good at following recipes which is why I will never claim to be a baker in any of my posts. I usually browse the net for something that sounds good, jot down a few quick notes about the recipe and head to the store. I won't actually use the recipe while I'm cooking but I might reference it if I'm using a new spice that I want to make sure I'm not using to much of. I usually just wing it and everything turns out great. I've decided to start a recurring post called "WFD?" (aka What's for Dinner?) where I post a recipe that I've tried or something that sounds good to me. I can't always promise that it will include detailed instructions like the recipe below but I'll try my best :)

On Friday I was planning for the weekend menu and came across a recipe from Giada that sounded delish! I made this last night and I have to say, it was the best thing I've made in a really long time so I thought I would share it with you for my first WFD? post.

Chicken with Mustard Mascarpone Marsala Sauce
About 4 servings, Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, each breast cut crosswise into 3 pieces
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 tablespoons butter, divided
3/4 cup chopped onion (I used red onion)
1 pound cremini mushrooms, sliced (I used 8oz button mushrooms, 8oz baby bellas)
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 cup dry Marsala wine
1 cup (8 ounces) mascarpone cheese
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves, plus whole sprigs, for garnish
12 ounces dried fettuccine

Directions
Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a heavy large skillet over high heat. Add the chicken and cook just until brown, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a plate and cool slightly. (Make sure the chicken is still raw in the middle). Start boiling water for your pasta.

While the chicken cools, melt 2 tablespoons (I used 3-4 TBS) of butter to the same skillet over medium-high heat, then add the onion and saute until tender, about 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms and garlic and saute until the mushrooms are tender and the juices evaporate, about 12 minutes. Add the wine and simmer until it is reduced by half, about 4 minutes. Stir in the mascarpone and mustard. Cut the chicken breasts crosswise into 1/3-inch-thick slices. Return the chicken and any accumulated juices to the skillet. Simmer, uncovered, over medium-low heat until the chicken is just cooked through and the sauce thickens slightly, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chopped parsley. Season the sauce, to taste, with salt and pepper. (Taste it before you start adding seasoning, I didn't have to add anything to mine).

Once water is boiling, add the fettuccine and cook until al dente, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Drain. Toss the fettuccine with 3 tablespoons of butter and season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Swirl the fettuccine onto serving plates. Spoon the chicken mixture over top. Garnish with parsley sprigs and serve.

I would love to hear what you think about this recipe so please leave me a comment if you try it!

Do eyeballs sweat?!?

What about fingernails? Or hair? Up until tonight I didn't think it was possible for those parts of my body to sweat but let meee telllll yooouuu, they did after 90 minutes of Bikram Yoga!! I took my first class tonight and despite the 3 pounds of sweat I lost (literally, I weighed myself) I really enjoyed the class. I have always enjoyed yoga and wanted to try Bikram but never wanted to spend the money on the pricey classes. A few nights ago a friend tipped me off to a Groupon deal that I just couldn't pass up so tonight I found myself in a room heated to 104 degrees, doing yoga poses and sweating more than I have ever done in my entire life! As weird (and gross) as it sounds it was was actually pretty refreshing and I'll be going back again tomorrow. I'm hoping this will help keep me motivated through the next few weeks of our weight loss challenge.

