My Birthday and the Luau...a real "thumbs up"!

My 31st birthday was amazing! Nothing special really happened, but I had the best day ever. I woke up early and started decorating for the big luau that was planned for the weekend. I LOVE decorating for parties. It's a guilty pleasure. If you're going to have a themed party you have to play the part. We carried the luau theme all throughout the house and yard. Even the bathroom. But we'll get to the luau in a bit, back to my Birthday!

So, that morning before Tim left for work he gave me my gifts (French press, book on tea and some cute (and very sharp) cheese knifes). All things I absolutely love and could not wait to use! After he left, I took the dog to the groomer, stopped at Starbucks for my free venti soy latte and headed to Cose Dolci for my favorite scones of all time. It was the perfect way to start my day.
The weeks before my day, when people asked what I had planned for my Birthday, I would respond by saying "a little of whatever I want". And that is exactly what I did. After breakfast and playing on the Internet (aka - reading all the birthday love on Facebook) I did a little more cleaning and decorating, then I decided to go cheese shopping. I needed fancy cheese for my new knifes after all! I had originally planned on getting a pedicure, but I choose cheese instead. Is that lame or what? But what can I say, I love cheese and shopping for it was actually pretty fun and exciting. I ended up with a Black Diamond 5 yr Cheddar, Cheddar Habanero, Spanish Wine Cured Goat Cheese and a Porter Cheese (not shown). All delish, but the goat cheese was by far my favorite.
After cheese shopping I thought it was time for a little lunch. That's right! I had beer for lunch, and it was awesome!

That night Tim took me to Cork, we watched a dumb movie and ate some cheese. May not sound like much, but I had an awesome day!

Now for the Luau...
Saturday morning started off lazy and pretty slow paced. I had done most of the decorating a few days prior and there wasn't much food to prepare so we just took our time getting things in order. We made the blue Hawaiian and mai tai's first, of course. The blue Hawaiian was pretty tasty but the mai tai ended up waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay strong! Oh well, people still drank it.

The pork had been cooking since the night before so it was well on it's way to being finished. All we had left to do was make the poi and lomi lomi salad. Well, it wasn't really poi. We couldn't find taro root so we ended up using purple potatoes. The end result look exactly like poi and was almost as bland. The lomi lomi is just tomato, onion and raw salmon. I started chopping the tomatoes, not using the knife skills I learned at Kitchen Conservatory apparently as I proceeded to chop right through my thumb! I won't gross you out with the details, but it was NASTY! Blood everywhere! My brother and Tim were saints. They were on their hands and knees almost immediately cleaning the floor and walls. Well, after attending to my wound. We wrapped it up and it took all I had in me not to continue helping prepare for the party. No, I didn't go to Urgent Care or the ER. We had a party to throw! HAHAHA

Needless to say the party went on and it appeared to go well. I did have a good time even though it may not have appeared that way. Thanks everyone for coming and for your concern and thanks for having a great time. And don't worry, we did go to Urgent Care the next day before Father's Day brunch. They made me cry, cleaned it up, bandaged it and sent me on my with with some pain pills that made me have the craziest dreams I have ever had. I might have to write a book or movie about them. But that's another story for another day.

So, all in all my birthday weekend was a success despite my little accident. As much as it hurt, and BOY DID IT HURT (and still does), it was a weekend to remember. :)

Here are a few pictures of the luau for your enjoyment.

The Office - Finished!

The office has been complete for a couple weeks now and we couldn't be happier. For the time being we are just going to use what furniture we already have and we may buy new at some point down the road. I think our old desk and chair look pretty good in the new space. The new carpet is so soft. I think it's Barley's new favorite place to lay.

Without further ado, here are some updated photos of the new office...

Looking toward the side yard from the living room entrance to the office

Looking toward the back yard and bedroom entrance to the office

Looking toward the front yard and living room entrance to the office

King and I

This weekend Tim and I finally ventured over to King and I, a thai restaurant on Grand Ave. It was delicious! We decided to order something other than our normal thai dish of choice (Pad Thai). We started out with a couple mixed drinks.

For an appetizer we ordered the Thai Ravioli. It was handmade with yellow curry, potato and chicken. I'm defiantly going to have to recreate this. It was awesome.

Tim went with the Spicy Basil. I didn't taste it but Tim said it was really spicy and he loved it. It was stir fried ground chicken with bell pepper, basil leaves, fresh chili, garlic and wine. Served on top of egg noodles.

I went the less spicy route and choose the King and I Special. It was stir fried egg noodles with shrimp, chicken, calamari, egg, carrot, mushrooms and snow peas in a tasty light sauce.

Yum! Yum! Yum! Can't wait to go back and everything else on the menu.

When Tim's away...

I eat sushi!

