Rigatoni with Swiss Chard

Well I tried a new Martha recipe last night and we really liked it! Mike was a little disappointed there wasn't any meat in it, but oh well :)
Here are some pictures as well as the recipe!

Recipe:

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

1 pound rigatoni or other tubular pasta

2 T. unsalted butter

3 T extra-virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced (or minced)

2 medium shallots, finely chopped

1 1/2 lbs. Swiss chard, leaves cut into 1/2-inch strips and stems cut into 1/2-inch pieces

2 T. finely grated lemon zest (about 2 lemons) (try lemon juice instead if you don't like zest)

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/2 t. red pepper flakes (i would use less next time!! :)

1/3 c. fresh ricotta cheese

1/3 c. pine nuts, toasted

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for sprinkling

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add 2 T. salt and the pasta; cook 3 minutes less than package indicates. Drain.
2. Heat butter and oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat about 1 minute. Add garlic and shallots; cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Stir in chard, lemon zest, wine, 1 t. salt, and the red pepper flakes; season with pepper. Cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until chard has just wilted, 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Stir in pasta, ricotta, and pine nuts. Cook, stirring occasionally, until pasta is al dente, 3 to 4 minutes. Divide among 4 serving dishes. Serve sprinkled with Parmesan.

We had this with fresh bread and olive oil (with spices of course!) Yummm!!

Saturday's Festivities

So on Saturday we had a very relaxing day. Mike had breakfast with Chris Bopp (that has got to be the strangest yet coolest last name ever) and in the afternoon we just went to Starbucks and read. I finished my book, Rise to Rebellion by Jeff Shaara and Mike read LOTR. I got a Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha, and I will not be doing that again. They overdid it on the peppermint, so it tasted like I was drinking straight Menthol. They made me another one :)
Afterwards we went over the Smiths' and went out for Chinese for dinner. Afterwards we came home and baked Molasses Crinkle Cookies. Except ours did not crinkle. They tasted good anyways! They have raisins in them, and we decided to soak them in rum :) Here are some pictures from that.

Me and Mikes
Shan and Meagan being silly

Mitten fight.

Sean making his famous hot chocolate.

Meagan scooping out the dough.

Me and Megs baking the cookies.

Sean pouring the milk. I will add here that this whole baking endeavour was undertaken by Sean. He is a very good cook.

All the chocolate we chopped for the hot chocolate. It took a while.

So, it was a fun day!

Oh and good post by Mikes the other day. Although, he wanted to know where his eprops would show up ;)

Navigating Christmas as a New Husband

Well the missus has asked me to stop being a lazy blog bum and write something, so here I go. Prepare to be amazed at my introspective profundity.

This is my first Christmas as a married man, so naturally it is bound to be very different from what I grew up with. For starters, actually figuring out how to pay for everything with a newlywed budget is a very new experience for me. When I was younger I usually didn't give presents at all; either I didn't feel like coming up with gift ideas or I had no money. It recently dawned on me that, now that I am married, this tactic will not work if I wish to continue sleeping in a bed. The strangest part is telling Sarah how much money she can spend on my gifts, and I'm not particularly fond of that. It sounds like I'm saying "You need to get me this many dollars' worth of presents." I don't much like the sound of that.

A similarly strange task is telling her how much she can spend on my birthday, which is soon after Christmas. As a kid I was always suspicious that I would get ripped off on my birthday presents since it was so close to Christmas. Now that I'm in effect paying for my own birthday, splitting the gifts between Christmas and my birthday seems like a pretty good bargain. I'd rather sacrifice the extra presents than not be able to eat for a week. But Sarah wants to give me a "real" birthday so I gave her a dollar amount she could spend. That is also risky because what if the present she was planning to get cost way less than I told her she could spend? So I had to clarify that she CAN spend up to a certain amount, but doesn't HAVE to spend it all if she doesn't need it. I am finding all of this somewhat complicated.

So the financial part of Christmas took a while to nail down, but I think we've got it under control. I guess this is what Christmas is like for adults. The really FUN part of Christmas as newlyweds is we get to begin our own traditions. We don't have anything really ground-breaking (or door-breaking) yet, other than getting a tree that dominates half of our living room. But we will be implementing some of our favorite family traditions from growing up and making them our own, such as getting our tree on Black Friday (one of Sarah's favorites), watching A Christmas Carol on Christmas Eve (one I've always liked). Plus, since this is our first married Christmas, pretty much anything we do this month will become one of our "traditions" if we do it again next year.