A quick update on the 'Surprises' post:
Part of Brett's 30th's birthday present (last year) I gave him a skydiving session in Santa Cruz. As we crept up on his 31st birthday and he still hadn't used it I decided that I would make the reservation myself and not tell him. I checked the weather every day until I could see the two weekends before his birthday in the 10-day forecast. Both weekends looked great so I made him a reservation for Sunday, 9/12. As we got closer to the date I struggled with whether or not I should tell him what I had done and ultimately decided to tell him the Friday before. I figured that if it were me jumping from a plane, I would need some mental prep time. (By the way, you will never catch me jumping from a perfectly normal plane!) I bought him a belated 30th birthday card and spilled the beans inside the card and he was both surprised and excited. September 12th was supposed to be a clear, sunny, 68 degree day in Santa Cruz. Perfect for jumping from a plane over the ocean and landing barefoot on Capitola beach, right? Wrong. The Skydiving facility called me about an hour after we left our house that morning to tell us that the fog had not yet burned off for the day and that Brett's jump time may be pushed out by a few hours. I told them to keep us posted and we continued on to Santa Cruz. We arrived around 11:30am and the jump was originally scheduled for 12:30pm. I called the facility and they told me they were still delayed and he wouldn't be able to jump until the landing spot had cleared up. We spent the next several hours walking the Boardwalk and the Pier and finally the facility called to tell me that things weren't looking great and that we should probably cancel. I'm not sure which one of us was more bummed. I wasn't thrilled that my husband was going to jump from a perfectly good plane but I knew how much he wanted to do it and what a let down it was for him. Plus, I had finally been able to plan a successful surprise only to be shot down by some darn clouds! Overall we spent a fun day with our good friends in Santa Cruz and now we have another reason to go back again soon! Hopefully the weather cooperates with us this time!

Yours Truly

Dear Headache:

You barged into my life 2 weeks ago, uninvited and unwelcome. You have banged, poked, prodded and squeezed my brain to the point of unbearable. Despite the hoards of Excedrin, Aleve, Advil or Tylenol that I have sent your way, you're still hanging around. You're like the annoying drunk guy at Happy Hour that everyone wants to get away from but can't. You're everywhere. You're obnoxious, inconsiderate and rude. You have overstayed your visit. It's time to move on.

Yours Truly.

Surprises

I've never been a good surprise giver. I partly blame my lack of imagination but mostly I just think I suck at it. Brett on the other hand likes to give surprises and he's usually pretty good at it. His biggest downfall is that he gets so excited that he has to tell everyone except the receiver (usually me) before he pulls out the "Surprise". I would like to be better at it and with upcoming birthdays, holidays and 'just because' opportunities I am hoping to pull a few things out of my sleeve by the end of the year :)

I have a quick breather in my travels and will be home this week and possibly next. Brett, however, left for Riverside today and will be working there for the next 4 weeks. He drove for over 7 hours today and then worked another 5 hours (and we thought the commute to Chico every day was bad!). The plan is for him to leave on Monday mornings and come home Friday night until the project is done and yes, he is driving, not flying. All of this travel also overlaps Brett's birthday which means that he will be in Riverside and I'll be in some other state. It might be a good time for me to work on one of those surprises...

Howdy

My trip through Texas this week has certainly been interesting. I flew into Austin on Tuesday afternoon and drove 30 minutes south to TX State University where we had a few meetings and got stuck in the middle of a severe weather warning. Overall it didn't seem to be that 'severe' but for the middle of August while it was 103 degrees outside it was definitely bizarre (at least to us Californians). Around 5:15pm the sky went completely black, rain started coming down in sideways sheets, winds were expected to reach up to 55mph and the thunder and lightning was incredible. The storm only lasted for about 15 minutes but we (me and my other CA co-worker) were really caught off guard. More so because we were trying to leave the school and drive over 2 hours north to Texas A&M where we were to stay the night and have meetings the next morning. After the storm and before heading to A&M, we swung through Austin and picked up an Austin co-worker who was going to attend the meetings with us the following day. For the duration of the drive he educated us on the traditions and culture of A&M (he used to work with them for several years). He told us that everyone would say "Howdy" and call us Ma'am and being from California, we thought he was trying to pull one over on us and we laughed. As promised, the school reps greeted us with a warm and friendly "Howdy" and called us Ma'am throughout our meeting. As part of our meetings with new schools we ask for a tour of some of the facilities on campus. My favorite part of the tour was when we entered the elevator, went to the second floor and as the elevator doors dinged opened the elevator said "Howdy... second floor".

