For Poppy’s first Fourth of July we decided to go exploring with our new little, week-old gal. During the beautiful 90F heat we headed out to Falls Lake, only about a 15 minute drive from Wake Forest. Swimmers and beach bums flooded the beach as the day went on. Only 10 or so minutes into [...]
Gobble gobble. Thanksgiving is right around the corner. I’m not sure what turkey costs a pound normally, but I’ve seen one grocery bragging it had turkeys for $.68/lb and another touting $.67/lb. Unless you’re planning on buying an automobile sized turkey, a penny a pound shouldn’t really make all that difference.
Anyways, I thought I’d do [...]
July fourth we went with some friends to Lake Gaston, NC. Big ups to Marla for the lake house! Yes, please. Yes, thank you! You can see videos of me jumping into tubes in the lake on the videos page as well as 80 some pictures in the photo gallery.
This past Monday, July 7th, was the first annual Town House Party. I debuted my wicked mixing skills by playing some banging house and electro tunes. I was hoping Emily would catch a video of me djing but I think she was too busy mingling and playing Wii. Oh well. You can still see some pictures from the shindig in the photo gallery.
Of the various and sundry ways to celebrate St. Patrick's Day we decided to choose the most scrumptious option: cooking a traditional Irish feast: corned beef, cabbage, mashed potatoes, and soda bread. While nothing in this dinner menu is decidedly green, it is all decidedly tasty. The corned beef slowly cooked in the crock pot with a little bit of this and a little bit of that all day today while we were out and about. The cabbage wasn't done in any special or peculiar manner but just boiled on the stove. The mashed potatoes were made from scratch after Emily's suggestion to have taters. The soda bread was kneaded with my own two hands and was likewise straight from scratch, raisins and caraway seeds included.
Now, before you think too highly of my cooking, I have to give credit where it's due and point you to my new favorite website, Recipezaar. It was there that I got inspired to cook the above menu for St. Patty's Day: their suggestion…all of it. And we weren't disappointed in the least. The corned beef was perfectly juicy and full of flavor, and the soda bread changed my life (I had never had it before nor was I expecting to like it so much simply judging by the ingredients). And since the recipe called for 4 1/2 lbs. of corned beef brisket, Emily and I decided to call in the reinforcements to help take the meal on. You'll see in the pictures and video that two of our pals, John and Aaron, came over to celebrate.
In closing, I have a couple questions to ask our MOT readers, if they care to answer:
Here's a link to the recipes: corned beef (upon recommendation of other users, we didn't make the cabbage in the crock pot with the beef) and soda bread.
Don't worry. It's all been taken care of. Emily had to make an appearance in Charlotte today to have biometric testing done. When Emily immigrated in February 2006, her green card was good for two years because she had been admitted on a conditional basis because when she immigrated, we had been married less than two years. Phew! So, two years from the second anniversary of her immigration is the beginning of next month, meaning green card expired. But, don't freak out. This is normal. We just had to apply to get the conditions removed ($545!) and now, after today's biometric testing (finger prints + picture), she will be issued a ten (or maybe its fifteen) year green card. Nonetheless, my little resident alien is here to stay.
Emily and I wish all MaustsOnToast's faithful readers a very merry Christmas! Special thanks to the Seaman's and Hayes's who sent presents abroad to warm our hearts–actually the weather here has been quite warm. (I love the Drew the Shrew book!)
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