All that to say, the next few weeks should be much fun. Also, If Sarah hates this post you might not be hearing from me so much anymore.

Christmas Tree and Forgotten 1 Month Anniversary

So. I forgot to put up pictures from our one-month-iversary, and it has now been more than 2 months, but I have pictures from 1-month, so I'm going to write about that instead :)
On November 4th, Mike took me into Philly and we dined at El Vez. It's a Mexican-American Steven Star Restaurant, and they have incredible guacamole and mojitos :)
We took the train in because it is way more fun, and way less expensive :) Here is Mike sitting on the bench waiting for our train...


And here we are bored and waiting....there was a lady in the background who was on her phone for a while yelling about something :)

Here is my boy's silly face....we always give him a hard time because his smiles don't always look "natural" haha

I love this picture of him :)

Ok, so now to the Christmas Tree part. The day after Thanksgiving, Mike and I went out to Pyle's, a place in Avondale, and got this humongous tree for only $16.99!! As Alyce puts it, "it has taken over our apartment" haha. But we love it. We have named it Douglas....cousin of Jeremy and Angela's tree....FIRdinand ;)

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of us picking out the tree. It was a stressful morning. And picture-taking got pushed by the wayside. But here is our tree all decorated!

Mikes hugging the tree....for why...we do not know.

This is our Christmas smooch :)

Us with our tree!

I just put a santa hat on top of the tree this morning, because we have no angel or star, and it actually looks really good!! I may keep the tradition :)

Ok - up next - Mike has promised to post some sort of ponderance of his. I like this idea of getting the husbands to post :)

Merry Christmas!!!!

Thanksgiving!

So it has been a while :) Until I come up with something more interesting to post about, here are pictures from Thanksgiving! We went to see my Grandma Sharp in Salisbury, Maryland. It was a lot of fun! Mom cooked EVERYTHING and brought it down for us to enjoy. We had a feast!
After dinner (and after we fell over from eating so much) andrew, rosie, mike and i went for a walk to clear our heads and help metabolize all the food we just ate :)

Here we are with Grandma.

And here is Mike and Me being super silly :)

Crashing after feasting.

Us with dearest Rosie!

The girls.

Andrew completely collapsed after dinner :)

Mike and Me on a walk

Up next - our first Christmas Tree as a married couple!! It is rather big :)

Grateful for Wisdom

So I was reading in Proverbs today, and these verses really stood out to me:
Proverbs 8:1-10
"Does not wisdom call? Does not understanding raise her voice? On the heights beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand; beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud: "To you, O men, I call, and my cry is to the children of man. O simple ones, learn prudence; O fools, learn sense. Hear, for I will speak noble things, and from my lips will come what is right, for my mouth will utter truth; wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are righteous; there is nothing twisted or crooked in them. They are all straight to him who understands, and right to those who find knowledge. Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her."

I realized how grateful I am that the Lord has not made wisdom hard to find. So often I can stress out over decisions, wondering if I'm making the right one or not. But God has not made it impossible for me to disern His will. He says that wisdom cries aloud to us! And I love the part about the crossroads. Because often I will come to a place where I have two options: honor God, or seek my own glory. Sometimes it seems that the right way is hidden, or I will want to go one way, but wisdom will beckon me the opposite way. Which way will I choose? God promises that in wisdom, "there is nothing twisted or crooked...they are straight to him who understands." Oh how I want to be that person who understands! I want to discern what wisdom is saying to me, and choose it for I know that it will lead to life. I want to, at every crossroad that I come to, choose the way that leads to life. And I have faith to do this, because God tells me that wisdom will be there, clear as day and unmistakable. How kind of God to provide this for us.

Gratitude Day 6: Starbucks

I am grateful for this:
I admit, it is outrageously priced. But it is good :) While I don't necessarily like their coffee-coffee (it's a tad strong ;) i do enjoy their special drinks and the atmosphere. especially for coffee dates. and around christmas time! love their holiday drinks! It makes my life even more enjoyable ;)

Grateful Day 5: Moving Buddies

I am very grateful we are a part of Covenant Fellowship Church, not just because of the great teaching and fellowship, but because of friends and family like these. When we moved into our apartment, it went so smoothly thanks to these guys (and gals!) here.