Time flies

My brother and his family have been here for almost 3 weeks already which means they only have one more short week left :( I knew their time here was going to fly by but geez, it REALLY flew by. I have tried to spend as much time with them as possible which is great but more is always better and I know with one week just won't be enough. I got back from a work trip yesterday and I leave again on Tuesday for 3 more days. I am taking Friday off from work and I hope to spend their last full day in CA with them. I babysat the kids for them overnight last weekend and had them all day on Monday. I realized that as good as they were, they are exhausting! Having two kids in diapers is not only a mess but a ton work. Up the stairs, down the stairs, up the stairs, down the stairs.... in the DVD's, throw the DVD's.... in the bookshelf, throw the books.... up the stairs, down the stairs... feed them, change the diaper...cry instead of napping... My brother and Jill have their hands full!

My travel will continue at least through the beginning of October before there is much of a break but the good news is I'm racking up the frequent flyer miles and have already earned a few free flights. Hopefully Brett and I can plan somewhere good to go :) We didn't take a 'real' vacation this year so we are both looking forward to heading off to a tropical place as soon as possible. The bad news with all of this travel is that I'm exhausted when I get home. I don't want to clean the house, cook dinner, go out, talk on the phone, check personal emails or do anything that requires much thought. Last year during my travel 'season' we hired a housekeeper to help out and I'm thinking it's time to hire another one. I've had a few referrals, which I prefer, but they tend to not want to venture into my neck of the woods and charge more if they do. If anyone has GOOD house cleaners in my area please let me know :)

In other news, I won't be getting my car repaired on Monday as originally planned. For those of you that don't know, I was rear ended almost 3 weeks ago by a young kid who wasn't paying attention as we came to a red light. He slowed down but failed to stop. The damage isn't bad and no one was hurt but I would like my car fixed as soon as possible. The kid's parents had AAA and apparently they haven't confirmed their side of the story with their insurance yet which means at this point my deductible would have to be paid by us and not them. Brett talked to our insurance yesterday and we have to give them one more week before pursuing 'other' action, whatever that means. As much as I hate looking at my rear bumper all banged up, I don't want to pay the $500 deductible and then mess with getting the money back after everything is settled. We have pushed out the repair until after Labor Day but with my travel schedule the way it is it's going to be a pain in the ass to schedule the repair.

And so it begins...

For those of you that don't know I spent the first half of 2010 on a plane. Although the majority of my travel was to a few select states it was pretty extensive for a while. It was not unheard of to go to 2 states one week, fly home for the weekend and leave again on Monday morning. I was recently promoted to a different role within my team and although I'll be working on a lot of the same things it has changed the timeframe of my travel in addition to adding more locations to the list. I will be boarding my first plane for the 'season' tomorrow and will be traveling 2-3 days per week for the next 4 or five weeks. I'm pretty sure there will be travel beyond that but my brain won't let me think that far ahead yet :) The travel is exhausting but I can't complain. I truly enjoy my job and I work with a group of amazing people that have become really great friends. For a few months I ate more meals with them than I did my husband! I am really lucky to have a job AND one that I enjoy so much!

My travel plans in August overlap the time my brother is spending here in California with his family. I am trying to work out days off between my travel in order to spend more time with them. I'm pretty sure Christmas will be here before I know it! This past weekend we spent Saturday at my moms house playing with the kids and hanging out with family. I can't believe how big my nieces and nephew are! I haven't seen Matt or Ana since they came out for our wedding last year and they have grown so much! Kaylynn is so big compared to the little munchkins. Even though she lives here in CA I feel like I overlook how adult she is until she is next to the little kids. She has grown into such a beautiful young girl, I wish her dad was here to see her. And to make her daddy proud, she surprised me with a birds and bees question out of the blue! I was caught completely off guard and the only thing I could think to say was "You need to ask your mom that question". (Sorry Nicole!)