I'm not sure why it always turns out that way. It's not like that's the only time I can have it, Tim enjoys sushi too. But for some reason whenever he is away on business, I always order sushi take-out from Nobu. This time I got a little crazy and let the chef decide my order for me. I figure, I have enjoyed just about every piece of sushi I have ever tried so I thought I would let the chef surprise me with some delicious fish. I was not disappointed. The roll was their house special California Roll and the nigiri was tuna, salmon, I believe octopus, masago (I think this was my favorite) and I'm not sure about the other white fish, maybe a yellowfin. All of that plus a side of edamame... it was delish!

I'm a big sap and I miss my Tim when he is away. I always have trouble sleeping and this time I even caught a nasty cold while he was away. It sucks being sick without him around to baby me. HA :)

I suppose sushi is just my comfort food and there is just something about eating it in my pj's with the dog laying next to me. I love it!

Happy Mother's Day

Tim and I have the BEST mother's on the planet. Thanks Mom's for all you do and have done!

To celebrate Mother's Day we had the whole family over for a cook out. The weather was absolutely perfect. We ate, visited, played a little croquet and visited some more. Turned out to be a super fun day. I love our yard but we haven't really used it for much entertaining. It was fun to be able to set up tables and yard games. I can't wait for the next yard party.

Here are the homemade mini cupcakes I made. They were a bit dense but must not have tasted too bad, there were only a couple left at the end of the day.

The dad's, sitting on the side lines watching the riveting croquet match.

So...Angela and I apparently have no idea how to play croquet. We set up the course like miniature golf and never heard the end of it. Everyone had their own rules so we just made it up as we went. The best part was Barley stealing our balls. Maybe we should have played horse shoes or bocce ball instead. :) There's always next time.


Here's my momma! What a wonderful woman. Love you momma! :)
Barley pretty much sums up the weekend here. We were pooped. After working in the yard for nearly 6 hrs Saturday to hosting Sunday, we were ready to kick our feet up and take it easy. But no mater how tired and sore we are, we had a GREAT weekend. Can't wait to do it all over again.

The Office - The next to last chapter

Yesterday was Uncle Dale's last night working on the office. I can't begin to thank him for all his hard work and attention to detail. Thanks Uncle Dale, love you lots!! :) We are so happy with how it turned out. As you look at the photos, obviously we still need carpet, but as far as the construction and painting goes, it's FINISHED!

We also owe a big thanks to my pop, as well as Tim's dad. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family who is always so willing to help out with anything.

It was so exciting to see this project come to life. Now that it's just about finished, I guess it's time to think about the next thing on the list. Wonder what it will be.

Now, on with the before and after show...

Here is a shot of the front of the house the day we moved in...



And after we did some yard work and landscaping...

And after the office build...

Before...

And after...

Like I said, we still need carpet, but that the easy part. I'll be sure to post pictures after it is all decorated. If you would like to see pictures from beginning to end, click here

Hooray! :)

Three for One - Cookbook Challange

I have really been slacking on my cookbook challenge. So, today I tackled not one, not two, but THREE cookbooks.

We'll start with dessert. There is nothing better than homemade whipped cream and it's so easy to make. Yes, this may be a cop out as far as the "challenge" goes, but hey, I needed a whipped topping for the pound cake I made. I promise to come back to this American classic of a cookbook (Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book) at a later date and pick another recipe. But for now, whipped cream it is. :)




I always thought I wasn't fan of pound cake. That was until I made it from scratch a few weeks ago. I made this recipe not long ago and loved it, so I thought I would try it again and share it with you. This was just a simple vanilla pound cake found in my King Arther Flour Baker's Companion cookbook. I jazzed it up with a cup of coconut and paired it with fresh berries and whipped cream. It was fabulous!






And now for dinner. Stir fry's are great and so simple to make. We seem to make stir fry's a lot in our house but never use a recipe. We normally just end up dumping everything that's in the spice cabinet in a wok with some veggies and a meat. This time I thought I would take some direction and see how it goes. I choose The Ultimate Chinese & Asian Cookbook - Spicy Chicken Stir Fry. It actually turned out pretty good. I particularly enjoyed the lime juice and honey added at the end. I'll have to remember that next time we're adding everything but the kitchen sink.





Today I remember just how much I love to cook and bake. I may not be the greatest, but I sure have fun. We have been so busy lately and I haven't had time to really make a nice meal or yummy dessert. It was so nice to be able to just hang out in the kitchen all afternoon whipping up tasty treats. I'm going to try to not let so much time pass before I'm back in the kitchen again. It's weird, I have always looked for a hobby but could never find anything I could really stick with. Some people craft, others play video games and some read books. While I enjoy all of those things, I think food is my true hobby. I love to grow food, bake and cook. And when I can cook with the foods that I have grown myself...well that's the best of all.

More to come on the LaBeaume Farm of 2010