These guys were real troopers. Had to move a lot of heavy stuff up 3 flights of stairs :) And John demolished a padlock with simply a pair of home metal cutters. Definitely a hero.

And the ladies (Michelle, Steph, Mom and Cyndi) helped me set up house. I am grateful to have such servants as my friends :)

Gratitude Day 4: Pranking

so I know it may sound silly, but I am very grateful for pranking :) I love (non-destructive!) pranks. and i love my friends who can be humorous - because everyone knows that in order to pull a great prank, you must have great pranksters ;)

***SIDE NOTE: ON THIS NIGHT WE PRANKED MY NOW HUSBAND (AT THE TIME WE WERE SOMEWHAT ENEMIES) AND HE DID NOT APPRECIATE THE FUN INVOLVED. SO SAD.

***DISCLAIMER: TRACI AND I JUST REALIZED THAT THIS PICTURE IS ACTUALLY FROM THE YEAR AFTER WE PRANKED MIKE (ALONG WITH OTHERS). BUT THAT IS OK. BECAUSE IT STILL CONVEYS THE MISCHIEVIOUSNESS. ;)

Gratitude Day 3: FALL!

I am grateful for Fall. Why? Here are a few reasons:

* Hot apple cider

* The colors of the leaves

* Jeans and sweatshirts (and vests!)

* Pumpkins and gourds

* Candy Corn!

* Sam Adams Octoberfest :)

* Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Lattes

* Harvest Parties

* Beautiful autumn skies over golden fields blowing in the wind

* Thanksgiving :)

I'm so glad God gives us seasons. I love how beautiful something like Autumn can be - and I marvel at God's handiwork and His kindness to bless us with beauty.

Psalm 19:1

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork."

Gratitude Day 2: God's Sovereign Will

Today I am grateful for God’s sovereignty. That God’s will is far better than ours, and that even when we don’t understand it, it is perfect.

“‘Thy will be done.’ This resting in the will of God is one of the most comforting and blessed experiences of the Christian life. To say, ‘Thy will be done’ – not in a reluctant and compulsory way, as if we were shrinking from some inevitable pain, but with a sincere and glad conviction that our dear Father is really doing for us what is best and most loving, although it may not look so to our dull eyes – this is glorifying to Him, and supremely consoling to us.” ~ Susannah Spurgeon

Love these words. I love the truth they convey. And I am trusting God’s will for many things right now, but especially for this election. I am grateful we serve a God who is more powerful than any President we will ever sit under. And I’m grateful He has given us peace and confidence in the midst of an uncertain world!

Psalm 46:1-4

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.

Grateful For: Mike

So...Gratitude Month....what am I grateful for?

Well, a lot of things, but at the top of the list is my new hubby Mike :) Tomorrow it will be exactly one month. And it has been one of the best months of my life. Mike helps me grow in so many ways, and I can't tell you how grateful I am to God for giving him to me. He is my best friend on this earth, and I can't wait to fall more and more in love with him :)

Life as a Smith

So, I have now entered into the realm of Smiths.
According to Howmanyofme.com,
"There are 3,073,521 people in the U.S. with the last name Smith.
Statistically the 1st most popular last name."

I always dreamed of having a crazy Italian last name, but alas, it was not meant to be!
However, I have married the man of my dreams, so I suppose in the end it all works out ;)

2 humorous stories about generic names. The first is just interesting, but the second demonstrates the confusion that can arise when there are too many generically-named people interacting with each other:

On the plane to Aruba, this guy was sitting next to us, and it turns out they had just gotten married October 4th also (same day as us.) Later on, Mike was filling out paperwork and the guy said, "Mike Smith? No way." and Mike was like, "umm, yes.." and that is when the guy introduces himself as John Smith. Even more generic.

Then, when we went to look at the car we were buying (it was from a private seller) we knocked on the door only to be greeted by Mike Jones. He looked surprised to see us, as if he wasn't expecting us, and when we explained we were there to look at the car, it clearly wasn't registering. We thought that was weird - we had just called the guy that day. Until he realized, "OH! you must be looking for Mike BROWN! I'm Mike Jones. He is my housemate." Mike Smith, looking for Mike Brown but finding Mike Jones. Too many Mikes. :)

Well, I shall try to be faithful to this blog. I really hope I can keep up with it and find enough interesting things to say!

For now, here are a few pictures from our honeymoon. This is at breakfast.